Problogger Event 2015 – Day 2 Wrap Up

It’s taken me a while to get around to writing this post and maybe a lot of it will be old news now, but I took lots of notes darn it so Day 2 at my first ever Problogger event must be written up and shared! So here we go!

It’s Day 2 at the Problogger event. My nerves have settled and though I didn’t sleep well [hello fat pillows of my nightmares! I’m a thin pillow neck saving kinda gal!) I am excited for the day ahead.

I showered, dressed and headed down for breakfast where I ate the most delicious poached eggs, bacon, tomato and mushrooms. Since it was a later start today (9:15am) due to the party last night, I took my leisurely time over breakfast and then returned to my room, reviewed my schedule for the day and then off I went to hear Darren Rowse’s Introduction to kick off Day Two.

Following Darren’s Day Two Introduction, we listened to Brandon Cowan who spoke on Creating Business Ideas.   You might remember him from TV because in 2013 he was on ‘Beauty and the Geek’. Brandon is only 21 years of age (younger than my twin sons!) but he sure has packed a lot into those 21 years. He owns one of Australia’s leading app development companies. He is co-founder and Director of Crazy Dog Apps and has been responsible for successfully creating and marketing four top 100 apps on the Australian App Store. He has moved away from app creation now though as he says there is not as much money to be made there anymore as there once was. Brandon is now working at Blacktown Pound and is an advocate for #adoptdontshop .

The key messages in Brandon’s talk was “do what you love, not what others expect you to do” and “persistence is the key to success”!

It was a nice surprise when Darren called up The Merrymaker Sisters for a chat. These girls are awesome. Their laugh is infectious! Did you know they have a new cookbook out called Make it Merry that contains over 70 nutritious, quick and easy recipes that will boost your health and happiness?!

Next up I went to the session by Christina Butcher (Hair Romance) and Carly Jacobs (Smaggle) who together are Little Blog Big.  They spoke on “How to Grow Your Blog – Actionable Productivity Tips for Busy Bloggers”.  I found this session to be extremely useful and on point for what I was looking for from this event. Yippee! Here are the main points they spoke on:

• The 5 focus areas for nailing blog productivity:
  • Prioritising
  • Setting realistic goals
  • Calendars and planning
  • Batching and productivity
  • Scheduling tools and organizational hacks

You can read their presentation HERE.

Favourite Quotes from their presentation:

Success is rarely accidental

Wishes aren’t goals – be specific

The path to success is never straight

A rising tide lifts all boats

The next session I went to was Pamela Wilson’s (Big Brand System) – ‘How to Create a Content Event that Builds your Email List”.

There was a lot of valuable information in this session but to be honest, it was pitched way above my little head. It was very much about how to plan content events such as live teleclasses, live webinars or live presentations. These are not things I am considering right now. I misread the title of this presentation thinking that it was about creating blog content that would help build your email list. It was interesting nonetheless.

The best thing I got out of this session that was relevant to me was the fact that Pamela Wilson has created a product called eBook Revolution, an eBook that gives you the tools and step-by-step guidance you need to create an eBook that people will actually want to read. I do want to create an Ebook so this piece of information is gold!

Next was the highly talked about and controversial ‘How to Monetize a Personal Blog’ with Heather Armstrong (Dooce) and Kayte Murphy (WoogsWorld) – moderated by Lauren Debois (The Thud). Let’s just say it wasn’t quite what I was expecting but was certainly entertaining. There is no point in me going over what took place when it has been done by others, so here are just a couple of posts that will fill you in, in case you’re unaware.

• That time my idol told me to quit
• Is Personal Blogging Dead?

Can I just say that I LOVE Kayte (Mrs Woog).  I met her, hugged her like a fan girl, and chatted to her on a couple of occasions and she is exactly as she portrays herself only even nicer.  Love her!

Next session I went to was ‘The 5 Ordinary Habits of Extraordinary Bloggers’ by Ruth Soukup (Living Well Spending Less)

Ruth says that as far as blogging goes, we’re all making it up as we go along. We need to keep plugging away and should know that there is no magical secret to success.

However, there are 5 ordinary habits of extraordinary bloggers and they are:

Habit #1 – Create Amazing Content

• Content should always be relevant
• Make content creation top priority
• Content should help the reader solve a problem and should add value to your reader’s lives
• Content should make your reader want to keep reading

Habit #2 – Share Consistently

• Be willing to put yourself out there and be vulnerable every day

Habit #3 – Maximize Every Opportunity

• Strike while the iron is hot

Habit #4 – Lead, Don’t Follow

• Don’t fall into the ‘group’ mentality trap
• Adopt a leaders mentality
• Always try
• Find the why behind the what and how

Habit #5 – Pay it Forward

• Look down for who we can help up rather than looking up for who can help us!

The formal part of the #PB event ended on Darren’s closing remarks! All the ProBlogger team came up on to the stage, along with the speakers and boy did they get a roaring cheer and massive applause.  Awesome job done to all the Problogger team!

I’ll leave you with one of Darren’s parting words of wisdom which was:

Courage is not a feeling you wait for before you take action. Courage is doing it scared.

Once the conference was over, I went off for drinkies and lots of chatties with new friends and then went on to dinner at Trattoria Amici where I had delicious food and fantastic conversation with a table full of fabulous women from the event.

After dinner, off I toddled back to my room for a nice cup of tea and then bed … and those damn fat pillows!  Note to self:  next time take your own pillow with you!

By the way, if you haven’t already, you might be interested to read these other posts I’ve written about the August 2015 Problogger Event:

• My Top 3 Dorky Moments at Problogger Event 2015
• Problogger Event 2015: Orientation and Networking
• 8 Problogger Event Highlights, 26 Pearls of Wisdom and a pair of very hurty high heels!

Ciao for now,

Note:  All photo’s in this post were taken by me on my phone.

Linking up with Essentially Jess for #IBOT