Friday, September 16, 2016

Of Course I Forgot to Post Yesterday

One single, pitiful day after I committed to posting everyday, I completely drop the ball.
It is difficult not to get frustrated at myself for not being able to keep a habit for even one day, but you know what? That's okay. I am back on the horse today, and even though it is a Friday and weekends are not terribly routine driven, I will try to post again tomorrow.

This is going to be more of a journal entry type blog post-just a warning.

So yesterday was a fantastic day, really this whole week has been great for networking, learning, getting empowered, inspiring others, and enjoying myself.

Last Friday, I went to a Chamber event and a wonderful marketing consultant. Beth, talked about effective communication. I loved her talk and was secretly hoping that she would be my marketing mentor. I accidentally introduced myself twice, an hour apart, which was quite embarrassing.
I ended up getting my first press release gig that day, and found out that a fellow member of junior league, chamber, and leading ladies was trying to freelance, and I tried my best to inspire her to go for it.

On Monday, Mary gave me permission to go to a Book Launch Conference in LA! By myself! Next month! She paid for the ticket, airfare, and hotel! And then I found out that a friend I have never met (a fellow wanderlusting, gut following, 'fuck it' tribe member) lives in LA and wants to meet up! And then my cousin (who I also have never met,except through Facebook) asked if I wanted to get together. Yes!

Tuesday, I went to a Jon Gordan seminar and was blown away by his talk. I wrote so many notes, that I think my pencil was smoking. I will have to transcribe all of my notes in a future blog post (note to self: keep track of future blog post promises). Then I asked him a question that he had posed to us earlier (and was later told that I won for questions that day... I know, I need to practice more humility). Because I asked a question, I got a free book and he signed it at the end! :)
Mary then introduced me to a fellow local motivational speaker, Lesley, that I was going to see on Thursday.
Then I went to a lunch that a colleague had won from the radio station. A local speaker, Habeeb, gave a wonderful presentation about the talk. At the end of this, I gave him my card, told him about Mary and told him that Ryan would be applying for a job at his organization.
Later that night, I went to my first Junior League event. We were given tshirts, and asked to go door to door passing out "Kindergarten preparation kits" to kids. I met wonderful people and forgot how much I loved volunteering and making a small impact on others.

Yesterday, I went to a real estate thing to see Lesley speak. Since I work for Mary's personal development side, and not her debt collection agency side, I felt a bit out of place representing Midstate... at first. Then Lesley recognized me and sat right next to me. We talked for a while and when she (nervously-- yes, public speakers get nervous too-Eeek!:)) went up to speak, she asked me to take some pictures for her.
Then at the end, I made my rounds, exchanging cards and catching up with people, when I came across the owner of a local nonprofit. She had gone up to speak before Lesley and had ended up crying when she talked about the children that her organization helps. She also caught my eye a couple times during the talk. I ended up telling her about my own attempt at starting a nonprofit, Stand Up Illinois, to raise awareness for sex trafficking and such. She got so excited. She gave me her book and told me that maybe our organizations could partner, and she could pay me to be the director of Stand Up Illinois within No Child Unloved. Whaaa...?! Yes! This would be a dream come true, given, but I told her that I had no intention of leaving Mary yet, so she suggested part-time work, and told me to think about it. I certainly am!
Then after work, I went to a chamber event to network and I met so many new people! And got to catch up with old chamber connections. Everyone I knew and talked to said they got my marketing consultant email (which I sent to about 300 of my contacts). On lady I had met at Leading Ladies told me that I was "unforgettable" and after she met me, she was trying to figure out if she could give me a job somewhere at her bank, then she said that I was too creative to work at a bank. Haha
This creeper dude, Mike, that I met at the Rotary bar crawl told me that I had been "bitchy" last time we met because I (fairly politely) had told him that he was "in my space" when he consistently leaned too close to me at one bar. I apologized for coming off rudely and told him that I was just honest. Later, in the middle of my conversation with an old PR gentleman, he very rudely, shrewdly and inappropriately violated my personal space by coming out of no where, and pulled my sitting body close to his groin area. It was completely fucked up. I was shocked he laughed it off and told the old man, "Don't worry, it's an inside joke" then walked away. I was so caught off guard. I tried to re-orientate myself and told the old man, "He violated my personal space and apparently thinks its funny to do it again. Anyway, where were we?"
I just moved on from that and continued networking and connecting, later meeting a great older gentleman that runs a retirement financing and accounting (or something?) company. Jeff called himself a "one-man BCP" which is hilarious, because that is where Ryan just applied.
We had wonderful chats about his road trips last year, and my own adventures, and aliens and what not.
It was really great.
I also looked down at my phone and Lesley had texted me, thanking me for taking pictures and telling me that I have a "bright future". Eek!
Everyone else went to a bar afterwards, but it was already 8:00p and I wanted to go lay in bed and watch Parenthood. So I took off and when Ryan got home, I was so excited to tell him about my day and the communication skills I had learned that we didn't stop talking until after midnight.

Today, I got into the office and promptly had a conference call with Beth, the marketing consultant I saw on Friday, to discuss branding for Mary. I sent her my 12 month marketing timeline, and the website proposal I had sent the website designers to gauge our brand. She was blown away. She told me that she wasn't trying to give me a big head or pander to me, but she had never seen anyone detail the marketing plan and do so much research. And she told me that she didn't want to talk herself out of a job but that I didn't need her help with this brand. She told me that she would be happy to mentor me wherever I needed help! EEEK! And told me that she would send some examples of branding statements that she had made for my reference. THEN she told me that she is constantly hiring freelance writers and she was so happy to have met me. Yippie!

I really think that I have been put on this Earth to connect people, and to remain positive, passionate, honest, humble, and empowered in order to empower others to do the same.

Life is so great when you say yes to opportunities, meet everyone there is to meet, genuinely care about them, persevere, and stick your neck out as much as possible!

Go, kick some ass peeps! And leave me a comment about what you're up to! :)

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