Modeling the Scarf during our photography lesson.
I really want to thank all of you for paying for my mom. Prayer does work. I ask that you all please continue. She is home now but we are still awaiting test results and instructions.Because of everything that's been happening in my personal life I did not make it out to the Walk The Talk Fashion Event this past Saturday :-( I hope some of you made it. If so please leave comments below telling me what I missed.
Luckily I did not miss everything that I'd planned to do over the couple of weekends. I did make it to the Business for Bloggers and Creatives workshop put on by Jamila Payne. This was a great workshop. I came home with some great tips for making the Chasing Joy Brand that much more awesome.
There was a interesting mix of people at the workshop. Lot's of business people who are trying to branch out into social media. This was the opposite of the typical blogging events that I've attended where most of the people are bloggers who are trying to learn to treat their blog as a business.
Me and Jessica from FoundtheMarbles.com
Highlights of the event for me were doing a page business plan, learning about press releases and getting to hear from bloggers that I have been following online for a while.The business plan was great because it was a short term one. You answer all of the questions related to the next year or two and then you actually use it and work from it. This is different from a traditional business plan that may cover 10 years or more and can be kind of vague and hard to work from on a daily bases. Important things covered in the plan include setting goals, What steps you'll need to accomplish the goals, and what road blocks may be in the way of those goals. Another great thing about the business plan was that it got to the nitty gritty with financial goals (desired salary + expenses related to business goals = necessary revenue)
The conversation about press releases was great for me because I had no clue what to write in one. I also did not know you can do a press release after an event. I really missed a great opportunity to get out a press release either before or after the Joy of Giving Chasing Joy Charity Event. But you live and learn. Now I know that press releases are used to announce up-coming events, successful events, new hires, new campaigns and any new ventures that may be news worthy. Post event press releases need to happen within a day or two of the event or it is old news.
One of the other cool things we did at the Business for Bloggers and Creatives was to take a field trip to Kembrel where we learned how to be models. Well I learned how to be a model. We received a lesson on how to best take photographs so that our blog posts can look more polished. We did a role play where some of the group were models, stylists, photographers, and photo shoot directors. Tips I learned were to use a white background and stand close to the wall or back drop to minimize shadows. If you have to crop a photo of a person to crop above the knee so they don't look amputated. Lighting is everything!!!
Have you been to any unique or informative events lately???
