A Girl With A Dream And A Haven Hangover

I stumbled upon one of the most influential life changing blogging conferences ever that I attended last year. I had just decided that I wanted to be a blogger when I grew up, and this conference seemed like the best way to kick off that journey.

Business cards and notebook, let's do this! — Business cards and notebook, let’s do this!

The people, the information, the swag… by the end of the first day I had a headache the size of Texas and swore that my brain was trying to crawl it’s way out. When the conference ended, I was so overwhelmed, excited, refreshed, pumped. Pretty much all the feels. At that point in time I was still working full time in a job that I did not enjoy. I decided that I needed to make some necessary changes, but the blogging part was still pretty overwhelming. So much to learn and incorporate.

The transition was hard between working full time, raising two little ones, trying to maintain a household with my hubby, and dabbling in something that was way more than I bargained for. Building a website, I’m not a techy person, building content, trying to take good pictures without having a good camera… Instead of being intimidated by the chaos, I jumped. After much discussion, I decided to leave the job that was making me miserable and follow my passion. It was great, but scary none the less. I hired someone to do the website, sometimes you just have to know when to say when. I had been blessed with amazing clients outside of the virtual world and felt so much joy, but decided that I needed to focus more on the blog. But wow was it slow and I found myself stuck and lost.

Then came Haven, again. This time I had a new set of eyes.

Picking the sessions this time around was probably the hardest part for me, sinceI try to balance acquiring new knowledge with the fun stuff. I focused on my weakness- photography, while trying my hand at watercolor painting. (A side note- the pictures are still not where they should be because I took them all with my phone during the conference. I’m still working on the photography part.) I decided to explore social media and took a chance on a pretty amazing class about YouTube. I reconnected with friends from last year and added new friends. I got my hands on some tools and unbelievable swag, oh and also WON tools courtesy of Ryobi and Ryobi Outdoor!

The newest and probably best change this year was being assigned mentors. I was super fortunate to have Chris from Just A Girl, she couldn’t have been a better fit for me. On top of that, I had some pretty amazing ladies in my group that I was fortunate to connect with too. Never once did I feel less than them because when I looked at their profiles, they’re followed by THOUSANDS of people. Their response to me, “we all had to start somewhere.” You know what, they are exactly right.

There is something to be said when you surround yourself with people who share the same passion as you. It’s infectious, exciting, and you realize that you’re right where you are supposed to be. At this point, I know I still have a lot of stuff to learn and do, but I am even more ready thanks to my experience at Haven again this year!