pbevent

Problogger Event 2013: more than blogging?

Fresh from a conference, motivation is high, the new contacts are to be built upon, the goals are to be penned and planned out and in the words of Mr Problogger himself…”the inspiration is to be implemented.”

This is where the real work must begin. We can come up with the dreams with little procrastination…taking the right steps to make them happen, becomes the challenge.

So at the end of conferences such as these we are left to decide upon our ‘take home messages’. What will we act on straight away to help reach our goals?

I had all of the usual ‘take homes’……the social media marketing strategies, the engagement tips, the SEO guidelines, scheduling suggestions, the media kit advice. Sure I hope to implement these things. Some I had started on and will continue, whilst others will no doubt wait until I am reminded of them again next year.

The biggest take home I received however, probably relates more to my parenting than to anything else. Which in turn I guess will effect the way I blog.

In this room full of 450 people many of them have job titles that didn’t exist 10 years ago. In this room there were introverts galore, there were people with disabilities, there were people who were bullied as kids for their ‘geekiness’ and there were those rather more socially awkard people who most likely spent many nights playing video games with imaginary friends. And their success stories were inspiring.

 

“We dont want our kids to grow up ‘normal’, because interesting things happen on the edge of the bell curve” Trey Ratcliff #pbevent

 

Trey Ratcliff was one of those. In fact he has probably been described with every one of those features at different stages in his life. Here was a boy, blind in one eye, always described as a little bit ‘different’ trying to be moulded into something more normal, more accepted.  Thanks to the opportunities he found in the world of technology,  he now has over 4 million people following him on social media platforms, and has transformed his life into one of an amazing photographer creating masterpieces, whilst travelling the world spreading his self taught knowledge and passion.

 

I was fortunate enough to talk with Trey. We talked about raising children today. We talked about some of the amazing opportunities our kids have awaiting them. We talked about the fact that some of their jobs have not even been invented yet. We talked about embracing the uniqueness of kids. Of what it is like for young boys growing up trying to be someone they are not. We talked about the importance of living in the now. Of not settling for something that doesnt create memories. Of not letting the ‘haters’ beat you.

pbevent1

 

“Stop worrying about what others think. Be yourself. People that should be in your world will come into your world”  Trey Ratcliff

 

I like to think that I knew a lot of this stuff before. But sometimes “if a message makes you cry, its your soul telling you you’ve found your truth”  #pbevent

 

And finally…..” There is no better time than in the history of humanity for people to be doing what they want and talking about meaningful things” Clare Bowditch

 

Share this post

Like this article? Sign up to our email newsletter and never miss a post.

This Post Has 29 Comments

  1. Aroha @ Colours of Sunset

    I’ve yet to be to one of these conferences, even though this one was in my own back yard! I keep hearing how motivated and inspired conference goers were, and I wonder how many will go home and do the implementation. I seriously question whether I would or not. I think at the end of the 2 days I’d have paid a fortune for a giant blogger-meet up! I used to follow an incredibly inspiring blog, until I realised I was getting all revved up and doing … NOTHING. Clearly I haven’t figured out how all this inspiration works yet! 😉 I hope you can implement all your ideas! x Aroha(#teamIBOT)

    1. Martine

      Yes it is certainly always an issue for everyone I think. I did love how this conference very much focused on that. Darren was very proactive in getting people to come up with actual steps that we can act on immediately in order to reach goals. I have already started to put in place some of the things so here’s hoping I can build on it all!

  2. Emily @ Have A Laugh On Me

    I just love Trey and his words the more I think about him and what he’s been through. The messages we got were so powerful. I have MUCH to do on my blog but the conference also made me realise I have three young children who need their mum away from the computer as much as possible when they are around. It was lovely meeting you Martine. Here’s to us all living on the edge of the bell curve 🙂 Emily

    1. Martine

      Yes here here Emily! Loved meeting you too x

  3. Eleise

    I love this post. I am so glad that I wasn’t the only one who got motivation and implementation from the conference. I also love this quote. “Stop worrying about what others think. Be yourself. People that should be in your world will come into your world” Trey Ratcliff. It is something that I do worry about too much!

    1. Martine

      Thanks Eleise, he was certainly inspiring

  4. JodiGibson (@JFGibsonWriter)

    Trey sounds amazingly inspiring. It reminds me when we were having a school tour when choosing primary schools. The principal made a comment on how the classrooms run, how they encourage inviduality and how they are working towards the future. He said, “The jobs your cherubs will have when they are adults most likely haven’t yet been invented.’ It was then and there that I decided that this is where our children will go.

    1. Martine

      Wow, thats pretty impressive Jodi, I wonder how many other schools are thinking that way?

  5. Aaargghh… so wish I could have been there. I love the fact that there are so many possibilities for my children EXCEPT for the one with ASD and big learning issues… if he could find one job he loved and stay for life, he’d be happy and so would I… relieved. He’s just not good at thinking and working things out and has little initiative, I could panic about his future in this modern age.

    But I won’t… he’s happy today and that’s all we can hope for. Good round up, loved the joyful photo.

    1. Martine

      I wish you could have been there too Seana. Mainly so I could have seen you, but also because I would have loved you to see Trey’s talk. It really made me think that this is a good time particularly for those of us with kids that may not go down ‘traditional’ career paths. I certainly understand the concern about wanting our kids to find something they can do, but I definitely feel better about it all now.

  6. Vanessa from StyleandShenanigans.com

    Great post Martine. It captures the inspiration and story telling perfectly. Bring on being more awesome 🙂

    1. Martine

      Thanks Vanessa…and heres to more awesome! x

  7. Nathalie Brown

    Gorgeous I learnt so much from you. You have no idea, your compassion and strength are amazing.

    1. Martine

      Oh Nat thank you so much. And I certainly learnt so much from you too….and loved the laughs too xx

  8. Kimberley M

    I love that – “Fight back with awesome”! It’s so true. He had lots of little gems, that one. Kx

    1. Martine

      Yes so many gems! x

  9. Deb @ home life simplified

    Loved trey’s message and love the way you have applied it to your parenting. It was great seeing you this weekend xxx

    1. Martine

      Thanks Deb..was great seeing you too x

  10. Kathy

    Loved meeting you Martine and Trey’s message resonated on so many levels, didn’t it. I think there are tips (which are smart things to do) and then there is inspiration, which has to permeate slowly – I won’t be too hard if the implementation happens in the right time (to suit our kids and family).

    1. Martine

      Thanks Kathy it was great meeting you too. It is certainly important to make sure that our plans and implementation all fits in with our own agendas. Another reason why we have to be careful of comparing ourselves to other people and to what they can achieve. Letting it permeate slowly sounds nice too x

  11. Sam Stone @ A Life on Venus

    Wonderful post Martine! I got a little teary at the end, so it must be that this message was the truth for me. I am going to check out Trey right now. Thanks so much for sharing.

    1. Martine

      Thanks Sam…yes there were a few tears in the room!

  12. kirri

    Trey’s talk was most definitely one of the highlights for me as well. Almost as good as hanging out with you!

    1. Martine

      Thanks Kirri…you are pretty awesome yourself x

  13. small business

    Appreciation for the great writeup. Them in fact became a leisure profile the item. Look sophisticated so that you can way extra pleasant within you! Nevertheless, what exactly is be in contact?

Comments are closed.