Girl Crushing It | The Trendy Sparrow

I like a girl who knows what makes her happy and makes no apologies for moving along as her bad ass self. Enter Lindzi Shanks, the brains behind the unapologetically girly blog and brand, The Trendy Sparrow.

I’m in love with her new line of graphic t-shirts and reaching potential stalker status of her Instagram. Don’t judge me – I can’t help my love of sparkle, pattern, and Chicago gingers.

(And since you’re reading this, I’m guessing you can’t either.)

When someone asks you what you do, what do you say?

I feel like this answer is constantly changing as I expand my company. I often start with saying that I own my own company selling mugs, prints, and apparel for the girly girly who is chic and sassy. I talk about how excited I am that I get to work from home and make my passion my paycheck.

Why does Blair Waldorf speak to you?

Part of why Blair Waldorf speaks to me is that I often feel like I am Blair Waldorf. We have such similar styles and tastes in clothing (and men). Most of all, I was always inspired by her ferocity. She was always extremely protective of her friends, and fought for those she loved. She was determined to build her own empire and create a legacy of greatness; all while having flawless style.

I’ve been given 2 incredibly life changing pieces of advice in my life.

The first occurred when I was actually reading a blog post from A Beautiful Mess. The founder, Elsie Larson, mentioned that the best thing anyone could have told her was to always have multiple streams of income because it will create more financial security as an entrepreneur while fueling each of the other income streams. That really registered with me. That’s why I have an Etsy store, a blog, a regular website, and freelance write when I can. Both my blog and my store draw an income while providing traffic to each other. It’s a win-win!

The second piece of advice I won’t ever forget was from my mom. Last year I had just completed my Master’s in psychology from The University of Chicago. I had always planned on getting a PhD and becoming a professor. The only problem was that I hated my MA program that entire time I was there. I was miserable! I found myself answering customer emails during class and designing new products while I should have been writing papers. It was clear problem was that I hated my MA program that entire time I was there. I was miserable! I found myself answering customer emails during class and designing new products while I should have been writing papers. It was clearly mom who helped me realize that it was far more important to do what I loved rather than what I thought I was “supposed” to do. It was that advice that helped me make the leap to run my store and blog full time rather than going to get a PhD.

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever given?

I give Etsy sellers and entrepreneurs this advice all the time: fight for your work. The downside of social media is that it makes it really easy for people to try and copy your original work. Some many Etsy sellers and small business owners think that because they are small or just one person that they can’t fight against intellectual property theft. I’ve even contacted sellers when I noticed their work was being stolen by someone else, only to have them say that fighting the person would be too hard so they won’t even try. What?? If you put the time and effort into creating something original, other people shouldn’t be able to profit off of your work simply by copying it. I took the legal steps to trademark all of my sayings, and it is the best thing I could have ever done for my work. Each month, I have to have 15 items removed from various sites just from people trying to copy our “What Would Blair Waldorf Do?” design alone. Without my trademark and fighting for my work, all of these other stores would be able to profit off of my idea while taking sales from me. So if someone is copying your work…don’t be afraid to fight for yourself and your work!

If you had to be on a reality show, which one would you pick?

Project Runway! I so want to hear Tim Gunn tell me to “make it work”. The only problem is that I have no idea how to sew…

What is your bad hair day secret?

A messy bun! You just can’t go wrong with a messy bun that you can throw up quickly! For really bad hair days I start with “Not Your Mother’s” dry shampoo before I put my hair in a messy bun.

If money wasn’t an issue, how would you spend your time?

Travel! I’ve never been out of the country. I don’t even have a passport. When in school and growing up, I never had the money or time to travel. If I could, I would just fly all over the place…visiting new countries, learning new languages, immersing myself in other cultures; all while look fabulous!