Michelle Ward
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Grown-Ups in Mirror May Be the Total Opposite of How They Appear
Have you noticed lately that the person you’ve been worshiping isn’t as “perfect” or “together” as they seem? Take that friend you envy for her freelance writing career, for example. You see her & think “Someone can make a living as a writer? Awesome!” You might have even been thinking of her when you set-up your blog & started posting, or submitted yourself to write for an online paper. But one fateful day, you discover that she has a trust fund in the bank & her writing gigs don’t sustain her. (Record comes to a screeching halt).
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How to Become an Expert While Honoring Your Renaissance Soul. It Ain’t No Oxymoron.
Last month, I attended a pretty fantabulus webinar where Seth Godin, marketing genius guru extraordinaire deity, was interviewed about career stability in relation to the launch of his new book, Linchpin. While I’ve yet to read the book, I knew that the overall message was that you need to make yourself indespensible by becoming an expert (read: forsake all other things besides the One Thing). As a Creative, my ears perked up & my brows furrowed when I heard this.
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The Dreaded Question
Do any of these exchanges sound familiar, fellow creative? Them: “So…what do you do?” You: “I’m an Executive Assistant.” (leaves out that you’re a certified life coach & kicks ass at it & won’t be an Executive Assistant for much longer) orr Them:”So…what are you up to?” You: “Uh….Well, I just opened my own shop on Etsy.” Them:”What’s Etsy?” You: “Oh, it’s just this online store thing….People can by my artwork….” Them:”And you make a living from that?” You: “Uh, well, I’m trying!
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How is this my life?
Chances are, if you're reading this article, you're a creative type in one way or another. You might be an artist, a writer, a knitter, a dancer, a musician, a sculptor, an actor, a quilter, a painter or a singer. You might be a director, a filmmaker, a stage manager, a photographer, or a graphic designer. You might be a seamstress, a baker, a candlestick maker...OK, you get my point. Chances are, you've had a day job.
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Yes (Wo)Man
"The world's a playground. You know that when you are a kid, but somewhere along the way everyone forgets it." - Allison in Yes Man Last week, I finally got to see Yes Man, the romantic comedy starring Jim Carrey. I remember the hulabaloo around the coaching community when this movie came out, praising it for the message it sent: say Yes to everything! Yes to party invites from the nerdy boss! Yes to mail-order wives! Yes to giving homeless men rides to deserted parks at night! Personal safety aside, I know that the overall message resonated with a lot of people.
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5 Reasons I Got Off My Ass & Discovered a New Passion
I've taken some time this month to clean out my Gmail, the main goal being to have a completely empty Inbox. I went through each email one by one, adding it to my Gmail Task List and/or archiving it away, until I got to the very last entry. It was labeled "journal" & dated 12/14/06.
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7 Quality Questions for Rockin' Resume Results
As ironic as it sounds, the day before I published my newsletter with the article Jobs Suck (about how I hate career coaches who exist to “find you your next job” ("job" should be a 4-letter word!) or “fix your resume” (eye roll)) , I found myself spending two hours cleaning up one of my favorite client's - you guessed it - resume. Suzy (not her real name – confidentiality, people!) spent 11 sessions working with me to figure out what she wanted to be when she grew up, since she was conditioned to believe that everyone has just one path to travel down.
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Money is Payment for...
As a struggling actress, I knew that in order to feed/clothe myself & keep a roof over my head, I had to take as many day jobs as I had limbs. These day jobs equaled money, and comfort, and a Girls Night Out or two. Even though I was auditioning every spare second I had, and taking almost every acting job that was offered to me, those gigs never (I repeat: NEVER) paid the rent. When I think back on the 5 years post-collage that I focusing on acting, there are only two jobs that I can recollect that actually paid my bills.
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Safe is a Four Letter Word
I’ve been encountering a super bad four letter word lately, spoken by both my clients & myself. The word ain’t s*** or f*** or even crap-tastic. No. The word is safe. And it’s as bad as any of the words I just listed. Now, when I think of safe, I think of sleepiness & hugs & hot cocoa & being with those I love & not being hurt & being invulnerable & fuzzy teddy bears & big down comforters. If I look at it as one cold winter day, a smile comes to my face. But if I look at it as a state of being, I see it as scary. Yes, scary. And boring. And stagnant.
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