From blogging to online stores!

I love blogging and I love writing posts that provide insights and helpful information to my readers from my travels. My whole ethos behind this blog, Blogger at Large, is to provide “travel inspiration made easy”.

I am passionate about travelling. I believe it’s really important that we get outside of our own world view, our comfort zone and go and see how other people live, be gobsmacked at amazing scenery and history, experience beaches and lakes and shops and markets and try different food and share stories of life back home…

This is a little video I made introducing Blogger at Large in 2 minutes.

But as some of you will already know, especially if you are Facebook or Instagram followers of this blog, I also own the Travel Store which is an online store selling beautiful luggage and clever travel accessories, but in May 2019 I launched a second online store: Freedom Road!

What is Freedom Road, you ask?

Freedom Road is where travel meets fashion.

It’s filled with gorgeous, mainly one-size beach, cruise and resort wear that is easy to wear/easy to pack and looks fabulous. Plus a range of really cute jewellery to make the whole outfit pop.

At this stage my clothes and jewellery are only shipped throughout New Zealand and Australia. I could add more countries, but the cost of postage makes it just so expensive, that it’s not worth it (sadly). However if you desperately love something, send me an email and I can get a shipping quote for you and you can decide.

Why Freedom Road?

The ethos behind the name Freedom Road had been on my heart for months after a friend sent a text late last year, before one of our monthly business breakfasts, asking what we all thought was the best thing, in one word, about being self-employed. Freedom, I replied straight away.

And for six months I mulled over the word ‘Freedom’ and everything that means to me: freedom to make my own decisions, freedom to be who I am and pursue the dream I want to go after. Financial freedom, emotional freedom, spiritual freedom. There are so many layers to the concept of freedom, so I had the name of my new store before I knew what it was going to sell!

Having started the Travel Store in 2017 to provide beautiful luggage and clever travel accessories for customers throughout New Zealand, I have learned a lot about online shopping, marketing, and learning what products people want. I would say, for anyone who is thinking about starting an online retail business, it takes about two years to really get that level of understanding about who your audience is and how to turn them into customers.

So Freedom Road is another business which ultimately comes from this travel blog, where we have a great community of readers who are very engaged and interested in my advice, tips and suggestions for their travels.

I know many of you love to shoot off for the summer sun in the depths of a New Zealand winter, but finding cute clothes in the off season can be tricky – not any more!

Pop over to Freedom Road and check our small selections of gorgeous clothes to wear from the beach to the bar, the pool to the restaurant, the ship to shore. You’ll find many things that can be worn over bathing suits or over a slip as a dress and each piece of clothing I personally love – and now have many in my own wardrobe!

Let me know what you think, or what you’d like to see more of in the comments below!