Fast Company Made Me Loose My Morning!

I spent most of my morning reading articles from the awesome people at Fast Company. I have LinkedIn to thank for turning me on to Fast Company because even though I had seen there magazines plenty on the newsstands I never paid attention to what the magazine might offer. I still haven't picked up an actual copy of the magazine but after my morning with Fast Company I might stop and check it out when I go grocery shopping this weekend (which is way overdue!).

At any rate, I promised my followers on Twitter that I would post some of the articles I read this morning that I really helpful and hopefully you will too.Out of all the articles I have here the article on procrastination I found to be super thoughtful and helpful, I am a SUPER PERFECTIONIST so much that I over think the projects I am trying to complete so much that I scare myself out of doing it at all. A lot of what I was reading today discussed how to break through that and how to get moving. Overcoming this idea of perfectionism is a work in progress but I did feel a little bit better after reading this article.. so if you deal with procrastination check out "Get to work by meeting procrastination head on". 

Here were some other awesome articles that you should check out: 

Mastering The Uncomfortable Art OfPersonal Branding

Why You Love The Wire Explained in Fascinating Detail

How To Effectively Tell Your Brand's Story On Twitter

6 Powerful Web Tools For Getting Unusual Things Done, From Audio Editing ToFile Conversion 

5 Tools For Managing Your Personal Brand Online

So in conclusion the whole point of this post is to basically say that I think Fast Company is the shit!

If you have articles you love please pass them on to me and if you check any of these out let me know what you think.

Thanks for reading.

Steph

Sorry, Exposure Doesn't Pay Bills

Fellow photographer, board member and most importantly my friend Ron Gould shared this video with me and the rest of the ASMP Midwest board the other week and I thought it was great. So of course I'm sharing it with you here. Working for myself as a photographer, as well as an advisor to photography students I could be a billionaire with all the "its good for the portfolio" requests I receive. I'm always blown away that people are still expecting something for nothing...I digress because that topic could run a blog on its own. So enjoy and let me know what you think.

To the Next Level..

“Good Things Come to Those Who Hustle”- unknown

In my last post I spoke about 2012 being the year like never before and brainstorming on the action that is going to have to take place for that to happen. I am determined to have my year hold true to this and build my CREATIVE EMPIRE!

So what ideas have I come up with to make this happen? Well oddly enough in my personal brainstorming discovery session, I realized I have to DO THE WORK PERIOD. Its not rocket science but when life happens and you have your hand in a lot of pots it is difficult to make sure everything you want to achieve.

So I have devised a plan of what I am going to do to take things to the next level. If you read business blogs then none of these “actions” are new but they will become active in my life as its time to step it up a notch or two or three LOL

My plan:
I’m picking 2 personal projects and working them until completion.-Thanks so much to Kesha Bruce and her master plan consulting on this one. I was able to tell her everything that I was working on and we chopped it down to small goals that will all lead up to the bigger picture. Much like what I do for the students that I work with but its totally different when its my own art, as my friend Lynn Renee once told me “its easier to tell someone things you should be doing yourself” that is so true. I need my own accountability partner.

I’m starting an emergency fund! - I have always invested my money, but it has been random, and without reason! I was like hmm I like Science and Technology so let me send some money off to invest in that. I didn’t really have a plan. Back at the beginning of winter I signed up for Dave Ramsey’s Financial PeaceUniversity at my church and it was awesome! So this year I have began to start saving for my emergency fund, and please join me in praying that once its completely funded that I don’t have to ever access it LOL

I have an unofficial advisory board- Birds of a feather stick together right? I am pretty lucky to have friends and colleagues whose grind is just as hard if not harder than mine to bounce ideas off of, but this time around and on a more consistent approach Im going to set up meeting with folks who I think are at top level (def more top level than I am) to check in with to get an outside perspective and make sure that I am staying on the right track! Basically this is a group of people that I don’t go out dancing with over the weekends, and thinking of fake names to give to the random man who has somehow managed to dance with me for about 3 songs, and now has me tied up in the corner professing his love for me. (Although everyone is invited to come!)

I think that’s a great start! What things do you have in mind to take you to the 2012 !

New Year ! New Words! My 3 Words for 2012

Happy New Year! 2012 Can you believe it! I hope you were able to bring in the New Year safely with a bang. I kept my New Year pretty low key attending church with my girlfriends Niehla and Teslyn, and watching fireworks at Navy Pier with the fella. The pastor shared that 2012 is THE YEAR OF NEVER BEFORE! That really energized me! I’m looking forward to seeing what 2012 will bring for my family, friends, and me and my business.

I spent this week doing a lot of goal setting for myself thinking about what I would like to accomplish and just like every other person that is blogging I too would like to share my goals here.

I am keeping up with my new tradition of selecting 3 words for the year, a idea I adopted from marketing/media man Chris Brogan. I still have goals and I have even stolen other goals (Heather over at Habitually Chic, has a resolution, I mean goal to wake up earlier that’s a really good one!) But the 3 words I feel throws all those goals and projects into one of the three words.. So lets get into it. Here they are and if you have 3 words for 2012 feel free to share them in the comments:

Stephanie's 3 Words for 2012:

Risk: I really want to step out of the box this year, changing up my hair, trying a new marketing plan, working on new projects and just all around make myself more vulnerable to my art and more open to sharing what I am working on. If I am feeling uncomfortable about going a certain direction that’s probably exactly what I should be doing.

Complete: This is so simple here, I just want to finish what I start. I have a lot of things on my plate and I am not complaining here. It’s crazy how the things that I want to happen in my life actually happen and being very busy, having lots going on is exactly what I want.  Thanks to artist consultant Kesha Bruce I have selected two personal projects that I am going to take on this year and complete and I am really looking forward to them. I should really blog about my experience with Kesha she is all that and a bag of chips and I would encourage all creative folks to sign up for her blog. I’m eager for movement in 2012

Discipline: From losing 50 lbs (already down 15 by the way) to saving for my emergency fund and living on a … BUDGET to returning emails in a timely matter and visiting my godson and cousins twice a month, there are  set of things that I need to complete on a daily basis and I just need to get them done. I thought that discipline and complete could be almost the same thing but I am going to keep them separate because Discipline will keep me moving forward and compete is , well completing whatever the task at hand is.

So there we have it Stephanie’s 2012 Goals in 3 Words, so just wish me luck because now I have to COMPLETE all that I have said in this goal. LOL

Share your goals or words with me in the comments.

Thanks for reading and enjoy your day

Goals, Goals, Goals!!! What's 2012 going to be about for you?

Goals, Goals, Goals!!! What's 2012 going to be about for you!

Its that time of year when everyone is thinking about and setting goals for 2012.  Everyone is blogging about goals for 2012. We have the ultimate goal setting in my office at work, where we list 3 goals for each of the following categories

Appearance, 

Spiritual Goals, 

Personal Goals, 

Work Goals, 

Health Goals, 

Family Goals, 

Social Goals,  

Finaincial Goals.

If that wasnt enough I told myself that I was going to create a 3 word theme like I did last year (see that post here) on what it is that I want to focus on for the year. 

Fast Company had a really great article on The One Resolution You Need to Make in 2012 that really stuck with me and I am going to make sure I do RIGHT NOW! So check that article out

Now is the time to brainstorm and think about wht you want 2012 to bring for you. So get to brainstorming because I certainly am about what I plan to accomplish and focus on for 2012 and post it somewhere where you can review it

and now we wait.....

I recently submitted a grant proposal to the Annual CAAAP Grant, from the group Chicago Alliance of African American Photographers. I never applied for a grant before so I figured this would be good practice and also a great opportunity for me to work on a new body of work. Thankfully the executive board gave us some tips for writing grant proposals, but I also found a wonderful resource here that helped me complete my proposal. You can check it out here 

so now that I have my proposal in, I am sitting back praying and waiting.
Wish me luck!

The Brand Called You

I often look for inspiring articles, ACTIONABLE articles to share with my students. Things to piggy back on the lessons that I share with them. They listen, but you know how it is, its always better when someone else says it, thats when they will really listen.

I really enjoyed reading this article because it reminds me to keep my personal and professional goals into perspective and always check in with myself to see how everything is playing out. So of course I had to share it. Bookmark this article and read it again and again to help keep you accountable.

Check it out:

It's a new brand world.

That cross-trainer you're wearing -- one look at the distinctive swoosh on the side tells everyone who's got you branded. That coffee travel mug you're carrying -- ah, you're a Starbucks woman! Your T-shirt with the distinctive Champion "C" on the sleeve, the blue jeans with the prominent Levi's rivets, the watch with the hey-this-certifies-I-made-it icon on the face, your fountain pen with the maker's symbol crafted into the end ...


You're branded, branded, branded, branded.


It's time for me -- and you -- to take a lesson from the big brands, a lesson that's true for anyone who's interested in what it takes to stand out and prosper in the new world of work.




Regardless of age, regardless of position, regardless of the business we happen to be in, all of us need to understand the importance of branding. We are CEOs of our own companies: Me Inc. To be in business today, our most important job is to be head marketer for the brand called You.


It's that simple -- and that hard. And that inescapable.

Read the rest of the article here

via Fast Company

7 Savvy Career Tips Inspired by Oprah

Folks can hate on Oprah all they want but in the end, Oprah is the ish!

So check out these 7 Great Career Tips we can learn from God, I mean Oprah  :) I found these while skimming articles on another fav site of mine LearnVest


Have a great weekend!

7 Ways to Instantly Make Your Clients Happy

I am so blessed to be able to wake up every morning and do what I love, inspire and create, especially for clients.  I came across this blog post from one of my favorite blogs Guerilla Freelancing. There are some great tips here about how to INSTANTLY make your clients happy! INSTANTLY!! Now i didnt post this because I think that you are handling your clients horribly or anything like that so dont get offended. I have just found that its always great to read articles like that to keep yourself on track.. This artticle even inspited a few ideas that I can use in my business. So I posted a link to the article for you to check out youself! I would love to hear how you make your clients happy! So feel free to share below in the comments or with me on Facebook or Twitter.

7 Ways to Instantly Make Your Clients Happy

3 Words for 2011

2011 WOW!! Can you believe it. It seemed like it just crept up on us right?  Chris Brogan has a cool approach to his New Years Resolutions that I wanted to share with you, and you can check it out here. He even listed my words on his blog today.

Here are my 3 words for 2011:

Faith-Let Go and Let God. You hear that phrase all the time and it is simple. A challenge but a simple challenge.. I want to work on not making that such a challenge and focus on building my spiritual relationship.

Family(Friends)-life is short and family is important. working on sets, with students, sitting in meetings, do all the cool things I am blessed to do you simply forget about your families, and friends. In the amazing world of photography and film you can get caught up in all of it and you simply loose your priorities. When the sets have been wrapped and events are broken down, what really matters is our relationships and memories you leave with those you love.  So you have to make sure that you are taking the time to create those memories.

Collaboration-I know some really great people, and meet more amazing people everyday, and I want to work with them ALL! Photographically, I am really looking forward to creating a new body of work with awesome artists, and building on a few of the personal projects I have been working on but this word means so much more.. To me its about building the support system I need to create the success that I want. I want to loose weight, so I have to build a collaboration around that, meeting with friends every other day to hit the gym, or go to dance class. I want to teach more programs and classes on business and entrepreneurship so I have to build a system for that, financial goals... that needs a support system too. 

This word is important because you can do everything yourself, and you know what, there are people out there that really want to help, and they have a lot to say.. so why not let them.

There you have it!!

What are your 3 words?
Feel free to share them with me or with Chris, whoever just share them with someone

Happy New Year! Welcome to 2011!

OCTOBER 2009

October is here. I'm kicking it off with a little bit of a cold; Chicago weather has done a complete 360 degrees with the weather. I literally was out and about with girlfriends over the weekend, and hopped into my fall trench this morning. BRRRRR, I've lived in Chicago all my life and I am still surprised by the unpredictable weather.

October is my birthday month. I haven't begun to freak out just yet. Of course you know a lady never tells her age, but as I think back about the year, and my life I think ehhh it could have been worse. I have really been blessed and things can only get better from this point on, as far as I am concerned.

My current state of mind: You Go Girl !!! OW!!
I hope you had a great summer :)

Are you Prosperus?

I’m a new student at the Prosperous Artists Academy!! That’s right I am going back to school. Well maybe not really, but I sort of am. Last Friday I enrolled in Prosperous Artists Academy with creative professionals Rosh Sillars and Dean La Douceur.

If you have never heard of Prosperous Artists, I would encourage you to take a moment, open up a new tab on your computer screen and head over to ProsperusArtists.com and check it out. It’s all about your creative business, and how to be successful with yours.

The podcasts are free and I have every single one of them, but recently they have started “Prosperous Artists Academy” a website that has lessons; projects and tutorials on ALL things you need to know and understand to run a successful creative business.

This weekend I began going through the website and taking classes and participating in the forums. This to me is a blessing in disguise. Since starting Harrington I really wanted to take some time to reflect and refocus my business and work on some personal work. Especially while taking the time to learn the ropes and how I wanted to approach my position at Harrington. So Prosperous Artist is really just a great resource to really help you focus your business and break down and think out what you are trying to do. The best thing about this is you can utilize the knowledge of Rosh and Dean to help you along the way.


So I am off to become a prosperous artist. I’m excited about that.
Have a great day