Shirtdress | Wedges | Crossbody | Necklace | Watch | Leopard Cuff
Hey babes! In Monday’s blog post I talked all about what the rewardStyle conference is and gave a recap from the 1st day! Read that post here. So today I am back to share some of the things I learned at the conference + my day 2 recap! I can’t believe it’s already been almost two weeks since I was in Dallas for #rStheCon. It was seriously the best weekend! Meeting new friends, hanging out with my favorite bloggers, and learning SO. MUCH. So here are some of the top takeaways from the conference!
5 Things I Learned at #rStheCon
1. You do you, boo. Blogging, especially fashion blogging, is becoming an increasingly saturated world. It’s so easy to get caught up in what other bloggers are doing, who they are working with, how much money they’re making, etc. But it is so important to focus on yourself, your niche and your brand. Don’t adapt your style to another blogger because it’s working for them. Identify your brand and stick to it!
2. Relationships are everything. Obviously building great, lasting relationships with brands is important. It’s actually detrimental to your blog and business. But equally as important is building relationships with bloggers! It’s so much better to view other bloggers as friends rather than competition. I seriously made three of the greatest friends ever at #rStheCon. My roomies were the best. We were able to chat about brands, bounce ideas off of one another and talk more in-depth about the blog world. Definitely concentrate on building and sustaining relationships with brands and bloggers!
3. Focus on the blog. Remember MySpace? Yeah, my 7th graders have never heard of it. ha! They also think Facebook is for ‘old people’. Clearly, social media channels are ever-evolving and ever-changing. I admittedly committed the cardinal blogger sin by focusing way too much on Instagram. Kind of. I actually wouldn’t have started a blog without Instagram. I did things a little backwards. I started sharing outfits on Instagram back in 2012? 2013? It was just a fun thing I did and I was shocked to learn that people cared and liked what I posted! It slowly grew and years later I finally started a blog! But at the end of the day, I own my blog. I certainly don’t own Instagram. Seriously, my bank account proves that. 😉 ha! We could wake up one day and Instagram could be gone. I would have a heart attack but it’s possible people! So make sure that while we all love to post on Instagram, pin on Pinterest, and so on, focus on your blog. It’s the only thing you own and have full control over. This was definitely one of the most important takeaways for me personally!
4. Invest. Believe it or not, I’m a cheapskate. Very stingy with money. EXCEPT for shopping. duh. I have no holds there. haha! Anyways… The word ‘invest‘ can be a little intimidating to me. There are so many areas where I need to invest more money: Photography, domain, moving to WordPress, updating my site, hiring an SEO strategist, the list goes on & on. I am still trying to figure out the best way to start on this but it will definitely happen in 2017. But the saying ‘you have to spend money to make money‘ absolutely rings true. I know there would be endless benefits if I would take a few steps that would be costly up front but worthwhile in the end.
5. Be nice. This seems so obvious. And it sounds like advice I give to my 7th graders. But seriously, be a kind human being. You never know what blogger is going to explode overnight or which of your followers works at a retailer you are dying to work with. If a blogger that is ‘smaller’ than you asks for help, HELP them. I can assure you that being friendly and nice will never ‘hurt’ your blog. In one of the classroom sessions I attended this story was shared by another blogger: She hosted an event and was talking to everyone that came. She tried to have a personal / meaningful conversation with everyone since they were taking the time to be there and support her. A few weeks later there was a great article written about her that was published in a very large & well known magazine. It was shared a few days before Black Friday- the biggest shopping holiday of the year. Come to find out, one of the girls she was friendly with at her event was a freelance writer for said ‘big-time’ magazine. That article drove a ton of traffic to her website which led to a ton of sales through her affiliate links during the holidays! So if you didn’t already have enough of a reason to be nice, that just proves that it pays [literally!] to be kind to everyone you meet!!
Pleated Dress | Wedges | Clutch | Necklace | Earrings | Sunglasses
So let’s chat a little about what day 2 of the rewardStyle conference was like! First off, my outfit. #importantthingsfirst I wore this darling kate spade new york shirt dress! You’ve seen me wear it on the blog before here. And I wanted to wear wedges but knew I would be on my feet all day so I had to be comfortable. These wedges were perfect. I can seriously wear them for hours and they never bother me! When it comes to #rStheCon outfits, I think being comfortable is key. Obviously everyone wants to look cute too, but definitely wear something that is comfortable and that you feel good in!
Ok, back to what happened on day 2… It started at the Main Stage [pictured below] with all the bloggers together in one room. There were several different rewardStyle employees who shared tons of great information- the new LTK app, anticipated trends, etc. I was seriously writing the entire time- I wanted to make sure I took as much knowledge as possible home with me! We broke for lunch and headed to Shake Shack. rewardStyle reserved it exclusively for the conference so we got to relax, eat, & hang out in the sun!
After lunch everyone had their own different schedules. Basically every blogger had 3 or 4 one-on-one brand meetings and 3 classroom sessions. They were scheduled through the afternoon and the on following day. I personally attended 3 classroom sessions! These were so helpful because it was a small group – usually around 10 bloggers – so you could ask questions and get lots of help from the incredibly knowledgeable rewardStyle staff!
By the end of my 3rd classroom session I didn’t have much down time before it was time to get ready for the evening party! Bumble hosted a cocktail party and it was gorgeous!! It was the perfect opportunity to mingle and hang out with all of my new friends. And of course eat every single hors d’oeuvres that passed me 😉 I wore this stunning pleated dress and thought it was perfect for a cocktail style party. It would also be great for a date night or Summer wedding! Once the party ended I headed to Nobu with my roommate Sara for a little late night sushi! It was actually my first experience at Nobu and it was sooooo good. Highly recommend it!
By this time I was completely exhausted. I am not even joking when I say #rStheCon is jam packed with events. We were constantly on the go! I will be back Friday with details on the 3rd & final day at the rewardStyle conference. And don’t forget to check out Monday’s post for the 1st day recap!
———- SHOP THE OUTFITS ———-
I am thinking about investing in an SEO strategist. It is hard to invest in your blog but it is so important.
xo Jessica
http://www.whatsfordinneresq.com
Such a great read – thanks for sharing.
Xo, Elizabeth
http://stripesandsolitaires.com
YES to all of this! I couldn't agree with you more about it all. Like you said, social media could crash tomorrow — so investing time and money into our blogs should be our number one focus.
xo, Lily
Beauty With Lily
I have been loving reading these round ups from the conference. Thanks for sharing some of what you learned!
These looks were the cutest! I'm so glad I got to see you!
I hope you had such a good time. I do all 5 of these and they are such game changers!
Thank you so much for sharing! I hope to get an invited someday, but so appreciate you sharing all of this. Looks like you had a great time!
xo, Amanda | http://www.thegoldengirldiary.com
What a fabulous, thorough roundup!! I LOVE your point about supporting other bloggers as friends – some of my absolute best friends (who even came to my wedding and vice versa) were from blogging. And KINDNESS. YES. I can think of people offhand who were snobby to me in person, and you can bet I did NOT think to recommend them to brands coming to me wanting local connections! Plus, who the heck wants to live life being angry and mean all the time!?!?
Coming Up Roses
Girl, I love this and you are the cutest!! Hopefully next year we can meet! I wanna be invited so bad so heres to working my tail off! 😉
you seriously struck gold when you went to this conference. it's awesome how much you learned! and this is only the second day haha. i can't wait to see what else you gained from the experience. you looked fabulous!
stephanie // SheSawStyle.com
The 5 things you shared are so important. This conference sounds amazing!
April | http://www.thebluehydrangeas.com
This post is so awesome and you seemed like you learned SO much! I loved seeing everyones looks for this conference xo