Days later and I’m still wrapping my head around my weekend in Minnesota at the Healthy Living Summit. This was my second year attending (I originally went in 2011 in Philly) but it was an entirely different experience, though not in a bad way. I could give you a play-by-play recap of the weekend, but I’m sure at this point, you’ve seen those posts from other bloggers and you know what we did and obviously, you know what we ate.
Thanks for CocoaVia for the cute photo!
I attended 4 panel discussions on Saturday:
- Blogs in Transition: Embracing Your Blog
- From Blog to Job: Utilizing Your Personal Blog to Elevate Your Career
- Lights Camera, Action: Learn to Love the Video Camera
- Blogger and the Brand
There were a couple others that I wished I could have attended, but I look forward to going back and reading the live blogs that were written so I can get the big takeaways from those sessions.
So what were my top takeaways from these sessions? Well, I found my top takeaways go beyond my blog and were reaching out into my personal life, my career, and in general things I’m going through right now – both on and off the blog. Here’s what they looked like:
1. BE YOU! Whether this is through your writing or when meeting your fellow bloggers. Just be authentic and be you!
2. Want to work with a company or brand? Just ASK! The worst that can happen is someone says no. This is true whether you’re behind the blog, meeting in person, reaching our for a freelance piece or trying to get a “real life” job.
3. Know your goal! What’s your end game? What are you trying to achieve? Know where you want to go and forge your path to get there!
4. Tell your own story! Whether you’re reaching out to brands that you truly believe in and love or reformatting your resume to highlight your social media experience – tell your story.
5. Find mentors! Look to those around you, who you admire and who can help fill you with knowledge to improve.
6. “Be a sweet pitbull.” Keep on trying and don’t give up! Take this with you in every aspect of your life and your career, not just your blogging career!
7. Get uncomfortable! It’s so easy for me to stay with the people I know, not because I’m not willing to meet new people, but because it’s moments like this when my introvert side is out in full swing. I met some amazing ladies this weekend but I wish I spent more time getting to know them even more beyond their blogs.
Picture taken from HLS. 🙂
I have things to work on. I have a to-do list – both for on and off the blog. But I’m motivated, I’m inspired and I’m excited for the potential of what’s to come. There are big things in my future and I hope you all stick around to see what’s to come.
If you attended HLS, what were your biggest takeaways?
If you didn’t attend HLS, have you ever attended another kind of conference and what were your big takeaways?
Loved this! Between you and (Semi-Nut) Amanda and (Spoons) Amanda, it sounds like this was quite the experience! I’ve read a lot of recap posts over the last week and I have to say that even though I didn’t attend, I’m feeling the energy and motivation that you all felt and am inspired to try a few new things with the blog AND in my personal life! I so wish I could have made it up there with you girls!
I wish you could have too! You should come next year for sure!
I think I can pretty naturally be a pitbull, now I need to work on being a sweet one!
LOL!
Looks like a great group of girls!
Definitely, but one of my favs was missing! 😉
I loved that I did know some people, but was able to branch out a little bit and meet some more! I know it’s easy to just stick with the group we know so I’m glad they did some forced mingling things. 🙂 No idea what my BIGGEST takeaway was…still working on recapping everything haha.
You were awesome! I definitely felt like I crawled into my comfort zone and stayed there. Something for me to work on next time!
Thank you for sharing these great tips!
I still have absolutely no idea what my “goal” is in blogging.
Honestly…neither do I. 😉
This may not be a “big” takeaway, but I just have to say that I have been LOVING the app “Coffitivity.” I’m addicted to using it at work!
What is it?
I’d love to know how this year’s was different than 2011. I heard a lot of people say that (maybe because there weren’t many “big” bloggers there?), and I’m just wondering why!
Not as many “big” bloggers was probably part of it, but for me it was really just the social nature of actually knowing some people BEFORE going into it versus in 2011 I didn’t know anyone.