My Brand

I've thought a lot about the brand of my business, Upward Spiral, and recently about my mom's business, Atlantic Institute of Aromatherapy. But I've also wanted to work on my personal brand, what I'm creating here. 

The reason I'm sharing this is because I want to be transparent in my journey to create successful businesses, one's that embody the things I truly believe in (positive change, transformation, learning to be who we really are, to name a few...). Since I have many projects, it makes since to also cultivate a personal brand. 

And as always, there's a lot of fear and resistance to putting myself out there.

So I figured, I'd start by sharing that struggle. Hopefully, I'm moving swiftly beyond that but we will see as time unfolds. 

If you are also working to put yourself out there and are finding it challenging, know that you are not alone. 

Beginning at Home

Its always easy to begin something; its quite another to finish it.  

I find that the space around me has a large effect on my productivity. So I've been doing some rearranging at the house. I'm just about ready to do some rearranging online as well. 

I've been working hard on a new website to debut my new business venture, The Upward Spiral Center.  Its building on the work I've already created with Upward Spiral Therapy, but I'm ready to grow and become all that I dreamed. 

So that means really committing to an online presence.  I tend to shy way from such things due to anxiety over my own persona and fear that it will all feed my ego. But I also believe I can approach it in a way that helps me learn about and from my ego. 

Here we go!

...and Now, the Good News! (Part 1)

Around the time that the "bad news" began (mid-February), I had a simultaneous occurrence of good news.

I have always dreamed of opening my own healing center. At the beginning of this year, I decided to make the slow movement towards making this all possible, in time. I recognized that the first step would be to make some additional income through renting out my current treatment room. I decided that I was ready to find someone in preparation for creating the healing center of my dreams.

But the thing was, I didn't really want to put an add on craigslist and solicit to strangers. Ideally, I wanted to find someone that I possibly already know and could trust. Someone that had good energy and intentions and who's goals matched mine so we could work on building something together. I didn't really have anyone in mind, but I did desire for this person to appear sooner rather than later.

So I was driving to work one day in early February, thinking about these things, and I said to the universe, "Universe, I really want to make this happen but don't want to put an add on craigslist, and I would like it to happen soon. I'll give you a month. If no one appears within 30 days, then I will put out an add. But I will give you the chance to send someone first."

No kidding, two weeks later I received an email in my inbox with the subject "New LMT." The email was from Deran, the brother of a friend of mine who was recently licensed in massage and was asking if I was interested in taking a new therapist under my wing. Well, hot damn, I thought, my request totally worked! Deran and I had actually had a phone conversation about 6 months before when he was interviewing me for a project while he was still in massage school. I didn't know that I did already know this new therapist, but then I asked and there he was. Magic.

So as of a few months ago, Deran officially joined the Upward Spiral team. We are spiraling upward and onward and it turns out that this is just the beginning of a whole new project for Upward Spiral. More soon!

Day 97: Time Off

As I have expressed in previous posts recently, it has gotten difficult to find the time and energy to post on here everyday.  I have been blessed with more work than I had been used to the past few months, and that has caused me to get behind a bit in my gratitude project. But I have still been grateful everyday for all kinds of things, and that is what really matters. Besides, I can't help but wonder if my increased gratefulness over the past few months is part of what has contributed to my abundance of business all of a sudden. Hmmmm....one will never know for sure, but I'll be grateful for it anyways.

One big lesson from the past few weeks has been scheduling time off for myself. I started working 8-12 hours a day over a 6 or 7 day stretch mainly because I was still in the attitude of taking business whenever business is there and had neglected to schedule myself regular days off.  Phew! Since I most often work on Saturdays, I have decided to let Monday be my day off.  It won't fully go into effect for the next few weeks, but going into 2013 I will no longer take appointments on Monday. Whoo-hoo!

I also scheduled for myself a week at the beginning of the year to rest and recharge. I am not sure exactly what I will be doing with this time, but I know it is there and that foresight of relief is really all that matters.

Days 80-84: A Growing Business

Something has happened over the past few weeks: I've had a lot more work than I am used to. Between completing this manuscript, seeing

slightly over

my weekly goal of clients the past few weeks, preparing two workshops, and all the normal stuff I need to take care of, it seems like I am working all the time!

This is a good thing, a very good thing, but if I don't watch myself, it is a bit tiring as well. All minor complaints aside, it is exactly where I want to be. Building a business is a challenging task. I am educating myself on practically every aspect of business owning all on my own. I get a little help here and there but for the most part, it is all up to me.

I am learning big lessons in time management. Part of the reason I have neglected my gratitude posts the past few days is that I didn't find the right way to fit it in my busy days. This is the wrong way to think about it.

It seems interesting to me that I have not done any extra advertising or marketing, but I have gotten busier. I believe that having and expressing more gratitude has something to do with it.

So my new mantra is "Gratitude will get me through." So far it has, and I bet it would for you too.

Day 52: Off Work Early

I love my job, pretty sure I've said that before. I can work all day long and still feel great by the end of the day. That being said, it does feel good to be home sooner than expected.

Today was a long day. We started with meeting with my new doula client at 9am this morning. After some office work and lunch I saw two clients pretty much back-to-back. Then I started to get ready for my next client who called right about then to say they couldn't make it. Though I would have loved to work on them, the cancellation was a relief. I got to finish up the office work I didn't get to earlier and even run to the store to get some last minute supplies for my doula bag.

Last minute cancellations are not always a bad thing. Looks like someone gets to put her feet up. Ahhhhh....