 What's up guys? I'm Brian Sakawa. You're watching He Spoke Style and today I'm going to be sharing some of my experiences and tips on how to be a style blogger. So this is one of the questions that I get all the time from guys who are interested in getting into style blogging but don't really know where to start or how to do it or what the best practices are. Now I've been doing it for five years now and over that time I've learned a lot. I've gained a lot of knowledge and experience and we've had a good amount of success. Throughout that time, you know, there really was no blueprint for me of how to do it right. We were really sort of making it up as we went along and defining what this was going to look like, what this was going to be and how it was going to be done. And, you know, things are always changing and you always have to adapt to a certain degree but there are some fundamental things that I think are extremely important to think about to consider and to really know before you get into it if you want to be successful. Now the first thing you need to ask yourself is what do you want to achieve? Are you just extremely passionate about something and want to share it? Do you want to make money? Do you want to get free stuff? Do you want to be famous? There are no wrong answers here and no one of those intentions is more or less noble than the other but you really need to look inside and be honest with yourself about what it is exactly that you want to get out of this adventure because having a clear answer to those questions will define how you approach this and will guide everything that you do. Next is possibly the biggest question you need to ask yourself and that is what do you offer? More and more this is becoming an increasingly crowded space and you really need to have something that differentiates you not only so that you stand out but just something that gives people a reason to want to listen to you and to follow you. What makes you unique? What is your point of view? What do you have to contribute to the conversation? So on our whiteboard in the studio we have three questions written down and these are questions that you should consider before you even start and that I think you should continue to revisit over and over again as you progress and start to have some success and continue to evolve and those questions are what is truly unique about you? What is truly ownable for you and what right do you have to play and win in this content space? It's good to answer those questions again to help define what it is exactly that you're doing and hope to achieve and that flows into what I think is one of the hardest questions to answer and that is why are you doing what you're doing? Now if you haven't already I really recommend reading Simon Sinek's book, Start With Why. I'll put a link to it below in the description because this book and the concepts in the book will really get you thinking about some higher level stuff. I find that even if people think they know the why of what they're doing it's often hard to put into words. Now I always knew what I'd hope to achieve with his book style but it wasn't until I read this book that I was truly able to articulate it and once I was able to once I had written it down everything became so much clearer and there was so much more purpose behind everything that we were doing. You know if you're really committed to being in it you really need to have that kind of focus and to use your time wisely. In addition if you don't have a clear vision that will come through and be confusing to people. They won't know what you stand for or who you are or what you're all about if you haven't answered that question for yourself and just saying that you want to inspire people is not enough. That's what you're doing or that's what you want to do. It's not why you're doing it so you can see that it's really not that easy to define your why but it is extremely important in my opinion if you really want to have a deep and meaningful impact on people. Now once you figured out the higher level stuff you need to sit down and make a plan. Before I published a single post on his book style I had made a year long content calendar. It's good to see the big picture. It's good to see where you're going and it's good to have a schedule. You never want to get into a situation where you're operating day to day or not sure what's coming up next. Now it does take a little bit of time to put something like this together but if you really want to do it right this is something that you need to do. The time you invest in making a plan like this will pay huge dividends and will make every part of the process go that much smoother. And having a plan like this will help you with the next part which is to execute and be consistent. I cannot stress enough the importance of consistency when it comes to publishing online whether that's a website, your Instagram, Facebook, YouTube channel. It is so important to train your audience to give them something to expect and to look forward to on specific days at specific times. And not only that but consistency is rewarded by the bigger powers that be like Google and algorithms. These engines look for things like that and if one of your goals is to reach as many people as possible you really need to publish consistently. Next I think it is so important to publish only high quality original content. And again this is one of the things that will make you unique. Now I started He Spoke Style because a lot of the websites I was reading about Classic Men's Style did not have original images of the stuff that I was reading about. Sometimes they were archival images, sometimes they were sourced from other websites and that to me removed a lot of the personal connection that I wanted to feel and that I thought was very important to really getting behind a certain point of view. Like don't just tell me about something, show me how to do it, show me how something should be worn, show me how you would wear it, not a bunch of other people that I can find online myself. Now when it comes to original content and especially original artwork I will tell you that great photography is absolutely non-negotiable. Get a decent camera, set it up on a tripod, work with a friend who has an interest in photography and you can also pay someone to take photos for you. The reason for that is because the level of production and quality of content being put out there these days is extremely high and to establish yourself in that world you really need to be at or as close to the level of what's already out there in the market. Alright channels, do you need a website, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Snapchat, Pinterest, a podcast? Now I have a very specific opinion on this and it comes from the nature of how I've set up my business and and grown my business. Personally I think a website is very important. I think Instagram is very important and I think YouTube is very important right now. A couple of years ago I would have told you that Facebook was very important. Now for me and for my business I really feel that it is extremely important to have multiple channels. I like to have a wider portfolio of services available just to be able to offer a variety of things and to be able to tailor our packages to best meet the needs of the brands that we work with. Now can you have success with just one strong channel? Yes you can and there are plenty of examples out there of people who have had a lot of success just on Instagram or just on YouTube. The problem is the media landscape is always changing and there is some risk associated with devoting your entire effort towards one specific channel. For example when I was first getting started five years ago I met someone who had a million followers on Pinterest and this was her business. She made money through affiliate links on her Pinterest content. Well one year later Pinterest came and said we're not supporting affiliate links on our platform anymore and just like that her entire revenue pipeline was shut off. So that's just one example of the risk you're taking on if you decide to focus specifically on one channel. Now the other thing is that because the landscape is always evolving and there is a shifting emphasis on different channels there are people who will jump from Lilypad to Lilypad depending on which way the winds are blowing at the moment and although I feel they might have some short term success they're really trapping themselves in this kind of endless loop of having to redefine who they are and what they're about and who they're serving that I think it dilutes their brand and kind of calls into question their authenticity. So if you're an aspiring men's style blogger those are some things to think about that I think are key to being successful. Asking yourself what do you want to get out of it what do you offer what's your point of view why are you doing what you're doing making a plan executing that plan consistently only posting original high quality content and deciding what channels are the best fit for you based on your goals. So the business of blogging is a topic that I plan to cover from time to time and if you have questions or specific topics about that you'd like me to talk about go ahead and leave those in the comments I'm very passionate about men's style but I'm also very passionate about the business side of what we do and I am happy to share everything that I've learned over the five years that we've been doing he spoke style. If you like this video please give it a thumbs up and do not forget to subscribe to the channel. That's all for now guys thanks for watching and stay tailored.