My head has pretty much exploded from all the INCREDIBLE (and that is an understatement) information that I heard when I attended The Artful Business Conference last week. OH!

I was a bit sad that I could only attend virtually this year, plugged into my computer at my kitchen table. BUT from the time I logged on in the morning there was a palpable buzz in the conference room that I could feel from my kitchen … I spent the day glued to the screen.

There was SO much – from good ol’ get-down-and-get-your-hands-dirty practical advice on stuff such as using specifically targeted Facebook Ads (apparently very good value – I’ve yet to try) and reminders on working out your hourly rate and sticking to the important stuff (keep a timesheet; if you had to write down that you had spent an hour floating around Facebook then you’d think twice about doing it!), right through to the gobsmackingly-incredible-in-anyone’s-books Lisa Messenger who started with no money and no publishing experience and has now managed to author/co-author 20 books and head up the Collective Magazine, currently distributed in over 30 countries (and done heaps more than that too).

I will take the next week or two to digest it all I’m sure, and re-watch it – and I’m positive I’ll pick up even more insights. But for now, there are a few points that have really stuck.

 

“It’s Not a Tattoo”

Karen Gunton (buildalittlebiz.com) has said this before and I know she’ll say it again, and I absolutely love being reminded of it! (this quote would make a great tattoo, no!? 😉 ).

Everything about your brand – colours, fonts, logo… NONE of it is a tattoo. Don’t feel like if you put something out there, you’re stuck with it. Very definitely, plan it all out and make sure what you have is cohesive, but don’t consider that it’s been set in concrete. Get it out there! Launch it! Live with it!

As you grow and evolve, so will your brand. You’ll know when it’s time to change. You will! Just get it out there.

 

 

Upgrade your life

Denise Duffield-Thomas (LuckyBitch.com) is great. So very definitely the fun, can-do person you need to get you opening your eyes and ready to grab life and biz with both hands.  She got me thinking about several things – but the best thing was how to upgrade my life.

Many people, especially women (myself included) tend to defer things and/or make do – we don’t buy new clothes, we delay getting something fixed (including our health), or we just buy the cheaper brand. We do these things for all sorts of reasons for sure, but Denise told us that when we invest in ourselves, the results often far outweigh the reason for scrimping.

When you upgrade your life, you become more positive, happier and therefore more likely to recognise opportunity and act. You have higher expectations and achieve better results. Better than that, other people – in personal relationships and in business – respond to your energy.

Don’t live your whole life in economy class. Upgrades can be incremental – don’t feel like you suddenly have to be Oprah; and in fact, doing it a bit at a time gives you a chance to adjust and feel solid at that level. But keep going, and upgrade constantly.

 

I started upgrading my life by cleaning out my cupboards. It IS cathartic and I feel gooood.

 

 

“Tell your story. People want the hero to win.”

Valerie Khoo, founder of the Australian Writers’ Centre (writerscentre.com.au), says that stories are one of the most powerful things we can have in our business. She described to us the classic hero story, and paralleled its structure to the story of our business.

In the hero story, we as the audience always want them to win. The hero has a quest (although the goal may not always be clear at the start); but when we see them try we cheer them on, when we see them stumble and they get up again and keep going, we cheer them on more. When they stand up, determined and crystal-clear on their goal, we cheer them on. When they face more challenges, beat them and emerge transformed, we are ecstatic.

(And we soon forget those who stumble and give up.)

So take your audience along with you for the ride; they want you to win. Let them in on your story, let them spread the word; you are worthy of winning!

 

“WHY?”

As I said at the beginning, Lisa Messenger (collectivehub.com) was an absolute stand-out for me. Her message was simple and powerful.

What’s your business “Why?”

It was a message told by many of the other speakers too.

It’s about figuring out why you do what you do. What makes your heart happiest? What change do you want to see in the world?

It’s about having an absolutely unwavering belief in you and what you do. Lisa told us to “Figure out your biggest hairiest most audacious goal, and when you are clear on that, then everything else will fall into place.”

When you’re clear on your WHY but you don’t know how to do something, you’ll figure it out. When you’re clear on your WHY and you don’t have the money to back yourself, you’ll figure out a way around it. Any problem you have, when your WHY is there, you’ll figure it out.

Lisa had her WHY in buckets.

 

 *

 

At this point I must also send seriously enormous thanks to Elle Roberts (StudioExsto.com) for pulling it all together.
On behalf of everyone there, thank you thank you THANK YOU!!!!

 

It was SUCH a fabulous conference; so good to connect with others there – during the chat while the videos were streaming, and afterwards in the Facebook group. Everybody is STILL buzzing!!

 

And for me, for now, GAH!

 

 

 

One thing is certain: I am damn sure I’ll be there again next year. IN PERSON.

See you there!

Julie X

 

(And the good news is, you can STILL get Virtual Tickets to the Artful Business Conference, and that gives you access to ALL the videos from this year, a virtual goodie bag AND the recordings from the last two years as well!. Yep, get tickets here (click on the “Tickets” tab and scroll down to the bottom of the page).