You may or may not have noticed, but the services page has been removed from thegirlwiththetreetattoo.com. I’ve stopped accepting contributions through my Patreon page as well. But it’s all to make way for new and exciting changes!

I attended a business seminar last weekend called Stay Motivated. It was hosted by business coach Scott Schilling and took place over both days. I went as a guest of a friend, owner and creator of My Tale Feathers, who has been successfully working for herself for several years now. We attended the Get Motivated one-day seminar last month, and signed up for Stay Motivated as a follow-up. I went with the goal of learning more about how to start and register my own business. Up to this point, all of my work outside of my day job is just freelance here and there. If I’m going to grow, I need to know how to structure myself properly.

The first day of the workshop didn’t get into those specifics.  It was more of a “hype” day that was filled with a lot of buzz words and phrases that rhymed. I get it – the buzz is extremely useful in getting people engaged and catchy phrases are a great way to teach people concepts and make them easy to remember. That’s why we learn our alphabet by singing it. There were some good messages, and even though I started to feel like it was all getting a little cliché, I left the first day feeling inspired and motivated to make some changes.  And what’s more, I had a clear idea of what to change.

I had been having inklings, little gut feelings, and naggings in the corners of my brain that I needed to change the services page on my website. But how? That first day of the workshop gave me the answer. I needed to change the focus. As it was, the focus was on me, what I did, and what my goals were. One of the messages that Scott emphasized was it’s not about you, it’s about the people you serve. You want people to buy your products/services, of course, but it should be because they will benefit them, not you.

It felt like a “duh” moment, but for whatever reason, it wasn’t so obvious to me when I was organizing and setting up my paid services. I think I was more focused on convincing myself that what I had to offer was worth paying for. I had to work past that ever-present thought that I’m not good enough and not worthy. Just coming up with rates (a monetary measure of worth) was a challenge. Because what if no one thinks I’m worth that much? But I did it, and I published them. Around the same time, I launched my Patreon page in an attempt to gain support as a creator and as an exercise in self-worth. I needed to push myself out of the self-deprecating darkness and into a place where I believed I was worth supporting. So of course it should be about the people you’re serving and not about you, but I think I had to go through the process of convincing myself that I was good enough to serve in the first place.

One reason for creating the Girl with the Tree Tattoo was to connect with and assist others who are trying to fight past their own fears and doubts to pursue their passion. I strive to always be open and honest about my inner struggles in the hope that someone else will read my thoughts, recognize their own, and feel a little stronger in knowing they’re not alone. It makes my day every time someone reaches out to me with a question or just to share how my writing affected them. For someone who struggles with feelings of insignificance on a daily basis, it just makes my heart freakin’ swell when I learn that my little blog has made a difference to someone! I even break out into a little happy dance.

A great question was brought up on day 2 of the Stay Motivated workshop: do you want fame or impact? We all know people who are famous for, well, just being famous. Or maybe you don’t because they are so quickly shed from your memory. Their effect on the world is limited and brief. If you’re focused on just gaining fame, you might get it. But it will only stick around for your designated 15 minutes and then it will be gone. But if you focus on making an impact, even if you touch just one person, it can make all the difference in the world. And isn’t that what we all really want?  To make a difference?

Building a business behind the Girl and offering my other skills (besides frank honesty) will allow me to serve even more people and make a greater impact on this world. I get all warm and fuzzy inside when I think about helping someone budget and enter their first ballroom competition or editing the first draft of someone’s first book. To get to be a part of that person’s journey would be so cool and such a privilege. How awesome would it be to remove some of the stress from someone’s life just by acting as an assistant or spending some time with them to organize their thoughts and, as a result, they are able to better serve their own clients?  Very awesome is the answer.

So despite the clichés on day 1, the Stay Motivated workshop was fantastic and I would go again. Even though I spent an entire weekend in a hotel conference room, I came out feeling inspired, energized and motivated to push forward with my plans on making a greater impact on this world. I feel like another piece of my life’s puzzle was revealed to me, which was much needed because I had no clue what I was going to do with myself after competing at Ohio Star Ball (besides write about the experience). I just could not see my future after that competition. My path was completely obscured. Now I can see. I’ve been given a little more clarity to my purpose and I have a plan. Bam!  Let’s do this!

So the services page is going to be absent for a little while as I revamp things and refocus. BUT I am still available to anyone who needs me! Editing, writing, organizing, budgeting, just let me know. I am here to serve!