Apps, things and people you NEED in your life to make blogging an easier task and have further your creative abilities. Maybe I’ll even continue this as a “Life Hacks” series- let me know what else you want to see!
I use Planoly to upload all my photos before posting them to Instagram, and though it isn’t such a big deal now in 2020 to have a perfectly curated feed, I still like my photos to be in the same colourstory at the very least.
I love StoriesEdit for creating cute graphics for my Instagram stories or even wallpapers and quiz sheets! I used to pay for Unfold but I would honestly say this is similar and has so many design options FOR FREE!
Get the Lightroom app to edit your photos and create your own presets! A totally free app and when used after Photo Editor, why pay for photoshop at all? I have also been loving VSCO (classic).
Characters is where I get all these cute hearts and things ☻♡❥☼★ that I use in my bios or stories and not many people know about it!
I LOVE Canva for creating Youtube Thumbnails or Pinterest graphics.
I got my marble slab years ago but if you are into flatlays, pick up a slab from Home Depot or HomeSense to make your pictures that much better.
Make a name for yourself locally before you grow worldwide. Your friends and family will be there whether you have 1 follower or 1,000,000. Ask them to follow, like, share, comment and best of all: proofread your work before posting! (Shoutout to my mother and sisters who give their time to shoot with me and read over every single blog post the internet has ever seen of mine). My teacher once told me, read it outloud to yourself so you can hear the mistakes after thinking you’ve seen them all.
From there, shop at local brands and reach out to work with them! Then work up to getting big brand deals with multi million dollar companies. You gotta start somewhere. I absolutely love all the brands I have worked with and love recognizing business owners and retailers downtown.
“Surround yourself with people who talk about visions and ideas, not other people.”
– unknown
Become friends with people in the industry– It is so inspiring to hang out with people who never run out of ideas and are always encouraging on upcoming projects and willing to help. I have needed so much help over the years with photography and web design and have met some amazing people who are willing to help me out and if they ever have blog related questions, I would be more than happy to be of assistance. Plus, creatives can charge SO MUCH for what they do and it sucks when you’re starting out with the budget of an alley rat.
Be true to yourself and post in real time. I’m saying when you’re out and about in town and taking pictures on a Sunday afternoon post them when you get home not the next Thursday night. I am so glad Instagram came out with stories and we finally got some cute filters on so I can be more active! Obviously I shoot a couple outfits in a day and wait to post each one but stories are more accessible and in the moment. Someone once told me “don’t post anything you aren’t proud of.” While this might sound silly to some, I think about this before every picture I post! Am I proud of this? Am I okay letting thousands of people see this, screenshot and send it to their friends? There is no point posting just to post because you want to be active. If I like a picture I take, I will post it, if not, it will go on my stories or never see the light of day.
xx Marley
I hope you enjoy these takeaways and learn as much as I did!
