Miami Talks: The Robe Life talks balancing business, blogging, and burnout
In this interview of Miami Talks, blogger Natalie Atick-Nunez from The Robe Life Blog opens up about how she balances her blog, social media platforms, and photography business while keeping it both cute and classy. Here is what Natalie had to say:
What Natalie says about Miami:
I was born in Miami and I've lived here my whole life. Everyone’s shocked because a lot of people that I speak with moved here when they were younger but I was born and raised here. It is home, I can't live anywhere else. I love traveling but I'm always like... I miss Miami.
The ups and downs of Miami:
There's so much that I love about Miami. The different cultures that are here, everything is so vibrant and colorful, it makes you feel alive. When you drive down either to the beach, Wynwood or downtown, everything is so full of life. Life is just so much fun and I just finished swim week. It just made you feel alive to see all the fashion shows and the art and it's just a beautiful city. I could definitely do without the humidity. Every photoshoot I do, by the second look, my makeup is dripping, my hair is giving that Kim K wet look! I wear so many headbands because it's the only thing saving my hair. I can deal with the heat as long as it's not the humid heat.
What Natalie says about working in the creative industry:
Ever since I was a little girl I would always paint and color and draw. I feel like I do the same with my photography and when I do my flat lays, for me it's a work of art. I take my time to set it up as perfect as I can, I have the right lighting, so I feel like it continues to feed my creative side. I absolutely love it.
How Natalie transitioned from photography into blogging:
Well, seven years ago I started a baby photography business. I actually photograph my flat lays and all that stuff but I kind of feel like it was an advantage for me that I knew photography because my passion was able to help me with my blogging. I feel like I'm still doing what I love but I'm adding it even more to my blog. I've always liked getting pictures taken of me so it was a no brainer and I love to put outfits together and style them so it gets me so excited when I have a new outfit. I can't wait to call my photographer and be like, we need to shoot asap!
What Natalie says about starting her YouTube channel:
I started it because I figured it would be an easier way to speak to others and be able to explain about skincare and beauty, but I'm not going to lie, it's really hard. Especially because I would film and edit my own videos so I would have to self-focus and do everything by myself. I did it for a year and my channel's still up, but I feel like now it's just easier to do Instagram stories and people are able to talk to you and write you through DM. YouTube, I feel like is another beast in itself. It took a lot of time so people that do it weekly or post two to three times a week, they are amazing because it is a lot of hard work.
I'm always in my robe and I would Snapchat and put stories up before I had my blog and everyone was like… are you always in your robe? And I’d be like, it's the robe life! I was always in face masks and everyone would ask how much skincare I have so when I started I felt like I had to call it the Robe Life Blog.
Natalie is asked to pick between beauty, fashion or skincare:
That's so hard because they all have my heart. I would say skincare. I wanted to say fashion but I know a lot of my followers, they love my fashion and they say that I inspire them to be classier and all this stuff but you don't know how many DM's I get about skincare. I think if I just stuck to fashion, they’d be bummed.
Natalie on building a business from the ground up:
I feel like I've grown a lot but I've also been putting in a ton of work. Obviously, I have my baby photography business but man, do I put my heart and soul into this. I always tell people who are starting off that content is key, your caption is key and you have to find your right hashtags. You can't just post something, put a little emoji and expect to attract people to want to stick with you. You have to make it fun and interesting, find out what your niche is and stick to that. I only stick to fashion, skincare, and beauty. So I've just been working really hard and I feel like I love the pictures that I put up and I'm hoping that the people that follow me love it too. I always say be true to yourself.
Natalie gives tips on growing your following:
There's a lot of engaging. Not only engaging with your followers but also engaging with other people in your similar niche and just make yourself present out there. You can't just post and then leave your post alone and go on with your day. I feel like the first hour is so important to just engage with other people because then they’ll be like… who's this person and then they’ll go to your page and say, oh let me follow her. I probably engage with people a couple of times a day which can be bad too because I'm always on my phone. I've also gotten really lucky with brands because they’ve posted me on their feed or stories and given me shoutouts. It's just really putting your heart and soul into it and being really dedicated to it.
Natalie's advice to those starting from the bottom:
I see people who want to start out now and they're like what do I do, what's the secret? The secret is there is no secret. Work. You got to put the work into it but it's so much fun. I love it so much, I get so excited. I would say to photographers and bloggers because I feel like it works for both, is to not compare yourself to others... that will kill you. I always say don't go look at what other people are doing, don't compare yourself to others because what's going to happen is you're going to be so focused on what they're doing that you're going to miss your own opportunity. You need to just focus on yourself. Yourself from last week and the year before that. That's the most important thing.
What Natalie says breaks her dry spells:
When I lack creativity, I kind of take a break. Not a long one, but just a few days off because mentally I'm drained from my photography business and from posting every day. I post and I also engage a lot and when I engage a lot, it can take a toll on you so I just take the weekend off and I actually do nothing. I'll stay home and watch tv or shop online and just eat whatever I want... that type of cheat weekend.
Natalie's big plans for the future:
For sure lots of fashion, as always. A ton of skincare and beauty and I know I'm not a lifestyle blogger, but I feel like it’s calling me because I've seen a lot of response to it from my DM's. Just helping people out spiritually and emotionally. Every time I post about positivity and stuff like that, people keep telling me they want more, so they can see more of Natalie's spiritual side because I'm very into all of that. A lot of people when they see my photos and then they meet me, they're like... I didn't think you would be like that. They probably think I'm this girl with her designer handbags who's a huge snob. I'm actually the biggest goofball, I'm all about love and happiness and I'll make you laugh. That's who I am, it's not about the material things, so ill bring that more into my blog.
