Pursue Your Dreams

Whether your dreams are career and work dreams or just a dream project or lifestyle (or all of the above), here are real-life practical resources for women who want more fulfillment in their lives, whatever that looks like.

Is it Time to Plant Seeds or Harvest, or…?

My daughter started getting into gardening last April—like so many folks—during the pandemic. It helped to quiet down the raging anxiety inside her. Like her mama, she soon discovered that she loved to garden. Unlike her mama, she found that she absolutely adores growing plants from seeds. I have little patience for seeds. I just want to jump right into the plant stage and keep going. She likes the magic of the sprout pressing its little pale green body against the earth, erupting from something hard and small into something much bigger above ground. She likes knowing that she brought something to life and kept it going.

During our stay with family for April and May of 2020, she planted seeds and plants, and tended to her “babies” each day. Once we decided we were going to move to a new city and into a home with a yard, she planned to begin sprouting seeds to be ready for planting once we found the right house.

Since we moved into said “right house,” she and her Grandmapa cleared an area of the yard, built, filled, and planted a huge raised bed. She filled that bed with radishes, tomatoes, yellow squash, carrots, bell peppers, and a mystery pepper plant that her brother found at an Asian market labeled “Crispy Peppers.” She has also grown-from-seed potted green beans, green onions, cucumbers, and chives.

I keep sneaking photos of her through the kitchen window while she’s out in the backyard gardening, her faithful pup nearby. This is a little chunk of heaven to me, watching her create beauty in the world in a way that is new to her. A way that barely involves a smartphone. It reminds me of my mom and all the gardening lessons she taught me when I was a child; lessons that stick with me to this day.

Growing up Christian, the gardening and seed-related metaphors were plentiful. Faith of a mustard seed, fallow soil, fertile soil, etc., etc. I don’t mean to add my own metaphor to the mix BUT well, all this gardening (or watching gardening), got me thinking about how we’re all in these different seasons of our lives. (And also, that this specific moment/pandemic is exposing the varying degrees of poison in the soil so-to-speak.)

When it comes to your life, whether you’re in a planting phase, a seedling stage, or just fucking hoping there’s soil at some point phase, I want you to know there’s hope. Life always keeps going. That we can be sure of. Maybe not how we’d expect, but it does.

Maybe right now is a time for you to plant seeds and patiently take care of that promise of sprouting that you just cannot see quite yet. Or perhaps you’re tilling the soil; or you’re letting it lay fallow, generating the healing that it takes to be fertile for your dreams again. Then again, maybe you’re just trying to figure out how to rid the soil of the poison. All I can tell you—from being in every damn one of those phases—is KEEP GOING. Get through this hour, this job, this task, this night. You are not defined by any one phase of your life. And if it’s time to do more, do it. If it’s time to regroup, do that. Whatever it is deep down that you know you must do, do that.

And never, ever listen to someone who tells you to give up on your dream.

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It’s About Damn Time

For many years I felt like an outlier in the business world, hell, in life. It’s no secret I’m a “heart-centered strategist” as several clients have called me. I have never really bought into the idea of business as usual. I’ve learned what I can from teachers and authors and mentors who had important business skills to teach, but whose personal lives I did not admire. For decades, I’ve wondered where the mentors who prioritized business AND people are. To be sure, I have found some along the way and I cherish them, but it’s often not the norm.

Over the past few years, I’ve just been “over it” in terms of any attempt to fit into that stale business mold. More and more, I’ve leaned into what my heart and skillset tell me are important: people. I’ve also worked on my own limiting beliefs about what is possible for someone like me who wants to make both a difference and a small fortune. 😉 And you know what happened when I made those shifts? My business grew. My network of “my kind of people” has grown. And it’s just the beginning.

I’m telling you this because if you’re feeling frustrated with the way business has been done, there is so much hope for change right now.

And you know what? It’s about damn time that caring people start leading a revolution of how business and government is done in this country!

Right now, I want to share just a few wonderful things to help you in your roles in changing the world:

#1 Get Arlan Hamilton’s book It’s About Damn Time, and if you’re ready to take serious next steps Join her free Mastermind. I met some AMAZING entrepreneurs in there. Arlan is an absolute gem of a human being. If you haven’t heard of her you will very soon. She is the kind of person I’m talking about: making a difference in her work, genuinely helping people, while also making bank.

#2 Black people, get free, expert advice for your business/career. If you are a Black person, check out this list of CEOs and professionals who are donating their time/advice to Black people right now. Jump on this.

#3 Finally, I have a little Juneteenth announcement:

I am donating branding one-on-one sessions with me to Black people for the month of August. Sign up for your spot here if you’re ready for some laser-focused branding advice: https://calendly.com/theandreaguevara/25-min​

Okay, that’s it for now. And if you’re Indigenous, POC or single mom, don’t worry I’ll have more resources for you too. I just really want to help keep this momentum of Black power moving right now.

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They Are Showing Us Who They Are

You know how they say “crisis creates character”? Well, I think “crisis reveals character.” And the same can be said of brands. During this difficult time I’m sure you’ve seen ads and posts from different brands that have either been skillfully and respectfully made, or ads that are completely tone deaf, outdated, or just plain offensive.

So many of us are watching, or at the very least will likely remember, how brands acted during this time of crisis. The other day a colleague of mine who works for Hyundai, posted a press release sharing that Hyundai donated 65,000 COVID-19 tests and provided funding for 22 drive-thru testing locations nationwide. This is the kind of hands-on, well directed actions that lead to people associating good feelings with the Hyundai brand for years to come. This is brand leadership.

You may have also noticed some of the bigger names in self development, business skills, etc. are offering free or discounted online courses which is…nice. I mean, it’s always nice when folks with more than enough money give things away for free.

Then there’s the other side, whether it’s unfortunate timing of certain ad campaigns, to companies like Tawkify forgetting that they are still running dating ads one in my feed read, “Think you don’t have time to date? You do. The best dating service for ambitious women.” LOL, gave me a good laugh though.

And then there are the cases where brands seem to just be thoughtless or consumed with making profits from fear, for instance: the VIDA protective masks ad that came up on my Insta feed the other day on which users quickly pointed out in comments that not only were the masks being made in China (which isn’t bad necessarily, it’s just not a good look right now when people are trying to support local businesses) while their competitors were making them in the U.S., but also that they were more expensive than competitors and only donated 10% of their profits (keyword there–not price but profit) while their competitors were donating much more to first responders.


And then there are brands like Amazon, with their CEO Jeff Bezos trying to distract us by wanting to test all employees for COVID-19, while only a month ago senators were urging him to give workers sick leave and hazard pay, and employees had to demand the shutdown of a facility after multiple employees tested positive. Or how about his stunt where he donated a measly $100 million to U.S. food banks (when he has personally made an additional $24 billion just since the pandemic began)? To be clear, that’s only 0.000416666666667% of only the money he’s made during the pandemic–not counting the other over $100 billion in wealth he already had.

That’s not a drop in a bucket, that’s a molecule in a pool. 

Or how about this tactless email I received the other day from some entrepreneur I took a webinar with months ago?:

The point is, people are paying attention. More than ever, our emotions are engaged and we’re going to remember the brands that showed us their true character, good, bad, and ugly.

But it’s also good for us to keep in mind with our own brands.

I’ve been trying to filter every communication I make via my brands through a sensitivity to the very real emotions and stresses people have. I aim to be respectful and conscious in how I serve you. That’s why I’ve been keeping my emails primarily focused on being a source of positive messages, reflection, and hope.

In the meantime, I’ve also been working on different new offerings I’ve never offered before because I’ve been trying to develop tools that people need more than ever.  After this many years in business, I’ve realized that some of the things I’ve learned will be of service to others now more than ever. But this is tricky. There’s a balance to strike between helping, making ends meet and being seen as someone capitalizing on a disaster.

Unfortunately, I’m not in a position to offer my services or products for free, but I am working on offering smaller, more focused offerings that are more affordable if people need help with say, just one focused thing–like how to set up their email marketing, or put together a simple website, or how to start their writing career, or leverage LinkedIn better, etc. Anyway, I’ll share more as I get closer to having these resources available as well as how I make decisions moving forward to help my communities.

I hope you’ll also take this opportunity to think about how your brand will be perceived but also balance that with the reality of what you can afford to do (it’s okay to put your family’s survival first right now) and what unique ways you may be able to help others.

In any case, as ever, I wish you the best in life and work and hope that you are safe and healthy. We’re in this together.

How to Focus & Finish Your Creative Work (3 Experts Share)

I have a confession. I started writing my memoir in 2013, finished the first draft in 2017, and yet STILL HAVEN’T FINISHED the damn book! BUT 2020 is the year I finish this thing! 

It’d be easy to call myself lazy, or a procrastinator, but that’s not the real issue here. I know why it’s come to this. And it’s a lot more than that. Eyeroll. In short, a lot of traumatic things have happened in the past few years, but it’s finally time. While I’m going back to some of my tried-and-true methods to get shit done, I am also committed to being open to new ways of doing things, especially if that knowledge is coming from people who know. So I reached out to some of my favorite women who have accomplished kickass things. I asked them to share their secrets for staying focused and actually finishing their creative projects.

Here’s what I asked them:

What are the top 1-3 things that help you stay focused and actually FINISH your creative work?

And sub-question: How does it help you/what does it do for you?

 

Natashia Deón

Author of the novel, GRACE

When I asked Natashia Deón to provide her name and title for this post she provided the above title. But there’s no way I’m letting her get away with that minuscule description. 😉 Let me tell you why you want to listen to what this woman has to say: not only was her debut novel, GRACE, critically-acclaimed, but it also garnered her a 2017 NAACP Image Award nomination, was a New York Times Top Book of 2016, and has too many other accolades to list here, but she was also a U.S. delegate to Armenia, in partnership with the University of Iowa’s International Writing Workshop and the U.S. State Department, not only that but she is also a practicing attorney, law professor, and creative writing professor, AND she’s also creator of Dirty Laundry Lit reading series, founder of the nonprofit REDEEMED, and a mother of two. She also happens to be very kind, generous, and down to earth. Here’s her advice:

The top three things are probably in this order are:

1) Committing to finishing within the year

2) Then mapping out what I guessed it’d take to “finish” in that year

I asked myself, does it mean writing a complete scene every other day…even if it was really bad? Would it take a week? Did finishing mean I’d have to start by taking a week to outline the novel? Would I outline? I really just got real with myself–my other time commitments, my family, birthdays, job, etc. I wanted to break it down step-by-step because, as the saying goes, if you want to eat something that’s huge, you have to take it a bite at a time.

And finally,

3) I decide to invest in this story.

Not just with my time but saving up enough money to hire a professional editor to have a look at it and give me feedback. So many writers want some other writer to “donate an investment” in them by giving them free feedback and advice. But if you’re a professional, or are serious about your choice to write, you need to invest in your “wedding day.” At least get your nails done or a hair cut for the photos.

Amanda Fletcher

WRITER FIRST and PEN America Emerging Voices Fellowship Manager

Amanda and I met when we both were working for PEN Center USA in Beverly Hills. At the time, we were both kinda working on our temporarily shelved memoirs. She’d also been through the wringer in recent years. Aside from her killer taste in music, I immediately loved Amanda’s no bullshit attitude and beautiful honesty. And of course, she’s a great writer–she was originally an Emerging Voices Fellow before she ever came on as staff. Anyway, Amanda finished her first draft of her memoir and is currently deep into edits. Last year, she used Instagram as a tool to keep herself accountable to her writing goals and as a result posted snippets of her memoir, which were, of course, equal parts stunning, delicious, and profound.

So I wanted to ask her what helped focus and finish her creative work. Here are her answers:

    1. Using a timer. Start with 10 minutes and move up to 50 minutes. Keep your ass in the seat until the timer goes off. Once it does, set it for 5 minutes. Get up and stretch, pee, get a snack, whatever, but once it goes off again, sit your ass back down and do another round. Knowing there is a time limit helps me to stay focused on the task at hand, knowing that as soon as the timer sounds, I can check my email or my socials. I have pretty severe ADD so I need parameters around my practice. And I resisted this one forever–my roommate literally bought me a kitchen timer to make me try it. And it worked! I finished a draft of my book in less than a year. So, remember that even the things you think are stupid–maybe especially those things–can be of the most help to you.
    2. Hit it every day. Even if it is just that single 10 minute round. I need my story to be at the forefront of my focus, even on the days I am drowning in my day job. Sometimes all I can do is make notes on my phone, but I keep it fresh in my consciousness as much as possible–my best ruminations come from riding my bike in the morning. I am constantly pulling over to jot down ideas. Hey, if you’re stuck, jump on your bike or go for a walk or something. Let the universe break you open.
    3. Have an accountability partner. Meet another writer for coffee and bring your laptops. Use the timer to control the conversation. Catch up for 10, write for 30, break for 10, and repeat. I am lucky enough to have a friend–Jamie Schaffner–who is enmeshed in her first novel and we have committed to checking in with each other every time we complete a round. We set goals for the day and encourage each other through all aspects of the writing process via texts and memes and the screen effects you can send on an iPhone, like fireworks and confetti and shit. It helps to know people are watching–I kind of went extreme on this one and posted excerpts to my Instagram account. They could only be pulled from what I had written the day before. Think of it like exercise and diet–way easier to stick to when you are forced to record your progress.

Ahyiana Angel

Author, Host + Founder of Mayzie Media

I first encountered Ahyiana through my friend and colleague Betsy Cardenas who interviewed her on her podcast. Anywho, I’ve been following Ahyiana ever since. If you’re a creative and an entrepreneur you’ll love her popular podcast Switch Pivot or Quit and her book, Quit Playing Small. And last year, we met IRL at ALT Summit where we were both speakers! I love Ahyiana’s energy and positivity, and of course her intelligence, but I also love how she’s willing to call bullshit on common tropes of the entrepreneur life (like influencer culture, ick). Anyway, I knew it would be important to ask her sage advice. Here’s what she had to say:

What helps me to stay focused is setting a goal or having an agenda. It’s easier to work toward an endpoint when I know what the goal or objective is. When I’m not clear on what my goal is it is much easier to get off track and find yourself working on things that don’t matter in the grand scheme of things. This type of action ultimately amounts to creating busy work for yourself. Having an agenda or planned end goal keeps me productive and motivated because once I complete one thing I can build onto the next and keep achieving my goals from there.

So there you have it, great advice from three badasses who are DOING. THE. WORK.

I hope you enjoyed this break from just hearing me blab. Let me know if any of this advice resonated with you, or let me know what subject matter you’d like to see other featured expert posts like this on, in the future.

 

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Understanding the Customer Journey (How to Charge More for Your Work, Pt. 2)

Understanding Your Customers’ Journey is part 2 (of 3) of my How to Charge More for Your Work series. (Part 1 is here.)

Today, we’re going to work on understanding your customer’s journey as it relates to finding you and buying your services. But please note, this same ideology can be used to attract an audience to a product, book, etc. too.

This is the part of marketing that a lot of people only scratch the surface of and it shows. Even big agencies make the mistake sometimes of creating a demographic profile of customers, without exploring the psychographic profile. One of the most glaring examples (to me anyway) is the Simple Truth ad campaign tagline, “Proud of what’s NOT in our food.”

Simple truth ad

Okay, so we get what they’re trying to say right? That their food has good ingredients. But what they’re actually saying with that statement detracts from what they’re trying to sell. They’re proud of the ingredients that aren’t in their food? Huh?

I don’t know about you, but I consider myself in their general demographic–middle-class, health-conscious, prefer natural, whole foods, and also don’t want to break the budget. However, when I see a statement like that I think several things:

  • Do they have anyone who oversees their copyrighting?
  • If they pay this little attention to how they phrase their ads, do they actually even know what’s in their food?
  • Even if this was phrased better, they’re not really telling me anything of value, or how this would actually impact my life. aka why I should care.
  • It’s only memorable for the wrong reasons. (I couldn’t even remember the name of the brand when I went hunting to find the tagline online).

I think if they had taken a little more time to ask themselves the following questions, they’d have a much more successful campaign:

  1. Identify who their IDEAL customer is (demographic & psychographics)
  2. Understand what problem they are solving for them and how it affects their customers on an emotional level.
  3. Delineate how customers go about purchasing: Understand what decisions they typically have to make along the way.

These are exactly the concepts you’re going to explore for your own services. And then in the next step, we’re going to figure out how to use this information to create valuable opportunities to sell your service (for mo’ money), so hang tight and do this important work.

Here’s the practical breakdown of your Workbook (download here):

1. Identify who your IDEAL customer is (demographic & psychographics)
You’re going to write down the following.

  • Describe your Ideal Customer
  • Their personal values
  • What’s most important to them in terms of your service
  • Their budget (remember this is going to be based on what you WANT to charge)
  • What personal traits they have
  • What kind of attitude they have with working with a service provider

2. Understand the problem you are solving for them and how it affects your customers on an emotional level.

  • What problem THEY think you’re solving
  • What problem YOU are actually solving
  • What THEY desire
  • What THEY actually need in order to fulfill said desire

3. Parse out how customers go about BUYING: Understand what decisions they typically have to make along the way.

Let’s take a look at what they must decide as they go along their journey to buying your service:

  • How do they find you in the first place?
  • How they currently find you
  • Other ways you’d like them to find you
  • Do they like your work (visual, written, etc.)?
  • Research: Do they look at the competition? If so, what do they compare?
  • Research: Do they need to be educated in order to understand WHY to buy your service?
  • Research: Will they understand the value of your offering?
  • If they choose you, what will it say about them?
  • Can they afford it? Or are they willing to pay for it?
  • What is the step-by-step purchase process? How does this compare to others? And how big of a factor is it in their decision?

As you go about answering these questions, you’ll want to rate how important each step is to the process. For instance, if they currently find you in two ways: referrals and via social media, which one has a bigger impact? Rate accordingly (see the downloadable workbook).

I hope this helps! Again, for reference, here’s Step 1 of How to Charge More for Your Work; you can access it on my blog.

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How To Charge More For Your Work

How to Charge More for Your Work

Do you ever see people who are doing “the same thing” as you, but somehow are living out a much more successful lifestyle? They seem less stressed. They charge more for their services, or products, and sell more of them too. How are they charging more for their work AND selling more? What the heck?

I’m willing to bet that there’s a good chance you’re undercharging for your products or services. Why? Well, most people on my email list are women, for starters. And in general it seems that women tend to undervalue their work and according to a recent study are more likely to accept less money than men.

Add on to that the ambiguity and variation of hourly rates plus competition, and I’d say a vast majority of female creatives don’t make as much money as they’d prefer.

Here’s how to charge more for your creative work.

A couple years ago, I found that one of the biggest reasons I wasn’t making the kind of money I wanted to be is that I was undercharging without realizing it. I’d like to share some of those concepts with you today.

There are various ways to increase your income, of course. But this week I’d like to give you a practical roadmap on how to increase what you charge for your services. While your approach may be different depending on whether you sell a service or product or both, the basic principles of how to set pricing are very similar. And once you know the formula, it gets a lot easier.

In order to be able to charge more, you’ll need to figure out 3 Things:

Step 1: Get to Know Your Numbers. Figure out what you want to make hourly and how much work/supplies/etc. cuts into your profits.

Step 2: Map the Customer Journey. You need to understand not only the problems you’re solving, but what psychological journey your customers go on when they decipher whether they should buy from you. To map this engagement with your digital products, utilizing the services of marketing analytics companies could provide a great deal of insight.

Step 3: Match it Up. Taking a look at your numbers as well as your customer’s journey will help you figure out the best way to frame and communicate your value, in a way that makes it irresistible to your customers.

So, let’s get started with Step 1 this week. Next week I’ll give you Step 2, and then Step 3, the following week.

Getting to Know Your Numbers.

If you’re anything like me, you have this love-hate relationship with your financials. It’s great when the money’s rolling in, but do you ever want to bury your head in the sand when you know things are tight and the bills continue to come in? I get it.

The good news is that you can get as detailed or as simple as you’d like with this exercise. I’m not forcing you to do a full year’s accounting here. However of course, the more detailed you get, the more accurate and tangible your plans will be. Just sayin’.

Let’s do this! And remember, this is a purely self-centered exercise (but in a good way). So suspend your disbelief about whether or not you’ll actually be able to charge these numbers. For now, DREAM BIG.

Part 1: How much do you want to make per hour of work? And how many hours per week do you want to work?

Again, you could do a full budget for your ideal life and break down the numbers, or you could just name a number that sounds good. It’s up to you here. But for the sake of working with a good ol’ round number, let’s say you want to make $100/hr. And then let’s say you want to work 30 hours per week.

So that’s, $100/hr x 30 hrs = $3,000/week (gross)

Part 2: Calculate how many hours your projects usually take to complete (by line item).

So let’s say you draw children’s portraits from photos. You know that the average portrait takes ~4 hours to finish drawing. But are you also calculating in the time it takes to talk to the client, get the digital photo, and frame the portrait? Be sure to list each and EVERY step of your process for your services and/or product making.

Using our portrait-maker model, here’s how it would look.

Initial phone call with client: .25 hours

Emails back and forth to decide on photo: 1 hr

Drawing time: 4 hours

Finishing & Framing time: .5 hours

Total hours per portrait: 5.75 hours

So, right there, even if you used to charge $100 hour for the usual 4 hours to draw, you’ve now realized if you truly want to make $100/hour you’ll need to charge $575 flat rate, or charge hourly and include those other admin tasks in your fee.

Part 3: What other expenses do you incur that might eat up your profit?

Maybe you have to keep software subscriptions up, or replace pens, pencils, paint, pay for website hosting, or credit card processing fees, or keep upon on some type of certification. List those out like this:

Expense Purpose Cost Frequency

Pencils sketching $10 monthly

Frames framing portraits $35 per project

Next, break this down by weekly, or monthly expense so you have a clearer picture of how it cuts in to your profits.

Part 4: Reassess for Reality. Then settle on a number.

Now that you know your hourly rate, how many hours you want to work, how much time it actually takes to do your work, and what other expenses may cut into your profit, how is that original hourly rate working out for ya? Is it enough? Too much?

Don’t worry right now about whether you deserve to make this much or not, we’ll tackle quantifying value later, but for now, settle on a target number here.

Hourly Rate + Weekly paid hours = Weekly projected revenue (gross)

Deduct weekly expenses (or average weekly expenses broken down from Step 4).

Weekly projected revenue – weekly expenses = weekly income

Now obviously, it’s also best to calculate in taxes (sales and/or income, where applicable) but at a minimum do the above breakdowns.

If these numbers look good you’re done for the week. If not, go back through and recalculate to get to a number that feels equitable for what you’re providing.

In my second installment of How to Charge More for Your Work, we’ll take a closer look at what your customers want and what kind of psychological journey they go on before buying and you’ll begin to see new opportunities arise. Read that post here.

If you have any questions on this week’s action items, feel free post a comment below and I’ll respond.

This post comes from my email newsletter. If you’d like to get in on the weekly tips on how to build your dreams, join us below.

This is WAAAY More Important than Being Talented

Endurance is more important than talent

Don’t feel bad if you’re one of those insanely talented people, I have good news for you. It doesn’t matter. 😉

As a kid, I had a natural propensity for art and drawing, writing, and make believe, but things like math and sports (or any physical activities that required coordination for that matter, LOL), didn’t come so easily.

For the most part, I just put in the minimum effort I had to in order to get a decent grade in math or P.E. I had zero desire desire to work at anything I wasn’t innately talented at. Everyone told me that I was so good at art–so why should I waste my time on other things?

“Talent is insignificant. I know a lot of talented ruins. Beyond talent lie all the usual words: discipline, love, luck, but, most of all, endurance.” -James Baldwin

Through the years I drew almost daily and even took an art class here or there. But I never really challenged myself. I figured if I didn’t already have the ability, I never would. By the time I entered middle school, and encountered others who had more talent than I did, I gave up.

If you’re familiar with the work of Carol Dweck, you know where this is going. Basically, I’d developed a fixed mindset around art: I thought any talent I’d once possessed had reached its limit, or ended at a certain age. I couldn’t see the reality that if I took some classes, I might actually learn some new skills and advance my talents.

Even years later when I became a graphic and web designer, I would only draw on the computer. and only things I felt confident in, for the most part. I’d often farm out any heavy illustration work as I knew mine just wasn’t up to snuff.

When I decided to become I writer, I knew one thing: I didn’t want to do the same thing again. Once and for all, I wanted to put in the work and get the education to really do it right. Even as I started, I still had an inflated sense of my potential. That was quickly squashed again as I met others who clearly had more natural talent than I did. But something had changed. I didn’t give up.

After years of being a single mom-entrepreneur and pressing the fuck on, come what may, I knew I had something no one could take away: perseverance. It didn’t matter if I was THE BEST. As long as I could grow and improve, I was going to be okay.

 “You don’t realize you could actually work super hard and give everything you have, and lose. It was the best message for me.”  –Beyoncé Knowles Carter

Eventually we’re all going to have moments of failure and if we’re resting entirely on our talent, we’ll take it personally and believe that there’s something intrinsically wrong with us. Either that, or we’ll send the blame to someone else: judges, clients, nepotism, anyone or thing but ourselves.

However, if we base our success on our continued effort, that personal sting fades.

Sure it usually still sucks to lose, but if you know you’ve got endurance to fall back on, you know you can keep going.

Endurance > Talent

In the book, Art & Fear, the authors tell a story of a ceramics teacher who divided his class into two groups. He told them that at the end of the semester their entire grade would be based on one thing. Group One would be graded on the quantity of pots they produced while Group Two would be graded on the quality of the best single pot each person created.

When the semester finished, the highest quality pots were produced by the folks in the group graded on quantity, not quality. Why?

“It seems that while the “quantity” group was busily churning out piles of work – and learning from their mistakes – the “quality” group had sat theorizing about perfection, and in the end had little more to show for their efforts than grandiose theories and a pile of dead clay.”

Keep Going

Endurance is a skill you must practice in order to possess it. Here are some ways to build your endurance (and skill), in whatever field you desire to pursue:

  • Push yourself beyond “good enough.” I know that’s scary. I’m not advocating for perfectionism. But if you really want to get good at something, do your best, again and again, knowing that as you continue to grow, your work will improve and your next “good enough” will seem great in comparison.
  • Force yourself through “I don’t feel like it.” I’m a firm believer that while passion is great, your ability to do things you don’t feel like doing is directly correlated to your success.
  • Cobble together time wherever and whenever possible. One of my #1 excuses is that I don’t have time. Truly we don’t have time for EVERYTHING. But if we really want to improve an area, we must give it time. Life is busy, especially if you have young ones in the house—sometimes the only time you can cram in to work on your craft/idea/skill/etc. is in between making lunches and taking a shower. Use that time! You’ll be surprised how much more you can accomplish by doing that instead of waiting for “someday.”
  • Schedule it. For many of us, simply scheduling time on our calendars will make it official and motivate/remind us to make it a priority.
  • Take breaks instead of (risking) breakdowns. Don’t push yourself to the brink. If you feel yourself getting overwhelmed, take a step back and ask yourself why. Then make some adjustments, BEFORE it becomes too much.
  • Practice the really difficult or “don’t feel like it” tasks in micro doses so you can build a tolerance. Once you’ve done that you can handle more of it. Until it becomes not such a big deal any more to do the hard things.
  • Rip the Band-aid off. Sometimes it’s better to act before your mind has a chance to talk you out of something. Just go with your gut, make that call, agree to that gallery show, whatever it is. If it feels right, or if it feels scary, chances are you should do it.
  • Remember, it all starts with mindset, so feed your brain positive, empowering things and then ACT on them.
  • When you’re feeling lost or bored, or whatever excuse your mind comes up with to give up, remember WHY you’re doing this in the first place. Sometimes that’s enough to get you back to it.
  • Celebrate your victories—small or big, take a moment to celebrate AND write it down. Keep a “Wins” file that contains mention of these victories. You can revisit it when you’re feeling like a less-than-talented hack.
  • Set yourself some minimum stretch goals. Just like the pottery study, make yourself practice X amount of hours, or submit to X number of publications, or read X number of books, or whatever it is. Commit to that and be amazed by what you achieve in the practice of that goal. But remember, don’t make it too easy–that’s the stretch part.
  • BONUS TIP: If you’re in a funk, play Britney Spear’s Work Bitch and remember, you want a masarati, you want a hot body? You gotta work, bitch! 😉

 

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4 Big Takeaways from Alt Summit 2019

I just got back from nearly a full week in Palm Springs and boy let me tell ya, I feel like a new woman. Or maybe more like the same woman, but more deeply grounded in my mission and power. Whew, it literally sat down this morning and listed all of the factors that led to this glorious feeling: 85 degree weather, AMAZING powerful, motivated women everywhere, connecting with friends, teaching what I know and helping other women grab ahold of their clarity and power, a swanky hotel room to myself, a cool Palm Springs vibe, etc.

If you’ve known me for a bit, you know the past six months have kind of been a gauntlet of devastating personal losses: a big breakup, my son’s accident, my mother’s sickness and then death, along with multiple other life plan disruptions. It’s been a daily struggle to stay motivated like I normally would. Grief is a vicious all-encompassing bitch, who tears away everything that doesn’t matter, but damned if she isn’t also a mind-blowing teacher. Anyway, this week I felt a break from that grief chokehold. Or maybe, like I was finally embracing her and beginning to learn what I need from her.

In any case, I feel like a better version of myself. There was this peace and power all week. And a deep sense of fulfillment.

But enough about me, what I want to share are the biggest takeaways that kept coming up over and over throughout the week, in nearly every conversation I had with these badass creative, entrepreneurial women.

My Takeaways from Alt Summit 2019:

1. We’re sick of the bullshit. 

We want authentic women leaders who own their gifts and share them without shame, but also reveal their struggles and real life hurdles too.

2. Magic happens when we lean in to our dreams.

If we create intentions based on what we know we want to do, or feel called to do (even if that’s super vague, like when all I knew I wanted to do was be a speaker and author who inspires people), AND take action (even if that’s minor action like just thinking more about it), magic begins to happen. The universe fucking delivers, people. Now sometimes it delivers amazingness and sometimes it delivers hardship to test your resolve, but things will happen. But either way, it’s better than the comfort zone mediocrity that most of us live in on the day-to-day.

3. Bigger, better things are waiting for you.

If we let go of small thinking, and own #2 above, we accomplish and are given opportunities bigger than we could have even thought possible. Case in point: I set a goal last year to be able to attend this conference, instead I spoke, and attended for free.

4. You have these dreams for a reason. 

I want to shout this from rooftops. You were born to do this (or these) things. Stop wondering. I’m fucking telling you. As someone who is done exactly what she’s meant to do this past week–even though it took me years to get here–I’m telling you that you were born with these heartsongs for a reason. No one on this earth can do what YOU were put here to do. So step into that and you’ll be amazed what happens.

Folks, I wish I could do a Spock mindmeld with you right now and impart the wisdom, power surge, and fulfillment I experienced this week at Alt Summit, but trickling it out in words like this will have to suffice for now.

BTW, these were my two most popular business cards this week (I had 7 different designs):

You’re not a brand. You’re a fucking legend.

You have this dream for a reason.

My Favorite Hacks and Apps
for your Creative Career

After nearly two decades as a creative entrepreneur and writer, I’ve come to find some of the best hacks and apps for your creative career (including great tools, and software) that make my days run smoother. And when I find something great, I love to share! But it’s been a while since I’ve done a roundup of tools and hacks, so I thought I’d send you a list of some of my favorites today.

In this post I’ll cover: graphics software, getting sh*t done tips & tools, my favorite bookkeeping tool, social media automation, email marketing recommendations, and ways to shore up your mental reserves and stay motivated to build your creative empire! I hope you find some gold nuggets here.

Here we go: Some of the Best Hacks and Apps for your Creative Career

DIY Graphics Software for Non-Designers

If you should have the need to create some graphics for your brand and you don’t have the budget for a designer, here are a couple of great options:

Visme is an online tool for creating a variety of graphics and fancying up information for things like printables, infographics, documents, social graphics, and presentations. It’s all online within your browser so you don’t need to download software. They have a variety of design templates and elements to choose from. It can really help you get your brand looking polished for a pretty minimal price.

Favorite features:

  • User-friendly, logical design templates
  • Quick tutorial videos to get you going fast and provide guidance for the less design-inclined
  • In their top package ($20/mo) you can utilize custom URLs, track views, upload your own fonts, create a brand palette, and much more.visme graphics editing

Canva is also a good tool, but not as robust. Like Visme, it also has a free basic membership that you can try out before committing. I feel like Canva is more geared toward making print materials like posters, cards, photo collages and social media images.

Favorite features:

  • User-friendly design templates
  • It’s a little cheaper if budget is a concern

Getting Sh*t Done

I often use E.ggtimer.com to set timers to motivate myself to finish tasks more quickly. It’s amazing how a little timer can motivate you.

Evernote is an awesome tool for keeping notes, thoughts, and ideas organized and available anywhere. I’ve used the desktop version for years and a few years back starting using the mobile app as well. It makes it super easy to jot down notes, ideas, even type up a draft of a chapter or blog post at the doctor’s office. The app and desktop version sync so I can keep my ideas handy wherever I am. And even the free version is pretty robust.evernote app

Batching. You may have heard me talk about this before, but as much as possible I try to batch alike tasks to save time and mental energy. So for instance, I generally only check mail once or twice per week, check email at set times (instead of incessantly all day), etc.

Communicate. I’ve been working from home since my kids couldn’t walk. And even though everyone says “it must be so easy,” you have to protect your time and space. Carving out dedicated, uninterrupted hours is key. Having a door to shut is equally important. And finally, a lot of chaos and tension can be solved by communicating with loved ones that your work time is important. Sometimes family gets frustrated when I’m not available to chat during work hours, but if I split my focus my work suffers and so do my deadlines. This isn’t a set it and forget it kind of solution by the way, it’s an ongoing reminder to folks that you take your work seriously.

More getting sh*t done tips are also here.

Bookkeeping

For me, this is a necessary evil. For years I used QuickBooks and an excel spreadsheet. I did all of my client contracts (once I learned the hard way that I needed them, lol) in Word and spent a lot of time on redundant activities. About ten years ago, one of my developers recommended a new online accounting software called Freshbooks. Welp, I’ve been with them ever since. It’s not perfect, but it fits most of my needs and helps me streamline my workflow so estimates, invoices and payments are so much easier. If you’re looking for a simpler, more user-friendly solution to your invoicing and payment process I recommend checking it out. *Full disclaimer: I use the legacy version–not the All-New version they recently came out with.* For those of you who still use QuickBooks, this article (freshbooks vs quickbooks) compares the two so should give you some more information on which one would suit you better at all ends. If your business is small, you may want to use a small business bookkeeping accountant like Dave Burton to help you sort out your books.

freshbooks app

Favorite features:

  • Easy online invoicing & online payments (via PayPal, Stripe or others)
  • Can see when a client has viewed an estimate
  • Can track your time worked on a project and bill for it easily (same with expenses)
  • Clients can see their entire account history with you
  • Easily integrate hour-tracking and invoicing with sub-contractors

Social Media Automation

Buffer. I really like Buffer because it’s easy to schedule posts ahead of time and make sure they’re at the best time of day. To me, it’s the simplest, cleanest social media scheduling software out there at the pricepoint of only $10/mo. for their basic package.

buffer social media appFavorite features:

  • Schedule up to 100 posts at the optimal times in advance (or more if you have a biz acct)
  • Content Inbox! Easily setup a feed of content from your favorite sites and simply click to add those shares into your mix
  • For those who aren’t designers, they also have Pablo integrated which makes it easy to find shareable images and add text to them to help your posts pop.
  • Automatic posting to Instagram (a lot of other schedulers don’t do that)

Email Marketing

I have two top favorites here: ConvertKit and Mailchimp.

ConvertKit is what I now use myself and recommend for many clients who want more robust features than Mailchimp but don’t want the complication and price of some of the other email marketing providers.

Favorite features:

  • If you want to understand your email list folks on a more granular level, you have a lot more flexibility on what and how to send emails.
  • Sign up forms are easier than MailChimp
  • Setting up sales or sign up funnels are the easiest of any email marketing software in this pricepoint.
  • Customer service rocks and so does the company–great values and people!

convertkit

Mailchimp is great too, especially if you’re just starting out and don’t have a lot of money (free starter package) and want a pretty simple solution.

Favorite features:

  • Basic email automatons are simple to setup
  • Visual drag-and-drop email (& template) creator is very user-friendly
  • Women-run business! They were one of BinderCon’s first sponsors.

Mental Health & Motivation

Connect with other humans. As a creative human, you know that your work enriches people’s lives–or at least you should. (I’m telling ya!) But sometimes pursuing your creative dreams is hard and lonely. It helps to get out and find similarly minded folks, whether that’s in person (best) or online. Knowing others are experiencing similar challenges and joys and learning from their experiences is gold. Volunteering (if you can swing it) for an organization you care about is another great way to help others while also building your network.

Speaking of connecting with other humans. I’m a part of an online community for creatives called Wandering Aimfully. Founders Jason & Caroline Zook are kickass, unconventional, zero bullshit, creative entrepreneurs and their community includes a wealth of resources, courses, software and more.

Take mindful breaks. Okay, we all have THOSE days. For me, it’s easy to work all day on the computer, only taking breaks to drink water and use the restroom. But this is not healthy. Not for my eyes, or my mind. I try to make a point to take a legit lunch break–non-working and get outside if possible. It also helps to have an app like Calm on my phone where I can just take 5 minutes anywhere and regroup.

Morning Routine. Since I’ve been traveling around visiting folks a lot this summer, my morning routine has pretty much flown out the window. And my headspace suffers from it. If there’s one practice I can say makes the biggest difference in my mindset, stress level, and mental clarity, it’s taking time for myself in the morning before I do anything else.

Do you have some additions?

I would LOVE to hear about any hacks or software/apps that really help you in your creative career. Leave a comment below.

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Decision Fatigue is Robbing Your Creativity: What to do About it.

Decision Fatigue Can Rob Your Creativity

Have you heard of capsule wardrobes? Or entrepreneurs who eat the same exact thing for breakfast every day? There’s a reason they’re doing this. And I’ve totally been resisting it. But I think it’s time to change that.

Did you know that adults in the U.S. are estimated to make 35,000 decisions per day? Holy shit. No wonder I sometimes feel like an incoherent blob the end of a hard day.

Research shows that we have only so many good decisions in us, on any given day. This phenomenon is called decision fatigue.

decision fatigue robs your creativity

Any given day we choose what to eat, wear, buy, believe, how to work, where to go, and the list goes on. As the day wears on our willpower and ability to make quality decisions deteriorates.

And yeah, it’s totally worse if you have kids, a disability, others to care for, a household to run, deal with discrimination, have health issues, etc. (more factors=more decisions)

This is where tools like the capsule wardrobe (ugh) come in.

Leaders and entrepreneurs like President Obama, Mark Zuckerberg, Nicole Richie have adopted capsule wardrobes because it reduces the need for another creative decision in the morning. The theory is that the less good decision-making “credits” you use up the more reserves you’ll have left for important choices throughout the day. Have one navy suit, two ties and two white shirts? Boom, you know what to wear, with little to no consideration needed.

Now I’m not proposing you throw out 90% of your clothes. A capsule wardrobe, or eating the same thing for breakfast everyday isn’t going to change your whole life. But imagine the results for your creativity, or personal brand, if you consistently did this kind of thing with a bunch of daily tasks and removed the need to make some of the more arbitrary decisions. Now that may make a big difference.

To be clear: I do not currently utilize a capsule wardrobe or eat the same thing every day (though most days my breakfast is an RX Bar). I actually like to joke that because of my years of being a sometimes broke single mom, that I’ve had an involuntary capsule wardrobe for the past ten years. 😉

Seriously though, as I continue to tweak my lifestyle to fit my dreams, I want to cut the waste and optimize my life and career the way I really want it to be. I don’t want to squander precious time on things that don’t matter to me.

These are times when events are often outside of our control–inevitable roadblocks, bumps, potholes on the road. Pandemic, anyone? These may require more decisions that can potentially rob us of our ability to accelerate as fast as we’d like down toward our dream life. Sometimes they even run the risk of knocking us off the road completely.

Paring down decisions can be one way to help you keep momentum when you’re starting to feel overwhelmed. Simplifying can help you hold on to your creativity and ability to make better decisions on a daily basis.

What to Do About It

So, below are some ways to reduce decision-making in your daily life. Obviously, not all of these things will work for everyone. For instance, I would get bored of eating the same thing everyday, while someone else might love it. Customize with your own needs in mind.

As a creative multi-passionate person I also have huge resistance toward- what I like to call -“a boring old routine.” But I’ve also found that a balance of routine and free time really helps my focus and progress on my projects. So here we go:

  • Plan the week’s meals ahead, buy everything and meal prep on Sunday (or whatever day starts off your week).
  • Eat the same thing for breakfast, lunch or dinner everyday. I prefer only to do this for breafast, but you know, do you. 😉
  • Simplify to a capsule wardrobe
  • Set a clear work schedule (especially if you work from home) and stick to it as much as possible
  • Set a clear creative project schedule. Treat your creative project as important as work, or exercise–or whatever you naturally have an easier time prioritizing.
  • Embrace (or try for a month) a morning routine–time for yourself in the morning where you do the same thing every day: get your coffee, write your morning pages, take a shower, eat your avocado toast, do yoga, etc. whatever works for you.
  • Set your clothes out the night before.
  • Batch time/decision wasters: check email 1-3 times a day at set times (instead of incessantly all day), check the snail mail once or twice a week, do laundry only on certain days, etc.
  • Outsource mundane tasks (if you can) like cleaning, laundry, design, bookkeeping, errands, etc.
  • Use IF/THEN pairing decisions: “If it’s 5pm, I quit working for the day; if I have a glass of wine, I have a glass of water.”
  • Prioritize big or important decisions or tasks for the beginning of the day. Keep your To-Do list short and execute like a bawse!
  • Ask yourself if there’s a simpler way. Sometimes we get too wrapped up in options or “best case” choices. I’ve literally deliberated over types of milk in the grocery store for 10 minutes, before. It’s ridiculous. So more often lately, I’m trying to remind myself–what’s the simplest solution here? The least stressful?
  • Remember that done is better than perfect. Sometimes you just need to finish something. You could even possibly come back later when you’re fresh. I often use this approach with clients who are on a deadline, sometimes it’s more important to get something right. Other times, it’s best to finish a simpler version of something and then add bells and whistles in phase two.
  • Stick to one task at a time until it’s finished. I cannot tell you how many times I’ve been working and save a big graphic file on my computer, that might take 30 seconds (max) to save, and I feel the urge to go check on some other project “while I’m waiting.” 30-frickin-minutes later, I realize I’ve actually wasted more time by switching tasks.
  • Meditate, do yoga, or something mindful each morning (or any time you’re feeling overwhelmed) to start your day and strengthen your good ole prefrontal cortex (aka the good decision factory).

When it comes to your writing career, here are some additional ways to help get your best decisions made before you begin to burn out later in the day.

  • Set aside time to put together (or revisit) your branding and marketing strategy once or twice per year. Knowing what you want to achieve, by when, with measurable tasks can then be then broken down and used as checklists, rather than having to remind yourself repeatedly what to do next, or decide on what the next promotion will be.
  • Take time to go deep FIRST and get a solid understanding of what you really want, what you want to be known for and what steps you may need to get there. I’ve found that a great deal of decision fatigue develops when you’re not solid on what you really want to build. When that happens your subconscious desires (some of which can be self-sabotaging) take over.
  • Do the research and brainstorming it takes to really get to know your Ideal Readers. Once you understand them on a deeper level, marketing, branding, pricing, etc. decisions will become a lot easier. Plus you won’t be tempted as much by the latest “miracle” marketing bullshit.
  • Keep a Creative Ideas folder on your computer or phone (or good old hard copy). Use software to organize all these files and ideas, using the likes of Google Drive, Notion, Evernote, or equivalent software. This way, when you get great ideas (that you can’t necessarily act on right now or you’ll distract yourself) you know they’ll be in a safe place, waiting for when you have more time. I have both a physical folder and digital for this. Plus I also use Notion.
  • Reduce or distill your larger 6 month/year goals down into monthly, weekly, daily goals. Smaller chunks, when written out, will help you just follow the list rather than feeling like you need to decide what’s next.
  • Plan out your week, every week in advance–schedule in specific time for tasks so you can just follow along (for the most part) during your work week.
  • Organize your creativity and/or business supplies in a way that works for your brain, makes things easy to find, and helps you stay in the flow.

It’s important to separate our processes from our decisions and I hope that a few of these tips will help you clear your head and make more progress on the things you care most about.

If you find yourself avoiding working on your author brand or marketing efforts, here’s a piece about shifting your mindset.