Sara Carbaugh | Your Creative Ally

Author Archive

Creating for Stress Relief

Thursday, October 20th, 2011

I’ve talked before about how important it is to be creative because it’s not a waste of time but this past week I actually saw it in practice!

As you may know, last week did not go exactly as I had planned. Instead of going to Chicago for a week of relaxation and me time I instead spent the week with my family in Northern Ohio. I had a great time with my family even though I’m pretty sure my daughter had MORE fantabulous time getting super spoiled the whole week!

Even though it wasn’t exactly as I envisioned I got a lot done that I wouldn’t have gotten done at home (trainings, banking, budgeting) and I got to spend some much needed time with my mom, dad and siblings.

I also attribute my good week to the fact that my daughter’s babysitter roped me into crocheting hats for a local craft fair this Sunday! Two weeks to make 30-some hats, head wraps and hopefully some stuffed animals. Phew! Thankfully my mom and sister were there to help make some hats with me and make a dent in my quota.

I was pretty disappointed about my plans being messed up but being able to throw myself into my crafting was a great way for me to push through to a happier mood and see the bright side of my plans being changed.

Having that creative outlet was super important for me and maybe for you it will be painting or writing or singing or designing vintage reproduction clothing(give me a call…). Whatever you creative outlet is let it be your way of calming down and enjoying yourself.

Oh and if you’re in the Hamilton, Ohio area and want to meet me in person and buy a hat from me, the craft fair will be on October 22nd from 10-4:00pm at the Hamilton Elks (4444 Hamilton Middletown Road)!

I’m rather excited to see how this goes! It may be a new blog post in the making; either “How to do a Craft Show right” or “How NOT to do a Craft Show” hehe

What are your creative outlets when you need to change your mood?
Maybe your creative outlet is being still and meditating. How is that feeling different than throwing yourself into a new project?
What are your tips and tricks for making a craft show spectacular?

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Tags: #blogboost, craft, organizing, stress
Posted in Be Creative!, Organization | 2 Comments »

Plan, Plan, Plan, Stumble, Plan…

Thursday, October 13th, 2011

I talk a lot about planning here on my blog but there are times when planning still doesn’t cut it and you end up at square one again.

Source: epherielldesigns.com via Sara on Pinterest

That happened to me this week. This was supposed to be my business vacation week but because of scheduling conflicts and other issues I’m not in Chicago like I wanted to be, I’m still at my parents house. Not that I don’t love my family (Hi Mom!) but it’s just not the week I had planned out for myself, with peace and quiet and lots of no-baby business time. Once again I will remind you that I love my family, but listening to my daughter run around like a crazy person with her grandparents is not quite as relaxing as it would be if I was tucked away in a coffee shop in Chicago observing all the hipster youth getting their ironic hot chocolates.

So what did I do when I realized my plans were going down the proverbial toilet? Did I stand up straight and say, “No problemo. I will make this work!” ? No. I was pretty weepy, had a “poor Sara” party that included Chipotle and THEN I made a new plan. My new plan involves some dedicated business time in the mornings and then family time in the evenings. The Universe must be trying to tell me that I need to spend more time with my family and that’s why everything is keeping me here with them right now.

I’m also going to cut back on the number of items I wanted to accomplish this week. I had some grand plans for all of my uninterrupted Me time so now that I only have Mini Me time I’m not going to beat myself up about not getting it all done.

Making a plan is so important but being able to roll with the flow can be even more important because everyone will have a wrench thrown into their plans at some point. The trick is not to get stuck in the “poor me” vortex because it’s really hard to drag your mind back out once you’re in there. You won’t get ANYTHING accomplished if you stay in your little sad sack. For me, I was pretty stuck until I decided to put on my dance music and shake all the sad sackery out of my system! (Watching the wee one dance around with me was kind of the icing on the cake! )

How have you rolled with the flow when your plans have been derailed?

What’s your favorite thing to do to cheer yourself up?

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Tags: #blogboost, business planning, Chicago, derailing, music
Posted in Business Planning | 2 Comments »

Budgeting for a Work at Home Mom

Monday, October 10th, 2011

Today we’re continuing our planning discussion. You should have gotten your Chocolate Banana, your Chocolate Banana’s Vision and Researched your Banana’s competition all from our previous posts, so what’s next?

Source: jonesdesigncompany.com via Sara on Pinterest

“The nerve of those Whos. Inviting me down there – on such short notice! Even if I wanted to go my schedule wouldn’t allow it. 4:00, wallow in self pity; 4:30, stare into the abyss; 5:00, solve world hunger, tell no one; 5:30, jazzercize; 6:30, dinner with me – I can’t cancel that again; 7:00, wrestle with my self-loathing… I’m booked. Of course, if I bump the loathing to 9, I could still be done in time to lay in bed, stare at the ceiling and slip slowly into madness. But what would I wear? ”

- The Grinch, “How the Grinch Stole Christmas”

Budgeting is more than just money.

When I started planning for my business I had the money flow all set up to see what I needed to make, what I wanted to make and how much work I needed to bring in to make that number happen. This is a step that i think a lot of people miss because it takes a lot of time and energy to put it together if you don’t have a good relationship with your calculator. There are a lot of great websites and templates out there that can help you make sense of all the numbers. SCORE.org is a great resource for new small business owners and they have great templates and worksheets to help you figure out a money flow for your project. Mint.com is another cool site that lets you organize all of the money you have now and track how you’re spending money and how you can start saving some money as well.

From my experience though, budgeting your time is just as important as budgeting your money.

I had all the money taking care of, for the most part, but what I didn’t account for was the time it was going to take to make all my caviar dreams come true.

When my daughter was teeny tiny, I could count on her sleeping most of the day, or if not sleeping at least laying somewhere and not moving… Now that she’s almost three years old, there is no way that she is going to sit still to eat let alone give mommy a chance to finish writing an article or tweaking a newsletter for a client! Now that her schedule has changed, mine had to change as well.

She goes to the baby sitter 2-3 times a week to give me some time to focus on my work and it’s amazing how much more work I get done in and on my business when I don’t have to worry about what she’d doing or why it’s so quiet upstairs!

I always eat lunch with her even on the days when she doesn’t want to eat anything. We sit at the table and play with her cars or read stories and I try to get her to eat at least a piece of turkey before she goes back to playing with her trains in the living room.

I plan my day out in the morning so that i don’t have any surprises during the day. I do still get urgent emails and have to tweak my schedule once in awhile but for the most part, even just having a plan of attack is super important to a happy Sara.

I shut down at 6.00pm EST everyday. I’ve talked about my worked schedule before but this is a really important one for me because it gives me enough time to get work done during the day but then gives me the time to put food together and spend some time together in the evenings before she has to go to bed.

I try to work with her now and make sure that she’s always the priority. She’s the reason I stayed home to work so what’s the point of working my butt off if I can’t play princess with her when she really needs me to?!

What’s your view of Budgeting?

Have you ever done any budgeting; money and/or time?
How did your system work out? Did you end up tweaking it along the way?
If you are a WAHM, how do you manage your time to make sure you have a peaceful household and a booming business?

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Tags: #blogboost, budgeting, business planning, chocolate banana, WAHM
Posted in Business Planning, Chocolate Banana, Parenting | 2 Comments »

The Wonderful World of the Platypus brain

Thursday, October 6th, 2011

In addition to today’s blog post I also have a guest post up on Michelle Ward’s When I Grow Up blog! Go check out the awesomeness!

We’ve all heard of Right Brained people and Left Brained people. Right Brain’s are creative, emotional and have to touch and feel everything around them in order to understand what they’re learning. Left Brain’s are logical, analytical and need to plan out and learn before they get into doing something.

I, on the other hand am what I am calling a Platypus Brain (mostly because I love Platypuses…Platypusi….ummmm more than one Platypus.)

What happens when you combine lemons and sugar?
You get lemonade!

What happens when you combine humans and Cylons?
You get human/Cylon hybrids!

What happens when you combine a duck with a beaver?
You get a platypus!

In each case you have an organized, logical ingredient (lemons, Cylons and beavers) combining with a free spirit creative element (sugar, humans and ducks). When they combine they create something new and wonderful and sometimes a little hard to understand.

This is the way Platypus Brains work and because of their awesome mixture of characteristics they are hard to put in a category. Taking me as an example, I love to make to do lists and plan ahead and think problems through logically BUT I also love to go on spontaneous adventures and dance around the house like a crazy person when I need a pick me up!

I love being a Platypus Brain because it allows me to help get Right Brains organized and bring out the creative sparks in Left Brains!

What kind of brain do you have? Right Brain, Left Brain or Platypus Brain? I think there are a lot more of us out there than people think so I’d love to hear about how you see yourself!
If you don’t know how to decide what Brain you are, take this quiz and find out!

Here is my results.

Right Brain/ Left Brain Quiz
The higher of these two numbers below indicates which side of your brain has dominance in your life. Realizing your right brain/left brain tendency will help you interact with and to understand others.
Left Brain Dominance:	(8)
Right Brain Dominance:	(8)
Right Brain/ Left Brain Quiz

See! Platypus Brain! : )

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Tags: #blogboost, platypus brain
Posted in Random Thoughts | 3 Comments »

Researching: The truth is out there

Wednesday, October 5th, 2011

Today we’re continuing our planning discussion. You should have gotten your Chocolate Banana and your Chocolate Banana’s Vision from our previous post, so what’s next?

Source: knackstudios.blogspot.com via Sara on Pinterest

Research is one of those planning steps that you either LOVE to do or you would rather stick your face if a pile of spaghetti.

Finding out all you can about your Chocolate Banana can save you hours, weeks and sometimes years of work because what if the novel you want to write has already been written? What if the cupcake business you want to start has already been started? Neither one of these questions are dead ends because you can always tweak the story of a novel slightly or offer something completely different with your business that the other guy just can’t offer.

When I started my business as a virtual assistant I did loads of research into what a virtual assistant was, where did they work, were there any in my area, how did they charge, what services did they offer? Once I had those questions answered I asked myself,

“Now, what can I do better/different than all of these people?”

In my case, the answer ended up being my awesome quirky personality. For you it might be your awesome way with telling a story that the other authors just can’t match. Maybe your cupcakes are designed to go with your passion for science fiction and comic books instead of the normal pink and white frosting that the other shops are selling.

Homework for today:

Take your Chocolate Banana and figure out your research questions. If you are starting a business your questions will be different that if you are starting a creative venture like creating art to sell on Etsy or writing a novel.
Do your research and then take it a step farther to find out how you can bring your own special “something” to your Chocolate Banana. (Sprinkles are always welcome.)

Are you ready to start working on your Chocolate Banana? Sign up here to be the first to hear about my upcoming products and events focused entirely on helping you create a recipe for your Chocolate Banana!

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Tags: #blogboost, author tips, business planning, chocolate banana, research
Posted in Business Planning, Chocolate Banana | No Comments »

Girl Effect Post

Tuesday, October 4th, 2011

Today I am dedicating my blog post to all of the little girls, teenagers and young women out there like me that are not allowed to read this.

To all the little girls who will never grow up to become beautiful young women because of the circumstances of their birth and the country that they live in.

In any number of countries (including Ethiopia, India and Bangladesh) I might never have had the joy of going to school, graduating, going to college and marrying the love of my life.

I think about these little girls being married off and pregnant by age 12 or 13 and forced into prostitution and I think of my daughter who will never have to worry about such things.

Women are still treated as second rate citizens in much of the world even though we have taken great strides to change this. In many countries though, women are still looked upon as property and are treated as such which doesn’t make any sense to me.

The Girl Effect is trying to change that and to give little girls the same rights that I have had; the right to grow up healthy and the right to an education that will help take them out of their horrible circumstances.

Watch and share the video below with anyone and everyone to help get the word out about these little girls and how we can help ensure they grow up to become beautiful young women.

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Tags: #blogboost, blog challenge, charity, girleffect, make a difference
Posted in Random Thoughts | 1 Comment »

Finding your Chocolate Banana’s Vision

Monday, October 3rd, 2011

Today we are going to start up a series focused on planning. I’ve written about planning before but now we’re going to delve a bit deeper into each ingredient in anticipation for my project, “Creating your Chocolate Banana“. (Yes, I said Chocolate Banana.)

Why focus on planning you ask? Well, because if you don’t have a plan, then you’re planning to fail.

It doesn’t matter if you’re starting a business, writing a book or getting artwork together for a gallery opening, if you don’t have a plan you’ll never get to the end result – the delicious, delicious end result.

Ok so what the heck does a Chocolate Banana have to do with planning you ask. Your Chocolate Banana is your one fabulous idea, business, product or adventure that you want to make happen in your life all rolled up in a nice neat delicious package!

Do you have a Vision for your Chocolate Banana? A focal point? A perfect outcome?

When I started my business my Vision was very simple. I basically said “I want to make enough money working as a virtual assistant to pay for my personal bills each month (student loans, credit cards, fun money)”

Very simple. Too simple in fact. I didn’t take into effect how I wanted to feel about the business, how I wanted my family to be effected by me having a business and what I wanted to really do with my business. I was too focused on the money aspect and not so much on the human side of the business.

Let’s talk to all you authors out there today because I know you all have a hard time with this whole planning ordeal. (Yes I’m talking to you!)

So you want to write a novel. Awesome. Your novel is your Chocolate Banana.

What’s the ultimate goal for your novel?
Do you want to go through a major publishing house or self publish?
How many pages/words/chapters will it be?
What will it look like?
How do you want the reader to feel when they read it?
How do you want to feel when you are finished?

Take some time to really delve into what those questions mean for you. If you’re not an author think about the questions in relation to your Chocolate Banana and spend some time on them. Creating a tangible vision for your Chocolate Banana is SO important because it gives you a starting point to build upon as you construct your plan.

Meet me in the comments and let me know what your Chocolate Banana is and how you are finding your Vision for it!

Are you ready to start working on your Chocolate Banana? Sign up here to be the first to hear about my upcoming products and events focused entirely on helping you create a recipe for your Chocolate Banana!

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Tags: #blogboost, author tips, blog challenge, business planning, chocolate banana, vision
Posted in Business Planning, Chocolate Banana | 10 Comments »

Sunday Super Links

Sunday, October 2nd, 2011

Since I am trying to post on a regular basis now I thought it would be fun to have a links post because I always love it when other people share links to awesome stuff they’ve come across that week! (Plus it’s an excuse for me to keep track of all the cool stuff I find… )

I can’t promise these will all be business related because, well, that would be boring so please enjoy my cornucopia of awesomeness. (On a side note, some of these links might be affiliate links. I thank you a head of time for helping me pay for my makeup, shoe and Netflix addictions.)

Source: None via Sara on Pinterest

Started up the 31 Days of blogging with the Ultimate Blog Challenge as well as NaBloPoMo.

George Orwell’s Rules For Writing. If you write, you should read them.

I got a great tip on how to create a Day of Genius!

I signed up to help spread the word about the Girl Effect. You can help too! Look for my post on October 4th!

Found out what I want for a holiday gift this year – The new Kindle Fire!

Having trouble understanding the new Facebook Timeline? Don Draper is here to help explain.

Started using Buffer for scheduling out tweets quickly throughout the day. So awesome.

Went a little crazy with the Crafty Craft pins on Pinterest. So many cool things for Halloween!

The season finale of Doctor Who was on Saturday (SO GOOD!) so BBC America shared some hilarious Doctor Who themed treats!

My creepy, creepy face helped support the Stephen and Melinda Gates Foundation.

I discovered maybe the coolest quiet book ever with a Star Trek: The Next Generation Theme!

Thundercats are meme-tastic!

What were some of your awesome finds from last week?

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Tags: #blogboost, blog challenge, doctor who, kindle, pinterest, ST:TNG, sunday links, writing tips
Posted in Sunday Super Links | 2 Comments »

Creating an Editorial Calendar

Saturday, October 1st, 2011

I am just going to warn you all now that there is going to be A LOT more going on in this general area this month and hopefully going forward. I signed up for a blogging challenge (or two…) so the plan is to blog every day for the month of October and I really think it will be great!

Great for ME because it’ll push me to write a lot more and try out some different topics.
Great for YOU because you’ll get so much more of ME!

The actual coming up with topics scares me so please be sure to mention any and all ideas you have for future blog posts and I’ll be sure to address them. For the topics I have in mind now, I’m using a super cool WordPress plugin called simply WordPress Editorial Calendar.

What this plug in does is it creates a calendar that you can plug ideas into and then move them around to different dates to get an idea of how your week or your month is going to look in a very visual way.

The only thing I have found that it doesn’t do is there’s no way to bring in a draft post that you already have created unless you go to that post and schedule it out for a day on your calendar. Totally not a big deal, just kind of a pain when you first start using the calendar.

You’re turn! I love to hear from you so what are your thoughts?

Do you schedule out posts ahead of time?
Have you used this plugin yet? How did you like it?
How do you think this could help you write more or better?

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Tags: blog challenge, editorial calendar, plugins
Posted in Organization | 12 Comments »

Facebook it is A-Changin’

Thursday, September 29th, 2011

I am pretty sure that Facebook will not bring upon the Apocalypse but if it does please feel free to lynch me.

So why is everyone up in arms about all of the new Facebook changes and the new profile organization that is going to launch called “Timeline“? Let’s walk through some statements that I’ve heard recently and try to calm some people down about the changes they’re going to be seeing.

“Facebook is changing everything and now I can’t find my Farm or how to poke my friends.”

Change is a GOOD thing but it’s hard to see that when we’re so used to doing things a specific way.

Login, go there, click this, post that….

Rather boring in my opinion, but this is coming from the girl who loved to rearrange her bedroom furniture once a week so I may not be the biggest fan of being static.

The new Timeline will be much more visual and much more user friendly when it comes to adding details and sharing information. I really like the idea of being about to go back and see what I was doing 5 years ago and adding in key moments that might be missing. It’ll also be a great way to learn more about your friends by looking through their Timeline! In the coming weeks we’ll get more info on how we’ll be able to update and such so I’m sure I’ll revisit and do a whole post on how to use the new profile set up.

“Don’t fix it if it’s not broken.”
This is a good point but I’m pretty sure that the inventor of the first cell phone thought it was pretty awesome until the smart phones came around. Evolution is a part of life and to expect everything to stay exactly the same forever is just silly. Sure there will be an adjustment period but that’s the fun part! “What happens when I click this? What is this part of the profile I didn’t have before? What new stuff can I add to my info page? ”

I agree with some people’s statements that Facebook is really bad at launching new options and changes because they change a lot of things all at once or they do it on a Monday when we all just want to get on with our day instead of learning a new system. Having an adjustment period would be nice but again, just roll with it if there isn’t that easy adjustment period. It’s not the end of the world.

“Facebook is trying to steal your identity.”
Being online always comes with risks. Anyone who has an email account has gotten at least one Viagra email in their lifetime so we all know that our email and info is out there for people to find. If you are seriously concerned about your privacy on Facebook make sure to visit your Account settings and Privacy settings sections of Facebook and really take some time to check out all the options you have there. If you are really confused, let me know and I can do a post just on these settings and how to configure them.

On the same note, don’t just click willy nilly all over Facebook or the internet in general without thinking! If someone posts something too good to be true, don’t click on that link! People’s accounts get hacked all the time (normally because of an unsecure password) so just be mindful of what links you are clicking and what apps you are allowing to have access to your account. I am very weary when it comes to allowing apps to have my profile info so I normally only allow apps that I know are reputable and that I know a lot of my friends are using. That and the Sims…it’s so addicting….

You know it’s Free right?
You are by no means required to use Facebook. There are SO many social media sites out there now that Facebook isn’t your only option. Yes, Facebook is very powerful because just about everyone has an account but that doesn’t mean you couldn’t switch over to Google+ and have just as rewarding an experience. As an entrepreneur it’s a little sticky because you want to make sure you have a presence in front of your audience but if you have a fan page you don’t have to worry about any of the personal information issues that we talked about because you can choose whether or not to link your page with your profile.

Facebook is NOT going to start charging.
I have read nothing that points to the idea that Facebook is going to start charging for their site. No, not even if you forget to run around outside naked and screaming “I want my baby back, baby back, baby back ribs!” at the top of your lungs while mowing the grass in a purple tutu. (But just to be sure you should go try that now…)

In sum, Keep Calm and Carry On.

If the change to Facebook is your biggest problem right now then congratulations, everyone is jealous of you!

Your Turn! Comment below and let me know what you think!