Congratulations to our client Danielle L. Brooks on the publishing of her latest book The Extraordinary Ordinary You: A Manual for Self Discovery. As she writes about the book: "Today, most of us create our realities unconsciously from the programs embedded into us by our ancestors or the world around us. Our lives are the result of negative thought forms, limiting belief structures, and the untrue story that we are just flawed, unworthy humans, not the divine incarnate. This book speaks the truth about who you are and what you are beyond the constructs of fear, doubt, judgment, guilt and shame. Most importantly, this book shows you how to let go of what you are not and be that which you are beyond the constructs." We had a blast and an education going on the writing and publishing journey with Dani, and we are grateful she chose us to partner with her in seeing this creation come into existence. The book is available in hard back, paperback, and electronic forms. Also this week, our client author Amy Harris had a personal essay published by Calla Press. Titled "Favored," the piece explores how we all go through discouragement and defeat but we are all favored in God's eyes. Amy explores what that means as we travel life's path. And today, Creating the Freelance Career's founder Jill L. Ferguson was quoted in an article in Staples Connect. Titled "Achieving Print Perfection: Expert Tips for Creating Perfect Prints Every Time," the article explores print materials as marketing tools (in addition to digital marketing tools). Jill stresses that all materials should be compelling and create a positive impression. "When you choose higher-end papers such as beautiful card stock with a texture, it sends a message about your business and helps support that you are worth what you charge," Ferguson said.
Jill L. Ferguson also has a forthcoming article in Sierra Magazine this weekend on dog food sustainability. We are thrilled for all of the success at this company and for our clients.
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Help! My Company Swiped Left! is the latest book from Jill L. Ferguson and Laura C. Browne, and the book came about due to the increase in clients who had recently been laid off both women were coaching through their businesses. Ferguson and Browne understand that work and corporate America can be brutal, and that companies who claim "everyone is a family" really don't care about their employees and are mainly focused on the bottom line. Ferguson and Browne have both been in career situations that were precarious at best and toxic at their worst. They used this experience to write a sometimes snarky but always informative and helpful short read for anyone who has just experienced a lay-off, been furloughed, or been fired.
Check out the beginning of book's introduction to see if this book is for you: "WELCOME TO THIS BOOK. If the title made you laugh r cringe or coil in fear, you may be in the right place. We ve in a time when companies, like people, aren’t very oyal. They expect a lot from those who receive their direct eposited paychecks, and at the first sign of trouble, they may look for people and places to cut. Just as some people ee relationships at the first bit of rockiness, companies may dump individual contributors, whole departments or ivisions, and/or the bottom percentage of its salesforce at any given time. And when your company breaks up with you, it hurts. It hurts a lot. And you may wonder, was it me? Or was it them? We’re here to help you navigate through the unknown and the difficult times. And why, you may wonder. Well, we’ve been there. Laura has spent many years in corporate human resources and was let go unexpectedly twice, including one time when she was laid off by a manager who left her a brief voicemail saying her job was eliminated and that was her last day. This was only slightly better than being broken up with over text or social media. But it still stung. Rejection of any kind is painful. And somehow when the person dumping you lacks the cojones to tell you to your face, the rejection feels worse. It’s like you aren’t important enough for them to make the time. Jill’s experience came in her 20s, during a high level job that ended when it was discovered that the past executive stole and laundered money through the organization and created such a complicated mess that the nonprofit was forced to close its doors forever. The ex-exec was sent to federal prison in Texas, while the people she left behind at the company were out of their jobs. Regardless of how it happens to you or under what circumstances, suddenly losing your job sucks. It makes you question life, what you could have done differently, your value as a worker and a person of knowledge and action, and sometimes even your worth. Having your company swipe left can invoke a serious pity party. But before we break out too many Kleenex, pints of ice cream, or drink too much wine or hard seltzer, let’s figure out a way to make the best of a shitty situation. Take a deep, cleansing breath. Repeat: it’s those mo- fos and not me. It’s those mo-fos and not me. It’s those mo-fos and not me. And read on." Description, Dialogue, and Dynamic Beginnings: A Five-Week Workshop Beginning January 3 at 4 pm PST and every Tuesday during the month of January Week One: To paraphrase a song from the Sound of Music, “We’ll begin at the very beginning, it’s a very good place to start.” When we write we begin with A-B-C…What makes beginnings dynamic? What are the A-B-C’s of powerful beginnings? Workshop and beginnings assignment. Week Two: Bring to class your written exercise assigned during week one. We will go over these in class, plus anything else you’d like to share/have critiqued. Start of Description and description assignment. Week Three: Bring to class your written exercise assigned during week two. Continue description discussion. Do in-class assignment. Take home assignment: Description exercise #2. Share/Critique time. Week Four: Bring to class your completed Description exercise #2, plus any other writing you want to share/have critiqued. Discussion on Dialogue. Dialogue assignment. Week Five: Bring to class your completed Dialogue assignment, plus any other writing you want to share/have critiqued. Complete dialogue discussion and discuss “endings”. Facilitator’s Background: Jill L. Ferguson is the award-winning writer more than 2000 published articles, essays, and poems in Architectural Digest, Washington Post, Huffington Post, Sierra Magazine, and many more. She is the author of 15 books published under her own name and she has ghostwritten more than a dozen books for others. She also works as a book and business coach and is the founder of Creating the Freelance Career. Register before November 15 at $129. After November 15, the course price is $179. This five-week workshop teaches you everything you wanted to know about writing description, dialogue, and dynamic beginnings. Each class is structured with interactive lecture followed by worshiping of writing assignments. Useful for beginning and intermediate writers of fiction and nonfiction. Boredom, let’s talk about it. Boredom may seem like a strange topic to discuss here at Creating the Freelance Career, but the fact is I’ve seen too many people start to write books, to launch businesses, and talk about expanding their one-person operations and then get bored and discouraged. In Atomic Habits, James Clear writes, “The greatest threat to success is not failure but boredom. We get bored with habits that stop delighting us.” Clear continues with this derails progress and causes us to jump from one thing to another. As someone who has started numerous businesses and written way more things than I’ve published, I can relate to his point. It’s not when things become a challenge that I want to stop and move onto something else. It is when my mind feels numb and unengaged. Almost thirty years ago I was in talks with a publisher who was interested in a book idea I had. The book was tentatively titled How to Research Anything and was a deep-dive on the topic of where to go to find the information you sought, whether you were a student, a journalist, a law enforcement agent, or anyone. And I had done tons of interviews and research to write about this topic. Then I started writing the book. The intro and chapter one were solid. Chapter two was sailing alone, but by chapter three, I was boring myself to sleep. I tried every way I could think of to infuse life into what really was a rather dry topic. Anecdotes helped a little but much of the content was straightforward and dry, as how-to manuals before the fun and enthusiasm of YouTube video, were prone to be. Finally, I wrote the publisher back and said, “I’m sorry but I can’t finish this book. I’m so bored writing it that I’m sure no one will be interested in reading it.” In some ways, I consider this event a failure, but I also consider it a major learning experience. I don’t want to experience boredom, especially not for any length of time. And most others don’t either. It’s why people fill time scrolling the Internet or spending way too much time on social media platforms or watching cat videos or binge watching streaming shows. We want something that entertains us and chases away our boredom before it turns into blues. Boredom in work or with a task at hand can signal that we are doing something where we like the idea of the end-result but we may either not feel committed to getting there or the process we are going through to get there may not be the best process for us. (As James Clear says, we all have different genes and different skills and interests so maybe we need to a find a way to do whatever we want to do that feels the best to us.) 7 Ways to Overcome Boredom
It's been a busy summer at Creating the Freelance Career. On May 31, Jill L. Ferguson was quoted in an article on Staples Connect about the best career advice she ever received. And if you know anything about her work experience you probably won't be surprised about the advice she gave. Check it out by clicking the link on the words "Staples Connect."
In late June and early July, Rockitecture released in hardback and paperback after Barry Schweiger worked with us for almost three years on his book project. The finished product is beautiful, educational, and awe-inspiring. You can check it out here at Amazon or order it from your favorite local bookseller. On August 9, Jill L. Ferguson was a guest on Word of Mom radio. Dori DeCarlo and Jill had a great discussion on what it's like to write books, coach clients, and start businesses, and they had many laughs, too. Tune in to check it out wherever you listen to podcasts and streaming radio programs. Other wins this summer include the return of three clients from previous years. They loved working with us so much, they have asked to do so again. :) And of course, every week, Jill supports the work of Whole Champion Foundation, which includes helping its founder Barbara Edelston Peterson set the strategic direction of the organization, fundraise, create new materials (books, blogs, social media posts, curricula), establish a more robust board of directors, and help the organization expand and grow. Be on the lookout this autumn for Barbara and Jill's latest collaboration, a children's picture book titled In My World. For more than two years we at Creating the Freelance Career have been working with retired architect Barry Schweiger on his book Rockitecture: The Symphony of River Rocks and the Men Who Listened to Their Music. As Paul Haddad said, "This is a book that is long overfue, and Barry Schweiger is the only person who could have written it. Rockiecture is an eloquent love letter to the stone structures of Schweiger's youth combined with the kind of insightful perspective one can only get from renowned architect—all infused with a sense of mystery." To read the book is to go on a journey of Southern California's indigenous architecture, river rock homes, churches, castles, waiting stations and water troughs. All of which were crafted in the late 1800s and early 1900s, until building codes changed. Rockitecture celebrates and pays tribute to history, ancestors, native landscapes, and craftsmanship that endures for generations. It is filled with notable photos and educational and commemorating text. 337 pages.
Available at fine bookstores everywhere and at Amazon.com. And stay tuned for the sequel that covers Northen California river rock homes and buildings. If you missed the show and you want to listen and learn how to position yourself for success, use this link https://www.voiceamerica.com/episode/136820/getting-what-you-want-positioning-yourself-for-success.
Last week I took time away from the office to participate in the 1% For The Planet Global Summit with Barbara Edelston Peterson, Founder and CEO of Whole Champion Foundation, one of our clients. Barbara and Whole Champion has been working with us for just under two years, and we have helped re-write and write books, curricular materials for K-12, a brand manual, written website copy and blogs and handled social media marketing. We enjoy and are grateful for all of the work we collaborate on and we are especially grateful to Barbara for inviting us to the global summit as it was a members-only event. Participating in this three-day event in Los Angeles made us realize that all of the ways individuals and businesses—regardless of the size—can support the causes they hold dear, can contribute to changing the world, and can be that change. For example, you can choose to use a bank like Atmos Financial, whose vision is "Everyone, everywhere, taking action towards a clean, fair, and transformed economy" and whose mission is "Finance the rapid transition to the clean economy for all." Atmos is an FDIC-insured bank that provides 5 percent cash-back when you spend money on sustainable brands and charges no monthly service fees or requires a minimum balance plus free ATM withdrawals worldwide. Or you could join an organization like 1% For the Planet, either as a business member or an individual member. 1% for the Planet was started twenty years ago by Yvon Chouinard, founder of Patagonia and Craig Mathews, fly-fishing expert and entrepreneur. As they explained during opening night of the Summit, they wanted the nonprofit to challenge businesses to donate one percent of their annual sales (not profits—which could be diminished by big bonuses and other things—but sales revenue) to enviromental causes, as that was one of the ways that would be needed to counteract the damage we were doing to the planet. As it says on the 1% website, "Currently in the United States only 3% total of philanthropy goes to enviromental causes...The global community - every business, every organization, every individual - has the opportunity to take responsibility for the planet and drive positive change." To join as a individual member, one pledges 1% of one's annual salary, and the membership dues for belonging to 1% come out of that amount. The organization explains under its FAQs, "Our aim is for every individual, regardless of income level, to be able to join as an individual member by pledging to donate 1% of your annual salary. Your 1% pledge should be an amount that is personally meaningful for you.Note that we require a $50 minimum membership dues payment to help cover the cost of the program, and to be able to provide you with the benefits listed above. Dues payments count toward member 1% commitments. For example, an individual who makes $40,000 annually has a 1% pledge amount of $400; $50 would go to 1% For the Planet as membership dues and the member donates the remaining $350 to the environmental nonprofits of their choice." The nonprofits the member would donate to are vetted by 1% For the Planet, and the "money" you donate can be either actual money or the equivalent of time (which is calculated at $29/hour). By providing a low cost of entry/membership and multiple ways to donate, 1% For the Planet makes choosing to support environmental causes extremely accessible. While I would arguing that saving the planet should be the responsibility of everyone living one it, I acknowledge that other causes may also be aligned with the mission/vision and work of your business. Change in any area can be affected by us, when we step up and help, donate, colloborate, contribute, and champion the cause. So put your expertise, your passion, where you put your money, and a percentage of your sales towards a cause today and champion change for a better world. Creating the Freelance Career founder Jill L. Ferguson was featured in Authority Magazine on February 1 about what a writer needs to be successful. The article in its entirety can be read here. And the video embedded in the article came from Jill's YouTube channel. Jill was grateful to be featured in this article and to offer advice to people who want to pursue writing as a career. #writingadvice #writingcareer #writingcoach #author #authoritymagazine Success can mean different things, depending who you ask. For some people it means having a lot of money. For others, it means being able to work from anywhere they choose, like the French Polynesian beach above or a mountaintop cabin or in the middle of a bustling city or from all of these places. Other people equate success with the privilege of doing work they love, regardless of the salary or benefits. And still others won't feel successful until others know their name, and they leave behind a "brand" legacy. This week, a journalist asked me to name five things that make an author successful. And to be honest, I had a difficult time narrowing it down to five things. You can hear those things in the video I created for that journalist. It is below. In the video I talk about tenacity, which includes an unrelenting drive and persistence to reach your goals. Brendon Burchard also talked about those things on Amy Porterfield's podcast this week, when they discussed 6 High Performance Habits to Transform Your Life and Business. You can listen to that hour-long. inspiring podcast right here.
In my opinion and experience, the things I think people need to be successful (as author or business people or in any endeavor are the following, in no particular order): 1) Tenacity. No one starts succeeding from day one. All businesses and building anything take work and dedication. Setbacks will happen. How will you handle them? Will they discourage you or will they strengthen your reserve? Without the drive to strive towards our goals, we will never succeed in anything. 2) Willingness to Learn and Listen to Experts. Someone always knows more than you do about everything. Every top athlete has a coach and most likely has had multiple coaches. Even those at the top of their games can improve and get even better. It's a fact in sport and a fact in life. Surround yourself by those who know more than you. Learn from them. Be a sponge an absorb the lessons and incorporate them into your life and work. If you live life right, it is a journey of never-ending self improvement (not because we are in a state of lack but because the universe is so rich that we can never learn everything.) Open yourself to the abundance of opportunities and education that is all around you. 3) Openness to Opportunities (and to see every interaction you have as a potential opportunity). I have been hired to do work I didn't know existed because I always remain open to opportunities. Be willing to listen to meet new people and to listen to their stories. Politely ask questions to show your interest. Seek ways you can learn and work with others to create amazing products and services. You never know what kinds of positive opportunities will "fall" into your life unless you are open to receiving them. 4) Willingness to Collaborate. Some of my best-written and selling books have been collaborations, where our energy feeds off of each other and our creativity is boosted by our brainstorming. Collaborations also help us succeed more because we can work with people whose strengths shore up our weakness and vice versa. Often more eyes on a project means fewer errors. 5) Basic Marketing Know-how. I am not saying to get an MBA in marketing, but to understand the basics of how to get yourself, your products, and your name in front of others. Excellent classes can be taken for cheap for free on LinkedIn, Coursera, Udemy, and others, teaching you social media 101 and the fundamentals of marketing and public relations. All of it will give you ideas of how to reach your audience or customers. 6) Knowledge of Correct Grammar and Punctuation. The former English professor in me celebrates this one as no one responds as favorably to letters or e-mails or social media posts that are a mess of mispellings and mistakes. And if you are a writer, no agent, editor, or publisher will waste their time reviewing a manuscript with great ideas if the delivery method makes it painful to decipher. Use spelling and grammar check in your word processing software or e-mail program. Use Grammarly if you need more professional help. You know whether grammar and punctuation and spelling are strengths or areas that need improvement for you. Be honest with yourself and use what's available if you need it. 7) Goals. It may seem obvious but if you don't create goals to strive towards and a plan to reach the goal, you will never be a success. Think about it in tangible terms. Let's say you want to lose 10 pounds. Wanting to do something and hoping isn't a strategy. In order to lose 10 pounds you'd need to set that as a goal and add a specific date to reach it, and then create an action plan. It might look like: establish current weight by stepping on scale, increase exercise by walking one more mile or 1000 steps more than usual each day, decrease amount of carbs every day and replace that by a fresh vegetable, drink no soda and limit alcohol to X, and drink eight full glasses of water every day. All of these steps combined will lead your towards your goal if you stick with them. 8) Find Internal Motivation. In order to reach any kind of goal or to achieve success, you have to find internal motivation, something that means so much to you that can drive your actions. For example, some people are driven by the idea of providing for their families the most they can or others want to reach a level of success so they can repay their parents or buy them a house or still others want to see their names in lights or hear the applause of 10,000 people. What do you really, really, really want and why? Let that drive you towards success and keep that internal motivation in mind when the going gets tough--because it will. 9) Vision. Regardless of what you think of Elon Musk as a human being, you have to admit the guy has vision. This vision is what drives him to make all of his companies successful. The same can be said of Sir Richard Branson, Bill Gates, and Jeff Bezos. They all at one point or another saw how things could be and strove to make those visions reality and that drove their success. Martha Beck teaches that if we keep envisioning an outcome we want our brains think we have achieved it so it makes it easier to reach the goal in real life. Athletes use this techinque often to picture themselves on the podium. What visions do you have? Do you see yourself getting the accolades or deals you want? 10) Have a Cheerleader in Your Corner. Successful people surround themselves with people who want them to reach their goals. These people will cheer you on when the going is tough and keep you motivated. They may not always be "yes" people but they have your best interests at heart and are they saying, "You can do this! You've got it! I believe in you." 11) Have an Accountability Partner. An accountability partner holds you to the goals and plan you set for yourself. They ask for progress reports and offer encouragement and advice when you need it. You may meet with the person (or talk with them over the phone or on video) weekly or monthly or even daily depending on your needs. But they are always there for you and you for them, as it is reciprocal relationship, where you each report out to and encourage each other in the most authentic way. 12) Understand How You Define Success. Attaining success is super difficult if you don't know what success means for you, personally. Without a clear definition of personal success, you will keep striving and never reach your end goal. This may make you frustrated and feel like a failure. Define success for yourself in tangible results. Then, after your reach those goals you can declare yourself a success. (And if you feel the need, you can always say, "I am a success, but I still want to strive for more," and you can set a new goal. One guy I know wanted to make his company a seven-figure company and that's when he'd know he made it. He did and decided that he wanted to share the recipe for success with others, so he has started a new consulting company to help others reach similar goals. That doesn't mean his original company isn't growing; it reached eight figures recently. But he's getting additional satisfaction by paying it forward and guiding others in how to attain success in their industry. |
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