My first word of advice – if going to what is likely to be a great event with lots to process afterwards, book out the following days so you can process it!

Attending the PB event last week (yes, this time last week I was sitting in a room to hear Shayne Tilley in the second sessions of the day) was great and I came away with lots of ideas, inspiration and information, plus some great new friendships and relationships.

However, it was back to work as usual on Monday morning. Well, I say as usual but I’ve had some urgent client projects come up this week so it has, in fact, been more hectic than usual.

So I haven’t had the time to sit and read through all my notes or listen to the recordings of the sessions I didn’t attend. Or relisten to the great ones I want to get more out of.

Nor share a lot of those tips and insights with others.

From little actions big things happen

Right from the start, Darren set the theme of the weekend to be from little things big things come.

Even the biggest trees started as small seedlings

{I have to say that I was often distracted by the song ‘from little things big things grow’ used in an ad promoting a group of industry super funds! Distracting similarity but the message is accurate and valuable in both instances.}

It then followed that all the speakers gave practical information so we could pick up little details and see how to apply them to our own blogs. With everyone repeating that taking things step by step and doing lots of little things you can build a success (however you define success).

Major take home message: make 15 minutes a day to work on something important.

Think about it – 15 minutes a day isn’t that hard to find but adds up to 75 minutes a working week or 60 hours (which is 7.5 working days) a year – with 4 weeks annual leave allowed for 🙂

How many new designs could you create or words could you put to paper or sales calls you could make in 60 hours? That may just be the ‘extra day in the week’ many people wish for.

If you want me to write a post on ways to use that 15 minutes, let me know as a comment or email me – or send me a tweet for that matter!

Provide quality and value for your readers

The event was aimed at bloggers so the message was to give readers quality – but the concept is just as valid for any aspect of your business.

Some points on this:

• Make posts and information products useful and informative
• Find your voice (or brand) and stay with it
• Monitor what your readers like and give them more of that
• If accepting money for a sponsored post or ad, ask ‘what’s in it for my readers?’ You get paid, obviously, but make the post valuable to your readers above all
• add opinions as well as information or share a learning experience so people feel they get an answer (paraphrased quote from Chris Guillebeau)

 Make a connection

Various speakers over the conference touched on the importance of engaging and connecting with your audience and with other bloggers.

Here are some of their quotes (written as they spoke so these are close to word-perfect but may be slightly different to their exact words):

Look after and engage your readers – engaged readers will do more for making money than having lots of readers ~ Darren Rowse

Involvement begets commitment ~ James Tuckerman

A focus on building relationships and providing value to people will lead to success ~ Chris Guillebeau

[within your blog have a ] hidden message of ‘you’re not alone’ coming through as everyone needs to feel connection and belonging ~ Chris Guillebeau

Final words

I think Darren had some important words to say in his opening and closing talks.

The theme was little things add to big things, but also to realise everyone starts small so don’t feel inferior to others. Again, based on my notes, he said:

Comparing yourself to other bloggers makes you feel small and is not constructive – focus on good things happening on your own blog. Look at other blogs for inspiration not comparison.

If you have questions or simply want to learn more from the great speakers at PB Event, you could…

• leave a comment below and I’ll do my best to answer you
• grab a virtual ticket to PB Event and hear all the speakers (and see their slides). {Yes, this is an affiliate link so I would get a commission for referring you.}
• use the #pbevent tag in Twitter – there are still a lot of tips being shared
• read blog posts from people who were there – try posts from Belinda, Rita, Helena, Alison and Chantelle to get you started

And with that said, I am off to read more pb event posts myself and do 15 minutes for my subscribers – you can subscribe to get updates of new posts by ticking the box as you leave a comment or fill in the form in the sidebar.

How do you feel as a blogger or small business owner – do you feel small compared to others with more readers or a bigger income? Do you compare yourself to others rather than acknowledging your own progress and successes?