23y/o, Chronically Ill, Want to Shoot Higher

[Primeperiwinkle]

DYT only has four "boxes," you know? You can only fit into one. You can have a secondary type, but you only get one palette and one set of guidelines depending on whether you're a Type 1, 2, 3, or 4.

The goal of my graph is to free you from the boxes. Everybody has a little of bit of each type in them. The question is how much. Instead of trying to fit yourself into a type, you create a type that fits around you. DYT doesn't allow for people with very balanced facial features or neutral coloring. And there are a lot of people with very proportional features and neutral, soft coloring that's not particularly warm, cool, dark, or light.

There's more trial and error in my system—you can't just pick from 4 boxes. You have to play around a little bit to find what works for you.

But at the same time, it helps people who don't fit into to any of those four boxes. That's the goal.

Okay, so your approach is more tailored. Are you going to try and empower women (motivational/enlightenment type of stuff) or are you going to try to educate them (research/MBTI/geek stuff) or are you going to make it something else? Because DYT also doesn’t account for age, geographic location, or trends.

I’m excited for you. I DEFINITELY think you’ll have a market because this is something many, many, many of my friends regularly geek out on.

I think your approach is more prophet style.. (woe unto us who have tried and failed to find our style.. but there’s hope yet!)

Have you already clarified the principles ppl can easily follow?

 

[Hopeful]

I haven't quite clarified my goal. I see a few problems in the seasonal color/style type world:

1. The information is too confusing.

2. Women have a hard time finding their type because they're given a set of boxes that don't fit everyone.

3. It's hard to find information at all, because it's spread out across the internet.

I have clarified my principles, but I'm weak on the application part. Here's the theory in a nutshell: seasonal color, DYT, Kibbe, and all those systems are based on the four elements. Everybody has a little bit of Earth, Air, Fire, and Water. But most people have a dominant element. If you can figure out your particular blend of elements, you can figure out your style.

 

[Primeperiwinkle]

I haven't quite clarified my goal. I see a few problems in the seasonal color/style type world:

1. The information is too confusing.

2. Women have a hard time finding their type because they're given a set of boxes that don't fit everyone.

3. It's hard to find information at all, because it's spread out across the internet.

I have clarified my principles, but I'm weak on the application part. Here's the theory in a nutshell: seasonal color, DYT, Kibbe, and all those systems are based on the four elements. Everybody has a little bit of Earth, Air, Fire, and Water. But most people have a dominant element. If you can figure out your particular blend of elements, you can figure out your style.

It’s important to note that I am once again up too late and running on fumes so these ideas could be horrible but.. maybe they’ll get your wheels spinning?

I personally think DYT is based on the D.I.S.C. personality test but the way she hooked women was by selling them on one of the seven ways marketers get ppl. In the book Fascinate by Sally Hogshead a few of the ways to prime ppl for buying has to do with Trust and Power.
That link connects to a workbook thing that rapidly explains it.

The DYT chick gave women Power by giving them a guide to follow, it offered Trust because they weren’t “faking” their style.

If I were you I’d double down on asking every single person that you have helped and figure out what they have in common, why they prefer your stuff, etc.

My female brain wants to just roll with a ton of ideas for branding..with what you’ve already said... to somehow tap into fantasy characters, (like nymphs or nereids), make them more sexy and then have those goddess or myth figures be the archetypes for your brand.

You could be the Fairy Godmother of Style, turning women into the magical version of themselves.

Ok, I prolly typed too much.. I look forward to hearing what actions you’ve taken to move this forward. Also, the DYT chick drives me bonkers...so a cooler version would be fun.

 

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[Primeperiwinkle]

So my issue right now is that I'm trying to meet two needs, and I'm not sure if I can meet both. I want to be an informational hub for this niche—possibly an aggregator—but I also want to be an authority. And I don't know how to accomplish both.

You’ll become the authority if you prove that you 1.)care more than others and 2.) have more info.

You’ll become an authority by creating the hub.

 

[Hopeful]

@Primeperiwinkle Wow! I just finished reading the PDF you sent about the Fascination personalities. What an eye-opener! I think my primary type is Innovation/Rebellion and my secondary one is Passion (edit: or Power). I feel like a fog has lifted... I was trying to take a detached, "professional" (i.e. boring!) approach to this project when an innovative, creative, and personal approach would be much better.

 

[Johnny boy]

What's the niche? What's the need?

 

[Hopeful]

It not right or wrong its just not profitable. And you said it yourself "stylists are expensive". If there were too many they would be cheap.

This is all assuming you would enjoy doing this. This type of online business can take a while to build up. If you want quicker money you could create a product and use influencer marketing to get sales rather quickly. But what you initially suggested would be a good piece of content instead of being sold.

Hey, that's a good point about stylists being expensive! Haha.

I would enjoy the personal styling. I would also like to create a product, though, because my main problem is that I have unpredictable symptom flare-ups that can keep me from working for two, three days at a time...

 

[Kevin88660]

Wow, good for your client. That sounds like a challenge!

Thank you! I never understood how bloggers can actually make good money. Before replying to you, I read these threads to get some more context.

EXECUTION - Everything I Learned From Blogging $0 to $15k/month

EDIT: Follow my journey thread here: EXECUTION - [Progress Thread] The Blogger's Lifestyle Journey What's up, guys. I just introduced myself about an hour ago, and figured I'd start right off by adding a ton of value upfront. My name's Jon. I've been blogging and running a self-development...

www.thefastlaneforum.com

GOLD! - Blogging for Profit (With Legendary GOLD Follow Up Posts)

I was wrong. - Vigilante There you go, haters. Print that out and frame it on your wall, stalkers and ego maniacs. I was wrong about blogging. I have been quick to dismiss people's concepts of starting a blog for sustainable, passive income. I was wrong. I am doing some inquiries...

www.thefastlaneforum.com

Anyway, now that I am decently educated:

Do most of the bloggers you know make their money through sponsorships?

I am a financial adviser from Singapore. I am not in the content creation business so I cannot really guide you on the business of blogging.

But from my experience in business people do the best in areas of their strength. And it does strike well immediately that you write well like a professional writer. That gives you a competitive advantage in related field.

I can link you to some successful examples in the niche I know. Below is the link of a very famous financial blogger. Their opinions shape the market demand for millennials. We as financial sales peoples literally feel it during our interaction with our clients when they told us that they do not like this plan because they read from a guru that this is "bad"...

SG Budget Babe

Personal Finance for Singaporeans

sgbudgetbabe.com

 

[Hopeful]

I am a financial adviser from Singapore. I am not in the content creation business so I cannot really guide you on the business of blogging.

But from my experience in business people do the best in areas of their strength. And it does strike well immediately that you write well like a professional writer. That gives you a competitive advantage in related field.

I can link you to some successful examples in the niche I know. Below is the link of a very famous financial blogger. Their opinions shape the market demand for millennials. We as financial sales peoples literally feel it during our interaction with our clients when they told us that they do not like this plan because they read from a guru that this is "bad"...

SG Budget Babe

Personal Finance for Singaporeans

sgbudgetbabe.com

Thanks for the encouragement and the info! I'll definitely check out SG Budget Babe.

 

[Hopeful]

Hi Hopeful,

My girlfriend has been running a blog for over 5 years, and I would rather consider it as a marketing channel. People get hooked by all the free, high quality content that gives them value. Once they like your stuff, they'll most likely subscribe to your newsletter... and your blog posts most likely will contain link to your products/services (This seems like it needs to be defined... find a real need these women have, and provide value !).

Getting notorious on one platform gives you leverage to extend on others: Instagram, Facebook Pages, etc. The goal is to become omiscient to the user. Then, each different marketing channel can be used to advertize your brand new product/service, and with all the value you already provided for free, people will buy with confidence.

One thing to remember is that you're not the first blog out there. There's billions of them. Stay humble and focus on providing value, build your community... it may also end up as a closed Facebook Group where women can exchange on the specific subject... and you can sell advertizing on that group (this is what we do).

There's a lot of possibilities, but nowadays, sustaining people's interesting with ONLY a blog, unless each article is worth a solid gold brick , is hard. People aren't focused at all and that's why you need to be everywhere to catch them in your web.

Great food for thought, Jeff. So it seems like blogging isn't a way to earn significant income, but it's a way to draw people to your product or service. Thanks so much for sharing your girlfriend's experience; this is super helpful information.

 

[Hopeful]

Have you considered writing books and self publishing?

Yes, I have! I have been editing for self-published authors for a few years (since my second year of college). I have been observing the self-publishing process and mentally filing my observations for future action. It is very easy to self-publish a book poorly—which could mean writing poorly, editing poorly, or marketing poorly. If any aspect is done shoddily, the professionalism of the book will suffer. So if I do it, I want to make sure I do it right. I would need to save up some money to pay for a good editor, good cover art, etc. I would also want to be very sure that I had a topic that would help people and that I could write authoritatively about.

The initial expense is the main thing that has kept me from writing a book. But that's a solve-able problem.

I also had several topics I wanted to write about, and I wasn't sure which was the best. But I think I have an idea worth running with here.

I think what I'm learning from this thread is that I need to have a multi-layered strategy. I can't just have a blog, or a book, or a course. I need marketing/social media to draw people in, valuable free content to keep their interest, and a valuable product and/or service to make a profit. (Like @Jeff Noel 's web metaphor.)

 

[Hopeful]

Don't get sucked into thinking you have to send $300 on a cover and a $1000 on an editor. If you can write decently, you can self edit or exchange with another author, and spend less $100 on a cover.

I probably have that mindset because I am an editor, and I'd like to think professional editing is worth the money. But I see what you're saying, and those are excellent suggestions! Thanks.

 

[Hopeful]

@cautiouscapy What has your experience been with personal style?

What do you WISH existed in this niche?

Do you have any needs that are being unmet by the current resources?

 

[Hopeful]

I like it. Thumbs up!!

The beauty of being a hub is that you don't have to be the expert at style... You can just be the person who pulls together a lot of (sometimes) conflicting information and synthesizes it for people. That is a huge role! I love it!

Thanks! Yep, exactly.

The only thing that bugs me is something that @Johnny boy brought up earlier... if I'm just aggregating information, then what can I actually charge for? Sure, I'm not just aggregating; I'm also analyzing/simplifying... but I don't know how to make that into a product people would be willing to pay for. (Am I going around in circles? It feels like I am, sorry.)

 

[Hopeful]

Hey Hopeful! (Great name btw)

Thanks!

A few observations:

Ok, this was more than a few observations. You took a deep dive and even made me a spreadsheet!

Your writing is definitely something I can see people really enjoying to read and therefore becoming returning readers as well. You just need to create some content that has the acquisition channel built in(search traffic).

Thank you. Since I'm planning to connect lots of different theories, my articles will include lots of search terms.

The model of your own creation that you mentioned, is that something that you've gone public with? If so, how has the response been?

I haven't "gone public," but I've shown it to friends and even tried it out on a couple of people (personal styling). They seemed to understand it pretty intuitively, and the girls who put my system into practice now love how they look. I'm not very active on online forums and stuff, but, as you say below:

If not, it's a perfect way to get a foot into the community on forums and sites like Reddit.
Create a nice graphic with a watermark and show it to the community. A great way to introduce something like this on a forum is usually to write what is essentially a full blog post but instead of publishing it on your site you publish it on the forum, graphics and all.

Do create a page for it on your website as well. If you succeed in making it popular you will have created a whole new search term that you now dominate because you created the term.

That's a great idea. I already created a landing page with an email sign-up. I linked to the site on the Pinterest page I created for the brand. I just made a free site b/c I can't afford real hosting yet, but I wanted to have somewhere to send people.

My goal is to create a web course, so I set a date to light a fire under my feet.

Hopefully you can use something from my rambling, if there's anything you wonder about, just ask.

You were not rambling at all. I know nothing about SEO, so you were very helpful. Thank you for taking the time and effort to help me out.

 

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[Hopeful]

@Ax3 , I'm re-reading my reply to you, and I hope I didn't come across as a know-it-all. I was trying to tell you the ways that I'm implementing your advice or planning to implement it, but it might've come across as cocky. Thanks again for your detailed write-up; it was hugely helpful and very timely for the next stage of my plan!

 

[Hopeful]

Today I followed all the Pinterest boards I could find related to "Kibbe," "Zyla," "Color Analysis," and "Dressing Your Truth." There are other terms I can search for later, but those four were a good start.

Then I created a few boards (collections of links, for those unfamiliar with Pinterest). I made one for blogs and videos, one for personal stylists, and one for books. I think I've identified all the major players in the niche (at least for blogs and videos). I might come across more later, but I won't sweat it for now. I'm pretty sure I haven't missed anyone major. These Pinterest boards will be my my research database for blog posts.

I also created a YouTube channel and subscribed to some relevant channels. I took note of how many subscribers the active channels had. They ranged from 3k to 35k. So, even the most popular channels in this niche are fairly small. There weren't many YouTube channels devoted to Seasonal Color Analysis or Style Type Theory. Blogs and Pinterest are definitely more popular. However, a few YouTube channels have dedicated followings.

What I didn't do today was write descriptions for my Pinterest profile/boards or YouTube channel. I didn't want people to find me until I had set things up. Now that my Pinterest and YouTube profiles are presentable, I can write some search engine optimized descriptions tomorrow.

 

[ChrisV]

Jeez chronically ill at age 23... that's brutal. Do you have any Fibromyalgia by any chance?

 

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[Hopeful]

@ChrisV No, not fibro. My symptoms are a bit different—less pain, more autoimmune symptoms. It's not fun, but it does keep me focused on my top priorities (silver linings).

 

[Primeperiwinkle]

Ok, I've hit a wall again. Working on my website.

I've set up a feed that shows all the latest posts and videos from bloggers in my niche. So now my question is: where does my content come in? How can I be an aggregator and create original content?

Does your Cartesian graph simplify or expand on Dress Your Truth stuff?

The biggest problem my friends had after ALMOST A FULL YEAR of discussing DYT was their implementation of it.

Which problem does your product solve?

 

[Hopeful]

Does your Cartesian graph simplify or expand on Dress Your Truth stuff?

The biggest problem my friends had after ALMOST A FULL YEAR of discussing DYT was their implementation of it.

Which problem does your product solve?

DYT only has four "boxes," you know? You can only fit into one. You can have a secondary type, but you only get one palette and one set of guidelines depending on whether you're a Type 1, 2, 3, or 4.

The goal of my graph is to free you from the boxes. Everybody has a little of bit of each type in them. The question is how much. Instead of trying to fit yourself into a type, you create a type that fits around you. DYT doesn't allow for people with very balanced facial features or neutral coloring. And there are a lot of people with very proportional features and neutral, soft coloring that's not particularly warm, cool, dark, or light.

There's more trial and error in my system—you can't just pick from 4 boxes. You have to play around a little bit to find what works for you.

But at the same time, it helps people who don't fit into to any of those four boxes. That's the goal.

 

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[Hopeful]

So my issue right now is that I'm trying to meet two needs, and I'm not sure if I can meet both. I want to be an informational hub for this niche—possibly an aggregator—but I also want to be an authority. And I don't know how to accomplish both.

 

[Hopeful]

This website is what I considered one of the earliest hubs of this niche. Well, at least the personal style niche. She has some color articles, but doesn't get into to DYT/Kibbe stuff.

Seasonal Color Analysis | How to Find Your Best Colors with a Free Color Analysis Chart

Seasonal Color Analysis: Discover your perfect colors with a color chart analysis, get to know your seasonal color group

www.thechicfashionista.com

She had a bunch of her own articles, plus reviews of other books/products. Affliate links, too. I think this is the kind of thing I would try to imitate. (But modernized! Haha!)

 

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