I had the pleasure of attending an event organized by the CT Bloggers Collective last weekend for bloggers, influencers, small business owners & women entrepreneurs.
The event- Bohemian Festival- took place at Bear’s Smokehouse at the Stacks in New Haven, CT- a BBQ restaurant with an outdoor biergarten. It was the perfect venue for this event, despite it being ridiculously hot out. With several Instagram worthy vignettes set up, a flower wall & a professional photographer on hand- it was a bloggers dream! Plus there was a pretty epic vendor marketplace comprised of women owned small businesses & boutiques- LOTS of goodies came home with me. There were other fun stations set up throughout the space as well- make your own flower crowns (not as easy as it looks), braid bar, live music & extremely yummy BBQ food. And the swag bag was on point!
I loved the small marketplace full of women owned business selling fashion, jewelry, essential oils & more! I totally broke my No Shop July rule but I feel good about supporting local businesses. I try & shop local as much as I can. Someone literally does a happy dance when you make a purchase- love being able to support these amazing babes!
One of the highlights of the day was the panel discussion on self care for the self made entrepreneur.
Unless you are a fellow blogger or entrepreneuer, it’s kind of hard to put into words what it feels like to run your own business or side hustle. Especially for those of us who work full-time & then have this whole after hours blogging life. It’s a lot of work. Are you thinking “How hard can it be? You take a picture & then post it!”
Oh no friend, there’s way more back end work that goes into this lifestyle than you know. It’s not only taking the picture (which can a long time), it’s editing the photo, thinking of a compelling caption, researching hashtags, creating a shoppable link if affiliate marketing is involved, promoting the post….and then writing a blog post to go with all the said images. It’s tonsss of work & most of the time, it’s just us doing it. We don’t have teams, we don’t have assistants. Sometimes we don’t even have photographers, we’re just winging it with our tripods!
Sorry got off track there a bit! Basically it can be hard for our friends & family to really understand how much time and energy goes into our blogs/websites. The panel discussion was all about how we as bloggers can take care of ourselves to prevent burn out, how we can grow our businesses the smart way. How to work smarter, not harder. The panelists consisted of three boss babes who are all entrepreneurs in totally different fields. They shared their stories on how they started out, how they grew & what they do to just stay sane and stay motivated.
All three women had amazing advice & they all reiterated how important it is to take care of yourself- physically & mentally. The panel discussion was extremely empowering & I had such an overwhelming feeling of renewed energy afterwards.
What I really wanted to get out of this event was to network with other like minded boss babes.
Being around like minded women who understand & have the same daily struggles as myself was SO refreshing. Making connections within this industry is really everything. I attended the event with one of my best friends & fellow bloggers- Valeria Pasquel (check out her fitness Instagram here & subscribe to her blog). We both felt completely empowered to keep going with our blogs & businesses. We introduced a fitness series earlier in the year here on my blog & kind of fell off the wagon. Well get ready for more fitness content coming your way soon!
Bottom line, finding your tribe in life is everything.
Having friends to support you & be there for you is so important. Especially as women, I think its extremely important to have a group of women who you can turn to when times are tough, when life is great & all the in between circumstances. Find your group of girlfriends who will be there for you no matter what. And always make time for yourself. Check in within yourself time to time. Take time of your busy day to do something you love- for example, I make sure I read every night before bed. I love it & it also helps me unwind and relax at the end of the day. Self care is important ladies- not selfish!
