If you have read earlier posts, you know that I had been eagerly awaiting my class with April Bowles-Olin at CreativeLive studios in San Francisco. Well, the class was last week and It. Was. Amazing! The whole experience exceeded my expectations. What I mean to say is it totally rocked!
Several of my bloggy besties flew in for the class. Two of those besties bunked at my house. It was like having a 4 night pajama party! It was soo fun! Before I had the realization that I am in charge of making my life awesome I seriously doubt I would have offered to host anyone at my house. I would have been worried about a bunch of “what ifs” and I wouldn’t have stepped out of my comfort zone. And…I would have really missed out.
Kris Windley from With a K Writing Services and Sarah Shotts from Sarah Shotts Storytelling turned out to be just as hilarious, kind, friendly and brilliant in person as they had been in the months I had known them online. We stayed up for hours never running out of things to say, we got lost in San Francisco laughing the whole way, we found a fabulous restaurant completely by accident and had an amazing dinner. It was like having a mini vacation with friend I had know for years.
Meeting April was also better than I could have ever imagined. She is sweet, adorable, savvy, fascinating and stuffed full of generous amounts of marketing and business strategy wisdom. Plus, she used glitter on practically every slide in her power point presentation, what’s not to love?
I came away from the whole experience with so many take aways. Here are four thank you notes to express my very favorite lessons from the class at CreativeLive.
Thank you, April for deciding that building a community and fostering relationships is more important than packing classes so full of students that the one-on-one conversations get lost along the way. Thank you for having the magical ability to make each of us feel important and valued as individuals each with our own dreams and desires for our businesses. You are able to focus and listen to each story and provide such keen insight that those who take your classes are genuinely so much better off for having worked with you. The way you have grown your own business in such a heart-centered way is such a great example of the success that comes from following your values and making your customer’s best interest a priority. As I create a business I will remember what really matters and strive to make the same impression on others as you have made on me.
Thank you to all of the friends (I call you my Supers) I made during April and Mayi’s online Busy to Happy class. Because of the intentional way that April and Mayi cultivated a sense of community it has been so easy for us to make strong connections that have lasted far beyond the short class we took together. I rely on you ladies daily for inspiration, advice and friendship. It is such a testament to April’s leadership and teaching style that over half of the students in her CreativeLive class had taken classes from her before and couldn’t wait to work with her again. People who had worked with her online flew in from as far as Canada, Florida and Arkansas for the opportunity to work with her in person. April knows and appreciates the value of loyal students willing to go out of their way to support her just as she goes out of her way to support them. That’s pretty special if you ask me.
Thank you to the students who took the CreativeLive class with me. Not only were the Supers I met in person during the class: Richelle Shadoan, Sarah Shotts, Kris Windley, Jennifer Kennedy, Fanny Seto and Sage Grayson as sweet, kind, smart and hilarious as I could have hoped, but the same was true for all of my classmates. Every single person in the audience with me was supportive, helpful, and invested in the success of her classmates. While it is no surprise, it was a great relief and joy to be surrounded by other ladies who value positivity and believe that there is enough awesome to go around. There was no vibe of competitiveness or self-promotion, only an authentic interest in learning how to make our big dreams come true and help others do the same.
Thank you to CreativeLive for building a space for creatives to gather and learn together. The studio is full of amazing people working super hard to bring phenomenal, affordable classes to students around the world. Not only are they constantly bringing in the best and brightest instructors to teach with a live audience, but they have also made a priority of build their online community as well. They put such an emphasis on encouraging students watching online to participate in chats and interact with the teacher that people at home are learning the material in real-time just as much as the studio audience. And the more often people participate in the chat the more connections they make and friendships they grow. The studio is the hub of an enormous world-wide community, a chance for people who think outside the box to meet and learn from others who can relate. Kind of AH..MAZING, thank you CreativeLive. Long may you provide quality programing that brings awesome people together.
xoxo, Jen
I am here to help you create an awesome life!
We are in this together, and I. CAN'T. WAIT.
We got this!
xoxo,
Jen
I second all of those Thank-you Notes!!
We had such a fun time living with you for a week; I can’t wait for an excuse to invite all of you to live with me sometime
xo
K
I am so there! Can’t wait to see Canada, sounds amazing
Dang, girl! I was going to go promote my own blog post, but got a little side tracked by yours! AH-MAZING!
You have an lovely and comfortable style of writing from your heart, that makes me smile the whole time I’m reading it.
Thanks, Jen . . . like I really need more smile lines! ♡
I feel the same about you, Nancy! You always make me smile
Sweet, sweet, sweet!!! Loved reading your thank you notes. Love me fellow Supers! Hope to be in the next Creative Live class LIVE with you all!
Definitely, you better be!!!
Amazing! I agree with everything! So incredibly thankful to everyone involved.
Me too! Thanks, roomie. Loved your post as well
xoxo, Jen
It all sounds so wonderful! I’m adoring all of April’s creative live classes and just wish I wasn’t stuck on another continent so I could be part of the real-life community. Oh, well. I’ll just have to read your blog posts and comment instead….
It all sounds so wonderful! I’m adoring all of April’s creative live classes and just wish I wasn’t stuck on another continent so I could be part of the real-life community. Oh, well. I’ll just have to read your blog posts and comment instead….
Yes, Lucy, April is just as great in person as I could have hoped! Hope you make it here or I make it to Europe, but for now the online community is our neighborhood as Kris says
Jen:
I love the idea of thank-you notes. It’s so clever and heartfelt. Thanks for sharing. I watched CreativeLive online, and I am super inspired and fired-up to do more fun stuff. I am new to your blog and look forward to visiting on a regular basis. Keep up the good work. ~RAMONA
You had me at clever 😉 Thanks Ramona, so sweet of you. Can’t wait to get to know you better! xoxo, Jen
Jen,
Yay!!! I felt the same way. CreativeLive was such an amazing experience! Glad we connected before and finally met in person. You added a lot to our class. Also, love your new blog header. Thank you for the mention! We have to have coffee some time for sure!
Yes, Fanny. Coffee is my favorite, let’s do it! Thanks on the header! I love it too!
Oh how wonderful it all must have been. U can’t help but be a little jealous, but I’m so happy and grateful to have April and the supers in my life
Yes, the next class I really hope you are there! Kris recapped her real life meet up with you and it sounded amazing
Perfectly said, Jen! Thank you for being such a sweet, kind, and lovely lady. It was so cool of you to invite fellow Supers to crash at your place. That must have been the cherry on top of an already magnificent experience <3
Next time I am in the BA, I am calling you up 😉
xo,
rs
Yes, call me Richelle! It was so great to meet you and yes, having the girls bunk with me was amazing
Jen, it was so amazing meeting you in person! I hope we can collaborate together in the future, and I’m excited to see what’s in store for you next.
Yes, Sage! Collaboration is definitely in our future. I love the work that you do and the content you produce. Can’t wait to see more!
Great summary! It was fun watching you in the class. Love your interpretations and perspectives. Keep rockin!
Thanks, Jenna
You are my cheerleader daily. Hurry and fix your blog so I can comment girl!
Lovely post, Jen!!
Like you, I’m totally thankful for the experience.
It was so great meeting you as well– you have a positive light that is super contagious. Looking forward to seeing you grow!
Thanks, Jennifer! It was so great meeting you and I love reading your blog
So, I am watching April’s ‘Making Your Creative Business Uniquely Irresistible’, Creative Live class and you are on Module 2. Watching you I am filled with so many feelings. I feel lucky, to have met you in the Busy to Happy class when you were just starting this blog. I feel proud to see how far you have come and to watch how you stick with your commitments and find your voice. I feel happy and excited for you and all of the amazing things that have happened and the incredible journey ahead. I am hopeful because I see what your message is, and girls of all ages will have such a great opportunity to grow up empowered. I am so honored to know you and I am addicted to your site. Keep doing your thing, because we need it!
Thanks for such sweet words, Matti! I am so lucky to have met you! I really don’t know if I would have started the blog without your prompting!! xoxo, Jen
Hey Jen,
I’ve been a bit of a time warp since Creative Live and am just catching up with people’s posts about it. I really like your thankyou notes and agree with all of it. I loved every minute of both of April’s courses – even getting up at 3am to tune in live wasn’t too much of a chore!! It was great to see you guys in the audience and hear your questions and comments. What a great bunch of women! And you have such a genuine and positive voice in blog – good on you for having the courage to dare to create a life more awesome & thanks for sharing it around & inviting us to join you!
Thanks, Caela! I know we run in the same circles, can’t wait to check out your blog as well! xoxo, Jen
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