Gabrielle Kirven originally chose the University of North Texas because “at the time it was the nation’s top school for Journalism,” said Gabrielle Kirven. “I decided that is what I wanted to get my degree in so I could be on TV.”
During Gabrielle’s time at the University of North Texas, she wanted to be a TV reporter. “All throughout my college career I was apart of NTTV (North Texas Television) news,” said Kirven. “I also helped work the camera and was a field reporter.”
After Gabrielle graduated and was searching for a job she realized that was not her passion. “Every news reporting job either wasn’t paying enough or they wanted me to go to a smaller market,” Kirven said. “So I decided to go into business and changed my entire resume. I used what I had and made it worked.” Afterwards, Gabrielle found a position as a social media intern and fell in love with the position.
When Gabrielle was a sophomore in college she first started blogging because she believed that the experiences she was going through could potentially help someone else. “When I first came to the University of North Texas I decided my major was going to be Film/Television but I couldn’t get a 2.75 GPA which was the requirement to get into the program at that time,” Kirven said. “I felt bad and had to change my major to Journalism. Later I found out I missed the test by one answer so I was down about that and decided to write out my thoughts on how I kept going and persevered.”
Gabrielle’s most challenging thing in her journey so far is finding a balance because she is involved in a lot. She works a 9 to 5 corporate job and then later turns around and works on her side business while still trying to maintain her personal brand and blog. “It can become a lot and there have been times where I’m just like I’m over this,” Kirven said. “I then have to remind myself what the end goal is and everything I am doing now is preparing me for my future.” Gabrielle’s strengths in blogging include her creativity, paying attention to detail and being passionate. “You have to want to do something and enjoy it,” Kirven said. “I believe that is the reason why I haven’t stopped.” Particularly no one has impacted Gabrielle’s blogging but “I always try to see what others are doing,” Kirven said. “And that always gives me the motivation to go even harder.”
Gabrielle’s day consists of waking up at 8:00 am for her corporate job. Throughout the day she thinks of marketing ideas to help push her brand, finds different ways to grow their engagement on social platforms, tracks analytics and posts on different social media platforms. Once the day ends she clocks out at around 5:00 pm, she then handles her side business. “I definitely have a 9 to 5 and a 5 to 9,” Kirven said. Her side business consists of creating content for her other clients, scheduling post, thinks of strategic numbers and etcetera.
Here are three things that Gabrielle would say to upcoming bloggers:
“Think of something you are passionate about and love to talk about. It should naturally come easily to you and it can be anything.” Kirven said. “A blog isn’t limited to just one genre and I am a firm believer of not sticking to one thing. Who cares if you work in the medical field but love to blog about fashion or talk about fashion, just do it.”
“Secondly, get a decent but still affordable photographer, if necessary. Also, iPhone’s work just as well,” Kirven said. “Third, be consistent. Starting from the bottom can be hard but I have seen it numerous times as long as you are consistent and putting quality work then the followers and viewers will come to you. Trust me. Everyone has to start somewhere. And lastly, start!”
“Stop over-thinking it and just do it!” Gabrielle Kirven said.
Blog: https:// www.abitofgabs.com
Instagram: @iam.gabrielle_