Hustle and Flow: Finding Inspiration and Keeping Motivated

One of the downsides to going to conferences is they pump me up with ideas and motivation, but without the self-drive to follow through my best intentions to Do Stuff tend to fall flat. 

I've realised somewhere along the line, I've lost my hustle. Yes, I go through brief periods of inspiration and productive work, creating content and seeking new knowledge. Then good old Lazy Sarah rolls back in and starts questioning the point, preferring to Netflix And Chill. I get thinking perhaps average isn't so bad. That mediocrity has itsmerits. 

Every successful person, every high-flying entrepreneur, every salesman of the year or employee of the month tends to have the same ethic: they're always working hard. They set goals and hustle to get to them. They're insatiably ambitious and they have a drive to achieve that frankly I'm jealous of. 

When I take a frank look at myself, I begin to wonder if I ever actually had any hustle. Life up until entering the workforce was pretty easy, I achieved academic success without much effort but after entering the Real World I quickly learned that unless you're a trust fund kid, not much gets handed to you. 

I have read some commentary lately that some people feel like sites such as Problogger "dupe" folk into believing they can get rich by blogging. I wonder if these armchair experts have ever actually read any articles or attended a blogging event, because all I've learned over the past few years is that success in the blogosphere comes only from a lot of hard work. You have to put in the time to earn the dime, if you will. 

I'm determined to find my hustle. If I never had it after all, perhaps I just need to develop it. Work on saying inspired as motivated - goodness knows there are plenty of bloggers and high achievers to look up to and learn from. 

How do you keep yourself on track with your goals? Do you ever feel like everything is just too much hard work?

More Things This Weekend Has Taught Me - a Problogger Training Event debrief

One of the common tips you read a lot in the blogosphere is to use popular past content to guide your future posts. Well, as one of my all-time most read posts is titled "Things This Weekend Has Taught Me", I thought I'd do a sequel.

That post was about a stormy weekend with a blackout. This post is about an awesome weekend away at the Gold Coast for Problogger Training Event, an annual blogging conference. This year it was held at RACV Royal Pines Resort on the Gold Coast. 

To say the weekend was great would be an understatement. This was my second time attending the event and once again I was impressed by the quality of speakers, the networking opportunities, the venue and mostly the value for money. 

What was I taught? That blogging isn't always about monetization (though I did know that already). That for a lot of people, reader engagement and community-building is more important. Sharing stories, solving problems, bringing joy or comfort or happiness are worthy goals too. 

I met so many people that I have known online for many years, and everyone was so kind and encouraging. I cannot describe to you what it's like to connect meaningfully with people of your "tribe", who GET what you're passionate about. I hope you have experienced this before because it is the greatest thing!

After two days of sessions and excellent company, I was exhausted but reinvigorated about blogging. I have lots of strategies to implement and ideas rolling around in my head. 

But the greatest thing of all was experiencing the event with my mum, who has just started a travel blog. She had a fabulous time too, and it was extra cool to see how wonderful the blogging community treats it's newbies. 

Did you go to PBEvent, or follow along on social media? What's the most important thing a conference has taught you?

Conference Jitters

Tomorrow I'm off to a two-day conference. Yep. Like some puffed up self-important businessman. Except it's more of an "event" I guess. It's Problogger Event, the biggest thing in an Aussie blogger's calendar. 

I'm mostly prepped. I'm down to thinking of last-minute things. This is my second time and I think I'm less nervous because of that. 

I'm not great in large gatherings. But as I get older (and wiser?) I've realised that other people are mostly blundering their way through social interactions too so that's ok. And this time I will know two whole people in real life! Doesn't matter if one of them is my mum!

I'm also more connected with other bloggers in the online space this time around. There are people who I feel I will be able to go up to and say hi because we've interacted on social media, rather than me just being familiar with them from reading their writing. 

And I'm staying overnight this year, so it's kind of like a mini-holiday on the Gold Coast! It's even at a resort. 

But most of all I'm looking forward to hanging out with my "tribe" - a mob of people that just GET blogging, love blogging, live blogging. If you're going, maybe I'll see you there!

Do you ever go to conferences or industry events? Do you get a lot out of them?

Problogger Training Event Takeaways

Today is a week since I attended Problogger Training Event on the Gold Coast. I was admittedly nervous for my first blogging conference but it ended up being non-painful; and happily, also personally valuable.

I invested in my ticket price waaaaay back at the beginning of the year. Why? I'm still not even sure. I asked my hubby if I could spend 250 of our hard-earned clams because "it's something I'm interested in". He agreed, because he's a good guy.

Yes, in the back of my brain I'm a little interested in the fact that people earn an income from blogging. And I was excited to meet people from the internet who have become friends. It was also fun to see "big" bloggers in the flesh. 

But the best part was the learning. I was a little sponge, soaking it all up. I realised I totally miss uni. Not the exams, but the finding out of interesting things. I am interested in blogging, therefore a whole conference of speakers addressing blogging issues was totally cool to me!

And the best part was managing to sort through and solidify some of my writing goals. I've always written online - way back to my Livejournal days at uni- but the content has changed a lot. I used to be all about sharing my online life - cool fandom stuff, fan fiction and such. Now I write about my offline doings - what I call "real life". 

Problogger has helped me to identify some of the reasons I blog and also point me towards some goals that click with me. It's funny, I went expecting to be excited about the technical side of blogging: google analytics, cross-platform marketing, ebooks. Instead I was intrigued by the emotional aspect of what I do - telling a story, helping readers find solutions, writing for good.

My favourite sessions:

Blogging for Beginners - Pip Lincolne

Sure, I'm hardly a n00b at this game but I couldn't pass up the chance to see Pip's session. I have admired her work for so long, and she is just so infectiously enthusiastic about STUFF. She talked about the rewards of building a community of engaged readers, which I loved. She advocates using your blog for good and being a good blog citizen by reading and commenting on others' posts. I learned from her that sincerity is should be at the heart of everything you do. I also liked that she uses the word "amplification" instead of marketing. 

The Fortune Cookie Principle - Bernadette Jiwa

I cannot believe I had never heard of Bernadette. Her marketing philosophy - focused on people, not product placement, was so refreshing. She told me that every click on my blog was a person looking for something, and never to forget that each of them is giving me the gift of their precious time. Think about trying to answer their problems or make a difference in their lives. Look at what people are reading most on your blog, not how many. Relevance is the key. The main message though was that people like things for how they make them feel (not what they actually are) - when you apply this to blogging, you can try to build a lovely community of folk who care about the same stuff. 

Blogging for Community - Joy Toose, Emma Stirling & Renee Bugg

I was excited about this session because I've been thinking for so long about how to incorporate more acts of social good into my life. These guys talked about digital volunteerism and how charities are often not social-media savvy and most would welcome any blogger outreach. They talked about using a blog's influence to spread word or causes and raise profiles of campaigns. I also heard  about Blog Action Day, an annual event I'm keen to learn more about. 

In short, my brain is now buzzing with ideas. I want to write all the things. And I hope you all will help me!

Have you ever been to a blog conference? What did you learn? Did I meet you at PBEvent and I'm not following you on social media? Let me know!

PS - Meanwhile, how much exposure did QT Gold Coast get from this event? Trendy hotel, savvy PR folks.

--> Linking up with Slapdash Mama for The Lounge.

Problogger Event Prep

So. Problogger Training Event.

MAN, it has come up quickly. It only seems like a few weeks ago I was buying my ticket.

This will be my first blogging conference, and I am not ashamed to admit I’m more than a little nervous. Mainly because I’m not great at meeting new people and social situations are a challenge.

So, in order to confront my fears and make sure that I do get the most out of the 2 days of talks I’m going back and reviewing the reasons I wanted to go in the first place.

- I wanted to learn more about blogging! Easy!
- This year’s event is on the Gold Coast, so I can feasibly go. Previous events in Sydney or Melbourne were just not even in the realm of financial possibility.
- To hear some of my favourite bloggers speak

And some things I shouldn’t worry about:

- What I’m wearing; because I’m not a fashion blogger and should not really care about being judged on appearance anyways
- Making friends with everybody; because this is unrealistic
- Not having a laptop or iPad; because I shouldn’t feel inferior for not having gadgets
- My phone battery running out; because there’s nothing I can do to stop that happening!

Things to take:

- Notebook & pen (I’m old school)
- Iphone for tweeting and instagram, with backup battery pack
- Cardigan for air conditioned conference rooms
- Snacks (just in case)
- A positive attitude

Wish me luck!