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When I was a kid, I wanted to be an artist.⠀ ⠀ I think many of us did.⠀ ⠀ I was *HIGHLY* creative. Or as I like to call it: WILD CREATIVE.⠀ ⠀ It wasn't just about painting or drawing. For me, it was about LIVING in a creative way. I was always daydreaming, imagining, and inventing.⠀ ⠀ In elementary school, I invented a contraption on my bike to make it blow bubbles as I pedalled.⠀ ⠀ I organized kids in my neighborhood to put on dance productions that I produced, directed, and performed in.⠀ ⠀ I wrote and illustrated stories -- mostly about a girl named Suzy -- that reflected my own life.⠀ ⠀ I choreographed routines for imaginary synchronized skating teams to songs on my Jock Jams CD (the only music I had access to in my bedroom at my dad's house on the weekend).⠀ ⠀ 💥 THIS IS WHO I WAS BEFORE THE WORLD TOLD ME WHO TO BE.💥 ⠀ ⠀ I'm on a quest to reclaim the things I loved as a kid.⠀ ⠀ ⛸ A year or so ago, I decided to get back into figure skating and took a couple months of lessons. ⠀ ⠀ 👩🏼🎨 A couple weeks ago, I started a 21-day drawing challenge.⠀ ⠀ 🎵 Yesterday I rented a flute so that I can play music again.⠀ ⠀ Each time I restart an activity that I loved as a kid, it makes me feel ALIVE in a way that I haven't felt in a long time.⠀ ⠀ I believe that it's the things we loved to do when we were younger that are the best window into accessing the most joyful, fully expressed versions of ourselves as adults.⠀ ⠀ So my question for you is...⠀ ⠀ 📣 What was something YOU loved to do as a kid that you haven't done in a LOOONG time?⠀ ⠀ Would you consider picking it up again? ⠀ ⠀ What's stopping you?⠀ ⠀ ⠀ #yayforbusiness
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I've always had beef with the expression, "Do what you love and you'll never work a day in your life."⠀ ⠀ Growing up, I kept trying to find a passion that didn't feel like work.⠀ ⠀ I thought, "If it feels like work, it can't be my passion".⠀ ⠀ But then I realized that all of the wonderful things I've ever been passionate about took HARD work.⠀ ⠀ NEWSFLASH: Every passion comes with elements that you don't enjoy.⠀ ⠀ ⛸ As a figure skater, I loved both competing and physical training. I hated the technical, detail-level aspects of the sport. I never bothered to learn how judging worked.⠀ ⠀ 🎓 As a college student, I loved planning and strategizing each semester. I loved getting my course syllabus on the first day of class and then making a plan for how to get an A in that class. I loved getting started on projects, papers, and studying. I hated the details. I hated memorizing. I hated the 3rd revision of papers I'd already spent hours working on.⠀ ⠀ 🏃🏼♀️ As I trained for a half marathon, I loved the feeling once I got that runner's high around mile 3-4. I hated the first 3 miles. I hated short runs and cross training.⠀ ⠀ 👩🏼💻 As an entrepreneur, I love speaking, coaching, creating, and connecting with my team and other entrepreneurs. I hate setting up tech, doing taxes (as an American living in Canada with a Canadian corporation I have a lot of them), answering emails.⠀ ⠀ ✏️ As a copywriter, I love the psychology of language. I love the strategy of a fun-to-read yet high-converting sales page. I hate spellcheck. I hate details (notice a pattern here?)⠀ ⠀ ➡️ It's helped me to reframe the expression, "If you love what you do, you'll never work a day in your life" into this:⠀ ⠀ ⭐️ "If you love what you do, you'll never work harder in your life but it'll be worth every second." ⭐️ ⠀ ⠀ You don't have to love every task.⠀ You don't have to love every day.⠀ You don't have to love every part of your work.⠀ ⠀ But if you love the work you do-- if you feel PASSIONATE about the work you do -- it'll all be worth it in the end. . ⬇️ TELL ME: What’s one part of your work that you DON’T love?! . #yayforbusiness
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Fourteen years ago we said goodbye to my step dad Fred, or as we liked to call him, Derf (Fred spelled backwards).⠀ ⠀ This morning I was at the dentist and as the hygensit raised the chair after my cleaning I caught a glimpse of the date and time: 10am on June 24th.⠀ ⠀ Fourteen years.⠀ ⠀ Fourteen years ago I was 18 and it was the summer between my freshman and softmore years of college. ⠀ ⠀ I remember the week that we said goodbye. I didn’t want to wear any clothes that I would ever wear again because I didn’t want to stain them with sadness. ⠀ ⠀ I remember crying in bed the night of June 24th so much that I was certain that I would die from not being able to breathe. ⠀ ⠀ I remember thinking, “There’s no way that anyone gets through this. It’s too painful.”⠀ ⠀ As the summer passed, I slowly went back to doing normal human things. I worked as a waitress. I went out with my friends. ⠀ ⠀ I wanted to live BIG because that’s what Fred did. He brought pure joy into every moment. ⠀ ⠀ Once during a road trip my brothers and I were playing the “alphabet game” where you have to see each letter outside and call it out. We were stuck on Q. Fred, while driving, pulled a quarter out of his pocket, threw it out the window and yelled “Q”!⠀ ⠀ During my college orientation my mom, Fred and I ate lunch at the school cafeteria. By the end of the lunch, he knew every single one of the cafeteria worker’s names. “By Sue! See you later, Phil!” he yelled as we left. Everyone waved at him.⠀ ⠀ I have countless stories of Fred, well, being Fred.⠀ ⠀ Fred’s funeral was standing room only. He was the guy who made everyone feel like they were his best friend. I feel incredibly lucky that I got to live in the same house with him for 6+ years.⠀ ⠀ Grief is one of those things you can’t understand until you experience it.⠀ ⠀ On June 24, 2006 I thought I’d cry forever. The first year was tough. I cried when my college roommates got into a passive aggressive argument about cleaning. I couldn’t believe they would bicker over something so silly when life is so short.⠀ ⠀ Continued in comments...⠀
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Let’s talk about SELLING, shall we? 😅⠀ ⠀ QUESTION: What’s the first word that comes to mind when you think of sales? ⠀ ⠀ ⬇️ Go ahead and pop it in the comments below!⬇️ ⠀ ⠀ I KNOW that selling can be one of the scariest parts of being in business.⠀ ⠀ It’s all fun and games until the moment that you have to ask the other person for money. 😵⠀ ⠀ Have you ever thought...⠀ ⠀ “Can’t I just do my work without having to get on sales calls or write proposals?!”⠀ ⠀ You secretly wish clients would just magically find you and hurry up and HIRE you already, so you can simply avoid sales conversations altogether because to you, sales calls are 🤮⠀ ⠀ I get it. ⠀ ⠀ If selling makes you uncomfortable, that’s totally normal. ⠀ ⠀ You are NOT alone.⠀ ⠀ You might be wondering...⠀ ⠀ “What will people say when I try to sell? Will they be mad?”⠀ ⠀ “What if they find me annoying?”⠀ ⠀ “What if I come across as pushy?”⠀ ⠀ “What if people think I’m trying to steal their money?”⠀ ⠀ WHAT IF, WHAT IF, WHAT IF.⠀ ⠀ I’m going to give it to you straight:⠀ ⠀ You’ve got to get over the “what ifs” and take the guesswork out of it. ⠀ ⠀ 👉🏽 Selling is a LEARNABLE skill 👈🏽 ⠀ ⠀ So how do you learn it?⠀ ⠀ Next Tuesday, I'm hosting my first LIVE masterclass in about 18 months and we're going to go over exactly how to SELL your services. (Link is in my profile to sign up).⠀ ⠀ I want more than ANYTHING for you to get clients. ⠀ ⠀ Ideal clients.⠀ ⠀ The kind of clients who will pay you and love you and do the work and refer you and sing your praises to everyone they know.⠀ ⠀ This is exactly why I’ve created a FREE MASTERCLASS: The Get More Clients Method.⠀ ⠀ You'll learn...⠀ ⠀ ❌ The top 3 mistakes EVERY entrepreneur makes when offering services (and how to fix them).⠀ ⠀ 🔮 The secret to packaging services that your ideal clients are already CRAVING and want to pay you for.⠀ ⠀ 📈 My proprietary Get More Clients framework for earning $5K per month or more CONSISTENTLY from your service-based business. (<-- how does THAT sound?!)⠀ ⠀ Go to the link in my profile to sign up!⠀ ⠀ #yayforbusiness
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Every Monday in our Yay for 100K™ group, I ask our clients to make ONE commitment for the week.⠀ ⠀ This commitment is supposed to be the ONE thing - come hell or high water - that they will accomplish that week.⠀ ⠀ Ideally, this commitment is something from our program curriculum. ⠀ ⠀ Then, on Friday, we follow up.⠀ ⠀ Did you accomplish that ONE thing you committed to on Monday?⠀ ⠀ Yes or no?⠀ ⠀ The goal here is *not* to make people feel bad if they don't follow through.⠀ ⠀ The goal here is to help our clients be more conscientious when they make the weekly commitment in the first place.⠀ ⠀ What I've noticed over the past 8 years of entrepreneurship is that as a species, we tend to WAY overestimate how much we can get done in a week.⠀ ⠀ My clients do this, too.⠀ ⠀ Sometimes they will list 2-3 commitments. ⠀ ⠀ Sometimes they will pick one thing but it's way too big of a thing.⠀ ⠀ There's nothing wrong with making those mistakes.⠀ ⠀ The key is to have a moment of self-awareness on Friday and ask yourself, "What prevented me from following through on my commitment?"⠀ ⠀ Because at the end of the day, this practice is all about SELF INTEGRITY.⠀ ⠀ It's all about building that muscle of making promises to yourself and then following through.⠀ ⠀ Start small.⠀ ⠀ Start with ONE thing.⠀ ⠀ I'd love to hear from YOU:⠀ ⠀ What's your ONE commitment for the week? . #yayforbusiness . P.S. I know I'm posting this on Tuesday instead of Monday. I took a 4 day weekend so today is my Monday! ⠀ ⠀ P.P.S. I finally got my hair done on Friday by @hairbymelc. Swipe to ogle at that dynamic color! 😍
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Read these words from my beautiful friend, @cachetprescott. Follow her. Listen to her podcast. Reposted with permission.
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There are more incredible anti racism resources floating around right now than I could possibly list here. I’m hesitant to even post on my feed because I don’t want to center my voice. I’m focused on: Listening to BIPOC and then listening some more. . Reading books and articles by BIPOC and then reading some more. . Reposting insightful content that I hope can crack us white folx wide open. . Giving to organizations to support BIPOC and making a list of donations I can make in the future (this isn’t a one time thing) . Getting clear on ACTIONS I can take outside of giving, like talking with 1:1 with clients, colleagues, friends, and family about what’s going on and calling out any racism I see. White friends: I’m ASSUMING your feed is already filled with these awesome resources as mine is but if it’s not please watch my stories for the ones I share and make it a PRIORITY to decolonize your feeds so that you DO see more anti racism content as well as content by BIPOC that has nothing to do with anti racism work. . I’m imperfect at this. I am going to get it wrong. But I will not be silent. What’s happening right now determines the safety and well-being of current and future generations. It’s too damn important. Please do not hesitate to call me out when I miss the mark. I promise to listen.
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Gimme a 🙌🏽in the comments if you've been on more than enough Zoom calls to last a lifetime 😅⠀ ⠀ One of my favorite intellectual-type people, @AdamGrant says that the best predictor of well being in quarantine is FLOW. The more we immerse ourselves in tasks, the happier we'll be.⠀ ⠀ I don't doubt this. Work has been an absolute savior for me the past couple of months. I feel incredibly grateful for the privilege of running this business.⠀ ⠀ But I'm pretty sure Zoom calls don't count 😂⠀ ⠀ So let's do more flow-y type work and less zoom meetings pretty please?⠀ ⠀ Who's with me?!⠀
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🚨THIS IS THE FUN POLICE WITH AN URGENT MESSAGE🚨 ⠀ ⠀ IS A LACK OF FUN HURTING YOUR BUSINESS?!⠀ ⠀ We all nee to lighten up a bit...especially right now! ⠀ ⠀ (May I suggest starting with making Pizza a priority on your to-do list like I did in this photo? 🍕🤣)⠀ ⠀ This is a friendly + fun reminder that being serious and stressed out for extended periods of time is *NOT* a good recipe for:⠀ ⠀ ✔️ Innovation⠀ ✔️ Creativity⠀ ✔️ Productivity⠀ ✔️ General wellbeing⠀ ✔️ Emotional resilience⠀ ✔️ Making money⠀ ⠀ In April, we had our best month ever in the middle of a global crisis.⠀ ⠀ When I say that, do you feel a little bit angry? Frustrated? Is there a little voice in your head that says, "Good for you, Courtney. Why can't that happen to me?"⠀ ⠀ I'VE BEEN THERE.⠀ ⠀ That voice is fear, not fun talking.⠀ ⠀ FUN > FEAR⠀ ⠀ We all have those fearful thoughts, but we must CHOOSE not to focus on them.⠀ ⠀ The reason I wanted to issue this 🚨FUN POLICE ALERT🚨 is because having FUN is how I had my best month ever.⠀ ⠀ I repeat: ⠀ ⠀ HAVING FUN IS WHAT ALLOWED ME TO HAVE MY BIGGEST MONTH EVER IN THE MIDDLE OF A PANDEMIC.⠀ ⠀ I made the choice to...⠀ ⠀ ➡️ Transform my victim thoughts into empowering ones.⠀ ➡️ Transform my fearful thoughts into hopeful ones.⠀ ➡️ Transform my scarcity thoughts into abundant ones.⠀ ⠀ Specifically, I made the choice to think things like...⠀ ⠀ ✨ "Let's just see what happens!"⠀ ✨ "No matter what happens, I'm so proud of what I'm creating"⠀ ✨ "I've always been able to figure it out in the past and I'll be able to figure it out in the future"⠀ ⠀ NOTICE: These are not thoughts about success, but thoughts that allow my emotions to be DETACHED from the results. I've learned to not allow external circumstances dictate how I feel. ⠀ ⠀ In other words: I have fun no matter what. I get to feel GOOD no matter what's happening.⠀ ⠀ ARE YOU COMMITTED TO CHOOSING FUN OVER FEAR?!⠀ ⠀ If so, drop a 🎉 in the comments!⠀
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How many times have you felt bad saying "no" to a friend, family member, or potential client when they asked you to do something and added..."I'll pay you for your time!"⠀ ⠀ As women, we already struggle with the internalized message that we have to say YES to everyone. ⠀ ⠀ But there's a NEXT LEVEL to this people pleasing that is even trickier: Saying "no' to people who offer to pay you.⠀ ⠀ It's as though adding money into the mix makes your desire to NOT do the work irrelevant.⠀ ⠀ It's like to saying:⠀ ⠀ "Well, I don't really WANT to jump off of a cliff, but if you're offering to pay me $1000 to do it, I guess I have no choice!"⠀ ⠀ Sounds ridiculous when I put it that way, doesn't it?⠀ ⠀ But it's true: ⠀ ⠀ Saying yes to work that is NOT in the scope of your services and you DON'T want to do is akin to pushing your business off of a cliff.⠀ ⠀ Behind this impulse to say "yes" to work we DON'T WANT TO DO or DON'T SPECIALIZE IN lies two beliefs:⠀ ⠀ 1. I shouldn't say "no" to money. ⠀ ⠀ NOPE. This is "jane of all trades" thinking. You are playing for scraps when you do this. You're actually saying no to money by saying yes to work outside of your signature service. The time you are spending doing "quick fixes" and extra work for your clients is actually COSTING you money.⠀ ⠀ 2. I'm letting the person down if I say "no"⠀ ⠀ NOPE. First of all, you are not responsible for other people's feelings. Second of all, there are PLENTY of service providers who specialize in the thing you are being asked to do. You are not the *only* person who can do this work for the person. You are not responsible TO your clients for every single whim they have. Saying YES to this client is actually letting them down.⠀
