#BYOE15 – Blogalicious Recap

Above is a ‘scope of Blogalicious Takeaways I did shortly after returning. I thought I lost this vid. Thank God for Katch.me!

I’ve owed this review for ever… It has been in draft for ages… #judgemeifyawanna

…….

This is the first year since 1999 (freshman year at college) that I spent my birthday away from my family and close friends. This year I spent it with new friends and it was for good cause!
I attended Stacey Ferguson’s Blogalicious Conference and it was the shiiizzzznizzy.

Now, you all know me. I always forget to take pictures, so the few that I did take, I’ll share here.

So, Wednesday I took my first connecting flight to Baltimore. My second time in the city, and still just a short stint. Last time I went it was just the day before our cruise with Roey. Downtown Baltimore reminds me of Seattle.

Anyway, I met up w/ my girl Roni, the travel guru, and we had dinner with a Tanay, an e-friend of mine (and blogger on the low) from back in the days when I was obsessed with natural hair care.

Then Roni and I had wine and I said funny things.

Can you guess which bag is mine?

Thursday, September 10, 2015

It’s my birthday!!! 34 is going to be one hell of a year!! So what if I woke up slightly hungover for the first time in….forever. I still went for a run tho…

Thursday morning was VIP Day at Blogalicious. It was an extra day that offered additional sessions for people who wanted more meaty info…and were willing to pay for it. I gifted myself this day and I think it will probably be the most valuable birthday gift ever. (well, second to life of course…thanks mommy). The day was chock full of info from great speakers. Here are some gems:

Aprille Franks Hunt

• Abundance is not an accident.
• Think about what people often ask you about…and do that! Monetize that! (this advice has legit given me a pre-midlife crisis lol)

Lamar Tyler

• What are you doing to make money today?
• Why are you not rich? (ouch!)
• Scale up by using systems, don’t reinvent the wheel, automate like a mofo.
• Start RIGHT NOW – Sell something, anything, go, NOW.

Jessica Clark

• You need to pay yourself more, and pay yourself first.
• Organization is key to keeping your business a business and not a hobby.

Stacey Ferguson

• It’s all about relationships. ALL.
• Be brave and strategic about reaching out to companies for sponsorship.
• Don’t be scrrd about creating epic events, just do it wisely.

During Aprille and Lamar’s talks…I had like fifty thousand epiphanies. It was ridiculous. Overall this day was about mindset for me. Getting into your head that you’re a businesswoman first, and it manifests as a life coach, a writer, a blogger, a speaker, a fitness coach (at least in my case this is how it manifests). There was also a lot of mindset work around wealth and allowing yourself to be wealthy by doing what it takes to become wealthy. A whole helluva lot of “get out of your own way” stuff.

That evening I went to the VIP networking party and then out for dinner with some phenomenal blogger friends. I ate all the lobster mac and all the crab cakes I could handle.

Friday, September 11, 2015

This was the official first day of the conference. I started the day with a guided mindfulness meditation session. It was really nice to see this on the Blogalicious agenda! I used to be heavy into meditation, but slacked off after some spooky experiences that scared the hell outta me. So I would purposefully keep my meditations light. But know this, light meditations, mindfulness meditations, and simple breathing exercises, are still very powerful and can have big impact in your life. (Do you meditate? If not, just try it! – This guide right here is great!)

Anywaaaaay, back on topic.

I attended a few sessions and here are my takeaways:

Arsha Jones taught us to diversify or die trying, and to match my passion/expertise with current trends

Then she left us with specific, actionable tips on how to create a tee shirt store and market the hell out of it.

PS: Check out Inteelligence yall! (no, really…go right now… buy something, then come right back) 🙂

The adorably pregnant Kailei Carr gave us tips on showing up with a polished presence, using pro tools and being prepared as a pro at all times: cards, online presence, media kit etc. (and fun fact, she donated a toy to Roey and Kaya so I wouldn’t come home with just one for them to fight over)

Maya Elious schooled us on Purpose (emotional), Positioning (rational), and Presentation (visual) the keys for our success in branding and business. (Check her out, she currently has a great #Getpaidchallenge goin on)

Julie from SheKnows says to own your expertise and reminded us that publishers and media love an expert!

Guess who’s officially calling herself a wellness expert and a lifestyle expert when needed.  (hint: me.)

Saturday, September 12, 2015

Started the day with a fun group workout from a local trainer. It was kinda challenging! I opted out of a lilbit of it. 🙂

My girl Nicole Walters and her big ass smile came through and spoke to us about MonetizingThyself. She gave some of her tricks about amazon affiliates and using periscope to win.

On this day, the Mayor of Baltimore spoke to us and my main takeaway from her was:

Do you, and do what you want… cuz people are gunna run their damn mouths about you no matter what you do.

And: “the pie is infinite – no need to fight for a slice of pie.”

There was an excellent financial session there, it was more of a motivational talk with little gems like: “start with what you’ve got in your hand” “it’s about the mindset, not the money.” and “I want my (financial) ceiling to be my children’s floor” #deep lol

Regina of the epic blog ByRegina.com schooled us on creating products as a biz model. I would try to recap this for you, but her session was so chock full of info i’m STILL overwhelmed… Check out her too-good-to-be-free site for tons of info on building your biz.

I also attended the session on Joint Ventures and though I had to leave it early, it got my wheels spinning on how to partner well with someone… and then the “Moms & Biz” Blab show collaboration fell into place. #lawofattraction for the win!

Closing party…

I must admit. I think I stayed for about 1/2 hour. I was tired yall. I’m gettin’ old. And the DJ was 14 years old….and I”m not exaggerating to be funny. She was actually 14. What were you doing at 14? I was smoking weed and checkin’ for boys… this child has a full on career. #fml.

Oh, but I did take 2 pics there 🙂

My girl Alisha (the most contest winningest chick I ever met)

Christa and Quiana two of my blogger boos (Fun fact: Quiana actually introduced me to blogalicious in one of her epic recap posts years ago)

Yeah…we cute or whateva…

Sunday, September 13, 2015

Can we talk about Miss Shirleys?

Lord. Have. Mercy.

I had a great chat at breakfast with Danielle of ChicBrownBride. And then ubered back to the airport to face reality. I usually sleep on planes… for the first time ever in history, I stayed awake on a plane and was writing ideas, notes, to dos, blog post drafts, brainstorming business stuff. My brain was on overdrive.

So. My goals for the conference were:

I did pretty well.

I didn’t take much time for me, though. I took like zero pics (as usual) and I didn’t reach out to as many new people as I could have but it was wonderful anyway.

Overall I enjoyed the conference. I only have BlogHer to compare it to and I’d say… you really can’t compare the two. The size and attendees alone make it a huge difference. My only negative is that I didn’t expect the sales pitch at the end of the sessions. I don’t particularly care for folks selling from a stage I paid to sit in front of….But…I heard from some Blogalicious vets that this is absolutely not the norm though, so maybe it’ll be different next year.

Will I go back to Blogalicious next year? Maybe. I’d love to speak there, but even if not, I think it would be a wonderful “family reunion” type event to attend if I can. I love that I have a clear picture of where I am in my business right now, so I can look back fondly next year if I attend and see the progress I made after implementing what I learned that weekend.

Have you been to Blogalicious?

What have you learned lately?