One of creative people’s biggest challenges is explaining why they do what they do, or even how.
Whether it is myself or others I have encountered, the most frustrating sentence someone can say to me is, “Just do ONE thing!”.
In my attempt to clarify my work, I found myself describing each significant aspect on a dedicated website. Focusing on one element at a time was the most effective approach I knew at that point.
Now I have multiple websites that on the surface appear to have nothing to do with the next, and yet each are connected to the other through the one thread that matters the most to me.
Through the years I’ve sent various clients to the one website that represented what they were the most interested in. Be it cartoons, websites, coaching, or graphic recording, as well as educational coloring pages for kids, etc. The one perplexing thing that lingered in doing business this way was that as much as I enjoy serving clients and encouraging them in their businesses, I wasn’t a big fan of just cranking out work for the sake of doing more in order to pay my bills. Something was missing.
As I questioned what was missing in my presentation and perception of this approach, I stumbled upon Simon’s book “Start with WHY” … which explained what was blocking things for me. I was focused on explaining HOW I do things, not WHY I do them. WHY I do what I do, ties all of my websites together. Discovering my WHY has provided a benefit that I now get to pass along to my clients and associates, and this is the best part; I do what I love to do.
This blog post introduces you to my family of websites and what you can find on each one. I invite you to subscribe to any or all of them. It’s important to me that you find benefit for what matters to you in what I provide. If you have a resource, a question, or a need, please leave a comment below and I’ll respond with what I know or have found. (I’m constantly researching and gathering resources) ,
Sarah's Tent
For pastors' wives and women in ministry. Before, during and after.
This is the site that started it all. I saw a need and started fulfilling it with my heart, experiences, and the skillsets that I’d been born with and learned. A lovely woman by the name of Iona Hoeppner built the first website for me when she saw the benefit and wanted to help. She got me get off the ground and introduced a way for me to build my own website. (Sarah’s Tent was later mentioned in TIME magazine in 2007!)
Creative Virtual Office
A virtual office providing creative and illustrative services, WordPress websites and virtual administrative assistance.
The second site that I created was to help me bring in income from the skillsets that I had developed as a pastor’s wife and as an artist. The Internet was just appearing on the scene and the possibilities were/are endless. It is through this website that I showed what services I provided and where I could conduct business to help supplement my income. When you subscribe to this blog, you’ll get resources for business, tips on working with AI, and how to tap into ideas, brainstorm, and overcome those blockages that hinder your productivity and success in business.
Living Stones Center
This is the nonprofit. A 501 (c)3 that is a continuation of our original church registration now focusing on education.
My life has been spent and is spent, in service to Jesus Christ and His church. Unfortunately, life doesn’t always turn out the way it is expected or marketed to be. It is through this venue that I saw a need for mentoring and community awareness around hidden traumas and narcissistic abuse. For more than a decade now, I’ve hosted Circles Journey Groups to help women heal and reclaim their God-given identities and purposes. It’s a long and slow process because the layers are many. Healthy community support is a must for continual healing and wholeness.
CompletedPeople, LLC
Whether it was through ministry or helping entrepreneurs with their goal setting and purpose driven efforts, I was coaching.
One of the creative services that I provided was graphic recording. This was where I would draw whatever message was being spoken, as it was spoken. One of my clients was the Christian Coach Institute. What a marvelous gift to have met these amazing people! I had found my tribe. Life coaches. I took their invaluable training and became a professional Life Coach.
After graduating from The Christian Coach Institute, I joined other Life Coaches in writing why and how I became a Life coach. You can read my story in this book, “Called to Coach”
IllustratingYou, LLC
This website is dedicated to my graphic recording services. There are videos and samples of some of the work I've done for a variety of entrepreneurs and educational institutions.
Although I don’t provide graphic recording services in the same way as I did before, I will still, upon occasion, create graphic recordings from coaching sessions to better help clients visualize what is the running theme in their thoughts and decisions.
At the present time, I’m in the process of creating sketch notes and videos of illustrations that contain metaphors to learn from.
MyPageADay
Last but not least, this website is dedicated to helping parents and caregivers understand the personality and learning style of their child through interaction over creative activities such as color books and puzzles.
Although I don’t provide graphic recording services in the same way as I did before, I will still, upon occasion, create graphic recordings from coaching sessions to better help clients visualize what is the running theme in their thoughts and decisions.
At the present time, I’m in the process of creating sketch notes and videos of illustrations that contain metaphors to learn from.
THE CONNECTING THREAD
Before we can lead a fulfilling life, we must educate ourselves about the various layers and dynamics that influence our decisions and understand the emotions that influence those decisions and behaviors.
Illustrated information has a higher percentage of recall (65%) and facilitates understanding on a higher level.
Whether we are raising children, building a business, working in the workplace, or worshipping in a community of spiritually minded people (no matter the religion) … we encounter ourselves.
To successfully impact our world, we begin with ourselves. And for the children, the goal is to encourage and help them. The children, in turn, teach their parents through their minds, how to discover and embrace the world around us through the eyes of a child.
“Proverbs 4:7 says, “Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding”