Sponsorships Available for BlogHer and BlogWorld 2011!

Onsite Brand Ambassador for BlogHer and BlogWorld 2011

Ever want to go to a Social Media conference, but either can’t afford to, or just don’t have time nor resources? I’ll be your Brand Ambassador before, during, and after BlogHer ’11 or BlogWorld ‘11. Are you launching a new product, trying to increase your brand awareness, looking to expand your PR network, or are even a Social Media Strategist but just can’t make it this time? I can help!

I’m going to BlogHer ’11 in San Diego, CA this August and am looking for either full or partial sponsors. I’ve never been to a BlogHer conference before and am so excited to be able to go and learn and of course, network! With over 3,000 people worldwide attending, this will be an amazing opportunity.

3,000 Bloggers 3 Days Conference Ticket: $365 Overall Costs: ~$1,000

BlogWorld is in Los Angeles, CA this November and I went last year and this conference literally blew my mind! I learned so many different things and tips and tricks that I shared with my clients. It was by far one of the best financial investments I ever made.

5,000 Bloggers 4 Days Conference Ticket: $700 Overall Costs: ~$1,500

Customize your sponsorship opportunity for your business or brand
through these different sponsorship packages.

Do you want me to represent your company or brand at BlogHer ’11 or BlogWorld ‘11? Then let’s talk!

BlogWorld 3-Day Conference ticket if bought by 7/21/11 is $700, with hotel and transportation costs in Los Angeles,
I estimate it will cost over $1,500 to attend.

Click here for a the Conference Sponsorship pdf.

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Happy 1st Birthday Orange Dragonfly

One year ago today I took stock of my life and wondered if 2010 could erase the pain and turmoil that 2009 had brought. I was in Minnesota with my in-laws realizing that my marriage was in a dire condition, and that even though we loved each other, we just weren’t the right fit for one another. I had to close my flower shop at the end of 2008 and honestly, most of 2009 was me trying to figure out my life. What did I want to do? Who did I want to be? What was I good at? The things I knew that I was great at – gardening, especially vegetables and herbs, funky flower arranging, and strangely enough, editing. I used to be an editor and coordinator for a Department of Defense contractor for many years, and as I sat looking out at the snow, I wondered – is there a need for such skills in small business?

The next few hours I spent researching editing websites, what they offered and how much they charged. I did a budget on what it would take me to start this new business and even wrote the rough draft of a marketing plan. By the end of 01/01/2010 I had purchased a new domain name www.OrangeDragonflyBlog.com and a hosting account too. You see, I already owned www.OrangeDragonfly.com and this was my floral website. I downloaded WordPress and started making the site my own. I had been doing article writing and freelance food reviews and knew that I wanted to offer this to my clients as well.  Who knew that in 12 hours, I would research, write a budget and marketing plan, plus start a website? Well, I have been told on more than one occasion I was a born entrepreneur.

Over the next three days, I really felt energized and that I had a purpose. Most of 2009 I wandered around like a lost soul, not sure of who I was anymore or who I wanted to be. When I lost my flower shop in such a traumatic way, I felt I lost my identity, my pride, and my self-worth. It completely devastated me and did irrevocable harm to my marriage and friendships. This editing business was the first business that I didn’t have a 50-page business plan written for – honestly, I was just going to wing it and see what fate brought me. I never would have imagined all that this little business has accomplished in one short year.

I went in my networking meeting on 01/04/2010 and walked away with my first client BottomDollarShopping.com who wanted to be rebranded, needed his web content edited and updated, and needed new business cards and fliers. I had many years experience working with graphic artists and coordinating the work between them and the client – right away this became a new aspect to my business. Through referrals my business started bringing in an income. I was out with the girls one night and my friend Kristi DeWitt said that she was looking for a typesetter and editor for her new book Stories from the Dating Trenches. She had an extremely tight deadline, and by working 12-hour days, we were able to get this fantastic dating book to print on time. I learned many lessons on this project, and I value each and every one of them.

The second week of March I had completed all my editing projects and walked into that same networking meeting on a Tuesday with no future work on my plate. I was the speaker that day and 10 minutes of my presentation was on my editing services, but the last 5 minutes was on Social Media. You see, I had been reading everything on this new topic and was completely fascinated with it. I used Twitter and Facebook for my business and every day I was receiving calls from friends and family asking if I could teach them how to use these tools. On a whim, I put these services on my flier for the presentation. That whim changed my life. I walked out of that presentation with 10 new clients, and gave the same talk the next day at another networking event and picked up 5 more clients. The next day I filed for divorce and moved out of our home. That was the craziest week of 2010 for sure.

In May I kept having clients say how much they wanted to change their websites and have more control over them, but that their Webmasters wouldn’t release the sites. With the increasing popularity of WordPress and blogging sites, this was a trend I saw all of last year. So I was hired to help people move their sites over to their own hosting accounts and use WordPress as the software platform. Another facet to my business was born.

With each of these migrations I had to create new business cards. In September I actually rebranded my entire look to a more 2.0 vision and have received lots of positive response over the transition. In October I went to Las Vegas to BlogWorld which was the largest Social Media and Blogging Conference in the country. I had no idea that so many people used their sites to bring in serious money by doing what they loved. I received so much advice on what I could do to make my site more user friendly and how to make a living writing and maintaining my business. The biggest piece of advice was make OrangeDragonfly.com my main business site and to brand it the same as OrangeDragonflyBlog.com. I have spent the last couple months doing this and am almost finished with all the changes.

These ones above are my newest cards! What do you think?

I can sum up 2010 with one word – CHANGE. I took each day as it came, I tried not to look towards the future, but to live in each moment, to be in the present. I had never done that before in my life. I rode some very big emotional waves, lost my footing a few times, but came out at the end on my own two feet. Thank you 2010 for showing me that I am still valued, loved, and still know a thing or two about small businesses.

Happy 1st Birthday Orange Dragonfly – you really gave me purpose again in my life. I will be eternally grateful.

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BlogWorld 2010 Changed My Life Part 1

As I rolled into Las Vegas, I saw the city where I spent many years getting into trouble and building some lasting friendships. Las Vegas is one of those towns that I call home, yet I had never been here for a conference or to work, usually to see family and do a little gambling. Not this trip. I drove over to the Rio to check into my room and will honestly say I had a little problem at check-in. You see, I no longer use nor carry a credit card, but have a debit card. I know that this is an issue at hotels, so I had researched that at the Rio as long as you could put down a $200 cash deposit that there wouldn’t be a problem. I know that the front desk clerk was adhering to rules and regulations outside of his control, but I have to say making your guests not feel like losers because they don’t possess a credit card will go a long way. There were other issues with check-in, but the overall feeling I left there with was that I wasn’t valued nor wanted as a guest. This could have been my own insecurities, but it was hard to shake. Yes I tweeted about it.

After I freshened up I made my way over to the Luxor party hosted by Social Rewards, where I was to meet @nickelnm to pick up my tickets for BlogWorld. While searching for her using her little Twitter icon as a guide, I met @rubenorozco with @tweetfind and @mayhemstudios. I ended up seeing @Rubenorozco all over BlogWorld – he was even my Battery Savior for my Droid X – he should get a cape! Decided though instead of partying until dawn, that I needed a good night’s rest, and bid everyone a good night.

I woke up on the first day of BlogWorld like a giddy school girl. The thought crossed my mind that I needed to stop and pick up a bag of apples for my teachers… I didn’t, no worries! Remember that scared crazy feeling of the first day of high school when you didn’t know if you would fit in or if you would stick your foot into your mouth – yep, all those feelings of insecurities were running through my veins. I walked into the Mandalay Bay and took a deep breath as I prepared myself to let go off all I thought I knew about Social Media and open my mind to all different ideas and perspectives.

First up was Scott Stratten aka @unmarketing with his killer keynote Stand Up, Stand Out, Stand Together. His word for the day – Awesome! People Spread Awesome. Learn it, love it, live it. One of the key things he said, that I hadn’t really thought of was It is not our job to tell people how to consume our content. Know your audience and give them the tools they want. What he was referring to is realize that every visitor to your site knows might not know what an RSS feed is, so give them the option to opt in to updates through email. Make sure your website is easy to navigate for the novice user – don’t make it so difficult that people leave frustrated.

Best key takeaways and real tweets from Scott’s Keynotes:

People don’t spread meh. People spread awesome… Blogging on a schedule makes me stabby. No one recommends blogs that are just ok.

If your product sucks, social media makes it suck more. Social Media amplifies, does not fix bad products.

If you are tweeting while you are standing in front of someone and talking to them… you’re a jackass. << This tweet was retweeted over 500x!! And the statement is oh so true, and yes I am guilty of this.

You’re always marketing. Even when you’re throwing up on the curb in Vegas.

Which is your favorite takeaway? Will you use of these thoughts to change how you do business. I redesigned my entire website because of this, made it more user friendly, easier to navigate, and am no longer all over the place with my content. I want to spread Awesome.

Want to watch his first 8 minutes, from MeFeedia? It is well worth your time, and yes, you can thank me later.

I bought the book UNMarketing and it is changing the way I think about marketing, social media, and how I interact with my clients. Thank you Scott! Pick it up here:

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How I Made it to BlogWorld 2010

Most people plan their trips to conferences months in advance, not in less than 24 hours. It all started last Monday when I received an email from Constant Contact to attend a social media and marketing seminar geared towards restaurants. I met Ron Cates with Constant Contact who is an online marketing genius. When Ron and I were talking afterwards, he asked me if I was going to BlogWorld & Social Media Summit in Las Vegas. I had heard about it but I hadn’t really researched it as much as I should have.

My main interest was the Social Media Business Summit that was a 3-Day Conference presented by BlogWorld & New Media Expo. With thousands of attendees, 200+ speakers, 150 educational sessions, and more than 100 exhibiting companies, it was the world’s premier Social Media Business Conference. I had to be there! As a newer Social Media Consultant, I wanted to find new ways to help my clients grow their business and to learn what is the best way to grow my business.

Twitterverse to the Rescue!

So what is a girl to do on a Tuesday afternoon when she wants to go to a conference that starts on Thursday? She rushes over to Twitter of course! I put out a plea that I was looking for tickets to the conference, needed help securing a hotel, and plane tickets too. I never could have imagined how awesome the Twitter community came together to help me get there.

First Nicole @nickelnm who writes a very useful finance blog, called Finance Diva said she had an extra ticket to the event. Ticket to BlogWorld – check! Then Heather, the extremely witty persona behind @MalibuRumBarbie helped me secure a room at the Rio. Here are two women I have never met, stepping up and helping someone out without asking for anything in return. I truly have to give them both a huge THANK YOU. I was amazed and humbled by their generosity and willingness to help a virtual stranger. They will forever have my gratitude.

I next received a phone call from my brother-in-law who said he wanted to help get me there. He had looked over the show’s schedule and was amazed by the quality of the seminars that would be taught. He offered his free passes on @southwestair. Unfortunately, there wasn’t a return flight until late Monday night and I needed to be home Sunday morning for a wedding shower.

I decided to drive to Vegas instead – it’s only 5 hours and I love that drive through the mountains. My Honda Element had been having some issues, so I called my trusty mechanic Randy at National Automotive Repair and begged to be seen that morning as I was planning on hitting the road that Wednesday afternoon. He checked my fluids, put air in my tires, and sent me on my way.

Vegas Bound!

On the way up to Las Vegas, I was secretly thinking, oh holy sh!t, I am about to drop a lot of money on this conference. Is it worth it? What if it sucked? What if no one talked to me and I spent the whole 4 days alone? I called Stephanie aka @skinnyjeans and asked her what I should expect. Stephanie has a few blogs, with her latest being StephanieQuilao.com and just moved to Phoenix where I met her a few months ago. She reached out to her Twitter community to make sure I wouldn’t be alone and talked to me about all the cool people I would meet, which seminars not to miss, and what generally to expect at a Blogger conference. Thanks Steph from talking me down from the ledge!

Stay tuned for what happened once I finally arrived at BlogWorld. It blew my mind, and hopefully it will blow yours as well!

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