Thank you Julie, part one

You are here, it is time, you are ready.

A Compendium live inspired notebook I found on the shelves of our local FedEx.

I wrote this post in February, inspired by my dear friend Julie, about deciding to participate in Ali Vingiano’s invite to read The Artist’s Way with her group of Little Things subscribers. If you haven’t read the prior posts, connecting stories is worth a few minutes.

Since then, diligently participating in the recommended exercises, I’ve met myself on every page of the book, for better and worse. What has transpired in terms of revelations and moving through blocks has been why Julie whispered in my ear.

While I wasn’t feeling blocked insofar as my weekly posts were concerned, I realized through the exercises how resistant I have been to promote myself or encourage paid subscriptions. For instance, most of you likely don’t know I have an About page. No big surprise, I wasn’t all that happy with it, and worse yet, resistant to improve it.

Working through the exercises, I was forced to look at what kept me from promoting myself. And oh boy, I had my reasons, the same reasons most of us have to beat that club over our heads instead of encouraging ourselves, loving ourselves, being our own cheerleader—in this case, pompom girl, another post. That’s my story, and I’m stickin’ to it. (Suzy is now a pompom girl.)

You can view my latest About page here. Unlike my prior attempts, I had fun working on this, with ideas springing from a well somewhere deep. And the inspiration has continued to arrive. 

I am fortunate to have an incredible artist in my family Brooke Kelley. Brooke assists businesses in promoting their brand, but that’s just the beginning of her talent. Tonight will be the second showing of her incredible artwork at the Samuel Owens Gallery in Greenwich, Connecticut. You can find information about her showing here, and also her website here.

I was fortunate to visit with Brooke at the beginning of this year; we chatted about the possibility of her helping me promote my newsletter. In the last few weeks, I finally reached out in earnest.  

Working with Brooke to help redesign my brand felt almost effortless. My ideas, coupled with her vision and talent, have brought a playfulness to my logo/newsletter, which is precisely what I was envisioning.

And I have added what I hope will be silly/fun reasons to become a paid subscriber. Be sure to check out my newest paid subscriber benefits. I hope to create extra perks going forward, and more than that, I hope to welcome more members into my tribe. Isn’t it always about a tribe, those we feel connected to by reason of how we think and maybe more importantly feel?

I have a second announcement I’m saving for next week so as not to make this post too long; plus, it deserves its own post. It’s a biggie for me. Dennis, stay tuned.