Blogging Tips, Self Worth and ALT Summit

I have been traveling for the past month and just now able to sit down and write about my experience at ALT Summit. Thanks to Design Mom and the ALT team who did a fantastic job with this amazing conference!

This might be long and boring for those of you who come here for my DIY craft and party ideas, but I know many of you own your own blog or business and might enjoy this information.

As much as I love inspiring you to be more creative, I am also very passionate about helping those with blogs and small businesses grow!

If you have ever met me in person, you will know that I can talk non-stop about creative business ideas. I love motivating people to strive for more and enjoy brainstorming creative ways to make money. 

One of my goals for 2014 is to do more speaking, so I started the year off by talking about the business of blogging and making money at ALT. I have written some articles here for creative entrepreneurs and bloggers, but never a public speech about how I personally run my business. My “Pricing for Your Worth” talk at ALT was my experiment. It was a scary way to see if anyone cared or was at all interested in learning from my experiences. {eek!}

So I took a chance…

Imagine walking through a huge hallway full of creative business women, mostly fashion and DIY bloggers. Everyone looks like they stepped out of a magazine, the energy of the event is buzzing with excitement!

Women full of happiness as they meet other bloggers, beautiful girls taking photos together, groups of women looking at the program trying to decide which panel they will listen to next.

All the while, I’m walking through this sea of beauty wondering if anyone will come to my talk about Pricing for Your Worth? –>It’s kind of funny that I started doubting my worth right before getting ready to do a talk about it. Silly me!

I didn’t choose the most exciting topic, but to me, it’s hugely important. When I was in my 20’s and starting my business, I wish I had someone to give me advice and a big ol’ pep talk about self worth, pricing, negotiating, and confidence.

After finding my table, I began wondering if everyone would skip my presentation to listen to other amazing speakers or hang out with brands like Cricut who had the coolest room at ALT!

To my amazement… people actually came to hear me speak!

Each day, my table got so full of people, many had to pull over chairs from a neighboring table and squeeze in behind the first row of chairs. I was very happy to see so many talented women eager to learn and willing to open up a conversation about money and business. A topic that is rarely discussed at blog conferences.

So I talked and I talked. I have been asked numerous times to share my notes, to tell others what I said, but I went on another trip immediately after ALT and haven’t had a moment to stop and think about it until now.

What I discovered was business and self-worth are topics that I love to discuss! I’m so happy I took this chance.

I have run a design business for 15 years, but the business of blogging is very different.  Blogging is a LOT of hard work. With so much competition, and exhaustion from working in any spare time available… bloggers often begin to get doubts. The digital world changes so often that there is no handbook. It’s a tough business to be in for sure!

So what did I talk about?

I spoke for a solid hour and a half, so it’s hard to narrow down my talk. The main thing is this… people are not charging enough for their time and talent in this space! My goal is for us all to value our worth.

For example, I met a man on my flight to ALT who is getting funds for his organization from wealthy business people. He was advised to work with “mommy bloggers”.  He thought it was fate that I was sitting next to him. So out of all of the ways he could promote his organization… get celebrity endorsements, print ads, etc…. he was told to work with bloggers! Not just any bloggers… but women and mom bloggers!

This is a great example of the huge influence we have in the digital space. It takes a ton of time to figure out blogging, create content and keep social media channels updated. Besides the time involved, you have to have the guts to open up your life to the public, then spend money to keep everything going. But unfortunately, many bloggers fail to value their worth and will work for free shoes or diapers. I don’t know anyone with a job outside of blogging who would ever work for shoes… unless they were a $1,000 pair of shoes… maybe. As much as I love fancy shoes, they don’t pay my bills. 

Figure out what you really want to do.

I stressed the importance of setting goals and working on your own brand. Make sure when you do work for other companies, that you are on the path to your end goal. If you accept work that gets you off of that path, it’s not worth doing unless you get paid well.

It all comes down to valuing your worth, taking chances and working with brands who understand the value of social media influencers.

I just read a fantastic article by Dan R. Morris…

“A good blog is a result of many hours of research, photographs, engagement, writing and sacrifice. And the love bloggers get from their audiences is unmatched by billboards, infomercials and magazine ads. But for some reason most Brands still don’t understand blogging enough to put their marketing department muscle behind it. “

I understand sometimes brands refuse to pay bloggers. {Sigh!} I also understand that we all have to start somewhere. Just remember your goals and strive to achieve them and more!!

Think hard about whether doing something is worth taking the time out of building your own brand and time away from your family. Price accordingly and don’t say yes just because everyone else is doing it.

Since coming home from ALT, I have received some great messages from the lovely women who joined my classes! I’m so happy I was able to provide some useful advice. If you came to my talk and still reading this long post, thanks so much… it was so wonderful meeting you! 

I’m excited to be making some BIG changes in my business soon and can’t wait to share them with you. Look for more business tips in 2014 along with my usual DIY creative ideas.

Do you struggle with self worth? How can you value yourself and business more?

 P.S. – I’ll be speaking at two more great blogging conferences this year. Come join me!!

• Mom 2.0 Summit – May 1-3 in Atlanta
• The Declare Conference – August 7-10 in Dallas

Photos by Brooke Dennis and Justin Hackworth

Originally published on February 21, 2014. Last Updated on May 15, 2021 by Amy Locurto

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