The path of good intentions

This is an old photo of me, taken when Facebook was just becoming a major social media platform, the Motorola Razr (a flip phone) was the cellphone to have, and there was no Instagram, no SnapChat, nor selfies.  Taking a photo of yourself in the mirror with a camera like this was the closest thing you got to selfies at the time!  Studio Intent wouldn't even start until several years after this photo was taken, and even then it was still rare for a retailer to have much of an online presence at all.

When we started the blog and created Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest profiles, we still had a brick and mortar location and social media was a useful tool for us to promote our business - we could post about new arrivals, share information on our favourite designers, show different ways to style the pieces we stocked in store.  After the store closed and I began to run pop ups, I used social media to notify followers about when, where, and which designer was coming up.  

However, making a living running pop ups is just as difficult as trying to run a profitable retail store in this economy, so I had to go back to work in education while running Studio Intent on the side.  Slowly the Studio Intent social media feeds became a way to promote conscious living as a whole, though becoming a lifestyle blogger instead of a retail store owner has had its own pitfalls - not the least of which is the pressure to have the most followers, the most likes, and the highest engagement.  And playing that game when my aim is to encourage people to live a more intentional life is not only hypocritical but also far too stressful for me. 

Don't worry, I'm still going to be blogging and I will still be hosting pop ups, but I may not be posting as frequently or as regularly.  Studio Intent's original tagline was "Made with Intent, Dress with Intent, Live with Intent" and I want to stay true to that sentiment and not be defined by what I post, how often I post, or how many people like it.