At the Social Media on the Sands Conference, there was a speaker named Lori Lorenz from HP. During her presentation, she asked a variety of questions like, who has led a Marketing Team or who has been on a Leadership Team. If the answer was ‘Yes’ to any of the questions, you took one step forward.

At the end of her exercise, I was in the front of the group having answered yes to all of her business related questions. I felt really embarrassed, and it was exacerbated when I returned to my seat and a fellow attendee commented that I almost was up on the stage! I mumbled something about my former life and tried to hide the rest of the morning being ashamed about all the steps I took.

It wasn’t until a later speaker, Dr. Deborah Gilboa, who spoke about finding what you are an expert in, that I realized I HAD NOTHING TO BE EMBARRASSED ABOUT! I realized that I have a very professional background that has resulted in me being on professional teams that have created companies, created agencies, created laws, and created new systems for an entire state. I realized in that moment, as I sat there, among my fellow bloggers, that I was WORTH SOMETHING.

The past two years have been brutal for me. If only I could tell you the number of bloggers that have personally and professional attacked me. Bloggers I knew from College, Bloggers I met recently. Regardless, I cowed. I cried. I took the hits and hid. I felt worthless. I felt like a failure. I was told I would fail. I felt less than a person. They were popular. They were big names. Yet, when those questions were asked during the Social Media on the Sand conference, and we were asked to take a step forward, I realized that instead of being embarrassed at taking so many steps, I should have realized that I WAS THE ONLY BLOGGER AT THE CONFERENCE THAT TOOK ALL THOSE STEPS! If I had ended up on that stage, then I HAD EARNED IT!

I realized that in that moment, I am not less than the Blogger who was on television. I am not less than that Blogger who wrote a book. I am not less than a Blogger who has as 30,000 followers. I am not less than the Blogger who studied brain science. I am someone who has experience that very few Bloggers have. Maybe it does not make me as popular as them or as in demand as them, but it does mean that I am just as meaningful as them. Maybe I earned my accolades before I became a Blogger, but it has influenced my Blogging and that is valuable too.

I am not nothing in the Blogging space. I am Charlene DeLoach, who has a doctorate, who has created companies, agencies, laws and systems that only other bloggers can only imagine doing. I manage a conference. I created a network. I know laws. It doesn’t make me better than them. Just like their experiences don’t make them better than me.

I want people to read my blog, but if you don’t want to, that is fine. But it is still a good blog. You want to unlike my Facebook page. That’s fine too but I’m not going to be less than worthy because you didn’t like it enough. However, in the past, I let numbers numb me.

I took a lot of inspiration from Jennifer from Cotton Babies. She has had a rough go of it the past couple of years and she has learned a lot about herself and her company to stand stronger moving forward.

So, I am going to stand taller in this second career of mine because what I did in my former life is worth something. I am going to take some time and figure out how my past expertise can better influence my current role as a digital influencer. Yet, needless to say, the speakers at the Social Media on the Sand conference gave me a lot to think about, and a lot to change, in my professional life, and I thank the Conference leaders and speakers for giving me the ‘sand’ for my new platform.

Read all my Social Media on the Sand/Beaches Resort posts here!