If your dreams don’t scare you, they aren’t big enough.
When visiting New York anything and everything seems possible. Maybe it has to do with the fact that in New York you have to work to make things happens. Nothing just falls into your lap. While I do love living in Louisville I sometimes am left feeling one of two ways, entitled or inadequate. Both of which are incredibly detrimental to what I’m trying to accomplish.
On one hand, I’m a big fish in a little pond here in Louisville, and because of that I sometimes feel as if local brands and businesses should reach out to me. I mean, international brands do it, why shouldn’t they? Then I realized that the reason that the larger brands are reaching out to me is because they understand what most businesses in rural America don’t, that bloggers are an untapped marketing source (until now that is, wait until you see what I have up my sleeve and coming your way in November). Because of that I’ve began to reach out to more local businesses in regards to sponsored posts or collaborations, and I’m happy to say that I’ll be working with 21c here in Louisville (for a “Stay Local, Shop Local” post for the Holidays) come December, and I’m talking with another hotel in Indianapolis to do the same. Why, you may ask? Well, because as a recent article I read pointed out, Louisville is just a few hours away from most major cities (just another reason to move here y’all), and I plan on taking full advantage of that by starting a “Weekend Road Trip ” series. If you’re in any of our surrounding cities, such as Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Nashville, St. Louis, or Chicago, and have a place I should check out, let me know in a comment below.
While on the other hand, I sometimes feel like large, international brands don’t want to work with this little blogger from Kentucky if they’ve not reached out to me. Finally I realized this mindset was doing NOTHING to further my career. Sometimes we have to step outside our comfort zone, risk rejection, and hope for the best. This morning I decided to reach out to an incredibly large, international cosmetic company in regards to working together on a “No Shave November” post, and to my surprise received a response from them a few hours after reaching out. I’m happy to say that I’ll be working with Lush on a post talking about my favorite time of the year, No Shave November.
Basically, what I’m trying to say is that just because you may not be playing in the major leagues because of your location, a current life situation, or certain circumstances doesn’t mean that you can’t step up to bat with the big boys. At the end of the day you’re the only one standing in your way. I’d rather know what happened, rather wonder what would’ve happened.
Plaid: Devil’s Harvest // Tee: (c/o) Original Penguin // Jeans: Levis // Socks: (c/o) Richer Poorer // Sneakers: Converse (c/o) East Dane
Josh
– The Kentucky Gent