Stacey – Page 11

Jun 16 2016

Create Your Own Path

“A successful life is one that is lived through understanding and pursuing one’s own path, not chasing after the desires of others”

Are you at a point in your life where you feel like you need a change? You want to start something new? Our lives have twists and turns and the path isn’t necessarily a straight line or even always clear. You change, grow and evolve and should give yourself permission to try something new if that’s what you desire. Sometimes we tend to pigeon hole ourselves or even label ourselves. “I’m a realtor”, I’m a lawyer”. That doesn’t mean you can ONLY do those things for the rest of your life. It’s your choice what you want to do or be.

For example in my own life, I always had a desire to do something creative but in the beginning tended to put it on the back burner. I started out after college going into computers as a programmer and systems analyst for a licensing company.

After a few years I gave in to my creative urges and started a gift basket business. I worked at both my job and my business for a few years then finally left my computer job because my goal was to build up my basket business. I still wanted some steady income so I also did software training on the side. I eventually gave up the software training to give my full attention to my basket business.

I stuck with it for many years but it started to taper off a few years after having my girls. I started to lose interest and eventually just said I was done. It was hard to let my regular clients know I was going to close my business but I couldn’t just stick with something just because I was good at it or to please other people when I knew in my gut it was over.

I did some web design and on the creative side I started making hair accessories for my girls and selling them at craft fairs and gift shops.

I was always into photography but it accelerated when I became a mom. When the girls were babies I was obsessed with photographing every moment because at the time we were living in Florida and my mom and sis were back in NYC. Thank goodness for digital because I photographed and emailed photographs every day!

I started making my own accordion photo books and started selling those as well.

Soon after I decided to go pro as a photographer and have been doing it for years now and loving it.

About a year and a half ago I was starting to get that itch again and I realized I really love helping people get started with their own businesses and making connections. It really excites me to see other women going after what makes them happy! And that’s where I am today with Life Happens Now.

In a nutshell this was / is my professional life…

Computer Programmer / Systems Analyst
Gift Basket Business Owner
Web Designer
Maker of Hair Accessories and Photo Books
Professional Photographer
Coach / Mentor For Creative Startups

I forgot to add in there at some point I was obsessed with cake decorating and thought I would be a professional cake decorator! 🙂

It’s ok to be multi passionate, to be curious and to try things out to see what you like. Not everything has to be a full fledged business. It can be a hobby, you can be a consultant or freelancer, start something part time. The choice is really up to you.

Don’t feel bad about starting one thing just to realize it wasn’t meant for you. You don’t need to feel stuck or guilty about it. I have a friend who went to med school, became a doctor, then a few years into it decided he wanted to be a professional magician…and went for it! How inspiring is that?!?

The coaching and photography fill different needs for me. I always need to do something creative so photography fills that need but I also want to make an impact and a difference in people’s lives and that’s where the coaching comes in. It’s so rewarding to see the transformation in women who are making the commitment to go after what they want. To see things happen that they at first didn’t think was even possible.

So, now take a look at your own life. Have you stayed with the same job for years but now feel stuck and unfulfilled? Are the kids all in school and now you actually have time to do something for yourself to start your creative gig? Go for it! Even if you have to ease into it by taking a class or doing one small thing each day. Just get started.

Life happens Now – Don’t wait!

Tell me in the comments what you’d love to be doing now….

May 31 2016

Flipping The Switch

How was your Memorial Day weekend? Did you do anything fun? Any outdoor bbq’s?

This weekend I did something I hadn’t done in ages – EXERCISED!!! I’ve been so bad lately about exercising – making excuse after excuse and spending more hours just sitting in front of my computer.

Even though my jeans are getting tighter, my girls are telling me my butt is getting bigger, I’m tired all the time and I know exercise is good for me, I just couldn’t talk myself into it.

A few things made me flip that switch.

1 – I saw a picture of myself from a day trip we took this weekend up to the country – Sugar Loaf Mountain. Wow! That was a real eye opener but sometimes you really need a mirror thrown up in front of your face to see the reality.
2 – If I was going to exercise it had to be enjoyable so somehow I had to mix in other things that I love to do. Right now walking is my exercise of choice. I can listen to some great podcasts so I can tie in personal development work. It’s visually really pretty where I walk so I also have opportunities to take some photos along the way. Photography has a way of sneaking in to most things I do!
3 – When I exercise, it makes me more intentional about eating healthier that day and that in turn makes me less tired so I have more awake hours to do the things I want to do.
4 – It has to be convenient (and not too hot) so I walk in the morning when I get up or right after I do school drop off. Then I get it out of the way for the day.

It was almost instantaneous as soon as I made that decision and started to look at it in a different light. This morning I also went so I feel like I’m on a roll! I also recently discovered fitness guru Tracy Anderson from the business show Follow The Leader and was really inspired by her drive and her brand. Her exercises actually look fun!

Flipping the Switch can really apply to anything in your life whether it’s personal or business related.

Is there something you’ve been dreading that you can possibly look at in a different light to flip that switch?

A few images from my walk – soon to be making an appearance on my Instagram feed!

May 24 2016

Friday Night at The Plaza Hotel, NYC

How are you? Is your week off to a good start?

Wanted to tell you about a great event I attended this past Friday night. I got all dressed up to go to The Plaza for a networking event.

When you have your own business, or want to start one, it takes investing in yourself, not only financially but with time as well.

Sometimes it’s hard to stay motivated but when you have a goal in mind, it makes it somewhat easier. I had plenty of excuses for not attending:

I had to get dressed up! I live in jeans so having to put on a dress is a big deal for me – including having to shave my legs!!
Dragging my butt into the city on a Friday night knowing if I drove I’d be stuck in traffic so I opted for the subway
I didn’t have any friends going so of course I was thinking who am I going to talk to – I’m not the bravest about just going up to strangers
It was my anniversary! So yes, of course I felt guilty!

The thing is, I knew the women attending this event are all highly successful and killing it in their coaching businesses. I was intimidated but I wanted to be around that high vibe energy. I busted through my excuses and went for it.

It was amazing! It wasn’t a typical networking event where everyone was just passing out business cards. It was more like a mastermind – exchanging ideas and helping one another in a collaborative, rather than competitive way.

It was refreshing not to be speaking about our kids, playdates, homework and what we’re cooking for dinner. None of that stuff was ever mentioned! Was it scary to go up to people? Hell yeah! Putting yourself out there and getting out of your comfort zone is always scary but it’s what makes you grow.

After speaking to these women, I realized they’re just people – like you and I. We’re all trying to figure things out. It was inspiring to be around women that were really going after what THEY want for their life – making themselves a priority!

Think about something that you want, just for you and see what steps you can take this week towards making it happen.

Life Happens Now!

May 23 2016

Mindset Monday – Feeling Trapped

As far as mindset goes, today I want to talk about feeling TRAPPED. Is there something in your life that you’re feeling trapped about?

Maybe you have kids and you feel TRAPPED by their schedule?

TRAPPED by not having enough money to move forward,

TRAPPED by lack of time.

TRAPPED by your own feelings of not being good enough.

TRAPPED by a job that you need for the money but you know you hate being there.

Feeling trapped can feel like you’re in a cardboard box taped up all around you with no way out. You’re struggling – banging for help but no one is answering. You feel like there’s no hope – no way out.

Then miraculously you see a tiny little hole in the corner of the box. You start to relax and you can breathe and the panic starts to diminish. You get a sense of hope just from that tiny little hole.

So again I ask, what is it that is making you feel TRAPPED and what is that tiny little hole that can give you HOPE? It could be as simple as an unexpected email or something you read in a book.

For me I’ve been getting tons of inspiration and motivation and starting to see things differently by watching the interviews in the 30 Days of Genius at CreativeLive series.

I really can’t express how great these have been. Even today as I watched Daymond John‘s interview, I was inspired by his goal setting and visualization practice. Going to definitely make tweaks in my own routines!

If you need to find that little glimmer of hope, inspiration, and motivation, go sign up for this series now and start catching up on the previous interviews. It won’t cost anything except for your time.

If you have been watching, which has been your favorite interview so far and what have you learned?

**This post contains affiliate links and I may be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links.

May 13 2016

Organizing Your Passwords + Free Printable

When you start to be very active online – signing up for various courses, paying your bills and creating new social media accounts, you’re going to end up with a whole lot of passwords to remember.

With security getting even tighter, the passwords need to be more random and I don’t know about you but I can’t remember them all! I was scribbling them on a piece of paper, putting post it notes all over the place, then I realized I needed something much neater and more organized so I created this Password Cheat Sheet.

I know some people create a document on their computer and have all of their passwords listed there but what if you system crashes or the power goes? Then what?

I also know there are apps that you can use to store your passwords but I haven’t tried any of them.

I’m going old school here and just writing them down!

I’m trying to get myself more organized and neaten my office area and figured this was an easy place to start.

If you’re tired of having little post its all over the place and need a better way of remembering, grab a hold of this printable. Print as many as you need and if you trust everyone in your home, keep it nearby your work area, of if there is a trust issue, file it away but at least you know they’ll all be in one place.

Remember to:

change your passwords often – at least once a month
don’t use the same password for all of your different accounts

How do you manage all of your passwords?