Hustle Up! April where did you go?

Well I had a good April. Things got kinda crazy mid month and I stopped blogging each day but still April was a good month. Here is a bullet point list of what I accomplished.

• I started a new job!

• I planned 5 outfits each Sunday completely put together and ready to just put on.

• I planned 7 dinners each week so lack of planning would mean bad for us expensive take out.

• I planned 5 lunches each week and actually took them and ate them.

• I planned 5 breakfasts each week that I could take with me and eat on the road.

On a side note all this planning for the week ahead was revolutionary for me and I don't want to ever go back!

• I took a stain glass class and finished my first project.

• I joined the 5 AM club.

• I started going to bed at 10 PM so I will be rested.

• I traded my blazer for a car that gets good gas mileage for my commute (cha-ching)

I want to add that I did all this while learning a completely new and fairly complicated job. I might not have done everything I wanted to do in April but seriously it was a pretty darn good month. I am proud of what I accomplished and can't wait for next month.

Gettin' Schooled

So I have spent the week thinking about Jon's week 2 email. I love to learn so the idea of treating our dream as a learning experience is awesome to me. Here are my answers to this weeks questions:

1. Find alumni. This one I am working on. I have a plan though. I will be attending festivals and art shows all this year hoping to meet other stain glass artists.

2. Find professors. This one is fairly easy. There is a person who owns a shop an hour from my house and he is who I am learning from. 

3. Find classes. I am actually taking classes so I don't have to design one I am taking one. However, I have thought of things I would teach. 

4. Find out what the diploma is. For me the diploma would be selling a piece of my stain glass art. 

Loving the Hustle: My new idea.

So when I first found myself unemployed last December (Merry Christmas we are closing the company) I did what I always do and I went to the library. I started reading everything I could about searching for a job. Some was good advice some was not. Some was useful and some was dated but without a doubt the best book I read (actually listened to in this case) was 48 Days to the Work You Love by Dan Miller.

He talks about options you could consider other than traditional 9-5. I would love something other than traditional 9-5. Not meaning I want to work less just meaning I want to work different. I just had no idea what I would do. I wanted to avoid anything remotely MLM related. I just couldn't think of anything. He said "Has the loss of your job caused you to be an accidental entrepreneur?" But I was at a loss. What skills could I offer other than sales (I do NOT want to be in sales again).

So months passed and I found a job. Awesome. I have been dreaming big about stain glass art and hustling monthly on getting healthy and everything is rolling ... rolling like a river.

And then .... today I was driving to work.

I  kept thinking about what Dan Miller said. I thought about Jon Acuff hiring his Virtual Assistant, then I thought about a couple of people in the 30 Days group who are working as virtual assistants and I thought that would be awesome. I would love to be a virtual assistant but I don't have the experience for that. My Microsoft office is passably good but aside from that I don't really have those skills.

I was thinking what a shame it is that I didn't have the skills to do something like that at home. I mean really what skills could I use? In my last job I managed 165 employees. You can't do that from home. I mean other than that the only thing I know is Real Estate (I sold real estate for 7 years). Then it hit me...

I could offer my services as a Virtual Real Estate Assistant. I could do all the busy work that agents use as an excuse to not do what they really should be doing.  I can create newsletters, ghost write blogs (is that ethical?), update social media, hand write notes, call FSBOs, manage contact data bases, prepare mailings,  update web pages, create flyers, create virtual tours, and on and on. I am no longer licensed, as I have no interest in selling real estate, but I do all those things listed really well.

Ideally, I would like to offer my services to numerous agents in small time blocks so it is affordable for them and then the smaller, newer agents could afford some help. I have no idea how I will get clients or how I will decided what to charge. I am working on that part. But I am loving the idea of using what I did for 7 years and turning it into something I would enjoy doing.

However, I would like to say that I wish my brain could work on my schedule. It would have been great if I had of thought of this while I was still home instead of having to learn a new job while this idea is trying to dominate my thoughts!

Now for those who know about my Stain Glass studio on some land with my chickens and goats dream have no fear. That is still my big dream. This idea is an idea of how I could use my life experience to bring in steady income what I work on my big dream.

Day 7: My Who.

This one is beyond easy for me. I have two "whos" first off the Hustle group on Facebook is amazing. They help hold me accountable, cheer me on when i have a win, and encourage me when I lose. So that group is one of my whos.

But my main Who is my husband Dan. I am so blessed to have him and believe me I am not kidding myself for a minute. I don't deserve him. He has hung in there with me as I went from idea to idea. He helps me research ideas. If what ever I am dreaming about is a two person gig he is more that happy to jump in and get his hands dirty. I couldn't design a better partner for me to go through life with.

He is a great husband and great father.

Working on the Big Dream!

So today I am working on my Big Dream. I took my first stain glass art class. The first thing I want to say is that it was every bit as fun and wonderful as I expected. You can't imagine what a relief that was to me since I had it in my head that this is what I want. I was actually kinda scared I would take the class and discover I hated working with glass.

So we got there and they had work station all set up for us. There 6 of us in the class.

As you can see they had all the tools we needed all neatly arranged around the edge of the workstation. That is the pattern we will be doing. Our workstations formed an L and you can kinda see the instructors black jacket up in the left corner. He was able to help all of us from there and that made the class and his instruction easy to follow.




The next thing we did was go over all the tools and how to use them. He demonstrated the proper techniques for using each tool. He talked about the risk of lead exposure and safety.

Next he had us cut our pattern into pieces like a puzzle.

Now it was our turn to cut. I am not sure if it was easier than I thought it would be or harder but either way it it is something that will take some practice to get really good at. We used the clear sheet you can see in the picture above to practice on. First making straight cuts. Although, you don't actually cut the glass. You score it and then break it. Being the philosophical type, I think that is one of the things I like about this idea. That you make something beautiful out of something broken..

The cutting seem to go okay. The last pieces I cut were definitely better than the first. It was hard to keep the cutter steady and it will take some practice to get as smooth at it as he was. The goal is to get as close the pattern as possible.

You can use a grinder to help shape them but we didn't get to that today. We will be using it next week. He also showed us some techniques for doing shapes that aren't part of our pattern.

Next we got to pick our colors. This was easily the hardest part. We went into the room next door and they had tables set up with tons of glass pieces for us to choose from. Yellows, greens, oranges, blues, reds, purples everything you can image. Translucent glass, opaque glass, swirls and solids, so many choices. And you also have to remember that each piece of glass has two sides so not only did we have to look at and choose based on what we saw we had to flip each piece over and look at the back side too. The glass by itself is really amazing. I think we spent half our time in there. It was a great group of people and we all helped each other find pieces and give opinions. I can't wait to see how everyone's piece turns out. Even though we are using the same pattern, all our glass choices were so different each piece of work will be different as well. 

And then we got to start on the fun part. Putting everything we had done all day together to actually start cutting out the pieces for our project. He showed us how to place our patterns based on whether we wanted the pattern in our glass to flow or if we were using it for other effects.

Then we traced our patterns, held our breath, and cut. The glass was so beautiful none of us wanted to waste it by messing up. The glass I chose has a texture so I had to cut it on the back side which was smoother so I had to remember to flip my patterns.

In the end I was happy with the way my cuts went. I did mess up my sun (forgot to flip the pattern dagnabbit) but luckily the orange piece I had for the sun was big enough or me to get another shot without having to change colors. Here is where we quit for today. I could have stayed all day and finished!

In this one you can see my sky with the sun and the other 2 pieces I will be using. The blue will be the large piece on the bottom as water and the blue green you see will be the pieces right under the sun as my mountains.

This was so much fun! I can't wait to go back next week as that is when the scary part happens. i have to learn how to solder and that is the part that I am most worried about learning. It takes a really steady hand to make it look good. I will post an update next week and show you the finished product!

It's All About the Plan

So this is my last day off work before I start full time next week. I had two days orientation this week and that really opened my eyes to what this job is going to mean for my "get healthy hustle".

This job is different from my last one in a couple of ways. I have set hours here. There I was salary and while my day started around 5 AM I didn't have a set time I had to be at the office so I wasn't rushed in the morning. I also didn't have a set time for lunch. At this job I need to leave my house by 7 AM to be at work on time and I have a 30 minute lunch. I also will not be getting home until 5:30. To me that all means that to be successful I need a plan! If I don't have one I will resort to gas station pizza for breakfast, Wendy's for lunch, and something thrown together for dinner.

So today, on my last day home, that is my plan. To make a plan. Healthy isn't just going to happen, so here we go. I will be planning a week of quick and easy grab and go breakfasts, lunches I can take with me, and what we are going to have for dinner. I usually shop for 2 weeks at a time but since this is new I am doing one week.

I will also go to the store and buy groceries so there are no excuses! It is raining and nasty so I was thinking the store could wait until tomorrow but then *gasp* I realized I only have 2 Kcups left.

No coffee constitutes an emergency situation. One I am willing to brave the rain for. Needless to say, I will be going shopping today!

How Getting Healthy can be Fun!

So Day 4's email is about how you can add some fun to your hustle. This one is pretty easy for me. It is getting to be "that" time of year. Where the weather is great. The amazing newness of the flowers blooming and the trees getting green give you hope that snow is done.

Before it gets hot but after the cold is gone. Spring. It calls me outside and makes me want to breath outside air.

So I can add fun to my get healthy hustle by spending time outdoors getting fit. I am ready. It is only like this for a couple months so I intend to make the very best of it.

I am planning on walking in the evening, bicycling or kayaking on the weekends, and just generally spending time outside.  Now don't get me wrong as soon as it gets hot I will be back inside with the AC on. Then I will have to find a new way to make it fun but for now, for this short time, I am an outdoorsie kinda gal.

How to Get Healty

So Day 3's email is about how. So how will I get healthy?

I can tell you how I won't do it. I won't get healthy by doing what I have always done! I have thought about it and pinpointed 3 specific things that I need to change if I am going to get healthy.

1. I need to plan out our meals.

My current method is... open cabinet. Nothing looks good. Open fridge. Nothing looks good. Go back to cabinet. Surprise nothing new has magically appeared. Go back to fridge nope still no magic there either. Either order pizza or cook something quick and unhealthy as a last resort.

So this weekend I will develop a meal plan for all three meals for next week and go shopping for what I need. My problem isn't so much that I don't like healthy foods as that I fail to plan so time to get planning.



2. I have to get off my couch and out from in front of this computer.

Not much else to say about that. I am way too inactive and I need to fix that. I plan to do it in small steps. I want to take a short walk after dinner each evening and try some bicycle riding on the weekends. I found a beginner bike trail about 30 minutes from my house so I want to try that. I also love to Kayak so once the weather warms up I will do that as well.

I also signed up for a 5K in August so I have to get ready!



3. I have to take my medication.

I am hoping that if I manage to lose some weight and start exercising I can get off the medication but for now my blood pressure is sky high and I have scary wicked chest pains when I don't take the medication so until I get the rest of myself healthy my medication is a key component.

So here are my three hows so time to Hustle Up and make it happen!

Why Get Healthy?

My Why is really very simple. I am tired of being tired. I have no energy at all. When I go up a flight of stairs, even a short flight, I am winded. I tried to ride my bicycle and I rode for 7 minutes and had to stop. Yes you read that correctly 7 minutes.

We all have images of ourselves and who we are in our heads and let me tell you an overweight 43 year old on blood pressure meds who can't walk up a flight of stairs much less hike a mountain is NOT the image I want for myself.

So it is time to get off my big pah-tootie and get to moving. I am also going to start fueling my body with the correct fuels instead of all this junk I have been feeding it daily.

My Why... because this isn't the life I want and no one can change it but me!

The Get Healthy Hustle!

It is great to have big dreams. I love my big dreams. But we also have to live today. I think if we aren't careful we can spend so much time focusing on our big future dream we can let today slip away without notice.

So knowing that my big dream is a few years down the road and that while I can work on it there is only so much I can do a this time, I have decided to have a Big Dream and a monthly hustle that I can work on at the same time.

My monthly hustle is to get healthy. Now losing weight is part of that of course. If you are 40 pounds over weight you can't get healthy without it getting thinner. But the weight lose isn't the main goal. The main goal is overall health.

 There are a few things I need to do to make this healthy me happen:

1. Lose weight by eating healthy foods

2. Exercise as many days a week as possible but a minimum of 4.

3. Take my blood pressure medication and allergy medication daily

4. Get a good nights sleep each night.

5. Drink at least 8 - 8 oz. glasses of water per day.

This is my plan for the month of April and my weight goal is 8 pounds lost.

The Big Dream!

Okay I am going to step out here and say what my Big Dream is. My husband and I have talked about it but we haven't shared it much with other people. Mostly just because it is far enough in the future to seem unreal, but also because it is like sharing part of your heart and that opens you up to nay-sayers.

There are parts of our dream that seem safe to share. We want to own a little property and build a little house (we actually want to build it ourselves).. We want to grow our own food and have chickens and few goats. None of that seems too terrible scary or extreme. I even have a blog about our planning and our journey The Homestead Journal. That dream is slightly different some people's but not too crazy or scary so that part we share.

But that isn't the big dream. The big dream is personal and sounds a little crazy to me. So for you to understand why it is crazy let me start by saying... I have never even done what I dream of. I have seen it and I have dreamed of it but I have never tried it. So how can I build a dream around something I have never even done? I don't know, but yet there it is. The one dream I keep coming back to over and over.

Let me explain myself a bit. I am is a crafter. I love color and pieces of things like fabric, glass, beads, paper, and yarn. I love putting things together and making things. There isn't a craft I won't do or try. Some of my favorite things are mandalas and kaleidoscopes. I love quilts but not the process of making them. I also love jigsaw puzzles and find them to be hugely relaxing.

All this came together for me a few years ago at an art show when I saw one particular artists work. It was long enough ago that I do not remember her name. I wish I did but it is what it is and I don't. But over the years my mind keeps going back to her work and how much I want to do what she did.

So all that was leading up to me getting the nerve to actually say it LOL and here it is..

My Big Dream is to have that little house on the piece of property with my chickens and my goats... with a stained glass art studio out back. I want to do stain glass art and stain glass mosaic art. I spend a stupid amount of time looking at patterns and thinking of what I would do considering the fact that I have never even done it. But for the first time in my life I can actually SEE the dream.

I can picture the studio. How it would be set up. I can see myself there. I would work on projects and teach classes. I know this sounds crazy since I have never even done any stained glass work however that is about to change. This weekend as a matter of fact. On Saturday I am taking the first in a series of classes to learn how to do stain glass art. I am so excited. I can't wait until Saturday.

Hustle Up!

Most everyone who knows me knows that I am a dreamer. I love ideas above all things. I get excited about the possibilities that this life offers us on a daily basis. 

I like to say I am an optimist and that for me not only is the glass half full but the half I drank was OUTSTANDING! And while that is true it is my love of what is possible that allows me to see the bright side. 

However my dreams and my ideas never seem to lead to anything concrete. I have always lacked some small little thing that transferred my dream into something tangible and wonderful. I knew what was missing was focus. Something to keep me moving in the right direction and working on A dream or idea when there are so many out there to play with. But for me focus has always been in short supply.

It took another Dreamer to help me find that "thing" in a way that works for me. I m a very social person and what I needed was community. I needed to be surrounded by other dreamers who were moving forward towards goals. I needed a plan and accountability and to be perfectly honest, because I am me, I needed a cheering section. I needed people who would celebrate with me on small victories and cheer for me on the big ones!

I don't know what prompted Jon Acuff to start this crazy 30 Days of Hustle group but it is exactly what I needed. There are daily or weekly, depending on where you are in your journey, emails helping you to form a plan and giving little prompts to stay on task. There is the awesome Facebook group that gives the sense of community that I need.   Combined those give me a sense of being on an amazing journey with a group of fearless adventurers. That sense of community has allowed me to see how I could possibly move my dreams into my reality.

What I do know is that I am super excited about what the future holds and I can't wait for this month and a chance to Hustle Up!