Officially Introducing :: The Organic (Blog to) Business Mastermind…Summer Sessions!

May 23, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Do you ::

  • Work or want to work for yourself doing something you love that also makes a difference in the lives of others?
  • Have a current blog, business or Big Idea but have no idea where to go with it (or even where to start)?
  • Want the wisdom of 10+ personal years and 3 generations of entrepreneurial experience, coupled with powerful intuition and guidance, to help you strategize, design, and recreate your business into something successful?

Are you ::

  • A spiritual pragmatic, ready to lean into step-by-step actions, as well as the inner Wisdom found through meditation, EFT or your own inner work?
  • Wanting to keep your family and your values as your first priority, working in a way that is powerful, productive and authentic?
  • Ready to be accountable for your own dreams and commit to your other Mastermind Sisters?

Would you ::

  • Like to make $2,000-$10,000 a month working less than 20 hours a week?
  • Benefit from a group learning experience, where others may ask questions you forgot and where you can riff off one another to brainstorm incredible possibilities together?
  • Like to overcome your fear of putting yourself out there or not being good enough?

The summer Mastermind course is open for registration and is already filling up!

Masterminds are 8 week programs consisting of a small group of women looking to expand their dreams and ideas into something that will bring in a real, sustainable and organic income – something that will support their families, their lifestyles AND their values.

This is for you if you,

  1. have an existing idea and aren’t sure how to get started or what to do with it
  2. have an existing business in the beginning to mid-stages of growth (or stagnation) and,
  3. are ready to commit to your group, yourself and your dreams. This program most benefits those who have an online business (or want a stronger online presence), and/or offer services and information.

This is NOT a blogging e-course. This is NOT for the hobbyist.

This is for the woman who is ready to take her blog or her hobby to another level.

This is for the woman who is ready to start playing bigger, who has a voice, a message and a gift to share with the world and who is ready to say “Yes” to the possibilities of creating a real business on her own terms.

Doing OBM was intense, electrifying, staggering. It was a whirlwind of brainstorming, processing, and getting so clear and focused on why and what I wanted to do that discovering the rest of my answers became easy. – Jenn Gibson, Roots of She

What You’ll Get To Do

:: Move past your fears of playing bigger
:: Access the confidence AND ability to create a successful online business
:: Organically grow your income without burning yourself out
:: Experience the magic of feeding your dreams

Just Some of What We’ll Cover

:: The 3 most CRUCIAL steps you must take first (before you do ANYTHING else)
:: How to bring in the right readers, clients and customers
:: Which products and offers you can create and HOW to actually create them
:: Your website MUST-HAVES, including how to protect yourself against hackers
:: How to do it all in a way that feel authentic and fun
:: Tons and tons and tons more…

We’re talking my 10+ years of self-employment and nearly $10k of training in marketing and business foundations, sales funnels, target demographics, authenticity, freemiums, drip campaigns, search engine optimization, money blocks, time management, and all the nitty gritty details of what to do, why to do it and how to do it in the most powerful and effective way possible.

Basically, I’m going to give you the exact tools I used to go from making $200 a month with a blog to making nearly 6 figures in just over a year.

I honestly feel so much clearer about my business now, and I have focus and direction (two things I was lacking without even realising it). You’ve prompted me to DIG IN and get to grips with some fears I had about putting myself out there. I now feel armed and ready to move forwards. – Rebecca Mindful Misfits


Click here to see if a Mastermind of sisters is right for you!

Filed Under: Organic Business, Organic Tribes Tagged With: , , , , ,

Being Practical Isn’t All That Great

February 21, 2011 By 45 Comments

I hate that title. What I really want to say is “Being Practical” sucks.

Or at least the common understanding of that phrase.

I recently did something incredibly impractical.

It’s something that could take years to fix, will most certainly cost thousands of dollars, will create unforeseeable stress and frustrating amounts of work, has already caused physical pain and was against medical advice.

It’s wasn’t necessary. It isn’t easy.

There was really nothing practical about it.

And I couldn’t be happier. :)

What crazy, expensive, painful, ill-advised thing did I do?

I got braces.

Who has two fingers and a new set of braces? This girl!

Not a shred of evidence exists in favor of the idea that life is serious.
- Brendan Gill

Did you know I’ve agonized over this decision for over 10 years? The idea of spending thousands of dollars and seeing one orthodontist all in the name of vanity rubbed badly against my practical side.

Spending thousands of dollars and busting my ass to find cooperative orthodontists around the country to play my little game of Build A Traveling Medical File while we travel full-time rubbed against my orthodontist’s practical side, too.

But I insisted. I told him I’d take care of the hard part if he’d just play along.

I was freaking adamant against being practical until I got what I wanted.

Being Practical Is No Way To Live

Culturally, we make impractical decisions All.The.Time….decisions that are expensive, painful, and idealistic: like buying a home, having a child or falling love!

The big stuff is easy, though, right? It’s the smaller impractical choices we let get in our way.

Or at least I did.

You know what changed my mind?

Realizing just how many impractical choices have positively shaped my life:

  • I made the impractical choice to be a mother at 17.
  • I made the impulsive decision to become a massage therapist at 18.
  • I made the expensive choice to own my own massage business at 20.
  • We made the impractical decision to take Zeb out of school when he was 7.
  • And then we had the crazy idea to sell all our belongings and travel full-time.

Did you know the definition of impractical included things like “idealistic,” “illogical,” “wild” or “improbable”?

Most of life falls into that category!

A bumblebee’s ability to fly? Certainly improbable.

The amazing capabilities of a human cell? Definitely wild!

Traveling, creating art, making love, music, dancing, climbing trees, poetry, laughter, romance…completely idealistic.

Chasing dreams, following your instincts, trust: Absolutely the most illogical things you can do in such a volatile time as ours.

And well…..there it is. My reason for being utterly impractical: All of life depends on it. :)

“Be daring, be different, be impractical, be anything that will assert integrity of purpose and imaginative vision against the play-it-safers, the creatures of the commonplace, the slaves of the ordinary.” – Cecil Beaton

Four Steps To Stop Being So Practical

I often get stopped by fear. And I often remind myself how to overcome it.

These are my four steps to making any wild, illogical, idealistic and absolutely life-changing decisions that I badly, desperately want (but am seriously paralyzed) to make.

They are the four things that get me from here to there, from fear to action, from stagnancy to growth.

It’s really rather simple. But, of course, incredibly challenging. Ready for it?

  1. Trust Yourself. Like Benjamin Spock says, you know more than you think you do.
  2. Know what you want and why and how. Because you’ll likely be doing some explaining and you’ll need a good plan.
  3. Take a really deep breath. Repeat this step often.
  4. Then focus only on taking the next step. Yup, just the next one.

Before long you might just find yourself living a wild, illogical, idealistic life of your own. :)

Join the Convo:

Why do you think we’ve become such a practical society? Or what’s been the best, most impractical choice you’ve ever made?

Love what you read here? I would love for you to share it! You can use one of the social media buttons below…
Filed Under: Organic Wisdom Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Interesting Detours (Are Covered in Paint)

February 12, 2011 By

Funny Faces Dirty Mirror

I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by. – Douglas Adams

We had every intention of getting back on the road by January 1st. The deadline seems ridiculously funny now that we’re two months behind schedule and covered in paint.

Despite knowing better, I still love setting unrealistic goals. Like T.S. Eliot says, “Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.”

I want to push myself. I want to do things others think aren’t possible.

As a family, as a couple and as three individuals, we set some pretty grandiose goals. The three of us, individually and together, work our asses off to build businesses, to travel or work on our own terms, to pwn noobs. ;) We know what we want (and sometimes we don’t) and we go after it.

But if there’s one thing the last five months have taught me, it’s this:

Establishing goals is all right if you don’t let them deprive you of interesting detours. – Doug Larson

Life offers many interesting detours. And I want to take them.

Because although I love grandiose goals, there are no promises. It’s not about what we might experience someday. It’s about what we’re experiencing now.

Oops

Even covered in paint today, 8 weeks behind our goals and achy from the awkward positions one must put themselves in to paint around an RV slideout…we can still take time to dance to The Beach Boys and Steve Miller Band, to chat with friends, have lunch with family and attack each other with paint.

Because this is it. Despite all our goals, I know we already have what we want at our fingertips. Or all over our fingertips, as the case may be. :)

Filed Under: Life on the Road, Organic Wisdom Tagged With: , , , , , ,

The Collective Female Energy (and an Invitation)

November 5, 2010 By 16 Comments

At my mama's desk

I’m nearing the end of my last month on the Visionary Mom Team. I have only a few weeks left to go before I’ll have to say goodbye to Lisa and the 9 other women who have supported and encouraged me since August. I underestimated what a gentle but pivotal role the team would played in my life. I shouldn’t have.

You should never underestimate the power of a collective female energy.

The very foundation of nearly a dozen mamas on one cooperative journey is rooted in creation. But it also resonates a strength, a nurturing and a no bullshit attitude that is the unmistakable art of such empowered women.

It also brings balance to the experience. Each one of us had a slightly different story to tell, a slightly different path to take, a slightly different view of the world. And we could offer it all without fear or judgment. One mama could see things another couldn’t. Another could offer something no one else had. We had humor and caution, drive and gentleness and eleven lifetimes of experience and resources to feed each others’ dreams.

It could not have come at a better time for me. In a summer filled with inspiration, but complete and paralyzing unassuredness, the Visionary Mom Team stepped in and saved my ass.

Have I mentioned that I was working on my photography shop for four months prior to joining? And that I managed to accomplish my goal in just three weeks on the team?

How about that I did more for Sustainable Baby Steps in 7 weeks on the team than I did in the 13 previous months that I had been working on the site?!

On top of lighting a fire under my ass the team has helped me to:

  • Identify and overcome numerous creative roadblocks
  • Acknowledge my personal groove
  • Figure out and execute a plan
  • Stay accountable along the way

I’ve learned that going it alone is just short of crazy.

And a little bit lonely.

We are communal, social beings after all. It only makes sense to me now that I would work better professionally in a communally creative setting, as well. We’re not meant to always go it alone. I’m understanding that better now.

To say the team has been pivotal is an understatement. Having 10 other women as invested in my outcome as I am in theirs is flat out transformational, not just in my productivity but as it translates into other areas of my life as well (because there is no “work life” and “personal life” around here – it’s all part of one big, beautiful pot).

That’s why I’m joining another team. :)

Yes, it’s just that good and no, I am not ready to let it go.

I’ve talked my good friend, Heather, into hopping on board and I’m pretty sure another sweet mama, Alicia, is going to join us.

But I want to make sure we have a full team, so I can be sure to start again in December. Sooo…..

Want to join us on the next Visionary Mom Team? :)

I know there are plenty of you out there cooking up some Big Ideas. I know there are plenty of you feeling stuck, too. I know that we could all use a little (or a lot of) motivation to feed our dreams. And I now know the power of a collective determination.

We start December 1st and there are only a handful of spots available, so go here to check it out and sign up.

Will you join me? :)

UPDATE: I’ve just been informed two four more mamas have jumped on board! That means FIVE THREE more spaces. Are you in? Hurry!

Another Update: Yahoo!! The team is full! I’m SO excited! And to everyone who didn’t make this team, Lisa still has options, so don’t hesitate to shoot her a message!

Filed Under: Inspiration, Organic Tribes Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Unhappy News (and dreams and fears)

October 19, 2010 By

I’m feeling like the rubber ball attached to a paddle, one second flying high with wild excitement, the next being bashed against a wall. Success, failure, inspiration, frustration, pieces clicking into place, only to crumble apart again. A person can only ride a rollercoaster for so long before they need to vomit. Consider this my vomit.

Yesterday we were dealt a nasty blow to our dreams. The possibility of leaving Las Vegas by January has ended. The idea of two or three extra months here shouldn’t leave me in tears on the floor, but it did.

I don’t want to be here. I resist it with every fiber of my being. I make it clear to everyone I speak with that I’m only visiting. That this is not my home. I don’t feel good here, I don’t feel whole or fed or at peace here. I feel needy and desperate and lonely and empty. It took me 28 years to escape this the first time and seven months later I’m here again.

I don’t want to hear that there is a reason, that there is a message or a lesson in all this. I don’t want to hear that I need to let go, that I need to trust. I know it, but I resist it anyway.

Why? Because I’m afraid. I’m afraid of feeling trapped. I’m afraid of some giant cosmic hand telling me I’m “supposed to” be somewhere that makes me unhappy. I’m afraid of losing what I’ve found or finding that I didn’t deserve it in the first place.

In this past year I’ve wholeheartedly embraced a fear that has had me paralyzed for decades. I’ve lived in fear of Too Good Too Last, and I carefully kept my life and my joy at bay. I kept myself from loving or living unconditionally to protect myself from the pain that follows loss. Does that even make sense? I’ve felt that anything good will be taken from me, so I keep things two degrees off Good just to play it safe.

I thought through this amazing journey that I had conquered all of that. But as soon as Justin broke the news yesterday I felt that crushing fear, that desperate grasp for safety, those fortress walls springing back around me, my chest tightening and my joy slipping through my fingers. I heard that old familiar voice, “See? I told you it couldn’t last. Something was bound to come along and tear our dreams apart. This is it. It’s going to fall apart and you’re going to be trapped. You don’t deserve anything more.”

Ouch. I know it doesn’t even sound rational. It doesn’t feel rational either. It hurts. And it’s scary. It’s rubbing up against beliefs and thoughts I’m not ready to examine and it’s not accepting my attempt to put it off. It’s challenging me and it’s forcing me to stretch and grow. And all of that is good. I know it’s good. But that doesn’t mean I have to like it.

I want to face this. I want to push through it. I want to be handed a challenge and fly over it. I want to feel energized and more determined by it. I want to keep smiling, keep holding onto my joy. I want to embrace my fear with compassion.

I want to say I’m not in tears, hiding my face in my pillow and guarding myself against anything that feels good. I want to say I’m not pushing away the love I’m handed, letting go of the dreams I have for fear of more pain. I want to say I’m not questioning my spirituality, questioning whether Gd really is the bully with the magnifying glass burning holes in my heart.

But I can’t say any of that right now. It wouldn’t be real, authentic.

In this moment, right now, I hurt. In this moment, I feel a suffocating fear. This moment is messy and ugly and demanding tears. This moment is not allowing me to move.

So I’m doing the only thing this moment is asking me to do: I’m sitting in it. I’m allowing myself to cry or feel afraid or guarded. I’m allowing myself to resist. I’m embracing the messy and the vulnerable and the whiney. I’m playing the victim, and the Blame Game, and the big baby. I’m wallowing and hurting and questioning. I’m distracting myself. I’m wavering between sobs and angry outbursts.

No, it doesn’t really make sense. No, the details aren’t really that big of a deal. But this is what Life has handed my heart: not another three months, but a giant serving of Here’s Your Opportunity with a side of It’s Time To Face This Already.

It’s never about the details. It’s never about what happened or what’s going to happen. It’s about the messages we have hidden in our hearts, the stories we listen to, how they affect us, what we feel and what’s happening inside of us. It’s the bigger picture, when we can see it…and when we can’t.

I can’t see it. I can say it, but I’m too deep in it to really know it to be true. I can look at the words and reread them and still I hear that cynical, biting voice in my mind. So I’m holding onto the only two things I really do know to be true: I can be nothing but authentic. And life will ebb and flow, all things will pass.

This is me, authentic. Waiting for the fear to pass, for my ability to let it go.

Filed Under: Organic Wisdom Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
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