One year later

Now, I know that may sound a bit vague but it refers to the fact that on Thursday, it was one year since I started building the website/online store. Yes, this very site with the blog and everything else in between went under construction this time last year. The journey that I have undergone to take everything fully online and to get this going began a year ago.

I knew that I wanted things to look a certain way, that way had to represent me and my personality as well as my brand in a way that it stood out from the crowd and by the looks of things, that goal has been achieved well beyond even my expectations.

I am so impressed with how things have turned out. It has been live for just over nine months and in those nine months, we have reached over 1000 users, more than 30 countries and more than 160 cities. The page has also garnered over 2000 page views for all the individual pages that make up the site. I am extremely proud of all of this and it has been done almost completely organically. This has been a tough journey but a journey that has been well worth it. A decision I will never regret, was doing what I did. A part of me wishes I had done it alot sooner but when I did eventually get down to it, I'm glad that I got it done.

So, in short, this was when the site was conceived and the process began, a process which took three months to complete but was done by my own hand and a site that I am extremely proud of. From the day, it was launched it has gained traffic almost immediately. That is because while it was under construction, I was keeping people informed on my social media pages throughout the whole journey. So, people knew what was happening. Many underestimate the power of social media. It has given me a platform to tell people exactly what was going on and when things would be complete. I promised myself that when I set a date for something to be done, it would get done and I did achieve that goal. It was done a few hours later than planned but it got done on that day.

I even gave people a sneak peek as to how it would look, about three weeks before hand and it garnered alot of attention, so interest got piqued well ahead of time. We are in an age where people and businesses in particular need to get online and use social media to get their message across, otherwise they will fall behind. I see it happening everyday, businesses close their doors because they are not online or not using it enough. From the time I launched the Facebook page, it began as a struggle but I eventually figured things out and it has gone from strength to strength.

You see this face? this is the face of a young woman, who used her brain, and got with the times, put herself and her brand online to get to the masses to not only sell a product which is crafted by her own hand but also so get the message out there to embrace our uniqueness and quirks and flaws and not be afraid to show their true and authentic self. It has taken me a long time to do this myself because I had a lot of demons that I had to battle but I faced each and every one of them and came out on top, stronger than I have ever been. The minute I decide that I am going to do something in particular, I get it done so when I made the decision to build this, I got straight to it almost immediately. I am very proud of the work I have put in and continue to put in every day, I have found the confidence I need to just be my true and authentic self and I will continue to encourage each and every one of you to #beyourself #loveyourself.

I do this by combining all of my pieces in my #ootd's, this is today's one in the picture and here is yesterday's one.

This necklace in this picture has featured previously in #ootd but it was a different outfit and was in the early stages of #ootd. From here on out I found the confidence as well as myself in a very unique way to be able to put everything together so effortlessly. I actually like this necklace alot and as you can see, this is probably the most justice this necklace has been done with the top I'm wearing.

There are going to be many anniversaries with regard to the store over the coming months as the one year anniversary of going live draws closer at the end of May. Since that day, everything has just gone from strength to strength and will just continue to grow in amazing and beautiful ways. It is scary how the past year has flown by like this. From the time I started this was when I truly started to really grow into the woman that I have always known myself to be. I made a promise to myself 11 years ago, that I was going to make myself happy by following my dreams in my own way

For a long time now, it has always been suggested to mme how I must advertise my products and what I must do but what people need to unerstand is that I am not everyone else, I have a bold and eccentric personality and I have the tendency to show things in a bright and colourful way, it is just how I am and I will not be anybody but me. I understand that people are trying to help and make it easier but in actual fact, you are suggesting that I lock myself away again and follow the pack, I don't follow the pack. I follow my own path which is true to my heart and soul and that is the person that people see today. That person is here to stay so get used to it.

So, until next time when I celebrate another milestone during my #birthdaymonth, I will see y'all soon

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