Inspired to Dream - Reflections from BEECH
Wednesday, February 6, 2013 at 5:00AM
So many of you followed my journey to BEECH via Instgram, Facebook, and Twitter.
You kept saying:
I hope you'll share what you learned.
Others said,
Just a wee bit jealous!
A lot of you said,
What an awesome place to have a blogging conference!
An Amazing Venue
Having a blogging retreat at a first class island resort was genius!
This was the view from my balcony.
Session rooms had a view of the water. Breaks were spent in the sunshine - occasionally spotting a manatee or dolphins. Meals were eaten outside. We had a Luau on the beach.
My mind was taken away to a place so UNLIKE my normal place. It was perfect for clearing my head so I could focus on my goals, dreams, and plans.
Intimate Conferences Lead To More Connections
My roommate was Jen, from Forever, For Always, No Matter What. She and I have known each other through our blogs for the past three years.
I have made a lifelong friend in Jen. We already have the date for BEECH 2014 on our calendars!
I was blessed to get to know Lori Lane, from Heart of The Matter, much better.
Lori is a fellow musician and was a great encouragement to me. She is also the owner of Artios Academies.
As a mom a bit further down the homeschool road, I found it helpful to talk with her. Again, we LAUGHED and shared.
Connecting with Kendra Fletcher was so much fun!
Kendra, who blogs at Preschoolers and Peace, is my "Squarespace Buddy".
Squarespace is the blog platform we use. We are NOT on Wordpress, so we are bucking the trend.
I have long learned so much from Tricia, at Hodgepodge Mom. She is also a fellow Atlanta area blogger, but I had not met her in person.
We drove back to Atlanta together and the 11 hour drive FLEW!
You will not meet a more gracious, gentle, and wise spirit than Tricia.
Three more friends I met:
1. Jimmie, from Jimmie's Collage and The Notebooking Fairy. Jimmie has been such an encouragement and cheerleader for the past few years. I didn't expect her to be so tall! (She's just 5' 8", but that's taller than me!)
2. Kelli, from Adventurez in Child 'Rearing was such fun to meet! I have long admired all of the fun activities she does with her boys.
3. Melissa, from The Joys of Home Educating, is a friend I have met before in New York City. Her love of life inspires me. Our boys are also good friends and have a LEGO challenge each Friday.
Professional Speakers
I was drawn to BEECH because of the caliber of speakers and professional slant on blogging.
The big things I took away:
- Set goals in line with your purpose. Set specific and measureable goals. Start small. (Crystal Paine)
- Promote others and do not compare! (Crystal Paine)
- Am I serving the "This is neat!" crowd (meaning Pinterest) - Thank you, Dan Morris.
- I need to be better about time budgeting -- learned lots from Jolanthe Erb.
- Will someone care about the post I am writing in three months? (Jimmie Lanely)
- A knowledge of SEO - thank you Dan Morris and Jimmie Lanely.
- Lots of information about monetizing your blog. The panel of speakers was very helpful.
- "Great blessings can sometimes be heaped upon us when we say nothing." (John Miller)
- "So much of success is continuing to show up. Failure is never final unless you quit. (Michael Hyatt)
- I also learned about iPhone photo/video apps. (Thank you, Amanda Padgett)
I'm proud to call myself a BLOGGER. I'm proud to call myself a WRITER.
Most of all, I learned at BEECH that I can be a DREAMER and a CHANGER.
In the words of Michael Hyatt,
"God gave you a voice, no go out and use it!"
Keychain courtesy of Singing Bird Studios. Cute!
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Reader Comments (21)
I am checking out those photo apps today! Thank you for sharing some of what you learned. It looks like it was an amazing opportunity to discover and develop your own interests and talents! Maybe next year.......
So many things I am grateful for about BEECH Retreat - and you are right there among them Mary! What a blessing to get to spend 11 hours with you! I love your reflection post - you definitely captured the vision of BEECH along with the gorgeous scenery and the friendships of fellow bloggers. I'm smiling big after reading this! And I especially like your list of quotes and take aways. Blessed to know you and call you friend, fellow GA girl!
I loved having you there. Thank you for such a beautiful recap of BEECH. And I love that it inspired you to dream - that is amazing and was truly the heart of BEECH.
Love you.
Rachel
So much fun at BEECH. My head is still spinning! Peace to you my friend!
You did a great job of capturing the heart of out BEECH weekend. So glad we met!
Wow, so many wonderful, kind, wise people in one place. The company alone would be worth the trip!
What a great post and I absolutely loved your takeaways.
So much good stuff to digest. I can't wait to see what you do with it.
Wow, Mary, you really summed up what the whole weekend was about. I really loved the fact that BEECH was so small and intimate...although I still felt like I didn't have enough time to just sit and talk with people! I'm already looking forward to 2014, but clearly I have some reflecting to do on ways I can keep growing between now and then. It was such a blessing to meet you in real life!
Wow! Lookiing at all those you met in person and to be a room mate with Jen!! That's the icing on the cake :) So happy that you received so much from the retreat!
Lovely ladies! I just love Jen, too! Looks like you had a wonderful time and gained a lot of inspiring words along the way. The keychain is too cute!
It sounds fabulous! What fun to have so many great bloggers in one setting :)
Sounds like you had a great time! So fun to meet so many on-line writing pals. Thank you for sharing with the rest of us. Someday, I'd like to go, but for now, it's nice to live vicariously through the rest of you who are willing to report back.
Oh! Love this. Meeting you was my highlight, too! So much Squarespace goodness in our future, my friend :)
Wow that looks amazing, Mary! Thank you for sharing the views, folks and headlines. I'm inspired already!
Lucinda
Sounds absolutely AMAZING!!!! I so hope I can go next year!!! It was such a joy keeping up with you during the retreat - and of I was living vicariously through you!! LOL Thanks for sharing some of what you learned!! I can't imagine how you're even blogging yet. My head would still be spinning and reeling with ideas! Can't wait to meet you and other bloggers I follow and admire! SOMEDAY...
Thanks for sharing this fantastic wrap up! I too, am inspired to dream bigger and anxious for next year! Be blessed-
xxoo
Enjoyed reading the recap even more than seeing everyone's updates on twitter. One of these days I'm going to make it to a blogging conference! :)
My first visit to your blog - coming over from facebook. So glad you had a wonderful time at Beech Retreat. I so wanted to go. South Seas/Captiva is one of my favorite places on earth. To attend a retreat there would be heaven for me.
Perhaps next year!
Looks like so much fun! I hope to get to go next year!!
You are a wonderful writer - and thank you for sharing this trip with those of us who weren't there!! :) I love Squarespace, by the way. I design sites for businesses as a side job and am a mix between Blogger, Wordpress and Squarespace depending on the client's needs - but that might be my secret favorite :)
It was really great meeting you and reading your reflections of such an amazing weekend!