Today is the last day of the Art Everyday Month challenge! What an awesome month of creativity, exploration and play. I also love the community and new connections this challenge fosters!
During the final two days of AEDM 2007, I invented my Right-Brain Business Plan, so it was only befitting that I use the last day of AEDM 2008 to start my new Right-Brain Business Plan for next year!
Part of what I envision is making a broader impact on the creative entrepreneur community and women in business. While I’m putting myself out there, I want to honor my values of fun/play, authenticity/trusting myself, peace/harmony, and beauty/creativity/expression.
One of my big accomplishments this year was hiring a Virtual Assistant. I’ve really enjoyed the extra support so that I can focus on the more strategic and profit-oriented aspects of my business. In 2009, I want to continue that process and develop more streamlined systems so I can work smarter and expand my business in new and exciting ways.
Also, I’ve had a blast this year with creating The Right-Brain Business Plan e-Book and the Unfolding Your Life Vision Kit. Next year, my goal is to finish my first book and get started on the other two that have also been percolating! I also want to develop new innovative products and services to offer.
Plus, I want to continue increasing my media exposure. Would love to be back on The View From The Bay and to get on The Martha Stewart Show to demonstrate an Unfolding Your Life Vision collage book, along with other TV, print and online venues!!
Last year, when I set my financial goals, I didn’t realize this, but I focused just on the actual amount rather than also including what the money would actually get me. While I’ve come pretty darn close to my goal, I know I can dream bigger for next year and beyond! Since money is not what drives me in running my own business, I brought into my vision more aspects of the lifestyle I want to be living. I think that’s something that really came home for me when I participated in a money circle earlier this year.
I look forward to fleshing out the details of my plan like I did last year. That’s really where the rubber starts meeting the road and the vision can come to life! I also just ordered a book that just came out earlier this month called The Creative Entrepreneur: A DIY Visual Guidebook for Making Business Ideas Real by Lisa Sonora Beam. It looks right up my alley and I bet it’ll give me more ideas for detailing out my 2009 Right-Brain Business plan.
All of this creating and art visioning during AEDM has inspired me to revisit the new letter from the future I started writing a few weeks ago. That will give me additional insights into my plan and I’m sure I’ll now have more things to add to my letter!
The end of the year is a great time to start thinking about what you want the next year to be like, so I hope you’ll do some visioning and planning, too! Please let me know, I’d love to see!!
Most of today was spent completing my “year in review” project on my exploding box. It ended up taking a lot longer than I anticipated, but it was great to spend time reflecting on all the exciting events and accomplishments that have transpired so far in 2008.
My moo cards were the perfect size to decorate the pages.
I even made a miniature brochure that unfolds just like the real one!
Wow, 2008 has really been an amazing year! So many of the things that I had envisioned in my Right-Brain Business Plan last year have manifested. I look forward to finishing up my year in review next month and to envisioning more for 2009!
This morning I had a flash of an idea for how to decorate my exploding box. I had planned to do a “year in review” piece and then realized the 12 squares of the box are the perfect format for documenting this past year! Since I was gone most of the day in Sacramento for a baby shower and visiting friends, I just spent part of this evening planning out the different pages. I have post-it note placeholders for what I want to include and I started to print out some images. I look forward to diving into this project in more detail!
I rarely cook, but when I do, I enjoy going gourmet. For our family Thanksgiving feast, I was in charge of appetizers. So my art for today was my delicious sweet potato galettes with turkey bacon, sage and rosemary with a dollop of sour cream. Yum!!
Before I go to bed, I’m going to finish my gratitude that I started this moring and will place it in my blessings box. Ahhh, I’m full of good food and lots of gratitude!
No, I don’t have a bun in the oven! Nor is there one planned for anytime soon. However, when I was pulling magazine clippings for my values collage cards earlier this month, I happened to come across several Asian-American babies, kids and moms (and a dad!). I figured I’d grab them while I could since it’s rare to see faces like me in the mainstream media (although it’s getting better).
I’m still not 100% sure I’m ready to take the parenthood leap (and who ever is?!) I love my quiet mornings where I get to wake up without an alarm clock. I worry that being an HSP would make motherhood ultra-draining. Plus, Brian and I are used to living pretty independent and flexible lives (which include lots of sleep and a deep involvement in our work). Life is good. Sure, we’ve talked about having a family… in the future. When I look at this collage, I see a vision that’s fun, creative, loving, connected, healthy and joyful, so that makes the whole idea a little less scary. And it reminds me of the magic of childlike wonder.
Last week, I was in Montclair after my dentist appointment and I walked by this super cute storefront called The Tulip Grove. I’m going to a friend’s baby shower this weekend, so I figured I’d go in and get a gift. This is not just a baby shop, it’s also a community/education center complete with a classroom for workshops and support groups. I was talking to the store owner because I love to connect with local entrepreneurs and it turns out that I met her business partner last year at a Ladies Who Launch event. I remember her talking about this vision she had to create a destination spot for new moms. It was awesome to see how beautifully her vision came to life! And I love knowing that should the time come for me to need a resource like that, I know where to go!
Oh, and one other random thing about my collage… The strawberry is actually scratch n’ sniff! I just had to cut it out cuz it smelled so good. I used to have a scratch n’ sniff sticker collection when I was a kid, so it seemed appropriate for this piece. 
