This is a post from Jenn Lee, a right-brain hero of mine and author of The Right-Brain Business Plan, which is my most-used, most-recommended business building tool for us creatives, hand-down. She wrote this sweet post to tell ya all about her 2nd Right-Brainers in Business Video Summit, which is totally free and which’ll be totally amazeballs, just like last year. But I don’t need to tell ya – see/read it for yo’self!

If you are a right-brain entrepreneur, you might feel totally connected to your creative gifts but still struggle with the nuts and bolts of business. The traditional way of doing business doesn’t work for us creative folk but we still need to do what we can to take our business seriously. The good news is you have permission to approach building your business using your right-brain gifts. You can take your business seriously while still having loads of fun!

Speaking of fun…. last year I had the absolute pleasure of featuring the wonderful Michelle Ward at my inaugural Right-Brainers in Business Video Summit. I just love this woman and think she’s so freakin’ inspiring (I’m sure you do, too!!).

I thought it’d be a blast to share with you an encore of her delightful Right-Brain Business Plan® Show and Tell Spotlight from our 2011 event. It’s amazing to see all that she’s accomplished since doing her RBBP and since last year’s summit!

Check it out the fantabulous video below…

That was awesome, right?! Well, we’re gearing up to kickoff the second annual Right-Brainers in Business Video Summit on Monday, February 27^th. You’ll learn lots of juicy business-building information from lovely luminaries including Tara Gentile, Jen Louden, and Mark Silver. Grab your FREE ticket today so you don’t miss any of the action.

And hey, if you want dibs at winning a Booster or Premium Pass, share your right-brain booster or left-brain chill pill over at our Video Contest that’s going now. Or just stop by to vote and get your creativity sparked big time!

Here’s to pioneering a new way of work that celebrates our right-brain genius!

Jennifer Lee is the founder of Artizen Coaching and the award-winning author of The Right-Brain Business Plan. Her bestselling book has helped thousands of entrepreneurs around the world grow their businessesauthentically and creatively. You can find her on Twitter at @artizencoaching.

Keep Calm and Make It Work by Simply Sarah Crafts

Now that I got the rest of my schmemo treatments on the books, I set out to look at my schedule with a fresh pair of eyes, and what I found there made my head thisclose from exploding. See, last fall, I scheduled out the majority of my 2012 “launches”: when I’ll start new rounds of Operations, when I’ll host my 4th Annual Scholarship (which I loooooove doing to correlate with my entrepreneuriversay in March), yada yada yada. Ah, the best laid plans, amIright? So taking a look at what was already planned through April started some heart palpatations and hyperventilating until I had a lightbulb moment:

Nobody knows about this calendar but me. I can cancel/change around anything I want, and I can do it in a way that’ll work for me now, not last fall.

So, I took off the Operations! that I wanted to have this spring/summer and left the ones that’ll start in August. I moved the Scholarship to July, but came up with a new celebration to, um, celebrate my 2nd Entrepreneuriversary (teaser alert: mark your calendars for Mon 3/19 from 1-2:30p Eastern for a super amazeballs event times two!). I even took off the space I keep in my calendar for consultation calls and sessions through July 31st, as I have no idea what my boob recovery’s gonna be like after my mid-May surgery, and I just don’t want the pressure.

Believe it or not, there was major empowerment here in saying No, saying Later, and asking,

How can you make this work for you right now?

Would love to hear how this question works in your life right now! “See” you in the comments!

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It’s tomorrrrrrrooooowwwwww! (just 11 spots left!):

decide what to be and go be it by letterhappy

This is a guest post from Tara Gentile, cheerleader for The You Economy and overall smartypants.

“How do you react when someone says ‘you’re ambitious?’”

I posed that question to my community last week.

I really, really tried to not make it a loaded question. Which, for the record, is not one of my strong suits. I’m opinionated and it shows.

How would you answer?

Knowing that the vast majority of responses would be from women, I expected there to be many nuanced answers. I take it as a compliment but I’m not sure that’s how it was meant. That sort of thing.

Ambition is a loaded word.

I think this response from Annching Wang (Michelle’s note: Annching’s a former client of mine. Tara didn’t even know that! Serendipity!) sums it up:

“I’ve been called that several times, and it has always seemed strange to me…like I’ve overreaching for something.”

I think, at the heart of it, we want to be ambitious. We want to stretch ourselves. We want to push our capacity for greatness.

But that rubs against the status quo. When you allow your ambition to show, it’s like you’ve taken a little step off the straight & narrow path. Especially if you’re a woman.

Ambition has long been a man’s territory. Men dream big dreams and are expected to fulfill them. A woman’s ambition is, how shall we say, more demure? “Ambitious” has been a derisive term when applied to women. Exactly as Annching suggests: overreaching. Out of her league. Unrealistic.

And, no judgement here. I believe men are starting to feel this push back against ambition, too.

My friend – and the founder of the Daily Worth, get thee on the list pronto – Amanda Steinberg has called this “The Year of the Ambitious Woman.”

I like this. I am an Ambitious Woman. And this is my year.

But I’d like to reframe ambition. Ambition is the unceasing drive for success.

But at what cost? To what end?

That’s what needs clarification.

“It’s time to get ambitious, not just ‘visionary.’”
– Umair Haque, Betterness

Ambition isn’t just the unceasing drive for success for success’ sake. Ambition is the unceasing drive for success with a purpose. A bigger vision. Something greater than you and I.

It’s not just the vision of a brighter day. Ambition is the step-by-step-by-step action that turns big ideas into even bigger outcomes. Vision is the dreaming. Ambition is the doing. Purpose brings it all together.

Keeping the purpose in perspective fuels your ambition. Boosts your confidence. Cheers you on when things get tough. And they will.

Go ahead, be ambitious. Be ambitious with purpose.

***

Tara Gentile is a writer & business coach empowering entrepreneurs to find their home in the You Economy. She’s helping over 50 entrepreneurs build businesses powered by ambition this week during The Art of Earning LIVE. Click here to grab your virtual ticket.

A Leap of Faith II by Ting Yuen

I’ve recently 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 Sarah‘s Story, who I worked with last summer and who is super smart, super not-gonna-put-up-with-any-bullhonkey, and whose leap of faith allowed her to land 2 jobs in the past year (after quitting the first on her own)!

I’ve read the awful statistics about new college graduates. I know the outlook is bleak. I’ve read that college graduates from the year I graduated can expect to earn low wages. I don’t discount the statistics nor will I make light of the struggles I have watched my friends go through. But what I do know is this: I have had four jobs since I graduated from college in May of 2009. It took me 9 months to find my first job after graduation, but it happened. And from there, my opportunities have snowballed.

Nine months after graduation, I took a job with a government contractor-, a job that I found through a sorority sister on LinkedIn. I’ll admit I spent my first months out of graduation doing what I now know job experts call “spray and pray.” At my job hunting peak, I sent out more than 6 job applications per day.

When I finally got an interview and an offer, I was ecstatic-thrilled to put on on pants that didn’t have an elastic waistband and a bra that wasn’t for sporting purposes. For 6 months, I went every day to the federal office, had a bi-weekly conference call with the home office and was compensated well. I spent most days verifying invoices, putting together PowerPoint presentations, proofreading documents, filing and reading an endless stack of books I carry around in my purse. I was largely ignored by the federal workers I was hired to assist, given little responsibility (because contractors just can’t do the work that feds do) and when I asked to take on more projects or to assist other teams I was told “absolutely not.” I should have taken my sudden need to be medicated in order to stay awake at work as a giant, flashing sign that I should quit. But I felt paralyzed, it had taken me a long time to find a job, and could I really jump ship?

After 6 months as a contractor, I was hired as a federal employee in the same office. I got a slight pay raise, a new cubicle closer to the team that had previously ignored me and did the same tasks. I was offered a ladder position so in a year, I’d jump 2 pay grades and get a good raise. At 23 years old, I was living at home rent-free, and I was making $52,000 a year. My loans are paid off. I carry no balance on my credit card. I could achieve the American Dream of owning my own home sooner rather than later if I just kept my head down and worked like a good soldier. I lasted 10 months. I tried dragging myself to work and participated in team building. I asked for more responsibility. I talked to my mentor. I tried to take on additional projects. But, I learned quickly, the government is not a place that looks favorable upon innovation or creative thinking. I worked in an office full of people who wanted to work hard so that they could pay for a big house and drive their BMW (anyone who tells you federal employees are underpaid obviously never saw the parking lot where I worked) and complain that they had to work really hard to keep those things.

My A-Ha! moment came one morning when the woman in the cube next to me loudly told her daughter (who graduated from college in May) on the phone ”Meghan, I’ve been here 37 years and I’ve never liked it. But, the pay’s good and you’ve never wanted for anything. You should definitely apply for a job here.” The thought made my blood boil. 37 years was more than 50% of this woman’s life and she HATED IT. Sure, she drove a Mercedes, but at what cost? She was obese, complained on the phone all morning, didn’t have any friends in the office and I’m pretty sure she didn’t do any actual work (if all the time she spent loudly talking on her cubicle phone was any indication). It was then that I realized that I HAD TO GET OUT. I knew that I should have had that realization 18 months ago when I started, but I couldn’t stop hearing every one and their mom telling me I was lucky to have a job, lucky to be able to put gas in my car and to go out with my friends and buy nice clothes. But that just wasn’t enough for me. I like my nice clothes, but I buy them on sale. And I have enough now that I could reasonably not buy anymore and still not be naked. Or unfashionable.

I called my career services advisor from my university-I found her advice to be outdated and archaic. If I wanted a job that required an objective statement on my resume, I should definitely listen to her. I read the advice of bloggers, I scoured Twitter, I joined discussions on Brazen Careerist, I wrote on my blog. After I started worked with Michelle, I read on Twitter that one of the bloggers I had long admired had an opening for a project manager. I sent in my application on a Tuesday. His partner called and interviewed me over Skype on Thursday. I was offered the job Friday. I gave my two weeks notice the following week and picked up and moved (at their request) to the middle of nowhere Ohio. After 3 weeks there, we moved the whole operation to Asheville, NC. I settled in. I made friends, I went to beer tastings and gallery openings, I went dancing.

It was good fun, until I walked into the office one morning and my business moron of a boss said “We haven’t made enough money and quite frankly, it just doesn’t make sense to keep you on board. Furthermore, I wasn’t really sure I was ready to hire anyone and I did it anyway, so I’m sorry, but see you later.” I couldn’t even provide a counter-argument. I couldn’t even say that I was outraged that I was up against something I could never beat because he had stacked the deck against me from Day One. I was stunned. I was paid for the rest of the month, and ultimately decided to move back to Baltimore.

I’m still angry at the utter absurdity of the situation, and probably angry at myself for jumping headlong into the abyss without second thought of what might happen if it didn’t end well. After everything though, I understand that I used this opportunity as a means to an end. I wanted out of my job that made me tired and irritable and miserable. I wanted out of a situation that I was certain if I waited too much longer would be my golden handcuffs. I didn’t push back as hard as I could have when my boss made decisions that were ultimately detrimental to me because I wanted to be part of the team and not make waves. I may have gotten screwed over, but the situation got me out of a job that made me miserable.

When I came back to Baltimore, I started looking for a job again-despite all of this, I was still certain I need a steady income even though I am once again living rent-free at home. I hate feeling like a freeloader and while I have expensive tastes, I am extremely frugal with my money. I didn’t want to spend my time eating through my savings.

Michelle pointed out that I have life coaches everywhere-and I do. My sorority sisters and best friends from college, my kickball team, old babysitters, my parents and their friends-everyone has been eager to form an angry mob to storm the office in Asheville and to give me names and numbers of people to call for job leads. I found my current job through a friend, the posting came across his desk at work. He quickly called to tell me it was in a building not far from where he works and I’d be back in DC (where I interned in college).

It turns out, my cover letter tells a good story now. I quit a job I hated, took a  leap of faith in a challenging situation, got laid off and still managed to not end up living in a cardboard box.  And in all of that, no one has said to me “Well, I guess you shouldn’t have left that cushy federal job.” I was house-sitting during my latest brief unemployed stint and on the mirror in the bathroom, there was a note with a Zen saying that said “Leap and the net will appear.”  It does. You might have to be a little creative, learn to tell a better story, bruise your ego, but eventually the net will appear.

I’ve been at my new job now for 3 weeks. I’m in charge of communications and development for a non-profit. It gives me a chance to network with a Board of Directors, hone my writing skills on grants and the company blog and it keeps me from feeling like a dilettante. I’ve been hesitant to get overly excited about it because I was really excited for my last job, and that excitement apparently wasn’t enough. So I’m learning that what I’m doing is good enough for now. I still feel like I’m treading water, I still keep up my side projects-working on my Etsy shop, polishing resumes and cover letters for my friends, contemplating consulting for small businesses (what I did in Asheville) on a shorter-term basis.

This job market has taught me that it’s good to be interesting, it’s not wrong to want to feel challenged and it is possible to leap and let the net appear.

Sarah Morgan is a twenty-something recent college graduate, sometimes young professional, frequent questioner of “A-Ha! moments” and strong believer in the power of a good network.

Do you have a Recession is Bullhonkey story? I wanna hear it! Please email me with it, along with a pic/bio (optional) if you’d like me to consider it as a guest post, or just simply stating that I can use it (and how/if you’d like to be credited) as part of the series. Thanks for helping me spread the Recession is Bullhonkey gospel!

—

Be Yourself (Ralph Waldo Emerson) by Art by Erin Leigh

The ABC’s of Self-Love is a Blog Crawl 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 (you can win a free spot in the Fierce Love course!)

A few weeks ago, I breathed deep, freaked out, made my husband and great friend read and re-read what I spent hours writing, breathed again, and hit the button to schedule Yup. 3 Sign-Ups. (aka How I Screwed Up Majorly, and What I’m Doing To Fix It). While I felt it was important to do, and I hoped it would start a much-needed discussion on how everyone doesn’t make a million dollars when they launch a product/service (as well as revealing The (Wo)Man Behind The Curtain as opposed to The Great Oz herself ), I was scared to death of outing myself and my “failed” launch. I heard my Dad in the back of my head, who chastised me as a very very early blog writer for writing how many clients I was working with, as it disclosed how much money I was making. I heard my Vampire (that’s what I call the voices in our heads that suck the good stuff outta us) saying that it would make lots of people run away from my Clubhouse, never allowing it to grow and not allowing that community to blossom. But the more I heard those voices and the more I wrote and re-wrote that post (it literally took hours), the more I felt excited and scared.

Excited and Scared is what I live for. When my clients describe feeling it in almost-equal doses, I start doing the happy dance. It always means that you’re on the right track, which is not synonomous for Things Working Out or Being Wildly Successful. But it does mean that you care about whatever it is that’s giving you that feeling, and that’s something’s at stake.  More excited than scared probably means you’re about to have fun, and that’s great but there’s nothing to care about there. More scared than exciting is what I call The Uh-Oh Feeling, and you should probably get outta that situation and how. But equally scared and excited? It means you’re guaranteed to learn, to grow, to take away – and that is always The Right Track.

If you go back to my veeeeeeeery first post (all the back in May 2008!) and follow the arrows to the next post and the next and the next, you might recognize my voice but not my vulnerability, not my honesty, not my uniquity. That’s ’cause when I first started blogging, I wore The Mask of a life coach.

“I can’t tell people I have a corporate job and I’m not coaching full-time!”

“I can’t tell people that I don’t have things all figured out and that my life is less than perfect!”

“I can’t tell people that I don’t have all the answers!”

Yup. I thought all those things and then some, and set about writing my early posts to Showcase My Expertise and Perfect Life….until I realized that my blog was so boring that I wouldn’t even read it. I took off The Mask then, fell back on everything I learned as a struggling actor, and decided to no longer keep things to myself unless they were deeply personal or involved others whose feelings would be compromised by sharing whatever I wanted to say. It led me to, almost 3 years later, share my boob cancer with you guys, even. I mean, once that’s on the table, you can talk about pretty much anything.

And what have I gotten in return? Thank Yous. Virtual hugs. Lots of new friends. Appreciation. More Clubhouse members (we’re at 34 now!). Joy. A fulfilling, passionate business that has a strong foundation and the most amazeballs clients a lil’ ole creative career coach could ask for. A whole network of people who understand me, who support me, who cheer me on. The feeling that I’m doing The Right Thing, that anything less would be cheating myself and everyone who’s now come to know me, to read what I have to write, to buy what I’m selling or work with me as a client.

So, N is for Natural. For being Vulnerable. For Sharing. For being Unique. For Owning Your Story. For Trust. For Connection. For Showing and Telling. For Excitement and Fear In Equal Measure. For Removing The Mask.

Really, my ABC’s of Self-Love are more like NVSUOYSTCSATEAFIEMRTM, but we’ll just call it Natural for short.

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Suck Less by est1986

Last week, I woke up Angry At The World (which you would think would happen fairly often because of this whole boob cancer thing and whatnot, but honestly, it’s a rarity). But ya know what? This annoyingly optimistic life coach embraced it, and said Suck It to everything that day.  I’m cold because the window’s open? “Suck It, Window!” I have to walk behind 4 kids taking up the entire sidewalk?  ”Suck It, stupid high school kids!” Luke and I texted back and forth about everything that made us mad that day – boring meetings, Fed Ex, not wanting to get up when you have to pee, ineffective people, being taught things you already know…and it actually brightened my day.

What do you wanna tell to Suck It?

I know, I know, this is supposed to be a question tied into Valentine’s Day and romance and love and yada yada yada, but my schmemo (not a typo – it’s what I’m calling chemo) today and I’m just more in a Suck It mood. Apologies for the anger, but honestly, telling the schmemo to Suck It helps!

************

Wanna quit yer job, but don’t wanna wind up living in your parent’s basement eating Ramen noodles? Well, that doesn’t have to be mutually exclusive!

In this 90 minute virtual workshop (that means you can join us from wherever you be as long as you have a computer and a phone line!), you’ll find out how I created a big, fat, sturdy safety net so that I could leave my corporate job in Mar 2010 and make “the leap” to full-time coach – and what I’d do differently if I had to do it again!  You’ll also leave with the framework of your big, fat, sturdy safety net (not yo’ Mama’s or yo’ partner’s!); potential Plan Bs that won’t leave you beaten down without a soul; and your Breathe Easy number that’ll give you enough of a financial cushion to make you, um, breathe easy but not have to wait until 2020 to break free of those golden handcuffs.

Only 50 45 40 39 spots left! I’m not planning on offering this again, so head on over and join us for An Effective Escape: Leaving Your Day Job Without Living In Your Parents Basement!

A few months ago, I got interviewed for Yes and Yes’ True Story series. While the title’s a wee melodramatic, it’s absolutely the truth. And while you might’ve heard My Story before, Sarah asked me some Barbara Walters-like questions, like how I dealt with other (less talented!) people being cast in parts I auditioned for, if there was something specific that made me throw in the towel, and if I was ever close to “making it.” You can read it all here.

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I gotta admit, I’m scared as hell to go through this procedure and it’s the last thing I wanted/was expecting, but…there’s gotta be upside to this cancer ridiculousness, right? Cue the ukulele!

Sparks Fly by Seize the Night

Tania Wojciechowski is a former client of mine who has done The Amazeballs: teamed up with another former client of mine (hi Deanna!) to create a brand-new creative retreat called Spark! Of course I wanted to help spread the word far and wide, so I asked Tonia if she’d like to talk about how the heck they made that Big Dream happen (doesn’t it seem soooooooooo big and scary and head-explosion-y?!). Such goodness below – enjoy!

You know those moments where you are completely sure about something? They are pretty rare, so when I do get hit with one of those moments, I try to listen and act on them, cuz seriously, sometimes they can change your life.

I had one last fall that I’d like to tell you about.

Last fall, I was reading Kelly Rae Robert’s e-book, Flying Lessons. In one section she writes about wanting to connect with other creative entrepreneurs. In order to make this happen, she set up a creative retreat and invited all sorts of women. The people at that first retreat soon became her mentors, her support system, and her lifelong friends.

As soon as I read this, I had tears in my eyes and goosebumps on my arms. I could totally picture being at a retreat like this, surrounded by women chatting, sharing, and laughing – new friends, entrepreneurs with whom I could learn from and share ideas with. The image made me feel so completely content that I knew I had to make it happen – both for myself and for others who might be craving this same connection with others.

My first thought was “this is going to be amazing!” But then my second thought was “ohmygodholycrap, how can little ol’ me make this happen?” I knew I needed help making this dream a reality. I instantly thought of Deanna Mullican of Apples and Orange who I had met through one of Michelle’s Operations group coaching sessions. I had immediately felt a connection to her and knew she’d be perfect to work with. I wrote to her immediately and invited her to help me make this a reality. I talked about wanting the retreat to feel welcoming and safe to everyone who came, a place to share knowledge with everyone there – open and supportive and cooperative. And I threw out the idea of it taking place in the U.S. Southwest. I’ve never been, but have always been drawn to the area as it has such a positive, creative vibe.

She wrote back with a huge “YES!” Soon after, we met on Skype, and started moving forward quickly – talking about the goals of the retreat, the feelings we wanted to encourage, the things we’d like to talk about, the people we’d like to invite. We researched locations and costs and then when we booked the amazing Hacienda Dona Andrea just outside Santa Fe, it became very real. Every step of the way, we had moments of “are we sure? is this going to work?” and we’d have a chat and say “of course it is!” and we’d take the next baby step forward.

That’s the Spark locale! Couldyajustdie? Image from Spark website

When we invited our retreat leaders, we penned two emails – one to the lovely Michelle, and one to the fabulous Jessika Hepburn of Oh My! Handmade. I wanted the emails to these amazing ladies to be reflective of the retreat – warm, supportive, and respectful – and happily, they both said they would love to be our main speakers! Unfortunately, Michelle had to pull out as she is getting healthy (you do know we’re all talking about her bodacious boobs, right?). So an email went to Alexandra Franzen who also said yes, and we couldn’t be more thrilled.

So there you have it, a rare moment of knowing, and a dream of being surrounded by love and support has turned into a real-life creative retreat that will take place in just over 3 months. Every step of the way has been both scary and easy. Scary because we are putting in a lot of time and money into something so big. Easy because every part of working with Deanna has been example after example of synchronicity and fluidity.

My personal big word for 2012 is “confidence” – to me, this means feeling those scary feelings about something and doing it anyway, and listening to those inner moments of clarity and contentment. Confidence is knowing that after hitting ‘send’ on those emails comes the happy dance of joy when that person says yes. And it also means that if they say no, knowing that someone else will say yes.

I encourage you to step into your own confidence and make your own dreams come true, however big or little they are. All it takes is baby steps towards something truly amazing! And guess what? Each one of those baby steps are amazing, too!