I recently attended Jeff Goins’ Tribe Conference and thoroughly enjoyed it. If you’re a writer or a creative of another type who wants to hone your voice and expand your reach, I highly recommend Tribe!

Below are the top 10 things I learned from Tribe:

1. Jeff Goins nurtures a terrific community. 

I was uber impressed with the people I met at Tribe. These are brilliant, generous people who are out to serve the world and change it in the process.

2. Rest to receive.

Carlos Whittaker kicked off the conference with a talk about creating magical, life-giving moments. The point he made that resonated most with me was this: rest to receive. So often, when we’re burnt out or disappointed, the answer is rest. Inspiration will come when we take time to slow down and rejuvenate.

3. Find your frustration.

Baker Publishing Group author Emily Freeman talked about the importance of frustration, passion, and hope as we hone our voice. She referred to a conversation with Seth Godin in which he said he waits for frustration to prompt him to write a book. This element adds some urgency and purpose to one’s writing/creating.

4. Tribe builders need an automatic pitch.

This one comes from software genius Nathan Barry, creator of ConvertKit, who encouraged us all to send a few emails to new subscribers and then invite them to go deeper with a low-priced Nice tip!

5. Life’s better with donuts. Amen?

6. Think of  your family and friends as your shareholders.

Carrie Wilkerson likened the tribe builder’s family and friends to the big corporation’s shareholders. Just as big companies need to perform well for their shareholders, solopreneurs need to perform well for their families and friends.

7. Going pro is about self-validation.

This came from Shawn Coyne, an editor who has collaborated with Steven Pressfield. Too often, he said, we look outside ourselves for validation. We look to publishers or bestseller lists or Amazon reviews or blog traffic or email lists. Coyne said being a pro is about self-validation. It’s about doing your art regardless of anything else. Here’s the quote I wrote down: “Becoming pro is about saying, ‘I may not have a big email list, but I have a blog post to write today. That’s what I’m gonna’”

8. Jeff Goins is a generous guy.

For one thing, following a presentation in which Chris Ducker pointed out that $100,000/year is $297/day, Jeff gave $297 to an attendee who didn’t believe her coaching was worth that. She came up on stage, coached him, and Jeff struck a check. But beyond that Jeff was generous with his time throughout the conference and with his own transparency about his mistakes. Love the guy.

9. Use the whole stage.

Michael Port knows how to give a speech! He was all over the state in a high-impact presentation about, what else, public speaking. One takeaway: Use the whole stage. Second takeaway: YOU are the presentation, not your slides. It was so good I’m now reading his book Steal the Show.

10. Mingle, mingle, mingle!

Often the best part of a conference is the hallway chats, mixers, and late-night conversations. I met some fascinating people. I’ll mention just three here, and my apologies for not mentioning the many other amazing people I met! Marsha Shandur of yesyesMarhsa.com was our “awkwardness controller.” She led us through some great exercises and taught us invaluable things like how to end a conversation at a conference or party. Mike Berry of http://confessionsofanadoptiveparent.com/ is a big-hearted guy who is truly having an impact in the world. He reminded me that consistency is king. And Gabi Logan of www.gabilogan.com is proof that you can make six figures as a travel writer. Who knew?!

All in all a great time. I have a feeling I’ll be back to Tribe in the future!

Live Tweets, Mike Kim’s Review, and Handouts

Throughout the conference I tweeted quotes, observations, and a few pictures. To see my Tribe tweets in one place, click here.

To read more about the Tribe Conference, check out Mike Kim’s excellent article, My Takeaways and Review of Jeff Goins’ Tribe Conference.

Carlos Whittaker and Emily Freeman generously offered digital packages of freebies during the conference. I secured their permission to include links to these below:

Carlos Whittaker: carloswhittaker.com/tribe16

Emily Freeman: hopewriters.com/tribes

Question: Which of these lessons from Tribe resonates most with you and why? You can leave a comment by clicking here.