(2018) VOGUE SOCIETY BOUTIQUE TURNS 1 YEAR OLD-THREE THINGS I’VE LEARNED

Hey babes! Today officially marks a year since my mom & I launched Vogue Society Boutique!  If you don’t know the background behind everything, click here to read about how it all started!

On July 15th, 2017 at noon my mom & I launched our website https://voguesocietyboutique.com/ in our little guest bedroom. We seriously had a walk in closet that all of our inventory fit in. Since then, SO. MUCH. HAS. HAPPENED. We FINALLY signed a lease to open a Brick & Mortar store in Sarasota, FL and we are SO SO excited to have this wonderful space to work in and open it up to the public soon!

Here’s a few things I’ve learned over the past year:

1- Specifically to the boutique world that I am living in… I am friends with a TON of boutique owners and in social communities with them, so when I say these things I speak for most of us. I don’t think people realize HOW HARD WE WORK! Even I was guilty, I thought you tried on clothes all day and made money (lol)! SO MUCH MORE goes into it. I am not complaining by any means because I love every second of it and it is SO REWARDING, but I honestly had no idea what I was getting myself into. My boutique is my LIFE and everything I do revolves around it. Vogue Society is me. I am Vogue Society. This market is truly so saturated, there are so many boutiques out there and there is no way to become an overnight success unless it is pure luck. This job is pure hard work, a marathon if you will!! A lot of girls ask me how to start a boutique and I don’t want to discourage them nor do I want to sugar coat it! It’s an awesome job but don’t start it because you think it will be an easy job, do it because YOU WANT THIS TO BE YOUR LIFE!

2- #CommunityOverCompetition ALWAYS! I have boutique besties and I want them to as successful as possible. I used to be super competitive with everything and in a way, it still happens but comparing yourself and wanting to put them down will get you NO WHERE. That goes for life in general. Learn to be super happy for your friends or whoever it is and that will make you happier with your life! It’s something I am still working on but it is seriously so true!

3- Don’t be afraid to go after what you really, really want because you are afraid of what other people will think. I wasn’t really afraid to start my boutique or tell anyone about it because that has always been what I wanted to do. I know a lot of people who started their businesses and were too afraid to tell anyone they knew because they were afraid people would judge them. I guess in a way I wondered what people would think because I was never really the fashionista in high school or college. I mean I had cute clothes but you probably wouldn’t describe me as that girl, haha! What I was afraid to do was start a blog and be more open as myself on social media. I wanted to be a blogger and an Instagram influencer but I was honestly so afraid of other people’s opinions of me when I got on instagram stories and started talking about my life like everyone in the world cared. I literally have been with people who make fun of bloggers/ people trying to be bloggers right in front of me as I started to do this so I was terrified. But holy moly am I glad I took the leap, so many opportunities have already arose from doing this only a few months! I cannot wait for the future with my boutique & blogging career!

Overall, I learned that if you really, really, realllllly want something amazing, you have to work your ass off for it! For the past few months, I literally had anxiety attacks about this day because I originally thought I would be super “successful” (aka I thought I would be rolling in the dough, HAHA) after a year. I didn’t want the year mark to come because we didn’t have 10k instagram followers or the ultimate sales goals that we want, etc, etc, etc. But really recently I realized that it has ONLY been one year. That is it!!! I used to go to market and look up to the boutique owners that have been open for years and were so successful. I realized that I can never become those people without years of hard work. So a year is a milestone that I am now proud of no matter what! But nothing feels better than knowing that we built something so amazing in just one year and to take a step back and realize that it has ONLY been one year makes me SO excited for what is to come in the future.

Because babes, I’ve got BIG PLANS. I think big and I do it, that is just who I am!

THANK YOU. THANK YOU. THANK YOU. If you are reading this, you are somehow supporting us and I TRULY appreciate it. Thank you to all of our customers and all my friends and family who support us.