Discovering what you wanna be when you grow up is a process. There are skills to identify, values to name, responsibilities to consider, questions to ask & get answered, truths to uncover, false beliefs to conquer, and tons of self-reflection to, um, reflect on. It’s no quick fix, which is why I encourage all of my career change clients to work with me for 12 sessions, or 3-4 months of coaching. For some reason, that’s the magic number for most of my clients to not only come to the conclusion of what they want their grown-up career to look like, but to have an action plan in order to make it happen.

Something happens, though, around the halfway point, where my clients develop what I like to lovingly call “The Itch”. They’ve spent almost 2 months figuring out what the pieces of their puzzle consist of, & they’re ready to see The Big Picture. The Dream Career. The Answer. The Key. The pressure is on. The stakes are heightened. They want to know, and they want to know now.

It’s about that time in the process that I annoyingly & purposely ask them to “live in the questions.” But what does that mean? How can you let yourself do that? And why haven’t I been punched in the face yet? Well, “living in the questions” is another way for me to say: (more…)

Layout by Khristian. I totally stole it right from her site, but I have a feeling it’s cool.

Get your mind outta the gutter – Confessions of a First Timer is a new (clean!) e-book from surface designer / photographer / new awesome friend, Khristian A. Howell! I met Khristian blocks from my home in Brooklyn, as she & Jess Swift came together from Atlanta to exhibit at Surtex, and then came together to Brooklyn to go to the Flea meet me! Khristian patiently put up with the hugging and squealing Jess & I did on the street when we (finally!) met in real life, but if I knew about Khristian’s awesomeness then like I know about it now, I would have hugged and squealed with her, too! By the time Surtex was over, the 3 of us had our own Sex & the City-like girl club (minus Miranda, I think) & cried that we would be separated ’til next year. I’m still crying. (more…)

Last month, I attended a pretty fantabulus webinar where Seth Godin, marketing genius guru extraordinaire deity, was interviewed about career stability in relation to the launch of his new book, Linchpin. While I’ve yet to read the book, I knew that the overall message was that you need to make yourself indespensible by becoming an expert (read: forsake all other things besides the One Thing). As a Creative, my ears perked up & my brows furrowed when I heard this. Many Creatives are also Renaissance Souls, & not only do they not want to be put in a box, but they experience major Sophie’s Choice-itis when forced to do so. With myself, my clients, & poor Jewish Meryl Streep in mind, I pounced on the opportunity to ask Seth a question:

What if I have so many interests that I can’t decide which to devote expert status to?

His response included some tough love. He immediately mentioned The War of Art, & all the excuses we make that feed Resistance. “It’s the Resistance talking, which is trying to keep you safe! Write down all the things you’re interested in, circle one to do, & do it until you get through it. That’s the purpose of our lives!” Easier said than done, right fellow Creative Renaissance Soul? Well, here are my ideas for becoming an expert while honoring your many loves:

• Find out the ideal conditions for your Renaissance Soul to be happy. For example, I have a client who learned recently that her Renaissance Soul is happiest immersing herself in one project until completion, but only if that project has an end date no more than 3 months in the future – & she knows in advance the next project to switch to. Because of those quarterly goals, she knows she’ll complete 4 projects every year, which is a high (& motivating/exciting!) number for her. Personally, I enjoy having my hands in 2 or 3 projects at a time, working on them each for about an hour a day or longer (when inspiration strikes). If I had to work on 1 project continuously until it’s done, I might go insane. To figure out how you work best, ask yourself: (more…)

Open Up from blue bicicletta

Hello my lovely readers!

I have a small and painless request (I think!). Y’see, I started advertising on blogs like a real live grown-up woman of the world/business owner, & while I love the sites where my badge blinks brightly (currently, at Kind Over Matter, Kelly Rae Roberts & The Bright Side Project), I’d love to find, well, more peeps like you! While I think I kinda sorta know what your go-to blogs/magazines are, I know what happens when you assume…..so I figured I’d ask!

If you can kindly let me know in the comments what your go-to, can’t-miss blogs and/or mags are and whether you read ‘em by visiting or by subscription (whether via email or RSS), I would supercalifragiouslisticexpealidosciously thank you. (more…)

The panelists! Meredith, Amy, me, Rebecca (moderator & Blog Out Loud co-creator), Megan (co-creator of Blog Out Loud), Alison & Erin. I think we might be the best looking panel in the history of ever.

Monday night was Blog Out Loud 6 (finally!), & to say I was superly duperly psyched would be a superly duperly understatement. I had a private session and a group coaching session scheduled, but I cleared the rest of my day to get ready (a combination of getting into the “right” frame of mind & straightening the hell out of my hair) & just enjoy everything leading up to what I knew was gonna be a wonderful night. This was as close to performing as I’ve gotten being a coach, & I couldn’t wait to get in front of an audience & have my “castmates” be a panel of really highly respected, awesometastic bloggers. I knew this was my jam.

I was cool as a cucumber until, oh, 5:30p or so, when I got on the subway & made my way to tonefarmer 75 minutes before I had to be there. Of course, the usually long-ish wait for the G train took mere seconds, & I got out of the subway 40 minutes before Rebecca & Megan asked the panelists to arrive. I decided to head over to tonefarmer anyways, figuring that my two hands might be of use for setting up, stuffing goody bags, etc. ( I ain’t above some manual labor – yet!). I ignored the butterflies in my stomach and made my way to 25th Street.

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Get Over It by Restless Type

Happy Friday, lovelies! I have to have to have to point you back in the direction of Spring because, as the title of the post suggests, we’ve done a big fat revamping. Not only did we post the very first video with our very new co-host Tiffany Moore (she’s so cute & funny & smart & engaging!), but we redesigned the site, too (”we” being “the lovely & talented Jess Swift”). We have big, fat, grandiose plans for Spring – like starting a video channel, having more contributors, taking over for Oprah (y’know, little things) – but, well, we’re not exactly sure when they’re gonna roll out & how it’s all gonna happen. It’s kinda scary & pretty exciting at the same time, so you know I’m happy (I love living in that scary/exciting place!). So please please (with sugar on top) head on over to Spring & watch our videos & comment everywhere & add us to your RSS feed /get our newsletter or email updates & help us take over the world spark some awesome conversation. Our June videos are all gonna be about the Law of Attraction, & both the videos & the comments that are already happening are super stimulating (hehe, I said “super”).

Speaking of scary/exciting, I hafta tell you briefly about the scary/exciting thing I did on Wednesday night: I attendended a networking event ALONE! Now, you might be saying to yourself, “Michelle, you can have a conversation with a wall, what are you talking about?” in which I’d reply, “But I’d only talk to that wall if someone I knew was in the vicinity!” Seriously, I don’t go anywhere alone – not to restaurants, not to the movies, not anywhere (OK, subways & sidewalks & parks & food stores & coffee shops to work don’t count – I go there alone all the time, you know what I mean). And even though I know I can talk to a wall, & I don’t have a problem meeting new people & – heck, I’ll say it – they usually find me pretty fun/nice/engaging, I don’t trust it enough to have the strength to walk in the door by myself. So, when my friend who was accompanying me to the BlogHer Meet-up left me a voicemail that she had to go home sick (hope you’re feeling better, Kylie!), I listened to the message on the platform of the 6 train, 1 stop from where I needed to go, & panicked. I was tired. I looked great. I spent an hour getting there. It would take an hour getting back. I was scared. What was I scared of? I finally told the Vampires to leave me the hell alone, as I spent enough time looking good (I ironed, for Pete’s sake!) & getting there that I couldn’t just turn around when I was 1 short stop away. Also, I know logically that I can talk to a wall. My Vampire didn’t have a comeback for that one. So, I transfered to the local train, got off at 28th Street, & walked into the restaurant. Because I was a few minutes early, I was told to wait at the bar until the downstairs space opened up. I went about my “busy business”, checking my iPhone to see if any emails came in in the last, oh, 4 minutes, & I was greeted by a warm smile by a woman – alone – at the next table.

“Are you here for BlogHer?”, she said. (more…)

Hugs Will Lift You Up by Jessica Swift

Since Sunday, I’ve been helping out Jess Swift & Khristian A. Howell with their awesometastic booths at Surtex at the Jacob Javits Center. I’m having so much fun being their fort-holders (y’know, holding down their fort when they hafta step away) & lunch orderer/runner (my code name on the walkie talkie is FloJo!) that I keep forgetting that I’m actually helping them.

So, the question for today’s gotta be:

How can you help? (more…)

That’s Molly. She gave me a seriouser pic to use, but I didn’t wanna. Look how cute she is!

I first met Molly Hoyne of Stratejoy via Twitter.  Yup, Internet friends. I checked out her site & fell in love with her the awesomeness of her blog, the enthusiasm & obvious passion she brings to her coaching, & how she calls everyone “cupcake” & “babe.” So, when she asked me to be an affiliate for The Joy Equation, her new “30 day guide to living life on purpose”, I…hesitated. Because, well, I’m still pimping out Danielle LaPorte’s Digital Firestarter Sessions (it launched amidst the scholarship craziness, & it’s amazeballs!) & I didn’t want youse guys to think I’m walking around with a fur coat & a cane & lots of bling. But then Molly sent me the PDF of The Joy Equation Workbook (think of a whole book of Tough (Question) Tuesdays) along with the first chapter of audio links, & it was a done deal. This is what I needed when I was going through my quarterlife crisis (although I didn’t quite know that’s what it was!), & the fact that she’s offering donation-based pricing just added to the cherry on top. So, I said, “Duh!” Molly & I then went on Skype & did a video interview to let ya know more about her & The Joy Equation, but her eyes looked demonic & the audio didn’t sync & it looked like I had rubbed vaseline all over the lens a la Barbara Walters, so we decided to have the interview in print instead. You’re welcome.

What did you wanna be when you grew up? I wanted to be a psychologist, an interior designer, a motivational speaker, a professor, a mom, a wedding planner, an actor and a biologist.  All at the same different times of course!

How did you become the Stratejoy Coach? Here’s the short version:  I had a completely dramatic Quarterlife Crisis when I was working in hospitality sales about 4 years ago.  Even though I was awesome at my job and really loved the people I worked with, I felt like I was losing touch with the real me…  A lot of my job felt “fake”: from the suits to the sales process to the “the guest is always right” attitude. (more…)

Before I worked with Creatives, I was one. OK, I am one, present tense. And little ticks me off more than the Myths/ Untruths / Blatant Lies about being a creative person. Whether it’s your career or “simply” a hobby, the world at large tends to think that:

1. Creatives are stupid. Yup, I graduated NYU in 3 years. Yup, I was a theater major. That does not make it “easier”. Thank you.
2. Creatives are broke. Well everyone knows that you can’t make a living being an artist, or an actor, or a dancer, right? We must hate things like retirement & health insurance. Yuck.
3. Creatives are self-absorbed. Here’s a joke: How can you tell if someone’s Creative? By their big fat head! Here’s another: (Person 1) Knock knock……uh, knock knock……KNOCK KNOCK! (Person 2, the Creative) Oh, were you talking? I didn’t even see you standing there! I get so distracted by mirrors & my beautiful reflection. Wanna hear me belt a High C?
4. Creatives need to be told, constantly, that it’s “hard” to be a Creative. When I was pounding the pavement for 10 long years, & mentioned to anyone that I was Broadway Bound, I got one response, overwhelmingly: “That is such a hard life. Wow, so, so hard. You must have it so hard. It must be so hard for you.” I usually didn’t get that all at once, but it sure seemed like it. And my response, with a smile, was always, “Yup!” Um, I’m living it, idiot.
5. Creatives are lazy. This makes me more angry than any of the others, probably because my mission statement is to help Creatives that will not settle for a career that’s devoid of passion. To do that, there is major, major work involved. Major. And there is major, major drive & major, major motivation that goes along with it. Take Carmen Torbus, a client of mine who is a mother of 2 with a full-time job but is also an artist who leads workshops, writes books, blogs & contributes to a katrillion publications. Yeah, she’s just sitting on the couch eating Bon Bons all day. Puh-lease.

So, here comes that list of all the awesome things that Creatives are. I knew you were waiting for it. (more…)

Greatest Risk by jenzet

I attended a webinar last week where Penelope Trunk interviewed Seth Godin, & knew I had to blatently rip off a question that struck me with exclamation points & lightning bolts:

What are you at risk of failing at?

Meet me in the comments & tell me why you might be falling right on your face in the (near?) future. If you can’t think of something, then you’re playing it safe, & “safe” is a 4 letter word.  Pick something with a nice failure risk & commit to it in the comments. We’ll do our best to keep you from tumbling, or at least give ya nothin’ but a scrape.