I’ve worked with Lisa for a short time on some time management issues that I have and I’ve actually already started to change the way I schedule and think about doing my work! For example, I have a tendency to beat myself up not sticking to a scheduling or task management system for more that a few months because I have “Shiny Object Syndrome” but Lisa made me feel TONS better just by making me realize that it’s not a bad thing to change it up on a regular basis if that’s the way I work! If you want to learn more about Lisa and her coaching style check out her great video intro:

(I told you she was kind of awesome!)

For an even better treat, Lisa is giving me a super sweet discount just for my friends! The 3 month group would normally be $125 per month but because she’s rather awesome and I think you would really be a perfect fit for the group she is offering it for $95 per month!

How awesome is that!

Here’s the special link just for my peeps(and friends of my friends if you want to pass it around): http://www.lifebalancediva.com/diva-steps/sara-group-special

This pricing is available until Friday January 28th so be sure to sign up soon to get this great deal!

Let me know if you have any questions about the group and I hope to see you in the group on Monday!

I’m not an affiliate or anything like that, I just really think this could be a great “start to the year group” for some of you who want to start getting more Ahhhhs in your day. : )

Essential Daily to-do list by CreativeKismet

It’s another year! Hurray!

Ok so I really liked this post from last year and I was surprised to see that I really followed what I said I would!

I definitely focused on self care this year. I started sending my daughter to a babysitter 2-3 days a week and it was the best thing I could have ever done for my sanity and for my business! She has a great time playing with other kids her age and I get to spend some focused time on work!

I was able to make my client goal and more which was amazingly awesome! I met some wonderful new clients this year and I can’t wait to continue to grow our relationships this year!

My self doubt may still be there but I have really tried to not let other people’s negativity affect me. Things happen and sometimes they suck, it doesn’t mean that dwelling on it will fix anything. I love that I can see the positive as opposed to the negative in situations now, even though I have a feeling is ticks some people off.

And finally, I created my cool free download Social Media for Noobs Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Tweet (if you haven’t downloaded it you still have time to and become one of the cool people!)

Ok so here is my look into the future for 2011! I can’t wait to see all the great things that I’ll make happen this year!

1. If you were only allowed to have ONE Intention for 2011, what would it be & why?

My intention this year is to do something scary. Not like haunted woods scary but more like “this is good for you” scary. Creating and putting myself out there more and more is a scary thing for me so I have been resisting that step but this year I’m focused on stepping out of the box and doing things that will more than likely make me sick before hand but will ultimately be a wonderful opportunity in the long run! (See #4)

2. If you were only allowed to have ONE Goal for 2011, what would it be & how can you achieve it?

My main goal this year is to focus on building my offerings with products and more marketing opportunities. Social media has been my main marketing focus the first two years of business and although I LOVE it I think it’s time to branch out and try some new things. Conferences, products, articles and speaking opportunities are a few of the things I would like to try on for size this year to help get my name and business out to the people who I think could really benefit from my awesomeness!

3. If you had to get rid of ONE Thing in 2011, what would it be & why?

This year I am going to get rid of perfectionism. Ok, maybe not completely… but enough that it’s not holding me back. When it takes me an hour to write a blog post that’s a problem! I have really been loving the Life Balance Diva insights and have realized that I put things off and procrastinate not because I’m lazy, but because I need to be in the right mindset to actually work on that project or that blog post. Finding my Pause Points, as she calls them, has really helped me get more done by taking more breaks!

4. If you had to do ONE New Thing in 2011, what would it be? Will you commit to it now?

This year I am going to try to get some more speaking gigs. I used to say that I loathed public speaking but after some fun moments this year I’m starting to change my mind. I had such a great time speaking with the St. Lawrence College about my VA career and I really love moderating the IVAA Coffee Chats on Monday so my fear of public speaking seems to be crumbling a bit. I’m going to actively look for some opportunities to share what I know either in person or via a webinar/teleseminar/video series/podcast. Hopefully I won’t pee my pants or faint but that might make me a YouTube star!

Make it a great year! (Uggg, I already sound like a motivational speaker… hehe)

So you want to start blogging but you just don’t have a clue what to write about. Well, that is what Tara Gentile set out to help with in her ebook 52 Weeks of Blogging Your Passion.

Tara Gentile is the mastermind behind Scoutie Girl where she helps artists and crafters with the business side of being handmade. She is also the co founder of The Creative Empire, a really cool membership site that I am a part of that brings together creatives of all kinds to help each other in their business aspirations.

This ebook is awesome. It starts off by having you decided what you want your blog to be and then goes into the second section where she help you find topics to fill in that blog! Tara has such a quirky fun personality and it really shows through in this ebook. She also recently created a sequal to 52 weeks called 52 MORE Weeks of Blogging Your Passion!

Here’s an interview I did with Tara where she talks about about how she came up with the idea of the ebook and why she decided it needed a sibling!

How did your love of design and crafting make it’s way to the internet and blogging?

Truthfully, despite my love of design & craft, I’m terrible at it. I found the craft & design blogosphere while I was first starting my new life as a mom. I was hooked immediately. I could access all my favorite things at any time of day. When I discovered that I could write & share my favorite design & craft goodies without the excruciating disappointment of my utter inability to produce anything pretty, I knew I’d found my calling!

Where did the idea for 52 Weeks of Blogging Your Passion come from?

52 Weeks of Blogging Your Passion is the result of being told over & over again how difficult it is to find things to blog about. “That’s silly!” I thought. There are tons of things to blog about and I bet I could come up with 52 of them. And I did, in about an hour. Then I spent the next two weeks fleshing out those ideas and writing about other techniques for creating a great art/craft/creative blog.

I love the lead up to the 52 blogging prompts in the ebook where you ask us to define why we are blogging. Taken from that section, what fuels your passion for helping crafters and artists?

Wow, my passion comes from so many places. But, mostly, what fuels my passion for crafters & artists is my vision for a world where we’re all more conscious of what we bring into it and what we get out of it. Artists & crafters have a unique position in society in that they create things that bring so much joy & inspiration to others while at the same time receiving immense pleasure & satisfaction for doing so. Supporting them, pushing them, and sometimes pulling them kicking & screaming is the least I can do to make this vision of the world become reality.

What are your favorite internet/blog tools (organizing, researching, creating, etc)?

I could spend all day talking to you about these! Hands down, my favorite tool is WordPress. Free, fun to use, and oh so powerful. But, a close runner up is my love affair with Mail Chimp. Robust, priced just right, and there’s monkeys. Lots of monkeys.

I was super excited to hear that you just launched your newest ebook, 52 MORE Weeks to Blogging Your Passion! How and why did you decide to add to your original ebook?

Two main reasons: my style of blogging has changed a lot since the first book was released. I still love that book but I wanted to have something that better represented my style now, something that gave you the opportunity to combine the style of the first book with something a bit more introspective.

The second reason is that after finishing the first book, so many people asked me how they could get more comments, create a community, and increase reader engagement on their blog. So this book is my answer to those questions. The prompts in 52 MORE Weeks will help you create posts that people need to respond to.

If you have any questions about 52 weeks or if you would just like to contact Tara you can email her at scout@scoutiegirl.com

Yesterday I talked a little about what Blogging Your Way is and how it helped me get my blogging back up to where I wanted it to be!

I was also able to talk to the e-course creator, Holly Becker, and get her take on how Blogging Your Way came about!

Sara: I know you talk about your life story in the e-course but how about sharing a tiny version of that story!

Holly: I was raised in South Carolina, an only child to a very energetic and creative mother and a hard-working father who wasn’t afraid of change and who had an entrepreneurial spirit and a kind heart. We had several dogs and cats growing up and I spent a lot of time at the beach, roller skating, riding my bike, playing outdoors, decorating the house (my passion from an early age), teaching my stuffed animals my homework each night to motivate me to actually DO it, and going to nature parks and stores with my mother to shop for plants and interiors items. My mother was trained as a florist and was very involved in landscaping and maintaining our yard and spent a lot of time on the weekends tending to it. She also loved to make flower arrangements, visit flea markets, sew clothing, drapery and other things for the home like pillows and shower curtains, and was very spiritual-minded and a real nature lover. My father was an engineering manager but had a lot of interests and owned a few restaurants along with his day job. I remember him coming home from work, changing, and going right to his restaurant to cook or work for the evening as bartender. He was very social and loved people. I never remember seeing him sick or missing work/being out of a job. He was an excellent provider for us and always made sure we had a nice home, cars and everything else that made our life nice. My mother worked now and then doing odd jobs but nothing consistent — she didn’t need to work and instead spent lots of her time on domestic pursuits.

As a result of my upbringing, I’m outgoing and energetic, social and love people who are kind and desire to do good with their life and to others. I’m also hard working. After school, I started working full-time in the corporate world but after nearly 10 years I decided to go back to school — this time to art school — and I studied interior design as part of a certificate program. I started taking clients within 6 months because class bored me and I wanted hands-on experience which I got plenty of through my Boston-based clients. Then I decided to blog and decor8 was born in January 2006. I’ve been writing full-time, decorating, teaching, most recently styling homes, and writing my first book alongside a lovely co-author in Britain ever since — and I run an online e-course about blogging and will soon be in Morocco teaching and shopping with ladies who will spend a week with me at a gorgeous retreat there called the Peacock Pavilions. I’ve since relocated from New Hampshire to northern Germany and my life is quite exciting — I honestly can say that I’ve exceeded my own expectations of who I would grow up to become. I never imagined my life would turn out so well. I was always an optimist but again, the results of blogging, networking, and putting myself out there to bond with so many amazing people has been life-changing. I never imagined I’d feel so complete at such a young age.

Sara: What was the planning experience like when you decided to create an e-course about blogging? (How did you get the idea for the course, decide on a WordPress membership site, pick specific topics, etc?)

Holly: I had thought to do an e-course for awhile but then when I saw Susannah Conway roll out her Unraveling e-course, I immediately enrolled in it. After the first week of taking her class I decided that this was indeed the direction I wanted to take, only with a different format and of course, a different topic altogether because I do not believe in creating competition. I asked Susannah what she thought about my idea, she was supportive, so I launched it knowing I had her seal of approval as these relationships online mean the world to me and I never want to steal someone else’s thunder if I can avoid it. Planning it took very little time. I just sat down and thought, “What would I want to learn if I was just starting out? What did I want to learn back in 2005 when I first registered my blog? What can I give to others that would be of value to them? What have I always wanted to know about others whom I look up to and admire?” — I reasoned that those who would enroll in the class obviously would do so because they 1. admire my success as a blog author and 2. because they truly need ideas and support, and 3. for friendship!

Sara: I love the fact that the course is jam packed full of information from you and Leslie! How is working with a partner this time around different than going it on your own?

Holly: Thank you! I did the first class on my own but felt lonely to be honest! It felt like the “Holly Show” and though my students praised the class and loved it, I felt like I needed to share the teaching experience with someone else who also felt inclined to help others and reach out but also to offer something valuable as well. I thought that it would be great to bring in another blog author who was living proof that good things can happen “overnight” and that not all bloggers need a lot of time to find success from their work online. I have been working in this field for nearly five years and so I thought that bringing on a second teacher who was new to blogging but who was already finding success with it within ONE year would motivate students even more and make the materials come alive even more. Also, Leslie was a student in my first class and I saw immediately that we shared a lot in common visually and I thought it would be nice to add a more visual component to the course. Plus there was no other blogging course online and certainly none with a creative edge – a styling component that showed students how to personalize their content even more through styling and photography. I thought that bringing in a co-teacher to instruct on Fridays only — this would still put the bulk of the work on me but would give some balance to the class as a whole so I didn’t have to feel like the entire class only had me to work with. I wanted students to have several professionals to interact with so now they have me, Leslie and my husband Thorsten who runs the back end of the site but who also provides instructional technical webcasts and who helps students in the forum with technical questions. Now things feel balanced and it’s no longer the Holly Show. I always like to share success in life — I get bored when the focus is on me. I love to collaborate.

Sara: What are your favorite internet/blog tools (organizing, researching, creating, etc)?

Holly: I love Pinterest currently! I also enjoy Wishpot and Facebook quite a lot. Flickr is still a favorite. I’m becoming a bit bored, sadly, with Twitter as it’s a bit of a popularity contest and that turns me off plus it feels really, really distracting lately so I use it maybe twice a day.

Sara: I was excited to hear your first book, Decorate, is coming out this Spring! What can we expect and who needs to have this book on their shelf?

Holly: Hopefully all of my readers will buy a copy and support me because writing a blog for so many years has been wonderful but to have a book for them to refer to at home is a dream come true — my gift to them really. Decorate is a project that I’ve been working on since the beginning of the year and it’s been an exciting one. A publisher approached me and I finally felt ready to do something like this. They wanted to work with me and so I let my literary agent in NYC handle the details and then I found out what I was going to do! So none of it was my vision, my idea, I didn’t even name the book — it all came to me on a platter and it sounded great and I accepted because again, it felt like the right timing. It was my mission and I chose to accept it!

But kidding aside, the book will be hard cover, a coffee table book, that contains 1,000 decorating ideas for every room and these ideas are not only from Joanna Copestick (the co-author) and I, but from a talented ensemble of creative types — professionals from all over the world — from interior designers and show hosts to decorators, blog authors, stylists and beyond. I was hired to source the locations, book them, find a photographer to work with (I chose Debi Treloar and adored working with this lady – wow – what a gem she is — I cried when I had to say goodbye to her on our last shoot day), and then travel with the photographer in both Europe and in the US to the shoots — I’d style the home and direct her and she’d shoot. I also had to round up the contributors, interview them plus interview all of the homeowners. Then I had to help write the book of course and put together the Directory as well. I also gave opinions concerning photos (mostly based on what would work best editorially), but that was a team effort and our book designer and project manager lead it and in the end, everything was left up to the publisher which is always a nice break for an author as it’s hard to do it all.

So the project, which is nearing its completion in October, has been the most amazing work experience I’ve ever had. I met some of the best people on the road, got to travel all over with amazing Debi Treloar without dropping a single dime… I even ate at the Danish Parliament for goodness sake as a special guest — I LOVED being out and about like that. Decorate will be published in the UK first by Jacqui Small Publishing in March 2011 and then in May, by Chronicle Books in the states and then in the Fall of 2011 it will be translated and published in German by Calwey Books and distributed in Germany, Switzerland and Austria. Exciting!

Holly is a gem of knowledge and an incredibly gracious person that I was truly excited to work with throughout the e-course!

If you have any questions about Blogging Your Way or Holly’s upcoming book, Decorate, you can contact her here!

Blogging is not my forte, but I’m trying.

I love the idea of blogging – sharing my passions and my knowledge with people who could use it – but I have a hard time making it a priority.

Enter Holly Becker.

Holly is the amazing blogger behind decor8 who created the e-course Blogging Your Way!

Blogging Your Way, in a nutshell, is a jam packed 4 week e-course that helps you find what your blogging voice should be and then helps you make your blog what you want it to be through informative class sessions 3 days a week with weekly homework and a fantastic forum for participants help and learn together.

What does it teach: In four weeks I learned about building a community, using social networks to help grow your blog, tips on finding good blog posts and so much more but my head exploded halfway through! This time around Holly had a co-instructor, Leslie Shewring, who focused on how to take and edit photographs to help inspire and beautify your blog.

Who should take this course: Anyone who wants to share their creative side through a blog will love this e-course! Etsy shop owners, artists and crafters will love the photography tips and all the creative blog post ideas. I also feel that new bloggers and anyone needing a jolt of energy to get back into blogging will really get the most bang from your buck because the social aspect of creating friendships in the forums and getting feedback on your homework is worth the price admission by themselves.

How much: The course was $119 when I took it and I think for the amount of information in this course the price is a wonderful deal!

Overall I really loved the class! The only criticism I had was how much information there was! It was amazing how much Holly was willing to teach and give us and I will be sifting though the course for the next month to get the most out of all the tips and inspiration she shared!

Tomorrow I’ll have an interview with Holly on how Blogging Your Way came about and some information about her new book, Decorate!

If you have any questions about Blogging Your Way, you can contact her here!

Blog

The first post in the series talks about how creating a blog can function as a basecamp for the rest of your online book promotions! WordPress is still my favorite platform and with themes like Thesis and iTheme’s Builder theme creating you own blog has become so much easier even if you don’t have any coding background at all.

YouTube

Creating a videos introducing yourself to your readers is a great way to show your personality and point of view to your readers!

In the last post on this topic I focused on book trailers and I wanted to share one specific publisher who is getting book trailers right everytime, Quirk Classics and Irreference.

Their books are fun and ridiculous so it just makes sense that their tailors would be fun and ridiculous too! Check out their newest trailer for Night of the Living Trekkies!

Twitter

I loved Twitter back then and I love Twitter now! To add to the previous post’s tips I would include the creation of different lists for the people you follow on Twitter. Lists are kind of awesome and when you combine them with a platform like Hootsuite or Tweetdeck  because you can break down all those hundreds of updates into easy to handle columns and just pay attention to the updates you really care about!

Facebook

Oh Facebook how we love to hate you. There were some great tips and tricks in the previous post but Facebook likes to change things at a moments notice and there have definitely been some changes over the past year!

The most important ones that I think you need to be aware of are:

• They changed the terminology of “Fans” to “Likes” to make it more cohesive with the rest of the site
• They changed the format of the custom FBML tabs so that they are now only  520 pixels wide so make sure you have changed your images over to the new sizes
• They got rid of boxes on the “Fan” pages so all your additional info needs to go on the Wall tab or on custom FBML tabs

Virtual Book Tour

In my opinion everyone who has a new book coming out needs to do a virtual book tour. It’s easy to set up once you get the blogggers, webinars and teleconferences coordinated and it helps to spread you out all over the internet in a relatively short period of time! In person book tours are slowly become obsolete and I found this funny video that perfectly shows how much “fun” a real life book signing can be when no one shows up!

I  have one new option to help promote your book online to share this time around:

Podcasting!

Podcasting may sound like an oxymoron when talking about books but I was thrilled to find hundreds of free podcasts done by unpublished as well as published authors! One of the best success stories is the horror author, Scott Sigler. He started out by trying to get his book published the traditional way but after about 11 years he decided to go a different direction. Scott started offering charters of his book as a weekly podcast  for free and got an amazing results! Now he is a New York Times bestselling author with a major publishing house all because he decided to make his work available for free through a podcast!

There are a lot of great podcast resources but here are a few tips for getting you started with your podcast novel:

• Check out podcasting options. Obviously you’re going to need a decent microphone and recording software to create your podcast. The easiest option is to record through Audacity for free and then upload to your website. You can also upload your podcast to the iTunes database which is a great way of being found by new readers/listeners! All you need for that is an RSS feed that iTunes can link to and then they will need to approve the podcast as well.
• Set up a weekly schedule you can stick to. If you can’t dedicate 30-60 minutes one day a week then maybe podcasting isn’t for you. But if you can then just make it a weekly routine to podcast, for example, on Sunday night and then release the podcast on Monday morning. Your readers will appreciate the schedule especially if you are just getting to the juicy parts of the book!
• Promote the crap out of your new project! Share it with your friends, family and Twitter followers and make sure to add a button or link to your website to advertise that your podcast is there for free!

I’m so glad that these posts have been so helpful over the past year and I’m sure next year there will be even more exciting updates and tips to share!

BUT I wanted to share something that made me happy this week, Ani DiFranco!

I love reconnecting with music that I loved once upon a time and this time I found new songs that connected to where I am right now in my life. I love finding songs that seem like they were written just for me at the point in time!

Enjoy these three beautiful songs and think about what songs have made you happy this week!

32 Flavors

“Squint your eyes and look closer
I’m not between you and your ambition
I am a poster girl with no poster
I am thirty-two flavors and then some
And I’m beyond your peripheral vision
So you might want to turn your head
Cause someday you might find you are starving
and eating all of the words you said”

Present/Infant

“Now here’s this tiny baby
and they say she looks just like me
And she is smiling at me
with that present infant glee
Yes and I would defend to the ends of the earth
her perfect right to be.”

Not a Pretty Girl

“I am not a pretty girl
That’s not what I do
I ain’t no damsel in distess
and I don’t need to be rescued
So put me down punk
Maybe you’d prefer a maiden fair
Isn’t there a kitten stuck up a tree somewhere”

When I went on vacation recently I had a mini panic attack when I thought of my poor inbox all alone and neglected for a week and a half. Sure, I was on vacation but that didn’t mean that I was going to be able to kick my email habit at the click of a mouse!

Here are a few things that helped me have a great time lounging and stay semi connected to the outside world at the same time.

Check your email once a day.
Once a day is plenty when you’re on vacation. You’re not going to be able to get away completely if you’re addicted to your email like me but I found that just checking it once in the morning was enough to keep me happy and not jonesing for an email fix all day.

If you can, set up a time one day to do a little work.
This is a vacation first and work time second so only plan on taking one day to do any work that you would like to get done. I decided to do some blogging because it was a nice quiet time to get some dedicated time in without having Aerith running around in the background. I ended up not getting everything done that I wanted but it was ok because I got enough done that I was ok to spend some time on me.

Pick a comfy spot to work.

Look at this set up! Umm classy anyone?!

Not too shabby huh! This was in the lobby of the hotel and it really set the stage to get some work done but really made it a lot easier to put it away and enjoy my time.

Ask your spouse for help.
My husband and I prearranged that he would take a day to go exploring and I would try to get some blogging and reviewing done durning the day but at night it was all us time. For us it was perfect because we each got to do what we wanted and then got to spend some much needed time together as well. He got to ride indoor go karts and I got in some relaxing business time!

Remember that the world will go on without you!
Yes, you are taking some much needed time off but that doesn’t mean that your business with crumble to the ground if you can’t make the time to work on your vacation! Your vacation should be about you and any extra time you can put towards work is icing on the cake.

This is your vacation so plan it the way you want…even if it includes a little work and people look at you crazy as you type on your keybord in the lobby of a fancy hotel!

I have to admit that I haven’t read Eat Pray Love yet, and yet is the key word because it’s on my list after watching that talk.

I love the idea of separating the genius from the person. Who wouldn’t want a magical fairy or an invisible house elf there to help you through tough creative blocks or even pick your spirits up when you were down. I don’t think for one minute that I haven’t done the time or put in the work to make my business work or my family happy, but it’s nice to think that if things aren’t going picture perfect sometimes it’s just because Dobby the house elf is sitting down on the job.

I know that I have sat in the presence of something more than myself when it comes to my creative life. Unfortunately it hasn’t come in the form or an international best selling book but it did show up one night at a band concert. It was as though everything aligned and I couldn’t play a wrong note even if I tried. After that night it was hard to realize I wasn’t going to go on to make millions in an orchestra because the next day I was back to my regular mediocre self.

That moment on stage was a special moment but it was just for me. No one else knew what I was feeling and probably no one noticed that I totally rocked that concert! Having those moments to yourself is important because it boosts yourself up without relying on anyone to do it for you. Just knowing that for one minute I was capable of perfection has pushed me to try new and great things.

I took away from that the realization that there are moments in life that define who you are and there are moments where you are more than what you thought you were to help push you forward. Being motivated from within (with or without Dobby the house elf’s help) is important to moving forward with those big projects you have on the horizon. Being motivated doesn’t take the fear away or the what ifs that creep into your thought process when you’re working on a project but it definitely ads a bumper.