In the past 6 days, the members of the Creative Genius, CEO program have:
sold their FIRST EVER ebook
sold $500 program via new website
opened a real business bank account
held first live event and made a profit!!!
recovered elegantly from a BIG disappointment
doubled September sales goal (since realizing they were “playing too small”)
faltered, rested, then rallied
AND
Since their homework last week was to each receive $1000 (yes, they got coaching from me on how to do that : ) they have collectively received over $15,000 in cash, gifts, investments, expanded credit and sales.
Yes – over $15,000 – in less than one week.
Here’s their secret:
They made a commitment to themselves.
They got good advice.
They took action.
They leaned on the community for strength.
So….what goal would YOU like to make happen this week?
Whatever your goal may be, your first step is to make the commitment.
Real, non-negotiable commitment.
(How does it feel to think about making a big promise to yourself – and then keeping it? No matter what. No excuses allowed.)
One of the reasons you aren’t moving forward on your projects is because you got your heart broken.
You’ve gotten bad reviews, lost money, chosen bad partners, been scorned, laughed at, put down, fired, misunderstood, tricked and rejected.
And that old pain still hurts.
But guess what?
We ALL have experienced that pain.
Moving past the pain is what turns you into a great artist, because it forces you to learn about fragility, about limitations, about foolishness, ambition and trust.
Once you release the idea that you (alone) have been victimized, you can start to dive into the infinite subtleties of human dynamics.
You can start to realize that everyone in your life genuinely thought they were doing the right thing. They honestly believed that they were helping you, protecting you, teaching you something important.
No matter how misguided, they were doing the best they could with the information they had at the time.
Just as you were.
And are, still.
Your creative life is not supposed to be an endless hopscotching from one lily pad of success to another, any more than every romance is supposed to end in happily-ever-after.
Being a creative genius is about falling down 8 times and getting up 9.
Or, more accurately, falling down 8000 times and getting up 8001.
Every single person – and certainly every single artist – can tell you toe-curling stories about their agonizing failures and impossible obstacles.
So…it’s not just you.
I know your heartbreak has been painful for you, but it’s no reason to stop working.
In fact, the first thing I would recommend is for you to make some art about that heartbreak.
Make a story/song/dance/picture about that humiliated student, that wounded daughter, that neglected performer, that bad review, that unwise bargain.
And then…perhaps you can spend 15 minutes on your project.
“It’s supposed to be hard. If it wasn’t hard, everyone would do it. The hard is what makes it great.” – Tom Hanks as Jimmy Duggan in A League of Their Own, screenplay by the great Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel
This little missive is #2 in a series of 7 that I’m doing to encourage you to Start Right Where You Are.
Start Right Where You Are is a lovely, live, 6-week teleclass that starts next Friday, Oct. 16th. It’s only $197 (payment plan available) and, as usual, “satisfaction guaranteed or your tuition cheerfully refunded.”
Here’s where you can go to find out more about it: www.StartRightWhereYouAre.com.
And here’s where you can watch the straight-from-the-heart preview event:
http://app.webinarjam.net/replay/608/7cfca59ac1/1/0
Which got these responses:
“awesome very helpful answer – so joyfully actionable. I’m on it!” – K.
“totally laughing out loud” – C.
“Yep! I even snorted” – T
“love that reframing – actually brought tears for honoring and being authentic..” – K.
“very emotional…. thank you Sam” – S.
When was the last time a webinar made you laugh AND cry?!!?
Plus there’s a special offer that’s only good for the first 50 people who take advantage of it, so listen SOON, OK?
So just to recap, here are your opportunities:
1) Spend 15 minutes right now making some art about one time when you got your creative heart broken.
2) Watch the “Procrastination & Desire” video here:http://app.webinarjam.net/replay/608/7cfca59ac1/1/0
3) Check out Start Right Where You Are at www.StartRightWhereYouAre.com and see if it feels like a good fit for you.
And please write me back and let me know how it goes for you, OK?
You know how it is when you work on something for a long time and then it ends up being so much better than you ever could have imagined?
Well, that’s what happened at The Big Big Yes.
The insights and A-HAs and the laughter and the friendship and the food and the tears of joy and recognition…were off the charts.
We had an extraordinary time.
Here are some of the comments (I pulled them off of the 365 Club Facebook page, so they are deliberately without attribution – thanks for understanding)
“It was Ah—–MAZING !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
“What an AMAZING weekend! It has impacted my life in ways I can’t even speak of…”
“Thank you so much for The Big Big Yes! Samantha Bennett, Leonore Tjia, all of my fellow attendees, and the rest of the team were terrific. Through the whole process, my disparate pieces came together at last to form a coherent vision on which I can form a plan and move forward…”
“Gratitude for being here at The Big Big Yes. Surrounded by so many brave and talented people! Finding my own courage to go with ideas that came out of the blue. Excited for a future that I am willing to let unfold…”
Now Accepting Applications for The Creative Genius CEO Program
To keep this great work going, I am starting a new 10-month session of the Creative Genius, CEO Program.
This is a small-group, intensive program with weekly calls and two live retreats designed especially for the creative entrepreneur.
There’s no sales page or website about it — I’ve always just filled this program easily and quietly.
And it’s not for everyone.
I’ll be doing a preview webinar about it next week so you can find out more —
Then you’ll get invited to schedule a zero-obligation 15-minute conversation with us to see if it’s a good fit.
(And truly – it’s JUST a conversation. Nothing sales-y. This is a small program and it’s already half-filled – there’s no room for anyone who’s not a perfect fit, you know?)
You are a genius, and you have a lot of really good ideas every day.
But chances are, you’re not writing them down. And the life span of an unrecorded idea is. . . well, it’s pretty short.
So find a system that works for you, and use it every day. I like writing my ideas on index cards because they are cheap and cheerful and easy to carry.
But there are lots of other methods:
• Carry a little notebook. • Use a voice memo app on your phone. • Create an area in your datebook or journal for ideas. • Find a note-taking app that you love to use. • Call yourself and leave a message. • Write on Post-its and stick them in places where you’ll see them. • Use a coupon-carrier type envelope in which you can file your little scraps of paper
If you’re not a write-things-down kind of person, you might want to try tapping your wrist, forehead, or sternum as you repeat the idea out loud several times, or you might try turning your idea into a little song you can sing to yourself. These kinds of mnemonics work beautifully for some people.
Then you need to create a home for these great ideas.
(Here is my most succinct organizational tip: everything needs the rightsized home.)
For your random ideas or for the ones you are not moving forward on, I suggest creating a file, folder, or envelope, and labeling it “Genius.” At the end of each day, put your ideas in there.
They will nest and grow and, eventually, turn into something fabulous.
Index cards helped me write this book. When I first had the idea for this book, I thought it was great, but I also got immediately stuck because I wasn’t sure what format the book should be in. Should it be a workbook? A thought-for-the-day book? A six-week plan with prescriptive exercises for each day?
I knew I was falling into the trap of believing that I needed to have it all perfect inside my head before I moved forward, so I decided to let this book tell me what it wanted to be. For several weeks, every time I had an idea for something that I thought should be in the book, I wrote it down on an index card and put it in a “My Brilliant Book” manila envelope.
After about six weeks of this, I spread all the index cards out on my dining room table and began to sort them. I played around with a few different ways of organizing the ideas and finally ended up with a structure I really liked.
The fun part came when I started writing in earnest. Whenever I got stuck or didn’t know what part of the book to work on, I would just reach my hand into the envelope and write about the idea on whatever index card I pulled out.
I love letting chance and fate have a hand in my daily writing practice.
