Confession: I wasn’t planning to blog today, but I logged onto Facebook and saw the sweetheart Amanda Hedgepeth had blogged about Creative and I realized- holy cow! It’s THIS WEEKEND. I mean, I knew it was this weekend, but it hadn’t really sunk in yet.

For those of you who haven’t heard of it, Creative @ Heart is a two-day conference for creative small business owners. But it’s not just any conference. It’s not one that’s focused on “the cool kids” or merely those who are good at projecting an image of success, it’s one that sincerely seeks to authentically educate and encourage everyone who attends, no matter WHERE they are in their business. And I love that SO much!

I also love that part of the heart at the center of the conference is to foster relationships among professionals! Natalie Franke wrote one of the best blogs I’ve ever read two weeks ago entitled Overcoming Comparison, and in that post she talked about the importance of “community over competition.” That notion is a huge part of C@H! Within the wedding industry, there’s a lot of borderline-cutthroat competition. And it’s the kind of thing that leaves you feeling even lonelier than you already did, being a small business of one. So I love that C@H provides an atmosphere that allows attendees to blow past the defensive, secret-keeping nature that so many in the industry feel like they need to maintain, and gets straight to the “how can we grow together?” idea. During Natalie’s talk, she summed it up perfectly with this sentiment:

“A rising tide lifts all boats.”

I can’t wait for this weekend! I can’t wait to see old friends, to make new ones, to have authentic, raw conversations with people I’ve just met. Because I think there’s something really powerful in being new to the industry and hearing someone who’s been at it for several years say “it IS a struggle sometimes, and I DON’T have it all together, but the good news is that YOU don’t have to have it all together, either.”

This round of C@H will be a little different for me, since I’ll be speaking to the group at large as well as serving on a panel. I’m really nervous, but I’m even more excited for the chance to share about concepts that have made such a huge difference in my business and life! If you’ll be there this weekend and I haven’t met you before, PLEASE come say hi- it would be such a joy to hug you!