Procrastination is something we’ve all been guilty of now and then. (My particular form of procrastination includes popcorn, excessive organizing, and some form of social media.)
Whatever the specifics, I think it stems from a perception that their project will be difficult, expensive, or confusing. The key word is perception.
How then, can we get moving when stalled on a new project? Here are some tactics that have worked for me. READ MORE…
Life at my house took a drastic turn over the weekend. Tax season is in full swing so Greg (he’s a CPA) is pretty much living at the office (poor guy!). Not only that, my 16-year-old daughter, Emily, left for a fabulous vacation with her dad for a week.
Both of which mean lots of alone time for me!
As someone who’s used to – and enjoys – feeling at capacity most of the time, I wasn’t sure what to do with myself. I began by cleaning out every closet in the house, a task which actually turned out to be quite rewarding. Next, I began reading Simon Sinek’s, Start With Why.
After a while, though, it occurred to me that this newly found time is rare and temporary. So I decided to take more deliberate steps to improve things here at RocketGirl headquarters.
If you’re interested in doing the same, here’s what I recommend: READ MORE…
Jennifer Green wants to help YOU stand out. And she's got the talent and the know how to help you do just that!
Jennifer is a full service creative providing expertise in branding and web design from concept to production and is committed to helping socially responsible entrepreneurs, professionals and leaders, and progressive feminist political candidates stand out—online and in print.
Women- we have the power to create the working world we want.
And it's not necessarily about shattering glass ceilings. And it might not be about 'leaning in'.
It's about defining ambition... for yourself.
Now that might mean the corner office, and the big salary, and the important title, if that's how you define success.
But it might also mean a self-determined schedule so you can pick your kids up from school, or stay home during the day with babies and toddlers, or keep tabs on your teens while you also find time for your aging parents.
Your ideas of success might include bopping around to different cities or different countries as you pop in and out of remote desks and offices and even apartments around the world.
It might mean dabbling in your art, teaching yoga, and generating income on a project by project basis with your talent for visuals and quick wit on social media.
Your ideas for success might mean time for travel, time for friends, time to read, time to write, and time to keep fit.
You may be a part-time creative, full time parent, loving and committed daughter, with a clean house and a home cooked meal for anyone who arrives.
This may be your vision for ambition. And it's critical that we honor and recognize all of these pursuits as ambitious and worthy of financial viability and financial security.
For too long women have been told that in order to be successful, for their work and their lives to really count, they should want big salaries and big offices. We've been told that we have to 'step away from ambition' to raise kids, and we have been told to accept and expect that 're-entry' after 'time out' from that singular ambition has inevitable and just consequences. In fact, we have entrenched systems that support this inevitability. We have come to accept the story we're being told about what ambition women want.
And it is an acceptance of these systems that promote a one size fits all definition of ambition that indeed preserves this system. We have all become comfortable with it. There are more men named John and James at the helm of Fortune 500 companies than all the women leaders. There's roughly a 20% pay gap between women and men working the same positions with women receiving 80% of what men do. Just under 20% of the US Congress comprises of women.
And yet, we all know many, many women who are doing remarkable things every single day for themselves, their families, their communities, their companies, their organizations and for each other. And they may or may not be running a Fortune 500 company.
Aren't these women also ambitious? Isn't their work also valid and valuable?
We know, that, of course, it is. But if we are to change the tide and create the working world we really want for ourselves, then women must begin to tell new stories of ambition and we must honor and support these stories.
It is the danger of the single story of an ambitious women that limits our potential.
And so let's start to create the working world we want. A working world that honors, celebrates and supports, both socially and economically, the multitude of women's stories of ambition.
Debbie White, Founder of the Seattle boutique advertising agency, Frank + Candor, knows a thing or two about staying agile in a changing workforce.
Debbie has long since recognized the effectiveness and the efficiency of hiring the right person for the right job at the exact right time and she teams up with a collection of on-demand creative professionals to ensure her project outcomes are always unique, targeted, and top notch. Debbie's work-style is smart and savvy giving her the flexibility to team up to scale up as she accesses the best of the best to fill each project niche as she encounters them. Debbie and Frank + Candor represent this new nimble future of work that THE JILLS OF ALL TRADES™ supports, encourages and knows that women can lead.
Debbie was one of the first JILLS Members and proudly touts the power of women to be an economic force in the future of work. Her Seattle based, ad agency, Frank + Candor, works with companies across the nation and is a female-centric marketing agency focused on "Peak Women", 45-70, who she says "represent the most powerful, yet misunderstood, buying segment of any demographic."
In an excerpt from the Frank + Candor blog, Debbie shares why she knows 'small is the new big'.
"In advertising, I think the future is going to be small. As in small advertising agencies, boutique firms, and virtual creative hubs. As I sit here in our downtown Seattle WeWork office looking out at a slew of plugged-in workers that must be doing very substantial and exciting things, I think to myself, “I’m a part of this,” the small business, start-up co-working thing.
We’re all here, all of us independent business, co-working, kombucha-on-tap-drinking go-getters!
I see how well it works because this lean model is so adaptable to an ever-changing, project-based advertising business. From our standpoint, we have a small senior staff and our go-to specialists (that’d be super awesome freelancers in real-speak) that we partner with for particular projects. Those wonderful people are an integral part of our team, yet they are virtual—which makes everyone happy. And when we meet in Seattle, they get to have kombucha, too. Expanding and contracting with the needs of our ever-evolving clients, we work from home, co-sharing workspaces, or any wired place on earth. In fact, our most extensive account is 2,340 miles away.
This small but ever-connected ecosystem of seasoned creative thinkers is the new big advertising agency thing. And we’ll drink our rooibos kombucha to that!"
THE JILLS OF ALL TRADES™ Co-Founders, Megan Boswell and Corinne Neil recently joined James Kademan , host of the Authentic Business Adventures Podcast series for a rolicking and candid hour in the studio to share their start-up story, their decision to be female-focused despite lots of advice to do otherwise, and how a night out with the gals for a glass a wine can be rich ground to uncover your next business idea. READ MORE & LISTEN IN…
Forget the flexible desk… how about a flex apartment, co-working, and fitness membership in countries around the world AND a platform to promote your independent work style from wherever you are. THE JILLS OF ALL TRADES™ and Behere are making it possible to live + work in inspiring cites around the world one month at a time. Together, these two organizations are building community and empowering a dynamic freelance lifestyle.
THE JILLS OF ALL TRADES™ is a powerhouse talent collective of WOMEN CONSULTANTS who offer professional services to businesses. The platform offers a searchable online directory and targeted resources to help create an ecosystem and an infrastructure for the future of work. Behere is the platform for women to live in cities around the world, without long-term contracts or obligations. The members-only platform provides access to carefully curated furnished apartments, workspaces and fitness studios for the growing population of women seeking alternative frameworks to live, work and travel.
THE JILLS Co-founders, Megan AC Boswell and Corinne Neil, caught up with Behere Cofounder and CEO, Meesen Brown to chat about female forward businesses, flexible workstyles on an international scale, and the future of work, and some of the best countries for living and working. READ MORE…
The future of work is radically and rapidly changing. There will soon be more independent contractors and freelancers than employees in the workforce. Are you ready for the new normal? Are you aware of how to access the tools and resources that will set you up for success?
Recently, THE JILLS OF ALL TRADES™ Cofounders, Megan A.C. Boswell and Corinne Neil, caught up with the folks at BUNKER to chat about insurance, the modern independent contractor, and changing workforce trends.
Read more…
