Thursday, May 1, 2014

may call for sponsors + i want to help you grow your business!






outfit details:

top: h&m
skirt: knitted dove (bought at a sample sale, similar)
shoes: urban outfitters (old)
glasses: zenni optical
nails: jamberry in reminisce (matte) and snapshot

this is what i wore for jamess birthday dinner date. its a skirt ive had for a while, with a pretty basic top, and some very old shoes. basically a fancier version of every outfit i ever wear. it needed something. like this adorable chunky necklace from hole in her stocking designs. i mean, if you havent noticed, black and white is kind of my jam, but the yellow bows TOTALLY keep this necklace from being too basic, if you know what i mean. i love it. you can get your own here!

and this necklace, it totally helped me figure out something really important about what i have to offer here on poverty luxe:

see, lately ive been giving a lot of thought to the direction this little blog is headed in. generally, i feel pretty accomplished as far as things like finding my niche (healthy, crafty, environmentally conscious living on a nonexistent budget), developing my content, finding my "blogging voice" (which is apparently a LOT less annoying than my "talking voice") making connections, building a platform, etc. heck, ive even planted the seeds for diversified passive income streams (which are all words that i didnt even know existed when i started doing this a year ago). 

but, lately my mind has been consumed with finding the answer to this question: now that i have this (albeit, microscopic) platform, what exactly do i want to do with it?

i mean, yeah i still want to use this blog to share my endeavors on trying to make a healthy, comfortable, enjoyable lifestyle on whatever little money we have, and if i can help or encourage or inspire others to do the same for themselves, then thats great. (and if i can maybe make you laugh a little too, then mission accomplished). 

but, what exactly can i do to you know, help spread the word about other cool folks, while still helping to financially justify how much time and effort i put into this little project (that was, ahem, supposed to be secondary to the etsy shop)? sponsorships, right?

now, dont get me wrong, i LOVE using this space to share and show off all of the wonderful blogger ladies that ive met since i started doing sponsorships, but you know who i really want to help? small business and etsy shop owners. 

and the typical banner ad/feature type deal doesnt seem to serve small businesses as well as it serves bloggers. 

so, I've added a few new sponsorship options specifically tailored to small businesses/etsy shop owners. you can read more about the details for each option on my sponsorship page, but theres one option in particular that i want to highlight, because i have jenny from dancin with a dolly to thank for it. 

see, that necklace that i talked about earlier? jenny and i did a review swap (you can read her review of my scarf here), where we each sent each other an item from our shops and reviewed them on our blogs. it was a really, really fun way for two small businesses to support each other, and its something that i would LOVE to continue offering on poverty luxe!

and what about the other options, you ask? well, theres a full brand/shop feature (which includes a weekday solo post, review, giveaway, and social media love), a product review only (thats completely free if we set up a swap), and if you just want to send an item to be included in an outfit post, you can do that too. maybe thats a lot of options, but i also REALLY want to offer affordable options for small businesses to get the word out. 

hope youre having a great week so far!