I haven’t been blogging here because of my new ventures.
I’m blogging at alexiapetrakos.com.
I coach creatives and new creative entrepreneurs at thrivecreativecoaching.com.
And I still do a bit of WordPress consulting at wpchick.com.
Hope to see you around!
I’ve been following this internet marketing superstar Mark Joyner for a while – I tried (but never completed) his Simpleology 101 course, read his blog regularly and am on his mailing list.
He’s ramping up for his new business coaching program that’s set to launch July 22nd. I’m rather interested. It seems I’m becoming somewhat of an entrepreneur and I have LOTS to learn. I think coaching is the next step for me – as I have tons of ideas but I usually flake on the implementation.
I’ve also been seriously considering becoming a coach. A creativity coach to be more specific. Someone who comes along creatives and helps them be the best artist they can be. Yeah, cheesy but I do like the idea.
My first step is to be coached first. I’ve not really been through any life coaching so it seems like that would be a great place to start. There’s a 12-week group coaching program I’ll be starting in August, so I’ll get exposure to the process as one-who-is-coached and see if it’s something I’d like to do myself.
Next, I can probably start coaching for free. The certification process is really all about training and not so much certification from what I understand. There is no regulatory body as there is for psychologists (which is one of the reasons why I haven’t gone on to grad school for counseling), so pretty much anyone can call themselves a coach.
In fact, I already do. I recently started a new biz helping folks figure out the intricacies of WordPress since I’m knee-deep in it most days anyway.
The training I’m seeking will give me some tools that I don’t have already. Instead of reinventing the wheel and trying to create my own methods (although I’m sure this will come in time), I can begin learning some established, tried & tested tools that will help me in my future practice. Two places I’m looking at are the International Coaching Academy & the Creativity Coaching Association‘s certification program.
One step at a time. I’m one who likes to dive in head-first, but money is a huge hurdle for me with either choice above. It’s not cheap, but I hear that the processes you learn with both are helpful, and you’re plugged into a community of coaches for support in building your coaching biz & further education.
Either way you slice it, I think this is my next step!
The Pen Addict is giving away a fantastic Copic prize pack with Copic markers, sketchbook & pen case! Copic markers are a staple in my art studio, and I mainly use them in my art journal. I love the smooth colors… the smell… the rubbery scritch the brush end makes when I’m filling in a large area. So I WILL use these the same way (art journaling) if I win them. I promise 
.
One step closer to getting done. gotta get myself in the art-making habit… I know that if I don’t make art on a regular (if not daily) basis, I become sluggish, bored, depressed and useless. I’ll keep updating as I progress on this painting.
btw – the look I’m going for is my art journaling crossed with traditional iconography. I think it’s going to be great.
I’m working through a book called Wishcraft: How to Get What You Really Want
Wishcraft is celebrating 30 years in print – and has been re-printed numerous times due to the overwhelming demand for the book. Go Barbara! Anywho, she’s celebrating on her Wishcraft website with an obstacle course (and prizes!), a ‘behind the scenes’ of what lead to Wishcraft, and a photo gallery. Let’s see what the next month has in store!
Just wanted to complement Gary Mead at PowerMax for his excellent service when I was ordering my new Mac. He was friendly, responsive and just an all-around great guy.
I also wanted to share the shipping notification that I got in my email today. Stuff like this makes me feel really good about doing business with the company.
Thank you for your order. We appreciate your business, and have the tracking information below.
If you’re not overly familiar with Oregon, or Oregonians in particular, here are some thoughts to ponder as you wait for your goodies.
Some people refer to Oregonians as tree huggers. It’s true, most of us love our trees, and in fact are willing to put up with all the rain just so we can keep lovin’ ‘em. We also call all our beaches simply: The Coast. We like to think of it as one long sandbox. When we feel a little too harried, we just go down to the coast, crack open a can of one our famous Northwest microbrews, and sit in the rain watching the waves. Even if you don’t live near our coast, if you start to get antsy about when your package is going to arrive, just picture sitting on that beach, imagining the pounding of the waves and the sounds of nature (your buddy’s belch from the beer doesn’t count), and soon everything’s gonna be all right.
We sincerely thank you for your business… and if you don’t have a tree around to hug, find someone you love!
It’s companies like PowerMax that inspire me to do business like this, and I hope it inspires others, too…
and hope to continue through the rest of the year.
I’m taking an introduction to Art Therapy class with an Art Therapist named Maxine Hull in Atlanta. The First class was yesterday and I’m excited about learning more of the techniques and in the process finding out more about myself. We made three images last night and talked about requirements, schools & licensing.
The worship team at the church I go to is going through a series of courses called “The Essentials” which goes thorugh church history, worship styles through history, spiritual formation and touches on theology and creativity. There are three modules and the first one starts this Friday and runs 5 weeks. Very interesting stuff. I’ll be using this blog to post my assignments for this course so keep your eyes on this space.
JetPens is going to send a pen to Africa for every person who joins the JetPens.com Facebook Group through Pens for Kids, a non-profit organization. Their goal is to send 1000 pens this Christmas! So… go join!!
Don’t use any plugins that haven’t been tested with 2.7. For me it was WP-Amazon, which is a known issue on the WP 2.7 compatibility page in the WordPress Codex.
I couldn’t figure out the problem but on one of my blogs that I recently updated, I couldn’t get the upload/insert function to work properly. Instead of opening up the upload/insert dialog over the edit page, wp-admin went to an entirely different page, navigating away from my edit page to the upload/insert form.
After crafty troubleshooting by deactivating all my plugins & reactivating one by one I found that WP-Amazon was the culprit. Hope the developers fix the issue quickly — I like that plugin. So if you’re having trouble with “Coltrane,” check your plugins!
psst… Modish is giving away over $2k worth of handmade goodies over the next few days. Today’s giveaway is a package chock full of fantastic stuff (as always). Whee! Go enter & good luck!
