Check out an excerpt from my interview with the London based site, “Tip Online”.
How do you deal with negative criticism and constant scrutiny?
Well I always use Oprah as an example. What I do in my free time, which a lot of people don’t know, is I read interviews from people that I look up to and admire. I spend a lot of time reading old interviews from Oprah Winfrey and Will Smith and those types of people. What I did notice about Oprah is that in the early part of her career she was very caught up with what people had to say about her, the negative things that people had to say, it just really hurt her. There was a lot of criticism on everything from her weight to the way she looked, the guy she was dating and it wasn’t until she realised that all of the pain and destruction that was going on in her life was because she cared so much about what people thought of her. She stopped caring and that’s how she became the person she is today. When I first started I read everything – every negative thing people had to say about me. I got a lot of criticism because people thought I hung out with celebrities because they would see me in pictures with them which was never true. I got a lot of criticism because people were under the impression that I wanted to be a celebrity and that was never my intention. I was very hurt by it. One day I just stopped [looking for negative comments]. I’m just numb to it now. It takes a while. As long as you care about what people have to say about you, you’ll never reach your full potential.
Did you ever think that Necole Bitchie would get so big?
It’s funny because I remember at the end of 2008, I was asking this guy if he could help me because he had a lot of industry connects and he asked me “what’s your traffic?” and I said about 500,000 pageviews a month and he said “well, when you get a million hits a week then come back and talk to me.” I was so offended and so hurt because I felt like first of all he didn’t believe in me and second of all, a million page views a week was an impossible goal for him to give me. But six months later I reached that goal! I thought a million pageviews a week was unheard of for me, so for me to go past that and I’m still growing is amazing. I never would have thought.
What’s been the highlight of your blogging career so far?
Appearing on 106 and Park [who have never featured a blogger before] because I’m very camera shy. That’s what’s been really holding me back to really go to the next level and be as big as I really can be because I freeze up around cameras and I always said I don’t want to do TV. When they asked me I couldn’t tell them no because I didn’t want to look like a slacker or someone who can’t or whose incapable. So when they asked me I told them yes even though I was scared out of my mind. I didn’t even promote it to my blog readers or talk about it on Twitter. I didn’t mention it until afterward because I was just that scared. I think one of my [other] highlights is when I got a private message from Perez Hilton on Twitter and he was basically saying “keep up the good work, I’m proud of you”. When I first started my blog, I looked at him as the Oprah of blogging. I modeled my business strategy and the way that I branded myself after him because he was so successful and I was very intrigued by that. When I got the private message on Twitter, that meant the world to me because I didn’t even know he knew I existed like that.
Considering you’ve been doing this for quite some time now, what important lessons have you learnt along the way?
I learned that your network is your net worth so you need to get out there and meet people. And not just that, you need to be nice to people and not burn bridges because you never know who you might need.
What’s the main misconception people have about Necole Bitchie that you’d like to clear up?
That I’m a rock star with this super poppin’ life and a lot of celebrity friends. I’m actually quite boring!
Finally, where do you see Necole Bitchie in the future?
I would love to continue to expand my brand into clothing, beauty and things of that nature but I am also interested in branding who I am as a person outside of my online persona. I want to connect with my readers more on a personal level and inspire. I’m all for female empowerment and I hope to motivate others to take risks and go hard for what they want out of life.
Will Smith once said to me “99% is the same as 0, if you are going to do 99%, stay home” and I will never forget that.
Read the entire interview over at TIP ONLINE
You getting that message from Perez Hilton was how I felt the day you randomly DMed me with “Nice blog.” I had NO idea you even knew who I was or that you were following me. I almost fell out my chair. But just like others have inspired you, you continue to inspire me. So thank you. 🙂
Aww that’s so sweet of you Luvvie!!! Keep up the great work!