Hello Friends!

I wanted to invite any of your who are in Utah to come attend Creative Collaborative in Provo Tuesday night from 7-8 where I'll be speaking about my journey as a business and a creative. I'll be sharing my story over the past 3+ years of how my challenges, limitations and failures have ultimately taught me how to build an even stronger brand and find business solutions that have lead me to find a greater sense of focus. I'm excited to share with you!

This blog used to be a place for me to articulate the things I've learned as I've built a business, and a place for me to share and express this amazing journey.

I haven't talked about it much, and I'm ready to talk about it now, but the past 3 years basically cut me down, chopped me up, and had me wondering if everything I had been working for and building towards was worth it.

Three+ years ago, things were great. Business was good. Profits were high. I had built a business I loved and was proud of. But things very quickly starting falling apart and out of my control. I became pregnant and on bedrest for 3/4 of my pregnancy. With intense pain every day, I was limited in what i could mentally and physically do. We were remodeling the house, my husband took on a second job (which didn't pay him anything...it was out of a teacher shortage) and was working 14 hour days. After the birth, I suffered with post-partum depression, which was thankfully caught early and short lived...about 4 months. Following that, I went back to work! Only to discover that my baby couldn't sleep through the night! After 11 months of trying to understand what was happening (he started showing symptoms at 12 months), we discovered he had sleep apnea, and wasn't getting enough oxygen at night. He was waking up every 45 minutes ALL through the night! During this time, he also had RSV, respiratory infections and multiple trips to the hospital. After 2 years of not sleeping (literally) we were relieved when an adenoidectomy was the solution! He had surgery and within a week he wasn't waking up every 45 minutes. But he was still waking up every two hours because he had 2 years of horrible sleep habits!

With two years of not sleeping, being overworked, trying to maintain the pace I once had but not successfully, I had developed adrenal fatigue, which was diagnosed after multiple trips to the hospital and doctors. I was mentally and physically burned out, and we had suffered a huge financial loss through this time of not being able to produce and work like I had before. My creativity was suffering because I was so focussed on surviving and keeping my family afloat.

But during that following year, we had a choice: Do we just do what we've always done? Or do we change our path so that we don't have to work SO hard and SO crazy to maintain stability?

We chose the latter. After a year of researching, studying, learning, praying and working our tails off, we we able to re-learn some incredible lessons on rebuilding after setbacks. Of finding success in your OWN way and on your OWN terms. Designing your life so that you can LIVE it the way you want, and so that there is ROOM for setbacks...because they will come!

Previously, we were living fast. We were moving fast, working hard, and getting a lot accomplished! But it wasn't sustainable. And when the waves hit, they hit hard. We didn't have a strategy in place for being able to handle any upsets on our path!

Tuesday I'll be speaking about how to build a successful business that can sustain you because it's backed with purpose, strategy and resources. And faith. Principles that might sounds simple, but I'm going to share with you how these principles are the tools every person needs to find happiness and success in their life and business.

So come if you are in town!

CREATIVE COLLABORATIVE

PROVO RECREATION CENTER

320 W 500 North, Provo, UT 84601

7-8 pm

Go vote, come and visit before the polls close country wide, and then go back to find out the state of the nation:)

See you there!