Oh, kids. I’m all verklempt. Today marks 2 years since I’ve become a Woman of the World (aka full-time entrepreneur), and it’s tough to wrap my head around. On one hand, it seems like such a long time. I’ve only been doing this for two years? It seems like 5 (maybe that’s because I’ve been The When I Grow Up Coach since 2008…yeah, that’s probably why)! On the other hand, it seems like time has flown, and I’m having trouble comprehending that When I Grow Up isn’t a “baby” anymore…Aw, they grow up so fast!
I honestly wasn’t sure what to write about today. A new I Quit My Day Job video? An update from my “dark” video that I posted last week(I’m feeling way better and love all the love you guys gave me – promise to post an update soon!)? A letter to my 2010 self (ooh, that’s a good one, actually…maybe later this week!)? A listing of my accomplishments since then? Thankfully, I got inspiration from my recent session with Stacy of Ethical Launch (who’s an uber-genius, BTW), when she pat me on the back for being honest about my disappointing Clubhouse launch.
“Ya know, everyone always thinks that we have to go this alone. We want to be entrepreneurs, we don’t have any capital, and we feel like we have to do everything ourselves. But we don’t! And people don’t!”, she said. “I don’t like the entrepreneurs who we all know are super-successful, and they don’t share that they have a team behind them. It’s a false reality to present to people.” (OK, I’m paraphrasing, but that was the gist of it.)
Yes, we might be (wannabe) solopreneurs, but no – I have never been alone in this journey at any point. Since I started working as The When I Grow Up Coach in 2008 (before I escaped the Golden Handcuffs), I’ve hired: Read the rest of this entry »
Last weekend was an unusual one for me. One that made me feel the following as truths:
Everyone’s doing everything better than me.
I’ve lost control over my life.
I’m overcommitted.
I’m ugly.
I don’t have anything figured out.
As you can imagine, a spiral like this is unusual for me (I was – and continue to be – the women who gives boob cancer updates via ukulele), but I couldn’t shake it. I was gonna write a post about it, mostly because I’ve been hating the way I look lately and was too vain to get in front of the video camera, but I thought of Jess Constable’s new series and decided to Keep It Real and go for it anyways. So yes, my hair looks dirty (because it is – I can only wash it once a week because of the trial I’m doing to keep my hair during schmemo, and I also can’t blow dry it or use product. It has started to fall out, but not so you’d notice) and there’s some smeared make-up under my eyes and I look as pale as a ghost…but I felt it was important to make this video regardless, because, well, it’s important to show the times the doubts/anxieties/Vampire Voices show up as much as it to show the wins/positive perspectives. Vanity be damned!
Spoiler Alert: Yup, there are tears about halfway through here, but I promise you get an authentic smile from me by the end. Don’t feel too sad for me, ‘k? Read the rest of this entry »
It’s my shortest video ever (under 5 minutes, people!) and also the one where I reveal (a) what I have up my sleeve for my 2nd Entrepreneuriversary next month and (b) how I said “No” to myself and lived to tell the tale. Enjoy!
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. Read the rest of this entry »
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.
Earlier this week, I got some bad/surprising news about my boob cancer (we’ve been spoiled so far!). I had what I liked to call Lumpectomy: The Sequel last Wednesday, and the report came back that there was early cancer cells outside of the range of the original tumor that I got removed back in December. The surgeon thinks it’s been there all along, and we wouldn’t have seen it if we hadn’t gone back in and gone deeper/further away (that’s what she said) from the original tumor. This definitely would’ve lead to “a failed lumpectomy” within months, so thank baby Jesus/Moses that we went through Lumpectomy: The Sequel (such a twist ending!) and found all this. While this’ll allow me to bypass radiation, I’ll still start chemo next Tue (Valentine’s Day! so romantic!) and have a double mastectomy in May (isn’t “double mastectomy” the scariest phrase ever?!).
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!
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.”Read the rest of this entry »
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!” Read the rest of this entry »
It’s about that time…I’m just 2 months shy from my 2 year entrepreneuriversary, and I’m not in a great mood about it. Here’s why I’m feeling like I have a bad case of the poopy pants (hint: it begins with an “l” and ends with an “-aunch”).
It’s really, really odd to have boob cancer as your muse…but here’s another tune with Lucille and a very special guest – my husband, Luke! He’s a champ and a half times infinity:
Y’all have been so sweet with your continued good thoughts and juju and gifts and cards and donations and “how are ya?”s. As a quick update, I’m not sure yet exactly when my treatment will start, but it’ll definitely consist of 4 rounds of chemo (one every 3 weeks) and 6 weeks of radiation. Yes, it’s not gonna be fun, but it really is honestly The Best of the Worst, and I might even get to keep my hair! Promise to let ya know more as soon as my plan’s in place and I have a definitive timeline. ‘Til then, I’ll keep writin’ and strummin’!
Wanna be a sponsor? Shoot me an email at michelle@whenigrowupcoach.com and I'll shoot ya the info! Figuratively, of course.
KNOW WHO I FOLLOW!
BLOG BADGE to BESTOW onto your BEAUTIFUL BLOG
CREATIVE COMMONS
Basically, what this means is that everything I write is my own property (duh), but you can use it on your blog or in your newsletter or as skywriting as long as you don't change nothin' & you add the following : "Michelle Ward, aka The When I Grow Up Coach, helps creative people devise the career they think they can't have - or discover it to begin with! A certified life coach by the International Coach Academy, a musical theater actress with her BFA from NYU/Tisch, and a Corporate America escapee, Michelle has served as an expert source and contributor for such outlets as Newsweek, Forbes, and Psychology Today, as well as leading workshops and seminars at SXSW 2011 and the sold-out Etsy Success Symposium. She could be found coachin', bloggin' & givin' away free stuff at whenigrowupcoach.com."
