Hi friends,

I am going to jump right into this week's post. If you have been following me on instagram you would have seen that last weekend I attended the BYOB retreat. BYOB stands for Build your Own brand. The conference created by Andrew @brandwithdrew hosted it's second year in Atlanta Georgia and brought together 2,000+ creatives, entrepreneurs, hustlers, and go getters for a weekend of connection and collaboration.

 There were panels, break out sessions, interactive q&A's and more. The goal of this conference was to give direct access to those who were looking to connect, and wanted insight on how to take their brand(s) to the next level. “YO WHADDUP MY PRICES GOING UP”

This was my first conference that I have invested in for my blog and I am so glad I did. I have so many great things to say about the BYOB retreat, from the production, opportunities to support black owned businesses, games and more. There was an app exclusive to BYOB attendees and wow it was my “bible” for the conference. Not only did it include all the attendees contacts and ways to message back and forth, it hosted all the conference information so I always knew what was going on and where I should be. I could honestly go on and on about what I took away from the conference but keep reading and I will share a few of my favorite gems.

One of my favorite sessions that I attended was the course creation one led by Andrew featuring the dynamic Danielle Leslie. I am sure you have heard of her name before but if you haven’t check her out on instagram. What stuck out to me about her speaking style was that she was so relatable. Often times we believe that we have to have a huge following in order to generate additional income but she highlighted clients who sold out 5 figure premium courses with little to no following.

Things shared in this session:

• Book to read: Essentialism: The disciplined pursuit of less

• Instead of B2B(business to business) connection focus on H2H(human to human) connection.

• If you are still working a 9-5 what skills professionally do you need to learn to help your brand? (She went back to school and worked at Udemy to learn from the best in course creation which helped her business)

• “Done is better than perfect”

• What can you do to automate your day to day? what is the least amount of work that you can automate?

• Figure out your lean advantage. (What can you do that no one else can)

• When considering your customer you need to know 1.Where they are now 2. Where do they want to be

• Do the most with the least and be resourceful

Another session I enjoyed was Passion to Profit. This was a panel led by 5 dynamic industry leaders I didn’t grab all of their names but I will find their information to link them. I enjoyed this session because the word passion to me always has me torn because I’ve been told not to monetize my passion so I had to hear what the panelists had to say. This session was about living in your purpose and how to kill it while doing so. A few gems from this session.

• In order to monetize your skills you need to 1. Identify your structure to capture wealth and 2. Remember that your passion should be fueled by purpose

• Trading your time for money

• Emphasis on the power of one. You get one on board others will soon follow

• “You’ve got to be able to see in the dark” this one was a whew man for me

• “You’ve got to live in the level of consciousness and not in the power of your circumstance”

• The beauty of networking across to build your team

• “Be the Diddy at  your level”

• “You are defined by what you decline not by what you accept”

• “Distractions can look like opportunities if you are not focused”

Lastly the keynote on Sunday night was led by the power house that is Karen Civil. I’ll be honest with you before this weekend I never knew exactly what Karen Civil did. I knew of her influence so it was great to hear her speak of her humble beginnings and about usually being the only black woman in the room in a male dominated industry.

Her confidence took over the room and it was clear she was secure in who Karen Civil was but it took time for her to get to that level. One thing she said resonated with me “Don’t step over your dollar to get a nickel”. This means that not all money is good money. Do not sell yourself short for a fast return when the opportunity does not align with your values. I was not hip to the work she is doing in Haiti and all of the deals and bags she is securing to create her legacy and to bring others along.

My heart and notebooks are so full of gems but I just wanted to give you a glimpse of what Byob retreat was all about. I left with new friendships, and maybe future business partners. Thank you to Andrew and his team for being visionaries. I am still on an energy high and am ready to level up in all aspects. Hit me up in the comments with any questions and I hope to see you at BYOB2020.

Thanks for reading!