Hi Everyone! Happy Friday! I hope this week has been good to you. Today I wanted to recap the Thrive Blogger Conference I attended a few weeks ago in Downtown Austin, TX.
Thrive was founded in 2014 to provide bloggers with more resources and tools to help build their brand. Thrive helps educate, inspire, and motivate bloggers to find their success. Saturday February 23rd was packed with a full day of guest speakers, and Sunday February 24th was just a half day with guest speakers. Each Speaker covered topics related to social media, SEO, affiliate marketing, building a business plan, working with brands and retailers, and how to find balance with it all.
Each table contained these beautiful flower arrangements. Aren't they gorgeous?! We each received a swag bag filled with a notebook, pen, planner, tumbler, a pair of earrings, and some coupons to some fun places in town!
My childhood friend and coworker Jesse Coulter has been my mentor and inspiration along my blogging journey. She encouraged me to start a blog a few years ago even though I had no clue what I was doing. ( I still don't know what I'm doing half of the time! haha) Jesse actually lead one of the group panels at the conference on that Saturday. She is open and raw about her life and her family's life. One of the many reasons why I'm inspired by her! It definitely takes courage and strength to share your life with the world.
Beer Pair (the far left) is the founder and CEO of Thrive and lead a group panel as well. Her blog is called The Thing About Joy. Bree truly has a big heart and wants everyone to succeed. We found out on the last day of the conference by another guest speaker that Bree had prayed over every single person who registered for the conference. That news just melted my heart! What a great example to set for us all. This world needs more people like Bree!
LET YOUR DREAMS BLOOM!
"Too Many of us are not living our dreams because we are living our fears." - Les Brown
LaShanta Green spoke about how to create an awesome business plan. She pushed us all to dig deep and to revisit our "why" mission. Why do I feel called to do this work? What do I want to aspire and achieve?
Jane Ko with a Taste of KoKo spoke about how brands and bloggers work together. If you want to know the top restaurants to eat at in Austin, you need to check out Jane's blog! She features some of the best food in town. Jane was also featured in O Magazine, InStyle Magazine, OWN TV Network, and The New York Times. It was really inspiring to hear her blogging story and to receive her tips on how to work with brands.
It was a great conference and experience. Thrive hosts a blogger conference every year around this time, so if you're interested in learning more about it, check out their website. The best part of it all was the friendships that were made and the networking opportunities! You never know who you might meet that would bring you closer to your dream and successful future. If you've been on the fence about starting a blog, I encourage you to face your fear and take a risk. Life is too short, so follow your heart! :-) Thank you for stopping by today and I hope you have a wonderful weekend!
