I THINK PEOPLE THINK THERE'S AN EASY, ONE WORD ANSWER TO THIS QUESTION, BUT IT'S FAR FROM THAT.
4-5 YEARS AGO I DON'T EVEN THINK THE TERM "FASHION BLOGGER" EXISTED, OR IF IT DID, I WAS TOO BUSY TRYING NOT TO FAIL MY VISUAL MERCHANDISING COURSE, AND MAKE SURE MY WEEKEND PLANS WERE SORTED. IF YOU SCROLL ALL THE WAY DOWN TO MY FIRST FEW POSTS, YOU'LL SEE THAT THERE WAS NOTHING PROFESSIONAL, OR STRATEGIC ABOUT THEM! LITERALLY JUST SELFIES UPON SELFIES, OUTFITS FROM THE WEEKEND, MY NEW PURCHASES THAT I BLEW MY WHOLE WEEKS WAGE ON ETC. I DON'T REMEMBER WHAT EVERYONE ELSE WAS POSTING ON INSTAGRAM BACK THEN, BUT I WAS NEVER ABOUT POSTING FOOD, FRIENDS OR PHOTOGRAPHY, PURELY JUST ME, MYSELF & I, HAHA I MEAN...MY FASHION!
I GOT INSTAGRAM IN LATE 2011 I'M PRETTY SURE, AND I DIDN'T START GETTING GIFTED PRODUCT OR PEOPLE REACHING OUT TO ME UNTIL ABOUT JULY 2013. I DON'T EVEN REMEMBER HOW MANY FOLLOWERS I HAD BACK WHEN THE FIRST FEW PEOPLE CONTACTED ME ASKING IF I COULD PROMOTE THEIR STUFF. I FIRST STARTED MAKING SMALL AMOUNTS OF MONEY OFF IT IN EARLY 2014, AND IN EARLY 2016 I WAS MAKING ENOUGH TO BE ABLE TO COMPLETELY QUIT MY JOB, AND FOCUS ON MAKING A NAME FOR MYSELF AS A FASHION BLOGGER.
I THINK SOME OF THE BEST TIPS I CAN GIVE PEOPLE ARE THE FOLLOWING:
CREATE SOMETHING UNIQUE TO YOU, AND STICK TO IT - MY MIRROR SELFIES HAVE FROM DAY 1 BEEN MY "THING". I KNOW HEAPS OF OTHER FASHION BLOGGERS WHO HAVE STARTED OUT WITH MIRROR OUTFIT SELFIES LIKE I HAVE, AND THEN THEY BLEW UP AS FASHION BLOGGERS AND NOW HAVE PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHERS AND DO DAILY PHOTOSHOOTS ETC. THAT'S ONE THING I'LL NEVER DO, BECAUSE I KNOW THAT MY MIRROR OUTFIT SELFIES ARE WHAT GOT PEOPLE TO GRAVITATE TOWARDS ME IN THE FIRST PLACE, SO I'M GOING TO STAY REAL AND KEEP THE SELFIES GOING! ANOTHER THING IS THE "SHANNEN JAI POSE" I DONT EVEN KNOW HOW THIS BECAME A WORLD WIDE THING, BUT IT HAS, AND THAT'S BECAUSE I STUCK TO IT!
DON'T GO LOOKING FOR WORK, LET IT FIND YOU - I SEE ALOT OF PEOPLE TRYING TOO HARD TO GET NOTICED IN THE SOCIAL MEDIA/FASHION WORLD, THEY TAG A WHOLE BUNCH OF WELL KNOWN PEOPLE/BRANDS IN THEIR PHOTOS HOPING TO GET NOTICED. AND THE AMOUNT OF EMAILS I GET (VIA MY CLOTHING LABEL @ALTEREGOTHELABEL) FROM PEOPLE WHO HAVE OBVIOUSLY JUST SENT OUT THE SAME "COLLABORATION" EMAIL TO EVERYONE THEY WANT FREE STUFF FROM ON INSTAGRAM. THIS JUST SCREAMS DESPERATION AND IF I'M BEING REAL WITH YOU, IS A TURN OFF TO ME AS A BUSINESS OWNER, SO IMAGINE IT WOULD BE TO OTHERS AS WELL. SO, IF YOU'RE STARTING UP AS A FASHION BLOGGER PROMISE ME YOU WON'T DO THIS, PLEASE BE PATIENT AND WORK HARD AND PEOPLE WILL EVENTUALLY COME TO YOU.
STAY TRUE TO YOURSELF - I GET EMAILS ABOUT FROM PROTEIN, DETOX TEA, TEETH WHITENING AND OTHER RANDOM COMPANIES ALL THE TIME ASKING TO COLLABORATE, BUT THAT'S NOT WHAT I'M ABOUT, I'M A FASHION BLOGGER AND I'VE LEARNT MY LESSON TO STAY AWAY FROM PROMOTING THESE THINGS (ALTHOUGH IT'S ALWAYS HARD TO DECLINE BECAUSE I'M NOT GONNA LIE, THEY THROW SUCH GOOD MONEY AT YOU LOL) BUT YES, IN SHORT, STAY TRUE TO YOURSELF AND MAKE SURE YOU ONLY POST THINGS THAT YOU'RE PASSIONATE ABOUT.