I Attended the First Ever Hustle At Sea. Get the Scoop

I just spent the last week soaking in gems, knowledge, tips, and best practices.

We call it Hustle at Sea—a curated set of workshops and experiences by Audrey McClelland and Vera Sweeney, who are both major players in our industry. What’s more is we are on a Carnival Cruise while partaking in all of this goodness! (Thanks, Carnival!)

When I first heard about this retreat while in an exclusive Facebook Group of powerful and successful bloggers and content creators, I paid it no mind. There are so many conferences and events—I attended many of them and found myself burned out on, or not getting the ROI I expected.

After a few months, the retreat popped up in my feed again, and this time, I did some research. There’s power in learning and growing, even if you’ve been in the game for a minute. What a great way to surround yourself with others who get what you do and can share their tips for success. I decided that after being stagnant and stuck for over the past year, I would register for Hustle at Sea and allow myself to be open, ready to learn, and vulnerable.

This last week has been just what I needed. Five days of a retreat style un-conference on the Carnival Paradise ship which docked in both Grand Cayman and Cozumel. Playtime was in the rotation too, as this was a great Work Life Management mix which is key to our overall health and wellness.

It has been a week of bonding and learning and getting back to what it is that I love about the blogging community.

If you don’t do anything else for your career or niche, I implore you to attend an event (or three) that will help you do the same. Start researching conferences, events, retreats, etc. and begin working towards being able to pay for your ticket to attend. Consider it an investment in your future and in your success.

I plan on writing a more extensive wrap up of what I learned at Hustle at Sea, but here are three important gems to remember when working on building and solidifying your brand:

You are the secret sauce

You are the niche. Train your audience to know what to expect from you. Compose a story and become an everyday part of their routine.

Niche down…yes…all the way down

Niche yourself down so that you are able to capture a viable audience and become the authority. Being a food blogger isn’t enough. You must niche yourself down to be seen and heard through the noise. Change being a food blogger to being a vegan food blogger focused on gluten free meals and recipes for families. That’s niching yourself down.

Audio is key

Audio is now even more important than video. Why? Because everyone is doing video but not everyone is doing audio. Try recording 5 minute podcasts sharing tips from blog posts you’ve already written, then release them as a podcast series. Boom, instant audio content.

I will be taking the next few days to go over my notes from Hustle at Sea and then putting forth a plan of action so that I can attack the goals I’ve created from what I learned.

Stay tuned for more coverage of the event, which will be on The Cubicle Chick—just as soon as I can descramble my brain and get through the “re-entry” back to life, back to reality process.

You can read more about Hustle at Sea on Audrey’s site HERE and HERE.

Keep shining!