This year from Blogfest was a little bit different from last year and the year before. Blogfest 2018 was closer to home – in San Diego. In fact, it is actually happening right now! Well, the IDEA World part of it is!
Since it was so close, it wasn’t the same type of commitment for me (like dedicating the whole extended weekend to it) which ended up being a good thing, since it fell on the same weekend as our anniversary, which is tomorrow!
I also chose to head over on the SECOND day instead of the first, because I did Malynda’s makeup for her album release party, and then, of course, to attend the party, which was amazing!
Since that meant that I was going to bed around 2am, I did not have it in me to get to San Diego on time for the workout, which was with the Frog Fitness trainer, which seemed completely amazing! Sad that I missed that!
I did arrive in time for GiGi Ashworth’s “Make Love to the Camera” workshop, which was fun! My main takeaway from that was to build your brand in such a way that people expect from you what you want to deliver. Her personal example was that she doesn’t like to dress up, and is open about that in her videos and blogs. Because of that, she doesn’t feel pressured to dress up when she goes places or films videos. For me, I think it has been easy in the clothing category, but what I am growing more comfortable with, slowly, is showing what I look like every day, which is generally no makeup and a messy pineapple on top of my head!
After the “Make Love to the Camera” talk from GiGi, there was a challenge to do video interviews with each other. I feel awful, but I just did not have the energy on three hours of sleep, so I did not participate. Plus, I do a lot of interviewing for my podcast! I know, I could always use more practice and every opportunity to get better, but I also decided to be kind with myself and let myself rest (especially since I less-than-intelligently didn’t factor in time for finding registration (and going to the wrong place to start and walking confidently in the wrong direction trying to go to the right place), or to factor in the fact that I forgot to update my registrtation to my married name, leading them to not find me in the computer system, and then having me go to the special customer service thing, etc). I relished the chance to sit for a moment!
The next part of the day was the Blogfest 2018 keynote, by Heidi Powell, which is a name you may recognize from TV. There were quite a few amazing takeaways from her speech. Here are my notes!
I do it all because I don’t do it all - have a team supporting.
This is a reminder to me to DELEGATE! Chalene has been preaching this for years, so I think it’s time to finally listen and stop being a control freak. Tommy and I are going to do Smart Success together as a way to celebrate our anniversary, and I know “delegate or die” is a big part of it, so this was a good way to mentally prepare it!
They don’t care how much you know If they don’t know how much you care!
This was a great reminder of two things: 1. I don’t need to know the most in the world to make a difference, so I need to start sharing my gifts instead of hoarding information, and 2. I really need to share my passion and the fact that I am really trying to make a difference more!
The grass may be greener on the other side because it’s fake.
This was one of my favorite quotes from her talk! I think most people have heard the quote that the grass is greener wherever you water it, and I agree with that. What you give attention to grows! But I also believe this one – because sometimes what you see (particularly on social media) is a curated highlight reel, and not a highlight REAL that shows things that are not so great that are going on behind the scenes!
Comparison is the thief of joy, but comfort is the thief of progress. (from the greatest showman)
A while back, an acquaintance tweeted “the enemy of success is comfort,” and I found it very profound. I even considered having it tattooed on me! Comparison being the thief of joy is a pretty popular concept, and goes to the previous point. But comfort being the thief of progress, or enemy of success, is something that is less often discussed. So many people who are wildly successful have incredible stories of hitting rock bottom, or a horrific childhood, or a physical impairment that made their odds impossible and made their “rise above” stories even more impressive. I don’t at all want to take any recognition or respect or admiration away from those people, but I think that those who have comfortable lives that still achieve greatness deserve a lot of credit, too. Most of the time, people make change because of a pain point. But if your life is wonderful, you’re not experiencing a pain point, so it takes some other driving force to make something amazing happen. This has been hindering me for years, as I’ve been seeking “my why,” because I honestly have a pretty comfortable life without making my dreams come true! That, my friends, is about to change, though! Stay tuned! By the way, she credits “comfort is the thief of progress” to the movie The Greatest Showman, which I have still not seen!
Do you want to win more than you want to grow?
Again, this is a familiar concept! Tom Bilyeu spoke about it at the Success Live conference. I am often guilty of wanting to be right, and I don’t think I am alone in this. Tom mentioned that he loves when people prove him wrong for two reasons – one, he learns, and two – it shows him that he is doing a good job of surrounding himself with experts (see the first point from Heidi’s talk)! Heidi mentioned another point – that she loves failure, because it gives her more opportunities to grow. This is another opportunity for me to get better – embracing failure more!
Create the identity that you want to be and BE it.
Spoiler alert – this is the Bold Moves Fearless Fridays challenge for July 13th, more or less! My guest goes into greater detail, but it’s true, and is a really powerful exercise. We have the power to decide who we are and how we’re going to show up in this world, and so few of us take advantage of it like we should. Here’s a little reminder to be better in that regard!
You are always three feet from GOLD!
Have you seen this meme? Good. It’s kinda cliché, right? Perhaps. But one thing I’ve been saying a lot recently is that things become clichés because so many people say it. Well, people say things over and over, a lot of the time, because it’s true! I have been getting a few random reminders to keep at it and not give up, and I consider this another one. Here it is for you, too!
When you push through a breakdown, it’ll ultimately lead you to a breakthrough.
Either you’ll get to that gold you’re three feet away from, or you’ll learn an incredible lesson that you wouldn’t have learned any other way – which will lead you… you guessed it… to the gold!
I was so glad to get to learn and get some incredible takeaways from Heidi, and she was kind enough to pose for a picture with me after her talk.
I even asked her to be on my podcast! Well, let me clarify…. I ran into our friend Linda Mitchell, who is amazingly aggressive at asking people to be on her podcast, and once she asked her, I basically said “I have a podcast too, mind if I email your same contact for you to be on it?” and she politely agreed! I am excited to learn even more from her! I am also impressed because she mentioned that she never turns people down who want to take pictures, and she responds as much as she can on social media, because she’s all about connection, and because she is completely aware that her success is in part thanks to the people who are wanting to take the pictures with her – her fans!
Anyway, here’s a picture of Linda and I! Reunited and it feels so good! We are planning to do a “catching up” podcast when I get back from Europe!
After that, we had a lunch sponsored by the National Dairy Council. You know how I love my dairy – especially cheese!
After lunch was a little break. After the break, there was a session that was supposed to be by Chantal Brodrick, but she lost her voice! Chantal is a professional full-time podcaster (whoa! Goals? Sorta!), and shared a presentation (via her friend who spoke for her) about the Power of Podcasting!
The initial information was about why to start a podcast. Obviously, she was preaching to the choir here! The next section was about how to get started, which was also in my rearview mirror! I did, however, find it really helpful when she shared some information about topics and topic selection, because I do have a course in the works about building an online brand or presence, and I love the way that they bunched it. For example, having a main topic, and coming up with six or so branches of a sub-topic, and then coming up with ten possible ideas for each one. I thought that this would be great to suggest for someone starting a blog, or even social media content!
The presenter mentioned that initially she was planning a more advanced presentation, but after surveying the audience, decided that she needed to dial it back, which I was disappointed by, but I think I was in the minority of attendees who already have a podcast!
Next up was Natalie Jill’s presentation sponsored by Trigger Point about Branding and Selling on Social Media! I have seen Natalie Jill speak before (two years ago at IDEA World, after the Blogfest portion). I love social media, but as part of my work on my money mindset (read more about that here), need to get better at selling, so I was really excited to hear the topic! I also find Natalie’s story super inspiring – another example of rock bottom propelled to mega success!
She told her story about being $1.4 million dollars in debt in her late thirties and turning it around to an insanely successful fitness business, which includes being on the covers of magazines as a fitness model in her forties!
She made a vision board, and acted like the person who was in the vision board, and then learned and shared what she learned. This was motivation enough for me to finally finish my vision board. The funny thing about my vision board is that it has been started for a couple months… And even since the start, some of the things have come true, or at least are about to! I put a picture of the Eiffel tower on it, and in a couple weeks, I’ll be in Paris! Would you like to see a blog about vision boarding? Comment below if you would!
She shared how to stand out online, which goes back to what Heidi said above – so much of it needs to be about authenticity! She also said that you must established a DCM, or Driving Core Motivator – it’s the WHY you’re doing it!
She gave a lot of great tips that I appreciated a ton!
After her talk, I got to check out the expo, which is where tons of different brands and companies in fitness and nutrition were there giving out samples and selling their products and services/certifications.
I got a few snacks for the road (cottage cheese, skyr) as well as some more collagen to mix into my food and such (I am such a collagen fiend sometimes) and checked out a few new products. I plan to write more about them later, and am developing potential partnerships with a few brands, but a couple things that I was either curious, excited about, or both, was a company that does DNA testing to determine how you should eat and work out to suit your genes, and a company that does 3D scans for body composition (would be nice to use to check progress!)!
DNA test - sent! Now time to see what my results say… detailed blog podcast interview coming!
Although it was severely abbreviated compared to the last two years, I really had a great time, and already look forward to next year. I think I am going to see if I can get Tommy’s web presence in order, and start getting him to come!
One thing that I have mentioned all three years is that I need to be less shy at Blogfest. Another thing that I notice is that I get so inspired by the speakers and the information they share that I want to get going on it right away, so during breaks and such, I use the time to WORK instead of NETWORK, which is a shame, because when else am I going to be around so many wonderful and like-minded people? I need to give my inner & dominating introverted workaholic the boot more often, and Blogfest is one of those places!
What takeaway resonated with you most? What products from the swag bag are you most intrigued by?
xoxo,
Mandie
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