Lifestyle

Body Image Issues Are Bad for Business

On September 8-10, 2019 I had the opportunity to attend Inspired Vacay, a retreat hosted by and for the members of the Female Entrepreneur Association. This year’s Inspired Vacay was held in Palm Springs and I headed to sunny California with a few set intentions: 1) I wanted to talk to FEA founder Carrie Green about See Jane Write and get her advice on how to grow my membership program. 2) I wanted to develop a vision and plan for my business for 2020 and the rest of 2019. 3) I wanted to make a genuine, long-lasting connection with at least one other attendee. 4) I wanted to get photographed in my new swimsuit.

Related Reading: How Inspired Vacay 2019 Turned Me Into the Dreamer I’d Always Claimed to Be

If you’re thinking that last item on my list has absolutely nothing to do with growing my business, think again.

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A Day in the Life of a Freelance Writer

Social media lied to you.

According to Instagram, the life of a freelance writer and full-time entrepreneur is an endless beach vacation.

But in reality, I could easily work seven days a week and pull 12-hour or even 16-hour shifts if I didn’t force myself to take breaks, take days off, and make time for exercise and fun with friends and family.

But the beauty of being a full-time freelancer and entrepreneur, the thing I love most about it, is that I have the freedom to design my day. If I want to take a day off on a Tuesday — I can. If I want to end my workday at noon, I will — as long as I’m on track to meeting all of my deadlines.

Here’s an honest look at a day in the life of a freelance writer.

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15 Confessions: Fearless Female Edition

I am deliberate and afraid of nothing.

Audre Lorde

This quote by Audre Lorde is one of my favorites, but honestly, it’s one to which I can’t completely relate.

Sure, I try to be deliberate in all I do. But I am afraid of plenty.

I try to pretend as if I’m not. My bio on Facebook is “Fearless, Feminist Freelancer” and all summer I’ve been toting around a pink notebook that boasts “Fearless Female” on the cover.

And as a woman of faith, I try to hold tight to verses like Proverbs 31:25, which reads, “She is clothed with strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come.”

But the days to come often keep me up at night.

So today I’m confessing my fears, not because I want you to say something that will ease them (you can’t), but because I want other women dealing with these fears to know they are not alone. And I want you to see how I feel the fear and do it all anyway so that you can, too.

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Currently

During the Fourth of July weekend, my husband and I went to the movies THREE TIMES. We saw the new Spider-Man movie, Midsommar, and The Last Black Man in San Francisco. We also watched the entire third season of Stranger Things.

By Sunday I felt guilty about all that screen time and was beating myself up for not using the weekend to do more reading and writing. But when I got a last-minute freelance assignment that Monday the piece I wrote for the assignment was an essay inspired by one of the movies I’d watched over the weekend. Thanks to the inspiration from that film the words flowed from my fingers effortlessly.

I remembered that this is exactly why I love when other writers share the things they’re currently into and why I occasionally do the same on this blog. Pop culture can be a cornucopia of creative inspiration.

So it’s time for another edition of Currently, a feature for which I share what I’m currently watching, reading, listening to, writing, feeling, planning, and loving.

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Why You Should Write a Love Letter to Your Body

I believe every woman should write a love letter to her body several times a year. One should be in January. You know, that time of year when we pinch and poke the heft on our hips or the bulge of our bellies. That time of year when we vow to try Whole30 or the Keto diet and to go to the gym every single day. It is at such a time as this that we need to remind our body that we will love her even if she looks exactly the same on December 31.

We should also write one just before summer, that time of year when we’re disappointed or perhaps even angry because we don’t have that “beach body” we’d planned to have by May.

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