Entrepreneur: Rebecca Calvo

Biz: Rebecca Calvo and Miss Priss blog

Tilt: Prissy, particular, and rarely perfect

Channels: Instagram (14K) Blog (2K subscribers)

Rev Streams: Affiliate links, brand partnerships

Our Favorite Actionable Advice

  • Don’t focus on others: Rebecca pushed on to find her unique content tilt in a crowded fashion field. She didn’t give up even when she envied others’ results.
  • Create something you’re known for: She uses a consistent format in her Instagram polls, building her visual brand. That’s important to capture scrollers’ attention. 
  • Get the emails: She’s built her audience to over 10K on Instagram, but she knows email addresses are what’s really important to her business.

The Story

Rebecca Calvo, a 25-year-old microinfluencer with over 14K followers on Instagram, always loved fashion. In kindergarten, she curated her outfits and wore her mom’s high heels. But she never seriously considered pursuing fashion as a career until she lost 120 pounds. 

“I didn’t get to where I am now without massive life changes. I was significantly overweight throughout my childhood and into adolescence. I believed that I would never get into the fashion industry because of how I looked,” she says.  

Instead, Rebecca pursued another passion of hers, medicine. But while attending nursing school during the pandemic, she realized that the pressure of working in health care was not for her. She began using her free time to break into the fashion influencer world, becoming more strategic about her Instagram content. She became an early-stage content entrepreneur.

In the pandemic, Rebecca Calvo realized she didn’t want to pursue nursing. So she got more strategic w/ her @Instagram account. Now she’s an early-stage #contententrepreneur. Click To Tweet

Gaining confidence and followers

Rebecca started her Instagram account in 2017 after a massive shopping spree. “I wanted more people to see the outfits that I work hard to put together every day. I remember gaining just 10 or 12 followers in the first two weeks, and I was so tempted to delete my account because I believed nobody cared, and my taste was simply unoriginal.” 

But she leaned into her distinct style, gained confidence, and found her content tilt – prissy, particular, and rarely perfect. A scroll through her Instagram account shows plenty of midi dresses, pink shoes, modest fashion, cardigans, and hair bows. During the pandemic, she started Miss Priss, a blog that offers readers more outfit details than what’s written on her short Instagram captions. (The blog is undergoing a renovation.)

Standing out from other fashion content entrepreneurs

Still, there are days when Rebecca looks at her competition. “There will always be accounts that I think do something better. I sometimes find myself thinking, ‘Why do I even bother when other bloggers and Instagram users post themselves in more luxurious outfits and gorgeous locations?’” she says.

But, she explains, you have to start somewhere. “I know plenty of accounts have almost the same vibe as mine. Still, I try to implement distinctive and individual posts and stories so my followers will continually stay engaged and find me (and my outfits) unique. For instance, I’m sure I am one of the very few 25-year-olds that wear a string of pearls to the beach or a tweed skirt suit.”

Getting to subscribers

Rebecca joined a group dedicated to microinfluencers. “We share posts and ask for engagement and start to follow loops,” she explains. Follower loops or ‘pods’ are sometimes frowned upon by the influencer community because people see those followers as inauthentic engagement boosters. But, at the same time, brands rely on follower counts to determine deals. Plus, loops aren’t a quick solution. She took over a year to gain those and other followers to put her over 10K. Then, she started promoting her blog and email list, which now totals almost 2K.

“You have to treat it as a part-time job, post, and story constantly so followers will want to keep coming back for more. My most recent strategy has been my Instagram polls. I’ve gained over 3K followers from my daily fashion polls, “ Rebecca says. Her fun Instagram story polls display two similar dresses and ask viewers to choose which one is more expensive.

With her daily fashion polls on @Instagram, Rebecca Calvo gained over 3K followers. #contententrepreneur #fashion #creatoreconomy Click To Tweet

Earning revenue

Once she achieved 10K followers and gained access to swipe-ups on Instagram, Rebecca shared affiliate shopping links for her followers. “I pitch a brand through DM. They look through my profile and my engagement. And if they see that I’m a good fit, they’ll give me a unique code for my followers.”

She applied to rewardStyle, a creator commission linking platforms that many fashion and lifestyle influencers use, and was turned down. “I upped my photos, presets, outfits, backgrounds, and edits, and they accepted me the second time after a complete account revamp,” Rebecca says.

An initial rejection from @shopLTK prompted Rebecca Calvo to up her photo, preset, backgrounds, and edit game on @Instagram. Second time? She got accepted. #fashionblogger #contententrepreneur #creatoreconomy Click To Tweet

Now, she promotes outfits that are part of rewardStyle’s program (now known as LTK) and earns a commission if someone shops through her affiliate link. She also has switched her Instagram account to a business platform and gained more followers.

She hopes to create more of a following and revenue on her blog as opposed to Instagram. “I hope to grow on both platforms, but as for a business and an eventual income, I think my blog is where I’ll get the most of ‘me’ out there for brands and companies to see my world and want to collaborate with me.”

Advice for content entrepreneurs

“I hate to be corny, but my no. 1 rule is to never give up. I can’t tell you how many times I wanted to. I often saw accounts with triple the number of followers than mine and blogs that offered the same idea I had. But you never know what talent you have that they don’t,” Rebecca says.

About the author

Bonnie owns Word of Mouth, a content agency specializing in social media, content marketing, and editorial writing. She's written for Marie Claire, Harper’s Bazaar, Coveteur, Man Repeller, Health.com, and more. She loves wearing fanny packs and laying in the fetal position.