Dilan Sabah, an ambitious gorgeous 23 years old beauty blogger living in the Netherlands. Besides her study Journalism at Windesheim University she has a big passion for her Beauty by Dilan blog. Dilan has several other jobs. She works as an assistant editor at No Pictures Please and as a makeup artist at the cosmetic store ICI Paris XL. The things that Dilan does for work are a result of her hobbies: beauty, fashion, writing, filming, stories, cosmetology, languages, culture, traveling and cooking.
Here is the interview of Dilan Kutlubay owner of Beauty By Dilan Dilan Sabah.
What is Beauty By Dilan? What can you tell us about your blog?
Beauty By Dilan Sabah is a beauty blog for every woman. It doesn’t matter how old you are and it certainly doesn’t matter how much you can spend. With this blog I want to encourage other women to help each other. I want my blog to be approachable for any women out there, without having them spending too much money on beauty items.
Furthermore I would like to show that ‘beauty’ is for everyone. For the sporty girls who aren’t wearing any make up, for the mothers who are very busy and of course the girly girls who cannot live a day without wearing heels! Everyone is welcome! You can see how diverse my followers are. Dark- light skinned, young, old… There is something for everyone on my blog. This represents exactly who I am. I am approachable for everyone and hopefully I have helped quite a few women with my blog.
I think it is amazing when someone sends me a private message saying she gained more confidence. I once helped someone with a face condition, she asked for some tips and tricks to make it less noticeable. Personally I think it is really great when a private message like that comes in!
How did you start online, what was your first step?
I started with my Facebook page last year. The page was not meant for blogging at first. I was working as a makeup artist and was temporarily unemployed at the time. Because I wanted to keep the page updated I posted quite regularly. People enjoyed my posts and before I knew it my blog was born!
How long did it take Beauty By Dilan to become a successful blog?
I am very grateful to everyone who helped me sharing my page. Because of that I will always help other people if I think their work deserves more attention. After six months my blog became more successful.
What was other people’s opinion about your beauty blog? What were the reactions?
The people around me have always been positive about my blog. Everyone is proud of me. My mother always thought I was ordering too much stuff online, until she really realized I was getting the packages from the press and other companies. My father keeps an eye on me which I think is very sweet. And my fiancé will always support me.
How do you get along with the reactions?
Because most of the reactions are positive and encouraging it makes it easier to prove that I really like doing this.
I did once have a preach from my dad. It went like this:
“What if they send you a bikini? What if you have to wear that too?!”
I said: “No dad… It’s up to me I can decide everything. It’s beauty by DILAN, you know I would never do something like that!”
My dad answered: “That’s right, I was just saying…”
Well, fathers… It’s just part of it!
Did you have any pitfalls?
Of course I did, it’s never perfect. I am not very technic so I had to do a lot by myself. Like finding the right camera for great photo’s, but where should I start? What about a website… How do I do that? Because I’m still studying and working it was hard for me to combine with my blog. Luckily there were a few people who helped me doing thing. But many things like contracts and invoices I had to learn myself.
I noticed that you have to be ‘hard’ and business minded to get things done. That took me a while to find out and I’m still learning.
There are times on which I have some trouble with negative reactions, I am a human after all. But it also happens that I don’t care about the negative reactions, it just depends on how I feel that day. With negative reactions I mean the unrespectable and prejudiced messages but luckily I don’t get them often.
How did you get along with the pitfalls?
I have thought many times of quitting. I just didn’t feel like doing it anymore. Especially when the negative comments started to come in. My fiancé was my biggest support and he was the one who encouraged me. That was the time I realized it would be weak to stop because of some criticism. Because people who comment negative things, might be very kind in real. So yeah, I did have those times too.
How many hours do you spend on your blog?
I work almost 50 hours a week besides my blog. I try to post every day on my blog, but that isn’t always possible. Sometimes I spend 5 hours a day on my blog and the next day only 5 minutes. It depends a lot on my free time.
What was your biggest challenge you had to go through?
My biggest challenge was to develop my business skills. In the beginning I didn’t talk that much; I prefer warm and kind e-mails and phone calls. Very soon I realized this wasn’t the way to approach things. Luckily I’m warm towards my business relationships but I always keep in mind: ‘What’s in it for me?’
What was your biggest success till now and how much did it offer you?
Mm… I don’t know how to explain. I think the little things such as the short interview at Moslim Omroep and an invitation at Koffietijd (Dutch televion shows).
My followers are my biggest success; they made my blog possible. Without these followers I would not have that much awareness as I have now. They are truly loyal and very motivating. I love them!
We see you as an entrepreneur, you start something little and make it something of your own. How do you see yourself?
Well, you can call it like that. I think entrepreneur sounds very businesslike. But I do take initiatives and undertake my passion about beauty and share it with other women. I invest my time in my study as well as in my passion. So a bit of both worlds.
Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
I want to have a very successful blog, my own PR-agency or my own magazine. Something in that direction. So I know exactly what I want.. uhu..
Thank Dilan you have been wonderful to chat with!
You’re welcome and thank you for having this interview with me!
See Beauty By Dilan Sabah blog