Last night I spoke at the Emerging Women In Business Conference in Rhode Island. It was an amazing event providing information, resources, and networking opportunities that enable women to take the next steps in their personal and professional development. I was honored when I was asked to speak on a panel with Jessica Granitiero, The Savory Grape Wine Shop and Lisa Bergeron, President of Leading Women of Southeastern New England. The name of our panel discussion was – Thriving Business/Thriving Life. We spoke about how the struggle is constant, and integrating our work/personal lives is one of the greatest challenges we face as women. When you own your own business, work no longer seems to operate separate from life. Leading an integrated life is about finding alignment by bringing together the major elements of your personal life and professional life, including work, family, community and friends. Michelle Gonzalez of New Commons moderated our discussion and she was absolutely fabulous!
One question that was asked of me from someone in the audience: “Where do you find your support from?”
I want to preface with this… my family is my strongest support system… without them, I couldn’t and wouldn’t be doing this. Plain and simple. They supported me when there was no money coming in, when all I had was a wing and a prayer.
But… my support? Or better put, OUR support… comes from other bloggers. One of the best things about this “business” is the interaction with each other. It’s what gets me excited to “go to work” every morning… from my laptop, in my kitchen… and even right now in my pajamas! It’s the piece of the blogging pie that I adore and love and cherish and honor about “our blogging” community. The support from each other. We’re all different. We’re all unique. We’re all from a different place and have different family structures. Some of us have one child. Some of us have 10 children (or more!). Some of us come from corporate America. Some of us are completely self-taught. Some of us live in cities. Some of us live in small towns. Some of us use our blog as a soapbox. Some of us use our blog as a way to help other women. Some of us use our blog as a way to share our life story. Some of us curse. Some of us don’t. Some of us have been able to make a lot of money. Some of us are still working to bring in money. Our blogs make people laugh, smile, rant and rave, cry and sometimes leave people speechless. The blogging space is broad and vast and alive and energetic… but, the one thing that balances us all – we’re all in this together. We may not all have the same goals and ambitions and dreams for ourselves or our blogs… but, I mean it – someway, somehow… we’re all in this together. And the support comes from finding key people and friends who are there for you (and vice versa). It’s an amazing thing to see and to witness… through Skype, through Twitter, through Facebook, through our blogs… through every social connecting way possible, there are bloggers that are simply there for each other.
I have been very fortunate to have blogging friends who have been there to support me. From Jessica Smith to Lori Falcon to Beth Feldman to Allison Worthington to Lindsay Maines to Colleen Padilla to Vera Sweeney to Barbara Jones to Julia Beck to Tara Kuczykowski to Cassie Boorn toJanice and Susan of 5 Minutes for Mom to Maria Bailey to Arianne Segerman to Christine Koh to Danielle Smith to Emily and Cooper of The Motherhood to Nicole Feliciano to Trisha Haas… there have been so many, many, many others. The support comes from emails at 2 am… skype chats at 7 am… an afternoon phone call… email exchanges… text messages over and over and over again… Facebook status updates. It’s truly and utterly amazing, refreshing and so very, very important.
Blogging Support 101… it’s all in the connections, the engagement and finding some bloggers who (for lack of a better phrase) “have your back” and “you have theirs.”
Well said. I always try think back when I didn’t know anything and the people that were there for me….nice to know some of us are helpful;)
YES, Audrey. This is the core, the heart, the whole point. And while you have felt the warmth and gratitude of being on the receiving end of this support, you’ve also doled it out in spades. -Christine
Amen Sister! My tribe is what gives me the biggest asset……. my strength. Love everything you said!!! Dito dito dito!!!!
The support is not only important for our bloggy lives, but for those times when real life hits and tears you apart from the inside out. That’s when our tribes truly shine and come underneath us and create that safety net where it’s ok to just lay back and be caught.
xoxo you.
Out side of my family, there is nothing I treasure quite as dearly as the privilege of saying, “One of my blogging friends…”
Great article Audrey! I love how you also brough that we all blog for many different reasons. It is so important for us to reach out and be there for each other. I rely on bloggy friends to get me through on a daily basis.
This was a wonderful post. I could not agree more and loved reading it! Thanks from me on my kitchen laptop to you!
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This post was mentioned on Twitter by BobDadOf2: Blogging Support 101: Last night I spoke at the Emerging Women In Business Conference in Rhode… http://bit.ly/bLuLsN via @audreymcclellan…
Mwah! It’s not just support — it’s like a sisterhood. So glad to have you ladies!
what a great blog post! and an inspiring one too! I was out of the loop for a while because of a tough pregnancy and then now recovering and my traffic went WAY down–it was nice to be able to go back onto Twitter and reach out to a few friends again–and to make a few new ones 🙂
Amen!!! I agree – I treasure the sisterhood we have!!!! My only heartbreak is we can’t go for dinner or go shopping IRL more often!
An honor to be included in this post – thank you!!!
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Audrey,
It was a delight to moderate our conversation! I have to say I am so glad you mentioned the extended community of bloggers as support too. One woman who attended the conference, felt a little out of sorts with all the mommy business owners because she isn’t married, doesn’t have children or family in the area. She too was looking for support, and this is a perfect follow up that support comes from: other business owners, entrepreneurs, classmates, and now content rich bloggers–who are very focused about real conversations not just rants!
So keep on going and blogging we are listening here in RI (although the traffic is weak it is building).