This weekend was half work and half play. I spent my Saturday at Create & Cultivate listening to several panels made up of talented, driven and successful women. There was a wide variety of career paths and roads to success, but surprisingly enough, the biggest take away for me had far less to do with growing my business, but more to do with living a balanced life everyday.

As entrepreneurs and working women living in such a busy and crazy world, I think we can all agree that getting everything checked off our list is impossible. Right? I always beat myself up about not finishing everything. Do you ever do that? I hate that I put the pressure on myself. I know it’s not healthy and I’m working on letting go a bit.

During the first panel, Jodie Patterson, founder of DooBop and mother of five shared my favorite take away from the weekend. She said that she has 6 touch points that she has to ‘touch’ everyday to make sure she’s living a balanced life. She also shared that there’s plenty of days where she doesn’t get everything done, but if she’s touched those things, she feels accomplished. How life-changing is that?! A few of her touch points included her kids, her man and spirituality.

I absolutely love this idea and have since been thinking about my own touch points. What are the things that I want to focus on each day? What things make me feel the happiest and most fulfilled? A few I landed on were spending quality time with Rob, my relationships with friends and family, my spirituality, my business, my blog, and exercise (though this one is harder for me to squeeze in everyday). Have you ever thought about how you can add more intention and balance to your everyday?

The rest of the day was pretty long, so I purposefully wore something I knew I’d be comfortable in all day and a loose chambray tank and boyfriend chinos fit that bill. These basic pumps are actually more comfortable than you’d imagine. My feet were hurting a bit by the end of the day, but that’s bound to happen with any pair of heels after wearing them for twelve hours.

Yesterday was the complete opposite of Saturday. We slept in late (after going to bed at 10:45 the night before — #gettingold), made a big brunch, went to the beach and watched the air and water show before coming home and cooking our typical Sunday night meal at home.

What are the things that are most important to you? How do you prioritize them and make time for them all?

photos by Shaheen Khan

I feel like I’ve been getting a lot more personal about my business lately, and I hope you don’t mind. I enjoy talking about it and didn’t realize how much so until I started Blog Better. Don’t worry, I’m not about to spout off blogging tips and tricks here, but I do like talking to you guys about being an entrepreneur because it’s something that’s close to my heart and something I think anyone can do!

Have you ever wanted to start a blog or even a business? If so, what’s holding you back? Is it one of these common reasons (eh hem, excuses).

“Now’s just not a good time.”
“The timing isn’t right.”
“I’m not making enough to leave my other job yet.”

Guess what? The timing is never perfect. If it were that easy, everyone and their dog would would be running a business. So what I really want to talk about is getting started as an entrepreneur. Part of ‘going out on your own’ is taking an educated leap of faith and diving in head first knowing that things might be bumpy for the first six months to a year. I know my first six months doing freelance design was pretty slow. I went to a lot of yoga back in the day! On the flip side, if it’s been a year and you’re still not seeing progress, it might be time to rethink your game plan and bounce some ideas off people to see what sticks. Collaborating and networking have been key in growing my own business!

Sooooo, what are you waiting for?

Start planning, create a roadmap of actions you need to take, along with a timeline of when you can reasonably get them done, and then start working at it. That might mean a lot of late nights (or early mornings!), but when you’re passionate about what you’re working on, I think you’ll find that it’s worth it. Working deep into the night to eventually quit your day job and control your own schedule — doesn’t sound that bad, right? Jess Lively used to call these people the midnight hustlers and I think that’s a great name.

Lately, I’ve been hearing lots of my friends talking about quitting their day job to blog full time or start a freelance business and it gets me so excited and giddy for them! It’s probably because I’ve loved the career path that being an entrepreneur has given me and want the same for all of them — you guys know who you are!

It’s a scary jump to make, but if you take the time to get organized and create a plan, I think you’ll find that it’s not nearly as daunting as you think. I recommend setting goals for 6 months out as well as goals that can be achieved each month. I have to admit, this is something I more recently started doing and it makes everything seem a lot more achievable and manageable.

I’ve set goals for my business, Leap — numbers I want to hit in sales and gaining more traffic to Blog Better, and for my blog — growing traffic, my social following and monetary goals as well. I’ve also been creating actionable things I can do to reach those goals each month and wow, does it make it a lot easier!

Good things don’t happen accidentally, they take hard work, planning and strategic moves, but the first one of those moves is actually getting started. If your goal is to start a blog, why not come up with a name and buy that domain. If you want to start a business, start formulating a rough business plan. It’s easier to fill in the holes once things are generally outlined. Set goals for each month and when you reach your ultimate goal, take that plunge and enjoy the ride!

P.S. Like this outfit? All the details are from this post!

photography by Cassandra Eldridge

Since as long as I can remember, I’ve always wanted a job. Maybe it was the idea of making money that got me excited about working, but whatever it was, it’s always been something I’ve wanted to do.

I worked in my dad’s clothing store as a kid folding clothes and organizing shelves, scooped ice cream one summer (Marble Slab, duh), worked at a gift shop throughout my senior year of high school, and even sold my own hand-knitted scarves one holiday season. The funny thing about all these jobs? My parents didn’t make me get any of them. I actively sought out employment on my own.

Things didn’t change too much in college either. I worked as a nanny for a family with four kids (also learned I probably can’t handle four kids, ever) and then for the school newspaper doing design work. Why? Because I felt like it. I didn’t make the decisions simply to improve my resume or because I really needed the extra cash, I just like having a job. What I’ve realized over the years, is that I like being in control of my own financial destiny and having a job left me feeling empowered.

When I graduated and eventually moved to Chicago, becoming an entrepreneur seemed really natural for me. I was already doing graphic design work on the side and decided that I didn’t really want to work for someone else when I could have the freedom to do my own thing. Let’s not forget that my parents were incredibly supportive and made that decision even easier. I’ll be eternally grateful for that and hope that I can be as supportive to my own kids one day.

Owning my own business has been one of the most rewarding things in my 20s and also one of the most challenging, terrifying and thrilling. Knowing that the fate of my business is 100% up to me and 100% not guaranteed is scary. But it’s also the one thing that always keeps me motivated.

Even if it’s kinda scary, the possibilities are endless! There’s no boss telling you what to do and your business can literally become whatever you make of it. Deciding to start a business is a big choice and it’s definitely not for the faint of heart, but I’ve learned more than I could have ever imagined since then. I figured why not share a little bit!? So here are a few tips and lessons I’ve picked up over the years…

Gauge Traction

Those first few clients and projects are some of the most important. It let’s you know that you’ve got something that people want and it proved to me that I had a marketable, profitable skill that people needed. The reality of this is that people may not want what you have to offer. Before investing your life-savings into a business, make sure you have a skill or product that will help people, if not, it’s back to the drawing board.

Set Goals & Be Okay with Changing Them

Every year, I set goals for myself for the following year. Some are broader and some are very direct. At the end of the year I go back and review those goals and see what I accomplished and I’m always surprised. There’s usually a few goals that I was dead-set on the year before and somewhere along the way, they lost their importance and fell out of sight. I think goals are great, but if your goals change, that’s okay to! Mine change all the time and I think being flexible and changing your goals to suit the climate of your business is smart and strategic.

Invest In Your Business

For online businesses, it’s easy to think that you don’t need to invest much — there are so many free tools out there. You can build a website for free and use social media to market your products, but those things will only get you so far. Investing in a professional website and spending money on targeted marketing will help you reach your goals even faster.

Failure = Growth

Failure is associated with negative feelings, and I get it. FAILURE means you failed. But what makes you successful is understanding why something failed, learning from your mistakes, and moving forward. Failure shows you the holes in your business and allows you to shape your business plan differently.

Know Your Niche

When I first started, I offered web design, blog design, graphic design, email marketing and social media marketing. I figured why not offer as much as possible, right?! WRONG. This was probably the biggest mistake I made early on. But I did learn from that! I realized that I hated doing email and social media marketing and really didn’t like doing business websites. Designing blogs was my favorite and focusing on that made me a leader in my industry. Eventually I realized that I didn’t enjoy designing all types of blogs and focused my niche even more and now I design WordPress blogs for fashion and lifestyle publishers exclusively. After focusing my niche and rebranding my site to better serve those clients, I’ve seen my business grew tremendously! Thanks to all of my amazing clients!!

Forget About Regular Hours

One of the biggest perks of having my own business is setting my own hours. I can pick up and travel whenever I want and for however long I want! But a regular week has no set hours. I occasionally work late into the night, wake up early in the morning and work weekends to get projects launched on time. The truth? I don’t mind it one bit. People always tell me that I work too much, but when you love what you do, it rarely feels like work. Plus, I already told you guys that I love having a job, so…..

Set Realistic Financial Expectations

I’ll be the first to say, that I need help remembering this one. Whenever I first start a project, I always have grand fantasies about it making millions over night (we can all dream, right?). The reality is that you might be a little broke for a bit. You hear about those success stories, but when you dig a little deeper, you’ll find that success didn’t come overnight. Usually they’ve been working on their project or business for a long time, making very little money and finally they get things just right and it takes off. So my advice? Have patience! Good things really do take time.

It’s Okay to Walk Away

This last one is really more of a personal story that reminds me of this good lesson. I had a business several years ago called Cookin’ Skinny. It’s technically still live as a food blog that hasn’t been updated in years, but originally it was an online magazine subscription for healthy recipes. I had just finished my first semester of cooking school and was high on the idea that I could take those skills and make an online business from them. I just knew that this would be a huge website and that everyone would come rushing to subscribe!

We had a pretty good chunk of people that signed up when we first started, but over time I got so burnt out. I was creating all of the content and felt like I was getting very little back in return. Eventually it became a project I absolutely dreaded and after a year, I decided I was done.

I felt like I had failed and technically the project did fail. But my heart wasn’t into it anymore and the relief I felt when it was over was proof enough that this wasn’t going to be ‘my thing’.

It sucks to fail and I don’t really like when people bring up the website because I don’t like explaining that it didn’t work how I wanted it to, but it’s the truth and now you know. The best part about walking away from this project was that it allowed me more time to focus on my newly launched freelance business, Leap, and for that I’ll be forever thankful!

Another life lesson I’ve learned from being an entrepreneur is that there’s really a much bigger plan out there for us than we can ever plan ourselves. I think being able to recognize that is huge and I know it’s been a big part of my own business’ success over the years. So my last little tidbit is to follow those intuitions because they typically lead somewhere really great! My latest project is Blog Better and it seems like a natural off shoot of Leap, but it took me years to finally realize that and make it a reality. Funny how life works like that!

Are you an entrepreneur? What lessons have you learned over the years that you wish you knew earlier?

thanks to my friend Megan for posing for my pics, she’s a teacher and aspiring children’s book writer (aka, soon to be entrepreneur)

This week has felt a little bit different than most. It’s my last real working week for the next week and a half, and while I’m excited, it’s also a little bit overwhelming. The week before vacation is always a funny one. It’s a game of playing catch up on everything (btw, I was insanely productive!) that needs to be done before you go and also getting prepped for your upcoming trip. I have to admit that getting caught has been something I’ve been struggling with lately. Not only because there’s been a lot on my plate, but I’ve also got a lot of ideas brewing in my head.

It always seems that my best ideas (well, at least I hope so) always come when my schedule is jam-packed. Why is is that I always seem to get inspired at the wrong time?! Something about having a lot going on just gets the creative wheels turning for me. Is it the same for you?

I’m looking forward to having some downtime while I’m in London to hash out these ideas and get more of a plan in motion. One of the ideas that I’m most excited about lately is Blog Better! If you’re a blogger or thinking about starting a blog, I invite you to check it out. I’ve learned a lot in the past few years designing blogs and blogging myself and I wanted to create a place where I could share everything I’ve learned so that other bloggers can avoid the same mistakes I’ve made and start making money from their blogs a lot faster than I ever did.

One thing that I didn’t expect, but totally love, is that other bloggers have been leaving comments about what’s working for them too! I’m really excited about the potential it has to help other bloggers and I look forward to learning from you guys as well! I hope you stop by and see what it’s all about and if you feel inclined, please share it with your blogger friends — I would greatly appreciate the support!

On a different note, I’m headed to London TODAY! I’ll be back on Monday with fresh content and hopefully a few posts from London will be coming next week!

*images via 1 & 2

A few weeks ago Rob started watching Casey Neistat’s vlog and shared a few episodes with me. If you haven’t heard of Casey Neistat, you’re missing out. He’s an incredible film maker out of New York with a really unique style. His vlog is a newer project, but both Rob and I have found ourselves really inspired after watching it. While I’ve only watched a few of them, it is encouraging to see how he lives his life so intentionally and it got me thinking about how I could make some small changes in my own life that would have a big impact on my daily life.

I landed on one thing in particular — getting up early. I’ve always been in awe of those morning people who wake up early and get their day started before most of us are even dressed for the day. I find myself playing the ‘what if’ game a lot. What if I got up an hour earlier this morning? What would I accomplish? Would it change my work schedule/productivity for the better? Will I have bags under my eyes? How would it change my attitude? And lastly, could I actually do it?!

I’ve never been a morning person. In fact, waking up at 7:30am is a struggle for me. But I decided that I’d give it a real shot and see if I could turn myself into a morning person and see if I liked how it affected my daily life, so for the past week (not including weekends) I challenged myself to not hit snooze and rise at 6:20am.

After a week, I’ve decided that it is possible to turn yourself into a morning person and the craziest thing? I really really like it. There’s something about waking up while it’s quiet, walking Oliver while the streets are mostly empty and getting home before Rob is even awake. I treasure these calm moments in the morning and as the day went on, I felt less stressed because I was ahead of schedule every morning. That being said, it’s not the easiest thing to do when you’re used to sleeping until 7:45. So if you want to try it out, here are my tips for how to become a morning person.

1. Will Power
Hitting snooze comes easy for me. Waking up while the sun’s not up, not so much. When that painful 6:20 alarm went off, I would lay there for a minute and let my brain wake up before pulling my body up with it. Coffee or green tea is helpful too!

2. Get Dressed & Make Your Bed
Getting dressed and pulling up the sheets are how I know my day has officially started. Your less likely to crawl back in bed if you’be already made it and you’re fully dressed.

3. Get Moving
Getting the blood flowing first thing in the morning is bound to wake you up. I don’t like doing intense workouts in the morning because it makes my head hurt, but taking Oliver for a long walk is just what I need to really wake myself up.
4. Plan of Action
Waking up early with no plan is kind of pointless. My brain is always a little foggy in the morning and I need direction. I scheduled my mornings out with a structured to-do list to keep myself on the right track – big surprise, I was insanely more productive last week.

5. Gratitude
I’ve noticed that in the past few weeks (or maybe months) I’ve complained a lot about how much I work and I’m sorry. That’s really annoying and gets old, but reminding myself how lucky I am to have a job that I love and get to do on my own schedule is pretty awesome. Taking a second to be thankful for that helped motivated me to get up again the next morning. I’ve considered scribbling down things I’m thankful for in a journal as a reminder!
6. An Earlier Bedtime
My old bedtime was 11:30 and lately is been 10:30. Getting to bed earlier and getting enough sleep each night makes it that much easier to get up the next morning. Plus, I love sleeping! If you find that you have trouble falling asleep at an earlier time, I recommend DAVIDsTEA Mother’s Little Helper, it has valerian root in it that helps you fall asleep naturally.