FinConX: A Little Inspiration to Get My Ass in Gear

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FinCon 2020 Live was cancelled, but FinConX still went on.

Luckily, I actually paid attention to the emails and realized what was going on… the day before the event.

I had been ignoring the emails for some reason. I don’t know why, because I was aware there was some kind of live web event that was going to happen. Maybe I thought I was going to have to pay for it?

FinCon Live 2020 – CANCELLED!

I bought tickets to FinCon 2020 in 2019. It was supposed to be my main “me” event for 2020. So much of my time has been dedicated to my son’s cancer for the last two years that this was supposed to be all about me. Check that link for the beginning of the cancer story, but it’s present throughout after.

Some of my best friends now exist in the community that attends FinCon. So, though I had hoped to get inspired and take my blogging to the next level, it was really about connecting with the people who have helped me get through the last two years and been so supportive, which is mostly my internet community.

Anyway… I think I figured FinConX was going to be paid and I just couldn’t rationalize it to myself. I’ll explain why maybe I have the wrong thought process.

I didn’t plan to pay for any web events.

First, I have really mixed feelings about live events (don’t we all?). On the one hand, I hugely appreciate the accesiblity. Living 3.5 hours from an airport, with special needs preschooler… a lot of travel isn’t in the cards. Live events let me join! Hooray!

However, live events are pretty overwhelming. There’s just way too much to do in too little time. Also, though you may connect with some people you wouldn’t have otherwise (and that’s a good thing!) I still think the quality of the connections isn’t the same.

Now, couple all this with the fact that I have been on leave of absence for SEVEN MONTHS now, still on unemployment (soon to run out), I wasn’t going to pay to attend anything.

Plus I’ve been a shitty blogger.

My attentions are ALL over the place. You’d think being home all the time during the pandemic and LOA would mean I can focus. NOPE.

I’ve not been doing nothing! I’ve been working on art and growing an my Etsy shop (I’ll share more later). A big focus has been on my other website and more forward facing professional brand building. And, at least this fall, been doing the obsessive mushroom hunting that comes with a short crazy mushroom season.

But blogging has just been, blah. I haven’t known what to write. Everything feels charged and polarized and complain-y. Either everything is disgustingly rosy so at to diminish the gravity of our current pandemic situation, or I’m just another person bitching bitching bitching.

I dunno. Maybe it’s the season change. Maybe it’s post election. Covid rates are skyrocketing in the USA but I’m feeling better? Kind of? Just a good example of how quickly we adapt to the new normal I guess.

I didn’t figure I’d be making any great connections since I hadn’t been focusing on my blog much for a long time. So I didn’t plan to pay for anything.

FinConX had a free tier! My favorite!

ANYWAY, I finally put two and two together when someone asked me if I was going to attend the online Plutus Awards (a bunch of my friends were nominated, and won!).

Later that day I got a last warning email from FinCon about last day to signup. It said it was free (of course there were upgraded accesses you could buy)! I was all over that, and I’m so glad that I did!

FinConX Recap

I would have gotten more out of the event if I had signed up earlier. It was all a bit overwhelming trying to prep at 10pm the night before.

There was a FinConX Slack group to connect with others and vendors. Cool for me because I like Slack and can find it hard to keep up on live events. In practice it was so so. I hope they keep it open for a while with more opportunity to interact with sponsors.

I’m not really on Facebook so Slack would be a great option for more community support and engagment for me. Honestly, I think I’m just going to suck it up and slink back to my Facebook overlords so I can get more blogger peer support.

Speaking of, that was one takeaway for me from the breakout groups I could attend. Everyone mentioned a ton of Facebook groups like I should know what they were talking and it went right over my head.

The breakout groups were cool, but there wasn’t enough time devoted to them. I really wish more time had been given, maybe even by spreading the event over two days so that more networking could occur.

FinConX “Live” Recordings

Some of the bigger names, and with more diversity, I gather, than previous years presented live. I think they were actually recordings but whatever.

Some were better than others. I got some encouragement from Tanja Hester’s presentation. Some of the things that I feel are stumbling blocks for me she made out to be positives. I often feel like I’m so all over the place and I don’t know who my audience is. I’m just too weird. I want to enjoy blog so I am true to myself.

Might not buy me a large audience but hopefully the few who do follow appreciate me and all the bits even if they are all over the place.

Other presentations made me think more about how if I’m doing it, I should be putting some more effort into making some money out of it.

Refocused on winning this game.

I never got into blogging thinking I would be successful or make much money off it. But, surprisingly, the whole activity and skills I have built have led me to be able to make some connections and some money online!

Arugably, it’s not money directly from this site. I’m sitting at a whopping $62 from running ads right now and can’t even cash out until I hit $100. But, I have made some connections that have helped me in making another site I do a little better with.

I’ve also gained the confidence to know that if I really wanted to focus into it, I could make some decent money.

Attending this event was really worth it to give me a little inspiration and hopefully, to refocus. It got me here writing tonight, right!?

And, since I am making a little bit of money online now, though not near as much as I like, maybe I need to be more mindful of taking the plunge and spending on events. They really do light a small fire under my ass. I’m beginning the think that live events, of the right variety, are the prescription I need, about every 8 months or so, to remember why I’m here and what my potential is.

So that’s what I’m going to try to do, make some decent money. Work towards a more and more semi-retired life where I could support myself if needed.

Let’s followup on my NEXT post where I can talk about some of what I’ve been doing to make money online and ideas I have for how I might want to expand.

As a teaser – I will be trying to pursue money coaching more actively and you’ll hear more about my sticker making game!