I am finally back home, for longer than a week, which seems to be such a record breaking time, since I already have 11 trips behind me this year. While travelling and working so much in the past 9 months I learned more than ever, but also compiled quite a few lessons while blogging for over 4 years. I decided to share them with you in todays Monday Confessions, because I think they can be applied to any other job, school or thing you could be working on.
One thing that I think is so important to do at work is to learn from everything. Even when I was doing different jobs, I made sure to reflect every day on what I learned and in that way improve myself. There is so much you can learn from everything, all you need to do is listen, reflect and act. Here are the lessons I value the most.
What I learned:
1.From the designers I admire. Noone makes it over night. Believe it or not I receive 100s of emails every weak from people asking me “How can I make quick money from blogging”. First I consider it rude, because this is not whow you should be getting into this, but also I think that how is it possible that anyone thinks you can make it so quickly in an industry. I spend a lot of time with some of my designer friends, but also had a chance to meet some of the world icons like Stella McCartney or Nicholas Kirkwood, I learned that none made it over night. These people worked for so long before anyone knew them, went through many ups and downs yet never gave up. It takes a while to get to that position, so don’t compare yourself too much to other people, but work onwards your own dreams. After all, you don’t learn to ski today to win a gold medal in one year.
2.From fashion week. Its been three years that I am attending fashion weeks, and besides the stuff I already shared with you I learned something else. Organisation is the foundation to everything. If you fail to prepare, you should prepare to fail. I learned that organising my schedule and prioritising is so important. A lot of shows are at the same time, there are meetings and fittings to fit in. If I just say yes to everything and I don’t schedule in time for lunch, time for travel between different venues and places, I know I will fail to attend something I committed to. I learned that prioritising is extremely important and fitting all the right stuff into the day.
3.From travelling non stop. Besides learning to come prepared to every country I visit, carrying all the relevant electricity adapters and currencies, I also learned that travelling can be exhausting. While travelling its so important to be focused on what is happening around you, because not only there are many pick picketers at main airports and train stations, but also you need to make sure that everything you do and organise is correct. I took around 30 flights last year, and due to severe tiredness one of them I booked for a wrong day. Not only I was stranded at the airport for 12 hours, but I also realised how important it is to do certain stuff while you are rested, focused and not at 4 am. While going back from Paris last year, I forgot brand new boots worth of 900€ at the train station because previously I had two sleepless nights. That thought me that you can’t be doing that to my body, and even though I love to work, in order to do everything correctly your priority is your health. Make sure to rest, and whatever you do to give 100% of your focus.
4.From experience. Good quality is not so common. People often tell me “Its so hard to make it nowadays because everyone is a blogger” No, not really. Even though there are so many bloggers now days there are not that many who produce good quality content, or even if they have quality they don’t have consistency. I rarely find blogs that have good quality content that I haven’t heard of, that is because good quality always reaches the top.
5.From meetings. When you are a talkative person like me, meetings can sometimes go in the wrong direction. When I started blogging I realised that a lot of times brands would like to talk about my trips, new purchases, who are my favourite bloggers, what I think about Kim Kardashian’s new hair, and often would invite me for more drinks and lunches. It wouldn’t really make impact on my work, it was just happening because I am very approachable, open and sociable. Now I make sure that I know the reason for the meeting, that I do the work first, discuss my ambitions and then to chat about everything else. Don’t let other people waste your time on irrelevant stuff, time is precious, which is why you should use it wisely.
6.From negotiating. You need to know your value. Of course I would love to pay £200 for a Valentino bag instead of 1300£, however thats not its price. I won’t go to Harrods offering £200 for it because I know its value, but I also won’t offer £5000 because later on I would know it wasn’t worth it. Same is with negotiating. Set your prices right, make sure that they are correct for the market value, do the research before you set the prices and then make sure that your client will get enough from what they are paying for. If I hear that a blogger got paid more than me for doing the same job, I am not upset, because I charged my price and I know that if I charged more it would be unfair because brand could possibly realise later on that it wasn’t worth it. The same goes for if the brand says they can’t afford my price, I just walk away because I can’t justify the hours I put in for less. Make sure to know your price, to be fair and to deliver amazing quality.
7.From blogger friends. You do not mix friendship and business. People who do this are very unprofessional. I learned from my blogger friends that even though we are friends we all have businesses to run, and even though a lot of times we try to help each other, share contacts and experiences we still have to be serious at work and not let it suffer because of the friendship. If I am running late to a meeting and a friend wants me to shoot her at that moment, it means she is a) very selfish, b) doesn’t want you to do good. Being a real friend means also supporting your friend when they need support, but also understanding that when at work or during working hours you aren’t just friends but business people too. Cut out of your life all the people who lack professionalism and who drag you down, its not your job to guide them (both in school and work).
8.From my readers. I learned the biggest lessons from my readers, and the same would be in any business from the customer. What is good and what is plain bad. What they want to say and what they don’t care about. My readers thought me that they love Monday Confessions, Videos, Outfits, Travel posts, I learned to give you variety of content and to always give more.
9.From my parents I learned that hard work pays off. I spent my childhood looking at my parent get dressed for work and coming back late day after day. I realised also that in order to be happy you have to work. I realised that lazy people aren’t happy, inspiring or successful and I wanted to be all of the three. Just hard work doesn’t always give success, but trying over and over and not giving up under failure is what I learned from my parents. Work until you made it is the moto.
10.From succesful businesses. Its ok to feel scared. I often think if things will work out, and realised that everyone does. Even if you compare yourself to your biggest idols, they also are scared that their big projects or new ideas might not bring in as much as they would hope for. Its ok to feel scared, just don’t let that fear get in the way of you doing stuff.
These are the top 10 lessons I learned and things I run my business by. Make sure to appreciate yourself, to work hard, to give time, to rest, to be surrounded by right people, to stay focused and to produce quality. Nothing happens overnight, so don’t give up and dream big. Wishing you a lovely week ahead, and remember that even a 20 000 km journey starts with one step.
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Konacno sam se vratila kuci i ovde biti malo duze od nedelju dana, sto je rekord jer sam od pocetka godine bila na 11 putovanja. Od kako sam napustila farmaciju putovanja i posao su se stopili u jedno, ali sam iz svega toga naucila bezbroj stvari kao i u poslednjih 4 godine blogovanja. Odlucila sam da sve to podelim sa vama u Ispovestima ponedeljkom, jer mislim da ih mozete primeniti u bilo kom drugom poslu, skoli, i projektima na kojim radite.
Jedna stvar koja je izuzetno vazna jeste da sve sto uradite na kraju dana analizirate i iz toga izvucete pouku. Cak i kada sam radila razlicite poslove trudila sam se da iz njih izvucem sta god mogu. Izvucite najbolje iz svake situacije, slusajte, analizirajte i primenite. Ovo su lekcije koje najvise vrednujem.
Sta sam naucila:
1.Od dizajnera kojima se divim. Niko ne postigne uspeh preko noci. Verovali ili ne primim preko 100 emailova nedeljno od devojaka koje me pitaju kako da zarade pare od bloga na brzinu. PRe svega smatram da je to veoma nekulturno, jer ne saqmo sto ne biste trebali ulaziti u ovaj posao radi “brze zarade” vec mislim i da je besmisleno mislite da mozete na brzinu postici nesto u bilo kojoj industriji. Provodim mnogo vremena sa prijateljima koji su dizajneri, ali sam takodje imala i neverovatnu priliku da upoznam neke od svetskih dizajnerskih ikona kao sto su Stella Mc Cartney i Nicholas Kirkwood, od njih sam naucila da niko do uspeha ne dolazi preko noci. Ovi ljudi su radili i pre nego sto ih je iko poznavao, prosli kroz razne uspehe i padove ali nikada nisu odustali. Treba mnogo vremena da dodjete u tu poziciju, zato radite ka svojim snovima i ne uporedjujte se sa ljudima. Uostalom ne ucite danas da skijate kako biste za godinu dana osvojili zlato na olimpijadi.
2.Od nedelje mode. Vec tri godine posecujem internacionalne nedelje mode i osim stvari koje sam vec podelila sa vama naucila sam jos nesto. Dobra organizacija je baza svega. Ako ne uspete da se pripremite, pripremite se za neuspeh. Naucila sam da pravljenje realnog rasporeda i prioriteti su najbitniji. Mnogo revija je u isto vreme, a tu su onda i sastanci i posete dizajnerima koje treba negde uglaviti. Ako svemu kazem DA i ne napravim raspored u kom sam uvrstila i pauzu za rucak i vreme koje mi treba sa tacke A na tacku B, znam da cu non stop kasniti i da necu uspeti da se pojavim na nekim vaznim dogadjajima gde sam se obavezala da cu doci. Naucila sam da su prioriteti bitni, te dobra organizacija koja vam omogucava da uradite sve neophodno.
3.Od stalnog putovanja. Osim sto sam naucila da u svaku zemlju moram doci pripremljena za sve sto me ocekuje. Ukljucujuci spakovanu odgovarajucu valutu za taj prvi taxi, kao i adaptere za struju, naucila sam i da putovanje moze biti zaista iscrpljujuce za telo i um. Dok putujete jako je bitno da ste totalno koncentrisani na sve sto se desava oko vas, na glavnim svetskim aerodromima i zeleznickim stanicama ima mnogo lopova kao i ljudi koji vam mogu nesto podvaliti. Zato sve sto uradite i organizujete dok putujete mora biti pod vasom punom koncentracijom. Mislim da sam prosle godine letela preko 30 puta a zbog ogromog umora jedan let sam rezervisala za pogresan datum. Ne samo da sam ostala zarobljena na aerodromu preko 12 sati, vec sam shvatila koliko je bitno neke stvari raditi kada ste odmorni, fokusirani i ne u 4 ujutru. Kada sam se vracala iz Pariza prosle godine jednom prilikom zaboravila sam tek kupljene cizme vredne 900€ na peronu zeleznicke stanice. Pre toga nisam spavala dve noci i bila sam pre iscrpljena,a um mi je vristao od gomile informacija. To me je naucilo da ne smem to raditi svom telu, te da je zdravlje prioritet. Odmorite se i sta god da radite neka bude pod sto postotnom koncentracijom.
4.Iz iskustva. Visok kvalitet nije toliko ucestao. Ljudi mi cesto kazu “U danasnje vreme je tesk ouspeti kao bloger jer postoji vise miliona blogera”. Zapravo se ne slazem. Iako ima mnogo blogova u danasnje vreme, nema onih koji pruzaju visok kvalitet, eventualno ako imaju kvalitet, nisu redovni. Skoro nikada ne pronadjem dobar blog za koji nisam ranije cula, to je zato sto visok kvalitet uglavnom pronadje put ka vrhu kad tad.
5.Sa sastanaka. Kada ste pricljiva osoba kao ja sastanci nekada mogu otici u pogresnom smeru. Kada sam posela blogovanje shvatila sam da brendovi na sastanku vole da pricaju o raznim temama, mojim putovanjima, novoj torbi, omiljenim blogerima, pa cak i sta mislim o novoj frizuri Kim Kardashian. Cesto bi me pozvali na ruckove i pica, ali ja ne dodjem na sastanak kako bih stekla nova prijateljstva. Posto sam veoma otvorena, jednostavna i prijateljski nastrojena osoba moji saradnici bi se izgubili i pricali o stvarima koje ne bi doprineli mom poslu. Zato sam naucila da kada odlazim na sastanak prvo pokrenem temu posla, zavrsim sa svim kljucnim tackama, mojim ambicijama i sta zelim da postignem zajednickom saradnjom, a onda mozemo pricati o cemu god. Ne dozvolite drugim ljudima da trace vase vreme. Vreme je od visoke vrednosti zato ga trosite mudro.
6.Iz pregovaranja. Morate znati svoju vrednost. Naravno da bih volela da platim Valentino torbu £200 umesto £1300, ali no nije njena vrednost na trzistu. Necu otici u Harrods i ponuditi £200 zato sto toliko imam u dzepu, ali isto tako necu ponuditi £5000 jer znam da bih kasnije ukapirala da sam novac bacila. Isto je i sa vrednoscu sati i talenta koji ulozite u nesto. Postavite svoje cene realno, neka budu korektne u odnosu na cene kompetitora, uradite istrazivanje i budite sigurni da ce vas klijent dobiti dovoljno za te pare. Kada cujem da je neki bloger dobio vise novaca za isti posao nikada se ne rastuzim, jer znam da sam ja naplatila moju cenu i da kada bih naplatiila vise brend mozda ne bi dobio dovoljno za te pare. Ipak su odnosi sa brendovima veoma bitni i morate biti fer. Isto vazi i za brendove koji ne mogu da plate moju cenu, do saradnje ne dodje, jer ja ne mogu da opravdam sate koje ulozim u posao za pare koje nisu ono sto regularno naplacujem. Budite svesni svoje cene, neka bude realna ali ne radite za nedovoljno.
7.Od prijatelja blogera. Ne mesajte prijateljstvo i posao. Ljudi koji ovo rade su prilicno neprofesionalni. Naucila sam od prijatelja blogera da iako smo prijatelji imamo svoje poslove i kompanije koje vodimo, provodimo mnogo vremena pomazuci jedni drugima, delimo iskustva, savete i kontakte, ali kada se radi-radi se i posao ne sme da pati zbog prijateljstva. Ako kasnim na sastanak a drugarica zeli da je bas tada slikam to znaci da je ili a) sebicna ili b)ne zeli da uspete. Biti dobar prijatelj podrazumeva podrzavati prijatelja kada mu treba podrska ali isto tako ne biti mu kamen oko vrata. Izbacite iz svog zivota ljude kojima nedostaje profesionalizma koji vas vuku dole, nije vas posao da oni uspeju (u skoli i poslu).
8. Od mojih citatelja. Naucila sam najvece lekcije od citatelja, a isto u poslu mozete od svojih kupaca i korisnika. Sta je dobro a sta je lose, sta ih zanima a sta ih uopste ne interesuje. Moji citatelji su me naucili da zele Ispovesti Ponedeljkom, Videe, Outfite, Postove sa Putovanja. Naucila sam da vam pruzam raznovrsnost i da tezim ka napredku.
9. Od mojih roditelja. Naucila sam da se ogroman rad i trud isplati. Provela sam detinjstvo gledajuci roditelje kako rade, kako se spremaju na posao i kako dolaze kuci kasno uvece. Shvatila sam da je kljuc za srecu zapravo rad. Naucila sam da lenji ljudi nisu srecni, da ne inspirisu druge i da nisu uspesni. Sam rad ne donosi uspeh u 100% slucajeva, ali ako ste uporni i ne posustajete pod neuspehom doci cete do rezultata. To sam naucila od roditelja kao i da radim dok ne postignem ono sto sam htela.
10. Od uspesnih koorporacija. Razgovarajuci sa uspesnim poslovodjama i citajuci Forbes naucila sam da je sasvim ok biti uplasen. Cesto razmisljam da li ce mi nesto poci za rukom i sta ako ne podje, ali onda shvatim da i rugi ljudi isto razmisljaju. Cak i ako se uporedite sa svojim najvecim idolima, i oni su nekada imali, odnosno imaju ovakve strahove. Sasvim je uredu biti uplasen, ali nek strah ne stoji na putu izmejdu vas i uspeha.
Ovo je 10 omiljenih lekcija koje sam naucila vodeci svoj posao. Cenite sebe, radite, dopustite vremenu da uradi svoje, okruzite se pravim ljudima, pruzite kvalitet. Nista se ne desava preko noci, zato ne odustajte od svojih snova i budite ambiciozni. Zelim vam divnu nedelju, a ne zaboravite da i put od 20 000 km pocinje prvim korakom.