My Personal Journey to the Future of Work

If you saw my recent LinkedIn post and hopped over here to get more of an update -- thank you! I'm celebrating my one-year anniversary since launching my very own online boutique business and continuing a 15+ year career in public relations (let's not forget the mom and wife part-that's the most important). Having my own "thing" inspires me for the work I do in my day-to-day career. Here are a few of the ways embarking on the last year's adventures inspired me to do better in my day-to-day life and career:

1. I'm demonstrating to my family that I can grow (they didn't ask me but I realized later on, when they see me working hard, learning and doing new things, it motivates them and hopefully inspires my kids for their future). As my daughters see me creating content/posting videos (they also help me with those!), they're seeing a new side of me and they can participate too. Giving gifts is what the company is all about - it doesn't get more fun than gift giving - whether it's a gift that brightens someone's day or a gift that also contributes to an organization in need, all of it makes people happy. My husband has been entirely 100% supportive and for that, I'm so grateful that he's on this journey with me!

2. Launching and maintaining a business helps me think differently and constantly strive to be more creative. I had to think about tools that I never used before, research how to communicate to a different market of customers, become a salesperson (something I always said I'd be terrible at but turns out...I was wrong).

3. I've met and connected to different people all over the globe and all walks of life, I've made friends with people I have never met in person, I've joined marketing and networking groups I never would have known existed and tapped into teachers/mentors and visionaries who have challenged me to think differently. I got to travel to our very first affiliate meet up with 60 of the founding ladies! Some of those people have also become mentors and advisors to me in my day-to-day career. But it's not all about what I've gotten out of these connections. I've been the mentor to others - helped with ideas on how others launch their own business, given help to grow teams and this part is beyond rewarding.

4. I'm leveraging creative tools like Canva and have self-taught more than I ever wanted to know about hashtags, Facebook groups, digital ads, Instagram reels and have even dipped a toe into TikTok. All of these tools and platforms were just things I used to connect to friends before - but now I view them as connectors for friendships and business in a way I never did before.

5. Leveraging my experience in B2B external communications and public relations, you'd think that network marketing would come easy. In some ways - word of mouth and just sharing about products and the company has been. But, in other ways, network marketing was difficult for me to wrap my head around. I had tons of preconceived notions about what this "thing" was and how it all worked. Bottom line - I learned I could manage my own business however I wanted to. No one was telling me how and that opened a world of possibilities as I thought about how I wanted to do things and how I wanted to conduct my business. In my corporate job, it's helped me think of new ways to communicate things, leverage new platforms and broadened my creativity to think differently about how I might write a launch plan or how I might tell a story differently.

6. I broadened my perspectives about what I want to share publicly (case in point - I'm posting here on my business channel about personal learnings and sharing very openly). I was always guarded about my personal "stuff" and only shared fun things/insights. I feel differently about that now - especially in such a digital/remote world. People want to know more about your personality than ever before - beyond the Zoom camera, opening and putting it out there, helps others get a better understanding of you and ultimately shapes a better working relationship across the board. It's even as simple as changing your Zoom background or your LinkedIn banner to give others a feel for what you're about. I completely changed the way I counsel colleagues on public speaking - I incorporated many things I learned in my network marketing training about how to be a good storyteller and how to succinctly get a message across in a virtual world.

So, if you've ever thought "why would someone want to create more work for themselves?" or "I couldn't possibly take on one more thing" or "why is she sharing so much" -- I say (and it's true - the old adage!)-- it's not work if you love what you do. And it's not work if you're getting more out of it than you ever imagined, providing value and making an impact by inspiring others and growing yourself. Becoming an open book and sharing what I've learned might help others to broaden their perspectives, try something new, make mistakes and adjustments and have fun. I'm embracing life, learning as I go and hope my sharing sparks something in you. As I look at what career trajectory I've had, I see my side adventure as complimentary to what I do every day and a natural progression that came to me when I was least expecting it. What's your complimentary venture? What will you take on that you never would have imagined and that will help you grow personally and professionally? THIS is the future of work.