I love the age we live in now. Due to the internet, we live in unprecedented times where the world truly is your oyster. People are increasingly moving away from traditional career paths in favour of an entrepreneurial journey. Thanks to the internet, we’re empowered to either create a job or business that works for us full-time or work on our passions as a side hustle. It’s the age of the multi-hyphenate and it’s hella empowering. In this post, I’m going to write about why that’s a wonderful thing and why it’s so important to support your friends in their endeavours.
While I love the new era the internet has ushered in as it’s giving everyone more freedom to shape their lives, I think it’s particularly empowering for women. The influencer industry really bucks the trend of a male-dominated world as one of the few industries which are predominantly female, approximately 77% of influencers are women. I love the freedom it gives women, particularly when deciding to start a family, from becoming a parenting blogger to setting up a freelance business or consulting, there is more autonomy and choice than ever before.
And while women are working hard to set up their businesses and forge their own paths, you also have a part to play. It’s super important to support your friends and their businesses. Most people think nothing of double tapping Beyonce’s latest IG post, picking up a few bits from Rihanna’s Fenty beauty line and dropping £100 on tickets to the Spice Girls. It’s as important, if not more so, to have the same energy for your girl gang. Trust me, it means so much more to someone who doesn’t have one million followers and a team behind them.
A decade ago when I started blogging, it was much easier to grow an engaged audience quickly. Over the years, it’s gotten much more difficult due to increased competition and ever-changing algorithms. With so many people entering the influencer space or setting up their businesses, it’s much harder to get noticed so every bit of support and help could make a difference to someone’s day not to mention their business. Every time one of my friends shows me their support it means so much and I always pay it forward and support my girl gang as much as possible.
If you want to know how to support your friends, here are some ideas:
Like and comment on their social media posts.
I’m not one to complain about the Instagram algorithm but let’s just say everyone is struggling at the moment, whether you have 2k followers or 200k. A simple like and comment takes a couple of minutes but will help your pal’s content get seen by more people.
Buy their products, books or tickets if you’re able to.
If you’re able to financially support your friend’s businesses, that’s truly amazing as it’s so important. Each sale or seat sold will mean so much.
RT or share their content.
Every share helps and you never know, their next customer might be on your timeline/feed!
Tell them you’re proud of them.
Words of encouragement are worth their weight in gold, especially for someone running a business on their own. Words of Affirmation are one of the key love languages too 🙂
I wanted to end this post by highlighting some of the incredible women I’m proud of and love to support:
Lorna – Lorna Luxe.
Lorna is one of my favourite influencers to follow, her style is impeccable, her captions are hilarious and she is one of the most genuine people on social media. She’s also one of the most hardworking, earlier this year she launched her first collection with In The Style and the pre-sale hour ended up being the company’s most successful hour of trading in history! I’ve bought several pieces from her collections and can’t wait to snap up some more.
Erim – Erimstagram.
Erim and I became pals after I spied her on my timeline, she wore an Indian outfit to her graduation and I loved how she was repping her culture. Over a year later, I’m proud to call her a friend and I’m even more proud of everything she’s achieved. I always make sure I like and comment on her posts when I see them on my Instagram feed.
Tinuke – Circus Mums and Tinuke B Photography.
Tinuke and I go way back. We’ve been friends for over a decade and I remember encouraging her to start blogging when her first daughter was a toddler. Now, she’s a successful parenting blogger and started her photography business. I was one of her early clients and still love shooting with her.
Kylie – Kylie Eyra Portraits.
Kylie is another pal I’ve known for years, we were part of the OG fashion blogger crew back in 2010! Since then, Kylie has started her own photography business and works with some incredible clients including Ella from Coco’s Tea Party, Carl from Hawkins and Shepherd and me! I’ve worked with Kylie for about a year now and really credit her for taking natural pictures which inspire my writing.
Audrey – Frassy Audrey and Audrey Leighton Vintage.
I met Audrey about a year ago on a press trip to Paris. Back then, she was a fierce, driven woman and I’m happy to say not much has changed! I adore her visuals, she’s continually pushing the boundaries and raising the standards of influencer photography. She’s also an incredible photographer, writes so beautifully and has launched her own vintage business. She sources the best vintage pieces across Europe – including designer pieces – and curates the most beautiful monthly drops. The next one is in about 3 weeks time and I’m counting down the day!
Callie – Callie Thorpe.
Callie is a force of nature and one of my favourite people on the internet. I always knew she was ace but we really bonded during a taxi journey from SFO airport to downtown San Francisco, talking about how underrepresented plus sized women and women of colour are. I really admire how Callie uses her platform to push for diversity and inclusion. Her Instagram page, The Confidence Corner, is a much-needed place of positivity on the internet.
Top – Lorna Luxe x In The Style | Jeans – Topshop | Shoes – Topshop (past season) | Belt – vintage | Bag – Chloe (past season)
Photography by Lauren Dudley Photography.
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