CREATIVITY + INNOVATION Page 8 of 50

Do What You Love interview – Vintagevibe

Written by

thebiginterview1

We believe that it’s never too late to start doing what you love and these two mums just go to prove it! Meet cousins Lisa and Wendy, the talented duo who joined forces in 2007 to turn Wendy’s post-divorce shop business into a successful online home boutique… Vintagevibe.

Lisa Nutley (red top) and Wendy Thomas, cousins and founders of Vintage Vibe in Tonbridge. Seen here at their offices and storage facility, 12th May 2015. Commissioned by Claire Echavarry for First Voice MagazineLisa Nutley (pink top) and Wendy Thomas, cousins and founders of Vintagevibe at their offices and storage facility. Commissioned by Claire Echavarry for First Voice Magazine.

1. How are you doing what you love?

Lisa: We sell interesting and quirky home accessories, like large mirrors, bedroom furniture and statement lighting through our online shop Vintagevibe. We are passionate about offering affordable pieces, which are a little different.

2. What is your background? Talk us through your journey to this point…

Lisa: I have a corporate business background in accounts and was an assistant Bursar at a private school. However I’ve always had a strong entrepreneurial spirit and from a young age I ran a stall at a market selling pop badges.

Wendy: My career background was sales. My first was for job for IPC publishing at their old Bowling Green Offices selling advertising space. I went on to break sales records selling, binding, laminating and collating office equipment for the General Binding Company as a London based sales rep.

I married two years after leaving school, having just completed my A-levels, and in 1983 gave up work to become the last generation of career housewife. I revelled in raising a family. I was married to an antiques dealer so I helped out doing all things that he didn’t have time for, like choosing fabrics for upholstery projects, paperwork, and meeting and greeting the dealers who would buy from our home, etc. We also moved house eight times in 25 years, renovating bashed up houses to supplement our income. Vintagevibe marked the start of a new chapter in my career.

(more…)

On my 39th

Written by

Costa Rica - poolI want to take a moment to be grateful today, for this day, my 39th birthday which I am spending in a beautiful yoga spa in the Costa Rican jungle and on a white sand beach at the edge of the Pacific Ocean.

I have spent most this week working on my book, which will be on the shelves this time next year. I came here eleven days ago with a rough structure and an inch-high stack of notes. I now have nearly 30,000 words of a first draft to send to my editor. It’s still a long way off the final version, but it’s in a completely different place to the day I landed, and I am so grateful for this time.

I couldn’t have done it without the incredible care of the staff here at the Costa Rica Yoga Spa. They couldn’t have done more to make me feel at home, and give me space to write and write.

Costa Rica

(more…)

Do What You Love Interview – Nick Christian

Written by

thebiginterview1

Nick Christian, now retired, has pursued a life of personal freedom in all its forms. At the age of 70, his lust for independence has recently culminated in his first self-published novel of Historic Fiction. “You have only one life, live it, and where possible, by your own rules,” he advises, and follows his own advice daily.

Having grown up in the countryside at a time in history when the Nanny State and pressures of social media would only have been a fantasy in a futuristic Si-fi movie, he had the good fortune, along with a proportion of his generation, of having freedom thrust upon him.

Home was a small cottage, isolated from the nearest neighbour by fields and woods. Water was gathered from a deep well and the house was heated by a coal fired inglenook fire. In winter, glistening patterns of frost decorated the inside of his bedroom window.

This is how Nick describes his childhood:

(more…)

How to plan your grand adventure

Written by

DWYL_BLOG_EXPERT_COLUMNISTS_TYPEWRITER_550X200PX_LR

This is a guest post by adventurer, author and motivational speaker Alastair Humphreys. Find out more about Alastair here.

Alastair

You’ve decided you want to do a big journey. You’ve begun saving. You’ve allocated time in your calendar to the trip. Your family and boss know that you’re doing the trip. Nothing is standing in your way. (You have permission to smile smugly at this point.)

What happens next? Well, next you need to work out what you are going to do, and where you will go. It’s time to make a plan.

For many of us, the yearning for adventure comes before having any idea of what it is you are going to do. Until you know something about travel and adventure it can be hard to work out what you want from your trip, and what ingredients are needed to cook up a decent journey.

This was certainly true for me when I started out. I knew nothing about the practicalities of making an adventure happen. I didn’t really know the ways in which my adventure would differ by heading to different parts of the world. I didn’t know very much at all!

I knew only that I wanted to head far away from everything that was familiar. I wanted to do something physically difficult. I had no specific skills I could draw on. Wild places appealed to me, rather than cities. And it needed to be cheap. I didn’t really care what I did: I just wanted to do something!

How then do you begin to narrow down your choices when the whole world is beckoning?

(more…)

Want to be more creative? Think like a child

Written by

ALMOST-ALL-CREATIVITY-800PX-LR

There’s a fascinating relationship between creative thinking and play. If you’re interested in learning more about it, or you want to find out how play can improve your life, watch these inspiring TED Talks:

Tim Brown’s Tales of Creativity and Play

David Kelley’s How To Build Your Creative Confidence

Stuart Brown’s Play is more than just fun

Jay Silver’s Hack a banana, make a keyboard!

Do What You Love interview – Nicky Westbury

Written by

thebiginterview1

There are now almost 1.2 million ‘mumpreneurs’ – mothers starting firms from home and setting up part-time – in the UK and their numbers are rising fast. The number of self-employed women has grown by almost 10% in the last two years, according to the Office for National Statistics. So why the boom?

We caught up with Nicky Westbury, one of the three founders of Scout & Co, an online kids’ lifestyle boutique, to find out what inspired her to leave her job and start a business doing what she loves…

Nicky Westbury profile

(more…)

Mastermind Week is here – your online teaching questions answered!

Written by

ECM Phone

All this week I’m answering ANY and ALL questions you might have about building your own e-course and teaching online, in our first ‘Mastermind Week’ within ‘Reach. Teach. Profit. The E-course Creation Masterclass‘.

This opportunity is available exclusively to participants of the course, so if you want to get involved get yourself registered!

Don’t underestimate the value of being able to pick the brains of someone who has produced more than 15 online courses, with students in 100+ countries worldwide and who has probably made every mistake in the book along the way, so you don’t have to… You can join us here!

I look forward to being of service to you as you get your e-course out into the world.
Beth

Are you trapped? Are you a freedom seeker? I need your story for my book!

Written by

WE-RISE-BY-LIFTING-OTHERS-BLOG-800PX-LR

I am deep into the writing of my book, which is due out with Hay House in Spring 2017. It will be called ‘Freedom Seeker: Live more. Worry less. Do what you love.” This writing process is tough, tough, tough, but it is also one of the most spirit-lifting, intellectually-stimulating, and thrilling things I have ever done. I absolutely love it. But there is still a long way to go until I hand my manuscript in in the summer.

And this is where you come in. The book is packed with tools and personal stories to help readers escape whatever is holding them back, and learn to soar, so they can live a life doing what they love.  But I also want to include a host of stories of other people at various stages of life, with a variety of experiences, who have felt stuck, trapped or held back from living their fullest life.

It could be that you are in it right now, feeling like you have lost control, or that your circumstances are dictating what is possible for you. Perhaps you have dreams of what you want things to be like, but you never seem to get off the starting block, or you get part of the way along and then the dark clouds come in – the fear, the negativity, the worry about money or what others will think. Or maybe your responsibilities always seem to take over and you can’t find the time to take the steps you need to take.

Or perhaps you have been there, but are now living a freer, happier life. Perhaps something happened and you were inspired (or forced) to make major changes in your life which have resulted in you feeling more free, doing something you love and being happier?

If so, I want to hear your story! If you would be willing to share it, please sign up here to join my Freedom Seeker Research Group by Wednesday 30 March, and I will be in touch later this week with an initial questionnaire.

Even if you aren’t able to share your story, I hope you will cheer me along over the coming months as I birth this book and put myself out there in a way which right now feels terrifying! Some things just have to be done…

Thank you so much!

Beth

**A HUGE THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO SHARED THEIR INSPIRING STORY WITH ME AND HELPED TO BRING MY BOOK TO LIFE. FREEDOM SEEKER: LIVE MORE. WORRY LESS. DO WHAT YOU LOVE IS NOW OUT.**

Freedom Seeker