This is a coaching call with tips and strategies for how to work with dreams when you have NO CLUE what to DO.
Honestly - the main thing to know is that there IS something you can do. There's actually LOTS you can do, but you do have to look at it a little differently.
The live video happened on Jan 13, you can watch the replay here.
Have your journal ready!
You're going to leave this with a list of things you CAN do to get working on your impossible dream TODAY.
Dream Book is my ongoing class + creative mastermind for navigating the path between where you are and where you want to be. This is where I show up and work/play with my new dreams, every day.
This is where I share TONS of practices for Dream Work, Inner Work and Outer Work so that you have a whole smorgasboard of options and it's super easy to show up and work on your dreams.
This video is a part of the FESTIVAL OF DREAMS - a whole month long deep dive into journaling and meditation.
Get the whole schedule of courses, coaching videos and creative dream challenges right here.
The live class happened on Jan 5, catch the replay right here!
This is a journaling and meditation class, so make sure to have your journal with you before you start. And just pause the recording any time you want more time with a particular prompt.
It was January 1, 2011, that I officially quit my last job to do the Creative Dream Incubator full time.
(Which, at that time, was called ABCcreativity - the Creative Dream Incubator was the first e-course I made once I started doing this full time)
I remain so grateful to me-from-then for making the move.
I'm feeling especially grateful for my business during this difficult year.
Grateful to have work that is fulfilling and fun and also helps me hold space for my own process of healing and growth.
Grateful to have steady income during such an unpredictable year.
The Creative Dream Incubator is my biggest dream come true. Dreams grow you. And then as you grow, your dreams grow, but then they grow you even more, and it becomes an infinite cycle of growth and inspiration.
And I am grateful for the ways that the Creative Dream Incubator has grown me.
I am braver, I trust myself more, I trust my creativity and intuition more, and I feel less of a need to prove my worth or the value of my work.
My once impossible dream became my sturdy foundation.
I do still remember when I wanted to do some kind of meditation/creativity workshops, to offer the magic and healing I had experienced to others, but had no clue how to make that happen.
And I remember figuring out how to do that work, but doing it on the side while working full time, and feeling so grateful to be doing it at all while also feeling SO SURE that I could never do this as my full time work.
I always try to remember that things that felt COMPLETELY impossible to me once are my life now.
Which means that the things that FEEL impossible now actually might not be.
One thing hasn't changed: that desire to offer the magic + healing that I have received to others.
This is the foundation of how I've built my business and I am excited to keep doing this in 2021. When we do this work of receiving the gifts and medicine of our dreams, this helps us become more of who we really are.
Being more of who we really are is the more liberating, healing and joy-inducing thing we can do for ourselves.
And it's also how we grow wiser and become braver and ready to stand up, speak up, and create a better world for everyone.
To celebrate the ten year anniversary of the Creative Dream Incubator, I'm going to do a whole month long FESTIVAL OF DREAMS.
This means: free classes, coaching videos, challenges and other fun stuff. A whole month of inspiration, support and magic for setting yourself up for RADICAL SUCCESS with your dreams in 2021.
I believe that collectively, we are at a turning point.
We need to become who we really are in order to save this planet, because I don't believe that who we really are is careless enough to destroy the only planet we've got.
We need to become who we really are in order to save each other, because I don't believe that who we really are would create these political systems that have people dying of poverty while others hoard more wealth than they can use in 20 generations.
And personally, I feel at a turning point as well.
I feel more creative and sure of myself than I ever have. I feel ready to both create and put myself out there in new ways.
I have so many big dreams for 2021! And I know you do too.
So let's prepare to dream BIGGER BRIGHTER AND DEEPER in 2021.
Let's use this moment to spur us on to greater things.
The Festival of Dreams will start on Monday, January 4.
My pandemic brain isn't great at planning so all of my planning powers are going to Dream Book right now. Which means I don't have a plan for the whole month - just a big pile of ideas and a commitment to keep showing up for the Festival of Dreams all month long.
But the GREAT thing about that is that: you can help me decide what we do in the Festival of Dreams!
LET ME KNOW what you're working with:
What are your questions about how to get to where you want to be in 2021?
What are the main obstacles you're facing right now?
Go to this page and answer these questions on the comments so I can make the classes that will help YOU the most.
Here's what I do know:
I'll be offering free mini-classes, coaching videos and creative dream challenges throughout January on Instagram Live. (If you're not on Instagram it would be worth it to join for this month). The replays will be available on my Instagram page.
Everything will be freely available - you don't have to sign up for emails or anything.
(If you missed my Solstice Meditation + Journaling on Instagram on Monday, you can watch it right here)
Since the Solstice, my dreams have been stepping up and making all new demands.
I love it.
Except when I’m feeling terrified about it, and like I am too small to Dream bigger, of course.
I just recorded a new Dream Book video about working with the dreams that feel completely impossible.
And that’s the vibe I am bringing to my end-of-year journaling and reflection: Determination to set myself up to do impossible things in 2021.
Like - let’s do this already!!!
Are you with me?
Dream Book is ongoing through the holidays. I’m in there every day claiming my new dreams, the ones I’ve been circling around and “I don’t know if I’m ready-ing” about for some time.
I’m making lists. Shining a light on fears. Transforming the things that hold me back. Digging deep and using ALL the tools.
I’ll keep doing this in between baking cookies, playing board games, making the kids get outside for fresh air, and enjoying all of the holiday snacks.
I’ll be writing every day about how I’m doing this and inviting you to DREAM BIG with me (or dream bright or dream calm or however you want to play with your dreams), on our private Dream Book website where we can talk about the awkward vulnerable unsure parts without the whole internet being able to see. (And where you have access to all the tools you need to actually DO it)
Since it's the Solstice today, I did a special Solstice meditation and journaling process instead of our usual Monday Morning Creative Genius Planning (I do those live every Monday on Instagram).
How do you want to feel, how do you want to be experiencing your life?
What do you want to be creating?
What kind of impact do you want to have?
How do you want to show up?
How do you want to show up for yourself?
How do you want to show up for your dreams?
How do you want to show up for the changes you want to see in the world?
And Dream Book is ongoing through the holidays ! I'll be there every day in the daily posts! This is a really great time to join us, to get some extra support for what you want to do in 2021.
Take 10 deep breaths, with your hand on your heart. Imagine sending yourself love.
I'm so sorry that you're feeling this way... AND... It's totally ok that nothing is working right now.
Everyone experiences this, this is a natural part of being alive. It's ESPECIALLY a natural part of being a growing creative being pursuing your dreams.
Some parts of the path just suck. It's not a reason to give up or beat yourself up.
The only way out is through.
We all naturally try to avoid discomfort but you're going to have to go right THROUGH it. This is the brave work that your dreams demand of you.
Journal Prompts for when nothing is working part 1: This feels awful!
We start by processing your feelings a bit, because you can't uncover any useful intel while you're emotionally tangled up.
Nobody likes this part. But be brave. What's going on? Start by just writing it out.
How does this make you feel?
Try to be more detailed and descriptive about how it makes it you feel.
How do these feelings feel in your body?
Are these feelings familiar? Have you felt them before about other things?
What are the tools that are available to you, for processing and healing your feelings? List them all and choose what you want to work with right now. (If you can't think of anything, start with sending LOVE to all of your hurting inner selves) (If you're in the Creative Dream Incubator Coaching Membership - check out the Library of Inner Work practices)
What do you really NEED right now?
Journal Prompts for when nothing is working part 2: Exploring the situation from different perspectives + looking for new possibilities
What if everything is working just fine and it's YOU who needs to change? (In some situations, like when dealing with systemic injustices like racism and ableism, this is NOT a helpful prompt. In other situations, like when YOU really are the thing that's in your way, it can be very helpful.)
WHY do you think things are not working?
Is your answer to that last prompt true, or are you making up a bullshit story to hold yourself back?
What are the possible gifts in things not working right now?
What haven't you tried?
Why haven't you tried it?
Come up with 5 ideas for things you could try next. Break those down into super small teeny tiny little steps.
Remember the only way out is through. Go do one tiny thing.
I'd love to help you take those steps and DO THE THING!
Take the (free!) 10 day Creative Dream Journal Challenge - I'll show you new ways of working with your dreams, no matter how stuck you get.
It's about making some space to meet yourself where you are...
We're all processing A LOT right now, so we NEED SPACE to be able to really be with what's going on with us.
We all need more space for processing our feelings and reactions to everything that is happening in the world, which is an important part of Creative Genius Planning because it clears the channels so you can hear your inner wisdom more clearly.
It's a practice to help get out of auto-pilot and get into a deeper connection with your inner wisdom.
And then move towards where you want to be.
Once you are more connected to your inner truth, moving towards more joy and hope and opportunity and creativity tends to be the result.
We're not FORCING ourselves to "make it happen" or get to work - we're creating space our natural genius to flourish. We're playing with possibility.
I don't have one set way of doing this. It will be a little different every week.
As I said, for Oct 26, we're going to explore DISTRACTIONS and how to keep your creative projects and emotional wellbeing practices going in hard times.
Use this time zone translator to make sure you've got the right time where you are - it's already got my time entered in, so you just have to select your time zone to see what time this is for you.
Here are 19 ways you can make space for your next big thing, right now:
Look at what you can delegate - either tasks in your business or cleaning your house or getting groceries delivered instead of shopping, there are lots of things you do that other people can do instead!
Get up 1/2 hour earlier to work on it a little each day (it's a cliche because it works - though I would add to also go to bed 1/2 hour earlier because sleep is important)
Meditate on it every day
Let go of the things you're doing that aren't fulfilling anymore (yes even if other people expect you to keep doing them - your dreams thrive with strong boundaries!)
Book a creative retreat - just go somewhere where your only thing to focus on is this new thing you want to be doing
Do Dream Book! Within the first month you'll see all sorts of new possibilities for how to do your thing
Take a social media break, or severely limit your social media time
Block off a week in your calendar where you just don't book anything. Of course you'll still have other things to do, but you'll have quite a bit of time in this week for your new project
Work on it during your lunch break
Let your house get messy
Get take-out or pre-made meals at the grocery store
My favourite is to go out for coffee on Saturday mornings to work on dream projects
Be really honest about how you are spending your time and look for things you can temporarily give up to make space for your new project
Exercise every day. It gives you more energy
Stop watching Netflix/tv
Cancel all of your social plans for 1 month
Make a list of everything you can put off to make space to do this thing now
Get together with some friends for an afternoon where you all work on your projects together
Consider the idea that "I don't have time for this" is actually a lie
MAKING SPACE is a part of the process of making the thing happen.
No one just magically has all the time and space they need to do what they want to do.
You've done it before and you'll do it again.
When it FEELS impossible to make space, that means something else that's in the way.
Staying in this story that you "just don't have time" keeps you from the truth: That this new thing is terrifying.
How much would it hurt to give this thing everything you've got, and still fail?
THIS is what makes it hard to make space for a new thing.
It takes an INCREDIBLE amount of trust in yourself, and COURAGE, to wholeheartedly pursue your creative ideas.
So this is actually THE BEST WAY to make space for your next big thing:
Have a consistent practice for:
listening to your intuition (it knows exactly how you can make space for this new thing)
cultivating the courage to act on your intuition
calming your fear and self doubt
transforming your patterns of holding back
connecting with who are becoming as you do this new thing (every creative project and dream your pursue GROWS YOU)
accessing your inner POWER to take brave steps and make things happen for yourself
I do this work every day in Dream Book and would love for you to join me there.
You are infinitely wise, brave, creative and powerful.
You already have everything you need for your next big thing.
Having more ideas than you know what to do with is a natural part of being creative.
You're a creative genius and your mind doesn't stop. That's good!
But you can't let your overabundance of ideas overwhelm you. I know it's easy to be kind of frozen not knowing what to do next, but all movement is good, so you need to get yourself out of that frozen place.
This place where you're trying to pick which idea to go with is RIPE with opportunities for your inner critics and limiting beliefs to just take over.
So it's important to not stay in this place very long!
These journal prompts will help you get moving sooner.
It's usually not all that important WHICH idea you choose, just that you CHOOSE something and get moving with it.
But we all hesitate and second guess.
Your journal is such a good tool for this, to give you some space to dig deeper, maybe get some insights around WHY you're hesitating and second guessing this particular project, and help you get more clear about what to do next.
Journal prompts for when you have too many ideas and don't know which one to focus on:
Start by writing down ALL of the ideas - get them together on one page.
Then let’s play with ranking them!
Which one would be the MOST fun?
Which one would be the LEAST fun?
Which would be the EASIEST to do?
Which would be FASTEST to get done?
Which would take the most time?
Which would be the most difficult to actually pull off?
What's THE MOST inspiring idea?
Do any of the ideas feel kind of blah or heavy to think about?
Which one will help you reach your goals?
Which one has the biggest potential payoff?
Which one feels the most impossible?
You don't have to answer each of the prompts. It's more important to follow the rabbit-holes.
The point is to explore your ideas from different perspectives.
And while you do this...
What fears or limiting beliefs makes themselves known and what does this tell you about the inner work you need to focus on at this time?
It's that disorienting time of the year when I am starting to wake up before the sun.
This morning I lay in bed in the dark, with my husband's arm around me and my arm around our cat Bear, just feeling so grateful to feel clear-headed, inspired, and happy.
I felt.... S P A C I O U S.
Spacious is my holy grail of inner states.
For most of 2020, I have NOT had space for everything, so waking up feeling spacious was a real miracle this morning.
This is a 30 day meditation + journaling program designed to generate a breakthrough/miracle. (You can try Day 1 for free here!)
I had a very specific miracle that I wanted to call in, and I've been feeling like I did get a LOT out of the last 30 days, but I didn't get what I wanted.
Today I re-read my journaling from 30 days ago, I looked at what I wanted and realized - it was already here.
It doesn't quite feel how I thought it would, but it's here.
I was working with two main things in Project Miracle:
figuring out my work/home situation - I was dreaming of getting a new place to live and using the Dream Loft as my work space
figuring out my next steps in my business - my marketing has felt "off" for some time, like the public part of my business and the things I offer for free are not matching the big magic of Dream Book and need to be updated but I didn't know HOW and figuring it out felt completely overwhelming
And now:
I feel *at home* in my home in a whole new way. I decided not to move, and am more grateful than ever for all of the gifts of working from home. We got new furniture, re-arranged everything, and I LOVE IT.
I know what to do next in my business. In fact I HAVE ALREADY RECORDED + EDITED a whole new free course! I see why my marketing felt off and know what to do about it.
But the bigger thing is that I discover what it is I REALLY need, which was hiding underneath the things I thought I wanted.
Yesterday I started to see it and then today I got this prompt in my Dream Book kit and I knew:
This thing I am looking for, this thing I wish was different. It's ME.
While yesterday I was focused on what kinds of routines + habits I want to create for the fall/winter, today I see I need to look at the habits and routines I need to QUIT.
This is how I've always been with my business dreams.
YES I DO want to move forward.
YES I DO have a LOT of ambivalence.
You can have ambivalence and doubt and fear AND ALSO pursue your dreams wholeheartedly.
I don't think dreams should be reserved for people who have no doubts.
I'm highly sensitive and insecure and struggle when my work doesn't live up to what I thought it would be, when I saw it in my head. This also describes most creatives.
I've never aimed to eliminate ALL ambivalence. I'm sure there are lots of life coaches and internet gurus who want to help me do that, but I don't see that as a healthy goal.
I prefer to allow myself to FEEL HOW I FEEL while also PURSUING WHAT I WANT TO PURSUE.
Still. This one foot on the gas and one foot on the brakes thing is ANNOYING.
I go full gas sometimes, determined to keep my foot on the gas - only to have the other foot hit the brake so gently that I don't even notice our momentum slowing down.
Then when I do notice we're almost stopped. And I'm SUPER ANNOYED with myself for doing this AGAIN.
Also, I do teach people how to transform patterns and I'm actually really good at it so why haven't I transformed this one?
Because I know that brakes = a deep sense of safety.
And putting my foot on the gas tends to be exhilarating, exciting, and scary. At some point, scary starts to take over. At that point, it's REALLY REALLY REALLY GOOD to have an effective way to bring in a sense of safety.
So I know WHY I do it. Knowing that is NOT enough to change it.
The thing I usually do to try to change this is actually the thing you should never do.
And I know this isn't how to change a pattern, but I always think that *this time will be the one exception*
And so I decide: this time I'll just keep my foot on the gas. And I won't put my other foot on the brake. No matter what. Just for 30 days. Just to get over this particular bump on the path.
But we can't strong-arm ourselves into new ways of being.
And one-foot-on-the-gas-one-foot-on-the-brakes is a VERY established way of being for me, so I can't even imagine how strong that arm would have to be for strong-arming to even begin to work as a strategy.
So it's never worked.
But we *this time will be the one exception* ourselves because the way to ACTUALLY change our patterns is so hard that we would rather do anything than do that.
What happens for me is that I have ENOUGH gas to get to where I want to be, so I am not all that disturbed by the other foot on the brakes slowing me down... for the most part.
But then sometimes, like today, I get to these places where I notice that I didn't fully follow through on my plans/ideas and I get really frustrated with myself.
And that frustration is driving the decision to say: OK I AM DOING IT AGAIN AND THIS TIME GAS ONLY FFS!!!!
All that is is a desire to get out of my feelings of frustration.
That's NOT an effective approach to changing patterns.
And so the result is: I temporarily get free of my feelings of frustration, but I am just setting myself up to repeat the whole thing.
Because "JUST DO IT BETTER NEXT TIME" it NOT a strategy.
I'm writing this from inside that place of frustration where I really want to just make myself do it better next time.
Instead, I'm writing this out.
I'm spending some time with my feelings.
I'm cutting myself some slack.
And I'm asking myself: are you ready/willing/able to do the ACTUAL work of changing this pattern?
What I DO feel ready to do is to take the "Just keep your foot on the gas and do better next time" option off the table completely. It doesn't work, it just sets me up to get frustrated later on.
Of course, since it's a knee-jerk reaction for me at this point, that means I'll have to work on staying aware of this and not falling back into the pattern, which means probably catching myself IN THE PATTERN and choosing to get out of it sooner.
And eventually get to a place where it's not an option for me anymore.
What I really want is to be more HONEST with myself about this.
The truth is, I will never be a person who keeps her foot on the gas all the time. And it feels liberating to write that in public.
What I do want is to be a person who has more control over the brakes though. Who doesn't auto-brake the second things feel scary.
Actually I want a new metaphor. Because I always want to brake for danger, and it's a much more subtle issue of determining what is actually dangerous and what just feels scary because it's new and dreams are terrifying.
I feel ready to switch into a new metaphor for momentum.
And the first step to doing that is to be more honest with myself about my feelings ALL THE WAY THROUGH the process.
This morning I poured my heart out into this blog post.
Then I re-read it right before I was going to hit publish - and instead I deleted the whole thing.
Now here I am trying to re-write it.
After a year ago, I got a LOT of attention/comments from people about my new look for the Creative Dream Incubator. The funny thing was, it wasn't a new look at all. I was just using art that I'd made for my journaling printables (which are a small part of Dream Book)and sharing it on social media.
That was just one of many things I was doing to experiment with how I want to put myself out there.
This is the part of my business that is the most challenging for me, and the place with the most opportunity for growth.
Dream Book changed things for me.
I made my first full e-course in 2010 - The Creative Dream Incubator e-Course. That course contained everything I learned during my four years of training become a spiritual counselor/healer/teacher.
I thought it was the final step for me in this work - and it is a truly life-changing course - but it was just the beginning.
Now, ten years later, I have created Dream Book which is a totally new way of holding space for navigating the space between where you are and where you want to be.
Dream Book has changed everything for me. And I want the way I show up in my business - my marketing - to reflect this.
It doesn't.
Yet.
A few weeks ago I had a LOT of stories + explanations for WHY I was stuck and how it wasn't my fault.
(Defensiveness is a form of being stuck that will keep you zooming around in circles inside your stuck )
The thing is, being stuck with this felt exceptionally painful.
But I know that ALL stucks around our dreams feel that way.
Because our dreams are leading us towards our True Self, who we are here to be, so being blocked from means you are being blocked from a vital part of your self.
That's going to hurt.
It was important for me to be with all of those feelings.
I felt shame that I haven't already done the things I want to do. I felt shame that the fact that I haven't done it yet could mean that I'll never do it.
I felt fear that everything could fall apart.
I felt like no one cares why bother?
I felt like eating cookies, watching Netflix and ignoring this whole thing.
Being with all of these feelings was an important part of the process. Not wallowing in them, but actually processing them - to turn them into compost for growth. (This is one of the things I teach in Dream Book)
If you don't do that work, the feelings will not go away. They'll go underground and you will continue to hold back on wholeheartedly going after your dreams.
This is the part that is amazing to me:
Once I'd worked through all of my emotional reactions, all of these impossible-feeling feelings - I came to a place of clarity and calm.
Suddenly it was all so simple. After feeling heartbreakingly and impossibly complicated for so long, it felt SIMPLE.
The truth is: Marketing is simple. We make it VERY complicated because of all of our stuff around: visibility, vulnerability, owning our gifts, having clear boundaries, actually HAVING the things we really want, self doubt, etc, etc, etc.
But it's simple.
Once you understand the basics it's just a matter of how you want to implement it. Marketing is actually VERY creative and fun and can be a source of healing and light, especially in a business like mine.
I want to be putting myself out there in a NEW way. I want to bring the full force of my creative magic to how I put myself out there.
Of course I don't know exactly HOW to do this!
There is no way to fully clearly see the way to do a thing I have never done before.
This is the nature of NEW!
You learn by DOING IT: giving it time + love + attention. You learn by EXPERIMENTING WITH YOUR IDEAS and learning from those experiments.
But when it comes to marketing your heart work, experimenting with your ideas can feel sooooo awkward and vulnerable and very, very, very public. Which is why I got so twisted up about.
But now, having worked through my feelings and brought healing and transformation to the parts of me who needed it, it's not twisted.
I have NEVER put as much energy into marketing my work as I have into DOING my work. I know every business guru says this is the wrong way to go.
The thing is, I've had people stay in the Creative Dream Circle for YEARS. I've had long-term one-on-one clients for YEARS.
So I don't need to keep finding new customers.
But now that I've had all the space I need to grow and evolve my work, now I want to grow and evolve my marketing.
It just feels important now that the Creative Dream Incubator be shining it's light more clearly.
It should be simple in that: it's just about giving marking more of my time attention. APPLYING the magic of my creativity to my marketing.
I have thousands of ideas for how I could do this.
I am starting now: experimenting, playing with my ideas, letting marketing have more of my TIME and ATTENTION.
As always, I'll share my daily steps, ups + downs and the practices I use as I do this in the daily miracle masterminds that are a part of Dream Book. I also teach you a way to journal that will turn your stucks into compost for your growth! Join us here.
This summer has been a WHIRLWIND of activity behind the scenes at Creative Dream Headquarters. And now it's done! I've moved my whole business from Simplero to Access Ally, and Convert Kit.
This spring, I attended Rachel Rodgers’ Small Business Town Hall on creating equitable businesses (if you follow that link you can see the recording on that page - it's really good!)
I want to know what I can do to create more equality in the world, so I was REALLY happy about this town hall, which left me with a better understanding of what I can actually DO.
Long story short, my work after the Town Hall led me to discover that the owner of Simplero, who was the main supplier in my business (for hosting, automations, emails, my membership site + shopping cart), has taken a public and vocal stance against the dismantling of white supremacy.
This discovery was uncomfortable for me because of how HARD it is to move an online business like mine - like probably 3 months of work.
This led me to realize how often I had wanted to leave Simplero, and how trapped I felt by how hard it is to leave. The owner of Simplero has a long history of not following through on his promises, and many of those broken promises had negative repercussions on MY business - without an acknowledgement or apology.
I wrote all of these broken promises here, but then seeing them all in a list made me feel uncomfortable about sharing it in public. It felt gossipy and vindictive.
I will just say that when simply speaking the truth feels inflammatory you know you're not in a good situation.
So I left.
It took just over 2 months, and it was REALLY hard. It was also interesting to me that having this overwhelming all-consuming project actually helped take my mind off the state of the world, so that was an unexpected benefit. And this seemed like a good time to do it, since I am mostly quarantining at home anyway.
There were a lot of hurdles.
For example everyone I spoke to said it would be impossible to move the Creative Dream Circle the way it is (an active membership, with people receiving new content every week, and everyone in their own place in that content). I'd have to "end" the Circle and re-start it somewhere new. But Dream Book is an ONGOING course, I can't end it.
Finding the tech to support my vision was challenging. Most of the companies in this space are owned and run by men and have that same "tech bro vibe" that was frustrating me with Simplero.
Let me back up...
When I moved to Simplero in 2014, they had a totally different brand than what they have now. At that time they were marketing themselves as tools for spiritual entrepreneurs. They were talking about integrity in business, which I resonated with.
At that time, I WANTED to go with Access Ally. But it was out of reach both technology-wise and financially. Access Ally is a WordPress plug-in, so I would be putting it on MY website, so I would be responsible for security and functionality of the website. I just couldn't do that.
I chose to go with a third party option, a company that would host the classes themselves, and be responsible for that website. And I know that WAS the right choice at that time - a third party option is really good for a lot of online teachers and coaches!
The Dream comes to me
Access Ally HAD been out of reach but Simplero had re-structured their pricing plans (after promising to NEVER charge more for more contacts, or courses, or membership sites) and I was at the top tier, so at this point Access Ally is less expensive. And the internet has changed, I no longer feel comfortable on a regular shared hosting site for WordPress, so now I have premium secure hosting which means... Access Ally was no longer out of reach in any way.
Access Ally is a woman and minority owned business (VERY rare in this space) and they attended that same Town Hall are were also inspired and motivated by it.
And access Ally allows you to create a 100% customizable teaching website.
[It's AMAZING. And it's a HUGE GIGANTIC learning curve. Though they do have tons of tutorials and amazing support - it's not recommend to create a custom site on your own - here are a lot of Access Ally experts you can hire to help.]
I feels SO empowering to create my own platform for my work.
I got to do everything the way I wanted to do it!
100% customizable is so great... and so hard.
It means I did get to create every part of it just how I wanted to - but I had to CREATE every single thing, it wasn't already there for me.
The number of automations and moving parts to creating a functional online classroom is MIND BOGGLING. There were steep learning curves on steep learning curves.
I definitely overwhelmed my mind, which is already stressed from the current state of the world. I was getting vertigo and headaches almost every evening towards the end, my whole mind/body system was just over-taxed. (I had to give up coffee to keep them under control!) (I LOVE COFFEEEEEEE!)
(The headaches are gone now 🙌🏻 )
And then it was done.
I moved my people in late last week and set a whole day aside just for handing issues that may come up with the move... in this kind of project I don't know what I don't know, you know? But I had tested everything thoroughly. And Access Ally has AMAZING tutorials for every little thing.
And there were some hiccups of course. But on the whole everything went ok and we have an online home that FEELS LIKE HOME.
Access Ally needs a CRM for the automations, and I went with Convert Kit. The owner of Convert Kit was one of the presenters at that online town hall for equitable business which is where If found out about them. They are "tech bros" but they have outlined actions they are taking to be an anti-racist company and felt like the best option for me. They've also been helpful in getting my stuff moved over to them.
It was one of the Covert Kit people who showed me how to move everything WITHIN the active sequence - so making it possible to move my members to the new site without having them lose their place in Dream Book.
So yeah - that thing everyone said was impossible was completely possible - it did take just over 2 days, of just working on moving people, to move everyone, but I think that was 100% worth it.
Working with companies who are more in alignment with my values feels better.
I mean my new online classroom is WAY better. It's more flexible, more engaging and better looking.
The people who take care of the software CARE about the experience that my students have. And you can really see it in how the classroom works!
Simplero's values are more around supporting entrepreneurs in making more money. When there were issues with their classrooms, making it hard for my customers to engage - they didn't take those issues seriously because that's not where they are focused.
This experience showed me how important it is to understand MY values in a certain situation and then only work with people whose values match mine.
And I think I got better at spotting when people CLAIM to have a certain set of values but are actually acting from a different set of values.
I wish I had made this move sooner.
But I also know it all happened at just the perfect time.
every day
What fears or limiting beliefs makes themselves known and what does this tell you about the inner work you need to focus on at this time?
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