On September 14th, I had the pleasure of attending BlogPodium in Toronto. BlogPodium is Canada’s conference for design and lifestyle bloggers, and when I saw it come up in some of my blogging friends’ feeds this summer, I knew I had to go. It was my first time flying on a plane in 7 years (!!) and the first time I’d been away from my children longer than a day since Little C was born almost 6 years ago. It was a huge step outside of my comfort zone to go to Toronto on my own and attend this conference, but I was sure glad I did. Not only was it a much needed time of refreshing for me, but it was a tremendous day of learning and being inspired.

One of my favourite parts was meeting bloggers in real life that I have grown to love online. My travel buddy was Dajana of All Kinds of Lovely, and if you haven’t read her blog or followed her Instagram account you really should. She is as lovely as the things she writes about and photographs. Another wonderful local blogger that I had the pleasure of traveling a little with was Angie from Echoes of Laughter. Talk about inspiring! She’s as creative and hard-working as they come.

I filled out several full pages of notes at BlogPodium, and I still need to digest them all. However, here are 5 of the most important things I learned at this conference that you might find inspiring too (whether you’re a blogger or not):

  1. BE ME. What do I love to do? What are my favourite colours? What are my core beliefs and values? All of these things are important to remember as I write my blog, share on social media, and establish my brand/business. A suggestion that came from a couple of workshops I attended was to create a “brand guide” for my blog so that I remember what “me” and my blog really are. I’m totally going to do that and share it with you soon!
  2. WORK HARD. Sometimes I feel like certain people just get lucky and fly to the top of the career or blogging world so effortlessly. Hearing some of the speakers at BlogPodium speak about their journey to success (like Scott McGillivray of Income Properties) made me realize that working hard is still key. You need to make business and personal goals, set them high and work hard towards achieving them.
  3. BE HUMBLE. I am bound to make mistakes as I journey along. In business, in blogging, and just in life. I need to reach out to God and to other people to help me as I grow and learn. I loved keynote speaker Donna from Funky Junk Interiors‘ attitude about “ditching pride” and learning from hardships.Work Hard. Be Humble. (5 Things I Learned at BlogPodium 2014.)
  4. COLLABORATE. I need to look at my blogging friends as just that – friends that I can work with. They are not my competition. We can help eachother! I love blog hops, link parties and partner projects. Expect to continue to see those here!
  5. KEEP ON CREATING. I can’t even begin to express how inspired I was by all of the creative people that spoke at and attended BlogPodium. The hotel was chock full of interior designers, graphic designers, fashionistas, painters, writers, seamstresses… I LOVED IT. It re-ignited in me my desire to create just for the sake of creating. That’s what I love to do, and I’m going to keep doing it and writing about it! Several of the speakers at BlogPodium reminded me that if you make good stuff and write good content, the rest will work itself out.

For some photos from my adventure at BlogPodium, check out my Instagram account.