One Month until FinCon13! So excited!

My journey into blogging was a series of stops and starts. I would start blogging…then stop because it was too hard, too intense, too much. Any one who tells you that blogging is an easy thing to do on the side is not being honest. If you’re really committed to it then blogging slowly becomes a passion. That was what happened in my case.

It was during one of those quitting moments when I heard about a conference called FinCon12. It was being held in my home town of Denver and it was happening literally two or three weeks from the time that I heard about it. It was in my view a sign! I had been half-heartedly blogging again but was having difficulties conceptualizing why the hell I was doing this blogging thing?? What was the point?!

So, I bought a ticket for this conference. I’d never gone to a conference outside of work conferences and I’d barely gone to conferences for work. I had no idea what to expect. It was the best $100 I spent last year.

There were sessions on things that I’d never heard of or thought about: building an audience, SEO, blog monetization, finding your voice, and the list goes on. There were people and I would say at least 94.6% of the people that I met in the process of radically changing their lives. Paying off debt, losing weight, getting married, and the list goes on. There were writers/bloggers there whose blogs I read and they were super cool: Ana from And Then We Saved, Athena from According to Athena, Mr. Money Mustache, and the list goes on and on and on.

I discovered that these wonderful people weren’t just blogging to make money (even though it was a wonderful by product!) They were blogging to:

• Change their own lives
• Help others
• Share a story
• Tell it like it is
• Empower themselves
• Make money!
• Create business relationships
• Find their voice

I won’t lie. Even though I am an extrovert and love meeting new people I found that I was really nervous. What if they judged me? What if I was found lacking? Did I even belong in the company of these people? I’ll be honest:

• Of course I was judged-it’s human nature!
• Of course I belonged there-because I decided that I did!
• I was right where I needed to be
• PF bloggers are pretty darn accepting, cool, and well-super nerdy-chic
• Not everyone will be for you, but the community is so diverse that it doesn’t even matter

I am so excited to meet up with everyone in a month! To learn new things, meet new people, and start phase II of my blogging journey. If you are still on the fence about going I hope I was able to persuade you!

I decided that my blogging life became “real” when I transferred from Blogger to WordPress. I won’t celebrate my one year anniversary until December 24, 2013 (thanks Denver Eric again for doing the tech work on that) Even though I am no where near debt free I have benefited in the following ways from blogging.

• I’ve expanded my world and can’t wait to connect with so many people who I only “know” virtually! Tonya, DearDebt Chica whose name I’m not sharing, MochiMac -love her brutal honesty, Kylie Orfu, Joanna/Johnny and baby girl!, Cat, Catherine, Crystal, Lindsey, Pat, Glenn, Erin, Jordann, Jen, Eva, Michelle-my guru, Mr. 1500!, Kathleen, anyone from overseas, and the list goes on. If I missed you it was totally accidental. This list is long.
• I also want to reconnect with: Adam, Athena, Mr. Money Mustache, Ana  (she’s sitting this one out-baby hipster on its way), Lauren/Paula/ and Kyle who I got to hang out with in Atlanta!, LaTisha, Khaleef and his wife SheriAnn, and I am sure I’m missing people. Again-the list is long.
• My life feels a lot less chaotic
• My debt is going down
• I have a sense of direction and purpose that was missing for a long time.
• I’m a lot more chilled out…because my life is a lot less chaotic!
• I believe that anything is possible for me. Really!

Some unsolicited advice/tips for having a successful conference:

• Look nice-but wear what is comfortable for you! Remember you are representing your “brand.” Opportunities might present themselves while you are at the Conference.
• Ladies, wear comfortable shoes or bring a large enough bag to switch out your shoes if needed. Limping isn’t hot.
• There will be a ton of food provided, but bring some snacks just in case.
• Conference rooms tend to be cold at EVERY conference that I’ve gone to-I don’t know why!? Prepare for that.
• Don’t complain about the FREE FOOD! This is one of my biggest pet peeves. If you are being fed free food, it’s free! If you have any issues with food in general: gluten allergies, food snobbery (I am a food snob. It goes away when I get free food), vegetarian/vegan. Then it’s highly likely that the food might not meet your needs/issues. This is reality. I have been or currently have the following food issues: Vegan before Six, have been a vegetarian, am a food snob, don’t eat a lot of fried food, would eat gluten free if available. The minute the food is FREE all bets are off. I have just been saved money. I’m about to chow down! People were annoying last year (and my work colleagues do this all the time!) during the same meal where I observed the next thing I’m going to talk about…
• Be nice to the people who are doing the following jobs: waitstaff, house cleaners in the hotel, basically any person doing a service for you. Please TIP these individuals they are working hard for their money and if you’re going to a conference then you should have enough money to tip properly. I’m talking 20% !!!  I observed some really unacceptable treatment towards waiters during one of the lunches. The people I observed being rude towards waitstaff. I STILL don’t deal with. (not too many btw!) But, unacceptable.  I know that we all love to make our money stretch but tipping is not a place where you should be saving money. If you can’t tip correctly don’t go to the conference. Why am I so vehement about this? Because my mom worked jobs like this when I was little and those tips helped her out. Because I and other people have worked jobs where we’ve depended on tips. If the service is bad-speak to the manager (obviously) and explain why the individual is getting a sh$tty tip. By the way 10% is always sh$tty in the U.S. Sorry non-Americans…but, that’s our tipping culture.
• Bring business cards!!! You will be handing out a lot of business cards. I also made little notes on them so I could remember who was who.
• Develop an elevator speech. How would you describe your blog in 30 seconds? I have my personal blog and the blog that I’m collaborating with Tonya on so I need to do two speeches.
• Bring some dancing clothes! PF Bloggers love to have a good time and I am sure that there will be several opportunities to dance your butt off.
• Be careful about the amount of alcohol you drink. I shouldn’t have to mention this one. But some unexpected shenanigans were observed….
• Follow-up after the  Conference!! Shoot a quick email to whomever you feel like. Thank them for a great conversation, the advice they gave you, or just let them know that you enjoyed meeting them.
• Don’t try to do everything!
• HAVE FUN!

Are you going to FinCon13?? Do you have advice? A funny story to share from last year? What would you do differently? Did it make a difference in how you approached blogging?

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Michelle

I am an obsessive foodie, but not self-righteous with it, love travel, meeting new people, helping you look good, and am freaked out by people who don't enjoying reading...something! Grab a Perrier, read my blog, feel free to drop me a line! Hope to hear from you soon.

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