What It’s like Being My Own Boss

Sometimes I still can’t believe that I’m my own boss. Actually, scratch that. I am so lucky to be my own boss at 26, and I honestly always knew I would be. In high school I wrote down a rough 10-year plan. I wanted to move to New York, work for an editorial magazine, go on my own by 25 and make a name for myself in the industry by 26. I no longer have the written list, but for some reason those goals have been ingrained in my mind for the past 10 years. I moved to New York, I worked for several editorial publications, I ended up leaving my magazine job at 23 and now as I enter my 26th year, I’m really freaking happy where I’m at in the industry right now.

I strongly believe in the power of intention, writing down and vocalizing my dreams and goals, and that hard work, a good attitude and flexibility leads to incredible opportunities. This coming year I’m entering a new chapter in my career and my life, and I really want to take you along on this journey. I normally don’t show too much behind-the-scenes of my work life or the ins and outs of being my own boss, managing a team and two businesses, but I finally feel like I’m really ready to share this part of my life with you guys. I’ve been asking my Instagram fam (if you don’t follow me already, go give me a follow!) what they want to see this year, and a majority of you want to hear more about my career, what it’s like working for myself, my day-to-day and styling tutorials. Well, I hear you loud and clear and I’m so excited to start creating this type of content for you all.

Now, some of you might be thinking, what do I exactly mean when I say that “I finally feel ready to share” my life with you. For the most part, I share about 80% of what goes on in my life on social media or the blog. I talk about my jobs, what I’m working on, etc. but I never really touch on the back end of the business because to be completely frank, it can be challenging. If you’re a manager or a small business owner, I’m sure you agree with me that being your own boss is not all rainbows and sunshine.

I just hit two years of being completely on my own, and these past years have been the most challenging, yet rewarding years of my life. At times I wanted to call it quits and go back to a desk job, part of me wanted to leave New York, another part of me wanted to stop blogging and then there was the complete chaos of trying to maintain a personal life. Dating? Nope, didn’t really happen. Free time? That’s cute, but no. Self care and regular gym workouts? As if. I honestly didn’t want to share much of the BTS of my life because I didn’t feel like I had it together. I was trying to be 10 different departments at once and I was working around the clock. For most of 2018 I focused on everything I wasn’t doing, versus all of the great things that did happened. It was a lesson I needed to learn and when I finally sat down in December to recap my year, I was mad at myself for not appreciating all the little steps, and missteps that brought me to today.

These two years I have learned that there really is no such thing as balance when you work for yourself. Last year I wrote a piece about how I work an 80-hour work week (read here). I know, I know, you think I’m crazy. And most days I agree, but I would take that over a desk job any day. I love waking up and working on a new project or with a new client each week. For the most part I’m in charge of my schedule, my projects/clients and what I’m doing. It’s a new challenge and experience almost every week and it never gets boring. I’m excited to put in the time and work long days because it’s for myself. I want to share this piece of my life with you because while on social media it can look glamorous, I want you to know that there is a lot of behind-the-scenes work that goes into each project, that if you’re also an entrepreneur, that you’re not alone in these feelings or challenges, and the whole idea of instant success and a picture perfect life is complete crap.

While my schedule, and my paychecks, are always a little unpredictable, I’ve learned to go with it. The highs, the lows, the hustle, the breakdowns or freak outs, but also appreciating all of the good that comes with the chaos of working for myself. Over the past two years I have refined my work ethic, learned to delegate and work with an incredible team of people, and I learned to say no, prioritize my schedule and also accept that my to-do list will never not have something on it.

So what can you expect for me in 2019? I’ll be taking you more behind-the-scenes of my day-to-day life. What I’m working on, who my team is, the crazy schedules and struggles I’m working through, business/company updates and an opportunity for us to talk business, fashion or anything you want. I love the community we have built, and I’m delighted to take you on this adventure. xo