5 minutes with.... Emilia Rossi from emiliarossi.com.au

UC alumna Emilia Rossi wears a lot of hats in her day to day life.

A digital marketing expert, fashion, travel and lifestyle blogger, ecommerce store owner, and jewellery designer, Emilia makes her living by exercising her creativity and doing what she loves.

Now based in Melbourne, Emilia's blog and line of fashion jewellery continues to grow in popularity around the world, and her wedding based ecommerce website Capriess is nearing an exciting relaunch.  

We recently spoke with Emilia to find out about her amazing story, and to get some tips for how aspiring online entrepreneurs can better manage their time and start their own personal blog.

Q. You do so many different things; you're a designer, blogger, marketer and entrepreneur. How do you describe yourself when you meet someone at a party?

A. I'm still figuring out how to best introduce myself to new people, but I usually open with something along the lines of 'Hi I'm Emilia and I enjoy the challenges of creating and working on new things'. As you can imagine, this introduction will often solicit follow-up questions with people wanting to know the range of things I work across.

I explain that I work as a Digital Marketing Consultant helping small businesses increase their online profile, sales and leads. In addition to that I like to share my experiences with others through my personal blog. I also detail how I like to be creative; when I'm not painting I'm designing my unique fashion jewellery which I wholesale to high end boutiques. I close by mentioning capriess.com.au which is an online wedding classifieds site I co-founded allowing couples to sell and buy pre-loved wedding items.

I feel comfortable knowing that I have diversified my income stream and am fortunate enough to work in areas, which constantly challenge my creative side.  

Can you tell us the story of the Emilia Rossi blog?

Emiliarossi.com.au started in 2011 as an ecommerce site selling jewellery. It was launched alongside a fashion business I was running at the time in Canberra. The idea was that the site would complement the business I already established in Canberra.

However, after a year I could see that the majority of people visiting emiliarossi.com.au were more interested in reading the blog section of the site rather than shopping for jewellery. So I transformed the ecommerce site into a content driven platform focused on providing engaging articles about my life experiences and the things I love the most across fashion, travel, design and business.

This blog is something I do because I love it. I'm not motivated by increasing my social following or even by money; keeping a journal is something I've always done (since the age of 9), now I just share my experiences online rather than keeping it in a book locked up in my cupboard.

Your blog covers a lot of topics, from beauty and fashion to travel and food. Is there something you most passionate about?

It does cover a lot doesn't it!

I write about what inspires me at that moment and I've found different things inspire me at different stages during my life. So for example, I am writing more about travel and things to do in Melbourne, as I live here now, as well as more business related articles because of the business like minded people I am networking with here in Melbourne. As long as I feel inspired and touched by a subject, I like to share it with my readers. 

You're obviously very busy with your blog and other work, how do you manage your time to fit everything in?

What if I told you that I don't own a TV, and that I allocate a time and date to (almost) every event/project/task in my life?

It does sound a little over-the-top, but that's what it takes to fit everything in and ensure progress is made. It's not always easy and I do often struggle fitting everything in, but 9 out of 10 times it works out.

I also believe in only working on the top 20% of things that bring in 80% of my income. I make a conscious effort to keep myself from getting stuck too much in the detail and always apply top-level thinking to every thing I work on. This really helps me to prioritise what is important and what I need to be working on at any given time and dedicate the rest of my time to the things that I enjoy doing like exercising.

Can you tell us more about Capriess? What was the inspiration behind the site, and how has its journey been so far?

Capriess.com.au was another idea I had back 2011. I was on a road trip with my partner and a conversation about weddings came up. I mentioned that I had recently searched for a wedding related item and struggled to find any sites selling it second-hand so we thought it would be an interesting concept to prototype and see what sort of response we would get from it.

We literally created the brand and built the website within a 2-4 week period and it's been running itself ever since. As we speak we're actually in the process of re-designing the entire site to provide a better experience for our growing member base.

One of your passions is designing jewellery, what do you love most about it and what inspires you when you're designing?

Because I studied Industrial Design at UC and have painted all my life, design and being creative is my foundation. If I am not creating I will not function properly. Creating anything is an outlet and creative people can relate to this. I think this is why I have always written in a journal (and now on my blog) as this is a way I can be creative through my words.

The jewellery I design and sell to retailers is really something that comes from within and from my surroundings. I am constantly being inspired from the people and places around me and at the moment am craving to combine different types of materials, textures and finishes together. My jewellery combined the rawness and organic look of white, black and marbled clay with the luxury look and feel of sterling silver, yellow and rose gold. My designs are dainty and very feminine and I am always working on new designs.

Do you have any tips for aspiring bloggers?

• Be natural
• Write because you love it
• Think about why you are starting a blog (is it for money, pleasure, or something else)?
• Make sure to register ALL social media handles.  In fact check this before you confirm your URL and brand name
• Use a template that is easy to upgrade, change, etc
• Frequency is important; be prepared to post something new at least once a week
• Don't let your blog dictate your life
• Be honest, if you get paid tell people
• Be nice to other people online, and when you make it don't forget who helped you at the beginning
• Network

What does the future hold for you? Do you have any big plans or exciting things in the pipeline?

Wow, this is a tough question! I always have plans and exciting things happening. In fact at the start of each year I create a list of things I want to accomplish for that year. 

I will always be working in the online space, so at the moment I'm redesigning the new Capriess site, I also have some designs changes to make to my blog as well as working on getting new clients for Digital Cactus. I am also working towards opening more relationships with retailers who would be interested in stocking my jewellery collection.

What's the best place people can learn more about you and follow your adventures?

They can find and follow me on Instagram (@emiliarossi) and Twitter (@EmiliaRossi_) or sign up to my newsletter from my homepage at www.emiliarossi.com.au

Words by Emilia Rossi and Daniel Murphy, images courtesy of Emilia Rossi

Emilia Rossi Bachelor of Industrial Design, University of Canberra (2005) Emilia Rossi is a digital freelance consultant, blogger and jewellery designer. She completed a Bachelor of Industrial Design at the University of Canberra in 2005. Emilia consults under her own brand Digital Cactus, and also runs a fashion and lifestyle blog emiliarossi.com.au and wedding ecommerce site capriess.com.au. You can connect with Emilia via Instagram and Twitter, or visit her blog.