KTY | Day 2

Oh. My. God.
There is so much kick-ass content in this program, I kinda don't know where to start. I think, to keep it simple, I'm going to keep going with Craig Jarrow's 31 Days 31 Ways since I started Day 1 yesterday. That's easy enough. Then, I think I'm going to attempt to figure out which of the TEN other programs to dig into first. How? Who the hell knows. I'm going to go with whichever ones sound the funnest? We'll see. I'm really just going to guess. I just know I can't do eleven different workbooks simultaneously. That's insane. So instead, I'll do like two or three. Maybe.

So Day 2 of 31 Days 31 Ways - Craig Jarrow
Choose Tools You'll Use
My Tool Kit
I love the idea of tech but I'm hugely intimidated by it. I wish I could say I'm an early adopter but I'm a bit of a chicken. I have been using my smartphone for about a year (formerly an under-utilized blackberry) and in the last 9-10 months have started using apps that work between my work PC, my home laptop & tablet and the phone. I have totally eliminated double bookings which were previously occasional but hugely inefficient and embarrassing. I now do 75% or more of my personal web activity on my phone.

The software/apps/programs I use are:
- TimeTrade for booking appointments (consultations, portrait sessions, sales appointments)
- Google Calendars (for obvious reasons)
- Thunderbird for my work email and webmail (various) for personal
- Facebook for marketing/social media
- Buffer for sharing links of awesomeness
- Hootsuite for scheduling blog/fb/twitter posts
- MadMimi for my newsletters
- Evernote for harnessing my late night waves of brilliance
- Instagram for keeping my creativity spontaneous
- Photoshop for work

The software I need more training in for mastery of time management:
- Lightroom for batch editing and efficient workflow
- Successware for studio management - but that's coming. 
- Proselect software - projection sales

Looks kinda like a to-do list to me!!

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 Reclaim Your Dreams - Jonathan Mead
How I missed the worksheets yesterday is beyond me...I'll blame it on content overload.

So today, I'll look at yesterday's reading and make a contribution based on my worksheet from that reading. Tomorrow I'll do both on the same day (novel, I know.)

Chapter One - Reclaim Ownership of your Mind
For me, the idea of  "going fearlessly with myself" means listening with an open heart to what my truest desires are and honoring them. At this exact moment in time, that includes working less, being more physically active, doing creative things for pleasure rather than for pay, reading because it's so pleasureable and napping for obvious reasons. Indulging in beautifully created food is pretty high up on the list too. (I'll blog about my relationship to food separately  - but later)

On a scale of 1-10, I am committed to following my heart to about an 8 or 9. To get me to ten would involve eliminating life distractions - namely money/income/cashflow/assets.

The areas of my life where I'm giving up my power are in unhealthy relationships and in distractions (like my competitors or individuals whose personal lives include things my life doesn't).

One of  the things I can start taking responsibility for in my life that will have the greatest impact for me is to find joy in every single day. Not allowing ungratefulness, jealousy, frustration, resentment or pettiness to creep into my mindset will empower me to be more of a positive creator of my own life experience - rendering the triggers of the aforementioned feelings/mindsets powerless. This is important for me to do because A) it's a waste of energy and B) using that energy to propel my life experience closer to the things I desire will make it happen that much faster.

The actions that I need to assume to take greater responsibility and experience more joy are :
-run 3-4 times a week for an hour minimum (with one super long run per week of 2-3 hours on the weekend)
-go to work late if at all on Wednesdays - stay home to cook/read/nap/craft/write
-work less hours per week.
-go on more dates with my husband

The parts of myself that I need to start listening to less in order to reclaim ownership of my mind & life are exclusively my inner critic. That's the voice that tells me that my paintings suck, that my craft projects suck, that my writing sucks, that my body will never the the shape I want, that my fashion sense sucks. That voice is entirely full of shit. The less I listen to it, the happier I'll be.
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Ok. that's seriously enough for one night. Did you read all that? What are your thoughts? Do you challenge yourself in these ways?

Have you considered purchasing this program? It's a HUGE amount of info to read through but if you aren't scared of doing the work, the rewards and payoffs promise to knock your socks off. Go buy it and let's do this together. If you HAVE bought it, leave your blog address below and I'll read your posts as you do the work and leave you comment-love. Because everyone likes that, right?

PS - if you want access to some kick-ass exclusive content, sign up for my newsletter using the link near the top of the page. It will always be top-notch shit. I promise. (at least, I think it's top notch!)

Kickstart The Year - What the hell is it?

What the hell is Kickstart the Year?? 

Here's the short n' sweet. My friend/coach Mike Vardy (social media nerd...er, I mean guru) is one of the content providers for this program. Its purpose is to help you take control over your life, business, time and goals for the new year. Because I know Mike, I knew the program would kick ass. I had no idea what I was signing up for and what it would cost. Did I care? No. Did I still pay for it within the first ten minutes of it going live? Yes.

First of ten programs - 31 days 31 ways to better time management by Craig Jarrow - AKA the Time Management Ninja. Halle-friggin-lujah!

I am desperately time-starved so this bit of the program, I pray, has some top-notch stuff.

Day one starts RIGHT NOW.

Time management. This is a wee bit of a sore spot. Am I good at it? No. Is there room for me to improve? Hell yeah!

The tools I use to keep my life in order are:
-TimeDriver for my online bookings which syncs to my Google Calendars
-Google Calendars (I have 5 separate calendars - work, personal, my husband's business, my 'on-the-side' business, and payables calendar for business & personal combined)
-Evernote (which I am having a total love-affair with!) is where I capture thoughts for shoots, contacts, links, marketing, things I want to talk about with my coaches, and my to-read list.
-lastly, I still love a good notebook/binder full of paper for taking notes during coaching calls. They enable some badass doodling without which my life would be incomplete. I also love the way a to-do list looks when it's been assaulted by a high-lighter pen with the doing of each to-do.
- I'm currently implementing a new piece of seriously hardcore software at the studio to manage client info and other business activities. Hopefully a time saver once it's set up.
-Facebook (personal & Fan Page) inboxes
-one primary email address
-phone for texting but I discourage this because it's inefficient. 

Things I should use less of or not at all
-post it notes
-scratch paper
-no more daytimer
-paper records of phone messages - would LOVE a solution for these dirty little bastards!

The simmered down summary of day one - keep the useful systems and ditch the useless ones. Awesome.Easy. I like it. 

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Next - Reclaim Your Dreams by Jonathan Mead
First exercise - stop listening to others and sometimes, stop listening to yourself. This segment of the book speaks to a topic I wrote about just the other day - the inner critic. We don't normally make a habit of letting others say horrible things to us, yet we say them to ourselves all the time. So firstly, with the first exercise in this book, I will declare that I, Vanessa Falle, from this day forward will not go against myself. I promise that I will only use my mind to go with myself. ~ signed Dec 11, 2012..

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Home office Rules of Thumb - Lorie Marrero
This book, so far, is like having your bestie tell you it's time to get your shit together. There's almost that 'mom-voice' in the way it written. I like that, it kinda makes me wanna get off my ass and quit screwin' around!

My first assignment is to pick a day to deal with my home-office stuff either with a friend to keep me on task or virtually (which is handy since my bestie is going to school in England at the moment - BUT she'd love to hold me accountable for a commitment like this!) So what the hell, let's heap on a little more. I don't have a home office per se, but I do have stacks of crap beside my bed and if I'm being totally honest, I do most of my writing work no just in my bedroom but actually IN BED.

The commitment - to organize, streamline, purge and pare down the crap. By Dec 31, my bedside table will not look as horrible as it does right now. Piles of headphones and nail clippers, garbage, jewelry, journals, pens, art supplies, tarot cards, and dishes. And hand cream. and cough candies. And a nail file. And a Disney marathon medal (not mine, but borrowed as an incentive to earn my own). and yarn. Wow. That IS a lot of crap. By the last day of this calendar year, that shit will have a new home. some of it may still live on the bedside table but most of it will be relocated. I promise.


note: In this book, the content moves quickly and is super digestable. Be prepared to wrap up your first stab at this read with a hefty to-do list and a ton of motivation to get it done!
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There is SO MUCH MEAT in this amazing program!! I will be posting regularly as I dive into this incredible, mind-bending material and sharing with you how it resonates with me. No holds barred, 100% truth peppered with the occasional cussword to make it all just *so*.

Kickstart the Year along with me. There is a staggering amount of kickass content that is available to you for only $88USD. You need this program. Seriously. Go buy it HERE and come back and tell me you got it. We'll rock 2013 together, mmkay?

Soul Searching Sunday | How do you handle failure?

Soul Searching Sunday - this may be ongoing, it may not.

"you are a big fat faker"

Do you ever get that? That yucky feeling where your inner voice starts to harp on you that you are a big fat faker and that you really have no business doing whatever it is you do? I think that voice is always there but most of the time my confident inner voice puts a muzzle on the negative one... but then some days, the ugly negative one jumps in front, grabs a megaphone and says some pretty horrible stuff. Especially when I've made a mistake. An honest, human, perfectly imperfect mistake. I have never been able to figure out why it is that I can be so brutally hard on myself when I do make a mistake. I don't know where I ever got the notion that I would be perfect. Logically, I am well aware that there is a high probability that I'll get things wrong now and then but it does and it's as though the sheer shock of the error is enough to knock the wind right out of me.

I don't know about you but I get this horrible, heavy, sour feeling deep in my belly when I make a mistake (say, on a client project) and I am filled with so much shame for doing so that it makes me want to hide forever and never return to my job... the job that I adore... It feels like a horrible failing that undermines the ultimate value in the rest of the things I do that go without a hitch. It's illogically mind-boggling that a single error - regardless of size- can feel like a problem so big that it warrants quitting altogether.

"Why are we, creatives,

  so cruel to ourselves

 when we get something

 wrong"

Why is that? Why are we, creatives so cruel to ourselves when we get something wrong or we make the wrong call on a project. Or we panic while working (deadlines or whatever) and end up screwing something up. Why can't we simply forgive ourselves, make it right with our client/team/supervisor and move on?

It has a lot to do with expectation. Of ourselves and of those we are working with/for. We have these illusions (delusions) of perfection... of getting it all *just right*. I read once that perfectionism is a form of laziness. It can be limiting enough that one never takes chances or attempts the thing that they most want to do... I think it's also a way to limit one's one potential. To strive for perfection only means that the goal is entirely unattainable and that there is no chance for success. Maybe the answer is to aim for joy, happiness, creative pleasure and overall job satisfaction rather than perfection?

"I realize that in general,people are

 very understanding and forgiving."

I know I will benefit from being kinder to myself and allowing more space to A) prevent deadline panic or being overextended with time commitments as well as B) ensure the utmost sincerity when making things right with my clients/team. But there's one small catch... it only sounds easy. Doing it, applying it is very much another. I realize that in general, people are very understanding and forgiving. Those who do respond in a kind and compassionate way are clients/teammates/supervisors to work hard with on prevention in the future... those who do not, well, there's not much you can do to make it right and we all just hope that there are as few of those people involved in our work in general to make ALL our lives better.

ACTION ITEMS 
To avoid future suffering at the hands of my inner critic (that cranky bitch!) I will do the following:
-limit commitments to allow time for meticulous attention to detail & review of projects
-review offerings to ensure that highly problematic products are no longer available
-improve system for producing, proofing & reviewing projects to eliminate errors

When mistakes happen I will
-forgive myself and be kind to myself until the negative feeling subsides
-meditate/breathe until physical symptoms subside
-as always, apologize and correct problem for client/team/supervisor.

Please feel free to use these steps for yourself, also if you have comments, questions or any kind of feedback you'd like to share on this topic I openly welcome your contributions in the comments section. I know for a fact that I am not alone in this kind of experience and honestly, it'll make me feel much better to receive a little validation :)

Introspective, soul-searching on a Sunday. Why not?

xo
V

being authentic - easier than it sounds

If you are your authentic self, 

then you have no competition

 -Scott Stratten author of UnMarketing

I saw this quote for the first time this past year. It appeared in my path within the same week that I had been speaking of this same topic with my coach, Ivy (of Slater Success Coaching). I shared it with her immediately and printed a copy to hang on my inspiration board in my studio. It reminds me as often as I need it that I have a very special gift to share with the world and I am the only one who can do it.

This can be challenging when what you do - whether it's writing, making a particular craft, flower arranging, photography, restoring vintage cars- is popular and your clients are happy about what you do and say so publicly, it send the message that what you're doing is such a good idea that those with some of the same skills decide that they, too want a piece of the pie. Which is totally fine. Ramit Sethi once said that "if there's competition, that's great - it means there's a market".

The most difficult part of that is that while there is totally room for competition, there is no way to control the quality of said competition. This can end badly for consumers and it can be frustrating when explaining differences in quality of products or services to prospective clients and inevitably confusing for those clients if they are being given poor or conflicting information.

Enter the magic of authenticity.

Enter the magic of authenticity. Those who come after the trailblazers, the trendsetters, the industry leaders - they are rarely clear on who they are, they are often even less clear on why they are doing what they're doing. There's often proclamations such as, "it's always been my dream" or "I have a passion for..." but there is no authentic connection to the WHY behind what they do. Without having a genuine, heartfelt connection to what they offer, there is a serious lack of sustainability which inevitably leaves the client and the service provider feeling like something's missing.

What is missing?? Authenticity. I can tell you that for me, as a child of very young parents, we were very poor and couldn't afford luxuries like cameras so there are very few photographs of me growing up. I keep that feeling very close to my heart every day that I go to work - whether it's a day I deal directly with my clients or not... It affects every part of what I do for them and to me, that has huge value. It keeps me focused on the elements that brought me to my profession.

I mean, if it looks like a duck 

and sounds like a duck...

Occasionally, my clients-turned-friends call or email me with reports of what other photographers in the area are doing because it reminds them of what they've seen me do... now, granted, there is nothing new under the sun (especially in the world of photography) but it does not feel good to think that others are generating bodies of work that contain elements that are uncomfortably similar to things I've created. One *could* say that mimicry is the most sincere form of flattery but artists - last time I checked- are (as Erykah Badu once said) "sensitive about their shit".  I mean, if it looks like a duck and sounds like a duck...

But. Regardless of whether ripoff-ery is going on or not, whether it feels like shit or not, what doesn't change is the reasons the original art is being made and the reasons the "uncomfortably similar" art is being made. My clients' sessions are all designed with a host of priorities, stories & experiences in mind. I create each one for them. Yes, I take inspiration from the work of other artists I admire from around the world but what I do with and for my clients is uniquely done so for them.

You are here to do important work

In the end, the work that is being generated from a place of authenticity and self awareness is the work that is sustainable over time. By being 100% real, honest & genuine, you dont' have to worry about forgetting what or who you are (stop trying to be someone/thing you're not) and you certainly don't have to worry about anyone copying you because you cannot be duplicated. You are here to do important work and when you come at it in this way, you will find your truth and unending joy. I know I do.

 “Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You.” ~ Dr. Seuss

xo
V

why do you do it?

Why do you do what you do. Your job. Your career. What drew you to your line of work. Was it a love for the work itself? Was it because you wanted to make a difference?? Maybe your current source of income is an interim setup and it's just gotta get you through till the right opportunity comes along?

"Are you doing your best work every day?"

It doesn't really matter so much WHY you do what you do as much as it matters where your heart's at when you're doing it. Are you doing your best work every day? Or are you counting the minutes till you punch out?

My 14 year old son has expensive taste so he works. He's actually worked summers full time on our family farm for the last two years. Yep. You read that right. Do the math. At at 12, my son worked full time. He didn't get "summer vacation", he got "summer job". And he made great money pitching in on our family farm. It was minimum wage for a low-glory position but workin' full time doesn't exactly leave much time for wasteful spending so his earnings usually last him all winter - just in time to start workin' again.

If you slack off, you are 

chosing that as your reputation.

I'm not an easy boss. I don't make concessions "cuz you're my kid". In fact, I'm even tougher. No screwing around, no video games while you're on the work computer booking orders. Nope. And if you have to do a task you hate, you better not do a shitty job. I tell my son " no matter what task you're doing, always do your best work. That is what you're known by. If you slack off, you are chosing that as your reputation. You conrol that stuff".

Luckily, he's not muckin' stalls or hauling silage (which is brutally smelly) but there is an expectation for him to give me his hourly wage in output. Does he shine at every assignment? Nope. Does he get hired back season after season? Yep. Here's why- he screws up lots, admits it and works his biscuits off to improve. Score! He feels good, and I feel good. I teach, he grows, work gets done. Looks like a hat trick!!

"I have always loved photography"

Now why do I do what I do... I have always loved photography. As a kid, I would go to friends' houses for playdates & sleepovers and always ask for them to show me their family photo albums. We had a few growing up by my parents were super young and hardly had two cents to rub together so luxuries like photos were scarce. I adored seeing images and hearing stories about the people who played parts in my friends' family history.

I always wanted to learn to use a camera but as someone who has learned to live with anxiety, it got in the way of many experiences as a young adult, including photography. It took one trusting friend to hand me her film SLR at the playground when my youngest son was a baby to really take a stab at shooting on a camera that had the ability to make images that I could see in my mind's eye.

I did the best I could with my husband's Sony Cybershot  but the image quality was shit and without manual controls, the wrong things were in focus. I used many of my first digital images in my scrapbooks (like many moms-turned-photographers) but quickly found the images, exposure, depth of field and other elements disappointing with the point & shoot.

Enter the first D-SLR. I bought a Fuji S2 with about a hundred batteries and no technical knowledge. I kinda miss those days. If I connected emotionally with an image, it was always chemistry. Now, I can see the technical flaws (exposure, light source position, posing, composition...) and I'm much more critical of what I shoot.

I still have a passion for image creation but I'm really hard on myself. I am learning to love the art I make despite the technical imperfections and I have my clients and their 100% honest emotional response to my images to thank for that. I am slowly being kinder to myself when reviewing my work and am very  hopeful that my early motivators - that love of personal histories- comes back into the forefront of WHY I do what I do... that and wanting the work I do, the art I make to be how my clients know me.

Why do you do the work that you do? Are the reasons you started the same as the reasons you are still doing it? Do you want to change and how do your early motivators for THIS work affect the work you want to try after this?? Tell me how this resonates with you.

crafting my future

I kind of have crafting ADD - I like to try a zillion crafty things, figure out how to do them, rock them for a while and move onto some other medium. I also feel very in-tune with my most creative mojo when I'm sitting on my bed or the sofa covered in art supplies of one kind or another. I have been known to get a little carried away in shops like OPUS on Granville Island in Vancouver BC and the same can be said of yarn/wool spinning vendors on Etsy. It's my weakness, my kryptonite. I love using my hands to make things. I also just love the stuff needed to make things.


I adore watercolor painting, knitting, spinning yarn and most recently, needle felting. All those balls of yarn, reams of paper, the beautiful brushes, gorgeous wooden knitting needles...being surrounded by these tools is like being in the company  of old friends. It's a bittersweet process for me to have the urge to create, knowing that I used to have a particular paint color, knitting pattern, or whatever... to remember that it was lost in the fire and to begin the process of trying to find a replacement. I do love looking at new art treasures but it definitely bums me out to think of what is gone.

"My children had lost everything, 

my husband lost almost everything 

(save for what was with him at work)

 and I did not want to pick up 

my camera ever again."

The day I got the call about the fire, I was at my studio. My dedicated creative space that stores my camera equipment, my computer gear, props & backdrops and is where I am most in tune with my mojo. I was terrified that the trauma of the fire would interfere with my ability to create. I didn't want to be in my studio because it was totally untouched and as much as that was such a gift, I had tremendous guilt for everything being in its place and completely unharmed. My children had lost everything, my husband lost almost everything (save for what was with him at work) and I did not want to pick up my camera ever again. My impulse was to close the business, sell my gear and never look back. (Instagram saved me - more on that later!)














My clients were patient, kind, and totally compassionate. Except for a few and despite my best efforts, I still let them down. Win some, lose some. Beat myself up for failing, torture my soul a while then forgive myself and let it go. In time, I returned to my work and have made some of my most amazing images since the fire. I have awakened something deep inside my soul that must be shared. Even if it's terrifying - which showing others what I've made (paintings, knitting projects, photographs, you name it) usually is... it is such an opportunity to grow both spiritually and artistically.

"Giving makes me all excitable and giggly."

When it comes to my craft projects, they are for me. Even those intended as gifts, the process is to feed my soul and sharing the product of the process feeds it further. Giving makes me all excitable and giggly. But when it comes to the artwork that I make for my clients, I'm often torn. Do I make it with my heart so that it feeds my soul first or do I mechanically churn out yet another widget so I can get paid. I think the latter sounds like some sellout, soul-sucking shit. I'll chose the first option, please and thank you and I bet, with a little thought & better planning, I can make it rock for me AND for my client!

Which brings me to my intentions for my business in the new year. Shoot fewer sessions, give clients a super-luxurious experience, fawn over each and every one of them because they are the reason I am able to do what I do. I am so very excited to be able to deliver such a high level of client care and for those whom this is the best fit, there will be joy flying all over the place. I realize that this won't be a welcome change for everyone and I even suspect that I may have a few clients reconsider our relationship. It is an unfortunate unavoidable side effect of growing and refining my business model. I'll be sad to see any of my clients not return and hope that isn't the case but the reality is, that if I don't implement changes that sustain my business, my life and my creative soul, then what is the point?

Also, as you may or may not know, I specialize in a very niche type of photography. I exclusively photograph newborns, maternity, and kids of all ages. That's it. No weddings, no corporate head-shots, no commercial or events either. With my studio situated downtown, I get calls for this all the time. I turn down this work all the time. My heart just ain't in it. I love photographing kids. My clients always say "I can't believe you captured THAT expression" or "he/she normally hides from the camera and you totally got HER/HIM". I'm not the best in the world at what I do but I am good at it. Plus I have a lot of fun. My images show that. Some of the changes that will go into effect in the new year will represent those specialties more truly. Especially with the introduction of my Urban Youth line. You may have spotted it around... it will rock your socks. Seriously.

That being said, I can't, nor would I want to be the photographer for everybody. What I do in terms of image creation and client care is unlike anyone else and is a truly unique experience. I am delighted to work with clients who understand that and can't wait to see what 2013 brings.

"You have to try new things in order 

to come closer to living the dream. "

You have to try new things in order to come closer to living the dream. I already am so blessed to be able to do what I do for a living, now to laser focus my truest love - working with kids of all ages- I know I can bring some serious joy to a lot of incredible people. Maybe you're the next fabulous client who I get to work with!

xo
V

Just another Friday...not!

 

1:00pm

So I'm sitting in the waiting area for the Whitehorse general hospital emergency room. My youngest son, Seth fell off the big toy at school. I got the call from my friend Brenda who is one of the teachers at his school. She said that they had him strapped to a backboard in case of spinal injury but as a precaution. She said that she figured everything was fine but they don't want to take any chances. Since my studio is closer to the hospital than the school, we decided to meet the ambulance rather than try to get to the school to meet the ambulance there.

I'm terrible at waiting... especially when one of my kids needs me. But I know that the paramedics will take good care of him. I asked that someone Seth knew from school ride with him to the hospital so that he'd feel more at ease... got a follow up call from the school that the principal is with him.

Am I freaking out? No. Am I worried about my little guy? Yes but oddly, I'm not worried about his physical circumstances as much as I'm thinking about his emotional & psychological state. He's incredibly sensitive and I'm relieved that the school did the right thing by sending someone along just for him in that capacity.

This is the hospital he was born in. But I know this boy. He's a daredevil and not great at risk assessment.  I'm sure someone goaded him into a reckless stunt or it was a classic case of male oneupmanship on the monkey bars. 

The ambulance should be here soon. Update to follow.
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2:00
Ambulance delivered my boy in one piece. He is in good spirits but tired. All of his vitals are good and now we're waiting for the doctor. Not very fun.

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3:00

Dr came,  squished & squeezed my boy from top to bottom. Eliminated a ton of injuries, ordered an X-ray for lower spinal injury.  X-ray is now done and were waiting for the results. Bo-ring!

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5:30

Now were home.  Got the all-clear from the Dr.  The xrays didn't show any fractures or breaks. Yay. We are all tuckered out and chillin' at home.

Today's messages from the universe ::

• Seth is a strong, brave kid
• Healthcare professionals are essential to our survival in the developed world
• Staying calm amidst disaster serves others and me.
• Gratitude has huge value. Especially when the gratitude goes down before rather than after.
•  Bad shit happens to everyone. My little dude is ok which means that we are super blessed. It was a good day. 

xo
V