I decided to attend FinCon 2024 kind of at the last minute. In recent years I’ve cut excess conference attendance pretty significantly from my marketing focus. To be honest the travel can be distracting for me, all of the new things to learn and implement can accidentally derail my focus and it can be hard connecting with all of the cool people that I meet at conferences after I return home. But every time I’ve attended a FinCon conference it has more than paid for itself in connections, community, brand awareness and (very importantly) income. It’s one of my favorite events to attend and this year I was so glad that I decided to go. I also realized that it was my 9th FinCon conference-Wow! With that in mind, here’s my FinCon 2024 review: Atlanta edition. Starting with the vibes were super chill and I wasn’t mad at it. Given how much tension was in the air, being in a space that was calm and comforting was really nice.
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Creators Getting Paid
My mission is to help digital content creators to identify, grow and scale at least one recurring income stream to $500 a month within the back end of their business. I know that you’re busy with brand deals, freelance writing and partnerships But waking up to money each morning is so addictive. That $500 a month is $6,000 a year, and then you scale those earnings over time with the skill set that you’ve built and learned. Why $500 dollars? Because I KNOW you can achieve that goal. Go to https:/creatorsgettingpaid.com/newsletter to get started.
Again, that’s https://creatorsgettingpaid.com/newsletter so that you can be a part of this community so that you can learn more. Community members will receive access to a free mini workshop when they join.
The Size of the Conference
And Conference Design
This year’s conference felt smaller than previous years. I loved it. The larger the number of attendees the more challenging it is to really meet the people who are there. As with any event, there’s an ebb and flow to the number of people who attend. I truly loved seeing the same people and actually having the opportunity to have deep, significant and unrushed conversations within the framework of the conference experience.
Community Meetups
I loved that attendees were given the opportunity to host community meetups for different areas of focus or interest. In fact, I had the opportunity to host the newsletter meetup and I was amazed by the number of people who showed up. In addition to the platform and niche meetups, there were a number of roundtable meetups for different areas of interest. I attended the following meetups: Podcasting, Public Speaking and I think I made it to the YouTube Meetup.
Standout Meetup: Social and Financial Justice Group
For me, money isn’t just about helping myself-it’s about helping others. I loved being a part of the inaugural meetup in New Orleans 2023 and loved seeing the growth of this community at this year’s meetup in Atlanta. For so many years I felt very isolated in how I thought about money, my online platform and how I thought about monetization. This community of people makes me feel seen, heard and understood.
Dinner Clubs
These continue to be one of my favorite parts of FinCon. There’s nothing better than breaking bread with people who are new to you. My host happened to be a friend from Denver who was attending FinCon for the first time. Jenn, who is the founder of The Pledgettes was a wonderful hostess and the group that I ate enjoyed a delicious Chinese fusion BBQ meal at Sweet Auburn BBQ.
Prioritizing Community Connection
I truly appreciated FinCon’s intentional focus for prioritizing community connection within the conference content design. There was one attended who told me that they were frustrated that there weren’t sessions being held all day at the conference. I made the counterpoint that hands down, the bulk of my high ticket projects throughout the years have come from people that I know. Over the years these attendees have also designed and created other events, spaces and communities and as a result friends have connected me with cool projects, opportunities and expereinces.
Monetizing an online brand isn’t just about what you know.
It’s who you know.
Stand Out Sessions
Even thought I’ve attended FinCon 9 times, I still love attending sessions. This year I focused on the following types of content: Email/List Building/Newsletters (I group all three together) YouTube and Product design. One thing that I love about attending FinCon is the quality of the sessions. I leave inspired, educated and with immediate action items to be focused on post event. The following sessions and talks really stood out to me:
- Thursday’s 9:00 am Community Session and Rachel Rodgers Rich and Rested Talk. Say no more Rachel! I heard what you said and I received this message. Some key points in her talk:
- Scarcity is a lie-there is always and forever will be enough.
- Wealth comes from taking risk
- Recurring revenue comes from systems
- Distill your genius
- Create your flagship offer
- Build a movement
- Prune your bonsai-Focus your energy and resources on what converts to money
- Roberto Blake’s YouTube Monetization Class-I feel like he share a lot of insight and actionable steps for attendees to take after the event.
- Thriving as a Freelance Writer in the Midst of AI (How I Scaled to $11K per Month) by Chonce Maddox-I no longer actively freelance. When I tell you that I loved what Chonce shared during a time where there are so many headwinds in the freelance space.
- Let’s Talk About…YouTube and Video Podcasts vs. Audio-Only Podcasts-Steve Stewart left us thinking about how what to consider.
- Let’s Talk About…Growing Impact-I absolutely loved this talk by Barrett Brooks. I truly appreciate that there’s space in the conference to have conversations that compliment the idea of wealth.
Stand Out Connections
I meet so many amazing humans and reconnected with a number of friends. However there were a couple of standout connections that happened outside and inside of the FinCon event.
- Ms. Chika “The Scholarship Queen” She helps her audience connect with scholarships for various types of experiences. We hung out for hours after FinCon was officially finished and even made our way to the airport together. Despite her having TSA Pre-Check, we ended up meeting at her gate and continuing to hang out until her flight departed. I expect big things from her and connect her with any educational organization looking for resources to help their student population (Paid of course)
- Stephanie Perry of Vaycarious-I actually know Stephanie and I was completely shocked to find out that she was in the United States and actually in the hotel hosting a meetup for her Vaycarious and Exodus Summit Community. Myself and Latisha Styles were able to hang out and be in community with Stephanie and other Black women looking to travel abroad.
- LaTisha Styles of LatishaStyles TV-I’ve known LaTisha for years and this year I truly enjoyed the chance to hang out, hear what’s she’s up to and be relentlessly teased by her hubbie. Those two are so cute.
- Pete McPherson of Do You Even Blog organized a random pizza dinner and 5 of us ended up gorging ourselves on fantastic pizza at this incredible place adjacent to Georgia Tech called Antico Pizza Napoletana. Then we walked back to the hotel which took us about 45 minutes to do.
Opportunities for Improvement
I’ve hosted so many events and every event had something that I could have improved. FinCon and every conference or meeting is the same. There were a couple of things that I wished for after the event.
- It would have so cool to have one offsite event for the entire community in addition to the Dinner Parties that public transit could have been used for. For example-visiting Ponce City Market. I had no idea about it until I saw pictures of it. It’s a mixed use space with food, shopping and places to hang out. Other ideas include:
- A hike or walk in a park
- Visit the Atlanta Aquarium (which I didn’t realize how big it was until we were walking back from the pizza dinner)
- One wildly raucous party-I don’t go out anymore, but I’m up for having fun with my FinCon peeps. New Orleans always sets the bar high with the fun options. Last year there was a random 4 hour Halloween parade that literally felt like Mardi Gras. In all seriousness, I would love to have a party. Just one. I don’t need more than that.
Overall Experience
FinCon 2024 was wonderful. I truly enjoyed reconnecting with my friends, being inspired, leaving with action items and feeling energized for 2025. The FinCon team spends a lot of time, energy and thought into the planning of an event that gets me to fly across the country to attend. I even bought tickets for 2025 and look forward to gifting at least one to someone in my Creators Getting Paid Community.
Where I stayed and the Venue
I did want to mention briefly that I thought the venue’s dystopian futuristic architecture was wild. I actually stayed in the Marriott which was connect by a walkway. The Marriott, in particular, was incredible from an architectural perspective. It looked like the inside of an alien and the glass elevator was its spine. Don’t believe me? Here’s a picture.
Ideas for Portland’s FinCon 2025 Conference
Portland is a great town and hands down one of the best food cities in the United States. Seriously. Things that I would love to do in addition to eating my way through town.
- Happy Hour Sightseeing Cruise-I live in a landlocked state so anything with water makes me happy.
- Hike and Hot Springs-This would have to happen a day or two before or after the conference
- Coffee roastery tour
- Food tour
- Local hike
- Day in Seattle-This could happen before or after FinCon because it’s 3 hours by train
- Portland to the Ocean-This could have to happen a day before or after the event
- A bike tour of Portland
No matter what, I know it will be a great time and I look forward to attending next year. As usual, a huge congratulations to the FinCon team for hosting such a phenomenal event.
