YOU GUYS! Today marks the 10-year anniversary of Putting Me Together! 😱 10 YEARS—crazy!
It feels like it was only yesterday that I was awkwardly taking outfit pictures in my side yard with a tripod and hoping no one in real life would ever find out about my blog. Ten years later, I now awkwardly take pictures with Katie in front of other people’s houses. 😆
Today I’m taking a stroll down memory lane to reminisce on 10 years of doing this blogging thing. Also, to celebrate, I’m hosting a huge giveaway! (See the bottom of this post.)
Shop the Outfit:
How and Why It Started – Remixing and Helping Women
If you’ve read my post “How Blogging Became a Full Time Job,” you’ve already heard much of what I’m about to say. But, since it’s the 10-year mark, let’s go back to the very beginning!
I started Putting Me Together back in 2011 as a way to document my style journey and get better at remixing my wardrobe. Back in 2011, style blogs weren’t as popular and mostly existed as a hobby to document a person’s style, Pinterest was just a baby, “Influencer” was not even really a term, and you definitely couldn’t find outfit inspiration on Instagram like you can today. When I discovered style blogs for the first time, I was HOOKED. I loved clothes and thinking about style, and I had no idea there was this little community on the web who did, too! I wanted to be part of it.
It didn’t take me long to find and become obsessed with the blog Kendi Everyday. Over 10 years ago, she ran remix challenges where you had to take 30 pieces and make 30 outfits. There was no capsule template or corresponding outfits to collectively follow (like you can find today in outfit guides). The prompt was really just to choose 30 pieces from your wardrobe and make 30 outfits with them. I was amazed at how Kendi could do that and make all her outfits look so different! I wanted to be able to do that too, so I started Putting Me Together to participate in one of her challenges. While I could put together a great outfit regularly, I couldn’t mix and match the pieces I had very fluidly. I wanted to master that! To learn, I creepily stalked all of Kendi’s blog posts 😂, meticulously studied how she mixed and matched flawlessly, and practiced a ton. Eventually I learned how to work my wardrobe, how to mix and match like magic, and eventually I developed my own system around remixing.
After learning to remix and much practice! From THIS packing post…
In addition to wanting to connect with others who enjoyed style and to practice remixing, I had this other hope that SOMEDAY my blog could teach other women tricks that would make style simpler so they could feel less overwhelmed with style and more confident in their outfits.
Because a lot of style blogs at the time were more like a personal diary of outfits, there wasn’t a lot of practical style advice out there. There were lots of super stylish bloggers documenting their cute outfits, but only a handful who had “everyday” style that I could relate to, and even less bloggers teaching about style. I had been helping to style my friends for a while, and I knew that there were some foundational style concepts that make style so much easier. I hoped someday I could share those types of style tips on my blog and PMT could become a resource to help more women feel like they could put themselves together. But, I honestly didn’t know if it’d ever get to that point.
From the archives of Style Tips
I decided on the name Putting Me Together, in reference to both the act of putting myself together while learning to mix and match, in addition to the hope that style tips here would help someone say, “This blog is helping me put myself together!” I hemmed and hawed about starting the blog because… well, it’s really weird to take pictures of yourself and post them on the internet. 😆 My husband bought the domain anyway, and I freaked out for a bit. But, since we already had the domain, I felt like I had to use it. So, nervously, I did.
How PMT Grew
I started posting outfits and shared what I was learning about remixing in hopes that it’d help other people, too. I mean, I knew how to put together a decent outfit, but I couldn’t remix the heck out of pieces. Surely at least some other people were in the same boat, right? I blogged what I learned about remixing in my Building a Remixable Wardrobe Series, posted how to wear One Piece Different Ways, eventually shared style tips, and wrote helpful content whenever I could, and my blog gained traction, in large thanks to Pinterest and Google.
And BTW, if you’ve ever pinned anything from this blog, THANK YOU! Not only are you helping PMT, but you’ve helped other women discover PMT and all the style tips it provides.
Sharing one of the many things I learned in the Building a Remixable Wardrobe Series
I started PMT before I had kids, when I had a lot more free time. Lemme tell ya, I used every single free moment I had before and after work to blog. I was basically working one and a half jobs, and I did that for years. Looking back, it was a bit intense, but I freaking loved blogging!
How Things Have Changed Over the Years
The blogger/influencer world has changed drastically since 2011. Like I said, back then, most people were doing it as a hobby and mayyyybe earning a little on the side. But, it wasn’t common to earn a full-time living as a style blogger. Now, it’s a viable option, and less people start it as a hobby and more with an intent to make it their job. The space is also a lot more saturated as a result. Also, there are so many social media outlets to worry about compared to back then!
In addition, what readers are looking for has changed over the years with the rise of technology and how that affects human behavior. We are so much more of a shortcut, immediate-gains, instant gratification, and convenience type of culture nowadays. Naturally, that has affected how people interact with content. Like, do people even read blog posts anymore? A lot of times we just want a quick outfit idea, style tip, or shopping recommendation from Instagram, for example. (Myself included! 😆)
I remember being at a point years ago where I sat down to figure out which types of content would live in which spaces. When I first started blogging in 2011, I posted ONE outfit per blog post, 4-5x a week (in addition to the occasional longer-form style tips, remixes, wardrobe-building series, etc.) because like I said, blogging back then was more of a daily style diary. With the rise of Instagram and the “instant” culture and other changes in the style blog world, it felt redundant to show the single outfit on Instagram and also have it on the blog. Why would anyone read a blog post in that case?
I switched gears to let Instagram and Facebook primarily be the space for a quick-hit outfit idea or sale on a good article of clothing (plus blog post announcements) and let blog posts primarily house the more robust content. I wanted my blog to be an archive of resources for style help, remixing help, wardrobe-building help, in addition to outfit ideas and shopping recommendations and all that. (BTW, you can find all those resources if you look through the menu bar at the top of this blog. There are a lot of tabs there to dive into, but if you need a place to start, start with the Wardrobe Help tab for the highlights.)
Then, in 2017 I started creating style resources outside of my blog, like hosting the PMT Challenges, creating Starter Kit Wardrobe Guides & Outfit Guides, and developing a comprehensive style course, Simply Put Together. I made those because I felt I could create even more comprehensive and cohesive resources through other mediums. I felt I could teach better and help in a more A-to-Z, streamline fashion where info isn’t scattered among a bunch of blog posts like it would be here. I could walk women through a more robust step-by-step plan for how to put together a mix-and-match wardrobe, like in the Starter Kit Guides, plus give you all the outfits in one streamline booklet. I could house and provide a plethora of resources within a single resource, such as providing videos, worksheets, style guides, wardrobe planning spreadsheets, etc. ALL together inside of Simply Put Together, and walk you through the most important style concepts in a systematic way.
If you can’t tell, I love generating systems that allow you to replicate what you do with consistency and clarity, and I love teaching systems. (This was true in my old job that had nothing to do with style. I was the Staff Director of Training & Development and always aimed to teach systems that people could replicate.) I feel like I can teach and provide systems for style even more effectively through other mediums like an entire style course or PDF guides. Plus, I like that those types of things are super convenient for people—everything is all in one place and it’s a clear path from start to finish. No running around in circles trying to piece together the right info!
Katie and me back in 2018. Truly, she’s the more stylish of the two of us. I’m not the most stylish person, I just create systems to make style easier. 😊
Other things have changed along the way, too, of course. Like, I now only have one job (PMT), but I also have three kids and wayyyyy less energy or mental space for anything in life (shout out to all the parents who have their energy sucked away by their kids 😂). And thankfully, I have a team of women who help make PMT happen. My husband Benson no longer has to take my pictures (bless his heart 😜), and Katie has been behind the lens since 2018. Instagram is changing once again with Reels and IGTV, and new apps are always being developed.
All that said, the landscape has changed a lot since 2011, and of course it’ll continue to change. But, however it changes, one thing remains the same: I pretty much feel just as awkward taking pictures of my outfits in public as I did 10 years ago. 😂 Bahaha! Okay, but seriously, however the landscape changes, I try my best to keep the mission the same—to help women with style and make style easier for you so that you can feel confident through your outfits. Whether that’s through style tips, outfit ideas, clothing recommendations, wardrobe and outfit guides, online style courses, or whatever else we come up with, I hope you have been able to feel better and better about style!
I’m Glad You’re Here
I also want to take a moment to say THANK YOU for being part of the PMT community! It’s truly encouraging when you all email, DM me on Instagram, or comment to tell me what you’ve learned about style, how PMT has made your life easier, how your confidence has grown, or that you got a compliment on your outfit. (I LOOOOVE hearing that you got complimented on your outfit! 😊)
Thank you if you’ve ever shopped through the links we provide on the blog, have purchased a PMT outfit guide or joined a past PMT challenge, have joined Simply Put Together, have engaged on social media through liking and engaging with posts, or have pinned anything from the blog. All of those things have supported what happens here, helps keep it going, and continues to help other women find PMT and grow in their style, too!
(If you want to learn how bloggers earn a living, read my post How Blogging Became a Full Time Job & How You Can Earn a Living as an Influencer.)
A few other random things…
Fun fact…
My very first collaboration with a company was about 6 months into blogging, and I got a free $200 hairdryer from a company in exchange for a review of it. I was used to paying around $30 for cheap hairdryers, but I constantly had to replace them. (A couple of them even caught on fire! 😬) WELL… I have been using that $200 hairdryer for the last 9+ years and it’s going STRONGGGGG. I freaking love that thing! Unfortunately, the company is no longer in business. ☹️
Favorite thing about running PMT?
Hands down my favorite thing is knowing the content helps you! Beyond that, I think my favorite part is actually teaching and training. Like I said before, my role at my previous job always had to do with training others, and now I get to do that on a topic I’ve always thought was fun—style! I just LOVE training. I love helping people “get it”—whatever the topic is. I love seeing other people succeed and have breakthroughs based on what they’re learning!
If I had unlimited time…
I would want to do more live teaching and videos on Instagram and Facebook. But right now with three little kids and working on some longer-term projects (stay tuned!), I’ve gotta pick and choose. Someday though!
GIVEAWAY! 🎉
Now, to celebrate the 10-year anniversary, I want to give some stuff away to you all—10 prizes to 10 winners!
First, here are the prizes:
- 5 winners of a Starter Kit Wardrobe or Outfit Guide of your choice from the PMT Shop
- 1 winner of ALL the guides currently in the PMT Shop (4 Casual Starter Kit Guides, 2 Business Casual Starter Kit Guides, Summer Outfit Guide Vol 1, Fall Casual Outfit Guide)
- 1 winner of a free membership to Simply Put Together
- 3 winners of a free 1-on-1, 30-minute style coaching session with me via video chat. I haven’t offered individual style coaching in years, but I’m doing it for this! You’ll get to ask all your style questions, and I’ll help you as best as I can.
How to enter:
There are several ways to enter. Some will count for 5 entries while others only count for one. So, if you really, really, really wanna win, participate in the ones with more entries so you’ll have even more chances to win!
- Subscribe to PMT Emails – counts for 5 entries
- Follow @puttingmetogether on Instagram – 1 entry
- Like Putting Me Together on Facebook – 1 entry
- Share on IG Stories how PMT has helped you or one thing you love about PMT – 5 entries; can do this multiple times for up to 20 entries!
- Use the hashtag #PMTdressedme and tag @puttingmetogether to make sure we see your entries.
- You can do this Tuesday through Friday for multiple entries!
- Share on IG Stories how PMT has helped you or one thing you love about PMT – 5 entries; can do this multiple times for up to 20 entries!
- Include the hashtag #PMTdressedme and @puttingmetogether in the caption
To get your entries included, fill out the Rafflecopter widget below!
Winners will be chosen at random via Rafflecopter. Winner will be notified by email on Tuesday 6/15 and will need to respond within 48 hours or a new winner will be selected. Be sure to check your email! Good luck!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
