Last weekend I was fortunate to attend Bloggy Bootcamp in San Diego. BBC is put on by the SITS girls. If you don’t know them you need to!! They are the foundation of support for mom bloggers and they are 2 of the most amazing, funny, and beautiful (Yes Tiffany you are stunning!) out there!! BBC is a day long event of speakers hand chosen to speak on the topics that are most important to women bloggers, beginning businesses and learning about the power of social media. Okay I knew it was powerful but walked away with a whole new retrospect of what is really before us in business. So besides meeting my posse of party girls (we will get to that a little later), here are the top 5 things I learned this weekend (boy was it hard to narrow it down to just these!) WARNING-Long post! Sorry!!

1. How important it is to have a voice and use pictures to tell a story- Thank you Ashley of Little Ms Momma!!! It is amazing how visual people are and everyone loves beautiful pictures. Pictures can speak a thousand words (I know we have all heard that one before!) so maybe you will be seeing some posts from me in the future that are just pictures. Having a voice that is you and unique is important to build the trust capital between you and your readers. It is funny you really CAN tell when someone is being sincere or not and if the way they are writing is really who they are. I know some days I feel not so up in the clouds and guess what this is not going to turn into a negative blog but I think you just might see that a little more. I think it may just bring us all closer. What do you think??

2.To Vlog or not to Vlog- that is the question. Okay Mama Mary- like I said in the elevator- BRING IT ON! You just might be seeing some vlogging going on here. I am actually trying to think what my first one might just be. I had no idea Ytube was as large of a social media outlet as it is. I mean come on. I really thought it was for people to post cute videos of their kids or stupid tricks on scateboards. but for business? Mary talked to us about how to create one of these little bad boys and how it increases your SEO. So stay tuned on this one people!

3. You must BRAND yourself before someone else does (from the fabulous Amy BHole). I never thought of it this way. I actually wonder what my brand is in the eyes of you all. Well, I am hoping to solidify this on Monday with the new site reveal! This is where we learned how important trust capital is over social capital. Its great to have a lot of followers (hey I LOVE getting new people on here), but if you dont have your readers trust then who cares if there are followers- they just become a number. Okay so let me say it right here everyone on here is NOT a number and I love when people comment and tell me what they think. I hope we get more of that going soon!!

4. The power of networking. I was so inspired by Lisa Leonard. She is so sweet, down to earth, and genuine! And her products, blog, and website speak volumes of this. She talked about building a story with your products and have it incorporate yourself and inspirations. How joining forces with those around you can further this vision to your readers. She spoke of knowing your weaknesses and hiring them out. Boy did I love hearing this one. She gave an example of how she was spending 7 hours on a Saturday packing and getting ready all the shipments and how she was missing out on that time with her family. She hired a high school student to help and it made her life so much easier. Oh how I could have listened to her go on and on!!

5. Be prepared to be able to accept new endeavors that may come your way. Never thought of this one as I thought how can you prepare for something you have no idea is going to happen. Francesca of SITS talked about media kits and what they include. It is like almost always having an up to date resume on hand to email to anyone who would ask. I never knew people made these who had blogs in case an opportunity should arise.

If you have stayed with me this long through this post then you are a rock star and you will be rewarded with a few pictures. But not until later today! It will be a fun post of all the people I met and some fun group shots of us party girls.