What I learned at my first Alt Summit

Alt Summit (short for Altitude), is a conference for bloggers, brands, crafters, business owners, and creatives of any kind. I think it used to carry a stigma that it was all about fashion blogging or design-specific blogs, but that’s definitely not the case. I met singers, business coaches, life coaches, podcasters, photographers, authors, and all kinds of people who are living their own kinds of dreams.

I was lucky enough to stay at the beautiful Parker Palm Springs hotel with a few good friends. The Parker was by far the coolest hotel I’ve ever been to in my life. The trails throughout the grounds were hedged by shrubbery and trees, and I felt like I was in a scene from Alice in Wonderland when I walked through them.

The decor was mid-century modern, which makes sense, because the hotel was owned by old-time movie star and musician Gene Autry. Palm Springs became a hoppin’ place for movie stars in the 30s.

Alt had a full schedule of classes from Sunday through Thursday, and I attended about six or seven classes from Monday through Thursday. Here are some tidbits of what I learned from classes and other creatives at Alt Summit:

Joanna Gaines on being yourself as a business owner

She reminded me how important it is to stay in my lane and not let what others are doing distract me from MY purpose and goals. It’s not worth it to sacrifice your authenticity and your long-term goals in order to keep up with who or what’s perceived as popular.

She talked about finding motivation and by grounding ourselves in who we are and WHY we’re doing what we’re doing.

Be YOU, and people, customers and followers (although I kind of hate that word), will stick around.

Joy Cho from Oh Joy taught on building a team

The right time to build a team is when you’re feeling overworked and/or you’re ready to take your business to the next level. You may have to sacrifice money in some other areas in order to make it happen.

The hiring process: Get very specific about who you want, and outline every expectation, qualification, and job duty in your description, even if it feels like you’re overstating.

Interviewing tips: Do they give thoughtful answers? Have they taken time to really think about how they can contribute to your company? Give them a test project as a “callback” interview.

Keeping the best people: Maintain open and consistent communication. Be thorough with on-boarding and training. Be a role model–let them see you working hard down in the weeds. Show appreciation often. And my favorite tip: Surprise and delight your employees by remembering their birthdays, work anniversaries, and going the extra mile to show them appreciation and validation when they earn it. I also loved that she talked about getting familiar with your team member’s dreams, not only as they apply specifically to their position with you. How can you help them build their dreams?

Day-to-day operations: Stick to regular staff meetings to connect and brainstorm. Learn to delegate, so you can focus on the most important things. Have dedicated time when your employees can’t interrupt you, so you can get the necessary work done, but specify times when they know they can approach you. Communicate specific check-ins for projects so employees don’t feel micromanaged. When giving feedback, make it constructive and solution-based.

If your actions create a legacy that inspires others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, then you are an excellent leader.

-Dolly Parton

Elle Rowley from Solly Baby on running a business and being a mom

You’ll encounter fear and resistance all along the way. Don’t give up. You CAN run a business, and you can do it the way you want to. Fear is a sign that you’re doing it right. Elle used to assume everyone else was smarter than her and could do it better, but it’s not true.

Create value: Focus on creating value for your customers, not making yourself more valuable. Don’t make business failures personal failures. Approach them from a place of curiosity and learning.

Some questions to ask yourself about your business: What’s the next step in your business? What potential roadblocks do you see? List five reasons you are a running a business. Build your business around them. Stop apologizing for the work you’re doing. Make it a positive thing. Remember it helps your kids to see you work, follow your dreams, fail, and get up again. Feel proud of what you’re doing and your kids will too.

No drama, mama: When problems or negativity arises, focus on the solution, not the emotion. Save your energy for more important things. Respond with love every time, no matter what. The payoff is how you get to feel when you respond thoughtfully instead of reacting negatively.

Mom-guilt: It just means you care deeply about your kids. Stop apologizing for the work you do. It can bless your kids and family if you let it. They will be proud of your work if you are.

Saying no: Essentialism, basically. Say no if the yield is not high enough for your customers or your family’s wellbeing!

I also learned about clarifying our brand story and articulating what you do from Macy Robison, using your platform for good from Meg Conley, deepening connections with your community from Arriane Serafico, how turn setbacks (even devastating ones) into sucess from Susan Peterson of Freshly Picked, and working as a husband-wife team from Corrine and Neil Stokoe. Explaining a few more takeaways from my overall experience at Alt:

• Your dreams and your business can only be as big as you believe they can be. The only things stopping you are your thoughts and the action you’re willing (or unwilling) to take.
• Most of us are walking around pretending we know what we’re doing, but we’re just making it up as we go. The real secret to success is starting before you’re ready, before you have all the how-tos figured out.
• Do what YOU feel called to do. Not what someone else is doing or what you think you should be doing.
• Focus on what you can give and how you can help instead of what you can get and who can help you. More opportunities come when you’re generous.

Do you have any questions about Alt? Is it something you think you might go to someday?