blog Archives - Girl Loves Glam

Hiring Assistants. Virtual Assistant FAQ’s Video

October 15, 2015 By McKenzie 2 Comments

Hiring assistants can literally save your sanity! I have four virtual assistants. Yes, I said FOUR! My blog keeps me busy enough for them and it isn’t even a huge blog. Even if you aren’t a blogger, hiring help is a good idea for anybody! I did a Periscope video all about my virtual assistants, what they do for me, how much I pay them, how I manage everything with my assistants! I shared ALL of it! It was a really popular scope, so I decided to bring it back onto YouTube so it can be watched anytime.

The main point I bring across in the video is how important it is to do what you do best and hire out what you don’t. I say it “Do your best, hire the rest”. I think this is something you kind of have to remind yourself of too. That’s why I had my gorgeous assistant make this awesome printable that you can put somewhere that you see often. It will be a great reminder to you that sometimes it is best to take a step back and get some help!

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Filed Under: blog, life, printable, tips, Video Tagged With: advice, assistant, blog, hire, hiring help, periscope, tips, video, virtual assistant

Snap Conference 2014 Recap and Video

April 28, 2014 By McKenzie 19 Comments

Guys. I am literally dying. Okay, not literally. BUT… I am tired! I haven’t slept in days. But not the “I am stressed out of my mind” kind of not sleeping in days. This is different. This feeling is more like a “I am too old to stay up all night giggling like I am 12 years old again” kind of not sleeping. This feeling only happens one time of year and can only mean one thing. Snap Conference!

There is nothing quite like learning until your head is about to explode while simultaneously laughing until you pee your pants. That pretty much sums up what Snap Conference is like for me.

When I started my blog, I had no idea that there were even other bloggers really out there. I started it so I could have something to do and somewhere to showcase what I was doing while Dave was student teaching. After post of mine went somewhat viral, I realized that I could take this whole blogging thing a little further and do it for real. That was when I learned about Snap Conference. It was 3 years ago and it was completely life changing.

Because of that first conference, I met some of my very best friends. I was inspired to start a guild for the Idaho bloggers. I found the courage to try new things.

To say I have a soft spot for Snap Conference would be a serious understatement… It would be like saying that the season finale of Scandal was no big deal… or like saying that Jimmy Fallon is only kind of cute. Snap Conference literally changed my life and continues to change my life every year. I am asked a lot about how different blog conferences compare to each other. For me, it is an unfair question. Nowhere else can I find all of my closest, sweetest friends in one place, away from our kids while we learn how to make what we are passionate about even better.

Now I will get off my soapbox and let you watch this week’s installment of YouTube Monday! It is a short one, but it is a goodie! See the highlights of Snap Conference. You may even see your favorite bloggers in there too!

Filed Under: blog, Video Tagged With: blog, blog conference, blogger, snap, Snap Conference, video, youtube

For the Love Event

March 28, 2014 By McKenzie Leave a Comment

A few weeks ago, I went to an incredible event in Salt Lake City at The Rest. It is a top secret restaurant and is seriously the coolest place I have ever been. The event was put on by Michelle Money and Laura Armstrong of the MM&L Show (@mmandlshow) and Heather Christensen of No Reason Needed (@noreasonneeded). They did a FABULOUS job at putting this event together. The decor done by Adorn Event Styling (@adorneventstyling) was totally gorgeous too. I had a blast! Enjoy these pictures taken by the talented Shannon Elizabeth Photography (@shannonelizabeths)…

Filed Under: event Tagged With: blog, event, salt lake city, slc

I Love Alt Conference

February 12, 2014 By McKenzie Leave a Comment

Although Alt Summit was nearly 3 weeks ago, I still feel like I am in a bit of an Alt hangover. If I could describe it in just a short summary, I would say… Full days, friends, and fun.

Although I did have so much fun hanging out with like crazy people who think just like I do, I learned SO much. At the beginning of 2014, I decided that a goal I wanted to set for my blog is to focus more on video. I have some really great ideas that I would love to share with my readers, but I know the best way of doing that would be through videos. The problem? I don’t know much about video editing at all! Well, that all changed at Alt conference. Out of the four classes I took, three of them were video related! Bring on the videos! I don’t have any yet, but they will be coming soon so be sure to follow me on YouTube HERE! I got to learn from video greats like Alison, Jenner Brown, and Hailey Devine. I can’t wait to put all of the info I learned to good use!

I also got some amazing advice on growing my community on Facebook, Instagram, and through my newsletter from some really incredible people. I learned so much! I can’t wait to start putting more thought into those areas too. Up until now, my newsletter has just been kind of a recap of what you may have missed, but there will be some changes coming! Be sure to sign up for my newsletter on the sidebar to see what I have in store!

I was blown away by the sponsor lounges that were open for bloggers to hang out in. These sponsors went ALL OUT on these lounges. They only had a matter of hours to set these lounges up and they were incredible! My favorite lounge was the one done by Cricut.

Cricut also threw an awesome green themed party where everyone attending felt like little bugs in a giant flower garden. It was really incredible!

They had one of my favorite photo booths too! The Method Cleaning photo booth. I may have had a little too much fun in there.

Another one of my favorite parts of Alt was attending all of the mini parties. They were all decked out in awesomeness! They all had different themes. It was really fun to hop from one theme to another in each room. The really fun one to be at was the Shark Tank party to watch Susan of Freshly Picked on Shark Tank as it aired on TV! She is such an inspiration. It was really cool to be there with her during such a special moment. She also knows how to throw a pretty epic party! Her photo booth was SO fun too!

I was really lucky to get such incredible roommates too. We didn’t stay at the Grand America like most of the attendees did, but we made the most of our little ghetto hotel. We had lots of laughs and didn’t have any drama either! What more can you ask for with a room full of girls? I roomed with Kaylynn, Sadie, and Dani. I love these girls so much.

Overall, I couldn’t have asked for a better experience with Alt Summit. I would go again in a heartbeat. I was able to make some really amazing connections and can’t wait to start collaborating with some of these talented people.

NONE of this would have been possible if it weren’t for my sponsors. I reached out to three of my favorite businesses to see if they would be willing to support my journey to Alt and they were all so generous and willing to help me out. I will be sharing more of their awesomeness in the future too, but if you have read my blog for a while, you already know how much I love Expressions Vinyl, Cut it Out, and Navy Perl. There really doesn’t need to be any introduction made because you probably already know just how epic these businesses are, but just in case you don’t already know how great they are I will give you a little introduction to each of them.

Expressions Vinyl is the ultimate destination for all things vinyl. If you have a craft cutter (or you are just about to buy one of the new Cricut Expressions machines), you have to shop at Expressions Vinyl too! They sell vinyl in just about any shade you could ever dream of. They have indoor vinyl, outdoor vinyl, glitter vinyl, iron on vinyl, metallic vinyl, glow in the dark, magnetic, chalkboard, the list could go on and on. They seriously have the BEST selection out there. They also have great customer service too. We all know, THAT is what really matters. When a company has great customer service, they create a lifetime customer out of me. They also have the fastest shipping I have ever seen. Thank you Expressions Vinyl for helping me get to Alt Summit!

Cut it Out is the place to go when you need wood frames, letters, or shapes. They have the best frame shapes around! I am using a lot of their frames in my living room makeover! The great thing about Cut it Out products, is that they are unfinished! That is good for a few reasons. One is that you can totally customize what color or pattern you want on your projects. You don’t have to settle with whatever colors are available. You get to be creative! Another great thing about Cut it Out, is that it is SO affordable! These frames are seriously fancy, but they don’t have a fancy price tag. I would recommend them to anyone! No matter what your style is, they are perfect for you. If they don’t have a frame or shape that you are looking for, they do custom orders. They are also some of the nicest people you will ever deal with. I love supporting companies that are home grown. This one literally is run out of a home! They are amazing.

Navy Perl is the cutest little online shop you have ever seen. They are THE place to shop for head wraps, suspenders, Salt Water Sandals, and bow ties! You probably already know this, but I wear head wraps almost every dang day of my life. They are the perfect accessory to wear with any outfit. They are great for the days that you don’t want to do your hair either, which let’s face it is almost everyday. They get the best prints for their wraps too! They have them in any type of style you would ever want. They are also the highest quality head wraps that I have ever worn! Another bonus, they are also the most inexpensive head wraps I have ever worn too! Run, don’t walk to Navy Perl.

HUGE thanks to my sponsors for making this happen! I CANNOT wait to put all of this knowledge to good use!

Filed Under: blog Tagged With: alt, alt conference, alt summit, blog, blog conference

Your New Favorite Blog: Minted’s Julep

November 24, 2013 By McKenzie Leave a Comment

I’m sure you have all probably heard by now about Minted. It is this awesome website where you can get custom business cards, wedding decor, artwork, and holiday cards too! I love their modern, clean designs. Their holiday cards are totally amazing right now, so you need to check them out for sure for your holiday cards this year! I absolutely love the one that looks like an info graphic! Instead of having a long family newsletter, you can put all of the basics about your year in an info graphic instead! That is just one of the many amazing designs they offer.

I am so excited because I will be getting my new business cards from them! If you see me next year, you need to ask me for one because they will be pretty amazing.

This isn’t the only reason why I love Minted though. I think I have found my new favorite blog to read… Julep! It is full of great indie designed products and amazing DIY projects! One of my favorites is this scratch off activity advent calendar for Christmas!

I think it is the cutest idea! I love advent calendars!

Take a look at their blog and tell me what your favorite post is on there!

Filed Under: blog, christmas Tagged With: blog, holiday cards, indie, minted

How to Steal for Your Own Blog (the right way!)

September 16, 2013 By McKenzie 4 Comments

I am excited to have a guest post for you guys today! It is from one of my favorite bloggers, and my most favorite person in the world… My husband! I asked him to write a post for my readers about stealing content. I personally have had to deal with this far too many times and I have seen it happen to a few blogger friends as well. It is really sad to see what it does to those bloggers after they have worked so hard to be unique and create something of their own. I love how Dave has laid it out for us in this post…

Bloggers get burned out. That’s a fact. The pressure of constantly churning out creative and engaging content for our readers is likely to give us gastrointestinal problems. That’s why it’s nice to hear that if you are constantly trying to summons new ideas for blog content, then you’re blogging all wrong.

Mark Twain, one of the most prolific writers in American history, wrote in his biography, “There is no such thing as a new idea. It is impossible. We simply take a lot of old ideas and put them into a sort of mental kaleidoscope. We give them a turn and they make new and curious combinations.”

That’s why I am in favor of stealing, but only when it is done ethically.

Using other people’s content, including actual words, images, logos, and videos without their permission is definitely wrong. In fact, it can get you into legal trouble, yourself, and can quickly get your blog or social media profile taken down from the Internet.

So, what can you steal to rejuvenate your blog and gain the attention of your readers? Content structure and topics. In fact, if you want to consistently drive traffic to your blog, you should be stealing these two things more often than not.

The way that you structure and compose your next blog post doesn’t have to be created from scratch. You can base the flow of your article on other bloggers’ content structures to leverage your voice and ideas more clearly. But, what does that mean? It means writing a “How-to” article of your own, a “Top 10” post about a topic of your choice”, a “Myth busting” post about something that your readers are interested in, or a “Failure to Success” story after reading one that inspired you on one of your favorite blogs or website.

Additionally, stealing content topics is a great way to remove the writer’s block that has turned your blog into a slow uninspired chore. One of my favorite ways to do this is to read blogs and articles from friends’ websites and other media outlets that I am personally interested in and always seem to captivate me with whatever is posted. Reading the work of bloggers that I admire is a source of inspiration that I owe a lot of my writing success to. In fact, my book If You Can’t Fail, It Doesn’t Count was inspired by the writing of one of my favorite bloggers, Seth Godin. And while my book reads a bit like many of his own, I wrote all of the content myself using my own language and expertise.

That’s where stealing content topics isn’t so much stealing anymore, when you use an idea that you are inspired by to write a blog post using your own language, voice, and personality.

Nevertheless, regardless of the ethics of the situation, if you want to be welcomed as a respected member of a blogging community, you need to follow certain blogger etiquette. While there aren’t any stone tablets with the Ten Commandments of Blogging inscribed on them, blogger etiquette can be summed up in four words: don’t be a jerk.

While stealing content topics and structures is perfectly fine to do, as long as you write your own content, stealing the content topics and structures from the same person and posting your “How-to” article about the same topic two days after their original post was published is a quick way to lose credibility and respect among the blogging community and your network of friends and readers. The same goes for Facebook status updates, Tweets, and Instagram photos and videos as well.

The reason we blog is because we enjoy sharing our ideas and passions with others by creating high value content that our readers might enjoy. And ethical stealing is a major part of producing high value content for our audience. However, it’s important to keep it ethical. Crossing the line not only puts your website at risk, it also tarnishes your reputation faster than you think, turning what was once a thriving lifestyle of blogging and connecting with others into a sequel to the movie Mean Girls.

Thanks Dave!

Dave Guymon is an online middle school teacher and educational technologist from Idaho Falls, Idaho. In addition to teaching his students, Dave also hosts professional development classes to teach educators about digital citizenship and integrating technology into their own classrooms. You can read Dave’s book, If You Can’t Fail, It Doesn’t Count, here. You can also follow Dave on Twitter @DaveGuymon.

Filed Under: tips Tagged With: blog, blogging, content, how to, tip

Blog Conference Prep Week: Pimp Those Business Cards!

April 23, 2013 By McKenzie 6 Comments

I hope you all are enjoying this little series that I am doing! I will probably come back to it myself when I prep for my next blog conference. If you missed it yesterday, I talked all about what you should include on a blog business card. You can find that post here.

Today, is all about taking your business cards to the next level. Did you even know there was such a thing? It isn’t mandatory, but adding a little something to your business cards can be a great way to give people something to remember you by. When I went to the Build Your Blog Conference in February, I decided to hand out decals that said “I Blog” in a few different styles for people to put on their phones, computers, tablets, etc. They were pretty popular! I was nervous about taking the same thing to Snap Conference, but decided to go ahead and do decals again. Only this time, I made more styles and colors to choose from. I had over 20 different options! Here are a few of those options…

They were a huge success! I had people trying to find me just to get a decal. That is what you want! Come up with something that people would want to get from you. You want to give them a sense of urgency to come find you and meet you. Personally, I wanted to give them something that they could relate with. I wanted them to be able to put it somewhere that they would see often so that each time they see that decal, they think of my blog! Other people gave out items that related more to their blogs like glitter in a tiny bottle that was supposed to be “pixie dust”, or an interactive business card that you could color. Make sure it fits your style! The best part for me has been seeing pictures on Instagram of people’s decals after they have put them on their phones, tablets, notebooks, etc.

Find something that you yourself would want to receive, attach them to your business cards, and start handing those suckers out! Make sure they remember YOU!

Filed Under: blog Tagged With: blog, blog advice, blog conference

How to create AWESOME business cards for your blog

April 22, 2013 By McKenzie 4 Comments

I just got back from Snap Conference. It was epic! I think something that a lot of people don’t realize, is the amount of prep work that goes into getting things ready to go before leaving to go to a blog conference. That is why I am making this week…

I am dedicating an entire week to telling you all about the things that I am sure to do before going to blog conferences. Today is all about creating that business card! I get a new business card design every year right before I go to Snap Conference so that I can evolve a little bit and change a few things each year. I want you to know a few tips to creating the perfect business cards for your own blog too!

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Filed Under: blog, tips, tutorial Tagged With: blog, business card, conference, Snap Conference

DIY Blog Conference Bag

April 5, 2013 By McKenzie 5 Comments

This tutorial is about a year old. That is why the pictures in it are pretty nasty, but with Snap conference coming up, I thought it would be appropriate to share it! I wrote it originally for the Expressions Vinyl blog. This bag was a huge hit at Snap last year and I am making a different one for this year! I am still working on the design, but I will post all about it after I go to Snap! If you are coming to Snap, make yourself a bag! It is a great way to brand yourself!

How many doctor’s offices have you been to that give you a free bag filled with advertisements that you probably won’t ever use? I just recently had a baby and got my fair share of these bags that I didn’t quite know what to do with. I couldn’t really throw a perfectly useful bag away, so I decided to give it a little facelift.

I had the opportunity of going to the Snap! Blogger Conference last month and wanted a way to showcase my blog name without having to talk to every, single person. Putting my name on a bag was the perfect way to do this! To make your own personalized bag you will need…

*Canvas tote

*Iron on vinyl (2 colors)

*Mulit use paper

*Cricut using Sure Cuts a Lot or Silhouette

*Felt

*Iron

First, you will want to measure your bag to see how large your background vinyl piece needs to be.

Go on your cutting program and create the background piece that you want. I wanted my website to be shown too so I put that in there too. Be sure to make the text flipped before cutting it out though. Having the vinyl cut out this way, will make it so the color of your bag shows through the holes that the text will be cut.

Now you wantto peel off the vinyl from your letters and iron your vinyl onto your bag. The vinyl is a little harder to get to stick to the canvas, so be sure to press really hard and to let it sit a little longer than you typically would for other materials.

Your bag will now have your background piece on it.

I have a heart in my logo and I wanted to have my logo look the same on my bag that it does on my blog. Because the bag had it’s own logo on it, I couldn’t have the heart cut out of the background, so I cut it out of felt and hot glued it onto my vinyl.

Now you want to cut out your letters for your bag. I made sure to measure how large I could have them on the background, then typed them in, flipped them, then cut it out.

Cut your vinyl words apart and lay them out where you will want them to be.

Be sure to use the multi use paper when ironing over the hot glued piece so that you don’t get hot glue on your iron.

One by one, iron your words where you want them to be.

I added felt flowers to give it a little flair and now I have a unique, personalized bag that is both stylish and totally affordable!

I will be linking to these great link parties here.

Filed Under: blog, tutorial Tagged With: blog, Snap Conference, tutorial, tutorials