Behind the Scenes PMT 2017 Highlights

Whew, what a year!  I shared a Life Update post on Wednesday, but here at PMT a lot of cool things happened in 2017 as well.  I can’t always find the right space to talk about them since my posts are so focused on style help (I like to give different types of content their proper space), but I’m excited to share them here!  Here’s a behind-the-scenes look at my PMT highlights from 2017!

Being on Sabbatical & Focusing on PMT

Being on sabbatical for the first half of 2017 allowed me to fully focus on PMT.  Since I’ve basically had two full-time jobs between blogging and the org I work for, it was great to experience only having one job, haha!  I actually exercised, saw friends, and did chores around the house. IMAGINE THAT!  😛  (My amazing husband has been taking the brunt of chores in our house ever since we got married.)

I also got to attend the rewardStyle conference in April, which I was never able to do because I always had major work commitments during that time.  Through that, I made some connections that I’m seriously grateful for, like with Kilee from One Little Momma and Nickel & Suede and Erin and Becca from Living in Yellow.

 

Hiring a PMT Team Member!

In September I hired a teammate for PMT!  I know, I know.  This is kind of big news, and I’ve been meaning to tell you, but wanna know our very dumb holdup?  We didn’t have a decent picture of us together! ?

Anyway, I’d like to introduce you to Katie!  She does a bunch of different things for PMT behind the scenes that free me up to focus on writing content, but most notably she takes all the pictures for the blog now!  Did you notice the improvement in photo quality over the last few months?  Yup, all thanks to Katie!

Fun facts:

  • Katie and I met 2+ years ago through Instagram.  I posted a picture of food.  She responded saying she wanted to try that restaurant.  Then we discovered we only lived less than 2 miles away from each other.  The rest is history!
  • Katie used to blog years ago, and while she doesn’t anymore, she’s still active on Instagram.  She’s got two accounts: her lifestyle one at @lovesoflife where she shows her adorable kids and her beautiful house.  (She’s been huge in helping Benson and me redecorate our house!) And she has an account about fitness and health at @lovesoflife_fit.  Check them out and go follow her!

With her on the team, I’ve been able to write content that I’m even more proud of on a regular basis.  You may have noticed I moved away from single daily outfit posts to larger, more in-depth pieces of content here on the blog, and that is thanks to Katie’s contributions.  I’ve been able to do more remixes, more style series, and more how-to’s on a regular basis.  I’m so grateful to have her as a teammate!

 

Site Redesign

I’d been wanting and NEEDING to redesign my site for several years, but it fell to the bottom of my priority list.  Being on sabbatical freed me to give attention to major things that got put on the back burner.

With the site redesign, my priority was to organize all the style help that I try to provide here.  After 6+ years of blogging, the archive of posts is enormous, and it was hard to find things.  Now, with the new menubar at the top and the grid layout for all my categories, it should be way easier for you to find answers to your questions.  Check out my post diving deeper into the redesign and how you can now search this site HERE.

 

Putting Me Together Challenges

Winter Outfit Inspiration

Also thanks to being on sabbatical, I was able to launch PMT Challenges.  I had been thinking about doing these for almost 2 years prior, but I knew with a full-time job, regular blogging content, and being a new mom, I didn’t have the bandwidth to do it.

You guys, these have seriously been my favorite part of the whole year.  The whole point of this blog is to help put you together so that you feel confident and empowered as you go about your day.  The PMT Challenges do exactly that!

But, what’s REALLY made it my favorite thing this year is connecting with everyone in the private PMT Challenges Facebook group.  All year I’ve gotten to interact with women (many of YOU!) on a daily basis.  I’ve gotten to see PMTers trying outfits, hear people reflect on how both their style and confidence has grown, and I actually get to live life with yall.  In that group, yes we talk about daily outfits, but so much more goes on in there.  We’ve celebrated women getting new jobs, cheered on women entering the dating world because of their boosted confidence through growing their style (so cool!!!), supported women in the hardships of trying to start a family, and overall have lifted each other up on hard days.

As a blogger, it’s easy to throw posts and content out there, and while I work hard to post content I’m proud of, there’s no replacement for getting to actually see your faces, know your names, and walk through life with PMTers day in and day out.  It has hands down been my favorite part of blogging in 2017!

Anyway, that was *not* meant to be a big plug for the upcoming PMT Winter 2018 Challenge.  I’ve said before that the challenge isn’t for everyone.  It doesn’t solve everyone’s style and wardrobe problems, and it doesn’t work for some stages of life.  But, it sure is FUN!  And just in case you’re wondering, it is absolutely not too late to sign up and join the fun!

I’ve really enjoyed blogging this year, though at times it’s been nuts and I totally overworked.  ? I don’t know what’s to come with Baby #2 on the way and juggling two kids, but I’m looking forward to 2018.  Thanks for sticking with me and coming along on the ride!  Hope you all have a wonderful new year!

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