Drue Kinler
- kaylastanley9
- Jan 11, 2019
- 4 min read
"A boss babe to me is a lady following her truth unapologetically. She gets up everyday with intention, she works on and crushes her goals, she doesn't take "no" for an answer, she isn't afraid of what people think of her, she endeavors to persevere." Find what you love and do it. Your dreams don't work unless you do. Drue is here to tell us all about the hustle it takes to get to where you want to be.
What inspired you to create your own brand?
Honestly, post-grad was nothing like I expected it to be and I needed a place to still be myself. Being in the corporate world as a 22 year old was a bit uninspiring to me and I needed a place to be myself and to connect with like-minded people. I created my blog to vent about what adulting wasn't. The blog was built out of a 70-page spiral notebook with the first post starting out as, "it's my 6th day in my first 'big-girl' job and I can't believe I have 43 more years of this......." LOL, I know... I'm a bit dramatic. I just knew that I wasn't ready to accept that reality as my own so I created a resource for people to come to to feel inspired to continue following their dreams no matter the circumstances, to feel inspired, to follow what they loved, you know... the works. And honestly, that was really the birth of it all. Fast forward three years and it's a lifestyle blog on safe skincare products, wellness tips, traveling on a budget, boss girl business tips for following your dreams, #ootd inspo, and also a 'me too' factor revealing heartbreak, life challenges, and that in the end it's all going to be okay. I now have a small team and we've branched off into a jewelry brand named after my pawpaw, The RAM. I never dreamed that my little place on the internet would ever have turned into my passion, I just wanted to connect with people on a broader scale.
Where do you wish to see your brand in the future?
The sky is the limit and being a dreamer, you never really know with me. I'm all over the place. The short term goal I'm working on is being able to finally go full-time with the blog. It's something I've done for free for the past three years and I hate not being able to give ALL of my time to it. Long term goal is to create my own product line.
What message are you trying to put out into the world with what you create?
In one word, confidence. To be yourself and to own it. To know that you don't have to be stuck in the norm if you don't want to be. To show that "success" and/or "happiness" isn't just for other people, you can live your dream life also. It is a passion of mine to help other people and it's been a dream to give my knowledge and expertise building a business and brand doing just that.
What advice do you have for girls who are starting out?
Consistency, 100%. If you want to reap the rewards of having your own blog and brand, consistency is everything. It wasn’t until I created a plan (and followed it) that I started to see any real growth from my blog or my social channels.
My best advice for anyone starting out would be to create a plan/schedule and actually stick with it. I created cute colored tabs on my calendar for certain tasks that need to be done. For example, my online boutique--The RAM is a light blue color. So any thing that I need to work on for The RAM like adding product to my website, searching for new products, etc. will show up as light blue on my iPhone and MAC. "Creating" is a dark pink and is for creating content like blog posts, lifestyle shoots, graphics, etc.. I also have tabs for planning, marketing, networking, biz dev (networking events, social media, so on), posting, and travel. From there, pick days and times devoted to the subject. So, for example, on Monday's from 6:00-9 PM I'm only creating blog content, on Tuesday's from 6:00-9 is creating graphics/header images for my posts, and so on. It helps me to stay devoted to one subject at a time instead of getting everything done all at once. I high key stole this batching idea from The Skinny Confidential so I can't exactly take credit.
What has been the greatest reward of all your hard work so far?
Honestly, the greatest reward has been to see people from all over the world reading what I wrote. It's so fulfilling to have people write you from another country like New Zealand or The United Kingdom about how what you created helped them or brought them value in some type of way. People have always been my passion for as long as I can remember so getting an email from a complete stranger all the way across the globe is such a blessing to me. Blogging can be hard, it's not as easy as what people make it look so finding that much joy in something so simple helps me find extra validation that I'm on the right path even when I begin to doubt myself or what I'm doing.
What is your definition of a “boss babe”?
A boss babe to me is a lady following her truth unapologetically. She gets up everyday with intention, she works on and crushes her goals, she doesn't take "no" for an answer, she isn't afraid of what people think of her, she endeavors to persevere.
