Dreams & Goals

Do you have a vision for your blogging or writing career?

What's your vision

Disclosure: This post is brought to you by True North Business Development, but all opinions are my own.

For several months I’ve been wrestling over many questions regarding the future of See Jane Write and my future as a writer and blogger.

Should I make See Jane Write a national organization?

What should I do with my personal brand Writeous Babe? 

Can I grow my writing career and build a business? 

Should I relaunch my magazine? 

How can I and how should I make See Jane Write bigger and better? 

Every night before bed I’d make up my mind about what’s next for me and See Jane Write and every morning I’d change my mind after getting inspired with a new idea.

I asked everybody from my husband and my lawyer to almost complete strangers what I should do. I asked my intern and my closest friends. I asked business coaches and brand strategists. I asked God.

My hope was that everyone would suggest I do the same thing. But, of course, everyone gave different, often conflicting advice. Then one day my intern said to me, “At the end of the day only you can make the decision.” Out of the mouths of babes…

She was right. So then I was faced with a new question: Why on earth couldn’t I make a decision?!

Enter Lois Weinblatt of True North Business Development.

LoisHeadshot2
Lois Weinblatt of True North Business Development

Lois specializes in helping entrepreneurs and organizations define a clear vision for their business and their lives. Last month I attended one of Lois’ workshop and had an epiphany: I HAVE NO VISION FOR SEE JANE WRITE!

I sure thought I did. But what I really had was a mission and that’s not the same thing. Lois explained the difference: A mission is aspirational. It’s why you do what you do but it’s work that will never be done. My mission is to empower women and girls through the written word. That’s why I write, that’s why I encourage other women to write, and that’s why I started See Jane Write. But this is work that will never be over. I will never wake up one day and declare that all women and girls have been sufficiently empowered!

A vision, on the other hand, is “a definition of success at a specific point in the future,” Lois explained. Where do you want to go? When do you want to get there? What does it look like?

“The question isn’t which road do you take, it’s where are you going,” Lois said.

I realized I’d been asking all these people for directions and had no idea where I was trying to go!

Lois explained that once you’ve defined your vision, decision making is easy. If something doesn’t get you closer to your vision, you don’t do it. Plain and simple. And I know this. I preach this to my clients who struggle with time management. But what I didn’t know was that I didn’t have a vision in the first place.

Do you have a vision for your business, blog, or writing career? Do you have a clear definition of success at a specific point in the future? Do you know where do you want to go, when you want to get there and what it will look like when you arrive?

Lois is a sponsor for this year’s Bloganista Mini-Con presented by Laura Vincent Printing & Design and will be at the event to chat with you about the importance of having a vision and the process of defining one for yourself. But, I’ll be honest with you. I would have written about her and this experience even if she weren’t a sponsor. Lois’ workshop made me a true believer in the power of knowing your “True North.” Two weeks after that workshop I hired her to help me with See Jane Write. With Lois’ help I am going to define a clear vision for See Jane Write and for my writing career and I am confident that after that I will be unstoppable!

What’s your vision for your blogging or writing career?

Introducing the See Jane Write Mastermind

if you weren't afraid

What would you do if you weren’t afraid?

Would you quit your day job?

Would you finally start a blog or use the blog you have to build a business?

Would you write a pitch letter to your favorite magazine or a query letter to the agent you dream of representing you?

Would you write and publish that book you’ve been carrying in your heart for years?

Or have you already written and self-published a book, but you haven’t had the courage to market your work the way you know that you should?

What would you do if you weren’t afraid?

I have another question for you: What could be your game changer? 

Consider all your goals, dreams, and aspirations. Now pick one. What goal – that you could accomplish in 6 months – would have the greatest impact on your personal and professional life?

That’s a game changer goal and that’s the goal I want to help you reach.

Introducing the See Jane Write Mastermind, a 6-month personalized coaching program designed to help you achieve your game changer goal.

A mastermind group is a group that offers accountability, support and a safe space for brainstorming to help you achieve your goals.  But the See Jane Write Mastermind program offers this and so much more.

The See Jane Write Mastermind program includes the following:

  • You‘ll get 6 monthly one-on-one consultations, which means we’ll work together to develop a personalized plan to help you achieve your game changer goal and I’ll guide you through each step of that plan.
  • You’ll get 6 monthly live group coaching sessions with the other members of the See Jane Write Mastermind, which means you’ll have the support of a community of like-minded women who will also provide insight and inspiration along this journey.
  • You’ll get access to a private Facebook group to communicate and collaborate with me and the other See Jane Write Mastermind members as often as you’d like.
  • You’ll get free admission to See Jane Write events (excluding Blogging Boot Camps) that take place between June 1, 2015 and November 30, 2015 – including our annual blogging conference, The Bloganista Mini-Con. These events will give you access to even more resources and networking opportunities.
  • You’ll get a free one-year membership to See Jane Write, which means you’ll be able to register early for events with limited seating, invitations to private members-only events, the opportunity to be featured as a See Jane Write Member of the Month, and the chance to be assigned an accountability partner for even more support.
  • You’ll also get additional online training, worksheets, and personalized weekly assignments to help you achieve your game changer goal.

And in December we’re going to party! We’ll have a special event to celebrate what you accomplish during our six months of working together and have a goal setting workshop to help you make plans for 2016.

The ideal mastermind group consists of only 8 to 10 people, so less than a dozen spots are available and I can’t guarantee I will offer this opportunity again.

The See Jane Write Mastermind program will begin June 1, 2015. Registration will close May 31, 2015 at 11:59 p.m. Sign up by May 15 and I will also critique up to five writing samples for you during our time together.

Are you interested? Then, let’s chat! I’m offering a complimentary 15-minute strategy session for anyone interested in this program. This session should help you determine if this program is right for you. During this session we’ll decide what your game changer goal should be.  We’ll also discuss the monetary investment for the program.

Click here to schedule your free strategy session today.

How to Move a Mountain

move a mountain

Anyone who knows me well knows I love TED Talks. I show TED Talks to my students at the Alabama School of Fine Arts. When I’m in a long line at the pharmacy I open up the TED app on my phone to see what new talks have been posted online. And last year when I had the opportunity to attend TEDxBirmingham 2014 I was as giddy as a kid on Christmas Day. I literally skipped from the car to the front door of the Alys Stephens Center where the event was held. It would be my first time attending a live TED event. The theme was “Rediscover the Magic “and that I did. I left inspired with a new love for my city, a renewed determination to make it better, and an even greater passion for TED.

Things were different this year. TEDxBirmingham 2015 was just as fantastic, perhaps even better. But this year I felt the giddy girl of last year’s event being asked to grow up. She was being asked to move a mountain.

“Move Mountains” — that was this year’s theme and it was quite apropos. The topics broached this year were as heavy as looming rust-stained rock of iron ore that we in Birmingham call Red Mountain. Human trafficking, our country’s broken health care system, and environmental degradation are just a few of the issues this year’s 12 speakers forced us to face.

When Sunny Slaughter’s 7-year-old daughter was raped years ago by her own husband, Slaughter was filled with a rage that no one would have blamed her for acting on. But she used that fire to fuel the work she does today working as an activist working to end human trafficking. Slaughter hit us with the statistics of the the number of girls sold not just in other countries, but also in America and even Alabama.

In closing, she said, “I’m not trying to shock you. I’m trying to scare the hell out of you.”

But how are we to move a mountain when the sight of it shakes us to our core?

The speakers covered that, too.

“Fear is great soil for growth,” Tracey Abbott said during her talk. “The purpose of life is not to be comfortable but to grow.”And despite her fear, Abbott recently quit her corporate job to found Culture Relay, a social enterprise dedicated to empowering high school girls through cross-cultural exchanges.

So feel the fear and face that mountain anyway. And here’s how you can move it:

Shift the way you see that mountain. Be willing to look at everything in a new way. You make think that our country’s obsession with sports will lead to its demise. But Andy Billings, professor of sports media at the University of Alabama, is using sports to delve into issues of race, gender, and more. Yes, it’s true that very few Olympic swimmers are black, but why is that? Are black people just not good at swimming or could it be that blacks once had little to no access to public swimming pools and thus black parents were hesitant to encourage their children to learn to swim knowing they couldn’t help them do so? And what kind of important conversations about gender can we have simply by looking at how women are portrayed on the covers of Sports Illustrated magazine?

Be willing to be radical. When Venkata Macha was only a sophomore in high school he asked a radical question: “Why isn’t there a urine test to help detect cancer?” Then he did something even more outrageous — he emailed renowned researchers all over the country asking them the same question. The result: he spent the summer before his junior year working in a lab of a Harvard University professor doing research to develop a bioelectronic chip for immediate, non-evasive cancer detection. “Radical approaches could have extraordinary results,” Vekata said.

Your radical idea may be to tunnel through your mountain. If so, just dig and keep digging. While chipping your way through you will be discouraged. But so many speakers urged attendees to see failure only as a detour, not a dead end.

Or maybe you’ll decide that moving the mountain isn’t the best way to get to the other side.

“Sometimes it’s more efficient to climb the mountain than to move it,” civil rights activist and advertising executive Shelley Stewart said during his talk.

Strap on your boots and let’s do this.

Kent Stewart is climbing mountains literally. He is on a quest to hike the Seven Summits — the highest peaks on each of the world’s continents. He only has one, Mount Everest, left to summit.

“What’s your Everest?” he asked the crowd.

To become the first woman to qualify for the finals of American Ninja Warrior Kacy Catanzaro didn’t have to climb an actual mountain, but she did have to scale a 14-foot warped wall and she had to ignore all the voices that said she couldn’t do it.

Remember that moving this mountain isn’t all about you. Kent Stewart can’t climb Mt. Everest without a team of people supporting him. You need a team to climb your mountain, too.

And ask yourself why you want to get to the other side of your mountain in the first place. Shelley Stewart urged us to be mindful of our reasons, relationships, and reputation.

“What’s the reason you really want to overcome this obstacle?” he asked. “If your motive is right your goal is more likely to be accomplished. Relationships are important, he said, because “you can’t effect change by yourself.”

And you shouldn’t do it simply for yourself.

You have the power to change someone’s life simply by clearing the mountain in your path — whether you climb it, tunnel through it, or blast it to bits, you will change the life of another person.

Cross-posted at WriteousBabe.com

How to Write and Have a Life

TOA

Yesterday morning I once again had the honor of being featured on ABC33/40’s Talk of Alabama. I was on last month discussing how I managed to exercise every day for 365 days. This time I had the chance to promote my e-course How to Write and Have a Life. (For a limited time you can view my segment here.)

People constantly ask me “How do you do it all?” because I juggle managing See Jane Write with teaching full time, freelancing part time, blogging, exercising daily, being active in my community and church, and spending time with my husband, family, and friends. And so I developed this e-course to show people exactly how I get stuff done.

TOA tips

Yesterday I offered four time management tips to Talk of Alabama viewers:

Multitasking is ruining your life.  Many people believe that multi-tasking will help them get more done and that’s actually not true. You can get more done and in a shorter period of time if you simply focus on one task at a time. Whether I’m grading papers, writing a blog post or cleaning my apartment, I can do those things in half the time if I focus on doing just one thing. And in my e-course I share a technique that I use to help with focus.

The magic is not in your planner but in the planning.  People always ask me, “What kind of planner do you use?” And I always tell them “The magic is not in your planner but in the planning.” To get more done you must be intentional about how you spend your time. In my e-course I show you have to make to-do lists that will help you set priorities and even plan out each hour of your day when you are especially busy.

Remember that “No” is a complete sentence.  Even though I do a lot, I believe in taking a day off. Each week I set aside a day when I do no work and I just relax or spend time with family and friends. If you’re consistently unable to take that day off, then you’re doing too much. In my e-course I write about the importance of realizing that “No” is a complete sentence. And when trying to determine when to say “No” it’s about vision and values. If something doesn’t move you closer to your vision for your life and doesn’t align with your values, ditch it! In the e-course I walk you through exercises to help you determine your vision and values.

Stop sleeping through your life.  I am a believer in the old saying that the early bird gets the worm. Getting up early is a great way to get more done, especially if you are a parent. If you wake up before your family does, you can have time to yourself to work on that book you always wanted to write or update that blog you’ve abandoned.

But to be honest with you, my #1 secret to getting stuff done isn’t something I can teach — it’s simply gumption.

I’m not feeling well right now and didn’t get much rest the night before my segment. Snow was in the forecast for yesterday (which as you know for Alabama is a HUGE FREAKING deal) and thus there was a chance my segment would be canceled. A part of me wished that it had been because I was so exhausted that morning. But then I stopped being a big baby and stopped feeling sorry for myself. And sometimes this is exactly what we need to do to make the time to pursue our dreams. Sometimes you just have to put on your big girl panties and do the work!

Stop making excuses and just do what needs to be done.

Click here to enroll in How to Write and Have a Life today!

 

Cross-posted at WriteousBabe.com.

A Rising Tide Lifts All Boats

bbj ceremony

A rising tide lifts all boats.

On Thursday evening the Birmingham Business Journal celebrated its 2015 class of Top 40 Under 40 with an awards ceremony at Iron City. I was among those honored, chosen for the work I do through See Jane Write. The evening was nothing less than fantastic.  I walked in the door and was greeted by several people I’d never met before who wanted me to know how much they loved my picture — the one that ran with my article in the Birmingham Business Journal, the one I was once insecure about because I’d opted to wear a trendy Olivia Pope-inspired outfit instead of a traditional black or navy business suit. “Your picture was hands down the best,” one fellow honoree said to me. This was a great lesson in daring to be different and daring to be myself.

A rising tide lifts all boats.

A table with my name on it and people stopping and asking to take my picture all made the night feel surreal and unreal. I tried to soak it all in. I tried to figure out what I would write in my blog post about the night, but I just kept hearing the same thing in my head over and over:

A rising tide lifts all boats.

As each honoree received his or her reward, a video recorded the day of our photo shoot was played for the crowd. I’ll be honest — we were all dreading this moment. Seeing yourself on camera is bad enough. Seeing yourself on a larger-than-life screen while hundreds of other people look on is much, much worse. In the video we were each asked what helped our career take flight. Again, I dared to be different. My answer wasn’t about a partnership or promotion. Instead I spoke about getting over my impostor syndrome and self-doubt. I talked about the importance of believing you deserve success and I declared that if I want people to take me seriously as a businesswoman I must do so first.

As the ceremony continued several women made their way over to my table to thank me for what I said in my video, to thank me for saying something they believed all women needed to hear.

A rising tide lifts all boats.

Ironically, even though Thursday’s ceremony was in part a celebration of me, it was also a reminder that my successes aren’t about me. In fact, that’s why I call my organization See Jane Write, not See Javacia Write. It’s not about me. It’s about empowering all Janes; it’s about empowering all women writers, bloggers, and entrepreneurs.

In my video and article for the Birmingham Business Journal I talk about the importance of women taking themselves seriously and this week I plan to help the women of See Jane Write do just that. Each day this week I’ll be posting inspiration and information to help you take your career to the next level.

Perhaps you’re not sure where to start. If that’s the case, then let’s chat. I’m currently accepting appointments for one-on-one consultations for March. During these consultations you can ask me whatever you need to about freelance writing and publishing, blogging, personal branding and marketing, building a community organization and more. Get more details here. There’s also one additional spot available in next month’s Blogging Boot Camp, which has been set for March 15.

Remember, I’ll be posting here every day this week giving you something big or small to help your career take flight, too. Or maybe consider this information the moon pulling the waters of your work toward the sky. But don’t forget: A rising tide lifts all boats.