Meet Colleen Shibley | South Florida Lifestyle Blogger

We had the good fortune of connecting with Colleen Shibley and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Colleen, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
I started my blog in July 2010 after urging from a high-school friend. I created it mainly for the creative outlet. As an amateur artist, I loved designing and re-designing my site. It also was an easy way to share and log what was going on with my family from my daughter’s first day of school to my son’s graduation and first car. However, within a year my blog took on a life of its own and started to become not only income-producing but it opened up opportunities for me to attend events I would have otherwise not have had the chance to and meet celebrities and amazing people. Once this transformation took place I spent more time learning the ins and outs of running a successful website and focusing on product reviews, sponsored content, and brand ambassadors. I believe I managed to start my blog at just the right time, the boom of blogs, influencers, and social media content.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
What I have enjoyed most about my work is the opportunity to test and try new products and to feel like I have had an impact, even if it was a small one. I remember being one of the very first people to test out the Fitbit before it was a household name. I have had the opportunity to work with top companies like Microsoft, Best Buy, Disney, and more. I have met amazing people from other bloggers to people in the entertainment industry.

My blog has always been my side hustle. There has been a year or two when it paid more than my full-time job, but I still have always maintained a full-time job outside of my site. It took long hours often staying up after my family was asleep to build my brand and connect with companies. I joined this business during the height of blog influencers and was able to capitalize on it’s growth. I prided myself on connecting with others and creating strong relationships so that when an influencer was needed my name popped up in conversation. It also took the support of my husband to hold down the fort at home while I attended events, conferences, and spent time networking.

I rode the wave of being an influencer putting in a lot of sweat, tears, and blood into my site, and enjoyed the opportunities that it afforded me. These days I have a much more laid-back approach. I no longer spend nights and weekends pouring over products and conversing with companies. I now work on a mainly sponsored content basis and sprinkled in are some product reviews. However, I would not have the ability to scale back and still make an income of I had not spent the former years putting in the effort that I did.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
This is a tough one for me because my husband and I are homebodies. We enjoy spending the weekend poolside with hamburgers on the grill and a drink in our hand. Oh and of course our dog Dino. So if I had family or friends coming into town that would still be a must! If I had to pick some of the things I love to do around town it would be attending a painting class like Uptown Art in Jupiter, or enjoying some woodworking at Board and Brush in Wellington. I love to be creative and I really enjoy the group classes, because the more the merrier. However, one of my favorite things to do, and we would have to enlist some additional friends or family is to attend an escape room such as West Palm Beach Escape Rooms or Time Travel Escapes.

Of course, you can’t visit South Florida without a trip to the beach!

When it comes to eating, again I am so not “outside of the box”, a dinner at Chili’s or Outback is probably where you would find us.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Hands down my dedication goes to my husband and three children who became my models, my reviewers, and my inspiration. They also dealt with the many hours and late nights I spent growing my site and supporting me by helping out whenever I needed them.

Website: https://shibleysmiles.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shibleysmiles/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ShibleySmiles/

Image Credits
All photos were taken by myself Colleen Shibley. I wanted to note that all the additional photos that I submitted had to do with reviews or blog postings, see below. The Cinnamon Sugar Fried Apple Sticks were featured in an ad in Better Homes in Garden (still my photo). The colorful pants was a review for Bohemian Island. Me in the glasses was a review for VSP Vision. Me in the apron and the additional photo of the apron and Halloween jars were a few different reviews for Circuit. The cookies were part of a Southern Living magazine campaign. The Bose campaign was on behalf of Best Buy