thursday's confession: I'm changing things up!

Source: tumblrgym.tumblr.com

Living in the Bay Area has gotten me quite used to earthquakes, and you might be able to tell, because things are about to get shaken up around here!

The first change: I'm moving my confessions to Thursday. OMG! Please bear with me through this transition, I know it may be tough.

I've also been tightening things up a lot, and doing some housekeeping on the back end. There will be more gradual changes, but for now you can also check out my updated about page and coaching page.

I'm also going to be doing a lot more writing and am going to write more targeted posts around living a life of creativity and being fulfilled as a creative entrepreneur. This is where you come in...

What are your biggest challenges as you live your creative life? What are some areas where you could use a helping hand?

I'm looking foward to all of us setting the world on fire. It's going to be good times, for sure!

I've been wanting to tell you...

I've been wanting to tell you that I know it's tough and that you're trying. I know that right now things seem hard.

They will get better.

They will get easier.

You WILL find your way.

I've been wanting to tell you that this place you're in is exactly where you need to be and it's okay that it's uncomfortable as hell.

It's okay because you are more than this: you are more than the work and the tears. You are more than the blog posts and the facebook and the noise.

You are so much more than all of it.

And soon, you're going to fly.

Roadmap: A guest post from Laura Simms

Today's guest post is from the ever-lovely Laura Simms. I have had the honor of getting to know Laura through the internets and got to work with her after winning 2 business coaching sessions from her! When I heard about her new product, Roadmap to Action, I knew that I had to learn more about it and asked her to share her inspiration here. Thanks Laura!

A curious business: personal growth through entrepreneurship

This has been unexpected, but I'll say it: running my creative business has been one of my greatest avenues for personal growth.

I mean, I'd already done a lot of growing. Making it as a working actor, learning how to make a marriage work, pushing my limits in grad school, and learning to love many of the jagged edges of myself--that took work. And dedication. And perhaps most of all: curiosity.

The kind of curiosity that will let you experiment because it knows there's a better way. Maybe we can also call this courage.

Several months into my business, I felt adrift. There were so many experts telling me I should focus on this or that. Some new task or strategy would pop up on my radar and panic! I would spend the rest of the day/week/month (ouch) working to fix this problem I didn't know I had the day before. If it sounds a little cray-cray, it was.

It was a least unproductive. Frustrating. And...it didn't feel like me. I asked myself, "What would I in another situation? If this wasn't a business, how would I approach what I'm doing and feeling?"

My answer? I'd be curious. And I became curious about how I could do things my way. Experts aside, what was going to work for me?

What ensued was a grand experiment. Months of tinkering, of getting it not quite right, of getting closer, of hey! finding a flow.

By reconnecting to my own core--What am I building? How do I work best?  What activities yield the most returns?--I stopped drifting. In fact, I started moving. Forward! With more engagement on my blog, more clients, and (gasp) more money.

This was a turning point in my business, but it was also a personal victory. That curiosity? That courage? It had overcome the frustration and confusion. I had a framework that worked for me and my business.

I shared the principles I used with clients. Because you know what? Every creative I worked with, no matter what aspect of their business we were focusing on or how long they had been in business, needed help with the actually-getting-it-done part.

So I developed an e-guide called Roadmap to Action. It contains 62 action-packed pages, all tried and true stuff that I use in my own business or share with clients. The structure is there--you just have to put yourself into it.

And because I use things more when they're beautiful, I made it pretty. And included 13 right-brain friendly planners. Because planning should be pretty.

The invitation is open: learn more about Roadmap to Action so you can find your own way of working. And true to form, you pay what it's worth to you. Yep, this is all about you.

Curious?

---

As a career coach for creatives, Laura Simms helps folks discover and cultivate the work meant just for them through career transition and small business coaching. She’s the creator of Roadmap to Action, and enjoys working with emerging and established creatives through one-on-one coaching. She vlogs weekly from her bird’s egg blue chair at createasfolk.com.

Be So Happy...

Once upon a time, I wasn't the cheerful, go getting girl you know here.

Once upon a time, I sat at a desk job dreaming of a better life, hoping that the stress of my days didn't send me to an early grave. Knowing that there was more to life than what I was experiencing.

Want to learn more? I've been chosen as a finalist for Stratejoy's essay contest. Click here for my essay about living life on my own terms and learn how I chose to embrace my happy and be who I was born to be.

Image Source: j-jump-jennifer.blogspot.com

The ABC’s of Self-Love: O is for Ownership

This Blog Crawl of Self-Love is hosted by Molly Mahar of Stratejoy. She believes in the transformational power of truly adoring ourselves and so do I. Find out more about The ABC’s of Self Love Blog Crawl + Treasure Hunt here.

“If only I could…”

"I just wish it wasn’t this way."

"I just wish everything was different."

"I just wish that circumstances were better."

I am DONE with all of these statements. It's time that we all put down our magic bottles and start doing.

Making magic in your life is about taking ownership. Ownership of what you want, what you do, and who you want to become.

Taking ownership of your life is the ultimate step in self-care.

Nobody else is going to do it for you.

You are THE ONLY ONE who can make any changes for yourself. Instead of spending your entire life waiting for a genie to come along and fix it, ask yourself what you can do today. Right now. And then go do it.

Take all that energy that you expend thinking of how things could be different, of wishing, and angsting and point it towards something that might actually make a change. Take a risk.

Don’t get an idea and then spend all of your time on facebook and twitter and blogs trying to gauge if it’s going to be successful. If an idea lights you up and you can’t help but get caught in the momentum, jump in, do it, then figure out how to get the word out to the right people.

Life, living your dreams, effective business, all of it: it’s not about selling what you love to the people in your life. It’s not about being one more person in your circle doing the same thing. It’s not about using your creative product to seek validation from a club that you don’t really feel like you fit into.

It’s about saying “fuck ‘em all” and going after it for yourself, because you can’t not do it, and letting that make you become alive.

It’s about living. It’s about breathing. It’s about being.

It's about owning who you are and what you bring to the world. Your voice. Your point of view. Your magic.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Source: amonthofsundays.co.uk

Hello lovely lovers! Happy Valentine's Day to all of you!

Today is a BIG DAY for me as I'm going to be taking the oral exams for my coaching certification in an hour! (OMG!)

It's a really incredible feeling to sit here in my office at Teahouse and think about just how far I've come in the last year. The landscape of my life is completely different and yet, I feel like the same person. There's been growth, there's been learning, but at the heart of it, I'm still me.

My biggest lesson from this year is that you never really know where life is taking you, so it's best to hold on and enjoy the ride. I came into this experience certain that I wanted to make a creative living as an artist, but through my coach training, I've learned that what makes me truly come alive is to help other people realize their creative dreams and live their biggest, baddest, bestest lives.

That alivenes is key, and I'm going to keep riding the wave!

Thanks to all of your for your support in all of my endeavors. I know I couldn't have done it without all of you!

I'll check in tomorrow to let you know how it went! Send good thoughts!!

thought of the day

Source: 52hearts.com via Tiffany on Pinterest

Happy Monday friends! I've spent the last week battling a cold and sinus infection and rather than powering through, I did something completely out of character and rested (gasp!) and took care of myself (double gasp!).

Luckily I'm feeling much better but have a ton of stuff to catch up on before Tim and I take a couple of days off to celebrate Valentine's Day and me passing my oral coaching exam (more on that tomorrow!).

I did want to leave you with the thought above as we kick off into this week. You ARE awesome, don't forget to own it!

100 rejection letters - an update & a vow of imperfection

I've been so encouraged by everyone's response to my plan to collect 100 rejection letters in 2012!

People are intrigued by this project…I’m guessing that 1 of 2 things is happening:

1. People like watching someone else experience rejection

OR

2. You’re also craving some action in your life/business/passion/art and are ready to make some things happen. You’re also ready to stop letting fear stand in your way.

Who’s with me on #2? (That's what I thought!)

So here I am, 2 weeks in, and I've only been rejected once. It wasn't even an outright rejection; it was more a lack of response. *sigh* This is going to be a challenge, and y'all know I LOVE a challenge!

Last week, I raised my hand for 3 things: a contest for free business coaching from Laura Simms, a call for contributors on designlovefest, and an essay contest on Stratejoy.

I never heard back from Bri about the contributor call out (sweet! My first rejection of the year!) and can't say I was surprised since her blog is almost entirely design-focused. The key is that I did it anyway!

But...I am thrilled to say that I won (YAY!) 2 free Cultivate business coaching sessions from Laura Simms at Create as Folk. Wanna see the video I submitted?

Create as Folk winning contest entry *wink* from tiffany moore on Vimeo.

Did you notice that the lighting wasn't great and the sound was all wonky? Did you notice that I won anyway? Yay for imperfection being okay! (Full disclosure: The deadline was Tuesday, but I thought it was Friday. I found out it was Tuesday on Tuesday morning, so I had to do what I could to get the video done.)

It's the energy, it's all about the energy!

I haven't heard back from Molly about the Stratejoy essay, but I'm definitely expecting to be in the top 20, so I'll keep y'all posted!

So far, I'm at 1 in the rejection category. I'm going to need to hustle to get to 100 rejection letters before the end of the year!

My learnings so far:

• Go for it even if you have doubts. Responding to Bri's call for contributors gave me some great ideas even though I knew it was a longshot. Just because I didn't get picked doesn't mean those ideas have to be tossed.
• Pay attention to every opportunity. When you see something that catches your eye, pay attention and follow the flow. You never know if it could be your big break.
• chutzpah counts! I found out about Laura's contest on twitter and replied immediately letting her know I was going to win. At that point, I had no plan, but I know that enthusiasm counts. A lot.
• Action overrules perfection. Every single time.
• It's much easier to respond to a solicitation than it is to put yourself out there unsolicited. This is going to be something I'll have to work on more as I get into this project.