What I Learned at BlogWorld - and How to Make IT Happen!

Going to this year’s BlogWorld (enjoy the pics) was a real treat for me. First of all, it was my very first blogging conference – yay! Secondly, it was paid for by our wonderful sponsor, Epson – yay again! The list goes on and on: I met most of the other SparkPlugging authors, what a great group and great time. I got to spend a good chunk of time with my dearest friend in the world, Wendy Piersall. I love her more each time I see her! We had a fantastic travel experience on Southwest Airlines – you won’t believe it when you watch this video! And of course, I met some of the most amazing people and listened to information-packed presentations. A number of fun-filled, information-filled experiences all tied up in one tidy package named BlogWorld.

I have to mention that there was a downside; the Sahara Hotel was the most god-forsaken place I’ve ever stayed. But the upside is that I’m now willing to try camping. I figure if I can survive 4 nights at the Sahara, I can deal with doing dishes in river water and peeing in the woods. See, I even learned that I possess greater survival skills than I would have thought!

But I brought home more than that. I have to admit that, prior to this conference, I didn’t fully understand the power behind blogging and other social media outlets. I was a twit about Twitter, I didn’t understand the level of relationship building that these resources offer, and I had a limited scope of understanding about on-line marketing. I had the honor of doing several interviews with people who get it….and teach it. And each time I walked away with a 100-watt light bulb glowing above my head…and it feels great. I could go on and on about the things I learned and the people I met, but today let’s talk about how to keep the light bulb bright by creating and following through on the action plan.

I’ve come home with tons of insight, information, and a goals list the length of my arm. Now, how do I assimilate, process and take action? Isn’t that what we all face when we complete a workshop, seminar, or conference? Urrgghh! It’s so overwhelming! Here’s the process I use when I learn a lot of new stuff and want to put it into action. It takes away the feeling of being overwhelmed and helps me feel good about what I’ve learned. If you have something to add to the list, please do!

• Create a bulleted list of the most significant takeaways and AhHa moments.
• Divide the business into chunks; products, services, public speaking, and future products, services and growth plans.
• Now list your tools; blogs, marketing resources, on-line marketing/websites, social media outlets, email lists, etc
• Cross-reference your conference takeaways with each individual piece of your business. What will you add, change, and phase out? For instance, I’ve learned more about the value of interviews so I’m adding one interview per month to my SparkPlugging blog. I came to grips with the value of Twitter, so I’m building short snippets of time into my day to participate and TwitterFeed my blog posts. And I learned more about the power behind FaceBook, so I’m going to create a presence there and add that to my list of resources/tools. Obviously, since this was a blogging conference, most of these fall into the on-line marketing section of my business. But I also have ideas for the products and services pieces of my business and I’ve built those ideas and the research behind them into my plan.
• Next make a goals list with targeted dates for completion and each step you will take. Don’t forget to build in time for your learning curve. It’s important not to set yourself up for failure.
• Do one thing at a time! This is important. When I came home last week I felt anxious and frustrated. I felt like I was behind the trend and would never catch up. How was I going to make these enhancements to my business overnight? The answer is obvious; I can’t. This process helped me create balance and resume my more natural state of calm, confidence, and orderly thinking. That’s the state I need to be in to create change.

This may sound like a lot of work, but frankly, it took me about two hours to achieve. When you separate and cross-reference, it’s easier and less overwhelming. Now I have a list of steps that I refer to each day and I don’t have to decide or think about what to do. That’s half the battle!

What’s the next educational experience that you plan to embark on? Hopefully, this action plan will help to make your investment of time and money create a strong impact on your business. And remember – have fun doing it!