What BlissDom Has Taught Me About My Brand

Having just returned from Blue Mountain and now booked my room for the conference weekend with my roomie Mara, I’m getting even more excited about heading to BlissDom Canada this October. I can’t wait to party learn along side of some of the most amazing bloggers, writers and social influencers in Canada! These are women (and even a few guys) who continue to inspire me online and now we have a chance to be under the same roof to swap advice, share suggestions and even find new ways to share our brands!

I agree. It’s a strange concept to think of yourself as a brand, but we are. We are all selling something to each other; selling advice, selling an idea, selling a story or selling a product. 

By the time I attended my second year of BlissDom, I was a different person. My life and my brand had changed. I had just lost my son, Zack and my online community followed my incredibly emotional journey saying goodbye to my son and had rallied around as we raised $50k in his honour. Seeing everyone was difficult, heartbreaking, and confusing and I was even a little bit lost in what the future of my writing might be. But an incredible thing happened to me at BlissDom. I was embraced and admired and I was even a finalist in the Canadian Family “Tales of Bliss” contest! I learned that my journey through grief was an important story to others and I left that conference knowing that I had to find my new brand, my new voice as a bereaved mother. 

I attended the next two BlissDom conferences as someone else’s brand, for work. It felt awkward and strange and I knew that while I was learning things to help me at work, I was also desperate to attend the workshops and microsessions that could help me find meaning in my own personal writing. It was at BlissDom that I realized that the work brand just didn’t fit me anymore and I wanted to write on my own again. I had missed using my voice to share what I had learned since Zack’s death and I felt like I had more to say. 

I was excited that BlissDom 2014 would lead me back to my journey to develop my own brand, as well as learn how to evolve from where I had been before. It was amazing that while I was eager to learn about moving beyond my loss, I had the opportunity to make a profound and special connection with Jennifer who came to share her own story of grief and giving back. I loved being Zack’s mom, and I always would, but I came to BlissDom last year with questions about how to tell the whole story of who I am and what matters to me. I wanted to learn more from the experts about how I could evolve my experience of losing my son, while also writing about lifestyle, parenting my two other boys and sharing my passion of giving back. I was also looking to monetize my blog, but how could I find the right balance and fit with brands that worked with who I was and what I wanted to say? I found so many workshops helped me find the right balance for me and for my story.

What does this year’s BlissDom have instore for me? 

I’m honoured to be an Ambassador this year! I’m hoping that this year’s conference will help me find more ways to use my voice for the things that truly matter to me. I know that this conference full of experts I respect and admire can inspire me to find ways to weave my personal stories and my passions. I know that I will find new and innovative ways to build traffic by blending my journey with brand reviews that can help me make more money! This year is another opportunity to learn about my brand and what I can do to take my writing to a new level. Will I see you there?