HSC Influencer Series- with Charlotte Bridgeman
Charlotte Bridgeman. Australian born. Based in New York City & Melbourne. Personal style and lifestyle blog. Loves dogs & wine. She also happens to be crushing it.
You can follow Charlotte on Instragram at @charlottebridgeman or find her on her blog at winstonandwillow.com
How did you get started in blogging?
I started my blog purely as a hobby. I followed other fashion bloggers and loved the way they were able to showcase their creativity through their outfits and photography, and as I also loved fashion and taking photos, I thought what a fun thing to do!
How did you first reach out to potential clients?
After a few months of posting on my blog and Instagram, I began to reach out to PR companies and a few small brands, introducing myself and my blog to them. This was over 4 years ago, so it was all very new to myself as well as the brands. Some of them reacted well, and some of them didn’t really know what to do with me! The PR companies were all on board with working together, however, at the start I just borrowed clothing from PR companies. It wasn’t until 6 months down the road did I start to be gifted with pieces, and then about another year until I was paid for my first job.
Has that process changed today? How do you go about finding new clients- or do they find you?
This has definitely changed. I still reach out to new brands that I really want to work with, however mostly it’s brands reaching out to me. Also most of this now comes through my agent.
When did blogging switch from hobby to profession? Was it a moment or a
process? Tell us about that transition and how it felt.
It started to change after having my blog for about a year and a half. I started
earning a small income on the side of my other job. It wasn’t until I had the offer
of having my US visa sponsored by my New York based agency did I think about
quitting my real job and doing this full time! It was a scary decision to quit my job
and move to the other side of the world, but I thought it’s now or never, and I
haven’t looked back since doing so!
How has your previous work or training helped in building your business?
I have a post-grad degree in Marketing and also worked in social media and Marketing before/while I was blogging.
What would you say is the strongest asset or skill that you posses and have used to build your business?
Being able to take a decent photograph! And learning things like how to edit photos, build a Wordpress website etc.
In your opinion what are the vital skills needed to be a successful blogger?
You have to be very business minded I think. And also knowing how to take a good photo.
You work with a lot of clients. How do you manage your workflow day to
day?
My agent manages all of my collaborations which helps a lot. I’m pretty good at
staying on top of my work though!
Do you often work with the same clients again? How do you go about
building and maintaining those relationships?
Yes definitely! If you do a good job and create beautiful content that relates to
the brand, then they will 90% of the time want to work with you again.
What’s one vital tool or system that you use every day and couldn’t live without?
Lightroom, Iconosquare, UNUM
What is the hardest thing you've had to deal with as a blogger? Would you have done anything differently along the way?
The amount of competition. Pretty much everyone is a blogger these days. It’s hard when some new blogger comes out of nowhere and has 200k all of a sudden but you’ve been working on this for 4 years. I guess that’s the nature of most businesses, but I feel like sticking out from the mass amount of fashion accounts on Instagram is very hard.
Any advice for budding bloggers?
It’s harder than it looks! Be determined to work hard. Building a blog that’s a business is much more than simply taking a pretty photo for Instagram.
