Being Fearless

Only a blogger or a crazy person or an organized person (perhaps I am all three) would find the time to write a post before her wedding day. Btw, could you all wish for no rain tomorrow? That would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

While it’s awesome to write about things that are currently going on in your life, it’s always a good idea to go revisit old post topics and reflect on them.

A blog is after all your personal journey. That anyone who has access to the internet can read about.  That’s a LOT of people.

Over a year ago, I wrote about how I felt was comfortable in my job and that I wasn’t taking any career risks. That being comfortable turned into monotony and boredom, which ended up becoming one of my biggest fears when it came to a career.

I began to take more risks in terms of networking and joining committees within the organization. While I made connections with people, unfortunately my efforts weren’t helping me get anywhere.  In order to really change my situation, I knew I had to be fearless and somewhat relentless. I had to venture outside my previous organization for opportunities, create my own opportunities and push my own boundaries.

I really put myself out there.

Like anything in life that’s worth it, it wasn’t easy. I didn’t really know what I was doing. I didn’t have a mentor to guide me or someone to lead me through the process of a career change.At times, I wasn’t even sure if I was doing the right thing. A small part of me thought I could be wasting my time. It’s hard enough to be an introverted person and have to network. What I think is even harder is in addition to being introverted, I had very few connections and no professional experience in the tech industry.

To this day, networking and creating my own opportunities is still difficult for me, but I do it because I now know that it’s not impossible. Tough, but not impossible.

Last weekend I attended CPFC15 and revealed my identity to some of my fellow personal finance bloggers (in no particular order):

• Krystal Yee of Give Me Back My Five Bucks (One of the first personal finance blogs I ever read)
• Cait Flanders of Blonde on a Budget (Another personal finance blog I read even before I started blogging)
• Barry Choi of Money We Have (Check out his How Are You MakintheBacon Series Interview)
• Jessica  Moorhouse of MoMoneyMoHouses (Who launched her own podcast series earlier this year. It’s worth a listen!)
• Daniel of Urban Departures (Who recently had a baby girl and check out the new look of their site, that his wife, Emily designed)
• Bridget Casey of Money After Graduation (She’s just as amazing as her blog. She recently rolled out an online investing course here)

You know all those Twi-hard fans? Or how teenage girls go crazy over boy bands? Remember Beatlemania? Of course you wouldn’t. Neither would I. Let’s ask our parents about it later.

I didn’t act like that, but I felt so nervous and in awe to see and meet these people in person.

(Side note: I’ll talk about the actual conference more in detail in a future post). They knew of my blog, but had no idea who I was, since I hadn’t revealed my identity yet. Hence, the “OH! YOU’RE KAREN OF MAKINTHEBACON”. In case you’re curious, I did end up putting  real profile pics on my twitter account and Facebook page.

I was terrified of meeting people and almost dreaded every networking break because I had attended the conference alone. With the exception of  meeting only one or two people previously,  I didn’t know anyone else and was still anonymous at that point.

In typical Karen-like fashion, I overanalyzed/over prepared for the casual encounters. I tried to time it so that I would approach them when they were alone, getting coffee, or coming out of the bathroom. Can you say creepy stalker?

Every moment that got closer to me approaching them and introducing myself made me even more nervous. My heart was beating so fast. I’m pretty sure I was sweating. I couldn’t help but be nervous. Of course, I was well received (thanks again for the hug Cait!).  They are all awesome people and I had great first conversations with them.

Networking is necessary  if you want to make the connections and make opportunities. They don’t fall out of the sky and onto your lap. Along with spiders, snakes, public speaking, networking is one of my biggest fears. But I knew I had to be fearless at that event. Who knows when the next opportunity would present itself?

After conquering that conference in my own” take it in baby steps” way, I’m ready (still nervous of course), to accomplish my long overdue goal: the re-design of my blog. I’ll be working with a very experienced/talented web designer/developer soon and am super excited to begin the process.

Can you recall a moment in your life when you felt fearless?