To say the Financial Bloggers Conference was life changing for me and this blog would actually be an understatement. You can not imagine the amount of excitement and energy in a room when you put 250 personal finance bloggers in one place. It was amazing, I wish I could bottle it up for the days I’m feeling low.
The most amazing part? We all have the same goal. We want to educate, help and make a difference in the lives of our readers. It’s more than just putting up posts every once in awhile. For us, it’s about changing the financial destiny of our readers.
What I Learned
To be honest, I have been struggling with this blog for most of the year. I’ve even toyed with the idea (several times) of selling it and starting something else. At times this blog has been an annoyance and I even got to the point I down right hated even looking at it. Then it got hacked. Seriously! That was getting close to being the last straw.
There were 2 problems this year. Problem 1: my year took an odd turn I ended up moving twice. I spent a lot of money and 4 months living in limbo while I was waiting for my house to get built. I wasn’t living a fiscally responsible lifestyle so I had nothing to write about. I felt like a fraud.
Problem 2: finding my voice. I think I write in too much generalities because I’m afraid to get too deep with you. I’m afraid what you might think and I don’t like to admit my failures.
What I learned from this conference has changed my whole outlook on this blog and has revived my love for writing about personal finance.
- I am not selling the blog.
- I am going to write for you, not at you.
- And I’m going to get personal with you. This is scary for me. We are going to go “there”.
I haven’t got it all figured out yet but I can realistically tell you that the Financial Bloggers conference has saved me and this website from going somewhere I could never get back from. I actually have tears in my eyes writing this. I am forever in debt from @ptmoney for putting this together.
The Fun Stuff
We managed to have a little bit of fun with our short time together. The people at this conference were amazing and I was so sad to have to leave. I have made friends for life and I am already counting down to the 2012 conference. Here are a few pictures I managed to capture:
If you’d like to see who attended, you can check out the Financial Bloggers conference list of attendees to see what they have to say about personal finance. I’m still overwhelmed with excitement and can’t wait to get going in the right direction.
P.S. I used twitter more this weekend than I ever have in my life. Checkout the hashtag #fincon11 to learn what others are saying about the conference!
I can tell you got some great motivation from the conference – I did too. It was a ton of fun to get together with other bloggers that I’ve only known online and create new friendships as well. It was a pleasure meeting you, and I’m glad you’re sticking with the blog. God bless!
This weekend was AWESOME! I’m so glad to hear you have found some passion and inspiration (and that you aren’t selling your blog, I’d be so sad).
Love the pictures! I’m not wearing my name badge like you two cool gals lol
I wasn’t able to make it to the conference, so I have been following the hashtag on twitter and hopping around to all of the sites that have written about it. It sounds like you got a lot out of it and it has helped you get focused. Good luck!
Yes I did! I was an awesome experience!!!
I am so glad we met!!! I can’t wait to do it again next year!
Great to meet you at the conference, Jenny. 🙂
Great post. Stay encouraged. And yes, that’s also a great shot of us. 🙂 It was great to have finally met in person.
Thanks Romeo!!!!
I don’t think I had the pleasure of being formally introduced this weekend but I did have fun w/ you & everyone at the event Saturday night. If I remember correctly, Romeo was getting around the dance floor pretty well!
I agree, the energy from those few days in Chicago will likely be the catalyst for many awesome things in the coming months. I’m glad your blog has been saved!
It was great getting to meet you, Jenny. I’m so happy to see this post. I feel like we’ve all been re-energinzed and inspired to do more. Like you, I’m going to do a better job of connecting with my audience with what they need. Thanks for making the decision to come out and be a part of it all.
OK Jenny, you made this post very personal! Good for you! I wish I could have attended this year but it just didn’t work out….but after following all the tweets this weekend, I am definitely going to put it in my plans to attend next year!!
I am so glad that this experience has put you in a great direction with your website!!!!
GOOD!! I’m so glad that FINCON saved this blog and gave you new direction, because I totally think you can do some AWESOME things! I can’t wait to read your blog as it evolves this year!
Thank you Paula! I have been following your blog for awhile now and I’m so glad we got to meet briefly!! Thank you for supporting me!!!
Thanks Dianne!
I want to see you there next year!!!!
I wasn’t able to make it to the conference, so I have been following the hashtag on twitter and hopping around to all of the sites that have written about it. It sounds like you got a lot out of it and it has helped you get focused. Good luck!
+1
FINCON was definitely life and blog changing for me as well. I didn’t get to meet you Jenny but next year for sure. Also, subscribing to your feed. Let’s keep each other accountable!
Thanks so much Briana!!! Yes indeed let’s stay in touch so we can be accountable!!! Already looking forward to #fincon12!
LOVED this post. So happy to have met (and danced!) with you! I can’t wait to see what you whip up next on the blog and am so happy to support you in any way you need since you are awesome and it’s all about community!
Is it time to hit the dance floor yet? I’m ready to go back to FinCon! Thanks for entertaining my God-awful dance moves! 😉
Thanks Shannyn! It was so great to meet you too and I had so much fun! I will DEFINITELY support you as well so let’s stay in touch. We really aren’t that far away, we should get together again soon!
It was super meeting you, Jenny.
Best of luck with the blog!
Rob
You too Rob, let’s stay in touch!