Jen & Company

This is Part 1 of a 3 Part Series on the blog this week showing you how Jen & Company came to be and where we are going.

 

These last few weeks of my life have been absolutely amazing.  This little piece of the internet went from a vague idea, to a plan, to a reality.  I started writing to you about six weeks ago, but I have been thinking about writing to you for far longer than that.  I am so glad I took the plunge, jumped all in and reached out.

This is a mushy love note to you…I don’t feel like brand is really the right word, but Jen & Company stands for something, lots of things, actually.  It is about having a place to be heard, to use your voice.  It is about embracing your adorably quirky and perfectly unique self (literally, go ahead, hug yourself, I’ll wait).  It is about owning your brave and actively creating the life you want.  There are no victims here.  Only powerful people ready and willing to push their limits and create a life more awesome.  This is home base, your support system in an uncertain world.  This is where you come to get inspired, regain your sense of joy and go bravely in the direction of your dreams.  Um, okay, it might sound a little cheesy, but that really is what I want you to find here.  I am your bff and together we ARE creating a beautiful life.  You feel me?

Let’s rewind this story a bit, shall we?  Back in June of this year I started telling my friends and family that I was itching to carve out a little spot in cyberspace where I could talk about living a fuller, happier, more intentional life.  After spending so much of my life feeling so un…unworthy, unprofessional, unsuccessful, I made major life changes and decided to start living life with more passion and purpose.  I started feeling the fear and doing it anyway, as the saying goes.  And, I thought to myself, if I can let go of the relationships, perceptions and experiences that don’t serve me (the people, the rules, the thoughts that keep me miserable).  If I can let those things go and risk the unknown for the sake of my own happiness, for the happiness of my little kiddos, then ANYONE can do it.  That isn’t to say I’m not a superstar (we are all superstars in our own right), but it is just to say that I was one of the most fearful, uncertain people around.  It wasn’t easy for me to change my life, but I DID IT.  That’s why I knew I wanted to write to you.  I wanted you to know that courage is in taking action.  It doesn’t mean you aren’t going to be scared.  It means you aren’t going to let fear stop you from reaching for the things you really want.  It means trying new things, even if you feel dumb because you don’t know what you are doing yet.  New scary things like, um, writing a blog to friends you haven’t met yet, for example.

As I was toying with starting this blog, I talked to yet another friend about my nebulous ideas.  She told me about CreativeLive.com and said that she had just watched a course on the site by April Bowles-Olin about how to Build a Successful Creative Blog.  This blew my mind!  There is a place on the web that teaches classes about this?  This is a thing?  People do this?  It might sound naive, but the idea that there was a community of creatives and amazing resources to turn my idea into something real seemed too good to be true.  I started doing some research, checked out CreativeLive, then went to Blacksburgebelle.com (April’s Blog) and started reading everything she had to say about starting a blog.  I was fascinated.

In July, April announced an online class she was running with her equally awesome biz partner, Mayi Carles.  This was the first class I had ever seen of its kind.  It looked, well, fun and educational.  Fun? And educational?  The class was called Busy to Happy, a 21 day productivity mission.  April and Mayi were wearing superhero capes and hosting a happy hour video call to discuss what we could expect in class.  They were drinking green smoothies with little umbrellas and laughing and talking about how much fun life can be when you have your priorities straight (eating well, a good morning routine, exercise, lots of sleep) as well as your business priorities (energy management, goal setting, using social media with intention).  A fun class about setting goals and being productive, it seemed like an oxymoron…The class promised to be such a fun, bootcamp style chance to get my act together, that I thought, hmm, why not?

April and Mayi really shifted my ideas about how life could be.  Maybe I could be fun and silly AND still help people learn and grow and find their purpose? Maybe learning how to be more productive and create the life you dreamed of could be a laughter-filled process involving glitter and tutus?  Who knew?  Not me, that’s for sure.  But, once I realized we make our own rules, I let myself explore the idea of having more FUN.  Life can be challenging enough at times, why take myself so seriously.

Stay tuned for Part 2 and see what I do with this newly hatched perspective…

xoxo,

Jen

 

Are you ready to make your creative work more lucrative, stable, and sustainable in the long-term? Join April Bowles-Olinfor an introduction to digital products and how they can enhance your creative business. This course will show you how to produce and position viable products for generating multiple revenue streams and passive income. RSVP right here to watch it live and get access to the workbook for FREE. This post is part of the Create Digital Products blog tour.

 

april blog tour, CreativeLive, featured

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