Laura Longwell, co-owner of the blog Travel Addicts, left her ambitious 10-year career in marketing and PR to become a full-time blogger and travel the world with her husband, Lance. 

Before Laura started their blog, she fell in love with travel and experiencing other cultures during a study abroad in high school. As she got into her career, married Lance, and became bogged down with adult responsibilities traveling slid onto the back burner. 

However, when something is meant to be it’ll come back around, and that’s what happened when Lance got accepted to a study abroad in Italy for his master’s program. The trip awakened that fire within both of them, and they decided to make exploring new places a priority again. 

Since then, Laura and Lance have created a whole system to support their passion. From researching travel cards and hotel chain memberships to making vacations as stress-free as possible. They’ve found many ways to make pursuing their passions as attainable as possible. 

Laura is as well versed as she is well-traveled, and her desire to help others get out of their comfort zone and experience other cultures is evident in their blog. 

Laura’s ability to evolve her blog during COVID and continually create space for the things that make her life worth living is inspiring. 

This interview is packed with useful information for anyone wanting to get out and explore or pursue something they’re passionate about. 

Enjoy!

What was the catalyst for your love of travel?

Laura: When I was between my junior and senior years of high school, I had a chance to go to Oxford, England, and study abroad for a month. It was this cool opportunity where you had an opportunity to live in the dorms, be by yourself for the first time, and explore another country. 

Going into it, I had thought, “Oh, England is not going to be all that different from the U.S., right? We speak the same language.” And, while there are similarities, there are so many things that are different too.

It was just mind-blowing for me to be in a place that, on the surface, seems not to have many differences but to realize that even their English words mean different things than our English words. Stuff as simple as they don’t have zucchini, they have courgettes. 

When you’re 17, everything is so formative. So it really just imprinted on me that love of learning about other people and other cultures.

It had an even greater impact on me because of how old I was, and it was my first time away from home. It had a significant effect on what I wanted to do and how I wanted to approach the world, as far as being curious about other people and other places.

During your husband’s study abroad in Europe, what place or city changed the game and made you rediscover that passion within you?

Laura: The passion was always there, but life kind of takes over. It’s certainly easy to get caught up emotionally, but also for obligations. You have to go to work, and you get deep into what you’re doing there. You have obligations at home. There’s always something else to do, there’s always more work, there’s always something to clean. All that daily stuff takes over. 

And if you don’t make things like travel, or whatever it is that happens to make you happy and light your fire a priority, it’s easy for the mundane daily stuff to take over. 

At that point, we had been married for a couple of years, we were deep into our careers, and the focus was elsewhere. It was just the way life went. The stuff you would like to be doing takes a backseat. And it was sort of ironic that grad school, which is a huge time suck and obligation, was the door that allowed us to get back into travel. 

Rome turned out to be the place that we just absolutely fell in love with. It was just an incredible trip. And it made us realize we had to put it on the calendar and commit to it. Otherwise, life would keep going, time would pass, and we still wouldn’t be doing the things we wanted to do.

What has been your all-time favorite place you’ve visited and why?

Laura: That’s such a hard question. And it’s always the number one question we get. One is Rome. It was the first place that I really had a chance after Oxford to fall in love with from a travel perspective. There’s just so much there with the history, the culture, and the food. And it’s also such a lovely and vibrant city that always has something new to explore. 

But the place that I would say probably had the greatest impact on me was Egypt. We had the chance to go shortly after the Arab Spring and the revolution. So it was an unusual time, and there were not a lot of tourists.

We had planned the trip before the revolution. We purchased the trip in December for the following summer. And the revolution was in January. So for a long time, we didn’t know whether we were going to be able to go. We didn’t know what the situation was going to be on the ground. It was the most significant thing that had happened there in decades from the government’s fall and all kinds of things. 

But getting to go felt like such a privilege and a unique opportunity given the timing. 

And to think about how it all came to be without any of the advances we have in the modern world. The ingenuity, the history, and the culture, and to just be dwarfed by the sheer size and accomplishment was unbelievable. Things that are 5000 years old still have the original color on them. And then, culturally, it was the place that was the most different from my regular experience. 

Having the opportunity to get to know our tour guide, a Muslim woman with a master’s degree. She was the only woman who worked for the tour company that we were with. And she was fully covered. 

To talk to her about her experiences as a single traditional Muslim woman with a master’s degree and to be the only woman employed for this company. So just getting to know the people and seeing all this stuff was remarkable.

And that has to do with, to what degree you’re supporting regular people, but also, supporting governments. A lot of tourism entities are government-run. And then for me thinking about coming back and how I’m going to interpret that on my blog and how to speak about the people. And the way that women, minorities, and LGBTQ individuals are treated. It’s all inherently political. And I think that’s an important thing to consider as well.

What do you and Lance do in order to mentally prepare for a vacation and make the most out of your trip?

Laura: That’s such a hard thing. Right? I think there’s practical things that we try to do. We try to leave the house as clean as possible so that it’s not a disaster when we come home. We try to make sure that we’re not returning to something that’s in a terrible state of disarray.

I think the main thing is trying, if you’re able, to minimize the number of times that you have to check in with work. Trying to make sure that whoever is around to cover for you that you have a good plan in place while you’re gone. 

In the past, most of the stresses have revolved around needing to be available for work. And so, you have your mind in both places. And when that’s the case, it’s tough to relax, which is the point of vacation, and people have to recharge to some degree.

What are some travel splurges you both find are worth the upgrade so someone is more likely to keep traveling?

Laura: I think, if you’re a frequent traveler, and it justifies it, we value having lounge access. It’s really nice just to have a place where you can put your stuff down for a few minutes and not have to worry about always having an eye on it, grab a bite to eat, and have internet access. 

It’s particularly helpful in instances where you might have flight delays or other travel difficulties. The lounge isn’t practical or necessary for everybody. But if you are somebody who travels frequently, it’s helpful.

Another thing on similar lines is to develop loyalty with a hotel chain and get club access. It’s particularly helpful if you’re staying somewhere for four or five days because they often have complimentary breakfast. And if you’re at a hotel where, say if it’s my husband and me, and we are staying for five days, breakfast at the hotel might run you $25 a day. $50 a day for breakfast is absurd. 

And so, to have access to a club or something like that saves a lot of money in the long run. Along with trips to the hot springs, or an occasional spa visit depending on where we are, little things like that make the overall experience more enjoyable.

What advice would you give to someone who may love to travel but hasn’t gone anywhere in a while and would like to start back up again?

 Laura: I think if you have the funds for it, pick a date, put something on the calendar, and commit to it. It’s both simple and complicated at the same time because I know that it’s certainly not that easy for many people. 

But that was what we discovered was the secret for us. Make it a priority. And once you put it on the calendar and request the time off, you’re locked into it. And if you’re a person who has trouble breaking away, I think the best thing is to make it a non-negotiable as well. You don’t have to go to South Africa on a safari for two weeks. 

You can take a long weekend and go to the beach that’s nearest you, or the mountains, or that town that you have always wanted to explore. It doesn’t have to be this grand, massive thing that costs thousands of dollars.

If you don’t have the funds for it, putting a plan in place is equally important. 

Starting to figure out where you want to go, how much it’s going to cost, and chipping away at it as you’re able. One thing that we’ve done in the past, not as much now, but I have many friends who still do it quite a bit, is travel hacking stuff. 

So whether it’s as simple as getting a credit card for a hotel chain, or an airline and racking up points that way. Or if you want to get much more elaborate into it, there’s a lot of folks who turn through different offers, promotions, and stuff like that. And you would be surprised how quickly you can get a free night or work your way to a free ticket or things like that. Again, it doesn’t have to be thousands and thousands of dollars. 

What led to you pursuing Travel Addicts full-time?

 Laura: I had over a 10-year career in marketing and PR and was very deep into that as the vice president at my job. And as jobs sometimes do, I had been there for about five or six years, and it had f run its course. I knew that it was time to move on. 

And at that time, I would say we had the blog for, probably, about eight years. So this was a long, long-time passion project. But it was just clear to me that it was time to move on from my job. So my options were to go to a different company.

And the most likely one that I probably would have tried to move to was a place where many of my co-workers were also going. So it was kind of, go to this other company with many of the same people I’ve worked with for the last six years. And do more or less the same thing that I had been doing.

 Or to take a crazy leap, and see if investing the additional time and funds, would allow us to turn this thing that we had started into something that made us money and that we could work out long term.

COVID has changed so many things negatively for people, but I think it’s also opened up so many other opportunities. It has opened up, if not direct, opportunities, at least people’s minds, to the fact that they might be able to do something different. 

And I think so many people now have the opportunity to be more location independent. It’s forced companies to see that having workers not in the office doesn’t necessarily impact productivity. And so whether people are maintaining the job that they’ve always had, or a more typical career, or are taking a huge leap.

As well as getting a little bit more philosophical about dealing with the challenges of lockdown. And reflecting on the more negative things that have happened in the last year and a half and deciding how they want to design their life differently.

Do you have any mental health tips for other individuals whose career revolves around social media?

Laura: It’s hard. Dealing in the travel space with the pandemic has been a challenge to know what to say, how to say it, and feel you’re doing things responsibly. It’s not always easy, and it’s not easy when you’re feeling down and uncertain about something. It’s hard to put a happy spin on it publicly. 

But I think that there’s a couple of things when it comes to social media. I try to limit my time when I can and try to focus and get the things that I need to do for work done. And then, I catch up with my friends. It’s better for me not to end up endlessly scrolling and going down that rabbit hole, which is so easy to do. But I think you also have to try as best you can to keep it in perspective.

Take everything with a grain of salt, both the positive and the negative, because if you get too into, “Oh, I had a post go viral, or this thing went well.” Being successful and getting that engagement is essential from a business perspective.

 But if you get too wrapped up in the highs, it’s also really easy to get wrapped up in the lows and start chasing the likes.

 It’s easy to get negative quickly if you’re not having the success you want to have, both in terms of the metrics. But then also there’s the aspect of looking at what everybody else is doing. 
You have to keep in mind that social media is curated. Whether it’s an individual, a business, a travel blogger, whoever it may be, you almost always see the rosy side of things.

And for people who have their blog as a platform in addition to social media, it’s the same thing with Google. The Google algorithm is always changing, just like Instagram, just like Facebook. And the moment that you find something that works, something gets changed. 

So you have to get really comfortable with riding the waves on all of those channels because there’s always going to be something new, there’s always going to be a change. There’s always the push for something new. So you might have spent the last seven or eight years curating a great Instagram feed, and now you need to become a TikTok star too. And now Instagram wants to be TikTok, and you also need to share something.

 I think that’s why, if you can try to keep perspective about the success, or the harder things, because it’s always going to be a wave, and it’s always going to change.

With your background in marketing, do you feel that helped prepare you to be a blogger and give you the skills that you needed to succeed?

Laura: It was helpful. I think the bloggers in general who’ve had more success have experience with marketing. It gives you a little bit of a leg up, or at least in the short term when you get started. Or, in the blog world, people who are adept at coding and website-oriented stuff can do well because there’s a lot of technical things that go into just hosting a website and making it run, and making it be something that Google is happy with. So it’s been beneficial.

You have to be adaptable for sure. And you have to be in it for the long term like I said because one day something will work and it’ll take off, and it’ll go well, and the next day, the powers that be, whether in social media or search, will decide, “Oop, we need to tweak this thing.” And the thing that has been working for X number of years, all of a sudden, doesn’t work. 

Early on, there was, and I guess, there’s still sort of, is this idea of passive income, all you have to do is put it out there, and it will just go forever. And that’s not the way that things are. You have to be willing to find those trusted sources of information because everybody has an ebook to sell you, or a class, or something. 

Half the time, the people trying to sell you something are making money because they’re able to sell you something. Not because they had some special sauce that made them successful. So you have to find the sources that you trust when those changes happen, know how to adapt and reverse and move from Instagram is a photo-sharing app, need to do reels and stories, and all the different things you have to do these days.

What advice would you give to someone starting a blog today?

Laura: I would say learn SEO. That’s the biggest thing. And then think carefully about your topic. Ideally, you would pick a niche in which you can develop some authority and develop a lot of content.

 To do well in search and build up that authority, you need to become a trusted source. So you have to have a certain amount of information to share around a singular topic. I think it is harder and harder these days for people to start more general lifestyle blogs, even general travel blogs. Those kinds of things can be difficult. But if you can focus down, it often is a quicker path to success.

As I said, finding those trusted sources of information is also important because everybody has something to sell you, and everybody has an opinion. And just because something worked for this famous successful blogger doesn’t mean it’s going to work that well for you. 

Many people are successful because they’ve been at it a long time, and they’ve done a few of the right things, and the wrong things they have done are outweighed.

 But you may unknowingly follow the bad thing just because you think, “Oh, this person is successful, and they’re doing this. So, therefore, I should do that.” It doesn’t always work that way. You got to find the trusted sources.

How has Tailwind helped your blog?

Laura: We have been active Pinterest users for probably, I don’t even know, seven, eight, nine years, I mean, a long time. 

So having a tool like Tailwind makes the scheduling easy, makes us able to work it around our schedule, and helps us target the right times to post. 

And gives reminders for when you’ve shared something too many times or not shared something enough. Having those reminders and that ease has made things a lot easier because I don’t have to try to be on at 9:30 on Saturday morning because that’s the time that it says most of my audience is on, those kinds of things. So I can work it in as part of my day and part of my schedule when I can, instead of letting those algorithms make the decisions for me.

Which Tailwind feature is your favorite and why?

Laura: I like the Communities because it helps surface a lot of content that I might not otherwise find just in my regular Pinterest feed. It’s also a great way to share stuff with more people because you’re in a targeted community or with a specific topic, and you know that what’s being shared is good information. And so it’s easy to go through and schedule those things. It’s definitely helped us reach more people.

And lastly, what’s next for Travel Addicts?

Laura: We hoped we would be in a position to be traveling a little bit more right now. But I think we’ve got a little bit more time before getting out on the road. Lately, we’ve had many trips that we haven’t had the time to write about in the past. So we’ve been catching up, of course, in the last year or so. But we took the opportunity to start a new website that’s focused on our general area. It’s called Guide to Philly. And it’s literally a guide to Philadelphia and the metro area.

That’s given us a place to focus, and as I said, it’s a little more focused topic so we can build some authority because we’ve lived here for more than 15 years. But it’s been nice to have something to focus on and somewhere to put our energy, and it’s given us a reason to explore our area a little more. It’s been exciting, and necessary to just be close to home, but also an exciting project to be working on at the same time.

Where you can find Travel Addicts

If you’d like to follow Laura and Lance along their world travels, you can read their blog, Travel Addicts. It has detail-packed travel itineraries to take the anxiety out of travel!

You can also follow them on Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter, and Facebook.

And don’t forget to check out their new blog, Guide to Philly!

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I had the opportunity to sit down with Alexa Webb and discuss her story of building a fashion empire after she saw a lack of inclusion in the industry for plus-size individuals. Alexa is a sharp, articulate, and kind-hearted individual who bravely followed her passion and allowed it to take her into new and exciting terrain. 

From her family of entrepreneurs to a lifelong passion and interest in fashion, her life seemed to align and lead her to leaping and becoming a full-time plus-size fashion blogger.

Even more impressively, Alexa is now using her platform to advocate against the discrimination plus-size individuals experience every day, especially regarding healthcare inequality. 

Alexa’s story will motivate and inspire you to follow your passions and give you some takeaways for your potential side hustles or business from a trusted pro in the industry.

Listen to Alexa’s interview on the go with our Marketing Unleashed podcast!

Plus-Size Discrimination Happens Every Day

Question: Can you speak on the plus-size discrimination individuals experience and why you feel called to advocate for equal representation in fashion and clothing?

Alexa: There’s a lot of discrimination, and I think many people aren’t necessarily aware of that. When you look at statistics – there is a lot of actual discrimination that they face in terms of equal rights and just to be treated with respect. 

My most recent cause is discrimination in the medical field. That’s something I have experienced firsthand. I shared some things with my followers and was shocked at the number of people saying, “Oh my gosh, I’ve had either the same experience or something very similar!” Or telling me these horrible stories that they went to the doctor, complained about symptoms, were told to lose weight and that’ll take care of it. No tests, no nothing. And then later, they found out they had a tumor or a significant thing that was completely overlooked because of their size. 

Plus-size individuals aren’t even getting basic screenings for health problems. And that’s just terrible. So yeah, it impacts us in very real ways.

Obviously, I have a fashion blog, so that’s not as serious, but I also think being able to dress well and feel like you are dressing well makes a huge difference in how you feel about yourself and how you present yourself to the world. I think people experience negative interactions when they don’t feel confident in their skin. And I think to style your clothing and wear stylish clothing period is really helpful to boost your confidence. Then you step out into the world feeling comfortable with yourself, and then when you interact with other people, they sense that as well. 

It doesn’t feel good when you can’t find anything that fits you correctly or that’s stylish in your size. So I think it’s really important to take the time to style your clothing and try to find what works for you. And sadly, as plus-size individuals, it’s always going to be more challenging. At least that’s been my experience my whole life so far. 

It’s getting easier, I will say, but it was really about trying to figure it out with what was available in the market for a very long time. And how to make it look more stylish than it was because so many frumpy, terrible, crappy garments are being designed for plus-size women. There were blogs, thankfully, but there weren’t a lot. And there wasn’t a lot of representation on social media at the time. I came to that, and I just wanted to show people that it is possible. It’s a little messed up; we have to go through the extra effort to dress or be fashion-forward, but it is possible, and that’s why I started doing what I was doing to show people it was possible. And that was my goal. 

The Beginning of Alexa’s Blog

Question: What cross roads lead to you taking matters into your own hands by beginning to post plus-size fashion inspiration? 

Alexa: I didn’t see a lot of representation. I discovered Polyvore randomly. I don’t even remember how. I was trying to make some collage or something. It was nothing to do with anything I do now. I found Polyvore and I thought it was cool because it was. I should say – Polyvore no longer exists. But these people were making gorgeous collages, and some of them were very fashion-focused, and they were just fascinating to me. Like pieces of artwork almost. And I was like, wow, this is amazing. 

And so, of course, I started looking through and searching for plus-size, and there was nothing there. At that time Pinterest was first getting started. And when I got to Pinterest, oh my gosh. That was amazing. I had never seen anything quite like it before. I’m a very visual person. So for me, it was just so my platform. I was inspired by it. And then, of course, I started looking for plus-size fashion. And at that time, there was just nothing. 

I thought it was so sad because I had found this platform, and it was a great resource with all of these inspiring images and amazing fashion things and, I was like, where are my people? Where are my sizes? I’m looking at beautiful outfits and thinking, well, none of this will be available to me. And I knew this was a problem. 

At the time, I was following many different blogs, and I started Pinning everything I was coming across in my search and then Pinning the things that I created on Polyvore. Then I started to have this audience, and it was just completely unexpected. Of course, I hoped that other people would see what I was Pinning, but I didn’t expect it to happen, you know?

Alexa’s Career Background

Question: Do you have a background in business, fashion, or anything related? 

Alexa: No, I don’t. I mean, I do, but not a formal education. I have a degree in Psychology, which has absolutely nothing to do with either of those things. But my grandparents had a business, and my parents had a business. I’m actually a fourth-generation business owner. There’s this kind of no escaping it. I grew up in those businesses, working in them and I naturally absorbed some things. 

And also, my mother is really into fashion. That’s always been her thing, and she’s very passionate about it. I grew up in a house where there was Vogue and other fashion magazines around. I was always flipping through those. My parents owned a fabric store, and there was a lot of fashion when they were making clothing. Just being exposed to all of that, I think, gave me the interest and passion that I have.

And then, being that I have been larger, my whole life, even, as a kid or a teenager, trying to find things to wear that were stylish or on-trend, or even expressing myself, was so challenging. Especially back then. It’s a little easier now, but I think that drove me to figure things out. I didn’t find it acceptable that there wasn’t much being marketed to me. Even just in my age group, there wasn’t plus-size clothing available. I would basically look at clothing designed for frumpy older women and then try to make it into something interesting. And so I think in a sad sort of way, that led me to learn how to put things together and see things differently.

Lauren: It’s in your blood with your parents’ business, the fashion industry, fabrics, and all the entrepreneurial energy in your family. It’s kind of like you were destined to do this.  

Alexa: I KNOW, and it’s so funny because I just never really put it together. People would ask me things like this, and I’d go, “I don’t know. I have a degree in Psychology, and I used to do clinical research for a living. I don’t know how I ended up here.” But then when I really started to think about it, I was like, whoa, it kind of does make sense. Just not what I expected, you know? Not at all what I expected. 

Deciding to Become a Full-Time Blogger

Question: Was there a moment when you knew it was time to pivot from side hustle to a full-time career? 

Alexa: I was going to say I was really lucky in some ways, but that’s a weird way of looking at it. But it’s true. I was working full-time while creating my little sets on the weekends when I had free time. Working a very busy full-time job that was sometimes very stressful. I didn’t have a lot of time. 

But I ended up having an injury, and I had to leave my job, which was devastating to me at the time. I didn’t know what I was going to do. Or how I would make a living. It was horrible. It was devastating. But I consider myself lucky in a sense because it pushed me to throw all my energy into my blog.

I’d been talking about starting a blog for a long time because, at the time, I already had like 70,000 followers, maybe more. And they had asked me, do you have a blog? Where’s your blog? And I’m like, I don’t have one of those. So I had been talking about doing it for a while. In fact, I had even posted years before, “If I get 20,000 followers, I’ll start a blog.” Well, I never actually did. So that’s the funny part, but I had even bought a domain, I just never pulled the trigger.

So when this happened, I decided to throw all my time into it. Just for my sanity, because I didn’t know what to do with myself. At the time, I had already started monetizing a bit on social media. So I was a little bit more familiar with affiliate marketing and things like that. 

Then I started monetizing my blog, and I was shocked. I was shocked because I was getting all these clicks. I was getting so much traffic right off the bat. And in turn, of course, I was making money, and I was like, wow, maybe this is a thing that I can do.

So I look back at that moment as horrible in so many ways, but I was so lucky because I don’t think I would have been pushed into that position. Or it would have taken longer but, it was just almost like the universe pushing me into something, you know? It was a weird turn of events, but it was a good thing.

The Best Advice Alexa Has Received and Advice She’d Give 

Question: What was some of the best advice you received regarding growing your business and following? And what advice would you give to someone starting their own business or blog right now?

Alexa: It’s so important to be passionate about it. I always say choose something that you will never, ever, ever, ever, ever be sick of. You need to be able to talk about it, research it, learn about it, and write about it. It has to be something you’re so passionate about, and that never gets old. You have to have that drive and that passion because, without it, you get burnt out. Even I get burnt out sometimes, it happens. But then new fall collections come out, and I’ll be like, oh, I’m excited. It’s just constantly about being inspired. 

The other thing is, I don’t think people will be very successful if they’re in this for the money. There are a lot of different, much easier and better ways to make money. This is hard. There’s going to be a struggle and success doesn’t happen overnight. It took me years to build up the following that I have. And I had no expectations. If I had any expectation for making money early on, it would have been very different. I probably would have been making very different content. And I don’t think things would have happened the way they did. 

Over the years, I have listened to and seen many interviews with other influencers and bloggers. And they kind of all say the same thing I’ve noticed. Saying they didn’t get in it to be famous or to make money. It was because they were passionate about sharing something. 

So, I think. Yeah, it’s important that you’re really passionate, and that’s what you’re in it for. And I think if you do that, the money doesn’t matter. And then, ironically, that’s when the money does come to you. There are times when I put out content, and it doesn’t do well. Sometimes I know it’s not going to do well, but I do it anyway because it’s my content, and I love it. I know it’s gonna kill the algorithm, but I don’t care, you know? I feel a certain way about things, and I want to share things. So I think that’s my number one piece of advice. If you’re looking to make some money quickly, that’s not going to be enough.  

What Outside Factors Helped Alexa Take Her Business to the Next Level

Question: What outside factors and support helped you take your business to the next level?

Alexa: One of the things I didn’t do initially was I didn’t join the plus-size blogger community. I don’t want to say I felt like an outsider because that’s not really true. I just didn’t really know them and it was a very, very isolating experience. I went from having coworkers and working in busy environments. And now I’m in my house by myself on my laptop. 

I started making an effort to reach out, not just to people, but to also join groups and different blogging groups. And now I actually have a couple of communities I belong to that are really, really helpful. Not just as far as, let’s give each other tips on how to increase our traffic or whatever, but an actual like, “Hey, yeah, this is lonely. This is hard at times. Are you having trouble with this?” It has been really helpful to have that support, and I wish I had sought that out a little bit earlier. I would also recommend finding a group, a community, people that you can bond with and relate to because it’s really important.

I also have to give credit to my mom. She is very supportive, and I’m always sending her stuff asking what she thinks, and she’s always giving me feedback. I don’t have an office with coworkers across the way that I can be like, “Hey, check this out. What do you think?” It’s just me. And honestly, after hours of looking at stuff, I have no idea. I don’t even know anymore. I’m just in my head, and it’s not a good thing, so it’s helpful to have my mom there. 

Alexa on the Pressure of Being an Influencer

Question: Is it hard putting yourself and your vulnerability out there and subjecting yourself to criticism? 

Alexa: Yes, and it gets harder. I didn’t realize that it gets harder as you get more popular, but it does. Suddenly it goes from I’m sharing this cute thing with a few people to eventually thousands of people. And some people are sending me messages saying they’re disappointed or upset or don’t like this.

I don’t share as much of my personal life. Part of that is, I’m a private person. The other piece is that I want to protect myself. I do share, but it’s a fine line for me. It’s a balance, a constant balance. I do try to share some things and open up a bit, but even that can be hard. So yeah. It gets harder. 

And the algorithms are brutal. Sometimes I’ll be putting things out there. And even though my core audience is still with me, on Instagram, for example, something will just tank, and I’ll be like, “Okay. People don’t like this. It’s not good.” But honestly, I don’t even know if that’s true because I look at how many people are still visiting the website, and they’re still clicking. So it’s hard to gauge, you know? 

Alexa’s Ode to Tailwind

Question: What has saving time with Tailwind allowed you to do in your business that you would otherwise not have had the time to do? 

Alexa: Tailwind changed my life. I know that sounds so profound. But I truly mean that because back when I had a full-time job and was doing this as a passion project, Tailwind helped it become a side hustle where I could monetize and make some income.   

I didn’t have time to do anything. I mean, I was working like Monday through Friday. I was putting in time on the weekends, but that doesn’t really work in the long run. You can’t disappear from social media five days a week and then expect things to go somewhere. So, getting Tailwind for me was huge because it would be Pinning while I was at work and helped bring in an income while I was doing another job. 

It also proved to me in a sense that this was something I could make money doing. And I don’t think that would have been possible. or at least not to the extent of success that I’ve had, without Tailwind. 

Tailwind has also made my life a lot easier. Pinterest has changed dramatically – especially recently. But for a long time, it was all about pinning your content plus other people’s content.  It was all about having a variety of sources and a variety of things. And Pinterest wanted you to switch it all up. 

So for me, Tailwind was crucial because of the limited time that I would have to find things to Pin. It allowed me to do it in such a way that it was automatically shuffled up. Tailwind allowed me to be methodical about finding sources and then sharing them in a more pleasing way to the audience and, of course, the algorithm. I wouldn’t have been able to do that otherwise. My account would have sucked because it would have been the same thing all in a row. It was really important at the time, and it’s still really important. But for growing back then, it was crucial.

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Alexa’s Favorite Tailwind Feature

Question: Which Tailwind feature or perk of the app is your favorite?

Alexa: First of all, I think that the analytics are great. That’s been really quite helpful. And the Pin Inspector is fantastic. Not only is it telling you what’s doing well and what’s performing well, but then it allows you to – right there – repin it and to repin it wherever you want it to go. And that’s just so helpful. 

Even today, the analytics on Pinterest are just not that helpful. Even if you find something that is performing well, and you’re like, I want to repeat that, and it’s not that simple. So it’s amazing that with Tailwind, it’s just like click, click, done. It’s one of my favorite things, honestly.

What’s Next for Alexa Webb?

Question: Last but not least, what’s next for you and your business?

Alexa: I have lots of ideas. It’s more like if only I had more of me to go around, and that’s always the challenge, right? I want to work on having a newsletter and having closer conversations with my audience. I think email is a free way to do that. An email newsletter is something that you own, and I think that’s so important. 

Then, of course, we have a real push toward video with social media, and I’m creating static images and collages. So my challenge now is to figure out how to make it a bit more interactive and engaging, and video seems to be the way to do that.  

I started working on some things and I’m learning new skills constantly. Like, I don’t know anything about video. I did one makeup tutorial, and the editing was probably horrific. I posted it, and I was like, do I really want to put this in the world? It’s so bad. But that is one of my other pieces of advice is that sometimes you just have to do it even though it’s going to be bad. 

If you look at what I posted at the beginning of working on Polyvore. Oh my gosh. Sometimes I will go back and look at my work from like ten plus years ago. And oh, wow. It’s bad. I mean it’s really bad. 

So the point is, had I not pushed myself to go ahead and get it out there, I wouldn’t have gotten to where I am. So you have to let it go and just be like, yeah, it sucks. It’s not good. And that’s kind of where I think I’m headed with video. So it might be a little rocky for a bit!

One of Alexa’s first designs on Polyvore from over a decade ago verses a recent outfit she designed.

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Where You Can Find Alexa Webb

Alexa is a prime example of how someone can begin monetizing and growing an audience even with a full-time job. And her advice of creating from passion, choosing something you’ll never get sick of, and being driven based on interest/passion and not money is some of the best advice, if not the best. 

I have no doubt she’ll keep excelling as she evolves and develops new skill sets to help her reach new goals, including venturing into video and email marketing. 

If you’d like to follow Alexa, which I highly recommend you do, you can go to her plus-size fashion blog. Her Pinterest account, which has over 241K followers. Her growing, evolving, and tastefully styled Instagram account. Or her fun and interactive Facebook account.   

Watch the Interview:

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