Creative Business

RBBiz Day 2: Amethyst Wyldfyre

Creative Business

If the speaker’s name didn’t give you a clue, Tuesday’s session by this Empowered Messenger veered off into woo-woo territory, specifically urging those who needed to to come out of the spiritual closet; to stop hiding our true selves and, in the process, hindering our full potential. As she, herself, did when she made the move from real estate developer to crystal healer.

Best to learn from those who’ve gone through it, right?

I have a whole page of notes from this interview and look forward to replaying it several times: there’s a lot of great info even if you’re not into the woo-woo, non-mainstream spirituality of it all. Some tidbits worth sharing:

  • Trust in the Random
    I lean towards the concept that nothing is truly random, but substitute unexpected and I think that’s certainly worth thinking about. We might plan, but if we maintain that plan in the face of unexpected opportunities, we run the risk of missing out on some very cool experiences.
  • Downloading from up above and uploading from Mother Earth
    Just because we might have a spiritual outlook, doesn’t mean we have to have our heads in the clouds all the time. Staying grounded is just as important, and spending time in nature (both the great outdoors and the nature of ourselves) helps do just that.
  • A magnetic message attracts your kind of Right People
    But what else do magnets do? Repel. In this case, a magnetic message does more than just make you appealing to your target audience, it says loud and clear to the rest of the world that ‘nope, not for you, just move along’ and saves both you and them time in figuring that out!

And speaking of repelling… there’s Skunk Medicine.

A quick sketch from my RBBiz notes.

A quick sketch from my RBBiz notes.

While there are folks out there that keep skunks as pets and otherwise consider them awesome, the vast majority of people, when confronted with a skunk in the wild, will quickly vacate the area lest they be subject to the skunk’s defense mechanism. Talk about repulsion!

Skunk is teaching you that by walking your talk and by respecting yourself, you will create a position of strength and honored reputation. The carriage of your body relates to others what you believe about yourself. There is no need to bully, aggravate, torment, or overpower other being when your sense of “self” is intact. As with Skunk, the resonant field of energy around your body is relayed through the senses. Self-esteem permeates the body’s energy, and is instantly recognized on an extrasensory level by others.

~~ Sams, Jamie and Carson, David. Medicine Cards (Santa Fe: Bear and Company, 1988)
h/t to Foglesong Presents

So if you need to work on your self-esteem, channeling a bit of Skunk’s wisdom isn’t a bad way to go.

With all of this in mind, I was only slightly surprised to have my car surrounded by bees while at a stoplight on my way home last night. Where the bees came from I have no idea (I was in the middle lane of a very busy road and they seemed to be concentrated right where I was, even though I’ve never noticed anything like that there before), and I’m not generally a fan of flying things, especially those that have the power to sting me, but I gave this “random” occurrence some due consideration.

Bees are hardworking, industrious, and community-minded. Working within my community is the next logical step in the progression of my business goals. Some would say this is an affirmation of the path I’m on and I’m inclined to see it that way.

Otherwise we’re talking a freak swarm of bees and, well, I’m not sure that’s any better!

In the interest of community service, a member of my community is doing something pretty cool starting tomorrow. My Bean Buddy, Nicole Fende, is teaming up with Tai Goodwin to host the Profit Beyond the Book Telesummit. Nicole and I finished our books around the same time, and we’re both working on the next ones. But there’s more to getting the word out than just publishing, and that’s what I understand the telesummit to be about. It makes for a busy next 3 days if you want to watch both the Right Brainers in Business Video Summit and the Profit Beyond the Book Telesummit (the schedule overlap was not intentional), but sometimes it’s good to challenge ourselves, right?

RBBiz Day 1: Lisa Congdon

Creative Business

As usual, the Right Brainers in Business Video Summit has me in the frame of mind to recognize personal truths and get. things. done. The synapses were firing even before the summit started!

Todd and I ended up going to Louisiana this weekend for a family funeral, and arrived back home after dark on Sunday (even with the time change). Still, I had just enough time to print out the playsheets (both the Summit-specific ones and the playsheets from the Right Brain Business Plan and Building Your Business the Right Brain Way) and bind them into a notebook so I can keep all my Summit notes together and use it as part of my right-brained plan for The Crafty Branch. As I was putting it all together, I added blank sheets of paper between each printed sheet so I wouldn’t have to worry about adding sticky-notes or loose sheets that could get lost.

First lesson of RBBiz 2015: Scarcity makes me anxious. Abundance gives me comfort.

My first day's notes and playsheet (hanging out on my planner).

My first day’s notes and playsheet (hanging out on my planner).

I realized I might be adding more paper than was necessary, but to not add them sparking a bit of nervousness and worry that I wouldn’t be able to keep each day’s notes together if I was stuck cramming letters wherever they’d fit. And I had the resources and ability to provide abundance in this instance.

But onto Monday’s interview with Lisa Congdon.

I’ve heard Lisa Congdon speak once or twice before. I was familiar with the basics of her story and process–so some of this was familiar ground for me (there was also a dust-up in the past I knew about, so I challenged myself to listen objectively and leave my preconceived notions of the speaker at the door, so to speak). It’s bound to happen when you spend a lot of time among the Internet teaching grounds, you know? But just because you’ve heard something before, doesn’t mean you don’t need to hear it again, in a new space and in a different frame of mind. Repetition is a good thing, sometimes, so being reminded of “dream big, start small,” “don’t compare yourself to others,” and “create everyday” are good things to hear and act upon.

There was a moment in the chat stream though, one of those “only happens in Summit” kind of thing, where we were reminded of the importance to let the Universe know we were out there and–very important–available. So I, and others, did just that.

I am an illustrator who LOVES to work with emerging authors and creators.

Which is absolutely true, but something I hadn’t been putting out there as much, recently. I mean, sure, I build that shiny new website, but how often have I promoted it since then? Exactly.

But in announcing my availability in the fast-moving chat, the Universe listened–or one of its citizens, at least, and I sent out my resume and rate sheet on request last night. It was also the kick in the pants I needed to finish said rate sheet and resume, so now that’s done and I have it ready to go in the future.

Nice the way that works, right?

My resume opens:

The  more I consider the hows and whys of what I do, the more I am convinced my purpose is not just to create, but to support other creators and help them reach their goals by offering my skills and expertise to their endeavors. I am not simply a pencil for hire, I am a collaborator, a co-conspirator, and a champion of the emerging author and entrepreneur.

And that’s my other big takeaway for Monday, maybe not from the presentation directly, but the chain of events and thoughts all coalesced into the realization that everything I do: my cookbook, this blog, and the store-to-be is as much about expressing my own creativity as it is about encouraging and enabling others in theirs. It’s my Helper Monkey-ness at its core, and a great way to evaluate future projects and opportunities with a very quick litmus test.

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If this has you curious, there’s still time to get your free ticket to the Right Brainers in Business Video Summit. And since the replays are good for 48 hours, if you sign up today you won’t have to miss anything, you still have time to get caught up!

Feels Like Just Yesterday…

Creative Business

But it’s been 4 years since I was introduced to the awesome that is Jennifer Lee’s Right Brain Business Plan and her annual Video Summit, but since year five starts next Monday, I guess it must be!

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Chances are, if you’ve mentioned business, business plans, or anything remotely related around me I’ve recommended this book to you. To everyone else: here ya go. I first found out about through Tori Deaux of The Circus Serene (and, now, Quirkpreneurs) who was part of Lee’s RBBP workshop and featured in the original book. That first year there were a lot of lightbulb moments and I also hooked up with Nicole Fende, the Numbers Whisperer, who became my accountability buddy (or, since we’re both in finance, we call ourselves Bean Buddies), client, and–most important–my friend. The Summits routinely increase my feed reader rolls, too, as it gives me an excellent opportunity to find out about people I might not have come across, otherwise. (And that would be a shame.)

Just look at this lineup!

Just look at this lineup!

The best part, though, is that the Video Summits–10 days of live webcasts, interviews, playsheet downloads, and live chats–is absolutely free. No cost. Perfect for the cash-strapped entrepreneur. Hey, we’ve all been there. Some of us are still there! It is what it is.

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(This would be a great time for me to tell you that today’s links, at least the RBBiz-related ones, are affiliate links.)

In fact, the only thing it’ll cost you is a little time–less than an hour each weekday (Jen usually wraps up the live feed after 45 minutes so people can do whatever they need to do before getting back to work, etc., though sometimes sessions do run the full hour). And since time can be pretty doggone precious, the recordings of the live sessions are available for replay for 48 hours afterwards, so you have a bit of flexibility if the 10am PDT/1 pm EDT schedule doesn’t work for you.

If the replay windows aren’t flexible enough for you, or you just want more resources from the Video Summit overall, there are the Booster and Premium passes available. The Booster pass gives you forever-access to the videos, plus transcripts and audio files you can download, as well as the chat logs–which can be really useful when people are sharing websites or social media handles: that chat moves fast! The Premium pass includes all of that, plus a facilitated Facebook group, 3 group coaching calls, and a bunch of other business building bonuses (say that 3 times fast).

The first two years I watched the Summit, I just watched, took notes, and got a serious inspiration boost. It was awesome just the way it was and I didn’t feel like I needed more. Year 3, though, I decided to go ahead and be a little brave and apply for one of the Premium Pass scholarships–and I won it! I was over-the-moon happy and I really enjoyed getting to know the others in the Facebook group better, being able to engage during the coaching calls, and made some fabulous long-term connections there. So last year, year 4, I went ahead and enrolled in Premium right away because I didn’t want to go back to no having those extras. I keep the audio files on my iPod so I can listen to them in the car. Instead of scrambling to take notes, I can enjoy the live chat or not worry if I’m really swamped one day and have to catch up. (Like last year when our house closing landed right in the middle of the summit–obviously I missed that day!)

It’s kinda like cruising: once you get a balcony room, you don’t want to go back to just a window!

But what I like most about Jennifer Lee’s approach to business, so much so that I own both her books, have avidly watched all 4 years of Summits, enrolled in her Product Development Playground course last fall, and signed up to be a Licensed Facilitator of her Unfolding Your Life’s Vision and Dream Box courses, is that she’s very low-pressure, down-to-earth, kind and caring in her delivery of the information. While other business schools, classes, and conferences are all about the hard sell, the million dollar launches, and leave you feeling like you need a shower, Jen is about the “dream big, start small” and checking in with your heart and intentions.

So, if this is something that sounds right up your alley, I invite you join me for the 5th Annual Right Brainers in Business Video Summit, starting March 9th, 2015.

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And if you’re thinking, eh, maybe next year? Might want to rethink that! Jen mentioned in an earlier newsletter that this year’s might be the last Summit of it’s current form. What does that mean exactly?! Not sure–I’m hoping we hear more during the Summit! I have a hunch, and we’ll just have to see how good my intuition is once we know for sure, but until then, please think about joining us for the next 2 weeks?

This is the beginning of my Big Vision collage for The Crafty Branch. It's on the back of a 26" painter's palette--of course! This is the kind of fun we have with the Right Brain Business Plan :)

This is the beginning of my Big Vision collage for The Crafty Branch. It’s on the back of a 26″ painter’s palette–of course! This is the kind of fun we have with the Right Brain Business Plan 🙂

My goal for this year’s Summit is to use the inevitable momentum it always provides to finish the business plan for The Crafty Branch. (See, you get rewarded for reading down to the bottom of the post: the craft boutique-to-be has a name!) Both a right brain one for me and the more traditional left-brain version for the bank, too. I’ll also be posting my take-aways from each day of the summit over the next two weeks.

Hope to see you there!

The Other Side of Ambition

Creative Business

It was late one Sunday morning not too many weekends ago. I’d slept in after a long week and a busy Saturday and woke up not feeling so well. My head was stuffy, my throat was sore, it was the usual precursor to an out-of-season cold and I decided that everything on my to-do list was getting pushed. I camped out on the sofa and binge-watched season 2 of Orange is the New Black.

Now, I still think this was the correct course of action to take: my body was telling me I needed rest. Next to planning downtime to prevent it in the first place, it was the best thing to do in the interest of self care.

Self care. Taking care of ourselves. It’s a big buzzword (buzz phrase?) among Internet entrepreneurs and I’m a big proponent of it.

Which is why I was surprised to notice, as the afternoon wore on, that I was apologizing for not being up and doing something when Todd got home from the grocery store.

Now, keep in mind that Todd had not said one word about me taking the day “off,” other than asking if he could get me anything or making sure I was tucked in sufficiently on the sofa. Aka: standard Jenn’s-run-down procedure (that there is even a procedure tells me I let this happen too often, as it is). And I wasn’t apologizing in words, necessarily, it was my body language that I noticed: head down, shoulder’s drawn in, small steps–my way of trying to blend in to the wallpaper and not be noticed, a trait I developed as a kid when the parents were fighting.

Where was this guilt coming from?!

Because the deeper I looked, that’s what this was: guilt. Specifically guilt over not working every waking moment to achieve my personal goals. Those goals that keep me up and busy every evening and most weekends. Those goals that have me spending 99% of my vacation time working weekend conventions to sell my book.  Those goals that will one day enable me to check out from the day job and support myself with my writing and art skills.

Those goals are a bit of a task master!

And that’s when I realized that guilt is the other side of ambition, the shadow of our dreams of greatness (or even just better-ness) that will rob us of our very souls before we reach our goals. The idea that we’re only fully-committed to those goals if we’re actively working on them 24/7. But what good is working 24/7 if you’re too tired and burned out to enjoy it?

So that was the script I had to flip: it wasn’t enough to acknowledge the good of self care without writing myself a virtual permission slip. And the terms of the permission slip needed to be exact, to include the words ‘and feel no guilt’ about taking time to rest and recuperate as needed.

The next few weeks are going to be hectic. The move is coming up so there’s packing to do and the new house to prepare. I’ve got some deadlines to meet and some client work to keep up with. There’s still the day job, of course, and whatever else inevitably comes up as it seems to do with greater frequency if you’re already busy. Finding the time to rest and recharge is going to be tough.

But not impossible.

Instead of shutting the laptop at 11pm each night, maybe I’ll stop at 10:30. Maybe we’ll get take-out a night or two over the next couple of weeks to save us both the time or preparing and cleaning up from a meal. Maybe I say to hell with the mountain of boxes on Sunday afternoons and go take a bubble bath with a nice glass of wine. It might only buy me a half an hour in any given direction, but those half-hours will add up, and maybe I’ll avoid waking up some Sunday morning in the future with a headache, a sore throat, and a general feeling of malaise.

Is there a specter of guilt standing in the shadow of your ambition? Time to shine a light on it!

The Next Stop on the Florida Writers Blog Tour

Creative Business

I don’t remember, now, if Sandi Hutcheson of LooksGreatNaked.com (and the novel of the same name) found me first or I her, but I know we bonded over cocktails and Limoncello on my cocktail blog, Sips & Shots. I love reading the exploits of her dachsunds, Laverne and Shirley, and her three-legged Australian Shepherd, Pancho, as well as her carefully constructed observations on life that she shares on her blog. Growing up in Atlanta, Georgia, she’s happily settled her toes in the sand of beautiful St. Augustine, Florida, and is working on a new novel.

Sandi was kind enough to tag me for the blog tour.

Growing up I dreamed of telling stories. Stories that people wanted to hear, needed to hear, and wanted to share. I didn’t dream of being famous, I just dreamt of being heard.

Of course that was back before CD players were commonplace, much less the Internet as we know it, and now anyone can stake their claim to a few bits of server space and someone’s bound to hear you. Mission accomplished? Almost.

Between then and now I learned how wonderful it feels to share not just the entertaining bits, but to actually serve a purpose and give something away that they could use to better their own day to day lives. Which is why, when I wrote my cookbook, What to Feed Your Raiding Party, I was adamant that it couldn’t just be yet another cookbook on the shelf, but something targeted, something useful, and I feel like each I’m succeeding at that mission in my own small way.

But books are a little like potato chips: you can’t have just one.

I can’t speak for all authors, of course, but seeing the enjoyment my little cookbook brings to a new fan, and seeing what they make from the book on our community forum, is a heady thing. As are the occasional hugs and high-fives I’ve gotten from people at conventions when I introduce them to my work. And I fully admit: I’m greedy. I want more of that. So I’m certainly not stopping at just one book.

1. What am I working on?

In addition to the first sequel to Raiding Party, fans of my cocktails might be interested to know that I’m working on a printed collection of the “50 Shots of America” series with updated photos, illustrations, and more. I also have a novel banging around the back of my desk that can’t fully make up its mind if it wants to be strictly prose, a graphic novel, or something in between. Maybe one of these days it’ll tell me, huh?

2. How does my work differ from other of its genre?

My cookbook isn’t just a collection of recipes, it includes 5 comic “books” and a game system as an incentive to reluctant cooks. While there are many comic book or illustrated cookbooks on the market, and a smaller number but widely varied gaming cookbooks, my book is the first to combine it all, much less include a leveling system, so it’s a bit like I’ve forged my own path and I’m doing my damnedest to lead others down it, pied piper-ish though it may be.

3. Why do I write what I do?

Because a story is no good if we can’t share it. In the case of cooking, the story is how much better off we are by putting our own hands into the food we eat, the fuel we provide our body to work with. It’s about making what some see as a chore into something fun and sharing skills that have practical value. Even in a zombie apocalypse, someone still needs to be able to cook!

The other stuff: the blog posts, the cocktails, the stories that have yet to be seen? They’re about brightening a person’s day. I don’t want to be so bold as to consider myself a teacher or inspirational–there’s a lot of weight to those words–but I do consider myself an encourager, a cheerleader, and a creative enabler. If we can access that creative side of ourselves a little bit each day it gets easier and easier to find it and when we’re being creative, in touch with our muse, often the daily grind doesn’t seem so bad.

4. How does my writing process work?

It all starts with an idea, of course, but usually I work best with a theme and a title. A good title helps me stay organized and on-track. For instance, I had the name of the cookbook written down two years before I started any real work on the book (a 2-year incubation period is pretty standard for me). Those two years were spent pondering and researching a few things here and there. I’d love to say I work in an orderly, linear fashion when putting a book together but really I’m all over the place. I have notes (index cards and stick notes) everywhere, pages of reference sheets, worksheets I create for myself (excellent for the different steps to get the recipes ready for formatting), binders full of sketches.

You’ll notice all of that is physical: while I love technology and computers, when I’m in the working stages of a project I like being able to put my hands on each piece and manually shuffle them around. Maybe when the Minority Report-esque holographic touch screens become standard for home use I’ll do away with my Post-Its and index cards, but for now they work for me. I also keep a notebook with me at all times for snippet jotting and so on.

I spent 2 1/2 years writing Raiding Party. Approximately 6 months of that was recipe development, and a year and a  half was drawing the comics, though they overlapped a bit and there was a health dose of procrastination thrown in at times. Only the two months at the end that were spent knee-deep in spreadsheets and page design were the concentrated, linear effort that I wish I could harness for the rest of the process.

I do the majority of my book selling at conventions where the gamers and comics fans congregate. While this method has some detractors (distinct hills and valleys in sales, the cost of travel), one of the best parts–aside from meeting buyers face-to-face–is meeting the other writers and artists at the shows. We spend a good amount of time behind our tables and it’s quite common to get chatty with your neighbors.

At ALT-Con Tallahassee this April I was fortunate to be neighbors with the lovely and vivacious Evelyn Rainey, who I’m tagging as the next stop on this tour. She is a teacher, writer, and bellydancer–among many other things–and she’s one of the sweetest people I’ve ever met, comfort and encouragement just radiate from her being. Her first novel, Minna Pegeen, was published in 2011, followed by Bedina’s War, and Perky’s Books & Gifts, in 2012 and 2013, respectively. Her latest, The Island Remains, is due out this summer.