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On the blog ...
What Can a Graphic Designer Do for Your Business?
A designer can:
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craft a custom website to showcase your personality, services and products to your ideal customers
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find that one font that perfectly sums you up and pair it with an icon that speaks volumes
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streamline your piecemeal social media profiles into a consistent brand image
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blend your logo, tagline and photo into a header that conveys what you offer at a single glance
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pick colors that match your mood, tempo and timbre
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organize your content into a readable ebook that feels more like a magazine
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implement the latest marketing devices – popups, opt-ins, email marketing
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polish your existing WordPress site ’til it shines
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read your mind (sometimes)
Pep Talk
When I woke up this morning my first thought was, “I need a pep talk.” Then, “I need a personal cheerleader.” And finally, “I need a whole cheerleading squad.”
I imagined a whole varsity squad with puffy hairsprayed bangs and ponytails, dressed in black and gold (Go Tigers!) filling my office with personalized cheers:
“Go, Christie! Go, Go, Go, Christie!”
and….
“Design! Design! Christie, You Design So Fine! Go, Christie! Yeah! Go, Christie!”
Ready? O.K.
Then I remembered I do have a personal cheerleading squad.
While they don’t show up in my office to shake their pompoms and fire me up every morning, they are the reason why this year’s roller coaster mix of ups and downs, with a few extra whips and turns and highs and lows thrown in for good measure, doesn’t feel as threatening to me as it has in the past.
Last year I was feeling completely alone in my business. I wasn’t reaching out to meet new people. I was afraid to tweet. I had no confidence in my ability to make the money my family needed to support itself.
Heck, I didn’t even have a professional website (even though I’d designed and written professional sites for other people). I wasn’t sure I even wanted to be a designer anymore.
Rich, Happy and Hot
I was looking around trying to find some way to get myself out of my shell and interacting with the world and I found Rich, Happy and Hot B-school, an online business coaching class, with Marie Forleo and Laura Roeder. I just had a hunch that that program could be a catalyst for moving toward a better version of me.
So, I pulled out my credit card and plopped down money I didn’t have and made a promise to myself that I would put my all into the class.
For two months, I interacted with other people in the class, I tweeted and I participated in conference calls. People from the class responded, encouraged me and tweeted back. All the interaction made me realize how much I love helping women create their businesses and how important it is for me to be surrounded by positive people.
Since then, I’ve been actively building a better support system for myself, a cheerleading squad of my own, by reaching out to others instead of sitting here feeling sorry for myself.
Christie’s Cheer Squad
My squad is a mix of new and old. I have a husband who always listens to me talk business and answers all my very stupid tech questions. Two girls who know the names of my favorite clients and are now old enough to understand why they need to be quieter when Mom’s on the phone. I have wonderful new clients who see me better than I see myself and encourage me to grow my business.
I have online friends I’ve made by simply reaching out to say “hi!” Friends like Jenn, Liz and Lisa who are making their own marks on the world. I have a wonderful coach (@sallyhopesays) who gave me tools to deal with that negative voice in my head and encouraged me to set big, big business goals and to go for them.
I know that I can keep building my support system and finding cheerleaders. So, what about you? Who do you talk to when you need a pep talk? Who tells you you’re on the right (or wrong) track? Who encourages you to pick yourself up and keep trying?
Build Your Cheer Squad
If you don’t have support, get out there and build your support system. It won’t build itself.
How to do it:
- take a class
- comment on a your favorite blog
- start a conversation and tell someone what you do
- tweet at someone you admire
- hire a coach
Don’t let fear stop you. There are people out there who will get you and support you and cheer you on.
Having trouble? Send me a tweet. I’ll tweet back and who knows I might just be the cheerleader you’ve been looking for.
Read MoreLive
All around me people are packed into pews and standing along at the back wall of the church. The ushers bring white folding chairs and set them up in the aisles. Sniffles, tight hugs, laughter and smiles mix together as the minister describes my great aunt Martha. I can feel my mom sitting beside me holding herself still and silent like only she can do. Zen in the middle of chaos.
I can’t look at my mom because I know I will see white tissues wadded up in her hand, red puffy eyes, tears and sadness. I can’t bear to see my mother cry. So I sit still, facing forward, watching photos of Aunt Martha’s life slide by on the projector screen. I see: Martha grinning in front of a tractor, Martha and her daughter Jane holding fishing trophies and Martha kissing Johnny, her husband. Then there it is, the picture I’ve been looking for, a teenaged Martha lined up with her sisters: Bonnie, Betty, Irene, Robbie, Bessie, Ruby and Marie. My Grandma Marie.
Suddenly I’m not at my great aunt’s funeral. I’m not in a church in Arkansas. I’m at Grandma Marie’s house standing in the kitchen watching her mix flour, pat it flat and cut out biscuits. I’m listening to her sing The Old Rugged Cross. I’m sitting next to her on the couch watching The Carol Burnett Show and running my hands along her arm to feel the softness of her skin.
Aunt Martha was the best kind of person. She loved everyone, made everyone feel special and the fullness of the church is a testament to her power. She was a dynamic combination of grit, grins and generosity. The same type of person her sister Marie, my grandmother, was. The type of person I’d like to be someday.
This type of person, the minister says, has the most bejeweled mansion in heaven. A diamond covered mansion sitting on a street of gold. When he says this I can see the rows of mansions and Grandma Marie and Martha so clearly that I hold my breath. They are running toward each other, arms wide open, swathed in the light of diamonds. Two strong, independent women, who lived completely and unconditionally and after all these years have found their way back to each other. Their life forces reach out to me. I see the past, the present and the future. They grant me a glimpse of all I’ve lost so that I can remember who I am and who I want to be. They remind me to live and to breathe.
###I’m participating in #Reverb10 and posting my writing here because it just feels right. Today’s #Reverb10 prompt is: Moment. Pick one moment during which you felt most alive this year. Describe it in vivid detail. (Author: Ali Edwards)
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