This past weekend I attended my first blogging and social media conference – Blissdom Canada. Except it was so much more than that. It was a lovefest, really, amongst a tribe I hadn’t realized I was a member of. I laughed, I cried, I learned how to outsmart Facebook’s algorithm, I ate nachos, I made tons of new friends, I chatted until I lost my voice, I gave a talk. And I had a vision.
A pretty big vision. That I’m imagining could come with a nice-sized check. =)
The vision came on the last day of the conference, when I attended a Pitch and Play panel. There were brands in attendance who are currently looking for bloggers to help them tell a particular story about their product, and we were encouraged to pitch them if we thought we and our blogs might be a good fit.
First, a little back story…
Although I have been blogging regularly here at MsMindbody.com since 2005 (almost 10 years! gulp), I never considered myself a ‘blogger.’ My list of newsletter subscribers has always been the only metric I’ve cared about – the number of people who have said, “Kate, I want to invite you into my inbox each week because I love what you have to say.” In my mind, bloggers posted multiple posts each day, and gauged their success by things like page views and unique visitors. I didn’t want to reach everyone. I only wanted to reach the right people. And so I thought that took me out of the game for things like advertising and sponsored posts.
I mean, let me be clear—I’m really not interested in having ads and sponsored posts on MsMindbody.com. I don’t want to contribute to the noise you encounter every day; I want to help you cut through it and hear what’s true for you. So that whole idea doesn’t jibe with who I am or what I’m about, or what I want for you.
But what DOES jibe with me is bringing this message of finding meaningful ways to stay connected to yourself even when life is nuts to a bigger audience.
OK, back to this past weekend…
There was a car company attending that Pitch and Play panel. A big one. Their representative said that they had been busy putting out fires that threatened their reputation; things like bankruptcy. And she said that they wanted ideas on how to redirect women’s attention to the quality and value these cars deliver.
Ding ding ding, I heard in my mind. That’s what I do too–help women stop focusing on the fires that need fixing so they can appreciate and build on all that’s going right. As soon as I got home from the conference, I wrote up my pitch and even put together a media kit (using canva.com, a little tip I learned during another panel) and sent it off.
I pitched that big car company a bunch of ideas that show women that their car doesn’t have to be just the vehicle they use to run sick kids to the doctor, or pick up the milk for tomorrow morning, or race off to work. It can be a rolling oasis of serenity; the place where you pause to take three deep breaths before you head in to work, or relax while listening to a customized playlist of soothing music, or meditate while waiting in the school pick-up line.
Now, I have no idea if this one little pitch will result in a sweet-paying gig. It may take 10 pitches, or 100, or 1000. But what I am absolutely clear on is that I want the opportunity to teach more and more people that they have choices other than running around like Chicken Little, stressing, worrying, getting anxious. And I want that opportunity to also have the potential to pay well.
Is that crass of me? So be it.
So many of the women I talk to and work with want something similar—the opportunity to do what they’re good at and passionate about, and make a nice living doing it. When you put it in such simple terms, it’s not really so much to ask, is it?
Say it with me: No. No it’s not.
Granted, it won’t happen by sitting around and thinking about it, or visualizing cashing checks. It will take commitment, consistency and momentum. But if the desire is there, the means to fulfill it also present.
I’ll leave you with photo evidence of a previous vision that came true this weekend–me speaking during the Blissdom Power Hour, sharing my story of How I Stopped Hating My Husband.
