You are growing, changing, and stepping into a new level.
It is time to write your book, be a leader, grow your business, while trying to be a more balanced human being.
Whatever you are working on, I know it’s not always easy but I am here cheering you on!!
The writers and entrepreneurs I work with are grappling with fear daily on the path to write and grow a business to serve more people.
It can make your heart pound or show up as:
🌪️ Indecision
🌪️ Not Knowing What to Do Next
🌪️ Uncertainty
🌪️ Confusion
🌪️ Writers block
🌪️ Procrastination
🌪️ Stalling
🌪️ Self doubt
🌪️ Disquiet
🌪️ Anxiety
🌪️ Stomach aches
🌪️ Absence of Peace
I see you dealing with it all 🙌
But what if it could feel less scary and more like an adventure?
What if you could have more fun? How about hanging out with a crew of like-minded peeps, ❤️ me and some mermaids at heart ❤️ as we all tap into our inspiration and write around you?
Let’s do it 🧜🏼♀️🧜🏼♀️🧜🏼♀️🧜🏼♀️
The Summer Writing Group for Business Mermaids opens tomorrow!
When you get enough negative feedback, you start to avoid places where you might get a shock.
You keep avoiding areas and you don’t even notice if
🌷 the people around you have changed,
🌷 the world has changed,
🌷 where you live has changed.
Even if it’s safe now…
You are still avoiding shocks even if they really will never come.
But still you stay in your little box.
For me I had to stuff all my individuality in that box.
My creativity.
My passion.
My joy.
My silliness.
AND I WANTED THAT BACK.
I have lived under the weight of fear in my life.
I know how it limited me and made me silent in certain ways that I did not enjoy.
🦋 So I sought to lift that weight. That’s what authenticity is to me.
🌷 I found safe spaces to voice, question and probe the areas I was scared to talk about.
🌷 I did little experiments, telling stories, sharing thoughts within safe spaces.
🌷 And then I brought some of those stories and thoughts to the public in writing.
In each little experiment I found out if anything bad would happen.
Mostly it didn’t. Nothing was dire.
In doing all of this my life became more free.
And the thing that really became addictive for me:
🦋 Not only did I become more free, but people said my writing empowered or inspired them.
That’s what got me so hooked, realizing that:
BEING YOURSELF CAN BE A SERVICE.
Since I discovered this, I couldn’t get enough.
FACING MY FEARS BECAME A HIGH VALUE FOR ME.
It became a lifestyle for me to keep exploring and sharing my voice (with as much safety and intention as possible) even if it made my heart pitter patter.
Because I have done that over and over again,
I have FELT THE LOVE of
🌷 friends I have created and maintained,
🌷 clients I have worked with (and love),
and so much more.
Writing was the way I got into being more authenticity.
I found it a lot easier to be vulnerable that way.
I’ve truly created a second family from being more myself in my writing.
So when I talk about authenticity,
🌪️ I’m not talking about airing every single little THING that enters your mind.
🌪️ I’m not saying you MUST tell everyone your biggest fears and insecurities or secrets.
🌪️ I’m not demanding you publish every unfinished draft or “you are fake and superficial.”
NONE OF THAT.
The point is:
there are things you could be more open about that could change your life and someone else’s life.
And you get to determine specifically what those things are.
It doesn’t mean share about ALL THE THINGS.
Just THINGS.
Things that are worth opening up about because it’s a service to you and others.
Because it’s changed my life so much for the better, I love to help people
🌷 who have something inside of them that hasn’t come out yet,
🌷 who haven’t found the audience that loves your writing yet.
🌷 who want to get the writing for your book or business to the point where it feels good to share
And then keep writing, editing, and sharing it until you feel the reaction you are hoping for.
Because, yes, writing for yourself is amazing and necessary and part of this process.
But when you show up to be of service (and yourself) and
SHARE WITH THE WORLD
that’s how you will feel the love:
🏵️ the confirmation that you are safe,
🏵️ you belong, and
🏵️ you are NEEDED here.
“In keeping our vulnerabilities private, we never get the chance to know who else is out there, who else might understand or even be helped by whatever it is we’re holding back.
“When someone chooses to lift the curtain on a perceived imperfection in her story, on a circumstance or condition that traditionally might be considered to be a weakness,
what she’s often actually revealing is the source code for her steadiness and strength.
“And as we’ve seen plenty of times in our history, the strength of one resolute soul can become the strength of many.” – Michelle Obama, The Light We Carry
So don’t forget that being yourself & facing your fear can serve someone.
That is possible for you!!
Does writing make your heart go BOOM BOOM?
🏵️ Exploring how to tell a vulnerable story.
🏵️ Stepping into an area that makes you feel like a fraud .
🏵️ Expressing an opinion when you’re afraid people will say you are wrong.
It can make your heart pound or show up as:
🌪️ Indecision
🌪️ Not Knowing What to Do Next
🌪️ Uncertainty
🌪️ Confusion
🌪️ Writers block
🌪️ Procrastination
🌪️ Stalling
🌪️ Self doubt
🌪️ Disquiet
🌪️ Anxiety
🌪️ Stomach aches
🌪️ Absence of Peace
One important thing to keep in mind is that you can share your writing in stages.
I highly recommend finding a safe reader or a group where you can practice sharing.
First share your writing on a smaller scale, way before you share it with the world.
🦋 Then you can improve your writing and get more comfortable sharing it.
When you are a writer or an entrepreneur in the beginning of a project,
🏵️ having a safe space can really help you launch a website, book or business offer with confidence.
I used safe spaces like this for many years.
🦋 They gave meclarity about what I wanted to share, how to share it, &
the courage to press publish on my business ideas and my book.
And because I got SUPPORT to face my fears and smooth out those rough edges,
my life, my business, my relationships are all different now as a result.
When you focus on different values, you do different things, & you get different results.
You want to write for a book or business.
Your creativity has been pushed around in the past, but you are ready to flourish like a beautiful flower. What helps you?
Another way to ask this…
What do you need to value so this process of writing for a book or business is less difficult,
and instead more easy, more fun, more beautiful, more awe-inspiring, more magic?
Key word: YOU
What helps YOU…
Rather than waiting for permission to bloom from outside of you….
Rather than applying tried-and-true systems someone else created…
Rather than beating yourself up for not being like someone else or that your writing process is different…
Try putting your Value on flowering from the inside out, listening to yourself–
Try seeing the ultimate authority of that process as being INSIDE of you–
Try treating your writing process as an experiment where you learn and grow all the time
Prioritize your inner experience.
That is a huge shift in values.
What you value will completely guide your creative process–it’s the kind of thing you don’t realize is important until you have a creative guide or mentor to show you things like this. I’m here to help you if you need to write for a book, business, or other cause.
My summer writing group is opening up this month, and I’m sharing lots of good stuff to consider here about writing up until the doors open.
The strongest part of the summer writing group’s lesson plan is to nourish you with creative-nurturing values to help you write, rather than crush your spirit under red marks from English class.
This shift in attitude will change your writing AND your life!
Get a taste by hanging out here with me on my blog for the rest of this series, or by being on my email list.
(BTW that email list is my absolute favorite place to share).
Big thanks to Ginny Robertson, creator of On Purpose Woman Magazine, who donated a full page ad for the nonprofit I work with–Her Future Foundation.
Recently I wrote a grant application pro-bono for this nonprofit, Her Future Foundation!!! Fingers crossed that Her Future Foundation will receive a year of funding to help 100 girls in Sierra Leone.
I’ve been running a fundraiser for their event to end FGM. It has now raised $255 for girls who can really use it. Thanks everyone!
This fundraiser still serves a very important role for short-term funding to try to help girls avoid going through FGM in Sierra Leone.
(And as a bonus, at the end of this interview I tell you how to get the FREE Fun Email Hub, a class and list of resources to help you have more fun writing your emails.)
NANCY KOBEL, MA, PCC, CDTLF
Nancy is an executive coach, team coach and facilitator with over 30 years of experience in both the public and private sector.
She is committed to developing more conscious leaders and inclusive cultures. As a visionary thinker, combined with her calm, grounding presence own unique leadership style while creating greater trust on their teams and influencing more courageous cultures. Nancy works with her clients to master their own energy, develop their courage skills and to continuously learn, grow and develop into their best self and leader. She is a Core Guide for Chief, a private membership network focused on connecting and supporting women executive leaders and a Certified Dare to LeadTM Facilitator.
Nancy has her M.A. in Instructional Design and a B.S. Aerospace Engineering, spending the first portion of her career as a NASA Engineer before moving into Leadership & Organizational Development. She is also a COR.E Dynamics Specialist in Leadership & Wellbeing. She is currently serving on the Board of Live Water Foundation in Annapolis, Maryland. And is always up for a new adventure, challenging and busting her own limiting beliefs. She is an author, a yogi, a paddleboarder and a mom of two young adults and so much more…
Step into the next level of being a leader by writing for your book or business.
Explore Writing as Transformational Leadership as the theme of the upcoming 6-month high-touch writing container and group coaching program–without the high ticket price.
Spots are limited–and we’ve sold out the last two rounds.
Get on the waitlist for the Summer Writing Group for Business Mermaids to find out more when the enrollment opens in mid-May 2023. Spots are limited to 8 new group members.
With: Sofia Wren and Spiritual Lifestyle Mentor Tia Johnson
Tia Johnson is the author of multiple books and has words of advice to share with you if you have a calling to write a book.
The replay is up on the brand new Youtube Channel for Writing as Transformational Leadership!
(And as a bonus, at the end of this interview I tell you how to get the FREE Fun Email Hub, a class and list of resources to help you have more fun writing your emails.)
Tia Johnson is a Spiritual Lifestyle Mentor, best-selling self-published author, and podcaster who empowers women to break free from society’s obsolete and oppressive lifestyle standards for healing, unlocking their inner magick, and reconnecting with the Goddess to create a life they desire. Tia does this through her certified spiritual practices and personal growth strategies via 1:1 sessions, masterminds, and other programs.
Tia has appeared in several publications, podcasts, and radio shows. She has spoken at several conferences and events in Canada, Ghana, Bahamas, Mexico, and throughout the United States.
☀ Links for Spiritual Lifestyle Mentor, Tia Johnson:
Emails are a great way to connect to the people you are here to serve–but are you not emailing enough? Want to have more fun writing emails? See this free Resource Hub to feel more inspired.
Last week I began a series of 3 interviews on Writing as Transformational Leadership!
We had a great conversation with Emily Nascimento on
– embodied leadership,
– being your deepest self, &
– the creative process.
At one point she said, “leadership is creating the future through your service,” and it gave me chills, among many other things she shared!
Want to hear more?
The replay is up on the brand new Youtube Channel for Writing as Transformational Leadership!
(And as a bonus, at the end of this interview I tell you how to get the FREE Fun Email Hub, a class and list of resources to help you have more fun writing your emails.)
Emily is a coach, facilitator and ceremonialist who exists at the intersection between psychospiritual development and leadership. Driven by a core belief that our most sacred contribution to the world is our embodied soul-expression, Emily helps people discover their calling so they can live and lead authentically while having a positive impact.
Emily leverages a multidimensional approach to working with clients; she brings her experience in somatic coaching, soul-purpose craft, and leader development to support her clients in bringing their aspirations, longings and vision to life.
☀ Links for Emily Nascimento, Embodied Leadership Coach:
☀ Links for Sofia Wren Nitchie, Writing Coach, Teacher & Editor:
↳FREE “Fun Email” Resource Hub
Write FUN emails that draw in the people you are here to serve. Get the software, templates, and tools Sofia Wren uses to make it fun and easy to email + a free mini-class for the inspiration, guidance & confidence to email more often.
Living in Wisconsin this April has been very strange. We had several 80+ degree days of sunshine, followed by an inch of SNOW.
Today it’s back in the 50s. And it’s raining. A lot. ☔
Other than trying to wrap my head around that, it’s been busy over here. I’ve been juggling:
Writing pro bono for a grant application I’m trying to get long term funding for the nonprofit Her Future Foundation in Sierra Leone. I’m running a fundraiser in the meantime which you can find below.
Planning an interview series on the topic of Writing as Transformational Leadership We start 11 am EST on April 28th! I’ll send more info on that in a few days. It’s part of the gear up to open doors for the Summer Writing Group.
Getting ready to release a free class on how to make writing for your emails fun I really, really enjoy writing to you. My email newsletter is my safe space to share. I’ll tell you more about how you can have more fun with it, too, when I’m ready to share about it next week.
More on all that next week!
And here is a roundup of things that are ready for your reading pleasure:
