SoFabCon, Yes Please! #LuvSoFab14 #SoFabCon14 #collectivebias

Disclosure:  I wrote this in exchange for entering a contest to try to win a ticket to SoFabCon!

Okay so first off I wanted to do a vlog about why I wanted to go to SoFabCon but I have been fighting a cold for two weeks now and between my runny nose and itchy, watery eyes, I am not a sight you’d want to see right now.  So to get that visual out of your head, here is a picture of what I look like on a good day:

(That is actually a selfie I took to show that yes I was at my son’s birthday party this past weekend, since I was the photographer.)

In my five years of blogging I have only really been to the conference BlogHer and I am embarrassed to say I have never been to a single session.  Not that I haven’t tried to go to a session, I have but either timing or the sessions  filled up.  SoFabCon conference is one that I have heard so much about, good of course, and it is one that that would love to attend?

Why do I want to go?  Well SoFabCon is a conference that is described as a “retreat” and “unique experience”, two phrases I haven’t heard of when other conferences are described.  It is one for bloggers and inductry professionals to truly build relationships on and hopefully teach a few things.  Learn some new skills? Yes please!  I need all the help I can get as I feel like I am hitting the five-year blogging slump (yes I kinda just made that phrase up.)  I feel like I need some fresh new ideas to get some new readers and then some new ideas to share my content.  While I try to stay on top of everything in the blogging world, I am also a mom of three first and I admit I have been doing the same ole’ same ole’ for quite some time now.  Don’t get me wrong, I love blogging and I feel like I have the best job in the world.  I do though feel I don’t take any risks or  organize my tasks.

What do I hope to get out of SoFabCon?  I hope to honestly actually learn something.  Anything really.  Everytime I go to a blogger event in general, I feel like I always learn a tip or new site to check out.  SoFabCon is a whole weekend of hopefully learning some new skills, meeting some new (and old) bloggers, networking with some brands outside of the computer, and just focusing on blogging.  Yes there is fun to had, but I truly want to actually take advantage of sessions and brand networking.  The only thing I ever really got out of BlogHer is networking with brands, which is great for niche of blogging,  but I am at a point where I want to grow and therefore I need a change.  This year is the first in five that I have not bought my BlogHer ticket (usually I buy it right after its announced) and I am hoping SoFabCon is a conference that I can make my new favorite.  I am ready for change.

Why haven’t I just bought my own ticket to go?  Honestly, money.  As a mom of three I have to put my families needs first and even though I make money off my blog I never feel like I should spend it on my blog.  I am the mom who will buy her kids the name brands and hot toys they want, and then head to the local thrift store for myself.  It’s not that we don’t have money, but I just rather give my kids everything and for me I don’t need much.  My husband always encourages me to put money back into my blog by averting or going to a conference but I feel selfish.

Winning a ticket to SoFabCon would mean the world to me.  It would mean I don’t have to touch our family money to pay for my trip.  It would mean I wouldn’t have to stress about arrangements (hotel, airfare, cabs…everything is taken care of.) It would mean I wouldn’t have an excuse not to go!  It would also mean I would have the confidence and empowerment to realize my blog is a job and not a hobby.  I don’t see it as a hobby but my friends and family do, and I feel like they judge me when I am on the computer “working” or spending money to go to a conference.  I say confidence because I don’t really know anyone going, although I haven’t asked around, whereas when I attend BlogHer I have my friends as roommates and we hang out a lot. SoFabCon would mean I am on my own, no distractions.  Hopefully I could even learn a few things to come home and share with my fellow bloggers who couldn’t go and my readers who maybe want to get into blogging.