A Day In My Life If I Never Said, “No.”

I woke up at 4am today. “I’ll sleep when I’m dead” is my new motto because I received 15 coffee date requests last week and I don’t want to leave anyone out! I’ve also got to get a head start since I’m meeting people all over the city. I would never want to inconvenience someone who is interested to learn how I grew my page, so I’ve got about an hour train ride to meet the first person by her office. I’m a full time blogger, so my schedule’s flexible like that.

Between coffee dates, I’ve got to shoot some content. This beauty company sent me a body scrub in exchange for 2 Instagram posts, 1 video, and a selfie with the product, so I better get started. It’s an unpaid collab, but the product is worth $20 (!) and the company sent it to me for free! The brand also promised to repost my images to their own feed where they have 600 followers already. SCORE!

I should probably walk to my next meeting since all these subway rides are eating up my last paycheck. A company paid me a whole $15 to feature their slip dress. It was definitely a good deal since they said they never pay any bloggers to promote their clothes.

I originally styled the dress with a thin shirt underneath since it’s about negative 0 degrees outside, but they asked me to reshoot wearing just the dress so as not to take away from it. The shirt totally covered the inside tag, so I 100% understand. Good thing it’s 5 degrees today, so I won’t freeze while I shoot in their sleeveless silky slip dress with nothing underneath. I just love when brands are reasonable with their requests and my followers will so appreciate the summer outfit inspiration in the middle of winter. Now who should take my photo?

I get a lot of messages from photographers who want to collab on shoots, but a bunch of random people keep asking for the opportunity, so let me give one of them a chance. “Can you meet me in 10?” Oh, good, you made it. “Do you know how to use a camera?” “Oh, you don’t? That’s cool. I’ll train you for the next hour, edit the photos myself, and then tag you on Instagram to help you build your page. SO important to support other people!”

Finished shooting. I’ve got 30 minutes to kill before my next coffee date. Should I do some actual work today? Maybe I should check my emails. Oh, look, there’s a new email from a brand I’ve never heard of. “We’d love for you to stop by our showroom right now to photograph the entire collection for your blog. Unfortunately, we’re unable to pay you for your time or gift you any pieces from the new line, but if you do this for us, we’ll definitely pretend to consider you for future paid collaborations.” What a great opportunity! Let me head there now. Good thing I brought my camera.

Such a beautiful collection! “Oh, you want a bunch of Stories too with your 5 hashtags? Sure! No problem. Happy to help in exchange for absolutely nothing!” I’ve actually got a bunch of Stories to post today since there are just so many good causes out there. I’ll add it to the mix.

So far today I posted 3 Stories to raise awareness for new charity funds, 5 Stories with different GoFundMe pages, 2 Stories with exciting KickStarter campaigns, 10 Stories of random accounts with 2 followers who asked me for shoutouts, and 1 extra special Story to help raise money for someone’s cat’s surgery. I know my followers want to see fashion, but these people are asking for my help, so I need to put them first! Maybe I’ll post Stories of myself tomorrow.

I’ve got four events tonight and I cannot WAIT to see all my friends. I may not have time to talk to them though because I got so many messages from newbie bloggers I don’t know asking to be my plus 1. I only spent 5 years getting to where I am, but they started their blogs yesterday and could really use a boost.

Tonight was fun. Rihanna was hosting the event so one of the newbie bloggers I told could come was living it up. She Storied the whole time and made sure her followers knew that she received the invite because she’s a legit blogger. I happily introduced her to the PR person in charge of the event when she asked, took photos of her all night, and then she thoughtfully unfollowed me when she got home. That’s just what you do after you make it into the inner blogging circle. You don’t need anyone anymore, except obviously when you need them. And I’ll totally be there when she needs her next hookup because that’s what good bloggers do!

Finally home after a super long day. My husband wants to talk, but this follower is upset I haven’t answered her DM yet, so let me do that first. I’ve also got a ton of new emails. This is gonna take awhile. I always put my blog before my marriage, so I’ll answer all these requests now and maybe eat dinner with my husband in a few hours.

Scratch that, no time for dinner, because I have to go to sleep. I got about 10 more coffee date requests today that I’d be rude not to honor and if I learned anything over the past 5 years, it’s that self-care comes second and “No” is a dirty dirty word.

*Exaggerated for your entertainment, but probably a little too close to the truth than we bloggers care to admit. It’s never easy saying, “No,” but sometimes it’s about nothing more than doing what’s best for you and your mental health. There’s only so much one person can and should take on, so this is just a little reminder that while maybe “No” is not what people like to hear, it’s a perfectly acceptable and sometimes necessary response.

OUTFIT BREAKDOWN:
Blue Striped Top: Zara
Light Wash Denim Jeans: Zara
Gold Hoop Earrings: Lulu Dk x WeWoreWhat Collection (c/o)
Gold Coin Necklace: Miranda Frye Jewelry (c/o)
Jeweled Snake Ring: Kendra Scott (c/o)
Belay Mini Chain Hobo Bag: Zac Posen (c/o)
Red Heels: Inez (c/o)

Photography: Allie Provost

xx Esther