Stepping Away from Your Creative Ally
I have tried to write this about three times now so hopefully third time is the charm. In a nutshell. At the end of August I will be stepping back from my business and closing it down for an indeterminate amount of time so that I can follow my passions to a career that I truly love. (If you don’t want the long story but would like to learn about what this change means for you (i.e. super discounts) skip down to the last section.) Here’s the longer story. As many of you know I attended the World Domination Summit this year in...
read more30 Years for me and Big Discounts for you!
Surprise! It’s a party! (I love surprise parties…nudge nudge…wink wink) I’m turning the big 3-0 today and instead of expecting lots of pomp and circumstance for me I wanted to celebrate YOU! This has been a big transition year again (I know, don’t give me that face…) but I know that I’m on the right track to finding what is really important to me and my business. 30 is going to be the best year yet! This year to celebrate you and give something back for all of your support over the past three...
read moreCreating a Facebook Group
Facebook Groups are really growing in popularity, in my circles at least. In the past week I’ve joined and/or created at least four new groups! Some for clients, some for networking and some for personal use. What’s a Facebook Group? Facebook groups are kind of like little forums that are housed within Facebook. Unlike Pages, you can create a closed group where you need to approve every new person that wants to join the group OR you can create a secret group where only you and your members will see your group and your posts. You...
read moreFavorite Books
I find so much great stuff out there in the world and I would love to share some of these great resources with you! Today I’m going to share some of my favorite “Busnessy Books”. Books that aren’t all necessarily “business books” but that have helped me as I’ve create and re-imagined my business. photo credit: Casey David via photo pin cc For example, there are lots of books out there about creating content but not all of them will tell you how to do it via stories of being...
read moreBeing Laid off and Making it Work
Print No TWO by Happy Town USA This post originally aired on When I Grow Up as part of The Recession is Bullhonkey series, where Michelle shares stories of those who have gotten hired and/or started their own businesses (or sometimes both!) since 2008. Back in 2009 when I started my virtual assistant business, Your Creative Ally, the economy was just about to launch into full swing “awesomeness” [note the sarcasm]. I started my business basically because I realized I wasn’t the stay at home mom type and really needed a...
read moreGetting Things Done the ToDoist Way
I have a “bright shiny object” problem. I love all the new web tools and programs and websites out there and I probably sign up for way too many “free trials” of task managers and to do list sites just to get a look at how they work. Most of the time the free trials are about as long as I stay because they are either way too involved or they don’t have enough integration for me. BUT this time I have fallen in love with a new interweb tool and I thought I would share it with you! I heart ToDoist ToDoist is my new...
read moreTreat your Art like Crack on Pinterest
I’ve seen a lot of people discussing how amazingly awesome Pinterest is AND how totally awful Pinterest is as well. If you aren’t familiar with Pinterest, it is a site that allows you to create virtual cork boards where you can “pin” images. You can create different boards for different categories and share your pins with other Pinterest users. Pinterest has been around for months but now that Facebook has an app that allows you to publish your pins to your wall the Pinterest buzz has really started. [Oh and it's...
read moreSOPA and PIPA and Why You Should Care
Source: thisisnthappiness.com via Ben on Pinterest Today several large websites including Wikipedia, Wired.com and Craigslist thousands more have blacked out their websites in protest of the SOPA and PIPA bills that are making their way through congress right now. In a nutshell, SOPA and PIPA are two bills that are trying to stop the piracy of copyrighted material (images, music, movies) which in theory is a good thing. You know what else works in theory, Communism… Pirating music and movies is bad. We all know that, but with...
read more2012 Goal Binder
Happy 2012 everyone! In case you haven’t heard, this is your year to shine and be awesome and create amazing awesomeness (at least that’s what my Facebook and Twitter feeds are telling me…) This year I’m doing something a bit different from my previous years (check out my posts for 2010 and 2011 here and here) and focus more on organizing my goal follow through. I’ve done really well at following through with my goals for each year but I have a lot of specific things I want to get done by specific times this year...
read moreYou Are Awesome!
Today is the start of my holiday vacation (YES!!!) and I wanted to give you all some good cheer and happy thoughts as we all celebrate the season of joy and light. You are all special and fantastic. (yes, even you) Remember that even if you don’t see yourself as such, someone else out there is thinking the world of you. Make them proud by being the best you that you can be each day. Take some time to really think about what others see in you. What do they love about your personality? What is the one thing you always get praised about?...
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