Skip to Content

I Attended #TypeACon with Hairy Legs and No One Made Me an Outcast

I Attended #TypeACon with Hairy Legs and No One Made Me an Outcast

How’s that for an opener. It’s true though. I did drive all the way from Chicago, Illinois to Atlanta Georgia to attend #TypeACon or the Type A Parent Conference for the second time in my blogging career. Yes. Career. This is my job now people. The cool thing is, I get to have fun with it when I want, yet still dress up like an adult as well. Except, this time I didn’t take care of one thing that I figure I should have before leaving. Shaving my legs. It’s weird that it was the one thing that I thought about the most during my 13 hour drive. The fact that I had hair on my legs, and no razor. 

I’ve attended the conference twice. My first time was in 2012, and I remember thinking how wonderfully relaxed it was. It was my first blogging conference in general, and while I was nervous, I was comfortable. I met some of the greatest bloggers I know there, and to this day we are still fast friends. What’s even better is, I talked to the organizer Kelby Carr without even knowing that she was the organizer, and she didn’t turn me away. Even sat down with me, and talked even though I’m sure she had a gazillion things that she could have been doing at that time. My money is important to me. Mostly because I don’t  have a lot of it to give out, and I still have more return on my investment from Type A that I would imagine a blog conference of this size could give. 

Then something amazing happened. My extreme lack of sleep caused me to not care. I didn’t care, and I had the NERVE to wear dresses the entire weekend that I was there. One of them was even a REPEAT from BlogHer. No one cared about my dresses, no one cared about what I was wearing ALTHOUGH a couple of folks tried to “borrow” a necklace that I was wearing. No one judged me – at least openly – on my appearance. They all enjoyed talking to me. Natasha. Even though I was representing my brand – Houseful Of Nicholes – I was received and celebrated for being with my tribe. A bunch of bloggers from around the country who all congregated in Atlanta for one main purpose. To learn, and teach, and love. 

The longer that I stay in the blogging game, the more stuff I come to realize. I’ll try to recap as best I can, but don’t hold me to sharing EVERYTHING because I’m not an elephant, and don’t remember all the things anymore. 

  • Blogging is what the blogger makes it. You can blog for fame, fortune, or just because you like typing words into an internet browser and sharing them with a bunch of folk that you may never meet in real life. 
  • No matter WHAT you plan for, SOMEONE is not going to like the way that you set things up. This goes to the planners of the conferences, the speakers at the conferences, the sponsors of the conferences. If you talk about monetizing, then those who blog for hobby are going to have crap to say. If you don’t speak enough about making money then you’ll have those who NEED ALL THE SPONSORED POSTS get upset. Let me tell you, it’s cool either way. I don’t come to conferences SOLELY because I think that they hold all of the answers for me. I come because I want to invest in my business, and it’s up to me to figure out the best way. 
  • Shaved legs are optional. No one is paying attention. If they are, they probably won’t say anything because they are harboring a secret. Like unshaved armpits. 
  • It is very possible to be an introverted extrovert. Only now am I comfortable with admitting it. I needed time to decompress a LOT in my hotel room. 
  • If you’re homeless when you go down, all you need to do is send out a blogger signal, and someone who you know will let you sleep in their room. 
  • Long drives give you so much time to think about all the things you COULD and SHOULD be doing for you blog, and then gives you even more time to realize that some of the COULDS can fall by the wayside because they just don’t work for you or your platform or your readers. 
  • You can learn just as much on an expo floor with a blogger that you just happen to chat with for an hour as you could in a session. Just open your mind! I got so much inspiration OUTSIDE of the sessions that I’m not sure where to put it all, but it has to go somewhere! 
  • I miss blogging from a personal standpoint. There, I said it. I know that I share personal stories every now and again, but I hate that I’m not rich yet humble. I mean, being rich could solve a lot right now, and I could just share personal stories about how all of our money is going to pay private school tuition for the cellist. But right now, I’m just mediocre income based, and don’t have the energy to always type about tuition. 
  • I love my readers, because they keep me up and send me great emails, and even click on affiliate links. 

Like I said, driving from CHI-MEM-ATL-MEM-CHI all in the span of three days did me in, but it made me realize one thing. I’m still a blogger – hairy legs or not. 

 

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Christina Gleason @ WELL, in THIS House

Thursday 2nd of October 2014

I didn't bring a razor with me. I shaved my legs before I hopped on the plane to Atlanta, and I didn't shave them again until I got home. When Kelby says something is "Come As You Are," she means it. :-)

Welcome to the "Type-A is my favorite conference because of the people!" tribe.

Andrea B (@goodgirlgonered)

Tuesday 23rd of September 2014

I adore you. Although our time together was minimal I can forgive you because I have all the love. ♡

Natasha

Tuesday 23rd of September 2014

Love you back! I know that we didn't spend any time together, but I think that I went into shock when you revealed your age to me. I'm still in shock!

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.