It’s a crazy feeling to look back on my life and realize that I have been blogging for six years now. It has become such a part of my life that I could never even begin to imagine what my life would be without it. I have garnered so many cool experiences because of it and it’s truly helped to shape who I am today. However, I realized that although I have talked a great deal about the history of my blog and why I started it, I’ve never really addressed the name of my blog, what it means nor the relevance of the logo.
I started ze blog when I was seventeen years old (read why here) to document my love for all things fashion and beauty. I didn’t start it to become a blogger. I didn’t start it to get free stuff. Influencers didn’t even exist at this time. PR samples were just a thing given to celebrities and journalists. It was an entirely different industry and world back then. I started ze blog just to save images of things I would one day wear. When you’re seventeen, the world is a scary, confusing place and high school is an even scarier place. I so badly wished I could step out of my shell and wear what I wanted. But I also wanted to fit in. My confidence was lacking, and popularity was what I wanted to achieve. Therefore, I stuck to this bubble of what was cool to wear in high school in 2012. That included TNA hoodies, combat boots (remember those Steve Madden spike boots?) and infinity scarves. Oh yeah and anything Brandy Melville. But I also loved to dress up. However high school isn’t the place where you could do just that. Jeans and t-shirts were the norm. You couldn’t just show up to high school in a dress and heels (for obvious reasons). I was so terrified of being judged. So, my blog became this secret diary of sorts and I started to dream and fantasize about what I would wear when I was older. When I’m Older, I will wear heels to work. When I’m Older, I will be able to afford a Marc Jacobs purse. When I’m Older, I will wear whatever I want. And so, the name, When I’m Older, was born. And it became my very own little place on the internet where I could share what I would wear when I’m older with likeminded people that would one day become dedicated readers of my blog.
As my blog started to take off, it was surreal. I still remember receiving my first Google Adsense cheque in the mail (back in the day when they still actually mailed cheques to you) and realizing that I could actually make a living off something that I loved doing so much. But it didn’t stop there. As my blog grew, so did those Google Adsense earnings and then they turned into afilliate link earnings and then those turned into sponsored post earnings. It was then, I started to realize that my blog was really no longer a hobby. It was no longer a lonely seventeen-year-old daydreaming about what she would wear when she was older. It was suddenly a business. A business ran by a 23-year-old girl who found a way to turn her passion into a job where she was paid to gush about her favorite makeup and clothes. At that point, I realized, like any other successful business, I needed powerful marketing and branding under my belt (Gucci of course. Hehe couldn’t resist throwing a joke in there). What I needed was a logo to capture exactly what this blog meant to me. It needed to show my journey of growing up and the evolution of my style. So what better way to design a logo than model it after my very own life? I found this picture of me from 1997 way back when. I was two and a half in the picture and I was the girliest little kid you would have ever met. Fast forward 21 years and yes, I’ve grown up. Yes, I’ve matured. Yes, my style has evolved. But also, I’m still that same girly kid who carefully holds her hat up from the ground, so she doesn’t get it dirty. The more things change, the more they stay the same. So even though I’m growing up and becoming a young adult in this world, you better bet I’m still that same girl with a love for fashion. And that will never change.
The quote I have on the sidebar of my blog sums it up perfectly: “I’ve apparently been the victim of growing up, which apparently happens to all of us at one point or another. It’s been going on for quite some time now, without me knowing it. I’ve found that growing up can mean a lot of things. For me, it doesn’t mean I should become somebody completely new and stop loving the things I used to love. It means I’ve just added more things to my list.“
And because this blog has truly become a business for me over the years, I turned to Vistaprint to help make my girl-boss dreams a reality. And everyone knows, that you don’t mean business until you have a stack of business cards to whip out every chance you get. That’s right, I’m Taylor Doucette, professional style and beauty blogger at yo service. And so, I partnered with Vistaprint to help me capture the beauty of my logo and the love of ze blog with their easy to use printing services. Vistaprint is the perfect company for anyone a little design-challenged because they make the whole business card process so darn easy. All you have to do is upload your logo, pick one of their pre-made designs, input your information and bam. The cards are on their way to you in like 7 business days.
And if you want to be a girl boss just like me and promote your own business with the cutest business cards, check out Vistaprint and enter code OFF40VP at checkout for 40% off your own business card and return label purchase 😉