Dedicated blogger, fashion guru for
men, style in its very definition. These are all things that
describe the man known as Yves Firlan. His tale is inspirational,
motivational, and humbling. It is that of a man who puts his passions
to work and eventually accomplished a dream successfully. If you
were to type the words “Men Freebies SL” into Google, the first
two blogs that will appear both belong to Yves. Although he is from
Germany and I am from the Middle of the US, we eventually met up and
were able to conduct an interview within Second Life®, where I was
inspired, awed and entertained by the courteous, laid-back individual
at my Holodeck.
Yves’s initial goal with his blog was
to showcase the amazing freebies available to men in SL™ and share
the information on where to find them with the rest of the community.
Readership grew at a steady rate from month to month, fueled
primarily by mouth-to-mouth propaganda. As much as he wanted to see
the blog continuously gain popularity, Yves had to realize that there
are only so many clicks one can achieve as a single writer. He then
began setting himself new goals such as finding co-bloggers, people
who were interested in fashion and freebies, that shared his vision
and were prepared to blog on a regular basis. This way he could
concentrate on also blogging pay items, something he turned to
full-time when designers began to release mesh clothes on a bigger
scale. Nowadays he leaves most of the freebie blogging to his newly
found co-bloggers.
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| Pro Headshot of Mr Yves Firlan by OI Magazine photographer Angeli Optera |
Obviously, a lot of the reward in blogging has to do with ranking, but for him it became more than just numbers. When asked about how long he’s willing to pursue this “love” the man says “It’s just something that I’m going to do as long as its fun to do and people appreciate our work." Since he first began his blogging, he has been recognized by followers and has even achieved the occasional high Alexa ranking, but rankings vary from month to month and, “if you let yourself be motivated/demotivated only by the change of a number, you won't last long in this business”, he declared.
Yves' journey started at Wordpress™,
where he tried to give each look that he had created a story that
added a funny twist to his choices. Unfortunately he had to leave
this site after 13 months because Wordpress wouldn't allow
advertising. Putting designer/sponsor logos on a blog is common
practice among bloggers though and one way to promote the people that
provide them with review copies. Btw: You can still access this old
account though (and I’ve provided a link at the end of the
article).
Now posting at Google™ Blogger, Yves
still encountered the occasional setback like having to rebuild
readership to the levels seen on the old site. But although his
journey has had many ups and downs, I would call Yves’s blogs a
breathing success. Once at his page, the man’s unique styles and
diversity are brought to life, depicting the many different lives we
live as Second Lifers, be it for free, for little money or actually
spending big bucks on designer couture for men.
Even though the number of male fashion
stores increased a lot during the past years, it is still unlikely to
just stumble upon a high quality freebies. If you’re after free
mesh items, then you chances are even more slim. Yves and his
colleagues have found the way for the fashionable man to find quality
freebies and other fashion items, whether you are a fan of mesh or
not.
In his business, Yves has seen many
good blogs come and go. As the years have gone by, his blogs have
evolved into a piece of him that is extending as arms of help for
those who need it. Although new SL blogs are popping up everywhere,
he has the hope of passing his blog eventually to a new generation of
bloggers, keeping it well alive and in tact so that the generation to
come may follow suit. He has currently been giving people the
freedom of creativity, sitting back to edit every once in a while and
building them up in their ideas as they go along.
When asked about what advice he would
pass along to the next set of bloggers, he said “If I can inspire
people into trying it out and having fun with it, that's all they
need for starters." Yves has marked the way for hundreds to
come, whether its helping them achieve their look for less or find
their inner voices.
The new “Mix 'n' MESH” Blog: http://mix-and-mesh.blogspot.de/
The “Fashion + Freebies For Men” Blog: http://ffform.blogspot.de/
One of Yves’s Favorite Blogs: http://slipsters.wordpress.com/
Thank you for reading my article about Mr Yves Firlan, my name is Mikayla Nightfire, feel free to comment ^^
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