All posts by Gala

Go To The Head Of The Class! Bespoke Bride’s Brilliant Rebranding!

We love our graduates, and we get so excited when we see them implementing changes and giving their sites a major spruce-up!

One of our cutest students (shhh, don’t tell anyone), Jessica Turley, is one half of Bespoke Bride, a kickass blog that helps brides avoid a cliche-ridden, cookie-cutter wedding. When she came to us, Bespoke Bride was very beige and romantic-looking.  It was beautiful, it just wasn’t very Jessica! (This girl is a firecracker!)

Here’s what it looked like when we met Jessica in January… It was beautiful, but it didn’t embody or line up with what Jessica and Emily were doing.

…So you can imagine our surprise and delight when they unveiled their brand new look. We’re in LOVE with it!

First of all, look at that header! It’s so much fun, and makes us think of colourful confetti. Their slogan — Inspired by us, created by you — is perfect. It gives you a great clue to what this dynamic duo can provide!

Their colour scheme is great, so peppy and vibrant, and not the same old thing we’ve already seen done a million times online!

Jessica and Emily have also decided to branch out with their content, giving us peeks of what goes on behind the scenes, showing us what they’re wearing, sharing their travel tips and DIYs. In other words, they’re expanding their scope, which gives us a much richer insight into what these two girls are really about! After all, when it comes to a blog, people come for the information, but they stay for your personality. Jessica and Emily have this in spades, so why not show it off?!

We’re so psyched to see these changes, we think it is such a major upgrade. Head on over to Bespoke Bride to see the transformation for yourself!

Congratulations, babes. You are top of the class!

Love always,

Gala, Shauna and Kat.

So, What’s All This Livestream Business, Then?!

 

Your intrepid headmistresses will be reunited next week, so to celebrate, we’re throwing a little online party… And you’re invited!

At 1pm PST on Wednesday the 27th of March, our Blogcademy Livestream will be coming to you direct from Portland, Oregon!

This is the perfect opportunity to get the skinny on what really goes down at The Blogcademy, because we’ll be answering your questions.  Yes, you’re in charge!  What do you want to know?  We’re at your service!  This livestream will be 100% steered and directed by you.

For example…

  • Do you feel stuck with your blog, or you’re just not sure what to do next?
  • Are you wondering what your niche is?
  • Not sure how to make yourself stand out in a veritable SEA of internet personalities?
  • Are you on the fence about using your blog to make money, or don’t know how to do it?
  • Do you have blogger’s block, suffer from apathy or a crazy lack of inspiration?
  • Are you pulling your hair out because you don’t know how to manage your time?!
  • Would you like to use your blog to support your business… But don’t know how?

The recipe is simple: just buy a ticket, and then let us know your questions!  You can email them or tweet them through, whatever is easiest for you.  We’d be thrilled to answer ’em!

If you’re not sure if The Blogcademy is for you — or if you simply can’t swing the cost of a ticket right now — this livestream is a great taste of what we’re all about.  We will be giggling, telling stories, talking about our blogging experiences and showing you how easy it all can be!

Your ticket gives you access to the recording of our livestream, so if you can’t watch it while it happens, you can see it immediately afterwards… And forever after!

Oh… And I almost forgot to mention that we’re giving away one Blogcademy goodie bag to one lucky viewer!  You’ll get a damn good-looking tote (your pick of L.A. or Portland custom design!), packed to the brim with fabulous things: sparkly bunny ears, jewellery, shoe clips, accessories, and of course, a copy of our Blogcademy magazine!

It’s all pretty sassy, really.  You don’t want to miss out on this!  Click here to buy your ticket!

Can’t wait to (digitally!) see you next week!

Excitedly,

Gala, Kat and Shauna.

Announcing: The Blogcademy World Tour!

This year, The Blogcademy goes truly international. What started out as an experiment exploded into three sold-out classes in New York and London… And now, we’re expanding across the world!

We’re hittin’ the road, Jack! We’ve planned our dates for 2013, and we’ll be kicking up a turquoise tornado in…

Portland
March 30/31st
Cleaners at The Ace Hotel

Los Angeles
April 6/7th
McCadden Photo Studio

Toronto
May 18/19th
Location to be confirmed

Vancouver
May 25/26th
Location to be confirmed

New York City
June 22/23rd
Patina

Minneapolis
June 29/30th
Location to be confirmed

London
September 7/8th
Curtain Road Studios

Brisbane
Proudly presented by Tourism & Events Queensland!
November 2/3rd
Bleeding Heart Gallery

Melbourne
November 6/7th
Lightdrop Studios

Auckland
November 9/10th
Generator

As always, we’re offering an earlybird special for the first three days, so be sure to snap up your ticket! (Remember, our first class in London sold out in 24 hours!)

We’re also pleased to announce one scholarship prize for each city. All you need to do is post your entry on our Facebook page up to one month before the date of your chosen event. There is more information about the scholarship at the end of our FAQ!

A lot of you have asked if we’ll ever make The Blogcademy available online, & the answer is no, simply because what makes The Blogcademy so special is the physical bringing together of people. But we appreciate that there are a lot of you who would love to come along and can’t.

For this reason, in Portland, the three of us will be doing a live online Q&A session, in which we’ll answer all your burning blogging questions! It’s the best way we could think of to bring ourselves right into your living room, and address the questions you really want answered.

The Blogcademy: Live Q&A!
Wednesday March 27th 2013
1pm PST / 4pm EST

 

Tickets are $7, and if you can’t watch it live, don’t worry: your ticket gives you access to the recording forever!

While you will have the opportunity to ask questions during the livestream, it’s first come, first served… So please tweet or email us your questions!

Even better than that, we’re giving away a Blogcademy goodie bag to one lucky viewer! Inside, you’ll find some sparkly bunny ears courtesy of Crown And Glory, some treats from IF Ladies, awesome shoe clips from Head Full Of Feathers, jewellery from Moorea Seal and so much more… You’ll even get your very own copy of the exclusive workshop magazine, which is packed full of inspirational articles and activities to get you and your blog in tip-top shape! Everyone who buys a ticket will be in to win the goodie bag…

Yours giddily!
Gala, Shauna and Kat.

The Blogcademy Manifesto

A few weeks ago, I sat down at my desk and banged out a Blogcademy manifesto. It poured from my fingers fast and fluid, starting with, We believe in the power of turquoise…

Writing a manifesto is a fun exercise for anyone who likes to play with words. I wrote a radical self love manifesto for my own blog years ago, and it has served as a kind of cornerstone of the radical self love concept ever since.

See if you can make some time to sit down and write a manifesto for your business or blog this weekend. You might be surprised by what you come up with!

 

We curated a little Blogcademy-inspired treasury over on Etsy… Do you like it?!

 

Oh, and speaking of visual inspiration, we’ve also been pinning up a storm over on Pinterest! What can you expect to find? Plenty of turquoise, for one… But also oodles of tips for blogging babes. (Oh, and some cans of gin snuck in there, too! The perils of having an English headmistress!)

Only 24 days until we see you in Portland! Counting down the sleeps!

xo always,
Gala, Shauna and Kat.

Look who got a brand new forum!

Drumroll please!  We are so excited to announce the debut of our brand spanking new forum!  Only two days in and we already have 75 Blogcademy babes signed up, chatting and asking questions and getting to know one another!  It’s amazing and we’re so thrilled.

xo always,

Gala, Shauna and Kat.

Ch-Ch-Changes!

Photo by Hannah Webster.

Good things take time, or so they say, and The Blogcademy is no exception!  After three rollicking sold-out classes, we’ve decided to make some changes to the curriculum… and we couldn’t be more excited about it!

Our weekend attendees in London may have noticed the dapper and talented Richard Wakefield of FX Films creeping around Curtain Road Studios.  In addition to making a video showcasing the atmosphere (and fabulous headgear!) of The Blogcademy, he also filmed the entirety of Lisa Devlin‘s photography lecture.

The reason for this?  As much as we love (and secretly worship!) Lisa, packing her into our turquoise suitcase and toting her all over the world with us isn’t totally practical!

We’re thrilled to announce that all Blogcademy students will receive a link to this video with their ticket purchase, which is perfect for any graduates who desire a little “extra credit”! Think of it as a little way we’re giving you even more bang for your buck!

By shifting this segment to the online space, we have an extra two hours to learn and play together!  This will vary slightly from class to class, and will be tailored for our individual mix of students and their needs, but we’re going to pump up the volume in a segment on non-sleazy networking, info on savvy image use, as well as some excellent and immersive activities (to remain secret until the day!).

We know it’s going to be great, and we’re psyched about making some fabulous new changes. As always, if you have any questions, please hit us up on Twitter!

xo always,

Gala, Shauna and Kat.

London Madness: Part One

London class 2 is done and dusted, and today we’re getting ready for our next weekday session!  We had the best time, and we can’t wait to do it all over again tomorrow!

We thought we’d share a few pictures from the weekend…

 

We had a brilliantly jam-packed weekend, and it was such a delight and a privilege to spend time with 30 fiercely intelligent, curious, upbeat and enthusiastic women.  You can see some more photos here!

Love always,

Gala, Shauna and Kat.

The West Coast Is The Best Coast!

Dear West Coast babes,

It’s finally time!  We hear you and your excited requests for a Blogcademy in your sweet region… So we’re bringing the Blogcademy to you!

We’ll be bringing the turquoise tornado to Portland, Oregon at the end of March, and whooping it up in Los Angeles at the start of April.  Can you tell that we’re excited?!  We can’t wait to gorge on sugar at Voodoo Doughnut, peruse the stacks at Powell’s, and hang out in Shauna’s cute house!  Los Angeles is one of our favourite cities, too: from walks along the beach to amazing vintage shopping, sometimes it seems like that city really does have it all!

We can’t wait to teach you everything we know about blogging, to hand you a copy of our brand spanking new magazine, and conduct a graduation ceremony at the end of day two!

As always, we’re offering an earlybird special for the first 48 hours — so don’t bide your time! — and giving away a scholarship to both classes.  You can read about the scholarship at the very bottom of our FAQ page.

Is the West Coast really the best coast?!  Here’s hoping… !

Eternal love,

Gala, Shauna and Kat.

Happy New Year!

How did you ring in 2013?  We hope it was fabulous!  Your headmistresses spent the last few minutes of 2012 drinking pink cocktails, popping bottles of champagne and giggling a lot!  We say: start as you mean to go on!

That brings us to our next point, which is the idea of setting yourself some goals for your blog over the course of this new year.  We could say “resolutions” but they are so wishy-washy, and really, when we’re honest about it, made to be broken!

Nope, it’s plain to see that if you want to make the most of your blog in 2013, you need to know what that looks like to you.  Do you want to earn a buck or increase your readership?  Do you want to change the direction or improve the content?  What do you see other bloggers doing that inspires you?

Once you know the answers to these questions, you can start to march forward with intent.  So take a moment over this next week to really think about your answers.

Where do you want to go, and what do you want to achieve with your blog in 2013?  Mindmap your ideas and then tape them up right next to your computer.  It’ll help keep you on track as the weeks roll on!

Whatever you come up with, we’re right there with you… and we hope we’re able to hang out with you and help you make it happen!

Infinite love,

Gala, Shauna and Kat… (Your whip-cracking headmistresses!)