dress | heels | bracelets (wearing multiple. Shop all bracelets individually below) | earrings | lipstick
THANK YOU.
First thing’s first, I want to start by saying thank you. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for supporting The Chic AF. To everyone who has followed along on this journey with me for the past year, I can’t thank you enough. You have absolutely no idea what your support means to me. For that, I am grateful for each and every one of you.
On this night last year, I was two glasses of wine deep. Actually, to be completely honest, I tossed the second glass of wine back in one large swig because I was so nervous to hit the “go” button. You see, my blog had actually been live for 10 days before I told anyone about it. What would other people think? I stressed about this for 10 days straight. Then I realized: why am I allowing the opinions of others to hold me back from doing what I want to do? After tons of encouragement from family and friends (who said I should have done this years ago — and I should have listened to them), I finally posted an announcement to my 1400 followers on Instagram and introduced The Chic AF. (Click here to read my post about celebrating launch day. LOLLLLLL, how things change in a year!)
My Takeaways From Year One
This past year has been a wild ride that has taught me so much. I taught myself a countless number of things that I’m still improving upon every single day. To name a few: social media marketing, WordPress, SEO, KPIs, coding, branding, conversion rates, building an email list, photography, content planning, staying organized, the list goes on and on. I’ve spent hours upon hours engulfed in YouTube videos, Pinterest articles, and podcasts to try to soak up any information possible in order to build my business.
More importantly than any of the above learnings, I learned about myself. As cliche as it sounds, I’ve grown more in the past year than I ever thought possible. This past year has reminded me how supportive my friends and family are, and for them, I am forever grateful. It’s an incredible feeling to know I have supportive people in my life who are cheering me on. When I’m feeling down, or doubting myself, I am able to call or text these people. I have to admit, I’m getting weirdly emotional right now just thinking about them. Is that weird?!
This has been such an emotional rollercoaster, and they have believed in me more than I’ve believed in myself at times, which says a lot about them. To my family, friends, and coworkers (who are also my friends, but you know who you are!): your support means more to me than you know. Your “likes” on my photos, your replies to my Instagram stories, your verbal support, when you make sure to shop from my links, when you allow me to annoy the sh*t out of you by making you take photos of me… everything. I may not say it enough, but it’s because I don’t know how to. A blog is not a one-woman show. There are a lot of people behind the scenes that help me to grow my business in so many different ways. So to those people, I LOVE YOU!
With that being said, the blog has also shown me who is not so supportive — and for that, I am also grateful. I only want positive and supportive people in my life. It’s taken some time, but this year I learned that it’s not my issue if other people choose not to support my dreams. Sure, it’s disappointing, but I think it says more about them than it says about me.
Some Bigger Lessons…
I’ve learned to care less about what other people think, which is something that has taken lots of time. To be completely honest, this is something I’m still working on every single day. The blog also taught me that I have an exceptionally strong work ethic. I have always been someone who has been unsure of what my future looks like career-wise. I’ve never known what direction my life was headed in, and I never felt particularly passionate about anything. Unfortunately, with lack of passion comes quite a bit of unhappiness. Creating my own business has been extremely hard work that has brought so much joy into my life. New life motto: DO WHAT BRINGS YOU JOY! I don’t care what it is. I mean, unless it’s dangerous or weird. But if it makes you happy, just do it.
Because of the blog, and because my comfort zone truly doesn’t even exist anymore, I feel more confident than ever before. I mean, I walked in a freaking FASHION SHOW this year!! Sure, I took a tequila shot and drank multiple glasses of champagne to calm myself down beforehand, but that’s neither here nor there. The point is, I was absolutely terrified. But I still did it, and I have The Chic AF blog to thank for that opportunity.
I also learned that the comparison game is an absolute joke that no one should ever take part in. Before I started my blog, I used to compare myself to others alllllll the time. Sure, I still compare myself to other people, but I’m able to dismiss those thoughts much easier. The truth is, I know more about the “behind the scenes” of Instagram now, and I know about editing apps. I know that Instagram is purely a highlight reel. This is why I try to be extremely open about everything, and why I often post “behind the scenes” photos to my story. I document getting hair extensions, getting a spray tan, getting botox, or whatever the case may be. I want people to know what goes on behind the scenes and I always want to keep it real.
Enjoying The Ride
One major thing I’ve learned is to enjoy the ride and to be proud of how far I’ve come. It’s sometimes hard not to get ahead of myself. I am always wanting more and more, and when things are not moving forward, I get down on myself. What I always seem to forget is that at this time last year, I couldn’t have even imagined being where I am today. I have collaborated with some of my favorite brands and boutiques, and am currently working on even more collaborations for the future.
I’ve also met some incredible people through my blog. It’s crazy to think I didn’t know they existed a year ago! Sure, the “ride” is long and it involves a ton of hard work, but it’s also brought amazing people into my life and new friendships that I am so thankful for.
How I’ve Grown My Blog
If you are reading this and you’re curious about ways I’ve grown my business so far, here are a few ways. I’m thinking of writing a more in-depth blog post on this topic in the future, but for now, here we are!
- Podcasts: The Influencer Podcast, Simple Pin Podcast, and Raw Milk. If anyone has any other suggestions, please leave a comment and let me know!
- Pinterest articles. I have an entire Pinterest album just for blog information. I’ve saved just about everything you could ever possibly need to this board, and it has really helped me. Follow me on Pinterest!
- Pitch It Perfect by Julie Solomon. This is truly an investment, but it has helped me tremendously and has given me the confidence I needed to pitch to brands. Because of this course, I recently landed my first comped hotel deal. I never would have had the confidence to reach out to hotels without taking this course.
- Giveaways. Word to the wise: be careful with these. At least two or three times a week, I receive DMs from complete strangers asking me to join their giveaways. These DMs usually provide very little information. They simply ask if I’d like to join, and how much I would need to contribute. I usually decline these invitations, because I don’t know these people. I want to be careful with the amount of giveaways I participate in, because I don’t want my followers to think I’m not being genuine. My advice to you is to only participate in giveaways if you know the other girls you’re going in on the giveaway with, and if you’re doing it to give back to your followers to thank them for supporting you. Don’t just join multiple giveaways a month simply to grow your following — your followers will notice, and it will look spammy!
Well, there you have it. My learnings from year one of The Chic AF. I am SO excited to see what else is in store for me, and I can’t wait to see how much more I continue to grow throughout year two. Thank you so much for following along with me and supporting my journey. I know the best is yet to come.
xo, Ashlen
Shop my one year anniversary look below!
