influencing.

Hey all!  Time for some recap of my journey so far.  So it’s been about four months since I decided to take the guardrails off of my Instagram account and go public.

For years I have been posting privately on Facebook and Instagram a visual diary of our family, our lives, and our matching outfits.  I had a great, loyal following of close friends and family, and many would often reach out to ask where I got the outfits, my makeup, where we recommend going in different areas for lodging, eating, etc.  

So I started to feel like I’d been an influencer in my own orbit, but also that I could be missing out on the chance to impact a lot more lives.  In November of last year, I decided to give this little business – Fashion Meets Jess – a try and just see where it takes me.  I went from about 100 followers to over 10k in just a few short months, and it has been such a fun ride!

I have worked with a few major brands so far, and have connections with Amazon, Pink Lily, Pinkblush, Sassy Queen, Magnolia Boutique (of Indianapolis), to name a few.  Those relationships are still in their infancy, but I’ve already seen quite a bit of traction on my LTK (Like to Know It) account in terms of sales.  I never started this as a means to make money – I did this because I’ve always been good with fashion and design, and think our family and our journey is worth following and sharing.  

Most influencers that have been doing this for a while warn that things have changed since a few years ago, and algorithms bury posts and make it so hard for new voices to break through.  My thought on that is that I was doing all of this before going public for fun, and I will continue doing it after going public regardless of how large my follower base grows.  I really to enjoy it, and also find that many others seem to enjoy it as well.

But even if I never gain another follower, I still have such a blast picking out outfits, sharing them, finding fun stories to share and to tell, and interaction with all the lovely people out there on the Gram.  I have made some great new friends, and just feel like over the long-haul I will be able to continue to grow my reach and influence.