Hey hey Friday! What a week it was. We are off visiting our besties in Bend for a few days. They are getting ready to have a little one later this month, and they just moved into their new house they built! So excited to see them one last time before baby is here.
Last weekend I participated in a blog staycation. If you’re unfamiliar with what that is, I devoted 4 days to this here space of mine. It wasn’t 4 full days (I wish), but throughout those 4 days I spent a lot more time with my blog than usual, and was able to accomplish some goals that I’d had for quite a while. It felt so good to cross a few things off my list!
I still have a long list of things I want to do for this space, but having that time to devote to my blog was awesome. I feel like I was able to breathe some new life into my goals and myself honestly. I was able to connect with other bloggers in real time and share in collaborative moments. Seeing people have breakthroughs during the staycation was so encouraging! Huge thank you to Julie, Jen and Trish for coordinating the staycation and their awesome support!
It was such a great group that participated and everyone shared so much inspiration, so I wanted to share my top 5 takeaways from this event.
1. Connections are everything! I was able to connect with some new bloggers I hadn’t met and deepen some connections with others. We had 3 chats throughout the staycation (Twitter and Facebook) and that was a great way to bounce ideas off people and just connect and encourage one another. There were veteran bloggers and newbie bloggers participating and a great mix of everyone in between, so there was a lot of great information exchanged. I was able to connect offline with one blogger and chat about oils! It was so fun to extend that conversation beyond the Twitter and Facebook chats. I think we all know it, but connecting with other bloggers is so important to your blog’s success.
2. Hootsuite rocks for Twitter parties! Being new to Twitter, this was my first Twitter party. I hadn’t used Hootsuite prior to the staycation, but I set it up as a way to easily manage the rapid fire Twitter chats. It was seriously a lifesaver for me! I heard there was another tool that does something similar, but Hootsuite worked really well for my needs. (PS, if you haven’t done so yet, don’t forget to follow me on Twitter @_atouchofgrace_!)
3. If you don’t have the answer, it’s very likely that somebody else will. The amount of knowledge that everyone brought to the staycation was awesome! Everyone was able to get answers to their questions, a lot of knowledge was exchanged and it was just a great place for information gathering.
4. Devoting time to your blog takes, well, time. I have a lot on my plate on any given day, and this space had taken a back seat to other priorities. My blog was super neglected and I’ve barely had enough time to write posts, let alone work on my layout, social media, affiliates, etc. I knew in order to grow and get to where I wanted to, I would need to devote an extended period of time to it. When you have a family, it isn’t easy to do this often. But if can set aside a few hours every few months to just work on you blog without interruption, you can really accomplish so much!
5. I am so glad I started A Touch of Grace. Honestly you guys, I couldn’t be happier that I have this place to connect with all of you. Even if you’re just a reader and don’t comment, I appreciate you coming each day and reading my random thoughts. You all make this blog what it is and I am so thankful for you.
[Tweet “5 blog staycation takeaways! #blogstaycation”]
If you’ve never participated in a blog staycation but think it’s interesting, the ladies who coordinated this staycation will be doing another one this summer. This was their second staycation and it was bigger than the first. I anticipate it will continue to grow, which is fantastic!
Have a great Easter weekend love bugs!
So glad you had a good staycation – Sounds like it was very beneficial!!!! Have a good weekend!
Thanks Caroline! It was fantastic! Happy Easter!
I’m so glad that you did this, Tiffany! I had never even heard of one before you told me. Sounds like it was really helpful. I’m so glad you started A Touch of Grace too and that we’ve become friends! 🙂
This sounds like such a cool concept! Sometimes it can be so good to just take some time to devote to getting the blog back in order or meeting new people and talking all things blog 🙂
YES!!!!!!!!!! I’ve been trying to devote more time to my blog–making and nurturing connections, specifically. I can hands down second all of these points!
So glad you were able to participate Tiffany! We love seeing all the positive feedback and hope to see you again next time!
I’m so happy to hear that you got so much accomplished, I see a few new things around here, it’s looking great! I spent like ONE DAY on the staycation but that one day helped a lot. Plus the Facebook chat was very enlightening hearing everyone’s thoughts, advice and experiences. I agree, it’s really hard to devote the right amount of time to blogging when you have a family and other obligations, and I’m trying to get very intentional about that so that I’m not wasting time when I finally DO have the time to sit down and blog (Facebook and Instagram is the death of me). Glad you had such a great experience and also for sharing it with us!
I loved the Blog Staycation and I really enjoyed this update from you. Weren’t the Twitter parties and Facebook chats fun?!
It was such a great experience… I can’t wait for the summer edition.
Wishing you a lovely day.
xoxo
Blog Staycation was great! I’m just recently started using Hootsuite myself. It didn’t occur to me to use it for our Twitter chats – DUH! Lol. I’m just now starting to play around with it. It was nice connecting with you! Great post!
That’s all I’ve used Hootsuite for so far, but I want to see what other features it has. Thanks for stopping by Krista!