{Advice} How To Take Your Blog To The Next Level...

It's been a while since my last blogging advice post, and since these days it feels like running AiF has become a full-time job, I thought another tips posts was overdue. So in my humble opinion, here are the top six things you need to do to take your blog to the next level, whatever that happens to mean for you!
1. Step out of your comfort zone.
To make blogging work for you as a career, you have to step out of your comfort zone and do things that scare you. For me, that meant public appearances. I'm ridiculously afraid of public speaking, but I made the conscious decision to put those feelings aside for the good of my blog. In the past year I've given several talks in front of hundreds of people and appeared on live TV � Something I would never have dreamed of a couple years ago! When it comes to your career, feel the fear and do it anyway.

2. Diversify.
Blogging is great, but regardless of how many ads you sell or sponsorship deals you make, there needs to be another layer to it if you want to pay the bills. Be it styling gigs or contract work writing, consulting or making public appearances, take a look at your skill set and interests and figure out how you can cash in on them. For the first time in nearly four years of blogging, I can see going full-time on the horizon and it's all thanks to using my blog to get projects like these.

3. Put yourself out there.
Make new connections, network like a crazy (and non-sleezy) person, utilize social media and, above all, be nice and genuine when doing so. You never know who might need your services in the future � or who might be able to recommend you for your next big gig � so be sweet and awesome, and let nature take its course.

4. Stop comparing yourself to others.
Seriously, this is a big one � Don't do it. You'll literally drive yourself crazy if you do. I've been guilty of this pretty much my entire life (blogging and otherwise), so I can tell you first hand how harmful it can be to your productivity and overall happiness. It's fine to admire what others have achieved, how they look or what they wear (fashion blogging can be particularly bad for that last one!), but calculating your net worth based on your perception of other people's value is just toxic. Don't do it... Ever.

5. Get organized.
Invoices pile up, emails go unanswered and deadlines get dropped unless you get diligent about your to-do list. When you're balancing blogging with a full-time job and other commitments � or when you're grooming your blog to be your full-time job � this one is a must. I make a monthly editorial calendar including any deadlines I have coming up; I make Excel sheets to track invoices and in-kind revenue, making notes of when I receive items, when they get featured on the blog and when I contact the company to thank them and share the link; I make detailed to-do lists each morning and I don't stop until the most important items have been crossed off � You get the picture. Figure out what system works for you and get organized!

6. Build a support system.
I've talked about this one before, but you need people you love and trust around you for encouragement and to bounce ideas off of, to give you a pep talk when you succumb to #4 (ahem) or to give you a reality check when your ego gets the better of you (hey, it happens). I'm lucky enough to have key confidants that I trust and whose opinions I value, as well as more amazing, ridiculously talented blogger friends than I can count. One of the best things you can do for your blog is to get to know some other bloggers in your area and arrange monthly get-togethers � It's amazing how much you can learn and grow from one another!

Image via stylemotivation.com

Bear With Me

Here's that new bag again, which has seen a lot of use this summer. I like how it gives a little bit of structure and polish to this otherwise casual outfit.

You may have noticed that my posting of late has been both sporadic and infrequent. At this point I'm not sure in which direction I want to take the blog, or if I want to continue at all. With everything going on in my life right now, I just don't seem to find the time for blogging as often, and when I do I feel I've simply run out of things to say about daily outfits. I do have an epic post coming up which I've been mulling over since I got back from my last trip, and after that I may stop altogether or possibly spin off in a different direction. Bear with me while I try to sort out my next move.

Jacket: Tulle
Top: Anthropologie
Scarf: thrifted
Pants: Cynthia Steffe
Shoes: Gabor
Bag: Elaine Turner





And on a completely different note: for my fellow gardeners out there who remember my living wall post from last year, you might be curious to see how it's doing. Below are photos of the wall last September, about 3 months after I built it, and a couple weeks ago in all its tangled, overgrown glory:

Then:

Now:

The felt substrate is now almost completely concealed behind the tangle of plants. Over the past several months there have been a few substitutions when particular plants weren't able to cope with the deep shade, but over time I think I've fine-tuned the species that really thrive in this spot, and they all seem to be pretty happy. Even my gardener is impressed.

{Life} Balancing Work + Blogging...

Writing this blog is the single most fulfilling project I've ever worked on, and I'm always thankful/baffled that you guys pop in each day to see what's up. But as many of you well know, running a blog can be more akin to a full-time job than a side project, so figuring out how to balance work and blogging (and, well, life) can be tricky. I myself work full-time and write a weekly column (which together require me to attend about four events per week), and since people always ask how I manage to post 5x a week on top of that, I thought I would share what works for me here. I'm by no means an expert on the subject though, so if you guys have suggestions or tried-and-true tricks for balancing everything and not ending up in a straight jacket, I'm all ears... So with that said, here goes!



1. Schedule, schedule, schedule
Working ahead is the only way I'm able to post Monday to Friday, so I schedule my time down to the minute. I know exactly when I'll be taking outfit photos, how long it will take to write and promote each post, etc, so I schedule my time accordingly.

2. Make an editorial calendar
Outfit posts are one thing, but if your blog is made up of different features and content, having an editorial calendar is key. I like to sit down at the end of each month to plan DIY's, giveaways or anything else that comes to mind for the following month. This is also an opportunity to remind myself of any project/collaboration due dates I have coming up, which are easy to forget when things pile up. So in the end, not only does having an editorial calendar keep me on task, but it helps break up my content and add another dimension to my personal style-focus as well.

3. Enlist the help of friends + loved ones
This is a big one. If I didn't have supportive people around me willing to snap photos or bounce ideas off of, I would literally have to stop blogging. My co-worker Brittney is always game for snapping lunchtime photos (even in the dead of winter!), and Mr. AiF's (usually) more than happy to play the role of photographer/blog manager, listening to me go on at length about different projects and ideas. And considering the type of blog I run, there really wouldn't be an Adventures in Fashion if not for their help. 

Another great way to stay on top of content creation is to make friends with other bloggers with a similar focus to yours, and simply help each other out. For instance, no coffee date or hang out session with my pal Kastles happens without a round of outfit photos, so find a Kastles, Brittney or Lobbie of your own and get them drinking your blog's Kool-Aid, so to speak.

4. Work ahead 
Days off are definitely meant for having fun, but when the majority of your content just so happens to be generated from the outfits you wear, weekends suddenly become a fashion blogger's best friend. I like to photograph one or two looks over the weekend to have a cushion for the following week, editing photos and scheduling posts in between episodes of Girls or Downton Abbey. Besides, you never know what may come up or what the weather will be like (I found this discipline particularly helpful during the harsh winter months), so having a back stock of photos translates into less stress and time wasting later on. This applies to bloggers of all kinds � Like those adorable little boys in beige say, always be prepared. 

5. Batch
I find the best way to boost my productivity is to focus on one task at a time. I do that by carving out periods dedicated to different tasks throughout the day, like responding to emails or processing ads. It can be difficult balancing the creative (aka- fun) aspects of blogging with the business side of things (if that's your focus), so designating 20 min to one task or an hour to another really helps me focus and GSD rather than jumping from one thing to the next.

6. Recharge
You know how I said that days off are for having fun (in addition to working ahead)?  Well I meant it. Taking the time to relax and recharge will boost your creative juices and not only make you a better blogger, but a better person as well. So unplug, disconnect and do things that make you happy each week � Your mind and body will thank you for it.

Thanks for reading, and be sure to chime in with all your brilliant, task-juggling tricks � The more the better! xx

Photo by John Rawlings (Vogue, 1953)

Motivation

Wow, this picture was taken on Dec 20, which was the last time I actually bothered to take outfit photos. It seems I'm having a bit of trouble staying motivated to keep posting of late. Fear not, I'm hoping that the upcoming Film Noir festival will help restore my blogging mojo, or at the very least provide several post-worthy outfits to inspire me.

This was an outfit I wore for our company holiday party, which started out as a mild-mannered potluck and white elephant gift exchange turned into a raucous after-hours game of Cards Against Humanity. Appropriate for work? Certainly not, and coincidentally also the most fun I've ever had in the office.

Tunic: Fremont
Vest: Zadig & Voltaire
Pants: Club Monaco
Boots: Brako

Time Off

It's the 4th of July, which I'm not really celebrating in any specific way, but which qualifies as a holiday in my book for one important reason: I have the day off work. I guess that right there is reason enough to celebrate, right? But more importantly, I'm taking the entire WEEK off because Mark's and my family and friends are coming to town a few days from now to help us belatedly celebrate our marriage. And since preparing for all these visitors is going to require quite a bit of my time, I'm taking rest of the week off from blogging (and most likely reading and commenting) as well.

For my friends in the US, have a wonderful holiday and here's hoping you've got the day off too. I'll be back next week with more outfits!

Blogging and Mentorship

I've been thinking a lot lately about the things that I love about having this blog, and what keeps me posting day after day. Today I thought I'd share some of that with you, but to do so I will first tell you a little bit about my job, which I rarely discuss here but which is nevertheless relevant to the way I feel about blogging.

One of my favorite things that I do at work is mentoring other people. Unfortunately with mentoring, the better you do it the less and less you're needed to, because the people you mentor eventually become independent and no longer need your guidance. I suppose this is how parents must feel as their kids grow up; sure it's gratifying to watch them accomplish things on their own, but it's bittersweet because there's nothing more to teach them.

But even when my mentees (is that a word?) at work no longer regularly need my advice, they still bring me moments of real satisfaction in my job when they show me what the mentorship has allowed them to accomplish. What I provide is not expert advice, it's just the seeds of my knowledge and experience that someone else can nurture and develop in their own way. Mentorship is a collaboration between two capable people who care about the same thing. That glimmer of an idea that I might provide is taken away and developed into something better and more complete, like a wave that pulls away from the shore and comes back bearing something polished and beautiful. This is in many ways far more satisfying than the feeling of simply being needed.

That, I think, is what draws me to this daily discussion about style and fashion. I'm clearly not an expert; I'm just someone who has a passion for it and has been dressing myself with varying degrees of success for several decades. The little kernels I throw out there, in the form of daily outfits or mini tutorials, are meant to spark the innate talents of the people who pick them up, and are meant to be interpreted in as many different ways as there are readers.

And like the mentoring I do at work, the most satisfying moments are when someone tells me about how they experimented with an idea they got from this blog and how great it made them feel or the compliments they received. Or how they've started to take more of an interest in their style, or are getting better use out of the clothes they have by combining them in new ways. Sure it's flattering to be asked for advice, but it's better still to hear that someone has taken an idea and run with it, transforming their wardrobe to suit their own unique lifestyle and taste, and developed their own skills in the process.

Not everyone who comes here needs any advice at all, of course. Perhaps you prefer to scan through the pictures for inspiration and don't often stop to read the text, or maybe you just enjoy the amusement of peeking into a wardrobe that is the polar opposite of your own. Quite possibly you're here to chuckle at whatever train wreck of an outfit I've put together today, and that's fine too. But the opportunity to provide other people with ideas that can ignite their own creativity, whatever direction it takes, is the thing that keeps me interested in this blog and is what keeps me posting day after day.

Today's outfit:
Dress: Forla Paris
Cardigan: Max Studio
Scarf: a boutique in San Luis Obispo
Belt: Oscar de la Renta
Boots (new!): Bronx