February February February! Honestly, I keep forgetting what month it is, so I’m just gonna keep repeating it until I get it through my head.

I’m thrilled to introduce my new Spectacular Sponsors for February!:

I’ve been an interviewing machine lately! I was the first profile in BrandKit’s Classy Entrepreneur Series (I tricked ‘em good!) and loved talking about my goals and life lessons and favorite resources. Then, because of an interview I gave with Margarita Tartakovsky, I was featured in two articles on PsychCentral: Career Coaching 101: How to Find a Professional to Help You Find Your Fulfilling Career and How to Find a Fulfilling Career Path. I’m so pleased with how they all came out, and hope they’re helpful for ya. Enjoy, and have the most wonderful of weekends!

—————————

#371 by Things We Forget

This post is from Jake, aka The Beer Tool Man. After being virtually introduced to him and seeing that he’s a new Etsy shop owner and being knocked out by his shop announcement (seriously – it’s killer), I asked if he’d want to share anything with you kids on this here blog. Thankfully, he obliged twofold: with a post and a giveaway!

I didn’t want to start typing this because I could not think of the perfect opening line or even a subject to talk type about, but I knew that if I could just start then the rest would work itself out…

When typing this (like most things in life) the hardest part is taking that first step and that’s true no matter what you have dreams of doing. I’m lucky enough to be able to help people through this everyday as an admissions officer for a university. When I’m talking with students for the first time they’re anxious about the future, getting into school, how to afford it, classes to take, etc  but it’s amazing how better they feel when I point out that they have already taken the hardest step by asking  for information. It’s all downhill from there.  I want us to dig a little deeper into why taking that initial leap is so hard in the first place. I’ve broken it down into two things: “Unknown” and “Perfect.”

First, as humans we hate admitting that we don’t know something, overall it makes us uncomfortable. You think I’m wrong? Just ask a husband to pull over to ask for directions (if people still get lost anymore thanks to GPS). We want to know everything, the unknown is uncomfortable and it’s that simple. The best part is that this is easy to overcome because all you have to do is try. Take baby steps, start doing one thing a day that makes you get out of your comfort zone. Within a week you’ll be addicted, you’ll look forward to new and exciting things instead of being anxious about the unknown. Your life will be better, 100% guaranteed.

Next is the dreaded word “Perfect.” I’ve started to try to eliminate that word from my vocabulary and you should too. Face it, there is no such thing a “perfect” and you should never ever try to obtain it. I found a quote recently that I’ve come to live by which states “Done is better than perfect.” When I read this it hit me square in between the eyes.  I’ve always taken pride in the details, but this quote helped me see that trying to make (insert your passion here) perfect was keeping me from doing anything! My new motto these days is currently “Screw it, let’s get started and see where it goes” which is working great.

Using this “anti- unknown” and “anti-perfect” thinking I’ve recently started my own company selling “Beer Tools” which are freaking wrench shaped bottle openers?!? Where the heck did that come from? I got the idea one night and instead of stopping myself by trying to design the “perfect” opener I stepped out into the shop and made it. I took the first step and then another and another then before long I had a cool product. I did not let the details slow me down. After some market research (A.K.A. showing off while drinking beers with friends) I found out that people liked the Tools so I opened an Etsy shop within 24 hours. Once the product was on the virtual shelves the marketing and branding quickly followed. Another bonus of the “anti-perfect” thinking is that you will always keep improving; nothing is perfect so you know that it can always get better. That’s what’s helping me and my shop get better every single day.

The Beer Tool in action

Now that I’ve rambled on for 569 words it’s your turn. I challenge you to do ONE thing a day outside your norm. I’m not telling you to go skydiving (which I’ve done and it’s awesome), but I am telling you to get out there and experience the new. Embrace it. Second, take that first step. Have you always wanted to become a Spanish tutor (my wife) or a life coach (Michelle) or _________? If you’ve wanted to do anything ever, start now!!! Take that step and become the person that you’ve always wanted to be, it’s all downhill from there.

Cheers,
Jake C.

P.S. – If you’ve read my nonsense and put it into action I would love to hear from you. Drop me an email at Jake@TheBeerTool.com and let me know how it goes.

P.P.S. – Wanna win the Beer Tool pictured above? Comment below with your thoughts on my post and/or who you’d give The Beer Tool to before 11:59p on Monday 2/6. Michelle’ll pick the winner via Random.org and will announce it here on Tue the 7th. That means The Beer Tool will get to you by Valentine’s Day!

Jacob Crawley is in his late twenties and calls himself “a guy with a PR degree, too much time on his hands, and a deep desire to make/tinker/create and share his ideas.” He’s lucky enough to be living in historic Savannah, GA with his “overly supportive” wife Kristen and his sidekick Roxie (their Lab/Basset hound mix).

High Five Cross Stitch by Gracey May

I torture one of my Operations groups with their very first piece of homework: an exercise I call Friends and Family Findings. Just one week into our sessions, they have to send an email to at least 3 people and ask them how they inspire the other person, why the other person keeps ‘em around, and the like. It’s scary. It’s anxiety-producing. And it results in feelings similar to birthday wishes and Christmas mornings, with heaps of kudos and compliments and soul-bearing truth rained upon the client (figuratively, of course). What always comes from this is seeing – in black and white – how people view your strengths, your offerings, your uniquity. Some are surprised by the reflection that their friends and family hold up to them, and other get reinforcement that what they’re putting into the world has been received. But often, it leads my clients to say, “Huh. I thought everyone can do that. I guess I’m more than just OK at it.”

What can you give yourself credit for that you normally don’t acknowledge (that you’ve done today, that others tell you that you rock at, etc)?

—–

Trapeze Artist by Everything Little Miss

Last week, I started a new series called The Recession is Bullhonkey, where I’m planning on sharing stories of those who have gotten hired and/or started their own businesses (or sometimes both!) since 2008. This is April’s Story, who I’ve had the priviledge of coaching and who I can say is one of the sweetest, hardest-working, talented designers in the biz!

In 2008, I was doing a job I enjoyed for a boss I hated. The anger and contempt I felt toward my boss were taking over my life, so I was looking for a way out. After a series of (very emotional and trying) events at the office at the end of the year, I was laid off in January of 2009. It was a huge relief to not have to answer to the boss anymore, but I was also scared. The first week I did nothing but watch TV and work on getting back to a happy state of mind. Then I started looking for jobs. When you’re on unemployment, you have to apply to at least 3 jobs each week. I had a pretty good resume, and even though everybody was getting laid off I thought I’d find a job quickly. I’d never had trouble getting hired before. After a month of no work and 0 responses to my job applications, I was getting really sick of applying. To break the monotony, I’d designed some valentines and opened an Etsy shop. And that’s how, in February 2009, Everything Little Miss began.

Throughout that spring and summer, I kept applying for jobs (at least 3 a week), but I had a new hobby / business to make it a little less boring. It was actually pretty fun. But then I started to get nervous again, because I was reaching the end of my unemployment and I’d applied for at least 100 jobs, been interviewed and turned down for 3, and hadn’t heard from any of the others. I really didn’t want to apply for an extension, but I was worried that I’d have to. So I wrote an email to all of my friends + acquaintances in the Boston area that said something like “You all know I’m unemployed and looking for a job, so if you know of one please let me know!!!” A guy I knew responded to that email and offered me a job. Essentially, I was hired as a secretary. Not my dream job, but I would get a paycheck and I’d be able to work from home remotely (yay for technology!), so I accepted with high spirits.

I started that job in late August, 2009. When I wasn’t answering the phone or responding to emails, I was able to do design work for my own business. That was pretty cool. At first. But the phone rang a lot, and the interruptions were killing my concentration. After awhile, I also started feeling like a loser. Why was I wasting time on a job that wasn’t a career and wasn’t making me happy? Of course the answer was to pay the bills, but it just didn’t feel right. I wanted to be focusing on MY business. So, I signed up for group coaching with Michelle (she totally didn’t ask me to put this in here; it’s just part of the story) and spent time refining my business goals and coming up with strategies to reach those goals. I loved my group, and felt proud of each goal I reached with their encouragement and support. The work I did with the group helped me realize how serious I was about my business.

Around the 1 year anniversary at that job, I was becoming more and more unhappy, and I was thinking about looking for another job. This time, I was only going to look for jobs that had something to do with the stationery industry. I applied to a job at The Paper Source, but hadn’t really found any other relevant openings when I got the best email ever. I belong to a local group that’s for women who work in design related businesses called Design Salon. A member of the group, who happens to run a stationery/letterpress print shop, sent out an email about a job opening; she was looking for a new Office Manager. I replied right away, and was called in for an interview.

You know this story has a happy ending, right? I totally got that job. I started working there in November 2010, and I love it. I am learning so much about stationery and the ins and outs of running a business. I’m being reminded how important kindness in the workplace is (thank goodness). My bosses are also encouraging of my own business, and they’ve taught me so much. I’ve been fortunate enough to attend several trade shows with them, which has provided me with a crazy amazing inside look at the industry.

I got both of my jobs since my layoff through networking – in one way or another. It really is about who you know, I guess. In the long run, I want my business to be my full-time job, but for financial and practical reasons I need a full-time day job right now. My working-from-home job had advantages (no commute, time during the day to devote to my business), but ultimately it wasn’t a good fit for me and it wasn’t helping me reach my goals. At my current job, I’m learning so much, having a great time, and truly thinking about stationery all day everyday. But I have fewer hours to devote to my business, since I have a 1 hr 15 min commute each way and I’m 100% at work while at the office. So I get up early to work, and I stay up late to work, and I work on weekends. It’s hard, but it’s worth it. If I didn’t have a day job, just running my own business would be hard. Being a business owner is tricky. Period. But it is what I want to do, and so I continue to make smalls steps toward my big goals.

April May started Everything Little Miss in 2009, and has been making people smile ever since. She designs a line of darling greeting cards with a dash of whimsy. April lives with her husband just outside of Boston, Massachusetts. Her favorite color is orange.

When there’s yin, there’s yang. When there’s black, there’s white. When there’s low Clubhouse numbers, there’s…a book deal!

Back in the fall, Jessica Swift was approached by Tonia, an Acquisitions Manager at North Light Craft Books (they published Kelly Rae Roberts!), asking if she’d be interested in writing a book for them. She responded, “Why yes, yes I would. Also, I have already kinda wrote one with my friend Michelle. Here it is, in case it interests you.” (Ain’t she sweet?!)

To back it up, a few months prior, we got an email sent to us straight from our Contact page, asking if we’d wanna make The Declaration of You into “a book-book”. After a round of “Duh please!”, that publisher (different from this one) pitched us to her boss. We’re not sure exactly what he said, but it prompted her to give us this feedback:

“My publisher felt you might want to consider approaching young adult houses. I’m not sure if that fits with your goals, but for what it’s worth, that’s an idea.”

We were disappointed about the outcome, but it was obvious that the publisher didn’t “get” us (The Declaration of You SO isn’t meant for kids!), so off we went on our merry way of e-courses and workshops and other Declaration of You goodness, with a book-book idea planted in our brains but not quite ready for prime-time yet.

Obviously, we were thrilled yet cautious with the newfound interest in The Declaration of You as a book-book. We got on the phone with Tonia in mid-October and delivered a 60-ish page proposal around Thanksgiving. Thankfully she had our back and wanted to make sure we set her up to give a killer pitch, and she asked us to trim down the proposal to half the size so she could cut right to the chase with her team. We sent it to her Christmas Eve Day, and she told us she was going to present it “in January.” Of course Jess and I had it in the back of our minds that we’d follow-up with Tonia in February if we didn’t hear anything, and as the month went by we continued to go on our merry way.

You can imagine our excitement when Tonia sent us an email last Friday at 9:25a saying, “Send collective good thoughts – I’m presenting in 5 minutes and will keep you posted!” There was much squealing and good-thinking and finger-crossing, and 30 short minutes later we got a teaser from Tonia saying, “I am so flippin’ excited right now. We get to do this project together and share the Declaration of You with all the souls of the world who can benefit by it!” After responding, quite eloquently, “AreyousayingwhatIthinkyou’resaying?!?!?!?!” she said, “Yes! North Light wants to add you to our list of authors!” Then I called Jess and my husband and my mother and hyperventilated and paced and tried not to throw up because nobody was picking up the phone. But then they did and I didn’t do any work for the rest of the day.

The Declaration of You will be in real-live shelves in July 2013, and on virtual shelves a few weeks prior. I’m so excited to take this journey with Jess (she’s seriously the bestest on so many levels, you guys – this is what a business partnership should always be/feel like!) and have Tonia and the North Light Craft Books team be on our, um, team. I know we’re in such good hands and, despite the craziness/pressure/deadlines that come with book-writing, I know that it’s going to be a super big blast!

My life is so just so surreal sometimes.

—————————————————–

Ever Tried Ever Failed Print by limeyts

If you watched my I Quit My Day Job: 22 Month Update on Monday, then you know I wasn’t my usual chipper self. I know, I know, it’s hard to believe – but above and beyond the boob cancer, I was disappointed in the recent launch of my Clubhouse. It was something I was working on in the back on my brain for months, and real actively for 8-ish weeks. Everyone I told about it reacted super favorably, and would offer tons of encouragement and kudos. I told my Mom and my husband, “I think I’m going to make a lot of money this month – my Clubhouse is opening up and I think the members will be pouring in!” I even asked my Virtual Wizard if she’d want more hours, as I’d love to hire her more often since I’m gonna get a nice foundation with The Clubhouse Money. Let’s say I was Law of Attraction-ing it up, but in a I-really-believed-it way. I was sure. I was confident. I was On To Something.

I wanted to launch it on my birthday, but that fell on a Saturday and I thought I “shouldn’t” do it then. I thought of opening the clubhouse doors the day before, but Friday was the “wrong” day, too. And Monday was a national holiday, so nobody would be paying attention then…(right?) So Tuesday the 17th it would be! I wrote the newsletter and scheduled it for 7a Eastern that day, and scheduled the blog post to go up a few hours prior. I let in The Sneak Peek People the week before, using them to make sure the welcoming process was smooth (which I could not have come close to doing without the help of my Virtual Wizard, Arwyn!), to see if anything was broken and/or confusing, and to give some life to the private Facebook group before the first “official” person came in on Tuesday at 7:01a Eastern (I presumed). 18 people were already there, and I felt confident that at least another 20 would join them that day.

The first “official” Clubhouse member came in at 1:16p Eastern. I told myself, “Everyone had a busy morning back at work…the sign-ups will be pouring in now!”

The second member came in at 2:48p Eastern. I told myself, “OK, here we go – be at the ready!”

The third member signed up at 9:51p Eastern. I told myself, “(Gulp).”

And then I went to bed, too tired from the early-morning doctor’s appointment, my lack of sleep from the night before, and my unnecessary waiting at the computer. But even though I knew there were “more important things” to be upset about (read: boob cancer), I couldn’t help but be disappointed.

It’s now a full week after “launch”, and I only had 1 other person “officially” sign up, at 1:06p Eastern on Monday the 23rd. That is absolutely positively not to negate the other 19 people in the Clubhouse -not at all! But those are my Brooklyn Brunch Business Babes (yes, we get together monthly to drink mimosas, eat bagels and talk about Woman of the World stuff) and my Grads, the former group gettin’ in because I value their contribution and feedback, and the latter group because I love my Grads so freakin’ much that I wanna do special things for them all the time (in this case, I refunded their first month if they joined the Clubhouse before Tue the 17th). Yes, they absolutely positively count, but…they didn’t “count.” You know what I mean.

I tried not to break down the 27 hours I prepped for the Clubhouse (I told ya Freckle comes in handy) into the money I made, including the refunds. But I did. $138 divided by 27 hours is (gulp) $5.11/hour. If I include my Grads, and assume they won’t drop out after the first month, then Month 2 right now would bring me…$327. That’s $12.11/hour, and that goes down the longer I continue to work on The Clubhouse (I’ve spent an extra 3 hours on it today already).

I mean, can you see The Travesty? The Embarrassment? The Head Scratching and Brow Furrowing, especially as I get emails and blog comments and tweets about how amazeballs The Clubhouse is and “Congrats” with it?

I have to admit, I wasn’t gonna tell you this in detail. It’s why I was all “I’m disappointed in my launch…” on the video instead of “Only 3 People?! What the Frackin’ Frack?!” I don’t like talking specifics when it comes to the money I’m making, but this…it couldn’t be ignored. It couldn’t be brushed under the rug. I felt the need to share, especially after the comments I got on Monday thanking me for the honesty and the vulnerability. I can’t help it – I’m committed to documenting it all here – the ups, the downs, and The 3 People Launches.

Well, I wouldn’t be a life coach without document What Went Wrong (and How I’m Gonna Make It Right), so here it ’tis:

I sent the newsletter at 7a the day after a long weekend. I literally wanna hit myself. I “should” know better. People at corporate gigs were rushing in to work and didn’t come up for air until lunchtime at the earliest. Moms were getting their kids ready for school and out the door after time off. Men and Women of the World (aka Entrepreneurs) were also digging out of Inboxes and probably feeling a bit guilty for not working the day before. If I sent that email on Wednesday or Thursday – or even 6 hours later on Tuesday! – I think it would’ve made a huge difference. In my Mailchimp campaign report, I had a 3.6% lower open rate than normal, with 1.4% less clicks than usual. I’m still above the industry average (my open rate is usually 36.7% while the industry open rate is 15.2%), but if I’m comparing myself to myself…this didn’t measure up as it usually does. How I’m Gonna Fix It: I’ll send another newsletter this afternoon, admitting my screw-up and telling everyone the details. I think they’ll get it.

I didn’t tell any of my cohorts about it. OK, that’s not true. When I’d see/talk to/tweet ‘em and they’d asked what I was working on, I would tell them all about The Clubhouse and, as I mentioned before, they’d be super enthusiastic. But, um, I didn’t let anyone know when I was opening The Clubhouse, so I didn’t have my usual amount of help in spreading the word. This is also tricky because I can’t set-up The Clubhouse membership through e-junkie (because the Clubhouse payments are subscription-based, and e-junkie doesn’t support that), which runs my affiliate programs, and so I can’t offer anyone to be an affiliate for The Clubhouse. I’m trying to think of other ways to compensate those who refer Clubhouse members my way, but still – it doesn’t excuse me not asking!  How I’m Gonna Fix It: I’m gonna send out an email to my beautiful, lovely, amazeballs colleagues, clients and cohorts, asking for some tweets or a blog post or some other way to help me spread the word. I’ll also probably put some sort of affiliate-like thing in place, but more of a whoever-refers-the-most-people-gets-something-every-month thing, just ’cause I can’t track the direct clicks.

I didn’t advertise. Not only was nobody spreading the word for me, but I was barely spreading it myself! I know that it’s a good investment to take $100-$200 and take out a blog ad on some of my favorite Interweb homes. I mean really – what the heck is wrong with me? How I’m Gonna Fix It: Stop beating myself up and reach out to Alexandra Franzen, Kind Over Matter, and Kelly Rae Roberts STAT.

I rested on my laurels. I have to admit – I might’ve gotten a bit cocky. With 6,000+ Twitter followers and 1,700+ Facebook fans and 2,000+ newsletter subscribers…I mean, I don’t think my numbers are huge, but I just figured there’d be at least 20 people who’d be picking up what I’d be putting down, yaknowwhatI’msayin? I put the button on the homepage and made the Clubhouse page “live” and wrote/recorded a song and scheduled some tweets and a blog post and the newsletter and thought, “Well, I built it!…Where the hell are they?” It still has to be active at this point, people. I can’t just put something new up and expect to make thousands. How I’m Gonna Fix It: The emails and ads above are a great start, with actually reading How to Launch the S*** Out of Your Ebook being a good follow-up (I can’t even admit how long I’ve had it, because it’s ridiculously long).

I had almost 200 people look at the Clubhouse page that day…and only 3 joined. While I was super proud of how that page looks and how the copy reads, I knew there had to be something missing if something like 98% (math ain’t my strong suit) of the peeps who checked my page out (which must’ve meant they were somewhat interested) clicked off. Um, the page has now been viewed 354 times in the past 7 days, and…only 4 sign-ups. So, I spent 3 hours today pulling quotes from my Clubhouse members as to why they joined, making them pretty on Picnik (don’t tell me it’s closing – I’m still crying about it), and adding them to the page. I also took out the few times I said I needed to build something “hands off” for myself, as I now think it could give the wrong impression that I won’t be around the Clubhouse very often (which so ain’t true!). How I’m Gonna Fix It: Ya know, I have a feeling I’ll be tweaking this page lots as time goes on and I get more Clubhouse feedback. I already added a new question to the FAQs, and within the week I wanna add a free downloadable exercise to that page, too.

I listened to the “shoulds”. I originally wanted to launch this on my birthday, but since it was a Saturday “nobody would pay attention.” Well, on one hand I convinced myself of that, and on the other I decided to run a 34-hour sale in honor of my 34th birthday for my newsletter peeps only (no tweets, no blog posts, no Facebook updates) that started – you can probably guess this – on Saturday morning. I sold 27 workbooks by the time the sale ended on Sunday night. If that was the number who ended up in my Clubhouse that weekend, I woulda been thrilled. Thrilled! How I’m Gonna Fix It: Tell the “shoulds” to take a hike and continue to conduct my business the way that feels good and makes sense to me.

I also have to stress that at no point in time did I want to take The Clubhouse down. The Facebook Group still has 2 dozen really active creative ladies sharing their goals, their challenges, their blogs, and their stories to connect with, support, and help each other. I’m still psyched to coach them as a group – and offer a free session to one of ‘em – each and every month. I’m thrilled that there’s a built-in audience for my products and workshops (next virtual workshop’ll be on An Effective Escape – aka quitting your day job without having to live in your parent’s basement – on Feb 22nd). I’m happy to (finally!) have a place where us creative types, who usually feel so all alone, can meet each other and not feel, um, so alone anymore. To ask them to Shamelessly Share what they’re working on and read about their mentor-seeking and agricultural-training and new-blog-launching and event-planning and product-designing and Etsy-shop-launching and media-site-creating and ESL-training and Mommy-dancing-encouraging and lingerie-producing selves…well, I’m not going anywhere, and neither is The Clubhouse.

Y’know, I have a feeling that in a year I’ll look at the few hundred people who’re there and light up, knowing I Did That. And ya know what? Even if there’s less than a hundred, I’ll still be proud, because I would have achieved what I set out to: connecting, coaching, and serving more clients at a (much) lower price point. So no matter what…I Did That. And I’m proud.

———–

This is where you’d expect a button to join my Clubhouse, but seriously – overkill much?! Also, it’s my Mom’s birthday, and she’s the bestest Mom in the whole entire freakin’ frackin’ world (sorry other Moms), and I just had to link back to this post because it still rings true. Even though we’re going through the s*** now, we have each other – and I know that’s the most important, because my Mom taught me that. Here we are toasting to her last year – we’ll have another one tomorrow!

You Proved Us All Wrong – Congratulations Card from Colette Paperie

At the Golden Globes, Jean Dujardin (did you see him in The Artist? You must, you must!) said that when he was first starting out, an agent told him he’d never work in movies because his face was too expressive. When he accepted his award, he said, “Thank you for giving me the chance to prove him wrong.”

Who will you prove wrong?

————-

———–

Geez Louise Louise, I can’t believe I waited ’til the very last day to tell you guys about the new round of How to Build a Blog You Truly Love, a butt-and-blog-kicking e-course headed by the amazeballs Liv Lane. In 6 weeks, you’ll get advice/wisdom/tidbits from 20 contributors like SARK, Christine Kane, Jess Swift, Kelly Rae Roberts, Amanda Oaks, Aimee Dolich, Alexandra Franzen and lil’ ole me.

Cutting to the chase: 6 weeks. A 300 page PDF of the class content. A personalized blogging blueprint. Your blog’s purpose. A community of other creative (wannabe) bloggers. Audio. Video. Exercises. Essentially: crazy-good stuff.

So if you have a lil’ baby blogging seed in the back of your mind that you’ve been scared to act on, or if you have a living-breathing blog that’s collecting some interweb dust, or if you wanna take your active blog and give it a shot in wherever your computer’s arm is….then click here to check out How to Build a Blog You Truly Love.

(Links here are affiliate links, but seriously, have you known me to partake in something or hooplah something up just to have it be a big stinkball? No. No, you haven’t. I promise all sorts of goodness here and with everything else I give my time/effort/attention to. Pinky swear promise. That’s the serious kind.)