Work as Art: The Rise of Creative Entrepreneurship

There is something magical happening in our consciousness and economy, something that’s not totally new but has recently reached a level of critical mass that makes it more visible, more palpable, and more accessible than ever before.

The simple pursuit of things that light us up inside, relegated beyond the role of hobbies and secret passions to something front and center in our professional lives.

I’m talking about entrepreneurs, freelancers, artists, creators, business-owners, independents, those who are navigating the fine line between business and pleasure, and balancing their creative and logical minds with a newly refined level of expertise.

I’m talking about people who pursue cool things they love and make money doing it.

Yes, sometimes this balancing act requires that we take on work that pays in order to fund our ideas, but then WE MAKE THOSE IDEAS HAPPEN, and that often leads to invitations to do more of that, setting up an exhilarating (and sometimes scary) career where we are the masters of our time, priorities, and income.

The value system has shifted so that more people are inclined to think big, take risks, and follow their dreams.

Many are applying those efforts towards making the world better, healthier, happier, and more sustainable; towards helping others and expanding the possibilities for everyone to thrive with resources and support, not just the fortunate minority, and towards fulfilling some mysterious inner calling. 

Income is not the primary objective of work.

More and more are stepping up and saying “I refuse to spend 40 hours a week doing something that crushes my soul for a paycheck and benefits, I’d rather spend 60 hours a week doing what I love, earning less for a while, and forging my own path forward.”

Does such a career lifestyle come with it’s own set of drawbacks? OH YES, it does.

It’s hard, really hard sometimes. You have to hustle for clients, charge varying rates, barter for services, figure out taxes and other legal issues. It’s not for everyone, and I’m certainly not saying that it should be. But there are rewards too, and the point is that the world is ready for this and it’s happening.

This year I joined this incredible tribe, but it was only after years of observation of the pioneers who paved the way and showed that it was possible for the “average person” to succeed and thrive without the safety of the corporate structure I was previously attached to.

Never in my wildest dreams did I think I could just invent my own job but that’s exactly what’s happened.

My fusion of content management, strategy, copywriting, photography, wellness, and more recently co-founding a coworking space have fused into a career where no two days are ever the same.

The ability and freedom to use the entire range of one’s skills and talents not only creates a happier worker and more interesting work, it contributes to a shift in paradigm that will permeate all of our lives.

Clearly, I think this is pretty cool, and I just had to say so.

I will leave you with a book to explore this further. Zen and the Art of Making a Living was published in the 1970’s by brilliant author and thinker Laurence Boldt. It was ahead of its time then and in many ways still is, but we’re just starting to awaken to some of the ideas he shares there. I highly recommend it, and here’s a quote:

“The highest order of duty to self is to follow your bliss. To thine own self be true. The highest order of duty to society is to make your fullest contribution to its well-being. These duties meet in life’s work. They may appear (especially in the short-term) to be in conflict, but in the long run of a life span, they can be seen to be threads interwoven so tightly as to be almost indistinguishable.”

Block Island {in photographs}

It was an eventful summer. Between moving from New York to Massachusetts, starting my freelance career, and having lots of adventures with my boys, it's hard to choose just one highlight. But there is one particular week that was very special because I spent it in a beautiful place with awesome people and took lots of photos.

Here are some personal highlights from my trip to Block Island :)

What I Learned at Entrepreneur Camp

I have just returned from the most amazing weekend and will do my very best to condense the mindblowing and abundant implosion of love, inspiration, and motivation that I experienced.

….

Hang on, I’m workin’ on it.

Putting this into words is not an easy task.

I’ll begin with a summary of what this is all about.

Camp GLP (Good Life Project) is an organized event for heart-centered entrepreneurs where hundreds of like-minded people can get together to have fun and learn new concepts for successful business building. This is the second year it has taken place and it was held in upstate New York in a traditional camp setting - bunks, cafeteria, arts & crafts, nature, just like sleepaway camp – and is organized by an incredible entrepreneur, author, and all-around-visionary dude named Jonathan Fields.

Many entrepreneurs don’t have the pleasure of being surrounded by those who “get it” in our everyday lives.

Networking aside, we crave real connection, inspiration and validation that our ideas are not weird or crazy or impossible, that they are in fact AWESOME and should be pursued. We also generally don’t have access to brilliant leaders and teachers who’s guidance can not only help make our businesses more successful, but who remind us that self-care, creativity, play, relationships, and a deep connection to our true selves are just as important as understanding sales and marketing strategy.

So, what did I do/learn/take away from all of this?

Here are just a few of the highlights…

1. From Dr. Aviva Romm I learned that a little bit of pressure can ignite creation, but continuous stress-overload is not only unhealthy, but it will also stifle the creative process. She reminded me to PAUSE, breathe, and take care of myself every damn day, even when I’m “too busy.”

Here’s a breathing exercise she shared:

Breathe in for the count of four and think “I am”

Breathe out for the count of four and think “at peace”

Do that a few times in the midst of a busy day to quickly de-stress and get centered.

2. From a workshop on synchronicity with Monica Kenton I learned how the flow of energy moves from body to spirit, and was yet again reminded that good self-care creates the space and invitation for emotional balance and a soul that can fully express itself. Interestingly my partner exercise here was the most valuable in that it brought to light that the clarity of purpose I seek is rooted in my center, not the heart or mind where I have anticipated it to arise.

3.  From Derek Halpern of Social Triggers I learned that the key to creating a successful online course is to address pain points, launch a mini-course first, get feedback, and improve the content before investing too much time in something that might not work out. On a practical level this inspired a simple yet potentially brilliant content model for a client I'm working with.

4. From Jonathan Fields I learned the most. I learned about how to be present and loving and generous in both work and life, how to focus on what matters most, dance with fear, and do it with flexibility and delight. Jonathan inspired me to dig deeper and open myself up to far greater possibilities than I had thought possible. And through creating this event he taught me the incredible power of connection, compassion, and collaboration.

This is just a fraction of the experience though. In addition to learning I also made some amazing new friends and was reminded that you should never ever underestimate or make judgments of others. I was surprised again and again by what I learned about the beautiful strangers I met, their talents, their dreams, their vulnerabilities. The glow from the unexpected brightness of their inner lights – something hidden within all of us yet rarely witnessed beneath the veneer of our composed external shells – is still warming my heart.

There is magic that happens when you bring together deeply loving and conscious people who just want to learn and grow and share love. All our hearts were cracked wide open and for a few short days our souls intertwined in laugher and tears and elevation.

I could say more, give more details, share the vision I came home with or the lovely things I made with my hands. I could share my thoughts on how powerfully such soulful entrepreneurs are changing our economy, the nature of work, and the world itself, but to be honest I'm still processing. It's all still sinking in, swirling around my energetic field, marinating in creative blissful juices until a future time when I will bare myself again. 

I'm already booking my spot for next year :)

Launching Wellspired

Wellspired.com is an inspiration and information haven where health-conscious working parents can find balance in the things that matter most: health, family, and career.

After an evolution years in the making and months in design and development, Wellspired has just been released into the world. Here's the backstory to my personal brand development...

It all began when I joined the staff team at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition. It was a dream come true that allowed me to be surrounded by wellness-loving people, and to experience the school's Health Coach Training Program for myself, graduating as a Holistic Health Coach in 2012. I created a blog called Living Body Wellness to share wellness tips and offer my services as a part time Health Coach. I worked with some amazing clients and grew both personally and professionally as an entrepreneur on the side while working full time at IIN and raising a family.

After a while, I fell in love with blogging and content management and began to formulate ideas for where to take this venture next. In 2014, I was ready for a more professional redesign. I was still using a basic Wordpress theme after all and wanted a more visually pleasing user experience,

so I did some research on modern website designs - specifically avoiding what other Health Coaches were doing - and used PowerPoint to design a brand new look myself (yeah really, I bet any actual designers reading this are chuckling right about now but hey it worked!), hired a developer to build it, and the most recent version of LivingBodyWellness.com came to life. It helped increase my blog traffic, acquire more private clients, and get all sorts of offers for promotion, freelance gigs, and other projects. 

I got loads of compliments on the site and it was great, however the nature of entrepreneurship (and life!) is never static. In 2015 I left my full time work at IIN in order to move my family from New York City to Western Massachusetts and had to do some real soul-searching about the future of my virtual baby while I began to pursue content management on a freelance basis.

While I loved working with private clients to help them incorporate healthy habits, something in my heart told me that this was not my life's true calling. I wanted to create a wellness brand focused on the reader, her challenges and aspirations, her entertainment and information; a rich resource that would bring to life many voices beyond my own. I also wanted to expand the scope of "wellness" to include other things that are equally important: family and career.

Health, family, career.

This is what matters most.

That's when I had my my EUREKA! moment. I'm a health-conscious working mom, that's what I know, that's what I want to write about, balancing my kids, my health, and my work. I want to inspire others in bringing greater ease to this delicate balancing act so many of us struggle with. I want to have articles, wellness guides, meditations, challenges, and even inspired merchandising, all with the goal of uplifting our collective mindset. Not all of that has been created at this point, but we're well on our way!

I also wanted the site itself to have multiple contributors and perspectives, with myself as a tribe leader but not the role model, because to be honest, I'm still figuring out this balancing act just like everyone else. And this is an approach that would allow me to enjoy some of the behind-the-business things I like to have fun with: content creation, social media strategy, marketing, writing, gathering and organizing.

so I invited some wonderful bloggers to contribute regularly, with more contributors planned, so that Wellspired and our readers benefit from a greater diversity and abundance of content.

I also wanted the users/readers/fans of the site to have a voice and to experience a personal sense of joy every time they visit our virtual space. That's how I got the idea for the Daily Thanks comment stream. I don't know about you but daily gratitude always makes me feel good so I figured let's give this a try and see if the community likes it!

Members can post what they're thankful for in the "Daily Thanks" section of the home page.

This feature presented the biggest functional challenge because in order to avoid spam, the site had to have a "membership" component, requiring members to log in in order to post, but I think we worked it out so that the flow is simple and easy to use. Plus it creates a great foundation for future exclusivity of offerings to members only.

Once the new site was ready, it was time for the fun part: 

Announcements and generating excitement!

I created some graphics (using personal photos and styling elements from the site for cohesion) to spread the word, and sent these to my immediate circle of friends and family so they can craft announcements in their own words, using their preferred media channels. This is a nice way to bring a personal touch to the communication strategy, so the news isn't just coming from me.

Since I knew I wanted to maintain my existing audience (and redirect LivingBodyWellness content to Wellspired), I had already begun hinting about the upcoming rebrand in my newsletters and social media months in advance. I showed snippets of the new site, mentioned it in comments, and otherwise just planted the seed to both generate interest and avoid confusion when launch day came around.

On the big day, I sent the personal email to friends/family, a newsletter announcement to my subscriber list, created posts on social media, and notified a few "influencers" I know in the hopes that they'll share it with their larger audiences as well.

And here's the cherry on top.

In order to create even more excitement and encourage people to not only subscribe to the newsletter but become "members", something that requires an extra step and calls for a bonus incentive, I created an exclusive guided meditation on gratitude (fitting, since I'm grateful they signed up, and since signing up allows them to post in the Daily Thanks stream) for the first 50 members only.

Creating meditations is something I've dabbled in before and wanted to do for a long time, plus it just so happens that my husband is a musician who knows how to set up a proper home studio recording. Making this an exclusive offering for the first 50 members only creates a sense of excitement, desire, and scarcity.

Just in case that wasn't enough to spread the word, I also created a paid but inexpensive Facebook ad campaign, targeting my audience of health-conscious moms.

I have overseen countless launch and announcement campaigns in the past, but this was my first 100% solo operation launching something that is mine, and it was a great learning experience. Next step, SEO and growth strategy, streamlining content creation, and incorporating graphics, meditations, and other fun content assets into the ongoing creation strategy beyond wellness articles. Wheeeeee!

Marketing in the Time of Internet

It used to be that marketing was a one-way street on a simple country road.

Businesses would take out ads on the radio, TV, or newspaper, showing mass audiences how awesome and fun their lives would be if only they had some product (or better yet, they'd just show the product itself held by a sexy woman, doctor, or rosy-cheecked child and call it a job well done). They could say whatever they thought would make you buy it, and it usually worked.

Research or oversight to ensure products did as promised was minimal, competition was scarce, and if you were dissatisfied with what you purchased there was really no way to provide feedback in a relevant way.

Crappy brands had it made.

Fast forward to present day and things are a bit more... complicated. We've gone from country road to information highway to a multi-dimensional, time-and-space-bending virtual reality since the internet reached critical mass in the first few years of this century.

Immense competition, quality standards, and social media have revolutionized how people interact with brands. Now there are websites to tell a story, there are analytics to show what's working and what isn't, there's e-commerce so you can get whatever you want, whenever you want it, and if you don't like it, you can not only return it but write a terrible review and damage that brand's reputation.

The power has shifted to the masses.

It is no longer adequate to simply describe the benefits of a product, show it being used, or even get fancy endorsements from celebrities or professionals in the field. If the product, message, or presentation sucks, most consumers will see right through the hype and sales will suffer. 

These days, marketers and brands must engage with potential customers, nurture them, cultivate a relationship, incorporate their feedback, and pull them towards something truly great rather than push them towards poorly-made junk.

With a dynamic like that you'd better believe the products and producers themselves have had to step it up. Few things are just things now. The best things offer a feeling of transformation, health and happiness, a better world, a more fulfilling life. They create an entire world around their products and make you want to be at the center of it all because it will actually make you a better person. 

The key is not simply creating something you (the creator) think is great and then investing  a whole lot of money into stuffing it down the throats of consumers, but developing a customer-centric idea that fulfills a need, putting it out there to test the waters, launching and learning, and continually improving based on real-time feedback from the actual people who use it.

Google does it, so does Apple, Facebook, PayPal, even Subway, Starbucks, and McDonald's. Countless more are getting on the bandwagon and realizing that the younger generation stepping into financial power has a new set of standards and expectations.

The ironic thing is that while most consumers feel uneasy knowing that companies are constantly storing our personal information with every keystroke so they can sell us things, we've also internalized these practices to the effect of being annoyed when we are promoted something clearly in conflict with our preferences.

I mean, if you're a health-conscious foodie and see an ad for KFC on Facebook you're more likely to feel violated, gross, and annoyed at Facebook for subjecting you to such an obvious lack of insight than if you were to see an ad for a yoga retreat or a new chia-coconut kombucha drink. Am I right?

Change may be slow for companies that have been around for a long time and have a hard time making shifts in their business model, but new companies are taking off and succeeding quickly by using these practices, just look at Kickstarter, Twitter, Toms, and all the countless artisinal food labels having breakout sales because they're smart about using Instagram!

Furthermore, there is greater specialization. Gone are the days when companies made "great clothes" or "sturdy backpacks" now if you're looking for black sweaty yoga leggings with butterfly patterns there's a business for that, if you're into patent leather tech accessories you can find it on Etsy, if you want Fair Trade raw dark chocolate with superfoods there's a biz for that too. It would have been unheard of to cater to such a niche market years ago but now the internet has united consumers and businesses who sell one-specialized-thing-but-it's-the-best-that-thing out there have flourished. 

Since the dawn of the internet, both marketing practices and the customers themselves have changed and we're not going back. Personally, I like it. It is a more authentic, fun, creative, and effective way to sell things that people genuinely want or need.

Goodbye commerce as money for goods, hello commerce as goods with value!

See you soon

Every now and then my husband and I are blessed with a reprieve from our parenting duties when my in-laws come along to whisk the children off to New Hampshire for a few days. It gives everyone a welcome change of scenery and allows us to catch up on fun things like laundry, paperwork, and of course, blogging. 

It's a brief glimpse into parallel lives where we don't have children.

I'm not going to lie, the first day or two are pure bliss. 

We eat meals without repeatedly telling other small humans to eat theirs. We go to bed late and wake up late because there's no one to wake us up at the crack of dawn. We go places unencumbered by strollers and diaper bags and snacks and toys. 

It's liberating!

We comment on how great it is, how free we feel, how childless people have it made. We revel in the experience like unsupervised children ourselves, exuberant at the mischief we'll get into without all the usual rules.

I've heard of parents who experience no separation beyond the daily school/work schedule until the age of whatever, who would scoff at the idea of even wanting time and space apart from their precious little ones, but for us it is essential for mental health. It creates room to breathe, catch up, re-energize, and reconnect with each other. 

There's no doubt that we love our little dudes with every measure of heart and soul, but it takes a lot of energy to entertain, feed, comfort, clean, and educate them (not to mention take care of other household and personal needs as well). We need to have our batteries CHARGED in order to do those things well, it's good for everyone. 

Just like sleep is essential for focus and energy during waking hours, and silent meditation fuels creativity and ideas, time apart helps transform us from zombie parents who get easily irritated by spills, nags, or busy schedules to fully present and joyful parents who are alert enough to appreciate these fleeting moments of childhood and are able to respond to tense situations from a grounded place of peace. 

That being said, a few days after the initial euphoria has worn off, the shift comes. The silence that was so welcome at first begins to feel empty. The serenity, freedom, and time begin to drag and feel dull. Life becomes less colorful without them in it. I have an ache deep down in my soul that can only be soothed with Elliot's exuberance and Rhoan's sweet embrace.

I realize that while I might be more productive, successful, or adventurous in this childless parallel world, I would be incomplete and far more lonely. 

I miss the chaos, the screams I ask to quiet, the messes I clean again and again. I long to return from my kidcation and thank the universe that I have such a family to greet me back in the real world. 

See you soon kids.