This was my first time hearing Lisa Druxman of Stroller Strides speak at a blogging conference. That's not a big surprise, since this was the first social media conference where she has spoken! Anyway, I found her to be especially inspiring. I love how she was able to merge her pre-baby fitness career with motherhood by creating careers that are supportive of mothers. 

After having us take a couple of deep breaths and be still (no tweeting!) for one minute, Lisa shared how important it was to find the story behind your business.  What are you about? Know your story and stay consistent with it. Get it out to traditional media, social media and through strategic partnerships. (Not all partnerships need to be paid. If they expand your reach, consider them. Look for synergy - is there an opportunity to cross-promote in order to grow both brands?

In an exercise geared towards encouraging the audience to live a life without regrets, Lisa had us draw three connecting circles on our paper in a Venn diagram.  She instructed us to write one of the three most important things in our lives in each circle and then asked if our life/schedules were reflective of our top 3. Afterward, she encouraged us to plan out three important things to do each week for each of our circles.

After the presentation, a couple of people asked Lisa how she dealt with competition.  While admitting that there are others who will try to copy your business ideas, Lisa urged the attendees to "just focus on making your business great". Everyone has their own "flavor". She thinks "Anybody can do it, but no one can do it like me."

"You are writing the story of your only life every single minute of every day." - Katherine Center
(one of Lisa's favorite quotes)

After one last question, the session ended. The question was regarding what she does when her "to do" list was too exhausting. Lisa replied that she tries to respect her personal ebb and flow. I thought that was a helpful reminder and I'm going to make more of an effort to keep that in mind!