This week was…interesting.
It really is a big deal to dramatically change your life. I don’t think I can overstate that.
Up until now, I was really sailing through the process. Sure, it’s been hard because I’ve had to work so hard and I’m (still) exhausted. But I wasn’t overly scared about the prospect of being on my own and supporting myself. I was projecting a lot of confidence into this and successfully believing in it….fake it ’til you make it.
Until this week when it hit me like a ton of bricks that this is real, I’m not on vacation, and oh s*** how did we get here?!
I’m fine. Everything is fine. I mean that sincerely. It was a rough couple days, but I think I made it through.
Someone asked me last week about how I stay productive. I was totally planning to talk about that this week because I had a good story, but I’ll save it. Because it really is hard to be productive when you’re not mentally in a good space. So I would say that’s criteria #1. I do have a blog up this week on Minute Marketing about productivity and how I use Trello to keep myself organized. You can also take a look at a sample board I made that shows how I use it for my business.
So let’s dive into the week!
Saturday was the second day of the FBA Live event with Rick Mulready and it was somehow even better than the first day! The special guest was Pat Flynn who talked about email marketing. Overall, FBA Live was a fantastic event and I learned so much, yet got confirmation that though I’m now a tiny fish in a huge pond, this fish has got some skills. So that was a nice win to start out the new business with!
I also made some great contacts at FBA Live and it was nice to talk with others on the entrepreneurship journey. I know other people within my circle of friends that have their own businesses, but I don’t know many who are working in the digital marketing space so I really valued getting to connect with other people who do what I do.
So Saturday, I was on cloud nine.
Sunday, I woke up and everything was bad. It was still gloomy outside (I see you May Gray) and I was gloomy inside. I worked this whole day because I took basically two days off from my business to go learn at the conference. I took Elliot for a walk because I hoped it might make me feel better. It didn’t really. I vacuumed because a dirty house makes me anxious and I was hoping that the house needing to be cleaned was what was weighing on me.
We got a new vacuum recently, a Miele, which was a splurge, but damn there is nothing like clean floors. This is the first time I really cleaned with the Miele and overall, I’m happy with it. The vacuum bags are small so the next time I clean the floors I’m going to dry mop (microfiber mop head) to get up the fur and dust so I don’t fill the vacuum bag with clouds of fluff. I felt a little bit better after I was done cleaning, but not great.
The boyfriend was gone the whole day because he actually picked up a second job to help me. If you know him in real life, go tell him he’s awesome! While I am beyond grateful that he did that for me, this was a day where I wished he hadn’t done that so he would have been home with me. I ended up turning on some podcasts for company and I felt a bit better when I played this episode of The Sunny Show with Sunny Lenarduzzi and Jill Stanton.
Monday, I went to the barn and rode Pia who was having a serious case of the Mondays herself. My horses usually get worked five days a week and then they have the weekends off. Pia I ride three days and then my trainer rides her for two. The last week though Pia actually got Friday through Sunday off so she was not here for it on Monday. She was a good girl though eventually, but it took a bit to get her head in the game.
For those that don’t know, Escobar is my older horse. I’ve actually had him since I was in middle school…fifteen years together in July! Escobar will be nineteen this fall. I currently have two half leases for him which I’m so grateful for because he is not an easy horse so I am happy to have found two other ladies that really jive with him. I haven’t ridden Escobar in a little bit because of that situation, but it is income coming in so I am definitely really grateful for that right now.
Then I went to the dermatologist to get some stitches out from a skin biopsy I had. It was benign so yay for that! And I opted to just biopsy and not remove the mole because the biopsy procedure is less painful to me so the last two weeks with the stitches were a breeze. If you live in San Diego and need a really thorough, careful dermatologist, Dr. Cohen with UCSD Dermatology is awesome. I do internally roll my eyes when I have to get yet another thing removed, but I’m pretty confident that no suspicious moles will be left unexamined on his watch. Of course, I could do without the circular pink scars (the boyfriend and I “affectionately” call them the pepperonis) that have multiplied on my body over the years, but let’s be real, my life is much more important than those scars. My brain is my most valued physical asset and it needs a healthy body to house it. I wrote a post a few years back about wearing your sunblock which you can read here. If you’re still not doing this and are playing Russian Roulette with UV rays, you really need to stop.
Finally, I got home and did some work until it was time for writer’s group in the evening. I actually put a few chapters of my own book in this week. I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned this, but the working title of the book is Shadow of the Magician. That’s been the title for so long, honestly since its inception in 2012, if I do sell this book and have to change the title, it will probably break my heart to do it. Anyway. Pages! It’s always nervous to put yourself out there for critique, even if you know and trust the people who are helping you. Being that I was still pretty emotionally fragile, I was afraid that the comments might further crush what little confidence was still hanging in there. But it was good, I got some great feedback and it made me excited about my book. I think it is really coming together nicely.
Tuesday morning I actually got up early to do both the Miracle Morning and work on my book for a bit. I’ve consistently been doing the Miracle Morning since last Monday, which has been a big surprise to me that I’ve been able to stick with it. This post is getting long so I’ll talk about what goes into my morning routine next week, but after I finished with the Miracle Morning, I did some edits of Shadow of the Magician. I also discovered an amazing historical resource, a total nerdgasm. I was looking for the actual location of the post office in Colorado Springs in 1899 and I discovered a city directory dating from 1903 that not only listed out all the businesses and their locations, it also has a “phone book” if you will, of the names of people living there. And I’m sure there are more great treasures packed into its 400 pages. I just skimmed it to find my answer and then quickly flipped through the pages to see what else was in the book. Fun fact: I’ve actually been to the restaurant that stands on the location of that old post office! For you Superstars friends, the 1903 post office is where Spring Orleans is now.
I spent the rest of Tuesday working and trying to pump myself up because I was still just riding the struggle bus of self-doubt. I took a break at lunch time and went to a meeting. We met at The Kebob Shop in Mira Mesa, which I still had never been to despite how long I’ve lived in Mira Mesa. It was delicious!
Wednesday I went back to the barn to ride Ms. Pia who was fabulous. Which is great because we’re going to a horse show next weekend in Temecula. I then went by my old office for a little and then back home to work after my afternoon meeting cancelled. This was the first day I actually started to feel better and in control again. In the evening, I met my friend L at the UTC Mall. We wanted to do celebratory dinner and drinks at Raised By Wolves. Turns out they only do drinks haha. The space is really, really cool though. Total speakeasy vibes. To get inside, you sit on these two chairs in front of a fireplace and the platform actually revolves to bring you inside the bar area. We had a great time and then we went to get food at Shake Shack.
Thursday I worked for most of the day and went to a few meetings in the afternoon. I bribed my neighbor to assemble the new bookshelf I bought to corral the clutter in my garage office and he got that all assembled for me.
Friday I went to the barn and rode Pia again who was ah-mazing! I hope she’s not peaking this week and will continue to be this awesome through the show. At any rate, today I was feeling really excited about our future together. Pia is seven now and is still considered to be a young horse, though she’s definitely matured quite a bit since last year. However, some days we have some major “teenager” moments and it’s easy to get discouraged. I live for these moments when it’s like, yes, we can absolutely do this. And my ride with Pia is kind of reflecting how I’m feeling right now. Despite how I felt just days ago, I do feel like I can do this! It’s hard and I don’t know if I’m making the best decisions, but I also have to be okay with not knowing all the answers or knowing if things will turn out. My motto has long been, que será, será. That translates to whatever will be, will be. I’ve always liked this quote because it reminds me that as long as I’m doing my best, I can’t worry about the future. What will happen, will happen.
After working, I met one of my clients in the afternoon before coming back home and working on my office. I got about 60% done as you can see below. Still have a lot to do, but getting there. The photos make it look like more of a dungeon than it is…it’s actually pretty cozy and I can focus really well when I’m in there.
Friday night, I went to night one of LED Memorial Day with my boyfriend and our friend which was super cool! We’re going back for night two.
What I’m Reading:
Building a StoryBrand by Donald Miller (done and review coming soon)
The Book That Matters Most by Ann Hood (I’m really enjoying it)
Give and Take by Adam Grant
What I’m Listening To:
I didn’t listen to much music this week, but I listened to a ton of podcast episodes. It’s comforting to hear the voices of other people while I’m working. I listened to several episodes of Pat Flynn’s podcast, Smart Passive Income, and I also listened to a few episodes from Gary Vaynerchuk’s podcast.
What I’m Watching:
I didn’t watch this, I listened, but this was a good episode of #AskGaryVee.
What I’m Loving:
My barn mornings. I feel like I’ve connected more with my babies because I don’t have to rush off and I think my energy is just much more available.
