Networking in denim

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Networking in denim

Posted on February 19, 2010

Last week I was fortunate enough to be asked to go to Disney World as part of its first ever Social Media Moms Celebration. First of all, how cool was it just to be invited? Second of all, the itinerary was amazing - talks by former supermodel and successful business woman Kathy Ireland, Maxine Clark (founder of Build-A-Bear), Marissa Winkour (from Hairspray) and Chris Brogan (well, of social media fame).

The best part of all this networking and learning was that we were able to bring our kids along.

So imagine - I'm at Disney. I have my kids with me. I'm very excited to be there and eager to learn. Everyone else had their kids. We're all dressed casually, in jeans and sweaters.

So why was I still so nervous? Why was it still so hard for me to walk up to someone I didn't know, stick my hand out and say, "Hi, I'm Tara. My blog is the Young Mommy Life. What's yours?"

Even though I have made some huge strides in the past few months (my blog traffic has literally doubled), I still felt like a newbie. I felt intimidated by the legions of bloggers who seemed to already know each other, who have worked together on many projects before this conference.

How am I going to make it in my career when I can't even network when I'm most comfortable? What does it mean when I can't start up a conversation when I'm in jeans?

I'm working on it. I have a few more blogger conferences this year and I'm pushing myself to get out there, to speak up, to add something of value. Because if I don't, my career will suffer. And that's not an option.

 

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