Top 3 Takeaways of BlogPodium 2016

Connection. Conversation. Collaboration.

These three words perfectly summed up BlogPodium 2016 - an event that brought together lovely bloggers and creative gals from across Canada. This past weekend's event was truly filled with inspiration. I had the wonderful pleasure of listening to women who dominate in their niche and whom shared their expertise and guidance.  From tips and tricks on how to grow partnerships with brands you love to learning how to get paid what you're worth to SEO strategies - BlogPodium was the spot to be!

The day couldn't have started on a better note as Alyssa Garrison of Random Acts of Pastel chatted all about building your brand through Instagram. But please take a second to visit her page - it's so visually appealing and simply makes you smile! The highlight of her workshop was when she stated that as smartphones are essentially our bffs now days, we need to make a point to get to know them better and get nitty gritty. A neat trick that Alyssa shared with the group was to wipe your lens - simple enough right? Yet who would have thought that this makes a difference and trust me it does!

The keynote speaker Tiffany Pratt was full of wise words filled with great sentiment and quite the vibrant personality. Her takeaways were profound and honestly had more to do with you as a person than the practicalities of blogging:

1. You Are Who You Are

This couldn't have been said enough times - being authentic was the number one piece of advice given. With a plethora of blogs in the world, people admire individuality and want to see the real thing as you are your brand. So be proud of who you are, find your secret sauce and rock it! If you love what you do, then that will shine through your work. Tiffany summed it up perfectly that you don't need the best of everything to create magical beauty and that you live your life by your own design - so emit you own frequency and don't be afraid to shake things up.

2. Making It Work

Success doesn't happen overnight - it takes persistence and tenacity to get your foot in the door. But patience is the holy grail of hustling to get your way in the blogsphere. You can't be afraid to go the extra mile and while there's lots of ugly, you also need to also find a middle ground that will allow for work life balance. Trust me - juggling a day job, freelance writing, blogging and the list goes on, I have found my happy medium that keeps me sane yet I love it all. You need to work hard to play hard - no blogger woke up one day and instantly got invited to glamourous events. They worked their butts off to get to where they are today!

3. Sharing The Love

This is probably the biggest takeaway of all. Boys and girls, that means getting off your high horse and stepping away from negativity - no competition, no agenda and pardon my language, no freakin' bullshit. Comparison is noise - rather find your tribe and build a support system of like-minded gals who have your back. Spread the awesomeness!

"Negativity does not come my way. Because I don't give it. I don't say shit about shit. Watch what you give, 'cause that's what you'll get." - Tiffany Pratt


A big fabulous thank you to the organizers and sponsors for all your hard work!

-xoxo