From the category archives:

Entrepreneurship

Right-Brain Business Plan book cover

I spent most of last week visiting Vancouver BC masterminding with Andrea J. Lee and my fabulous fellow participants of her Wealthy Thought Leader mentorship program. We spent all day Thursday and Friday brainstorming about our businesses, sharing ideas and resources, and challenging each other to stretch and be leaders in our field. It was fun getting to know everyone and all the amazing things they are up to.

On Friday, New World Library FedExed me a print out of my finalized book cover! Very exciting to see. Friday was also the day my book went to the printer. It was a treat to get to celebrate this milestone with my fellow Diamonds and a little bit of bubbly, thanks to the lovely Pamela!

On Tuesday I attended the TEDxYVR event and enjoyed watching past talks around the theme “Playing with Possibilities.” You can see a couple of my favorite videos from the night here.

I loved hanging out on Granville Island. It’s a funky, artsy area with lots of cool shops, an art and design school, and an amazing public market. I was obsessed by all of the cute stationary and notebooks at the store Paper-Ya.

And while we were holed up in the Executive Board Room of the hotel, Andrea and her team invited in play with these colorful pipecleaners. They’re such a fun and easy way to inspire creativity! You should’ve seen all of the great accessories people made.

I’m still digesting all that we covered during our intensive time together and I’m super excited about what’s in the works for next year. I’m very grateful to have the support and guidance of this mentoring group as I head into the exciting adventures that await in 2011!

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CEO Women Storefront Presentations

Last night I volunteered at an inspiring event through C.E.O. Women. This amazing non-profit empowers immigrant and low-income women to create economic opportunities for themselves through starting their own business. Through a rigorous 16-week program, the women learn English and entrepreneurial skills. The program culminates in their “Storefront Presentations” where they showcase their business idea and share their plans with us.

I’ve been volunteering with C.E.O. Women off-and-on since 2005 as a business coach for a massage therapist from Japan and a jewelry designer from Peru and guest presenter but this was my first time attending the Storefront Presentations. It was so much fun to get to talk with the women about their ideas and see their visual presentations (very much like a Right-Brain Business Plan!). We were encouraged to ask them lots of questions like who their target customers are and how much will it take to start their business so they get practice talking about what they do. The women last night we’re totally engaging and oh-so passionate! I met a coach, a professional organizer, and women who wanted to open up a day care, consignment shop, lunch delivery service, a floral design business, and more.

I came home feeling inspired by the passion and dedication of these fabulous women who are overcoming obstacles left and right so they can live their dream.

If you’re in the Bay Area and want to get involved, they’re looking for their next round of volunteer business coaches starting next month.

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Paint Palette

“I don’t know where to start.”

“I feel overwhelmed.”

“Nothing seems to fit together anymore.”

“What’s this all for anyway?”

“Umm… no really, WTF am I doing?!”

Ahhhh, the all-too-familiar (and at times paralyzing) signs of being at the start of something new.

I’m having to retrain myself to be with and move through this amorphous inception phase again. After months of wearing “book” blinders while I focused intently on one specific goal, now I can finally set my sights on the many other creative projects I’ve been dying to get to.

But why has it felt so hard? Why have I been resisting and avoiding? Oh, yeah, it’s because I have no idea what I’m doing! How could I? I’m just getting started. The only way to know more is to do more. To take more steps forward, dabble, and play until a picture starts to take shape.

So, I sat myself outside for a couple of hours, opened up a my laptop, and just started typing notes to myself. And I finally started to gain some momentum. Sure, I’m still overwhelmed by all the things I want to do and how I’m going to do it. But, I’m not feeling stuck anymore.

The cool thing about chaos and the unknown at the start of a creative project is that really anything can happen! (Well, anything can always happen in the creative process), but somehow it feels especially juicy at the beginning.  Now I hear myself saying:

“I wonder what could happen next?”

“Yahoo! I get to do it any way I want to!”

“Anything is possible! Rock on!”

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Tranquilista Goodness

by jenn on March 9, 2010

in Books,Entrepreneurship,Friends

Kimberly Wilson

Britt Bravo and I joined Tranquilista Kimberly Wilson and her beau Tim Mooney for dinner at Cafe Gratitude in Berkeley. Kimberly was in town doing her west coast book tour for her fabulous new book Tranquilista: Mastering the Art of Enlightened Work and Mindful Play. We gabbed, we laughed a ton, and we brainstormed about our creative women entrepreneur event, all while enjoying a delicious raw meal.

Kimberly Wilson and Tim MooneyHere’s the darling couple. Tim is such a great guy. It was fun to learn more about all the cool stuff that he’s up to, too.

You can check out Kimberly’s TV segment about financial finesse on The View From the Bay below.


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The Right-Brain Business Plan e-Course video on Vimeo

I’m excited about the fabulous creative entrepreneurs who will be joining me in the Right-Brain Business Plan e-Course that starts next week. I hope that you’re one of them! Check out my video above and sign-up here. The early-bird special ends soon. Finally get that business plan done and have fun doing it!

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Creative Women Entrepreneur Survey Results and Winners

December 22, 2009

In the fall, Lisa Sonora Beam, Kimberly Wilson, Britt Bravo, and I asked you to tell us what your ideal creative women entrepreneur gathering would look like by completing a survey. We were thrilled that 300+ of you shared your ideas with us! Thank you! Here are some highlights of what you said: Your preferred […]

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Playing & Planning with Creative Entrepreneurs

November 17, 2009

I had a blast on Sunday at my the Right-Brain Business Plan workshop. Here are Britt Bravo and Gretchen Wegner collaging up a storm! Throughout the day, we had fun shaking, howling, and twisting with our MuseCube moments. Gretchen’s MuseCubes are such a great way to connect back with the intuitive wisdom of your body. […]

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Connecting Creative Women Entrepreneurs

October 27, 2009

Kimberly Wilson, Lisa Sonora Beam, Britt Bravo and I were on a call the other day talking about how fun it would be to put together an event for creative women entrepreneurs to connect, create, and learn together. We came up with our own description of what an event like that would look like, but […]

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Right-Brain Business Plan Workshop

October 13, 2009

It’s hard to believe that we’re already in the 4th quarter of the year!  Are you and your business ready for 2010? Get a head start at the Right-Brain Business Plan Workshop on Sunday, November 15th in Oakland from 10am-4:30pm. At this fun and engaging workshop you’ll: Clarify your business vision Paint the picture of […]

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D.C. Creativity in Business Conference

October 11, 2009

Photo by Shiny Heart Ventures via Flickr Last Sunday, I presented the Right-Brain Business Plan in a breakout session at the Creativity in Business Conference in D.C.  I had so much fun getting to learn and play with so many creative, innovative people.  Michelle James, the conference founder, did a magnificent job bringing together a […]

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