An unconventional fashion blogger trying to find her place on the internet

I’ve been a huge fan of Patricia Bright for years and am a long time follower, from BritPopPrincess to today, she’s the first person that I subscribed to on YouTube when I got lost in a world of “how to grow your hair quickly” videos before the terms “Influencer” and “YouTuber” were as widely known as they are today.

So you can imagine my fan girl self getting over-excited when she announced that she was going to be releasing a book about her journey in her career and how to build your own brand by using your passion. Obviously as an aspiring blogger, this book was something that sounded right up my alley and I clicked that pre-order button faster than you could say Patricia.

I know you’re all here to find out what’s the goss, is it worth your moolah and am I going to be dominating the world with my witty lines and sassy outfits? We all knew that was true anyway, but let’s have a look anyway;

Layout

Each chapter contains a main step in the process followed by quotes, stories and more tangible tips you can apply to building your own brand, whether that’s as an influencer or anything else. I love that she’s added her own life lessons and reminders to each section and there are some sections for you to take action and make plans, which is something I wasn’t expecting. I was scribbling away when I didn’t expect to and need to go back through the entire book with post it notes to go back to things I want to remember. TIP: get yourself some post-its and know you’re going to be scribbling away!

If you want a start to finish story for the journey of Patricia Bright, this book isn’t it – there’s a lot of her background but each chapter will pull on experiences from different points in her life, whether that’s at school, university, her job in the City or being a boss herself. I was a bit thrown off at first but as I started to read more, it just made sense to do it in this format.

Key Takeaways

Planning! Pull out your notepads, excel spreadsheets (she’s after my heart!) and make some bloody plans because this is something reiterated throughout the entire book. Do your research, pros and cons lists, make sure you’re thinking about the future before taking the plunge and save, save save!

It’s also refreshing to read about failures and how to turn something that feels a bit shit around into an opportunity for learning – yes it might not have gone the way you were planning, but XYZ is something you’ll do differently next time.

Overall Thoughts

I honestly loved this book and can’t recommend it enough to someone wishing to grow their own brand. I do think it’s more geared to the influencer/blogger/YouTuber world as that’s more of her niche, but I believe that’s based on her own experience and think the same principles throughout can be applied to any kind of venture.

I loved that you’re encouraged to write your own notes throughout and the life lesson quotes are great ones that I need to continue to remember (I think I might go in with a highlighter). I felt totally motivated after reading this book, which was great for me personally as I’ve felt like I’ve been in a bit of a blogging slump with Instagram getting to me way more than it should – I ended up smashing out two posts the day I finished (including this one) and have the images ready for the next one!

You can pick up Heart & Hustle on Amazon which I’ve linked here.

Have you read this book and do you have any other influencer books you’d recommend (I’ve noticed reviewing them has turned into a thing I unintentionally started!)

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