I’ve built my business around the crucial moral foundation of accepting and listening to whoever shows up for me, and in whatever state they choose to show up in.

I’ve been misunderstood.
I’ve been spoken over.
I’ve been made fun of for being myself;
For being too quiet.
For being too passive.
For not wanting to do what everyone else was doing.

You too?
I get it. I see you. You are worthy. You are enough.
Please, don’t ever believe otherwise.

And do you want to know the most ironic part?
This unwavering belief and vow to myself and all who cross my path was born after I was made fun of in a public setting by my very own business mentor.

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In that very moment, well over five years ago, I promised to do whatever I could within my power to never ever make anyone else feel the way that I felt.

Mentoring quickly became a lifeblood for me and my business six years ago, and to this day, there are few things that I am more passionate about than being an educator. I’ve been a mentor to small groups, co-taught throughout a three day workshop, educated in short-term one-on-one settings, and have mentored business owners throughout my five-week intensive branding program.

Although I adore mentoring in whatever shape it shows up as for me, I find the most connection, shifts, and transformative growth through longer term mentoring opportunities.

As an introvert who thrives on in-depth connection, focusing on one person over an extended period of time allows us both to dive deeper into who you are, what you’re currently offering, what we envision your business growing into, and most importantly, how we can do all of these things in a way that is true and meaningful to you. By working one-on-one, I’m able to hone in on your uniqueness + one-of-a-kind business needs, which is something that isn’t always possible in a group/workshop setting.

Unearthed is a five week one-on-one in-depth mentoring program focused on giving you the tools to create, grow, and manage a healthy and sustainable business that reflects who you are and what you believe in. This mentoring program is open to anyone world-wide, as all of our meetings will be happening digitally via facetime or skype.

UNEARTHED INTERTWINES THE DEVELOPMENT OF A BELIEF STATEMENT REFLECTIVE OF YOUR OWN PERSONAL CORE-TRUTH AND THE PRACTICAL HANDS-ON BUSINESS TOOLS THAT YOU NEED TO MOVE FORWARD IN A WAY THAT IS EFFECTIVE AND SUSTAINABLE. ……

For six years, I’ve coached small business owners with my own method of diving deep into the core of who you are in order to curate a belief statement that will drive business decisions - big or small - from here on out, as well as aid in speaking directly to your own ideal clientele. 

With my brand new program - Unearthed - I’m taking the program many steps further, and braiding the development of your own unique belief statement with practical hands-on tools and systems to build and sustain an unshakable business foundation.

What to see all that’s included as well as a complete week-by-week breakdown…come and read more about the program!

With the rise of all things “self care”, the social world begun shaming “the hustle”; suddenly, working tirelessly at something that you are passionate about became a bad thing.

These words and feelings never resonated with me, because I know firsthand that the hustle is a crucial part of this journey.

Had I not worked endless at my own branding self-discovery, website, visuals, inspiration, goals, etc, etc, etc, I would NEVER have ended up here, writing these words for you.

With our last few conversations trudging us through some of the honest depths of what it looks like to be an entrepreneur, I wanted to shift gears and use today as an opportunity to put into practice some real-world PRACTICAL and immediate calls to action that we can begin to implement into our lives and routines right now that will begin to release some of that pent up pressure and stress that’s been building up.

Working from home is lonely ya?

Sure, it’s nice to be able to dictate what you where, when you wear it, amongst an even longer list of pro-reasons why operating from a home office is appealing; but when we really open our eyes to the reality of what being a self-employed entrepreneur means, there’s a huge piece of working from home that is anything but shiny and appealing.

Being confined to an office at home is isolating.

Truth be told, the current state of being an entrepreneur right now is a MESS. I’m not going to beat around the bush with you all because you deserve to hear things as they are; it’s the only way that you’re going to be able to break away from this suffocating mould that is attempting to force you into buying into - both figuratively and literally - whatever myths and promises they share with you.

Having your eyes opened up to the truth is the only way that you can start today to build a sustainable business.

I’ve built my business around the crucial moral foundation of accepting and listening to whoever shows up for me, and in whatever state they choose to show up in. I’ve been misunderstood. I’ve been spoken over. I’ve been made fun of for being myself;

For being too quiet.

For being too passive.

For not wanting to do what everyone else was doing.

And do you want to know the most ironic part?

This unwavering belief and vow to myself and all who cross my path was born after I was made fun of in a public setting by my very own business mentor. I can remember exactly where I was, who was there, and I could even tell you what I was wearing that day; because that's how trauma works. That's how my introverted self categorizes traumatic moments from my past. That's how I know when situations, words, or actions will have a lasting imprint on me.

In that very moment, well over five years ago, I promised to do whatever I could within my power to never ever make anyone else feel the way that I felt.

As an entrepreneur, are there situations that you’ve avoided, or systems that you’ve neglected to put in place because you simply believe that it will never happen to you? I know that for many years, I coasted through certain areas of my business on the belief that my clients were wonderful and kind people and that nothing that ever took place within my business (or throughout our interactions) would ever disrupt that.

The truth of the matter is, life happens; and regardless of what we want to believe when it comes to the world, or humans, or ourselves, there are steps and situations that unfold before us that no one could have ever predicted taking place.

For most of my career, Mark’s been the most incredible resource for me when it came to taking any brand-related photos, but with the more content that I began to create, as well as the obvious introduction of our children into the mix, finding any stress-free time to plan and execute a photoshoot for myself became increasingly more challenging to do. Even if we planned to just grab a couple of shots whenever we were out and about, we still always ended up rushing home for a nap time, or having to stop to feed one--or more--of us before we all got hangry. It became increasingly obvious that it was time for us to ask for help, so that’s what we decided to do.

Asking for help in any area of life or work is hard; but if becoming a parent has taught me anything, it’s that we cannot do everything on our own. Part of the reason why asking for help is so hard though, is because it’s hard to trust anyone other than ourselves, especially when it comes to something like creating images that accurately represent ourselves and our brand. But, at some point our need for help is going to outweigh our fear of trusting, so if that’s where I’m meeting you today, then let me do my best to walk you through how I aided in planning out my own branding shoot.

Operating as a business can work in some scenarios, and in fact, it can even sustain itself for many many years, but a business isn’t what keeps people coming back for more. A business isn’t what people want to engage with, or follow, or learn from, or work alongside of. When it comes to really pushing things to the next level and connecting with whoever is on the other end of your products, services, or anything in between, you need to be operating as a brand--as a real person with an intentional message or belief or value that connects with others far beyond a simple materialistic transaction.

On today's bonus q&a episode, Mark and I sit down to answer all of the questions that you all asked regarding the last ten months, such as: why did we keep our pregnancy a secret, was Willa planned, how is Birdy adjusting, and so much more.