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What I Learned From The Financial Blogger Conference

By on October 14, 2011

You already know I went to the Financial Blogger Conference a couple weekends ago.  And I wasn’t going to do one of these recap posts because everyone did one and I figured readers were probably pretty sick of hearing about it.

But I wanted to at least share my two major takeaways from the conference, because maybe you’ll be able to apply them to your life, as well.

Here are two things I brought back from the conference:

1. A realization of my blogging purpose and business.
2. A stronger bond with my blogging friends and readers.

Blogging Purpose and Business

In September 2011, my earnings from this blog/freelancing exceeded the income I bring home from my full-time job.  Yeah.  Crazy.

Months like these are rare and it was partly a fluke and partly good timing, but it still shocked me.  Not like I need to state the obvious, but it was the most successful month ever for my freelancing work and Blonde & Balanced.

It forced me to realize that I actually have a business on my hands and I need to start treating it as such.  I’ve been avoiding this issue for a long time, but It’s time that I accept that writing and blogging are a real business.

I don’t anticipate my freelance/blog earnings to surpass my full-time pay again any time soon, but I think it needed to happen for me to realize I am a “business owner”.

I was overwhelmed at the conference because I kept thinking, “I don’t want to be a problogger and I think everyone around me does”.

But after analyzing my income, I’ve realized that not everyone that starts a blog is meant to be a pro-blogger, but there are places in the blogosphere for successful non-pro-bloggers, too.

Treating my writing/blogging as a business doesn’t mean things will change much around here.  It only means I’ll provide more.  I’ll be a more structured blogger.  I’ll work harder to make it more beneficial to readers: I’ll write about what you want to hear and I’ll do more giveaways.

This may not be a business where I’m selling clothes or cooking food for people, but this is a business of interacting with others and learning from each other.  And, you know what they say: if you can’t find your dream job, you should create it.  Okay, I totally just came up with it, but I’m sure someone brilliant said some variation of that phrase at some point in our world’s existence.

Blogging Bonds

I have a great group of blogging friends and readers that I e-mail and tweet with.  I discuss blogging ideas, complain about blogging frustrations, and geek out over completely nerdy blogging stuff with other bloggers; I e-mail and tweet and laugh and joke with readers.  Even though they’re online, these are all REAL friendships and relationships.

It’s a little weird only knowing these people through the Interwebs, but they’re really like my co-workers and peers, so maintaining and fostering friendships is important.

Plus, Interdependence is starting to mean a lot to me (yes, I’m still reading The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People).  It’s hard to succeed without working with your peers.  What’s good for other bloggers is good for me.  What’s good for other CPAs is good for me.  What’s good for other Kansas Citians is good for me.  I need to foster these blogging bonds to ever grow my blogging business.

Krystal from Give Me Back My Five Bucks and Cathy from Fiscally Chic are my BBFFs (blogging best friends forever).  I’m not really sure what I would have done without them at the conference.  Probably wandered around aimlessly in tears?

In addition, I had a lot of fun with Jeff from Sustainable Life Blog and Eddie from Finance Fox.  Oh and Punch Debt was there and he was just as creepy as you’d imagine (kidding :) ).  And I finally got to meet David from Money Under 30 and he is pretty much as cool as he seems on his blog.  And I met tons of other awesome bloggers, but I can’t name them all here.

So, those are the two lessons I took home from the Financial Blogger Conference.  I know many readers can’t relate, since they didn’t attend the conference, but maybe my lessons will translate to some area of your life.

If you’re making side income, are you treating it like a serious business and giving it the attention it deserves?  Are you fostering relationships with peers and focusing on interdependence in your career and relationships?  Let me know in a comment.

And just for fun, here’s a pic of Punch Debt in the Face if you’ve ever wondered what he looks like: :)

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Categories: Blogging, Relationships6 Comments

Full Calendar

By on August 6, 2011

a life in balance

Starting this weekend, I have plans every single weekend until Mid-October.  October!  That’s ridiculous.  Three of those weekends we’ll be out of town, 2 weekends include weddings, 1 weekend includes my 10-year high school reunion (AHH!), and the rest are just random events.

G and I are both pretty social, but he is MUCH more social than I and he has several circles of friends that we need to make time for.  That’s on top of our frequent family gatherings and the occasional gatherings with my groups of friends.

Five years ago, I would have loved a social schedule like this.  These days?  Not so much.  I love seeing everyone, but I also really cherish my down time.  G does as well.  But we also have other things going on that we need to make time for, too.  G is a campaign manager for a local political campaign and I have my freelancing responsibilities to attend to.

I find that when we don’t get in our down time, we have to start turning people down when they invite us to events.  Most people are okay with that, but some people … aren’t.

In the coming weeks, I’ll have to find some balance in my calendar to fit in my normal hobbies and interests (working out, r.e.l.a.x.i.n.g.) in between all of these social events.

How do you balance your life when your social calendar is out of control?

Categories: Balance, Friends, Relationships, Time12 Comments

Why It’s Called “Personal” Finance

By on March 31, 2011

tweet announcing G as budgeter

A couple of weeks ago, I tweeted out the above special announcement about G becoming the president of budgeting after we combine finances (and yes, I realize there is somewhat of a typo in the tweet – sorry, that’s what happens on a teeny-tiny keyboard in an 140 character space).

Not surprisingly, I was met with a couple shocked responses.  But, really, this is no surprise.  Do you see many detailed budgeting posts on my blog?  Nope.  Even when I was anonymous, I rarely blogged about my weekly/daily spending habits or my detailed budgets.

Extremely detailed budgeting just doesn’t get me all jazzed up.  Yes, it is what got me out of debt, but now that I’ve gotten comfortable with my spending habits and living below my means, I don’t see the need for a strict budget if it doesn’t excite me.

G, however, is very different.  He maintains a meticulous, self-made budget in Microsoft Excel.  I sorta love that about him, too.  He updates it regularly – I think weekly, but sometimes daily.  I always know when he’s crunching the numbers because I get e-mails like “where did I spend $37.08 last Saturday?” or “we ate out too much this month”.

Even though I’m not a budgeter, that doesn’t mean I’m not interested in personal finance.

While G thrives on working the details, I seem to focus on the bigger picture … in most cases.  To illustrate, here are our personal finance interests:

Amber’s Personal Finance Interests:

G’s Personal Finance Interests:

  • Budgeting – the detailed kind
  • Detailed saving for all purchases, big and small (from groceries and oil changes to cars and houses)
  • Investing
  • Short-term and long-term financial goals

My personal finance focuses have most definitely shifted in recent years.  Like I mentioned earlier, extreme budgeting got me out of debt, but since my saving and spending habits have changed, I don’t have the need to budget so scrupulously.

One habit that hasn’t changed since I became debt-free?  Frugality and my desire to look for good deals.  I have scored some killer deals during wedding planning and really do plan to be a bargain-hunter for the rest of my life.  What’s the point of spending $100 on something when you can spend $50?  If I can’t find a good deal, it’s not the end of the world (trust me, they’re not always out there), but it never hurts to try.

In addition to being the family budgeter, G has also been assigned the investing hottie guru.  Investing interests him, he does his research, and I trust him to make good decisions for us and our family.  He controls our employer-sponsored retirement plan investments and all our outside investments (independent retirement accounts and other investments).  He’s good at it and it works for us.

Something that I have been focusing on more in the recent years is personal/professional growth and side-income streams.  With my CPA and freelance writing, I have made a lot of progress recently.  I’m excited to see where both ventures take me.  G is also starting to try his hand at professional growth – he recently started studying for a computer-related certification exam.  Go G!

What are your personal finance interests?  What personal finance topics don’t interest you?

Categories: Combined Finances, Dollars, Finances, Frugality, Relationships, Retirement16 Comments

Let’s Talk About Assertiveness

By on January 28, 2011

I can be assertive.  I love assertive people.  I think it gets things done and points people on the right track.  As an assertive person, I seriously dislike these things:

  • Being passive-aggressive.  (No, no, no!  Especially on Facebook.  Passive-aggressive Facebook status updates are THE. WORST.)
  • Being timid in your requests, beliefs, questions. (Ask for what you want.  It’s. That. Simple.  Don’t beat around the bush and sheepishly toss out an idea if you know exactly what you want.)
  • Political correctness.  (It’s just a bottleneck for saying what you really want to say.  Much to my chagrin, it’s a game you have to play these days, so I play along.)

I wasn’t always very assertive, but I grew into it with age.  I think my assertiveness really started to break-free when I became more comfortable a work.  After seeing one too many passive aggressive meetings go nowhere, I realized that being assertive is not a bad thing. 

Assertiveness definitely has its perks, most recently during my wedding planning shenanigans.  But I also have a lot of success from being assertive at work, as a consumer, and just in life where I have to tell it like it is and get something done.

I’m not one of those constantly assertive people though.  I’ve learned when to turn it on and turn it off.  I do have a sensitive side.  Some of my closest friends might not even really know about my assertiveness because I don’t really need to be assertive when I’m hanging out with mis amigas.  I only dial up the assertiveness when necessary – and I think that’s the best way to play up your assertiveness.

Not surprisingly, G is almost the exact opposite. (Opposites attract?)  While I’m more concerned with getting sh*t done, he’s usually more concerned with people’s feelings.  Neither of us is right or wrong, we just deal with situations differently.  Sometimes this drives me crazy, but G is well-known for being well-liked because he is always concerned with other’s feelings.

But that’s another misconception of assertiveness: Assertive does not equal mean.  I may ask for what I want, but I am (usually) always polite about it.  I smile, I throw in a friendly laugh to make someone a little more comfortable (that is, until I lash out in a fit of rage if they don’t give me what I want … ha ha. I kid, I kid.).  I am not a mean person, I’m just a person who knows what I want and am not afraid to ask for it.

Being assertive has benefitted me in so many ways over the years – in my finances, my career, my life, and my wedding planning.  While it may have taken some growing into, I’ve learned to love it.

Are you assertive or passive? Do you and your significant other act similarly or differently?

Categories: About Me, Life, Relationships19 Comments

Team Mr. & Mrs. G: More Thoughts on Combining Finances

By on December 17, 2010

It’s clear from the comment section on my last post about combining finances with your spouse/significant other is a hot topic.  But what’s not so clear are the rules to follow when you do combine finances.  Combine it all?  Combine some?  Or not at all?

Even though I am nervous about the new venture, we will combine our finances 100%.  There was never really a question as to if we will or won’t, since we became serious in our relationship, we knew we’d combine our finances after marriage.

Here’s why:

  • We’re all about that whole “we’re a team, let’s do this together, ra ra sis boom bah” thing.
  • We believe that separate finances drive a wedge between you and the other person.
  • We trust each other.
  • We are sick of splitting things down the middle (yay for never having to ask the waitress to split the tab again!).
  • It is how we were both raised and we think it works – especially if you plan to start a family.
  • It fosters communication.

After stating all of that, we don’t disagree with others who choose to have separate finances.  I am not implying that those who have separate finances are not trustworthy or a team.  Everyone is different, yo – that’s why the world is so fabulous!

What do you think of our reasons to combine finances?

Categories: Combined Finances, Dollars, Love, Relationships10 Comments