There hasn't been a year that time has flown by so fast as the year of 2013. Lots of new exciting things has happened and a complete new world has opened to me. While writing this post it dawned on me how many 'first times' I've experienced over the past year. First times on my blogging adventure, on private and business matters, feelings and emotions, all of that I love to recap with you guys.
Next to this post being a recap of 2013 this is also my blog's 1 year anniversary! A Exactly one year ago I decided to go all in and I mean literally all in. Set aside my fears and open up myself to new adventures where I'm following my dream. After all, we only live once and and we want to spend our time doing what we are passionate about. Steve Jobs has really motivated me with the speech he held on the Stanford University in 2005. One of the most impressing stories he told was about death. Which may sound quite shocking at first but when you think about how he perceived death it all makes sense. This is what he had to say about it:
"Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart."
Everytime I read or listen to this I get chills all over my body. How tacky it may sound this has been one of the reasons to put away my fears and share with you all that makes me happy. Of course I hope that my blog does something for you as well in the way that it's a source of inspiration. And with all the lovely messages, comments, likes, drawings and letters I can probably conclude that it's appreciated. One of the best experiences is meeting you guys as well. I've met tons of readers/followers and I love doing a little chat and taking photos with you. It's truly one of the most rewarding aspects of blogging and I feel like my readers are the most beautiful, from the inside and out. Of course next to tons of ups, there also have been downs and doubts of me (am I doing the right thing?) and of people around me. Because after all, although I'm setting my fears aside it still does something to me when there are people who are not so positive about what I'm doing. I think that a lot of people don't get how much time blogging takes and that's something all bloggers deal with. Some simply think it's something you do only for fun and it takes several hours a week. When I tell them how much time it actually takes and how many things happen behind the curtains they can't believe it: The creation of the content (what outfit or beauty post), the production (taking photos, editing the photos, writing text, finding the correct links (so you can buy the item), doing photo-shoots and interviews for magazines, attending meetings, updating social media, answering tons of e-mails, reading all of your lovely comments and so on. It's honestly more than a full time job, but I'm not complaining. Every minute I spend doing it I get so much energy out of it and really enjoy the moment.
All these things I've just described are very new to me and are all a first. It was sometimes quite overwhelming and it also brings a little pressure with it, I mean you can never simply take a break even not when you're on a holiday. You have to keep it going, so that's is really where you guys make the difference. You keep me going!
On private matters a lot of first has happened as well: we have moved to a new apartment, my baby niece became one year, blogging became my job, Maurits and I celebrated our 7th anniversary, and as just described I grew a lot on a personal level as well. Taking on new adventures and not playing it safe.
From a business perspective I've been rewarded for the Marie Claire Prix de la Mode 'Best New Media Talent'. Talking about the biggest reward right? I've been nominated for 'Most Promising Fashion Blogger' by Stylight. I will leave for Berlin in Januari where the winner will be announced (fingers crossed). I've reached one million followers on Instagram and I can't even express the feeling. I've been featured on numerous magazines and websites (Marie Claire, Grazia, Elle China, fashionista, Communicatie, Linda, Styletoday, and so on). It's still so crazy to see myself in a magazine, one year ago I could't have hoped for this. I've also been a guest blogger on the Marie Claire website and my biggest feature was in the Marie Claire magazine with 6 pages as well (which is huge)! We have worked with several international brands such as Smart, L'Oréal, Unilever, Liu Jo, Pandora, GiGi NewYork, Le Meridien and many more. I'm under contract with Blogtoday which is a Dutch agent. I've spoken on the Grazia Blogger Masterclass. We restyled the blog and a new restyling is planned for 2014 (got lots of new ideas). My blog has grown from 0 unique visitors to almost 100.000 unique visitors a month and 500.000 pages view a month.
So much has happened in one year and it's crazy. I can only hope, set goals, and work very hard to achieve so much again in the next year. To continue my growth on both a personal and business level and creating even better content a big announcement for this year is: that the person who stood by me the most (next to my parents and sister of course) my boyfriend Maurits will support the blog on a whole other levels from Januari 2014. He has worked at PwC as a Stategic consultant for four years and will now start handling the business side of the blog. A big risks some would say, and we can of course feel the excitement as well. But we're are both super optimistic, passionate and fully believe in it. From now on it's me and him against the world (lol). No but seriously it sometimes feels like this. Having Maurits as a partner now on a business perspective as well will allow me to fully focus on the content. I'm going to do everything I can to give you guys the most interesting and qualitative content. We've planned lots of new trips for the coming year (amongst them, New York, Milan, Paris, Aruba). We are talking to agents in France, Italy, UK, and New york. And most of all we are going to search for a stable working environment. I'm handling criticism of others even better and I will try to not to spend my time explaining and justifying to others what I'm doing. After all, not everyone has to believe in what we're doing.
I'm ready to take on this journey with Maurits and of course all of you guys who have believed in me from the beginning. I hope you guys had an amazing 2013, and hopefully 2014 will be even more amazing. Dare to set your fear aside, follow your dreams, and do more of what makes you Happy! A
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