From Vision to Success

The SITS Girls / MassiveSway actually (LITERALLY) changed my life. Find out how in this sponsored post.

Back in 2010, when I was just a little over 6 months into blogging, I found out about a conference called Bloggy Boot Camp put on by The SITS Girls. Small, local, and affordable enough for me to be able to borrow money to be able to attend (I was a broke, single mom at the time), I had no idea that it would be the catalyst for turning me from a lady who had a blog to a professional blogger. It was there that I learned that I should purchase my own URL and get rid of the .blogspot.com at the end of my blog address. At that conference I met the shopper marketing agency that would lead to my first sponsored post and to my first job in social media. It was also where I learned about community, and how important it was to my success. 

When I learned that The SITS Girls was becoming The Sway Group five years ago and things were going to be even bigger and better than ever, I couldn’t wait to share the news with my blogger friends. It felt like we were ALL the Jeffersons…movin’ on up! I was inspired by Tiffany and Francesca, whose story I had heard at the first Bloggy Boot Camp, for their ability to stay focused in order to sustain a community and grow it into a real company that employed and empowered other women. I’m not going to lie. I cried. I love seeing boss women win, and The SITS Girls were definitely winning. They still are, and the thing is, all of us who are members, we are winning with them!

What did Francesca and Tiffany do that was different than what other folks had tried to do? What was it about them that allowed them to get to the next level when so many who started when they did are still spinning their wheels? I think it’s because they had a vision, and they remained true to it.

How to Find Vision

Do any of these scenarios sound like you?

• You decided to redesign your blog months ago, but you can’t decide which theme you want to go with.
• You hire a designer to create a logo or graphics for you, but you can’t tell them what colors you like, what style you want, or anything about what you’d like it to look like.
• You’ve been launching the same business for two years.
• You post the same question in 5 different Facebook group every 2 weeks.
• After you make a decision, you ask 4 more people what they think and find yourself starting back at square one

This is the type of thinking that holds us back.  We don’t have vision. What is the actual purpose of your blog business or product? What is the message that you want to convey through your site? Who is your audience? What do you want people to leave with when they click away from your site? What are you an expert in? What are you passionate about?

I’ll be honest. I’ve never met any one person EVER who was equally passionate about fashion, business, blogging, recipes, gardening, technology, entertainment, beauty, healthy living, travel, cars, music, and on and on and on.

Why are you afraid to pick one or two things to focus on and put your energy towards it? This is not to suggest that you niche yourself and stop doing everything else, but it’s a lot easier to build up your name / brand / reputation as an expert when you aren’t a jack of all trades.

Why are you afraid to pick a color scheme or a theme? If you decide that you don’t like it, you can always change it later. Just make a decision already.

You know what I think? I don’t want y’all to be mad at me, but I have to tell the truth.

I Think We’re Afraid

I think some of us are afraid. I think some of us are using indecision and overthinking to avoid moving forward on good ideas because we’re scared of failing.

I think some of us don’t want to move forward because the winning road is a challenging one and we don’t actually know how to manage the next level, so we’re choosing to stay here, where we’re comfortable.

I think some of us are looking at what other folks are doing and focusing on that, rather than following our own path and creating our own road map. I think some are actually afraid of success. I do.

Well let me tell you something.

You made it this far, Ladies. Whether you’re new to this whole digital entrepreneur game, or you’ve been in the biz for a minute, you have had to have some level of success in your life to be in a position to even consider taking things up to the next level. Just because you might be doing something that’s new to you, it doesn’t mean you’re starting back at the beginning. You don’t go back to your freshman year after you graduate just because you’re changing careers. Maybe you’ll take a certification course, or attend some workshops. You might go to graduate school and get a degree in a different field, but you don’t start back at the beginning. You just take the skills that you’ve learned and figure out how they can translate in a different way.

Happy 5th Birthday, MassiveSway!

As a member of MassiveSway from the way beginning, I have seen the transformation from a small community to a large company. There were some bumps in the road, but no one on the team let that stop them. There was never a question about MassiveSway’s vision. They started with the goal of bloggers find their tribe and grow their pageviews, and that’s still going on to this very day. From education programs, to the lively Facebook group, to videos and other resources, the vision and focus are clear: We are all going to be great together.

So, let’s all learn from the gals at Massive Sway. Stop letting lack of vision hold you back. You KNOW what you’re good at. Allow yourself to be used to contribute to this world in the way that most makes sense for YOU. Stop trying to be everything to everybody, stop trying to do everything, and give yourself permission to live and thrive in YOUR best place.

Happy 5 Years, Sway Group! Thanks for the lessons, inspiration, community, and for having the vision!

Join the #SwayIs5 twitter party on Wednesday, June 22nd!

Where: #Swayis5 on Twitter
Time: 10-10:45am PST / 1-1:45pm EST

This is a sponsored post written on behalf of Sway Group.