“Learn. Grow. Become” is a quote I stand by because it’s basically the secret of living your best life. I add “Repeat” at the end because you never stop learning. Now in the learning process it’s impossible to not make any mistakes. Some are called “Life Lessons” others are “hard pills to swallow” but whatever the case may be a mistake will be made and you will learn from it.
Hence the title of this post because I have made a few mistakes in my 10 years of blogging and I am going to share with you a few. Let’s be transparent. Shall we?
1.) Who is Challebrown? Yes, the psuedo name ChalleBrown (which would eventually evolve to The Bohemian Cosmopolitan) may have been a mistake.

I started my blogging career back in 2011 when everyone’s blog had a pseudo name or a name the perfectly represented the brand they wanted to portray.

I believe I was following the crowd and did not know what the hell I was doing and just thought “Hey, why don’t I contribute to one of the biggest fashion blogs under a fake name instead of my own!” Yes, I want to eventually grow my brand and yes, I want to start my own blog but I’m scared and I don’t know what I’m doing so I will just hide in the background. 0_o Big mistake. If you are reading this learn from it.
Your God given name is important and don’t try to hide it because of insecurities or whatever the case may be. Plus, if you are contributing to a popular blog people might remember you when you start your own.

2.) Stay Consistent. Now you hear this time and time again from everyone who gives you blogging advice but it’s true. If you want to gain any amount of success at fashion blogging you have to put in the work and it must be consistent. One of the reasons why consistency is so helpful is because you are learning and growing with each photo and every post. You are learning your camera, your poses, how to write. Just everything. The more consistent you are the better you will become. Trust me. It has taken me many years to come up with some type of organized schedule due to the many excuses of why I could not be consistent. Don’t be like Michal. 🙂

3.) Learn your true individual style. Fashion Blogging is strategic and because I treated this passion of mines as a hobby, I didn’t really take the time to learn who I was and more importantly who was my target audience. There are millions of bloggers. What makes your style unique? What’s your story? If you asked me this 5 years ago that exact question I would have shrugged my shoulders and embarrassingly said “I just like to take pictures.” O_0
Thank God for growth. Your individuality is special and needs to be displayed. Learn who you are and what group of people you want to target and consistently dress the part.

Create your own style. Let it be unique for yourself and yet identifiable for others.” – Anne Wintour.

4.) Focus. This section of the post is for those of us with ADD and who happen to be mothers working whole full-time jobs (Squirrel!!!!!). Yes, please stay focused on your dreams.

What you focus on will grow.

Now, you may be wondering “Well, Michal. What’s going on with your blog? Why isn’t it growing?”.
Please refer to the title of this post for the answer. I am not perfect, I just know there are laws of the universe that work in your favor if you focus on your dreams.

5.) It’s a collabo. Building your brand and working with other brands is the ultimate goal as a fashion blogger. The key is to always use collaborations to your advantage. If you are not gaining anything from the collaboration please stop immediately and ask yourself “Why?”. Your time, effort and talent is valuable. Make sure you use it wisely. Know your worth especially if you are an experienced blogger.

Learn. Grow. Become.