It’s MY first day of 100% working from home.  That’s right, no more day job. I feel free and untethered and so very relaxed in the shoulder area. I am also losing it.  Literally.  Last week I lost my keys, this week I lost my wallet.  If I don’t get grounded and focused soon, I’m likely to lose my dog.  Instead of stressing about this last night, I went to sleep early.  This morning I woke up early and well rested. Here’s what I’ve accomplished so far. Cleaned parts of my house that haven’t been touched in 3 months. Made a Girafa Coaching business plan/vision board Invited my Brain Trust to dinner next week to look at the prototype of my BOOK. Organized the flow of that evening. Took out the recycling Changed my backdrop on my email to something … Continue reading →

So I’m really, truly leaving my job.  We’ve hired the New Me and he starts next week.  A few months ago when this first got real I spent a LOT of time freaking out about money.  Counting my pennies and realizing I didn’t have any.  I couldn’t breathe.  I cried a lot.  My wonderful sister talked me through, multiple times. Even with all that stress and fear, I knew I had to do it: let go and leap.  That meant more than letting go of a full time job.  It meant letting go of the money stress – yes, I need to pay attention to my bills and income, but it was not helping me to cry weekly about it.  Especially when I actually was able to pay my bills! I didn’t have extra, but I was covering the basics, … Continue reading →

I am a busy lady.  True story.  I’ve got a color-coded calendar system to help me out (no VA yet!) and generally I am on top of what I need to do by when.  Sometimes my social life suffers, but thus is the life of a business-building-world-takin’-over-MEployed-sexylady. This Saturday morning, I found myself without anything to do until 2pm.  Shock me.  My sister (my go to BF and gym buddy) was off celebrating a friends wedding, and I was at loose ends. This is generally what’s called ‘Free Time’, or ‘Lazy Saturday’. I wigged out. I am used to working from home, which means my computer and living room are the backdrops to blog posts and coaching calls,  not a lot of relaxing.   I started getting really negative on myself  “You don’t know how to relax! Are you a workaholic?” … Continue reading →

Goodness!  Sometimes it is HARD to be creative.  Sometimes, I don’t feel like it.  SOMETIMES, it just feels stuck and gooey and dark and oh look, my kitchen needs cleaning.   I coach my clients to ‘create from now! Use all of that!’ – messy, tired, overwhelmed, funky, life! It’s so authentic.  As an inspirer of the unconventionally creative, and coach of many creative forces in this world, I give this speech quite a bit.  “Don’t wait for it to be the perfect moment. Create anyway! Just start.  It’ll flow.  When is the moment ever perfect?” I laughed to myself as I realized that by cleaning my kitchen, I was employing the exact same type of creativity-avoidance!  I was telling myself “It’s Friday.  No one reads the internet on Friday.  I’ve got too many ideas anyway.  I should walk the dog … Continue reading →

So I quit my job.  A year ago, basically.  I’ve been working part time since then.  Earlier this year I recognized that while yes stable income is (sometimes) good, it was an energy drain and holding me back from going big with my business.  Mostly because I was using it as an excuse for holding me back.  It was an energy drain.  I knew it, my friends knew it. When I told my friends and family that the ‘end of August’ was my last day, they cheered.  They circled it on THEIR calendars, and have been waiting to toast me.  Well the end of August is pretty much here, and my revised exit date is Sept 22.   Guaranteed. I have received SO MANY disapproving faces in response to this date change.  My friends and family seem mad at me!  Not … Continue reading →

I quit my job a year ago, but I’m actually leaving- as in no more paychecks- next month. I work(ed) at a non-profit, a very small, very meaningful one.  Isn’t that how it always goes? We tell ourselves “The work! It needs me! My company, they’d be lost without me!” And we talk ourselves out of doing what’s right for us.  Well, in this case, it was true, and my boss made me a very generous offer to stay on part time “as long as you need to.” For a single, Oakland dwelling, dog-owning, small business starting lady who has never NOT had a full time with benefits job, it was a very attractive offer. Well, there’s the dilemma. As a new business owner, or soloprenur as the term was coined, I can pretty much always use the extra, stable, predictable income.  It makes my heart less stressy.   However, there’s … Continue reading →