DisneySMMoms Wrap Up

Two week ago today, I was just wrapping up my whirlwind visit to Walt Disney World for the Disney Social Media Moms Conference. Seems like it was ages ago! Kathy Ireland & us. She is so tall.

Poor woman probaly felt as if she had landed in Munchkinland!

I mentioned in my last post that four other bloggers and I were asked if we would like to watch Kathy Ireland tape a promo. We watched her tape, then were asked if we would like to sit in while Kathy taped another video for her website. I did not realize that we were going to be actively participating. I was caught totally off guard. My mind was so full of information overload combined with lack of sleep, that simply answering a simple question like "what I learned at the conference" was quite daunting. Ask me today, after I had the opportunity to process and my response will probably be more on point. But Kathy is so warm and gracious that I somewhat got through it.

One other question that Kathy asked was "What we would say was the secret to our success ."

The other bloggers run their blog differently than I do. My blog is currently personal. I don't run my blog as a business...yet. So the only success garnered from my blogging is the relationships and connections made with other bloggers. I've "known" some bloggers for many years, although we have never met in real life. We have seen each others children grow and we share our daily lives. Both ups & downs.

I have enjoyed success in business as well, albeit not blog related. I sold real estate for many years. My business was primarily based on referrals from my clients. To this day, I have former clients calling me. But I took a permanent hiatus from real estate after my heart attack and no longer work in RE. The only "secret" to my success in business was treating my clients how I would want to be treated. Plain & simple. How I live my life is how I ran my business. It wasn't just about closing a sale, it was about making them happy and forming relationships. I would get invited to not only housewarmings, but to birthdays, weddings & christenings. I know, that's not how many realtors would choose to run their business, but it's how I choose to run every aspect of my life.

As for answering Kathy's question, the one and only way that I measure my success is through my daughters. Knowing that they have grown to be wonderful, thoughtful & giving young ladies. Seeing that they have embraced the values that we have instilled in them as they move towards making a life on their own in the near future. Is that a secret? Not really, but they are my main success. Bigger than any of my other accomplishments. In business or otherwise.

My response felt strange compared to the awsome responses from the other bloggers. But it is what it is.

I was secretly hoping that they would edit me out. No such luck. ;-)

There really is no way to fully describe how awesome DisneySMMoms was. I was able to acquire knowledge and information about all aspects of blogging from both speakers and attendees. If I finally decide to change the direction of my blog, I now have some fantastic tools and references. For me it has always been about building relationships No matter how I choose to run this blog, be it business or otherwise, this will always stay the same.

Not only was the conference itself amazing, but the events were out of this world! No one does it like Disney! A special shout-out goes out to

Leanne @leannej and Laura @LauraSpencerOne for all they did to make this event rock!

So in a nutshell, aside from the actual conference, which as I've mentioned 1000 times was fantabulous, I also met many new bloggy friends. I had the opportunity to stay at Disney's Polynesian Resort after so many years. I was able to go with my family and enjoy the parks. We had a Magic Fast pass, 'nuff said!

We're going back to Disney in March for our anniversary and will miss that little card! And the Poly of course.

Until next year... hopefully.

A great big THANK YOU to Walt Disney World, 5 Minutes for Mom, Resourceful Mommy Media, Mom Bloggers Club and Mom Select

Although I did pay a greatly reduced rate for this event, all opinions are my own. I was not asked to write about the events or The Walt Disney Company.