Blogpodium in Vancouver

Each year I go to the Haven conference in Atlanta, and it’s awesome!  But it’s in Atlanta.  I live in Vancouver.

Blogpodium is in Toronto but always just a few months after Haven so it’s hard for me to make the trek there too.

But this year….Blogpodium was in Vancouver!!

I was soooo excited!  

This conference is put on by a blogger, Jennifer Flores from Rambling Renovators.

Seriously, like she isn’t busy enough with her blog. She throws her own conferences!

Great Brands

There were amazing sponsors there like:

Para Paints

Canadian Tire

Home Depot

Metrie

Delta Faucets

Bernardin

and lots of free swag.

Great Talks

The keynote speaker this year was Jillian Harris!  Love her and her show Love It or List It Vancouver.

She gave such a great down-to-earth talk about everything to do with blogging and tons of tips.

The thing that most inspired me about her is that she just does what she wants and just goes with it!

I’m always feeling like me or my blog isn’t good enough.  I’m not an interior designer, I’m not a writer, I don’t have a degree.  Jillian said she hasn’t kept a job for more than four years (until now).  She’s always starting and stopping something.  None of that means anything but trying to find your real place in the world.  And I love that.

She’s a true inspiration and someone you could totally just go for coffee with.

Then I took Tracey Ayton’s styling and photography class.

{If you’re an avid reader of my blog, you know how much I adore her!}

Her photography skills are ah-mazing!  I often dream of her following me around with her camera and taking photos of my DIY projects, maybe some lifestyle photos.  My blog would be HUGE if that happened 😉

She came and shot my house when it was decorated for Christmas last year (complete with my Crock-mas tree) and we’re still crossing our fingers that it can be published!  Just her doing the shoot was a dream come true for me.

Love you, Tracey!  You’re such an inspiration to me!

There was a fantastic talk called: The Power of Visual Branding by Gloria Chik of Urbane Bloc and Tania Yan of Olive and Piper.

And it really got me thinking about where I wanted to take my blog, what specific branding I wanted to do with my blog, maybe more aspects of myself that I need to open up about.

The other thing this conference really emphasized was risk taking.

The talk given from the Poppy Barley girls was inspiring.  They literally just had an idea and went from there the next day.

That’s it, one idea.

I never, ever, EVER think of myself as a risk taker.  Like ever.

I’m always the practical, organized one.

But actually I really am a risk taker.  Starting a blog is a risk.

Putting blood, sweat and tears in this little thing called So Much Better With Age is a risk.

This year I haven’t been able to put more of myself into it because of big personal things going on but next year I truly plan to make it more of my own, to take it more seriously and as Alexandra Grant of To Vogue or Bust said, just GO PRO!

So what did I take away from Blogpodium?  Clearly a lot.

For me it was a more introspective conference and very inspiring.

Now I’m off to make big plans with this little thing called my blog.

What has inspired you lately?