Why You’re Scared To Start Your Fashion Blog! (And Why You Shouldn’t Be!)

Have you been DREAMING of starting your fashion blog but just can’t seem to muster up the courage to actually just do it??

Girl, I GET IT. I was in your shoes just two years ago year. I literally saw all these fashion influencers killing it on Instagram, was shopping all their “LiketoKnow.it" links, and thinking to myself “it would be so cool to live that life”. I completely ruled it out for myself and carried on with my totally dissatisfying way of life!

Then something happened.

I turned 30. I had sort of a mini mid-life crisis. (Ok, let’s hope it’s a quarter-life crisis LOL!) But I decided life is really short, so why the HELL NOT chase after my dreams?! By the end of my birthday month (shout out to my fellow January babies!!) my blog was up and running!

It wasn’t really that simple though. I blogged in total secrecy for about two months! Only my husband knew about my fashion blog, and even though I was creating some great content, my site wasn’t even public! So nobody could see it. My husband pushed me to make the blog more public, so I decided to change my blog’s status from private to public! And then… crickets. So it really wasn’t THAT scary. My analytics showed me that I had about 1-2 unique visitors per week on the blog. I was pretty sure those visitors were just me and my husband.

So I decided that I was ready for the girl that I was speaking to in my blog posts to actually be able to SEE my blog posts! I signed up for Pinterest, made some pretty crude pins that linked back to my site and…I was getting traffic! People were actually READING my blog posts! It was so cool to see and suddenly my shy, embarrassed former self wanted to reach MORE people!

My husband then suggested I start an Instagram account. Now THAT was scary to me. An Instagram account? But people I actually KNOW will be able to see that! And now I have to post myself and my outfits on the reg for the social media trolls out there to see everyday? I started to second-guess if I was cut out for this or not…

Fast forward to today- I now make enough money from my blog that I was able to comfortably QUIT my 9-5 job I hated, I get thousands of visits to my blog every day, and I have close to 12,000 Instagram followers! And it ALL happened thanks to my MENTAL STATE and decision to FORGET the excuses, and just do it. Turns out that I found out pretty quickly that my excuses and fear were actually just total lies!

SO because I have been in your shoes, I’m about to SCHOOL YOU and YOUR EXCUSES right now because you are amazing, talented, and deserving of starting your fashion blog, expressing your creativity, and making an impact!

Why You’re Afraid To Start Your Fashion Blog (And Why You Shouldn’t Be)

Excuse #1- “I don’t have enough time for a blog!”

Life is busy! Maybe you have a full-time job, kids to take care of, a social life to keep up with, LAUNDRY (damn you, laundry!!), a lot going on at all times! Girl, I feel you— I don’t have kids but when I started my blog, my full time job was superrrr draining along with all my other responsibilities! Sometimes the couch and some Netflix were all I wanted when I got home! But when you want something to work and you are passionate about it, a funny thing happens! You find the time. Whether it’s posting to social media on the train ride in to work, writing snippets of blog posts or blog post ideas in the notes section on your phone to publish later on, or working on your blog once the kids are in bed, there is enough time if it’s important to you! Motivation and connecting with your “why” (AKA your purpose) is super important in order to blow past this excuse and make the time to work on your blog! So, if you want this— think about why! And suddenly you’ll find yourself thinking “hmm I could stay up an extra hour or wake up an extra hour early to work on this.” (I opt for staying up—bless you morning people, how do you do it??) Motivation and drive and PURPOSE always trump even your best excuses!

Excuse #2- “Nobody is going to read this” or “My style isn’t THAT great”

Girl, you would be SHOCKED how many people would read your blog. The thing about the Internet is pretty much everybody in the world is on here! Like millions of people, everyday. Which means there is an entire group of people who would actually totally vibe with your blog posts and your style!! Just because you’re not decked out from head-to-toe in all the latest trends, doesn’t mean that your style isn’t fashion-blog worthy. Do you know how many people can RELATE to your unique style?! Maybe you love basics. A good white tee with some jeans, and you want to blog about where to shop for quality basics that last a long time. There are tonsss of people who would be PUMPED that someone they can actually relate to is blogging about this! Or maybe you have a unique edginess to your style that sets you apart! So many people would love to see how you style your outfits and get inspiration from you! Your tribe is out there, and it is a lot bigger than you think! And the Internet is the easiest way to reach them, FAST!

Excuse #3- “I’m too late! It’s way too oversaturated these days anyway!”

Oooh girl, you are soooo wrong on this one. As I mentioned before, I started my blog two years ago. At the age of 30. Before I started I followed a bunch of influencers who were in their early 20’s and had been doing it for years before me and thought to myself “well I missed my chance”! I truly thought the shipped had sailed. I should’ve started before it was “cool”, and before my 30s! Oh wait nope because that is totally FALSE! The Influencer marketing and blogging sphere is predicted to grow substantially in the next few years! There’s so much opportunity and money to be made, it’s the online version of a gold rush! And, piggy backing off what I mentioned previously, THE INTERNET IS HUGE AND YOUR TRIBE IS OUT THERE. You just have to start!

Excuse #4- “People are going to think I’ve lost my mind”

This was probably my BIGGEST excuse standing in my way before I started my fashion blog! I was SO SCARED that people who knew me would think I had totally lost my mind for putting myself out there on the Internet, and posting pictures of myself. On my personal Instagram, I had never even posted a selfie, let alone multiple pictures of just me in my outfits!! I was really scared people were going to think I was super vain and obsessed with myself. I think you know the OBVIOUS next advice, which is “Stop caring about what other people think!!” But like, it’s not that easy!! We are human, it is 100% natural to care what other people think. And I think we know that we’re supposed to do what makes us happy and not care what other people think of us. But I also think if you wait around for the moment when you feel like you finally don’t care, it might be too late. So my biggest advice is to “do it scared” !

Girl, let me tell you, my heart was RACING when I posted my first Instagram photo announcing to the world that I started my blog. I absolutely still felt scared of judgement when I did it. But I just did it. And TBH, the response was not what I expected. People came out of the woodworks that I hadn’t spoken to in forever and sent me messages of support! My friends and family told me they were proud of me! It was honestly an amazing feeling. Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure a lot of people probably thought “she has lost her mind” or “wow I didn’t realize Katie was so obsessed with herself”… but it’s not like I heard from those people! And even if I had, posting that first post was so empowering, I would kind of feel sad for anyone that felt the need to tear me down because of that! So really, my best advice is just do it scared!

Excuse #5- “I don’t have enough money”

Yep, this excuse wins as the most valid when it’s true. It’s not like you can take out a loan to start your fashion blog! I mean I guess you could, but I don’t recommend that!! If you’ve looked into starting a fashion blog, you’ll notice that there are some expenses involved in starting up! Buying a website, hosting, a domain. Oh and since it’s a FASHION blog, suddenly you’re feeling like you need to be buying a lot more clothes and accessories if you’re gonna keep up. I am telling you right now, you can 100% start your fashion blog and still THRIVE without spending a PENNY!!! It’s all about being creative and resourceful. Break through the assumption that you absolutely must be using the most expensive equipment, website platforms, and buying all the latest fashion. It’s just not true. All you need is a smart phone, and you’re good to go. You can still create high quality content without any of that! The internet is a crazy place, but it really values authenticity. Seriously if you just show up, as your authentic self consistently, it’s easy to grow and succeed!

Feeling a bit more confident in yourself and motivated now? Good! Check out some of my other useful tips that will help you get your blog up and running and even help you to start making money off of it (if that’s your goal!) from the beginning!

Head here for all of my blogging tips / resources