Get Real: On Blogging About and Selling Vintage

We both love fashion, but our lives are made up of more than just pretty things.  So we plan on doing a little "Get Real" series once a week or so, where we share things we are thinking about or what's going on in our lives/hearts. We hope you can get to know a little more about us, and also that we can help support and encourage other creative spirits by sharing some of our own questions and struggles.  Amanda's taking her turn today.
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I have had many different jobs in my life:  teacher, office manager, tutor coordinator, online instructor. I have a million different interests, from fashion to music to literary fiction to cooking and on and on.  But selling vintage and working on this blog has been one of the only jobs I've ever stayed passionate and motivated about.  Even the tedious parts of this job (wrapping packages, tweaking blog designs, measuring item after item) still make me happy.

So it's extremely frustrating when people treat my job as though it is: 1) a hobby, 2) cute or 3) irrelevant.

A hobby is something someone does for fun, on the side.  While I can't yet treat blogging and selling as a full-time job (so I do have to work part-time to pick up the slack), I take it as seriously as a job. I work hard at it.  And while I have fun, it's still a very big part of my day/life.

Most people who are not in the blogging world can't quite understand how a blog can be a job or anything more than just a personal space.  Our blog is an integral part of our business. It encompasses writing and design and photography and vintage.  We work hard on it. We plan our posts on a weekly basis.  It is not cute. It is work. We are always learning, improving and adjusting (it's been three years and we're just starting to use Photoshop because it was graciously gifted to us!).

our Etsy shop photos (and me!), circa 2009.

It's hard to live in a place like DC, which is surrounded by overachievers and people who work in the political sphere.  Being a blogger or a vintage seller (and a mom who works from home no less) seems unimportant or even silly.  When my mother-in-law (who I love dearly) asks about my work, she always asks about my editing job, which is the side job I dislike, but is more "recognizable" to regular people. A decent portion of my friends and family don't even read or support our blog or shop (as far as I can tell--hell, people won't even take a second to Like us on Facebook, just to say they value us.  How lame is that?!).  And while I understand that vintage and fashion aren't everyone's cup of tea, I still make it a point to support and encourage the people I love, even if I don't quite understand what they're doing. I try to understand it. I ask them about the work they're doing. I'm genuinely interested.  I feel like I don't get that kind of response in return. And that stings a little.  My job is relevant to me. It's what I love.  Think I'm not changing the world?  Did you know that 85% of textile waste ends up in landfills? And that textile waste makes up 5% of all landfill production in the United States?  That's just crazy.  I am living and selling a very secondhand life, and through our business and our blog, we want to help people to do the same (and see that it can be fun and stylish!).

All this to say:  I have dreams too, and they may be very different from your dreams and they may not fit a certain mold, but I am doing what makes me happy, and I am working hard at it, and that's more than I can say for a lot of people stowed away in offices in the city, counting the minutes on the clock.  Each year both our blog and shop have grown, and we don't plan on stopping any time soon.

One of my absolute favorite "self-help" books is Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way (I may have even mentioned on the blog before).   It's a book about living the creative life you are meant to live and not fearing what other people may think or whether or not you're good enough or whether you'll make enough money...it's about trusting your instincts and doing what you love and waiting for good things to happen, i.e. Leap and the net will appear (one of my favorite reminders about risk-taking and faith).

Planning on getting this little beauty for myself as a constant reminder.

via Cobweb Corner on Etsy

I think for anyone pursuing a creative dream without unlimited finances or a huge support system, this quote from the book from Paul Hawken really resonates:

Always leave enough time in your life to do something that makes you happy, satisfied, even joyous.  That has more of an effect on economic well-being than any other single factor.

My work brings me great joy, and I believe that in time, with hard work, it will be able to sustain me.  I don't think vintage will ever go out of style. Granted, right now it's a little trendy, perhaps, but style is cyclical so every look comes about again. I think the blog world is getting oversaturated, but I think that people will quickly tire of half-hearted attempts at content (mostly lifted from other blogs) and photos and will eventually come back to the blogs that inspire them because they are real, original, and relevant.  I'm not sure our blog has reached that status yet, but it's definitely what we're working towards.

Can anyone relate?  Words of wisdom?  I'd love to hear from you.

Thanks for reading!

xo,
Amanda