It’s been two years already since theBiggerBlog went online, how it all began

I can’t believe it’s already two years since I went online with theBiggerBlog and started blogging. It feels like yesterday but if I think back on how I started it feels like a long journey.

the start 

I’ve never really told you why I started with blogging and I get that question a lot! As you all know I’m a Product Developer of women’s wear so I work in the fashion industry. Back then I was working with a really nice Dutch brand but it went bankrupt and I became unemployed. So what now? I was living in the south of Holland in a beautiful city, Dordrecht but there aren’t many jobs around within my field of expertise. After applying I got a new job within three months but it was in Amsterdam so that meant 3 hours of traveling each day. That’s killing!

After six months the contract ended and I was back at home again. My house was still on sale, for over three years in total and I started applying for jobs again. In the mean time the UWV* (employment insurance agency) recommended me to start my own business but in fashion you can’t start without a lot of investments and in this time I didn’t want to get in financial problems. So what can I do? What am I good at? What do I like so much to do it each day? Where to shop is a question a lot of people always asked me. Start a shop? No too many risks and investment. Let’s just share my tips & tricks of fashion. I just make the website myself and the investments will be minimum. And so I started.

the Bigger Blog

Sometimes I just dropped the topic and checked the reacties of others. One of these was with my brother who is a graphic designer. He helped me start things up, he probably calls this concept branding. Let’s start with a name. I don’t want to use my own name because when I’m rich and famous I should be able to live normally. Lol, think big was step one. So the incstructions to my brother were clear: not my own name, a link to plus size maar also other things because I’m so much more then fashion and plus size.

Despite the fact that I kept saying it was an online magazine, my brother was already 2 steps ahead. Blogger? What’s that? When it comes to being creative I can be really insecure so I decided not to read any blogs so my own would be created the wat I wanted it to become. Impatient, that’s me. Within an hour I asked if he had come up with something already. We were talking and brainstorming, discussing options and checking if there already existed or not. And there it was: the Bigger Blog including a cookie with a bite of out it. That’s it. That’s me!

the thrill

All exited I posted my first blogs. How to do this? How does this work? Does it look okay? All these things went through my mind until my brother pointed out Josine, nobody knows your blog! Who’s going to read it, just start and the rest will follow. Okay so that meant I had to be patient, is this a bad joke? Goal set as I am I was writing and developing, changing the site and started blogging. In the mean while the applications continued. Perhaps you don’t know this about websites but the number of visitors can be measured and that first time when you see that number going up was magic. The thrill to proceed!

in doubt

Do people like what I write? How is my spelling? What if people hate it? Yes I look at things like a business, I want it to succeed. Of course I write whatever I like, the things that I find interesting but that doesn’t mean I like to spend each free minute I have on something which is only for me. It would have started a diary then! That doubt is something that bothers me still, somewhere between doing it for me and wanting to please my readers. theBiggerBlog has developed in time and will keep on developing even more. What is it that you would like to read more about, or about me? Let me know!

a big thank you

Without you guys I would’ve never come so far. Thank you for reading my blogs, for replying and for the positive input. I’m always open for suggestions and you can always ask anything. I have lots more planned for the future and I hope to see your there. Of course it’s not an anniversary without presents.

Stay tuned! On theBiggerBlog as well as on social media like instagram & Facebook; there will be something to win soon!

* UWV (Employee Insurance Agency) is an autonomous administrative authority (ZBO) and is commissioned by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment (SZW) to implement employee insurances and provide labour market and data services.