Backstage @ StyleMePretty

I am SO excited to announce that after three way-to-fast months…our house intern, Elaine, has finally been offered a full time gig with Style Me Pretty! Elaine is really the first and only intern that we’ve had throughout the life of Style Me Pretty and when I tell you that we scored big time, I am hardly doing her justice. She’ll be handeling all of our special features…something that is SO important for the life of Style Me Pretty.

So, a HUGE thank you to Elaine for all that you do. We are so thrilled that you are officially a part of the Style Me Pretty family!

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I am so excited to post this as I am in desperate need of a little bit of type-A help.  I am looking for a bright, enthusiastic and TOTALLY ORGANIZED girl or boy to be my personal assistant. If you sort your movie collection alphabetically, if your closet is arranged from dark to light, if you can’t wait for Sunday to come so you can organize your kitchen, this might be the job for you. Oh and even more important, you need to understand and have a passion for wedding style. And you need to live in the Boston area.

Here is what the gig will entail:

1. Managing our editorial calendar
2. Sorting and organizing emails
3. Communicating with vendors on real wedding features
4. Running errands here and there
5. Coordinating my schedule, booking trips, phone chats, etc
6. Driving in to Charlestown for meetings 1 time per week
7. Pinch hitting in other areas when needed

The right person will have a quiet home office space (or a quiet dining room table space) with a working, efficient computer and telephone. They must be blog savvy, understanding how a blog reads, understanding the wedding blog space, understanding the basics of social media. They should have a love affair with Style Me Pretty and a passion for weddings. Working knowledge of Gmail and Excel are musts. Knowledge in Illustrator, Photoshop and other applications is a bonus.

We are looking for this person to start IMMEDIATELY. The salary is $15 per hour, 30-40 hours per week, benefits not included. We are a small, growing company so there is always room for growth, but this position is a long term position. To apply, please send the following to abby{at}stylemepretty{dot}com using the subject ASSISTANT POSITION.

1. Resume / Brief letter introducing yourself (no stuffy cover letters)
2. Two or three examples of your own wedding style (through links to real weddings or jpgs)
3. A list of your favorite blogs and why you love them

Let me stress that organization is KEY so please speak to this in your application. Can’t wait to find the next Style Me Pretty guru!

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I’ve been noticing that a few of my favorite bloggers have been getting the burnout blues these days. And I totally get it. In this industry, it’s really hard to stay on top. To stay fresh and innovative and to approach each new day with a different set of enthusiastic phrases. And although I love what I do, the blogging blues can bite you when you least expect it. So today, I thought I would remind myself and all of you how to bring back that sparkle to the job that you know you love…you just might have forgotten why you love it.

1. Keep a gratitude journal. Sounds big time cheesy, I know. But writing down the reasons that we are grateful for our jobs, for our creative brains, for our lives…will remind us all as to just how lucky we are.

2. Take a break from the mundane and for one day, make it all about the fun. What does this mean? Well…if you are a florist and are bogged down in the business of being a florist, set aside one day to design flowers for your closest friends. Totally YOUR designs, influenced only by your love of your craft. For a wedding blogger this might mean spending a day with a cup of hot chocolate, sifting through all of your favorite vendor sites, finding inspiration in back copies of domino magazine, poring through galleries of your favorite weddings. Even reading your OWN blog to rediscover your voice, your passion.

3. Reserve a day just for housekeeping. It will be a brutal day…paperwork, number crunching, computer cleaning…but in the end, it will free up your brain space to get back to what you love.

4. Reserve a day just for brainstorming. Tait and I had a 2 hour meeting the other day to hash out all of the little details we needed to in order to move forward. It was hugely fulfilling and definitely reignited my motivation and excitement. Getting together a brainstorming meeting with your team will definitely bring back a little buzz. By encouraging everyone to participate (interns too)  in your session, you’ll inspire them, you’ll potentially discover a different perspective, you’ll get the fun brewing among everyone.

5. At the end of the day, shut the computer off, swear off emails and grab a glass of wine or a hot cup of tea. Take a moment to think about your day and to find the bright spots, the spots that make your stresses all worthwhile.

I know that these aren’t particularly mind blowing ideas, but these are little things that I do to give myself a pick-me-up. Of course, we all struggle with different parts of our lives. Running a family, keeping a nice home, maintaining relationships with our friends, running a business. It’s basically impossible to do all of these really well but it isn’t impossible to fall in love with the journey.

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The results are in from our Style Me Pretty Reader Survey and although some of the conclusions were pretty obvious, others were definitely surprising and will absolutely help us to determine the direction that we want to take SMP in. Here are a few highlights that are really applicable for anyone in the wedding biz…

• Most of our readers fall within the 26-30 age bracket although a decent portion are 22-25 years old. Not terribly surprising of course, but it was kind of enlightening to see that our 22-25 year old age bracket has grown significantly. I assumed our over 30 crowd would have more of a presence, but I was totally wrong!
• 20% of our readers are earning between $30-40,000 with the over $70,000 crowd coming in at 17%. Super successful, smart readers.
• 66% of our readers are brides-to-be, 22% are wedding junkies and 8% (give or take) are industry professionals.
• The bulk of our readers are spending between $10-35,000 on their wedding and consider photography their number one priority when it comes to spending their wedding dollars.
• Most of our brides consider their style Traditional with Rustic/Chic coming in second. 25% of readers are having a destination wedding.
• 46% of our couple are footing the bill for their wedding themselves, 48% have parents who are helping out.

These were definitely the most notable finds in my opinion. And it all goes back to my post on Knowing Your Audience. This information is critical to understanding how we should develop our content, what approach we should take when growing our brand, how we should market ourselves. I feel like we have a really good understanding of who our bride is now and how we can really help her to become inspired and excited.

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This week is CRAZY at SMP. My grandmother took a spill and ended up in the hospital…so my mom, who writes our LBB Blog, is out of commission for the week. Elaine, our amazing intern/soon-to-be-full-time-SMPer is jumping in to fill the void. I have a speaking coach coming to visit, conference calls with some of my favorite wedding celebs about a fun new project we are launching, a cooking class with my mother-in-law (not business but still worth mentioning), a lot of writing and some serious biz dev to work on. Whew! I am bracing myself for the storm. But you know what…in my book, a really full, really busy and totally eventful week is SO much better than a dull one. Makes me feel like I am making some serious progress.

Coming up on Backstage, we are going to share the results from our most recent reader survey! Totally applicable for ANYONE in the wedding biz.

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We are so excited to build out our Little Black Book research team…the team devoted to making sure that our book is filled with only the best and brightest in the wedding industry. Michelle, the director of the Little Black Book, is stopping by to share our latest job openings with you!

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Greetings! Style Me Pretty is always on the lookout for a few enthusiastic personalities to add to our Little Black Book sales team. Here’s the scoop:

–Telecommute position

–Commission w/bonus program, income potential approx.12K-30K annually.

–Available 3-5 weekdays during reg. business hours.

–Unlimited long distance calling required, as well as a professional quiet home office.

–Basic knowledge of Excel required

Our Little Black Book is by invitation only. We provide our research assistance with a list of invitees to which they will then follow-up with through correspondence, phone calls and interviews. Our new hire will need to be knowledgeable about SMP and our LBB (we will train) and comfortable cold calling, screening and approving style savvy vendors who will fit well within the requirements of our book.  Great client relation skills are a must, as ongoing personal customer care is part of our membership package.

Although technically a sales position (our LBB members pay a small membership fee to join our community), the Research Colleague’s primary responsibility is educating the vendor per the exclusive nature of Abby’s invitation and SMP while establishing a friendly rapport. The Research Colleague spends time getting to know each potential member of our Little Black Book (called a “phone chat”).

Carrie and Shawna, our ultra-talented LBB Research Colleagues who invite and screen potential LBB members, responded to some questions (below) about their daily SMP experience to help give you a real window into this position below.

To be considered for a position on our team, please tell us why you think you’d be a perfect match. Send along your resume and indicate weekly times and days you’re available.

Send to: michelle{at}stylemepretty.com

We look forward to considering you for our LBB Research team!

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What do you like most & least as an LBB Research Colleague?

Shawna: Most – working with a trendsetting company, the team I work with, flexibility with my schedule. Least – commission isn’t as steady as a typical 8-5 job but Abby has extra administrative work to supplement.

Carrie: Hands down the biggest perk working as an LBB colleague is getting to chat it up with absolutely amazing and talented wedding professionals around the country. The worst part is that it’s a slow process to build each category in each region-we are a small team, which is fantastic.

Explain how your position differs from a typical sales job.

Shawna: Not aggressive. I’m making a personal connection with people that love the site and educating those who don’t know us. As a social networking company, we are building relationships.

Carrie: Totally different, unless your perception of sales is more of the “I am totally obsessed with this idea/product, so you should be too.” There is no obligation, no hard selling or pushing; it’s really just a chance to talk shop with vendors and share the SMP love.

List any pros & cons of being a telecommute contractor.

Shawna: Pros – This position is perfect for me. I am self-motivated , prefer to work independently. Having flexibility allows me to work when I’m at my best and to take a break when needed. A strong SMP support system keeps me motivated throughout the day. Cons – It’s hard to shut off the computer. I try to make sure I step outside and go to lunch with friends.

Carrie: Pros – I am able to multi-task several tasks and successfully contribute to my various jobs throughout the day; I work from home; I am a part of virtual office…that is pretty cool. Cons – I sometimes realize I haven’t been outside in 24 hours. At first, I had a hard time putting my work down since it was in the next room.

Briefly describe your SMP work day.

Shawna: I create a task list of vendors I need to send invitations to, leave voicemails to follow up, schedule chats with vendors etc. I multi-task throughout the day, reading SMP, responding to LBB member questions, communicating with the team, organizing information to get vendors started and also working on new invitees.

Carrie: Dive into email while drinking my coffee and prepare/research for the days upcoming chats or follow up voicemails. Pull up SMP and check out the daily features on Backstage, LBB, and front page. Check in with my colleagues and then get right to work calling and chatting with vendors.

What specific qualifications make you successful in this position?

Shawna: Confidence is key. You need to have a great talking presence about you and say phrases that catch someone’s attention. I keep in mind that it’s an honor to be selected to the LBB. I stay positive and keep moving forward to invite the perfect people for Abby’s special book. Because I love the art community, my background in the design industry helps me connect with people. Multi tasking and follow-through is essential for success with this job. If I have the perfect vendor added to LBB I get kind of a rush that fuels the fire to add the next great company.

Carrie: It is no secret I am a bit Type A. While I’m a creative person, I like a certain high-level of organization, which is key to juggling various vendors and regions. I am also extremely self-motivated and like to work as efficiently as possible. Also, I LOVE talking and “meeting” new people–I love hearing how people got where they are. Furthermore, I love getting giddy over SMP with vendors…Abby’s blog really is so much fun to talk about and “get lost” in.

Explain how SMP’s initial training session prepared you to start your position.

Shawna: The training session was extremely helpful in getting me prepared with the tools to do my job. The training is very detailed with information about SMP and how to respond to vendor questions. It’s great motivation to get you ready to start making calls.

Carrie: You really get a thorough understanding of the process of the book, you are given the tools to really understand the talent and relate to these talented vendors, and most importantly you know how to help maintain credibility within the book. After the training, you figure out how to take all of this great information and make it your own and become an LBB, SMP expert!

In what way do you work as a team? In what way are you required to be independent?

Shawna: I keep constant communication daily and make myself available as much as possible. If there is any task we have as a team, I do my part in getting it accomplished. I try to be helpful with offering advice and motivation. I’m glad I have the freedom to organize the work I do. I am responsible for my own success and that motivates me.

Carrie: We definitely work as a team to brainstorm creative ways to make the LBB better for vendors and readers. While we share methods that work for each of us when it comes to the LBB, we all have a different system when it comes to tackling our own regions.

What helps you speak to people you don’t know and who may not be familiar w/SMP (cold calling)?

Shawna: I enjoy talking to people so it’s a pretty natural fit. It’s very important to let people know I enjoy talking to them. We aren’t just any other call….we are Style Me Pretty! I love talking to so many artistic wedding professionals and finding out what inspires them.

Carrie: Before I make a call, I re-familiarize myself with the vendor’s work. I approach the call as if I were a bride or client, trying to get to know more about the vendor, and I share with them a little about SMP. We are extending a very selective invitation to this vendor. It’s a real honor, so if they aren’t interested, I move on to the next ultra-qualified person who is…it’s really pretty simple.

Do you actively contribute ideas to the Little Black Book and SMP?

Shawna: Yes and I feel really lucky that my opinions and ideas always matter. This is another reason I love my job so much.

Carrie: Yes, this grows more and more each week as SMP grows as a business.

What’s the biggest challenge you face in this position?

Shawna: I’m surprised by some vendors who don’t see the need for a strong presence in advertising in the social networking community. It’s not just a Fad, people!

Carrie: Not to fall out of my chair when people aren’t familiar with SMP! All kidding aside, when you come across a rude person (occasionally back to back) you just can’t take it personally. You just hang in there because the nicest person in the world can be that next vendor you call.

Describe a positive and negative experience you’ve had screening vendors.

Shawna: I have positive experiences every day screening vendors. Most are so happy we’ve contacted them because they love Abby as much as we do. It feels good helping talented people grow their business. Hmmm…. the occasional negative has been from people who don’t know us and haven’t been to the site. Some tell me they have no need to pay for advertising. I let them know many of our LBB members only choose to advertise with us.

Carrie: There are a lot of positive experiences, but I love when people make connections with other vendors in the book. It’s really cool to see the community and the love that exists in the LBB. While they are few and far between, my negative experiences emerge when I speak with someone who is egotistical and/or negative.

Who would you encourage to apply for this position?

Shawna: An eager, responsible, creative, self-driven person who is outgoing in a crowd full of strangers.

Carrie: An upbeat, friendly person who is driven, focused, adaptable to new policies (SMP is a growing company) works efficiently and can think quickly on their feet. Oh, and someone who can laugh at the crazy moments in the world!

Who would you NOT encourage to apply for an LBB position?

Shawna: Anyone who thrives being around others in a physical office environment. Anyone who needs a lot of structure and doesn’t adapt well to a changing environment.

Carrie: Negative Nancy’s are not a good fit. Neither are those who are timid, don’t like to talk to strangers on the phone, or those who do not like a lot of change.

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I get really great questions from readers all the time so I thought today, I would share a few recent ones with you…

Q. I’d really like to know if you are happy with this path ~ blogging as a career ~ and what do you like and dislike about it?

A. Ummmmm. YOU BET I’m happy with it. It’s kind of like the greatest job in the world. And, coming from a girl who has worked at a PR Firm, at a Paper Store, at a Hedge Fund, as a writer for AOL City Guides, a Cheerleading Coach, a Babysitter and a million other little jobs…that says a lot. I love weddings, love finding beautiful things to write about, love working in an industry with some of the most creative people on the planet. It’s an amazing career and I seriously can’t believe that it pays my mortgage.

Like any job, though, there are a few things that I don’t like. As we have grown, it’s become more and more stressful. We have to get the best content, we have to continue to iterate on what we are already doing, we have to figure out how to make money, how to brand ourselves, how to run a successful company. And although it’s not any one thing that stresses me out, it’s really all of the things that running a business entails that can kick my butt every now and then. It’s the stress that I don’t like.

But, at the end of the day…all of these little things mean that we are growing, that we are taking it to the next level. And that is a really great feeling.

Q: How did you start doing speaking engagements? Do they find you or do you find them?

A: The short answer is that they find me. One speaking gig usually leads to another speaking gig which leads to another. Initially, it was just good experience for me….learning to articulate my vision, learning to communicate effectively. Now it’s that AND a way to get our brand out there even more.  I was actually a communications major in college and got my highest grade in Public Speaking. I loved it so much that I joined the debate team…which lasted a whopping 2 weeks when I realized that I was ridiculously under qualified to debate anything.

Q: I am a recent graduate and would LOVE to work for a company like Style Me Pretty. Are you hiring?

A: Well, since you asked! Yes, we are hiring. We are going to be posting our latest open position tomorrow right here on backstage, so make sure to stay tuned!

If you have questions for me…whether it’s about setting up a business, running a blog, something more personal or anything in between…send it my way! I’ll be posting these Q & A’s weekly on backstage so yours could be next! abby{at}stylemepretty{dot}com

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Since the beginning, I have maintained the mantra *Content is King* in everything that I do with Style Me Pretty. Without good content, we are nothing. Without great weddings to write about, without great inspirations and ideas, without the eye candy…we wouldn’t have advertisers, we wouldn’t have a brand, we wouldn’t have anything really. And people have taken notice. I get emails ALL the time from budding bloggers wondering how I get my hands on such good content, like the FAB Jose Villa wedding that we are featuring today.

Well, I thought I’d give you some tips on finding and featuring really great content.

We spent the first 6 months of our blog hunting and scavaging every piece of content that went up on our site. But over time, we have found the luxury of sifting through our inbox for really great content submissions. If you are at that place with your blog…hats off. It’s the nicest place to be. But, if you are the one responsible for rounding up the great content, here are some tips.

1. Use Google Reader or Blog Bridge to round up your favorite blogs to sift through each day. This will make it really easy to pore through the hundreds of blogs out there that are worth reading. With Blog Bridge, you can categorize them into lists and such so for us, we can look through our Little Black Book Blogs really easily or through our competitors blogs to make sure we aren’t duplicating content. It’s a great tool.

2. Start building relationships with vendors. There are TONS of great vendors out there. Find the smaller ones to start really building relationships with so that you can grow together. You can help them to get their brand out there, they can help you to get great content.

3. Look for weddings and ideas that really resonate with YOUR voice. There is a lot of pretty out there. A lot. But you need to find your own pretty, your own style, in the weddings and ideas that you blog about.

4. Don’t be afraid to re-blog really great weddings. If you are just starting out, getting the exclusive might not be an option. But, if you can remind your readers about the incredible weddings that are out there, you’ll still go a long way to establishing your creative voice.

5. Create your OWN content. For the first 6 months, we designed inspiration boards, color palette, the works. We still create our own content regularly with product round-ups, reader inspiration boards, photoshoots, DIY projects. It’s your blog so you can do anything that you can dream up!

However you get your content, try to remember that consistency is key. Blogging consistently, whether it’s once a week or once a day will ultimately attract a loyal audience. And within those blogs, find your creative voice. Don’t mimic someone else’s voice. Instead, write like you speak to your closest friends. By doing these two little things, you will give your content a beautiful stage and a perfect backdrop.

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It’s probably THE single most important thing to know when it comes to running a successful business. Daily Candy took this to an entirely new level and kind of blew it out of the park, ultimately selling to Comcast for a ridiculous sum of money. Knowing who your customer is, backwards and forwards, will single-handedly make you more money.

Here is who the SMP reader is, in a very stream of consciousness way…

SMP readers are style savvy, smart and they appreciate really good wedding design. They are a bit fed up with the chaos of other wedding related sites and are looking for something that is a bit more personal, a bit more stylish and a bit more edited. They want good content without being overloaded. They want pretty, innovative ideas on how to infuse personality into their wedding day. Regardless of their budgets, large or small, they ALL want their wedding to be unique to them, filled with pretty details that will truly set their wedding apart from all the others that they’ve seen.

We know, backwards and forwards, WHY our readers come to Style Me Pretty. They want a refuge from the wedding madness that is out there, confusing them to no end, churning out weddings that are as bland as they are impersonal. So with every product that we launch, every new approach that we take, we always come back to this. We edit our voice, we edit our content, we edit the chaos out so that our brides always have a place to find inspiration no matter what their style or budget.

Knowing this helps give us focus and find our own niche in this massive industry.

So…do you know your clients? Do you know your audience? If you don’t…it’s my one piece of advice for the day. Sit down with your computer or your portfolio books and really try to understand who your audience is. By honing that and understanding your clients thru and thru, you will build a business that will thrive.

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Since I have vowed to give you guys a real look into our company and to our lives, I thought I would tell you a little bit about my thursdays…

We have our sitter four days a week. For some reason, I was convinced that I only needed to work four days and that I HAD to spend at least three with my daughter Audrey. I never really wanted to be a mom that worked all the time and missed those moments that are so priceless, so this schedule just made sense to me.

Here is my typical, nanny-free Thursday…

I wake up at 6AM and Tait watches Audrey while I start writing and answering emails. We do this until Audrey’s first nap at 9AM. Then, I shower and get ready for the day and Tait starts working. When Audrey gets up, we play, run errands, do mommy/daughter things that are so much fun…all while I am frantically checking and answering emails, squeezing in last minute edits, trying to make deadlines for little projects that we are working on. Today, I actually found myself boiling pasta on the stove, trying to feed Audrey some yogurt to tide her over, emailing with a bride for our Martha Stewart deadline and getting lunch ready for a girlfriend that was coming over for a play date. Ummm. OK.

Needless to say, Audrey was crying while her pasta overcooked, I served the soup cold and the sandwiches luke warm. I managed to make the deadline but only by a hair. And I left the kitchen looking like a tornado had come through the house. I might have been doing everything, but I wasn’t doing anything well.

My point…like many other moms/business owners, I need to learn to LET. IT. GO. To allow my emails to be a little late so that I can focus on my daughter and really enjoy our time. To give work a rest while I tend to my cute little one year old who only wants me to pay attention to her. It’s a constant struggle and one that I am sure many of you deal with. And yet when push comes to shove, I wouldn’t trade any of it for the world.

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