- Dec 29, 2016

Teaming Up and a New Years Look

We have been best friends for over 8 years now, though creating this blog is actually the first time we ever paired up and worked on something together. There were definitely some reservations at first since a) we weren't familiar with each other's working styles and b) did not want this blog to be the demise of our friendship. While there had been talks of creating our own separate blogs, we ultimately decided that it would be more fun to share this experience together. First and foremost, after years of being best friends and having countless sleepovers, it is simply impossible to imagine that we would be able to learn more about each other and to grow even closer than we already were. But throw running a blog together into the mix, and suddenly our bi-monthly catch-up dinners turned into twice a week meet-ups, and coffee dates with overpriced (but yummy) coffees, and lengthy, daily Facebook conversations. We love every minute of it though.

Splitting up the work based on individual interests: Since we are both busy working bees, it was time consuming and counterproductive to each handle every dimension of the blog. Instead, over time, we found ourselves gravitating to the tasks that we individually were interested in and now, we are responsible for separate items on the weekly to-do list. Melissa is in charge of editing the pictures in Lightroom and engagement on the blog, while Jessica handles all matters involving Instagram, with both of us managing our inbox and writing/creating content for the site. That being said, while we do have our own responsibilities, we also understand that things creep up on us unexpectedly and there are times when one of us is having a crazy, busy week, so the other one is more than willing to pitch in and shoulder some weight. Since blogging is a passion and a medium to escape from the daily grind for both of us, it has never been an issue of arguing who is doing more work or who is slacking off.

For the last post of 2016 (seriously, where has all the time gone?!?!), we wanted to dedicate this post to our friendship and our best lessons learned by teaming up.

To be honest, working together isn't always smooth sailing, and we have definitely have our share of disagreements. But luckily, we always seem to find the inspiration that started Penny and Dash again, and it keeps us going with full strength.

Putting the friendship first: One thing we noticed since starting Penny and Dash was that the majority of our conversations revolved around the blog. While we do understand that it is natural for our conversations to shift to the blog since it does take up a significant amount of time, we are also conscious around the fact that our relationship must also revolve around our friendship and not slowly become a business partnership. At the end of the day, we still find enjoyment in talking about normal, everyday things like boys, apartment hunting, work, catching-up on life, and of course, a little gossip.

Knowing when to compromise: We share a similar aesthetic vision and goals for Penny and Dash, but we are not the same person and definitely do have disagreements when it comes to picking the best photos to feature on the blog, looks we want to shoot, locations to meet-up at, etc. Honestly, similar to any other team membership, it is key to identify which fights are actually worth fighting and standing our ground for. We learned over time in our friendship that being petty and difficult with each other just for the sake of "winning" an argument is not only inefficient, but is also extremely ineffective..

2016 has been a year with some of the biggest challenges from starting work to managing the blog, but we have learned so much in just a few short months. So much of our excitement and joy has been to produce content for Penny & Dash, and we can't wait to share the 2017 adventures with you guys! Stay tuned :)

Love Always,

Jessica & Melissa