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Blissdom 2010
As I write this, I’m sitting on a plane at 6am headed home. Even with a groggy mind due to 12 hours of sleep divided over the last 3 nights, a wake up call at 3:45am, and a shuttle ride at 4:30am to the airport, my memories of Blissdom are still fresh in my mind. Throughout the week, I’ll be reliving Blissdom right here on my blog in a “live-vicariously-through-me” fashion. So what phrase sums up Blissdom in a nutshell?
Pursuing your passion!
I arrived in Nashville on Thursday just in time for the cocktail party and met Bay from Queen Mother Blog on the shuttle. Now, if you’ve never been to the Gaylord Opryland before, website pictures don’t do it justice. The 3 words I’d use to discribe it are beautiful, biodome, and GIGANTIC! I’m pretty sure it has it’s own zip code (and my feet bear the blisters to prove it). The 1st cocktail party was held at restaurant inside of the hotel atrium and was filled to the brim with bloggers, chatting about anything and everything. I was instantly amazed by how comfortable I felt; how we all spoke a common language. No matter what you blog about, you belonged instantly.This is where I met another new friend, Rachael from Pineapple Babble, whom I chatted with all night long.
What other conference has their own TweetGrid projected?
After staying up and talking with my roommate Janna from The Adventure of Motherhood until 2am (yet again!), I started my Friday as excited and giddy as a kid at Christmas. A room filled with 500 bloggers, a chance to learn new skills and meet new people, and time to focus on myself…it was already a dream come true! That day, I attended 2 sessions: Personal Branding (panelists Shelly Kramer, Liz Strauss, and Blissdom co-creator Alli Worthington), and Striking a Balance (panelists Christine Koh, Deb Rox, Megan Jordan, Arianne Segermann, and Carmen Stacier). The takeaway messages from these sessions were:
Be who you are and see who stays around your blog; being who you are doesn’t mean saying everything on your mind
Respond to comments with another question right in your comment section
Do a regular inventory about what your brand is, what you like to write about, and who you like to work with
What are our goals and do we need them? (The answer is YES!)
Turn off Twitter and Facebook for a bit and your productivity will jump up!
How do we make it fun, easy, and meaningful to be part of what we’re doing?
I also attending the FTC Guidelines session and took these messages away:
Record EVERYTHING! If you are making money, the government needs to know.
Make sure all of the things you say on your review are true/facts
Disclose any relationship that might pose a conflict of interest
Make sure to include your FTC disclosure at the top as well as at the bottom. A MUST since many don’t read the whole post.
As incredibly valuable as those sessions were, the keynote session at the beginning of the day was what everyone was buzzing about. Kevin Carroll , an author, speaker, and agent for social change, gave a heartfelt, thought-provoking, fun, and interactive speech. His message? That even as adults, we need to value the simple opportunities in life: the chance to play; the ability to laugh; the opportunity to feel passion and integrate it into everything we do. He reminded us that hard work never goes unrecognized, to expect the unexpected, and to work our creative muscle. The timing of his message was impeccable. I had been feeling very frustrated lately and not appreciating life. Kevin’s words reminded me of the aspects missing in my life currently and I’m now more focused than ever!
Other highlights that day included celebrity chef George Duran, preparing a fabulous recipe as a demonstration (which we got to eat at lunch) and of course, the one and only Harry Connick, Jr. This was the night I also met Erica from Erica in the Mix, who rounded out our fun little Blissdom group.
But just as sitcoms do, I am going to leave you hanging until tomorrow. Just wait…you won’t want to miss my other Blissdom posts!
Were you at Blissdom? What did you enjoy the most? If you missed it, what do you want to know about it?
And if you wrote a Blissdom 2010 Recap post, feel free to link up!
I got home from my first Blissdom Conference experience ever this morning and after a long, long nap (think 5 hours!), I started reflecting some more on what I took away from this incredible trip. I won’t go into detail in this post as I have a few Blissdom-related posts scheduled for the upcoming week, but I will share with you one key point that was made at the conference:
Our readers matter!
Yes, it’s important to write about what matters to you, the voice behind the blog, and to share your passions and talents with others, but it’s great to know what your audience enjoys too. Finding this out will allow you to write about your interests, but tailor them to your readers thereby allowing both of you to enjoy the blog experience!
Because my readers and their opinions matter to me, I’m asking if you’d take 4 minutes to complete a very brief, 8 question survey (most of which are multiple choice!) so I can find out what matters to you when it comes to your blog-reading experiences.
(If you are having trouble with the link/it doesn’t work, PLEASE let me know!)
It takes only moments and passes on very helpful information. Stay tuned for my “live-vicariously-through-me” Blissdom posts this week, rounded out at the end of the week by the first review/giveaway of my “4 You February” campaign!
I Want To Start My Own Business By: Nicole ( aka Sophia’s Mom)
“I want to start my own business,” I proclaimed to my husband about 8 months ago.
Easier said than done!
In order to be able to invest your time, money, and hopes into a new business, it needs to be something that you are passionate about. I think all the so called “entrepreneurial experts” can agree on that. But what would my business be exactly, would only be determined by trial and error.
To be my own boss and have a flexible schedule was my #1 goal. As soon as I had my baby, I knew that I didn’t want to go back to work. At least, I didn’t want to go back to working for someone else. Because no matter how hard you work, you will never truly earn the fruits of your labor.
I tried to become a diaper cake baker and a blog designer, among other things. And though I was excited at first, that excitement quickly fizzled.
And I was back to square one.
What I didn’t notice was that there had been signs along the way, hinting the path I should take. But once I did start to pay attention, things started happening for me and my ‘business.’
I have become much more proactive and am determined to see this idea through until it is successful. That is the type of mentality that you need to succeed.
If my journey has taught me anything, it’s that you need to be able to fail and reinvent yourself without feeling discouraged. It’s part of the process.
So if you’re stuck in a job that you don’t like or you feel like you need something more in your life, I encourage you to leap onto the entrepreneurial train! You don’t need a lot of money to start your own business (you do need a little, though), you need the determination and the support to see it through.
* Just in case you’re curious, I launched my nursery design site in December 2009. You can visit my site, www.chiccheapnursery.com , or read more about my journey on my blog, www.thewannabewahm.com .
My name is Alicia and I blog over at ‘Making Time For Mommy’
(http://aliciamarie112.wordpress.com). I am thankful to have a
wonderful, supportive man in my life and two little boys, Jacob (19
months) and Lucas (7 months). After being a stay-at-home-mom for over
a year I recently returned to work full-time. I am in charge of social
media for my father’s small business. I love my job and because I
have had others ask me how to get a job doing social media I thought I
would offer a simple game plan to help others get started. I have only
been doing this since November and obviously have an “in” at the
company I work at but I truly think that other moms can have this
career, too. I work from an office but one of the best parts about
social media is it can be done from home and at any time of the day so
the schedule is really flexible.
I think the easiest way you can get into social media is to find a
small business that does not currently have an online presence. Start
with somewhere local. A hair salon. A restaurant. A children’s
clothing store. Someplace that you frequent often or enjoy going to.
Don’t know if they are online? Google them and chances are if you
don’t find them easily they aren’t online. Or maybe they have a
website but it’s very basic and only includes their hours and
contact information. These businesses are perfect places to start.
Next research the company and their industry. Think about how this
company could use social media. How would it improve their business?
Look at their competitors and see if any of them are online and what
social sites they are using. Think ahead about any objections that a
small business owner/manager may have about utilizing social media and
how you would respond to that objection.
For example, my company was recently asked to speak at a conference
for Insurance Agents about our social media initiatives. When asked
why they weren’t online and using social media the biggest reason we
heard from these agents was that they didn’t think they would get
any clients from it. This was their objection. Maybe they were right,
maybe they wouldn’t gain any new clients directly from social media.
However, they didn’t consider the fact that maybe they had lost
clients from not being online. My dad, being in the same industry, was
able to show them that since we became active in social media we have
seen an increase in attendance at our events and less cancelations of
appointments. We have also seen reports that show people have been
looking up our company and my father online. They see his blog posts,
they see his tweets, they see his picture… they see him and get to
know him before they ever meet him so that when they do come in for an
appointment it’s like they already know him.
After you research the company and think of the many ways that social
media could help their particular company, it is time to contact the
owner and set up an appointment to meet. I am sure you have heard the
saying “time is money” and with small business owner’s this is
especially true. Often times they are running multiple, if not all,
aspects of the day to day business. They might tell you that they have
no time to meet with you and that’s great. Yes, I said great. These
are the people that probably need social media (and you!) the most. If
you tell them that you can show them a way to save them time and grow
their business using social media and ask them for only 15 minutes of
their time they may give it to you. If not, you find another company
and try again. Don’t be afraid to fail because this business is all
about trying new things to see what works. What works for one company
or one person may not work for another.
Once you set up an appointment to meet with the owner give yourself a
pat on the back because you have just overcome one of the largest
hurdles in getting the job. The rest is up to you. Go in with
confidence that you have the solution to their business problems.
First, explain to them what social media is and how companies can use
it to their advantage. Show them why they need to be online and how
not being online is costing them money. Tell them a personal story of
how you chose a certain company versus another because one company was
offering a coupon on facebook or had connected with you on twitter.
Whatever you need to do to let them see how valuable social media can
be to them.
After establishing why the company needs to be online, interacting
with consumers through social media tell them why you would be the
perfect person to represent them. What do you bring to the table? Why
should they choose you over someone else? This is, after all, a job
interview so treat it like one.
If you have a love for interacting with people and are constantly open
to new ideas I believe you can succeed in social media. I would love
to hear from anyone who decides to contact a company about being their
social media manager or has any thoughts or questions on this post.
You can contact me via email at aliciamarie112 (at) hotmail (dot) com, through my website ‘Making Time for Mommy’ http://aliciamarie112.wordpress.com , or through my twitter handle- @aliciamarie112 .
The Spawnocalypse Guide to Multitasking:
My two-year-and-a half-year old started making a racket from his crib around 5:15. And rather than risk a crabby 20-month-old with disturbed slumber, too, I schlepped down the stairs with the boy, his bear, and the musical potty chair he lately has no inclination to activate.
Some of you visiting my blog today might be slightly confused. It’s Wednesday and The Bachelor was on this week. So where is the Bachelor Recap post and the Bachelor link up? It’s on hiatus this week…not for lack of thoughts on this week’s episode, but because I’m making some announcements and doing a bit [...]
So many people are packing up and moving out. If you haven’t already noticed, there’s a trend in the blogging world: switching from Blogger to Wordpress. As someone who recently jumped on the bandwagon, I promised I’d share my reasons for doing so and offer some information on this topic. In my opinion, the Blogger versus Wordpress debate is similar in many ways to the PC versus MAC debate.
