It might be a month late, but better late than never! Here is my Thrive Blog Conference recap, with a little behind the scenes from our mastermind retreat we went on last September!
I love blogging conferences and honestly, I’m no stranger to them! I’ve been to a bunch – from Mom 2.0 Summit to SNAP! Conference to Alt Summit to Blissdom to Haven… I’ve dabbled in all the different blogging conferences and loved them all! There is just something so energizing about being surrounded by people who get what you do, want to learn with you, and will cheer you on as well!
Thrive Blog Conference
I went to Thrive Conference for the first time in 2016, the spring after we moved to the Houston area, and actually got to speak and that was a lot of fun! (You can read that recap here). The following year, I helped the founder Bree put the conference together (it was WAY more work than I was expecting) and the last two years I’ve just attended. (Well, actually I was a coach on Sunday this last year, but more about that in a bit). Every year it has gotten better and better, so I’m already looking forward to next year’s conference!
Thrive is specifically for bloggers – all kinds, from food to DIY to home to fashion to lifestyle to mom bloggers! Bree does a great job keeping it very specific to bloggers who are either just starting out or have a couple of years under their belt but want to kick it up to the next level (BAM! Any Emeril Lagasse fans out there?). The other thing about Thrive that you need to know is that it is small, intimate, and intentionally that way. Sometimes going to a bigger conference can be so overwhelming (800 people? No thanks) so keeping Thrive small is such a great strategic move. It feels like you’re in the room with your closest girlfriends and it is really easy to make connections!
The Schedule
Opening Night Party – Bree always finds the coolest place to host the opening night party! It is a great way to casually meet everyone the night before the work begins s0 if you’re planning on going to Thrive, make it a priority to be at the Friday night party, okay?
Saturday Conferencing – Saturday is packed full with conference sessions from all the speakers! From 9AM – 6PM, you’ll be busy taking notes and pictures, making new friends, talking with sponsors, and eating all the food! (I at EIGHT Tiffany’s Treat’s chocolate chip cookies this year. EIGHT!!)
Sunday – Each year Sunday looks a little different, but this year it was a strategic planning session for your blog! Bree walked through how to strategically plan for your blog, along with defining your vision and mission, honing in on your why, and figuring out how to make sure that everything you do supports those pillars.
I got to be a coach this year, and the ladies in my small group were amazing (I hope they think the same about me!) I helped them find their voices, encouraged them to put themselves out there more, and talked about ways that they can measure and gauge their growth aside from looking at their numbers obsessively.
The goal was for everyone to walk away from the Sunday coaching session with an actionable plan and content calendar for their blog that they can refer back to for an entire year to help them set and meet their goals.
The Speakers
I am usually a voracious note-taker but this year I just listened. (I am kind of kicking myself for not taking notes, but it was nice to just be in the moment instead of trying to write down everything they said). So I don’t have any fancy or inspiring quotes for you, but I do have a main takeaway for a few of my favorite sessions from the day:
Miranda Anderson – (you can actually listen to her entire session on her podcast here) She talked about Growth and Engagement – but not in the way you might think. It was so refreshing to hear someone share about actual growth as a person and actual engagement with other people, rather than metrics and numbers.
Enid Hwang – Enid is the Community Manager from Pinterest (yes, like SHE WORKS FOR PINTEREST) and here is what my biggest takeaway was – PINTEREST IS WORKING FOR BLOGGERS. While we all want to throw our energy Facebook and Instagram, they are not doing nearly as many things as Pinterest is in the interest of helping bloggers grow their platforms. So if you’re not investing any time in your Pinterest strategy, start here!
Shannon Mattern – Shannon has not only spoken at Thrive before, but she was also part of our Mastermind retreat and my roomie this year! She is an SEO master and my lifeline when something is wrong with my blog and I can’t figure it out! (Shout out to Shannon for saving me from the white screen of death recently!). She shared some actionable items when it comes to how to transform my google analytics from just numbers to conversions in order to increase traffic to my site and turn it into income! She has a free website building course here if you’re wanting to learn how to set up a website!
Girija Patel – Girija is one of my favorite boss babes who also happens to be an attorney for creatives! She shared the most important ways to protect your business and where to invest your money in that process (as well as where to skip it). My biggest takeaway from her session was that while I don’t have to get an LLC to be an actual business, if I start treating my business like a business as far as protecting and owning my content, it will start running like a business! Also, that I’m very lucky to live in a state where it is really easy to start a business!
Erin Schrader – And of course, getting to see and hear from my friend and client Erin from Living in Yellow was SUCH a treat! I love how business-minded she is and how hard she works – she is such a huge inspiration to me and a great friend – I feel very blessed to know and get to work alongside her! Follow her on Facebook for all the daily deals on the internet (and you’ll get to see me every once in a while too!)
Highlights
Making new friends – I’m always looking to meet a couple of people that I can really connect with and start a friendship with at Thrive every year! This year I was so blessed to meet Elise from Starling Stories and get to hear her story (which is incredible!!)
Swag & Sponsors – I’ll be honest – swag is fun! Bree keeps it low-key with a few really awesome items in our swag bag like these socks, which Jett promptly stole, a Stitch Fix gift card, and a YogaClub Box gift card, and some gorgeous jewels from Shira Melody and Ava Rose!
I have a special place in my heart for Eslena, so I was really excited to see this company as a sponsor at Thrive this year! One of the owners, Larkin, came to my house during Hurricane Harvey and helped rescue people who were flooded into their homes. That is how I was introduced to Eslena water, so to see them at Thrive was so fun!
I’ve been obsessed with Schlotzsky’s for as long as I can remember! My sandwich was delicious – I think it was a turkey pesto club – and I couldn’t scarf it down fast enough lol!
Tiff’s Treats & Mighty Swell made sure were never too far away from a sweet snack and a cold beverage! (Did I mention I ate eight of these cookies????) They are so good! And I can’t wait to add Mighty Swell to the fridge this summer – it is a spiked spritzer that comes in the most delicious flavors (in fact, I had one too many Peach spritzers at the opening party) and is gluten free and has only 4 grams of sugar. That is calling my name!
My Biggest Takeaways
This is the first year that I’ve ever attended a conference where I felt like I really had my business together and was gaining traction so that in and of itself was refreshing. Of course I always welcome any and every opportunity to learn, so I came away with even more information to instill into my business!
One of my biggest takeaways was the importance of having a team of women who are cheering you on. Over the last few months, since I went on the Mastermind Retreat with Bree and four other women last September, my growth has been exponential! Getting to attend this conference knowing that they were all there with me and pushing me and ready to hold me accountable gave me a much bigger sense of “Okay, I can really do this” when it was all over with.
My second big takeaway was that we can all do this. Whether you are starting from scratch or you already have a significant following, you can build a business out of sharing your story and your passions online. It will be hard and messy and challenging, but as long as we keep showing up, the opportunity will always be there.
Thrive Mastermind Retreat
Now I want to give you the tiniest sneak peek into the Thrive Mastermind Retreat I went on last September – the weekend that literally 180’d my business and has helped me achieve some goals over the last few months that I’ve been working YEARS to get done!
FOOD
Bree and Keikilani made sure we would never be without something to eat during the weekend and man, did we eat good! Between yummy meals like Korean street tacos to homemade pizzas, Keikilani BROUGHT IT with all the food!
COFFEE
Bloggers + coffee go hand in hand, and we drank a lot of it over the weekend! I gifted everyone with their own coffee mug with their name on it (it is this one from Amazon, and I love it!) and we were never without our mugs!
BUSINESS PLANNING
While we did spend our fair share of time eating and drinking coffee, we also spent the largest bulk of our time on work – working on our business strategy, content calendars, and ourselves! Bree planned out our weekend based on the Strategic Planning workshop we did a year or so ago and this was the meat of the weekend. I planned an entire year’s worth of content in ONE WEEKEND. It was so refreshing to walk away with a mission and plan for the blog!
GIRL TIME
There was also plenty of time worked in for bonding, talking, laughing, crying, and becoming best friends.
If you do not have a mastermind group (or, a group of fellow business owners that you can learn from and grow alongside) let me just HIGHLY RECOMMEND IT RIGHT NOW! Thrive has actually started putting together these groups to help coach women through their businesses so check them out if you don’t know where to start with that!
This weekend was sacred for me. I pushed a lot of my fears and insecurities aside that weekend and really started to own what I felt God was calling, pushing, dragging me towards for a while and it was like a huge weight was lifted off my chest that weekend!
Okay friends – if you made it this far and read every word, I’m impressed. Have you ever been to a blogging conference before? Let me know in the comments below!
Enjoyed attending Thrive!! So much great information to implement! This is a great re-cap. I’m in the pic with the Mighty Swell Spritzer.