My weekend at Go Blog Social 2015

Last weekend I had the opportunity to attend part of the Go Blog Social conference in Kansas City, and even though I was only able to go for the second day, it was such a great experience for me. We had four great speakers throughout the day, talking about building a blogging community, landing paid brand opportunities, pitching to brands and what it takes to build a business.


Mandy of Sugar Bee Crafts gave the first talk, and she did an excellent job of explaining how to connect with other bloggers and become part of both small and larger blogging communities, which is such a big part of blogging. If you want to run a successful blog, you need people to help you do that, whether they're readers, sponsors or contributors. One quote she shared in her presentation was "life begins at the end of your comfort zone," and though I've heard it before, it really resonates with me when I think about blogging and especially attending this conference. I'm not normally a very outgoing person, so to walk into this conference alone not knowing anyone was a little terrifying. But it forced me to walk up to people and start talking, and it led me to meet a lot of interesting women.

Next up was Enza of Enza's Bargains talking about how to get paid blogging opportunities with brands and what to do after you've done a campaign. Enza was such a sweet person, and she had great tips on responding to sponsor offers and keeping good relationships with the brands who sponsor your posts. Since I am only just getting started with this aspect of blogging, Enza's talk was super helpful and answered so many questions I didn't even know I had!

Our next speakers were the sweetest husband and wife duo and creators of Lily Jade bags, and they did a stellar job of telling us how to pitch to brands and carry on positive relationships with them. It was really great hearing that advice from the side of a business, because they know exactly what they're looking for and expecting out of bloggers. Plus, if you haven't checked out their bags yet, get over to their site now because they've got some great ones!

And finally, the keynote speaker on Saturday was a pretty kickass lady named Callie England, the founder and CEO of Rawxies, which is a line of clean, healthy snack foods based in Kansas City. She talked about how she turned her blog into a business, how she works with bloggers now and how she built a successful business without any prior experience. Callie definitely seemed like a #girlboss who doesn't take any crap, and I loved her whole attitude — she is a self-declared "badass business babe," after all ;)

And now for the rest of the trip...

Even though it was a short trip for us, I'm still really glad I went. Adam spent the day at this tiny bar down the street called The Belfry, and it was such a fun spot! I met up with him for lunch there, and let me tell you, they make a mean burger! I'm a little bummed that I didn't take any outfit photos, but I was feeling a little under the weather during the weekend, and it's hard to be in a picture-taking mood when you're not feeling quite yourself. I know: lame sauce. But maybe if you're lucky I'll recreate it for a new post :)

I wish we would have had more time to spend just exploring the city, because it is such a gorgeous place. But I'm sure we will be back for a visit soon, and I'm just grateful I could be a part of Go Blog Social. Stay tuned later this week for a full recap of all the goodies the sponsors provided in our swag bags!