I had such a wonderful time teaching my class “Blogging for Creatives” at Hive Workshops again last week! Since I last taught this workshop in the summer of 2015, so much has already changed…new social media platforms have been launched, blogging platforms have been updated, successful plugins have been discontinued and new ones have taken their place. I was honestly amazed at how much new information I had to share! But the core principals of the class were the same.
Blogging is a way you can build your business, enhance your engagement with current and future clients, and grow your brand. I am finding more and more that the trends in the blogging world are coming back around again. When I first started, long form essays were the way to go, and blogging was all about authenticity and sharing the real deal with readers. In the past five or six years, blogging has swung more commercialized, with blogs looking super polished and curated content everywhere. But I feel the pendulum swinging back toward the center. While I love the idea of blogs serving as “online magazines” with beautiful images and clean designs, I also miss the real truthfulness and gumption that used to rule the blogging world. I believe we are trending toward the center, with more and more bloggers writing long form again, and mixing that in with their shorter, more visual content.
For creatives and small business owners, this presents a real challenge. How do you create a trustworthy blog while also using it to sell your wares or services? I believe it’s by mixing it up! Yes, of course you should feature your work, but you should also share a bit about the person behind the work. What do YOU love? How does the outside world influence your work? What can you teach your readers and clients? These are all great questions to ask yourself as you either start new or revamp your creative business’ blogging practice.
Thank you to all the incredible creatives who attended my workshop and inspired me with their thirst to learn more! I was so grateful for this review submitted by Nancy Tucker Garcia, a creative who attended the class:
I recently took Megan’s class “Blogging for Creatives” at a Hive workshop event, & I can’t say enough great things about it! Megan is a WONDERFUL teacher & makes everything easy to understand. I already have a blog “somewhere” out in cyberspace that I haven’t done a lot with in recent years, mainly because it’s been difficult for me to figure out how to do a lot with it. After taking Megan’s class, I understand the value of blogging, not only for my business but also just for fun. She gave us some valuable pointers for making our blogs more user-friendly, which I especially needed having lived most of life without all the technology we have at our disposal today. I love to write, & I always have something to say…For anyone mildly interested in starting (or improving) their own blog, I can’t think of a better authority on the subject than Megan.
This is what it’s all about for me…encouraging others to blog not only to improve their business life, but their personal life as well. There is something pretty fantastic about watching people spark up when they realize blogging can help grow their creativity. The possibilities are truly endless!
Special thanks to J. Lynn Designery and BlogStomp for sponsoring this workshop! J. Lynn Designery’s Revive Blog Planners are a necessity for anyone wanting to start or build a successful blogging practice. You can see me showing how I use my planner as an editorial calendar in the images above! BlogStomp software makes creating web compatible image layouts super easy, and has cut down on my workflow and the amount of time I spent editing images for the blog. I love their platform and highly recommend it!
(All photos by Melissa Slater)
http://www.crazybananas.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/2016-01-20_0003.jpg533800Meganhttp://www.crazybananas.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Crazy_Banans_Logo_WebsiteBanner.pngMegan2016-01-20 06:53:352016-01-20 06:53:35Blogging for Creatives : 2016 Workshop Recap
Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is a great opportunity to talk to your kids about service and how to be a helper in your community. We love spending our day off doing what we can to help others, no matter how old or young we are. Here are a few ways we like to serve others on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day and every other day of the year!
1. Clean Up the Local School Playground – Grab some trash bags and gloves and spend 30 minutes to an hour picking up any loose trash that might be laying around. Make a game out of it and see who can pick up the most!
3. Volunteer Together – Some of our favorite places to volunteer as a family are Harvesters of Kansas City and the KC Pet Project!
4. Take Dinner to Someone in Need – Do you have a friend who has a new baby? Or maybe an elderly family member who is a bit lonely? Have your kids help make a nice dinner and drop it off together. I also like to have my kids draw pictures as gifts to go along with the meal.
5. Happy Chalk – When the weather is a bit warmer, we like to take sidewalk chalk and decorate the neighborhood with kind words of encouragement. Imagine being on a walk and looking down to see a happy note saying, “You are loved!” staring back at you. It’s pretty fun!
How do you serve your community as a family? I’d love to hear your ideas and add some new acts of kindness to our repertoire.
http://www.crazybananas.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/img_1505.jpeg13681368Meganhttp://www.crazybananas.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Crazy_Banans_Logo_WebsiteBanner.pngMegan2016-01-18 16:24:272016-01-18 16:48:24Darkness and Stars : Ways to Serve With Kids
I was so excited to work with this fun family, because I’ve worked with them in my past professional life! Sarah and Chris are the team behind the awesome company Floc5 Design, and I have worked with Sarah on branding and marketing projects. However it was a fun change to get to work with the entire family!
I knew that this session was going to be a fun one, because Sarah and Chris are both super creative and love to try new things. Sarah told me they were game for anything, which is what every photographer loves to hear! We met downtown at the World War I Memorial, because we wanted to get some great family shots with the iconic Kansas City skyline. We were lucky to have a perfect, brisk morning and some beautiful light downtown.
Afterward, we headed to Union Station to grab a few more images. There was no plan heading in, but sometimes that’s the best way to shoot! My favorite image is the one of the family riding up the escalator from Science City. It’s not a traditional family portrait, but the reflection, plus the meaning behind the location just make it for me.
I’m so grateful to have fun clients who let me play and trust me to capture their families in all of their unique beauty! If you’re interested in booking a family session with me, send me a note at megan@crazybananas.com.
http://www.crazybananas.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/2016-01-15_0003.jpg533800Meganhttp://www.crazybananas.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Crazy_Banans_Logo_WebsiteBanner.pngMegan2016-01-15 16:45:512016-01-15 16:45:51Family Photo Session : The Beshears Family
Blogging for Creatives : 2016 Workshop Recap
/0 Comments/in bloglife, Workshop /by MeganI had such a wonderful time teaching my class “Blogging for Creatives” at Hive Workshops again last week! Since I last taught this workshop in the summer of 2015, so much has already changed…new social media platforms have been launched, blogging platforms have been updated, successful plugins have been discontinued and new ones have taken their place. I was honestly amazed at how much new information I had to share! But the core principals of the class were the same.
Blogging is a way you can build your business, enhance your engagement with current and future clients, and grow your brand. I am finding more and more that the trends in the blogging world are coming back around again. When I first started, long form essays were the way to go, and blogging was all about authenticity and sharing the real deal with readers. In the past five or six years, blogging has swung more commercialized, with blogs looking super polished and curated content everywhere. But I feel the pendulum swinging back toward the center. While I love the idea of blogs serving as “online magazines” with beautiful images and clean designs, I also miss the real truthfulness and gumption that used to rule the blogging world. I believe we are trending toward the center, with more and more bloggers writing long form again, and mixing that in with their shorter, more visual content.
For creatives and small business owners, this presents a real challenge. How do you create a trustworthy blog while also using it to sell your wares or services? I believe it’s by mixing it up! Yes, of course you should feature your work, but you should also share a bit about the person behind the work. What do YOU love? How does the outside world influence your work? What can you teach your readers and clients? These are all great questions to ask yourself as you either start new or revamp your creative business’ blogging practice.
Thank you to all the incredible creatives who attended my workshop and inspired me with their thirst to learn more! I was so grateful for this review submitted by Nancy Tucker Garcia, a creative who attended the class:
This is what it’s all about for me…encouraging others to blog not only to improve their business life, but their personal life as well. There is something pretty fantastic about watching people spark up when they realize blogging can help grow their creativity. The possibilities are truly endless!
Special thanks to J. Lynn Designery and BlogStomp for sponsoring this workshop! J. Lynn Designery’s Revive Blog Planners are a necessity for anyone wanting to start or build a successful blogging practice. You can see me showing how I use my planner as an editorial calendar in the images above! BlogStomp software makes creating web compatible image layouts super easy, and has cut down on my workflow and the amount of time I spent editing images for the blog. I love their platform and highly recommend it!
(All photos by Melissa Slater)
Darkness and Stars : Ways to Serve With Kids
/0 Comments/in Family, Happiness, Inspired By, Parenting /by MeganMartin Luther King, Jr. Day is a great opportunity to talk to your kids about service and how to be a helper in your community. We love spending our day off doing what we can to help others, no matter how old or young we are. Here are a few ways we like to serve others on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day and every other day of the year!
1. Clean Up the Local School Playground – Grab some trash bags and gloves and spend 30 minutes to an hour picking up any loose trash that might be laying around. Make a game out of it and see who can pick up the most!
2. Go Through Your Gently Used Winter Coats, Boots and Gear and Gather Items to Donate – We like to give ours to Big Brothers Big Sisters of Kansas City or to the Willow Domestic Violence Center.
3. Volunteer Together – Some of our favorite places to volunteer as a family are Harvesters of Kansas City and the KC Pet Project!
4. Take Dinner to Someone in Need – Do you have a friend who has a new baby? Or maybe an elderly family member who is a bit lonely? Have your kids help make a nice dinner and drop it off together. I also like to have my kids draw pictures as gifts to go along with the meal.
5. Happy Chalk – When the weather is a bit warmer, we like to take sidewalk chalk and decorate the neighborhood with kind words of encouragement. Imagine being on a walk and looking down to see a happy note saying, “You are loved!” staring back at you. It’s pretty fun!
How do you serve your community as a family? I’d love to hear your ideas and add some new acts of kindness to our repertoire.
Family Photo Session : The Beshears Family
/0 Comments/in Crazybananas Photography /by MeganI was so excited to work with this fun family, because I’ve worked with them in my past professional life! Sarah and Chris are the team behind the awesome company Floc5 Design, and I have worked with Sarah on branding and marketing projects. However it was a fun change to get to work with the entire family!
I knew that this session was going to be a fun one, because Sarah and Chris are both super creative and love to try new things. Sarah told me they were game for anything, which is what every photographer loves to hear! We met downtown at the World War I Memorial, because we wanted to get some great family shots with the iconic Kansas City skyline. We were lucky to have a perfect, brisk morning and some beautiful light downtown.
Afterward, we headed to Union Station to grab a few more images. There was no plan heading in, but sometimes that’s the best way to shoot! My favorite image is the one of the family riding up the escalator from Science City. It’s not a traditional family portrait, but the reflection, plus the meaning behind the location just make it for me.
I’m so grateful to have fun clients who let me play and trust me to capture their families in all of their unique beauty! If you’re interested in booking a family session with me, send me a note at megan@crazybananas.com.