Finding Your Tribe through Collaboration

This weekend, I've been in Vegas, and I am so excited to be around the type of energy I've been able to experience with other teachers! 

Something that has come up a lot this week is 'HOW DO I FIND MY TRIBE?'

Not too long ago, I wrote a post all about #findingmytribe. I've been so blessed to find others of like mind through blogging.  I was so impressed by how many teacher bloggers came to Las Vegas all by themselves!  Whoa! :)  That is so brave! :)

Last year, I came and I met with a bunch of bloggy buddies and roomed with them...so, I had a 'built in tribe'.  This year, I flew in from Florida with my gal pal, Leigh from The Applicious Teacher! :)  As far as how to meet people in Vegas when you're alone...I never had to do that...but I CAN tell you all about how I reached out to other bloggers and found my tribe even before I got to Vegas. 

When I first started blogging, I didn't really know ANYONE.

So, I am hoping to share some tips here that could be for either teachers who read blogs, or teacher who blog! :)

I met one of my closest bloggy buds at a professional development training in my county!

If you read my blog posts, you've seen plenty of pictures of Tammy  and I around! :)  She's a first grade teacher in Florida too! :) She looked like she was ready to learn and that attracted me to her...so, I asked to sit by her...and the rest is history! :)

I met my gal pal Sabra from Teaching with a Touch of Twang when I participated in Farley's Currently!  Sabra's a fifth grade teacher from Florida. If you want to find new blogs to read...Currently is a MUST! :) Sabra was behind me in the linky.  The rule is that you post feedback on one person behind you and two ahead of you.  She read my post and loved it because I mentioned a restaurant that she loves.  We realized we only lived an hour from each other! :)  When we met, I knew we'd be friends for life! :)

After meeting Sabra, I wanted to see if there were other girls who lived close by.  In reading other blogs, I noticed that there were girls who had a tag on their blog that said they were Florida bloggers.

I searched the tag and realized that it came from Fifth in the Middle's blog! 

I went through that blog roll and looked for people who lived close.  I messaged them, and a bunch of them messaged me back! We had lunch together at Tommy Bahama! :) 

That's where I met Leigh...and Kimberly Geswein!  Back then, we were all relatively new to the TPT game, but, Kimberly, who'd already had success with her fonts outside of TPT sat there and shared business advice and had us all in awe.  I think about who she is to the TPT community today and think...hot diggety dang!  She came to a meet up with me?  Yep...cause she's that kind of awesome. :)  When you step out of your comfort zone, and share that you want to meet with others...the people who want community will say YES! :)  So glad these people are part of #mytribe.

I loved reading blogs ever before I started blogging myself.  I was so impressed with how teachers put themselves out there! :)  Because I was so grateful, I would leave comments to tell them how much their work meant to me. It wasn't a gimmick.  It was just honest.  After a while, some of the bloggers would message me back! It made me feel so special!  In time, one of my favorite clip artists, Ashley Hughes reached out to help me connect with a few other bloggers that she knew!  I was so thankful! :)  I learned a lot from her and her blogging buddies! :)

I try to go to meet ups as often as I can.  I've been to several for Florida bloggers.  I went to New York last October...and I've been to Vegas twice.  Start with local meet ups that will not break the bank...and go from there! :)  I met Latoya Reed from Flying into First because I was visiting my bestie in Nashville for Thanksgiving.  I messaged her and asked if she was close to where I'd be staying and she was...so, we had coffee! :)  Latoya has really shared so much with me and been such a wonderful inspiration!  She even asked me to be on some blog hops with her and introduced me to a whole other set of bloggers that I didn't know!  I am so grateful to her for her mentorship and friendship!

This tip comes from my Vegas roomie and bloggy buddy Stacy from Funky Fresh Firsties!

It is so her...and so true.

When I first started blogging three years ago, I knew that there were some folks that already established their #tribe, and then there were those of us that were still looking.  Find people who are like you and on your same wavelength.  Play in your pool with folks who are LIKE YOU.  When you find those folks, do them RIGHT.  Don't just try to meet up with people because you are looking to advance yourself.  That won't work at your school site, and it certainly won't work in the blogging world either. Be the kind of person that you want to meet, and the right folks will come to you.

This is huge!  When finding new people to collaborate with, you need to step out of what feels normal to you and venture out.  Maybe set up an after work meet up just to have dinner or drinks.

  Maybe talk to other teachers at your school who also work out and set up a 21 day fix at your school.  Maybe if you are a teacher-blogger, you save up some money and you go to a meet up...or even come to Las Vegas! :) Sometimes, collaboration is not easy...but when you find your tribe, it is so worth it! :)

Nothing happens quickly.  Relationships take time to build!  They sometimes are a lot of work.  You need to be patient with the process of building relationships.

I would be remiss if I didn't say thank you to Angela Watson for inspiring me to go on the journey to #finding my tribe in the first place.  I really lost my voice for a while, and her inspiration has helped me to redefine who I am as a teacher author! :)

Thanks, Angela! :)

How are you doing with finding YOUR tribe?