Beginning is Always the Hardest Part…

Hello, I’m grateful you’re here.

Beginning is always the hardest part. To be honest with you, even beginning this post, this letter to you, took me longer than I care to admit.  How would I explain how I got here, why I created this website for you – for us – and why after years of talking all things business online, it has become so important for me to share a new message, new lessons and a new side of myself via this new website.  After many attempts to write a flashy “I’ve launched” post, I decided to just stop trying to make it sounds sexy or simple, and tell the story from where it truly starts, so let’s begin…

A few years ago I began to feel more and more unsettled while at the same time stuck.  I felt like I had a full life yet I was missing something.

On some days it was barely noticeable  and on others it was so prevalent that I felt frustrated and distracted, and then I felt guilty for feeling frustrated and distracted.  I wondered why I felt like this even though I had everything I needed.  I had finally met the elusive “best man ever” in New York City and was in love. I’d started two companies by the time I was thirty and spent my days as a partner at a company I co-founded doing incredibly fulfilling work educating and empowering people around the word to run their own businesses.  I had wonderful and supportive friends and family.  Yet I felt that something was missing, and I knew that I could be happier.

That feeling from within began as a whisper and as I ignored it the whisper of those truths and feelings began getting louder and louder, until one day, instead of ignoring it, I listened to it.  And I decided right then and there to change.  Sometimes I call that the day that I began my happiness quest.  Sometimes I call it my internal revolution.  The name doesn’t matter really, what mattered was that something finally shifted in me and I realized i wanted more.  Not more clients or companies, not more “stuff”.  I wanted more feelings of joy and happiness.  More peace.  More comfort in my ability to hang out in my “Discomfort Zone”. More of a life that I loved on a professional and personal level.  I wanted to feel good – no, I wanted to feel amazing – as much as possible.  I wanted more of a feeling that I “got” my true self, and that I also loved and honored that self.

When the “what I wanted more of” finally dawned on me, I decided to go out and figure out how to get it.  Once you realize you want to not only do what you love but feel amazingly happy while doing it you don’t want to waste one more minute not making that happen.  You want to dive in head first challenging yourself to make that a priority.  And so I did.  Experiments, adventures, big shifts, small changes and hijinks ensued, but those are other stories for other days…

As I connected the dots in my own life I began sharing what I was learning, and how I was changing and living as much a I could:  Squeezing my new message into lectures on entrepreneurship, adding them into the beginning of courses I was teaching about business at Tin Shingle, even making them a bigger and bigger part of the private coaching I was doing.  Before long I knew these lessons needed their own home, and the seed of an idea for this website was born.

Now let’s get real for a moment…

The idea for this website took root over two years ago, so why are we only arriving here right now? While I was on my “mission” if you will, life introduced some unwelcome surprises.  We lost my husband’s parents suddenly and tragically just months after getting married.  My mother faced down and beat the Big C.  What powerful reminders they became that life really isn’t a dress rehearsal.

Live presently, live fully, live joyfully, and be yourself while doing it, it won’t be hardly as much fun if you’re spending time trying to be anything else. After serving as an active participant and an observer in those life changing events I was left with a reminder that pulsed through me daily should I have wanted to take an easier way out:  “Keep doing what you love now.  Keep sharing, and let this make you want an authentic, amazing life for than ever.”  And it did.

What are we going to talk about on this site?

• I’m sure you’re already figured out a big part of it will be rooted in living a life you love, doing what you love for a living (whether for yourself or for someone else) and (it’s a big and) being happy while doing it. That’s my mission for myself, and my message and lesson to you on this site.

•  We’ll dig deep into the themes that I consider the fundamentals to a truly awesome life: Passion, Purpose, Peace and Abundance, and we’ll talk all about the different “vehicles” you can use to get you to them.

• I’ll share interviews with people doing what they love and online courses that will help you become one of those people.

• You’ll have access to courses, strategies and content that cover the big “how’s” Some of these include: How can I make enough money to enjoy my life while doing what I love?  How can I turn my passion into a viable business? How can I make my current day job something that brings me joy – or find one that does?  How can I share my message and purpose with the world?  How can I start to feel truly joyful again at work and at home?

• You’ll learn to become a better advocate for yourself and your needs, dreams and desires  and become better listener to your own self so that you’re always sure of what those things are, and whether or not they’re being met.

• Pop over regularly for actionable ideas you can use to start changing your life and heavy doses of motivation because trust me, I know this isn’t always easy.

• I’m going to deliver some tough love, but this site will also be home to a daily “pep assembly for your spirit”, because true change takes a little bit of them both.

• I’ll also be sharing authentic anecdotes from my own life as I continue to try to fill it with things that bring me joy, calm me down, keep me focused and help me do more of what I’m meant to do with my life.  I hope you’ll share the same!

You are the only thing that can truly stop yourself from living a life you love and you’re also the only one that holds the key to it, that can allow it to unfold.  Beginning is always the hardest part, but it’s also the moment you can someday look back on and realize “that was the day when my life as I know it really began to take shape”.

Let’s begin…