sharon Lock 7 years, 10 months ago-
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The question on whether we value our work was very powerful for me. I realised that I’ve always valued my contribution in the paid workplace and almost never when I do it for myself. And yet – I’m the same person with the same skills and work ethic.
I also realised that I was ambivalent about my first course idea – dragons, fantasy, ‘embarrassing fluff’ – and I’m the same about my much more practical house-buying course too – ‘boring, consumerist, mainstream’. The subjects differ wildly but I’m still hesitant. And I can’t even begin to tell you how many novels I have plotted and spent time researching. So maybe it ain’t the subject matter.
This ambivalence stems from a range of places – one is that the world is going to hell and needs all hands on deck. Whether that’s chaining oneself to a bulldozer or campaigning against fossil fuels or whatever. But I get conflicted about what the world ‘needs’ from me at this point in history.
Another is my fear that in order to be successful as an ecourse teacher I will have to dedicate my life to a particular subject. I’ve never been able to do this because I’m endlessly interested in a bizarre range of things and I like following them up. I’ve been like this all my life. One of my colleagues once said to me ‘Have you read the WHOLE internet?’ Answer: I wish.
I’m scared I’ll be trapped as the ‘house buying expert’ because I’ll have to become one to provide a genuine, supportive service. It’s my obsessive interest in things that made me research houses in the first place (we were buying one after all) and because I saw all the crazy mistakes other people made and I know that my course can save them from that. (I do genuinely believe that by the way.) But the thought of doing it long-term is scary. Except, if I really valued my work, wouldn’t I want to do nothing but that? Like Andy and his music retreat?
I’m not sure if this is sabotage or a gift or a curse. I do know that the things I stick with are the things I feel the greatest sense of achievement from, and I do have many of those.So I think I just have to roll up my sleeves, get back in the trenches and let things unfold.
All in all, a very interesting exercise that has left me with much to ponder!
Thank you for the honest and candid share @pennyclaringbull. This exercise is probably one that’s going to land home hard for a lot of us on the mountain. It’s also really important because until we learn to value our work, we can’t expect others to.
As for your decision around which course to go with and not wanting to be pinned down as “The House Expert.” I can relate. I resisted my title for a very long time.
In 2007 my biz partner and I launched a video called “The Gratitude Dance” that went viral. We did speaking tours around North America as “The GratiDudes” for two years and we couldn’t stand being known as “the gratitude guys”.
Then when I got into teaching meditation, I had a fear of being “the meditation teacher.” It felt so limiting and constricting.
Even as I got into eCourse creation, I felt hesitant as claiming that expertise as my thing.
It finally hit me (just this past weekend). I have been trying to be this entrepreneur guy when really I am an artist. I finally owned my place in the world as an artist (who happens to have the skills and mindset of an entrepreneur).
I have a feeling you are the same way (an artist). So no matter which course you create (whether boring, practical or creative and whimsical), let it be your work of art.
What would it feel like if you created all sorts of wild and crazy courses on all the different things you are passionate about. They can be creative, practical, useful and imaginative all at the same time.
What if each of them was a work of art and a creative masterpiece you’re excited about building and sharing?
For example, what if in the finding your home course, you did a guided visualization journey where people hop on a dragon and fly over their city to the neighbourhood they wanna live in to find their dream home.
What we’re saying is there are NO RULES to this game Penny. You can create absolutely anything.
Stop trying to create something that the world “NEEDS” and instead create something that YOU would want to buy 😉
What is your dream “Dream Home Finding eCourse?”
That was the difference maker for @andyfreist and I and I think it’ll be the difference maker for you too.
I hope this helps. I welcome your feedback and questions.
Oh Wow! What amazing, perfectly targeted feedback!
Yes, I am an artist. You are right. But an artist with a science background and a practical bent – and there’s nothing wrong with that. In fact, there’s everything right with it!
As soon as you said, ‘Stop trying to create something that the world “NEEDS” and instead create something that YOU would want to buy’ I just went aha and started laughing. How dumb am I not to see that?
That is the true value of this adventure you guys have created – helping us see into the heart of ourselves. Dissolving our self imposed limits. How wonderful.
It amazes me how ongoing that work is though. You sure don’t learn it once. It’s definitely an iterative process.
And Gratidudes? Hilarious. I am sending much gratidude your way 🙂
Don’t worry Penny, you’re not alone. It took me about 8 or 9 years to finally ask myself that question…
What is the experience/eCourse I’d wanna buy?
Glad that landed home for you. Guaranteed if you create something you’d love to buy that there’ll be a million others out there who also want it. Probably even more…
Curious how this epiphany unfolds for you in the coming days with how you now approach your course creation process.
Here is the Gratitude Dance video I was talking about…
That is too good! Should be on the home page 🙂 Thanks for sharing it, I hereby pledge to do a gratidude dance at least once a day – in fact, new exercise guidelines reckon 1 minute of intense exercise is all you need (yes, really, with 2 mins either side warming up and down). So if I do the dance superfast then I will be getting fit too!
My next step is to get out my list of 100 book and write down 100 fun things I’d love to include in my course. That tool really works for me.
And then I’ll see where it takes me!
Thanks so much.
Love it @pennyclaringbull. I know you are going to create something so fun, unique and magic.
That 100 ideas exercise is a gem! Perhaps you can create an exercise in your eCourse that uses that same concept to help them get clear on their dream home.
As for the Gratitude Dance, YES! If you dance for the whole video you can actually work up a good sweat!
That’s a total kick, Bradley @bradleytmorris. Thanks for bringing this topic up, too, Penny @pennyclaringbull. I think a number of us don’t want to be pigeonholed.
Sort of related–in February 2014, a huge storm hit Ireland, coming in from the southwest. This is a report from Kilkenny, which is inland from the coast:
http://www.kilkennyweather.com/index.php/2014-the-great-february-storm
The village of Baltimore (population 350) is in western County Cork, right on the coast, and was hit full-force by the storm. While they were cut off from the world and pretty much without power (except backups), they got out their video cameras. They edited after the worst had passed and put it up on YouTube. I never tire of watching it: I especially love the inclusiveness of who participated in the video.
So–this relates to the Gratidudes, but I think it also relates to the matter of making a work of art from where we stand in the moment and then sending it out into the world and going on to make the next work of art, whatever that may be.
(In the video, the young woman in the bright turquoise hoodie and black gloves and short black hair is a dear friend of ours, and was my daughter’s college roommate.)
Funny you included that – I was watching a video of people dancing all over the world, to the same song, only a few hours before!
I love that clip too. Such a strong sense of community comes through, and how special that you have a connection to it.
A) I love that video and story. So heart-warming and fun.
B) You nailed it Deb @robson. We are always evolving and transforming. We can’t get pigeonholed because once we climb this mountain, we’re going to move onto the next. That’s just what adventurers do.
So as you said. Create this work of art, then move on and create the next while putting the marketing systems in place to sell this one.
Wow, I love this thread!
I totally resonate with that fear of being tied down with a particular ‘thing.’ It kept me stuck for a loooong time when I originally wanted to create a membership site. The thing that I loved when I came across the GEA was the idea that it was possible to have lots of different ideas and they can be totally unrelated and just be about the unique person that you are.
Someone once told me when I was struggling with the whole idea of niche, which also can potentially bring up the same stuff, that your niche is ‘YOU’, there is no-one else like you! you being you is your niche. You sharing your art is your niche. People will resonate with you and your art! It took me a long time and a lot of soul searching to be okay with not having a defined niche. Lol
Love those videos! Awesome, thanks for sharing. xx
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