If you follow me on Instagram, you know I just attended the most amazing conference last Wednesday through Saturday. I learned about Altitude Summit when I started blogging and had heard the best things about it. Incredible bloggers and company owners fly in from around the country and even around the globe to grow and learn from one another. I was absolutely thrilled when the women who put together Alt Summit chose me to host a Saturday tour around SLC! Erin called me when I arrived in California for a fun weekend trip with my husband back in November and I almost dropped the phone I was so excited!
I separated my recap into two posts because I learned SO much! I’ll post the second part of my Alt Summit recap next week 🙂
Whether you’re a blogger, shop owner, thinking about becoming either of those things, or not, I think a lot of what I learned at Alt Summit can really apply to you and hopefully help you as much as it helped me. I went in feeling a lot of anxiety. Thoughts like, “I’m so new to this!” “I hope people like me!” “Don’t screw up!” ran through my mind. I left with a sense of calm and purpose, and a feeling like everyone who attended the conference is all the same instead of feeling like I might not fit in. I think everyone is a little scared when they start something new, and I still consider this blog to be “my new thing.” It’s terrifying to put yourself out there! What I loved about this conference was feeling a sense of connection with everyone. We are all just trying to share what we are passionate about and love. Whether it be photography, selling baby apparel, etc. I’m passionate about sharing my belief that we can all have what we want in this life if we are smart with our means, and I try to help people get great deals on things that you are looking buy anyway.
One thing that was hard about this conference was that there were SO many great panels and topics that it was hard to choose a few to attend because oftentimes they were at the same time as one another. I wish so badly I could have gone to every single one!
On the first night I went to a dinner hosted by Overstock.com at the Rest. It’s in the basement of a restaurant called Bodega in SLC. Thursday night was a Downton Abbey themed party, and Friday night were a bunch of mini parties hosted by some wonderful bloggers and brands!
Okay, let’s get down to it, shall we?! My top takeaways from Alt Summit:
1) I took a networking class from Reachel Bagley of Cardigan Empire. When you are at a networking even like Alt Summit, it’s a good practice to do the following things:
– Have target contacts and questions you want to ask them
– Pre-introduce yourself to brands letting them know you are excited to meet them via social media
– Find common ground with people. Questions like, “Where do you live?” “What do you do for a living?” “Where are you headed to next and looking forward to?” etc. will help get the ball rolling, especially if someone is more shy
A quote she mentioned in her presentation that I liked was, “Opportunity dances with those already on the dance floor.” – H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
You can’t succeed if you don’t even try. If you have wanted to start a blog, business, etc. opportunity will only come when you put your foot on the dance floor.
You can’t succeed if you don’t even try. If you have wanted to start a blog, business, etc. opportunity will only come when you put your foot on the dance floor.
2) I took a “Rehab for Workaholics” class from Becki of Whippy Cake. I ADORE her. I knew she was super cool by following her on Instagram, but she’s even cooler and more down to earth in person. What I learned in this class is better time management and purpose. Click here to fill out a form and she will send you all of the notes from her class.
– When you are doing anything, ask what you will get out of it. Be teachable and always learning. She uses this example specifically for watching TV. She said she is so mad at her herself for wasting so much time and energy on Netflix shows. Before she does anything now, she asks herself “how am I going to benefit by this?” When she gets sick now, she watches things that will allow her to learn and grow.
– ALWAYS LOOK FORWARD. This has been something that I have really been working on. We will ALL make mistakes, say dumb things, wish we had done something different in certain situations. Does obsessing over those things help us in any way, shape or form? No. We can learn from them, forgive ourselves, and move forward. Get to know yourself and your strengths and weaknesses. The more you know yourself, the better you can focus on your strengths. She recommends reading the book “It’s Just my Nature” by Carol Tuttle and “The Color Code” by Taylor Hartman, and take the personality test at 16personalities.com. When you know yourself, you understand the way that you work more successfully.
– Find your “WHY.” Why are you doing what you do? When you get frustrated or down on yourself, look to that. Write in your office and write it in your heart and refocus when you need to.
– Set the mood. Your environment will effect everything you do. If you are inspired by bright colors and a clean workspace, make your office bright and clean!
– Have an inbox that you dump everything in, and sort later. Our brains are smart buy they can only handle so much. If you have too much to remember it will cause anxiety, so you use an app that will help you with this. She uses Wunderlist in her iPhone. You can share this list with others and have different categories, so for example she’ll share the grocery list with her husband and he can add to it and view it when he is at the grocery store. I LOVE this idea and am going to implement it. When you have a thought, dump it into your inbox to sort through later and give your brain a break. Then later on, slice and dice large tasks into bite-sized tasks.
– Remember the 80/20 rule. 80% of what we achieve in life is a direct result of 20% of our actions. Choose those actions wisely!
– Every minute you spend planning saves you 10 minutes in execution. A great example of the would be the grocery store. If you don’t know what you are doing to make for dinner until you get there, you end up wandering back and forth through the store finding items that you need. If you have a list beforehand, you speed through!
3) Lisa Congdon gave the opening keynote address and did a great job. Things that stood out:
– You must believe it’s possible. If you don’t believe that you have a killer blog, no one else will either.
– There is a fine balance between the taste of success and the fear of vulnerability. Putting yourself out there takes GUTS and it’s freaking scary sometimes!
– “Keep some room in your heart for the unimaginable” – Mary Oliver. Lisa got up and was very emotional because a few years ago when she came to Alt Summit, she could have only dreamed she would be the keynote speaker. Work hard at your dreams.
– Let go of the idea that everything will be perfect one day. It won’t be. Ever. Live in the moment NOW. Your life isn’t going to be that much better when you get x number of page views each month or you’re never going to feel completely comfortable like you can manage every little thing on your to-do list perfectly. If you realize that now, you’re going to be a lot happier!
4) Blogger and Brand partnerships with Indiana Adams of Texas Style Council, Emily Frame of Small Fry Blog, Mugs Buckley of Chairish and Mark Gordon of La Crema
– When working with brands, stick with what you like doing, stretch a little, be patient, say “no” to things that won’t benefit your brand in the long run or help you grow, discuss expectations with brands, don’t compare to other bloggers!
– Work with local companies. If you want to host an event at a local West Elm, for instance, have a great idea ready to share and show up in-store with cookies and ask to speak to the person who coordinates that kind of thing. Don’t be afraid to hear “no.” Do research of who the best contact will be beforehand.
Click here for my Alt Summit recap part 2!
Some of the below photos were taken by me, and some were by Justin Hackworth or Brooke Dennis for Alt Summit. You can tell which ones are which thanks to my high-quality iPhone 5 camera 😉
Some of the below photos were taken by me, and some were by Justin Hackworth or Brooke Dennis for Alt Summit. You can tell which ones are which thanks to my high-quality iPhone 5 camera 😉
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