Right-Brain Business Planning – Page 2

Secret #12: Planning to Achieve Your Goals

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The final chapter of The 12 Secrets of Highly Creative Women focuses on goal setting and action steps. After three months of exploring the creative process with Jamie Ridler’s Next Chapter book blogging group, it’s important to also have a plan for making it all real. Right now, my big goal is to have my book proposal completed by the end of May (which is now next month – yikes!). I’ve been working with my book coach for quite some time and I feel like I’m starting to make some significant progress. YAY!

I like to see my goals on one-sheet of paper and the anal part of me likes to check things off once I complete them! So, I created a Quarterly Goals Sheet template that I fill out and post on my bulletin board above my desk. It’s a great way for me to track how I’m doing against my vision. For some tasks, I will also fill out a more detailed Action Plan template so that I can get really clear on the specific steps, resources needed and (since I’m a pressure-prompted worker) timing.

When I’m overwhelmed with a really big project, I often times will just put up tasks on post-it notes and organize the plan from there. I love how visual and free-form this method is. Other times, I’ll just write a letter to myself from the future to inspire me to take the steps needed to make my goal manifest. For other creative planning ideas, check out my Wishstudio Blogzine Musepreneur column on some right-brain approaches to business planning.

I’ve enjoyed re-reading the 12 Secrets in community with other women. This process of exploring and sharing has helped to deepen my understanding and practices of the 12 secrets in new, exciting ways. I’ve absolutely loved meeting so many inspiring, creative women through the Next Chapter book blogging group! And I look forward to the next book selection which Jamie announced on today’s celebration call. If you missed it, you can listen to the call here.

Also, on the celebration call, Jamie announced the launch of “Your Creative Spark: Inspiring Interviews with 12 Highly Creative Bloggers” (I’m one of the interviewees!). I just downloaded my copy and am loving all the juicy creative goodness! Click here for more details on Your Creative Spark.

AEDM Day 30: Right-Brain Business Plan ’09 Part I

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!!

Podcast with Kimberly Wilson

Earlier this week my podcast with Hip Tranquil Chick Kimberly Wilson aired. She interviewed me about my Right-Brain Business Plan e-Book and about being a creative entrepreneur. What a treat to chat with her! I really admire how she’s created so many cool aspects to her business – from a yoga studio, to an eco-clothing line (the skirt pants are yummy!) to a foundation and more! She’s definitely an inspiration.

I bumped into Kimberly at Cafe Gratitude a couple months back and also took her Yoga and Creativity workshop, which was a blast!

I love connecting with fellow creative souls!

Be Your Own Boss Recap

Last Saturday was the annual Bay Area Ladies Who Launch Be Your Own Boss event. Imagine a full day of inspiring and informative speakers, a gorgeous, sunny space filled to the brim with 350 vibrant, creative women and a buzz of entrepreneurial energy. It took me several days to recuperate from all the excitement (hence not getting this post up until a week later!).

Kate and I shared a table to showcase our work (her design portfolio, my coaching business and the products she designed for me – The Right-Brain Business Plan e-book and my new Unfolding Your Life Vision kit). Thanks to lady launcher photographer Monica Michelle for the beautiful photo of us above!

Had lots of late nights getting ready! Above is a peek at the assembly line I had going for my new Unfolding Your Life Vision kit. (BTW, kits will be available for sale online soon!).

We were amazed at how elegantly our table came together. It helps that we have similar tastes!

Our lovely friend Hannah lent us a hand. How awesome to have extra support that day! Hannah and Kate incubated with me back in March. It’s fun when friendships blossom out of the incubator in addition to all the other launching goodness!

Some highlights from the day were seeing so many familiar smiling faces, meeting many new launching ladies and getting such great response to my kits! I enjoyed the panel about social media which basically reinforced my facebook and twitter habit. The Real Good Project fed us a delicious, organic gourmet lunch. My salmon salad sandwich was out of this world! Oh, and my 10-minute chair massage was heaven-sent after being on my feet all day.

What I appreciated most at the event was experiencing how jazzed everyone gets about being their own boss. How entrepreneurial women thrive on connections, community and creativity. How together we are changing the way business is done.

Kate, Hannah and I topped off the night with a celebratory dinner at A Cote in Rockridge. We were exhausted, famished and delirious from the record heat but that meal was incredible! Great food and great company. Cheers to being your own boss!

July Musepreneur Column on Wishstudio

This month’s Musepreneur column is about the Right-Brain Business Plan. Head over to the wishstudio blogzine to check it out. While you’re there, get inspired by the other creative bloggers sharing their insights and musings. It’s a wonderful community!

eWomen Network Conference 2008

I’m in Dallas this weekend for the annual eWomen Network Conference. It’s been an amazing past few days meeting so many talented, smart and savvy women (there are about 3,000 women entrepreneurs here at the Hyatt Regency!)

One of my favorite things was getting to spend lots of quality one-on-one time with publishing experts and authors as part of the eWomen Publishing Network. I got fantastic “femtoring” (as eWomen Network founder Sandra Yancey likes to say) from Jan King, my book coach and founder of the eWomen Network Publishing Network, Debbie Mzarek, a fabulous woman I met a last year’s conference and author of “The Field Guide to Sales,” Jennifer Madson, a fellow lady launcher and author of “A Financial Minute,” Gail Richards, a fellow creative spirit and head of Author Smart, AND (OMG!!!!) the brilliant and wonderfully down-to-earth Tama Kieves author of a super-inspiring and best-selling book, “This Time I Dance.” I read it a couple of years ago right around the time I quit my corporate job and it was just what I needed to hear then. Anyway, I shared my Right-Brain Business Plan, dream box and Unfolding Your Life Vision collage books with her and she was so thrilled!

I even asked Tama to give a video testimonial for me, which she so graciously did as you can see below. All I can say is WOW!!!!!!!!!

And if all that wasn’t enough, while I was in the Publishing Pavilion, I met this really sharp woman April from Georgia. We hit it off and she invited me to dinner with her friends from the Savannah eWomen chapter. So I got to know Deborah, Melissa, Nanci and Judy, too! What a positive and empowered group of women.

I can’t wait to continue connecting with them after the conference. There are so many other cool people I’ve met here, and I’m sure I’ll meet more tomorrow before I head home.

The morning always starts off with some surprise entertainment. So today we saw jugglers John and Owen of The Passing Zone. These two funny guys pulled off crazy stunts including juggling machetes while balancing on a beam and standing on top of each other.

And then they juggled sickles while a brave audience member balanced spinning plates and a ball! (I’m glad I wasn’t in her shoes!).

And finally, a really inspiring part of the program was hearing Sandra talk about The GLOW Project, which includes a full-length movie and a magazine to showcase uplifting success stories of women. They had a panel of a few of the women featured in the movie and it was extremely touching to hear about their journeys and how they keep their inner glow burning.

Whew… It’s been a very, very full day and I have lots of great ideas to absorb! I’m always amazed at the power of networking with so many incredible women.

The Power of Creative Cohorts

My friend and fellow Lady Launcher, Cami Walker, was visiting from L.A. this weekend and recently asked me to lead a Right-Brain Business Plan workshop so she could make one for her new creative venture. We gathered seven other participants for a fun afternoon of visioning and planning. I wrote a bit about the workshop here.

I originally planned to launch this workshop in the fall. What I love, though, about having creative cohorts is that they are there to help spur things along! If I were just plodding along by myself, I would’ve sat on this idea for a few more months. I might have worked on the concept here and there and eventually set a date later this year.

But with a simple nudge and within just a few weeks, I’ve gained tons of momentum. By putting myself out there (perhaps earlier that I had originally planned), I now have new insights on how to improve the workshop and also confirmation of some other ideas I was tossing around. This weekend was a great reminder that creating is an iterative process. A process that starts with putting something out there! It sure helps to have a friendly catalyst nearby who can help propel you forward.

Right-Brain Business Plan e-Book Now Available!

I’m thrilled to announce the launch of my new Right-Brain Business Plan e-Book and guided visualization! This is one of my creative projects that has been in the works for a bit, so it feels great to get it out here (you can bet some beads went into the bowl!). I hope you’ll be inspired to create your own Right-Brain Business Plan after listening to the meditation and reading the book.

One of my cool take-aways from this project is the power of collaboration. I partnered with my friend and talented designer, illustrator and artist, Kate Prentiss, to develop this product. Instead of going it alone and feeling stuck or frustrated, I had a creative cohort to bounce ideas off of, to help keep me accountable, and, best of all, to have fun with. Our collaboration made the process that much more fulfilling and exciting and it helped to move things along a lot faster than if I had worked in isolation.

What creative partnerships do you lean into in your work? What have you been able to co-create together? I’d love to hear!

And, here’s a bit more detail about what’s included in the Right-Brain Business Plan e-Book:

9-page illustrated, colored and hand-written e-book
15-minute guided visualization to get you in touch with the big vision of your business
a link to a simple, “right-brain” template for getting started on the “left-brain” numbers

Price: $19.95

Buy yours today!

P.S. – I’m off to Toronto for the weekend to help facilitate a circle at QUEST! I look forward to sharing my experience with you!

Musepreneur on Wishstudio

The fabulous Mindy has created the deliciously delightful and inspiring wishstudio blogzine. I’m thrilled to be a part of the community as a regular contributor with my monthly Musepreneur column. In it I’ll be exploring the heart and soul of business and sharing right-brain ideas, tips and resources for creative entrepreneurs. Check out my introductory article and find out if you’re a musepreneur! I’d also love to hear what you’d be interested in seeing or learning about, so please let me know.

Come join your creative cohorts! In addition to our talented hostess Mindy, there are so many amazing women on the wishstudio blogzine including my friend Jamie of Starshyne Productions (who I get to meet in person later on this week in Toronto!!) and Kimberly Wilson of Hip Tranquil Chick.

Happy wishing!!

More Giving!

I’ve been so behind with posting about my 29-day giving challenge. There’s been lots of stuff going on – mostly good and some bad/frustrating. I noticed that after getting in my car accident on lucky number Day 13 (see below), I was feeling a little stuck with the giving. I think that I’m in a better place now and I believe being committed to keep on giving even in the smallest of ways that has helped me move on.

Here’s a recap of the past week:

Day 13: Gave emotional support to a woman I got in a fender bender with in the city. I got rear ended and she was sandwiched between me and the third car that hit her. No one was injured, so that was good. Her car was totaled, though, and she was very distraught. We’ve exchanged a few e-mails since then and she was very grateful for the concern and help I provided her. We’ve since found out the the driver who caused the accident (and the car’s owner are both not insured, so it’s been a bit frustrating dealing with the extra hassle). I’ve had to also practice not going into blame mode and instead to try to forgive and show compassion. This “crash course” in giving has definitely been one of the more powerful gives so far!
Day 14: Gave resources/book recommendations to a wedding photographer friend of Brian’s who just moved to the area.
Day 15: A client from the city came over for an in-person Right-Brain Business Plan session and since she doesn’t own a car, I picked her up and took her back to the BART station.
Day 16: Brian’s neck was bothering him so I heated up my neck wrap and lent it to him.
Day 17: Walked with Sonja, Sandy and the crew of dogs. She thanked me for the cookies from last week and said she very much enjoyed them.
Day 18: Invited my friend Anne to join me as a guest at our Oakland Ladies Who Launch member meeting and drove her to and from.
Day 19: Called my cousin Karen to wish her happy birthday, had a wonderful conversation with my friend Katie and brainstormed ideas for a possible business concept she has (very exciting!) and donated several bags of stuff to Goodwill.
Day 20: Wrote thank you cards to Laura for lending her Creative Action Center space for our Ladies Who Launch meeting and to Reese for being our fantastic guest speaker on Thursday.
Day 21: Spent half the day with the SF Coaches Board visioning what we want our organization to be this year and beyond. Was fun to dream up big ideas for the impact we want to make on the profession and in the world at large! I also brought my iPod and some speakers so we could have some lively and inspiring music on our breaks. That’s us below!