The Power Of One. And It Only Really Takes Just One.

The Power Of One. And It Only Really Takes Just One.

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Growing up I looked at writing as something I was not good at. Mainly because I had zero value in my thoughts, plus, who in the hell was going to want to hear what I have to say in the first place? And the more I’d tell myself that putting my thoughts on paper was really not my thing, the more insecure I became about it.

For the longest time, writing symbolized a series of tiny little deaths of my soul, every time I had to do it. From grammar to spelling and punctuation, All things I’m still not very good at. I feared those things way less than having to sit down and make my thoughts real by putting them on paper.

Mainly because I felt there was already so many writers that were already doing a pretty great job, why should I jump in? And what would I write about? Thinking I had to write a certain way and about popular topics in order to grab someones attention long enough for them to relate. Still, who wants to hear this shit right?!

Until you get a message from a friend thanking you for sharing your thoughts, expressing how it’s your words that are helping them navigate through this part of their life. One person that took the time out of her day to reach out and thank me for having the nerve to put my thoughts out into the world to be judged. The power of this one person gave me the validation to have the audacity, to keep telling my truth. She gave me the signal to keep going, just like the countless words I have listened to from others I respect.

There is an audience waiting out there in different stages of life and in business that will find value in the thoughts I have to offer. You only need to reach just one. One person that may be going through similar things that you have gone through and have not been able to see themselves out of it yet. And all it takes is for you to get over any fears you have about being judged by others and get your story out there! It’s worth it! You choose how you want to invite people into your life. I have been told by many people over the years to put myself out there. We all have different stories to tell, and somebody needs to hear yours.

You’ve Got All The Time In The World.

You’ve Got All The Time In The World.

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It takes a lot of hard work to take care of the self. A few days ago I sat down and wrote out the things I wanted to do every day to make sure I was taking time to maintain certain activities for myself. So for the whole month, I want to journal, read, and go for a walk. After I completed the month, it was shockingly obvious how little time there was for anything else.

And if I was going to be able to get client work done and maintain my life outside of my workday on the other equally important things like being a father and tend to my relationship, I’d first better figure out how to maximize my time throughout the day while still allowing the time spent with my daughters, work, relationship and self care to flex and flow as they need to. This is why having a morning routine has been very helpful for my life, both for business and personal. Having some parts of my day be structured allows me the flexibility to choose what times of the day work best for me. In fact, most of the work I want to do for self-maintenance usually gets done before anyone else is the house is up, like journaling, meditating and planning my day.

After the kids are up, fed, and off to school I can then sprinkle the other activities I want to do in between my work day. Knowing how much time I have to do something opens up many more channels for creatively getting everything accomplished. If you are a go with the flow type person, like me, with tendencies to just let the day go how the day goes. Try writing your day down on paper for a month or two, then watch how the time you don’t have turns into more time than you need.

Everyone’s a Marketer, and an Expert?

Everyone’s a Marketer, and an Expert?

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Everybody is a marketer these days because of social media. Anyone can set up a camera or start a blog and moments later be on display for the world to see. Don’t get me wrong, I love how simple tech has made it for all of us to take more control of our lives and tell our stories at the pace we decide.

My only concern is for the many people who make the decision that they want more out of life, they want to grab control of their fate and jump out into the community of people making moves on the web. Right out of the gate, before they have thought about who they are and what they have to offer the people, they fall into the trap of how to get more likes, more followers, and how to become a social media bad-ass from day one. They spend hours, weeks, months trying to crack the code of being themselves while going about life like everyone else.

A handful of free workshops, a years worth of online courses and thousands of dollars later, most of us still find ourselves confused and overwhelmed and feeling like the only solution is to scrap it all and start over again. Instead of taking the time to reflect on what they learned from the process and question what they would need to do differently, they stall. When they turn to the experts that got them to this point, these experts can’t help push them through to what the problem is because they have spent no time learning what you as a customer needs to help you to figure these things out about yourself.

In fact, they have thrown you into a pot with every other person like you with their general approaches to what most times are very specific needs. It’s no wonder why so many of us second guess ourselves and give up before we have gotten started. My answer is that there is no one answer, no one real approach to how we should get shit done as individuals.

If we worried less about likes and follows and focused our time on how we are best suited to serve each other through our products or services and get really good at just doing that, our journey in becoming better marketers for our business will be rooted in becoming better believers, thinkers, and storytellers of ourselves.

Note To Self: Care more about the things that interest my clients. Learn as much as I can about those things and use that as information for better decision making in the future.

Identity Crisis.

Identity Crisis.

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Hey B! Do you still do art and stuff?

I get asked this questions everytime I run into someone from my past. And my response after a short pause is, sure man, I still do art. I used to get mad at this questions because I never saw myself as an artist and most times I still don’t. But it took me a while to realize that back in the day, I did art enough for most of the people I grew up with to identify me as an artist.

Over the years, I became many things, a gymnast, a diver, a simmer, a capoeirista, a father. So it’s safe to say that whatever I’m doing right now is based on the things I’m interested in right now. Even my life as a creative has always been associated with me being a graphic designer and never separate. In fact, most of my career I’ve only identified myself as a designer and I’m only creative because I’m a designer.

No matter how many times I’ve changed, no matter how many times I discovered that I was becoming something more, the story I told myself was to the contrary. All I am is a designer. Let me tell you how debilitating this has been for me up until now. I have turned down so many opportunities because of my stubbornness of letting go of how I saw myself.

If you really want to see growth in your life, if you really want to see what you are made of, let go of the labels you have allowed yourself and others to identify you as, let go and watch as you become the person you already are right now.

Start Now!

Start Now!

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You know that great idea swimming in your head? That one that you sketched on your napkin at dinner last night? Get it illustrated, designed, refined or prototyped. Whatever it takes to help your vision take shape. Then watch it come to life.