10 PBEVENT Speakers Share their Morning Routine

There’s a real buzz in the air now that the ProBlogger Training Event schedule has been released. Everywhere, people are chatting about where they’re going to be when, sessions are being highlighted, and bloggers are stalking the guest list, wondering who they’re going to meet.

We have some exceptional speakers this year, presenting on some of the most sought-after and useful topics. We grilled them about some of their habits and practices to let you peek behind the scenes of how they do it all. Keep an eye out for the other posts in the series that detail their secrets to productivity, and how they stay motivated.

HEATHER ARMSTRONG: Author, speaker, and blogger at Dooce

I set my alarm for 6:30 AM, which is 30 minutes prior to the time my girls need to be up, because I am in love with the snooze button (anyone who travels or rooms with me must hate me for this because I could hit snooze for three hours and love every minute of sleep in between each snooze).

At 7 AM I go into my 5-yr-old’s room, wake her up, carry her into her older sister’s room and we linger there for a few minutes while everyone yawns. Then we all head downstairs, and I continue to the basement where my dogs sleep. I let them out of their crates, feed them breakfast, and let them out for the morning making sure to change the older dog’s diaper in the process.

My kids eat breakfast while I prepare their lunches, then we head back upstairs where I help them get dressed and brush their hair and teeth. That leaves me with about 20 minutes to throw on my workout clothes, put on a little mascara and take a deep breath in consideration of what lies ahead of me that day. After I sign homework and help them check off everything they need in their backpacks, we head out the door.

Heather will be presenting the keynote session: The Courage of Compassion: Transforming Your Experience with Criticism

MRS WOOG: Mouthy 40-something housewife from the burbs. Blogs at Woogsworld

I wake up and reluctantly get out of bed. Make sure the kids are out of bed and make two coffees. One for immediate consumption and one so I don’t have to make another one in 5 minutes. I spend a fair bit of time saying any one of the following over and over again:

• Where is your jumper?
• Where is your lunchbox?
• Get off your brother!
• Have you cleaned your teeth?
• Do you have normal uniform or sport uniform today?
• No, I have not seen your uniform

I could go on and on but I think you get the picture. I log on when the kids are ready for school which is such a lie. I log on after my first coffee. First I check the site is working, skim emails, make sure I the site has not been invaded by spambots. I check all the news sites for inspiration. I check the notes on my phone and recent photos I have taken before I decide on the topic of the day. Then I spend about 20 minutes banging it out, press publish before I go for a 5KM run, another lie.

I spend the rest of the morning working on various writing projects.

Mrs Woog will be on the panel for: How to monetise a personal blog with Heather Armstrong

BENJAMIN MANGOLD: Director of Digital and Analytics at Loves Data + Google-certified expert for Google Analytics

Most mornings I grab my phone and open Google News. It’s a great little app and it lets me quickly check the weather while also scanning the news headlines. After that, I open Digg or Google Play Newsstand to scan through articles. Then it’s time to get out of bed (yes … I was still in bed scanning my news!) and get the day started.

Benjamin will be presenting the session: Metrics that Matter: Google Analytics for Actionable Insights

KELLY EXETER: Owner of Swish Design, a boutique web and graphic design company.

I wake up at 4.10am and scroll through Facebook while drinking two massive glasses of water. From 4.30am-5.30/6am I write (that’s the main reason I get up so early, it’s the only way I get any kind of quality writing time/time to myself!)

Then 6-6.40am I go for a run or go to CrossFit. Once home from that it’s shower > get kids up > send husband and 2yo off to work/daycare > take 6yo to school … and by 9.30am, I finally get to sit down at my desk and start my working day :)

Kelly will be presenting the session: Blogging voice and the art of creating meaningful connections through writing

RUTH SOUKUP: Founder of LivingWellSpendingLess.com

I am a morning person so I am usually up very early—around 4am. I know that sounds crazy, but it is when I get the most work done and when my brain works best! I try to go for a very quick 15-minute run, just to get my blood pumping. I usually listen to a podcast while I am running, and then spend a few minutes lifting weights and stretching when I am done.

Then I get dressed, grab my stuff, and ride my bike (technically it is an adult tricycle) to my office, which is only a mile away. I try to get there no later than 5 or 5:30 am so that I can get a good 3 or 4 hours of quiet, dedicated writing time in before anyone else arrives. I have a kitchen there & I also keep a spare set of toiletries, so that I can just GO and get my coffee, eat breakfast, and put on makeup later.

My first priority is always to work on creating amazing content for my readers, whether that be books, courses, blog posts, an e-newsletter, etc I think the more you write, the better you get, so I spend a lot of time writing every day.

By 9am most of my team has arrived to the office, at which point I switch into “manager” mode—planning social meda, working on projects, discussing marketing ideas, responding to emails, etc.

Ruth will be presenting the keynote session The 5 Ordinary Habits of Extraordinary Bloggers, and breakout session Pinterest Marketing 101: The Three Elements of the Perfect Pin

NAT KRINGOUDIS: Women’s health revolutionist and fertility fixer at natkringoudis.com.au

With two small children, there is no such thing as a morning routine!

I do however follow more a night time routine. I enjoy some downtime of an evening, I like the ritual of writing/journalling, taking a shower, a cup of tea, I like to set my intention for the next day and have myself organised. It’s all about the small things especially once kids are in the picture!

Nat will be presenting the session: How to create your gangbuster e-product

BRANDON COWAN: 21-year-old co-founder and Director of Crazy Dog Apps

I’m a bit odd… Routine for me is having a lack of routine… It varies each day and seems to change every month. Probably because I don’t really plan much in my life in general. Currently, I will wake up some time between 10am and 3pm, grab my laptop from under my bed and reply to emails whilst still in bed for a few hours (yes, I do have a ‘horror story’ of unintentionally having a video call with the CEO of an international gaming company and about a dozen other people when I was in bed without a shirt on not so long ago).

After that, I’ll sometimes make a few phone calls, take my foster dog [as of time of writing] for a walk (I sneakily let her jump on people when we walk and if they react positively, I tell them that the dog is available for adoption – how’s that for marketing?) and then the rest of the day varies. It can include creating or modifying an app specification document (it’s as fun as it sounds), reviewing and testing apps, providing information to people wanting to make an app, creating animated videos and speaking with clients. I sometimes also speak at events and other times I have random meetings (but not often).

On other days, I might wake up at about 6am to work for the whole day looking after dogs at dog day care at my local vet. Then at nighttime I do my app work. It’s nice to balance what I do and I ironically recently got another job to give me a break from my app work although I still usually work on about 6 apps at once…
I don’t usually follow weekends or public holidays with my work as each day blends into the next for me.

Brandon will be presenting the session: Creating Business Ideas

PAMELA WILSON: Big Brand System and Copyblogger Media

One of the most wonderful perks about my current life is I can wake up with no alarm. Despite this, my eyes pop open like clockwork every morning (weekends included) sometime between 6-6:30 am.
I drink warm water and lemon, followed by a cup of tea or coffee. Then I check email to make sure nothing urgent has happened overnight.

In the first part of the day I review the list I set up for myself the night before. And I visit 750words.com to get my first 750 words of the day written.

This site has helped me adopt a regular writing habit. Oftentimes I repurpose what I write there for blog posts or email newsletters. And sometimes I just use it as a place to sort through my thoughts.

I try to do a bit of exercise first thing before my day gets too busy. That may be a walk, some Qigong, yoga, or a bit of time on an elliptical machine.

I do love the mornings! It’s a great time to be productive.

Pamela will be presenting the session: Design 101: How to Use Design Basics to Polish Up Your Blog, and How to Create a Content Event That Builds Your Email List

DAN NORRIS: serial entrepreneur, award winning blogger and the author of the best selling business book The 7 Day Startup

Assuming I don’t have the kids I wake up either from the sun rising over the beach or the sound of the ocean. I then look out my window to see what the surf is doing. If there’s waves I head out for a surf. If not I (don’t tell anyone) grab my phone and get on Instagram and Facebook oops! Then I walk up to the coffee shop, take my kindle and have a coffee and read a book.

I walk back along the beach, maybe listen to a podcast on the way and think about what I’m doing that day. I either work from home or head into co-working to work from there.

Dan will be presenting the session: How to use your blog to supercharge your small business

CAROLINE MAKEPEACE: Co-founder of y travel blog

I spend the first 20 – 60 mins meditating. I then read an inspiring positive message, for the day currently from Marianne Williamson’s, “A Year of Miracles” The rest of my routine varies in order depending on the day, but the routine involves the following: sometimes I may write in my journal. I’ll fit in exercise somehow, either yoga or boot camp. I wake up my inner body with a morning tonic tea. I then spend the morning with the girls, preparing them for school, while I have a green smoothie. Once the girls are in school, it’s time to start work with a green tea.

Caroline will be presenting the session: From Blog to Business – the steps you need to take from to create a profitable business online

THE EVENT

There are a handful of tickets left, so be quick to ensure you don’t miss out! You can go here to purchase.

PBEVENT is Australia’s biggest and longest-running blogging conference. Our first 400 tickets sold in around 20 minutes this year, firmly establishing it the ‘go-to’ event on the blogging community’s calendar for training and networking.

In 2015, ProBlogger Training Event is presented by Olympus and will be relocating to the spacious RACV Royal Pines Resort on the Gold Coast, ready for over 650 bloggers on August 14 and 15.