I love talking about passions! I did the Dream Business Bootcamp a few years back following Ash on the Middle Finger Project, and loved it.
! was one of the lucky ones who knew what my passions were early in life like by the age of 3 or 4, , Visual art, writing and dance, and I always feel like something is right when I honor them and dig into the middle of them. But making money from them has always seemed forbidden and was sort of impossible or at least a lot harder back before the interwebs came along. But now its much easier to go do whatever you want to. But you do sort of have to do some SEO along with passion just to get the site up and right the content. Business knowhow is a sacred key that goes with passion.
Our culture teaches weird ideas about money, it's dirty, doesn't go with creativity, starving artist, all this bullcrap.
I genuinely almost cried reading this - I have been trying to figure out what idea to follow for around six years now. Basically since I realized that I love having a job that lets me connect with people, but I crave time and location freedom just as much. My husband and I have had countless arguments over it too because I'm a collector of courses. Particularly business ones (like B-School!) that never get implemented because I just can't pick a passion to start with.
Thank you for the reminder that it's okay for me to focus on what actually makes me happy and not the income. Because I know what I really love: this little tiny idea about melding an RPG style adventure with habit building that sounds like the most fun thing ever right now! Something that would let me write about all the things I've read on personal development but also tell stories while I'm at it :D
Ash, Ash, Ash!!!! This is soooo good. And your timing is perfect. I'm a lifelong struggler of "what the fck is my passion"... like I love to do a lot of things... but I really hate most people. I completely identify with an 80 year old curmudgeon man who patrols his front yard yelling at all the pesky neighbors who refuse to pick up their dog poop. Which reminds me, I don't think I've ever commented on one of your articles and NOT mentioned dogs.
Life just feels so fckin' heavy lately... and your emails remind me that I get to choose how I spend my time. And today's message was a particularly great reminder that making money doesn't have to be complicated - in fact when we complicate it we don't actually make money.
I'm off to patrol my front yard for errant pooping dogs...
Have you ever seen Me, Myself & Irene?! I hadn't ever seen that movie, with Jim Carrey, until someone made me watch it recently - and good lord was I rolling. Jim Carrey plays a schizophrenic with multiple personalities. It develops because in his everyday life, he's a SUPER polite guy, and everyone walks all over him...constantly. So he develops this alter ego named Hank, who is a major asshole and gets revenge. In one scene, Hank walks over to his neighbor's house, pulls down his pants, and poops right in his front yard....because the neighbor has been letting his dog poop in HIS yard for way too long. 🤣 Somehow relatable LOL.
I mean this in the best possible way, but have you heard of the book A Man Called Ove? :) That cranky, 80-year-old man is at the center of that story, and it can actually help a bit with embracing passions (and people). (There's a Tom Hanks movie version of the book that's nice, too, but the original is a bit weirder in a nice way.)
The three of his books that I've read developed pretty slowly, and my memory is the movie did, too. If that's why you didn't finish the movie, I can totally understand it.
I think I didn't finish the movie because my son walked in and wanted to watch something else. I don't think it was because I wasn't enjoying it. But I will definitely check out the book.
Oh Ash, I needed this today, since I'm going through some major shittiness right now (just found our sweet little Westie has an incurable cancer, ome of my clients passed away, and one is closing their biz) -- I can deal with all of it, except for the first one -- such a stab 'n twist right to the heart. I'm ready to burn my business down -- or rent a squirrel suit and jump from the highest mountain, or Thelma & Louise it -- ok, I'll calm down here, but maybe this will bring my total MEH some SPARKLE -- I really need it right now, and I know it's going to get worse, and that stab will turn to shatter. :(
Oh no, I'm SO sorry. I had a Westie growing up—my first dog ever, and loved her to pieces. I came home one day from kindergarten and she was there. I named her Sarah. She was the sweetest dog ever, and I remember going through that loss when it was time, too. Sending you big-ass hugs, Lee!
Thank you, Ash. It's never easy, but today she's a very happy girl - so, I'll try to take it one day at a time. I'd LOVE to prove the ER vet wrong in this case. My goal is to call them up in a few months and say NAH NAH NAH NAH NAAAaH - Belle is doing just fine! :)
I'm so sorry about your pup... that's so heartbreaking. If you need someone to Thelma & Louise it, let me know... I'm in the gutter and signed up for the Bootcamp hoping for magic... because can't we all use some magic. Sending lots of love to you and your doggo. 💗
Oh Julie (aka Louise) The gutter? Oh no, I'm so sorry. What's going on if you don't mind sharing? Maybe I can offer some advice -- it'll keep my mind busy. Also, thank you for your kind words about our sweet girl Belle.- it's such a shock, we thought she'd be with us for years to come (we adopted her just 3 years ago, and she is the gentlest little being. xo
You're so sweet for asking... I've had 6 months of my business being slow and I'm losing confidence in myself. I feel like I'm not adding value to the world... which is an awful headspace to be in. It's like I'm my own worst enemy right now. I've actually wondered is there a secret "anti Julie" society that exists? Crazy, I know...
I work with solopreneurs and small business owners helping them to stabilize their business, grow their monthly recurring revenue, and reduce/remove friction (which I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE doing)... I spent years in the Mergers & Acquisitions space, learning business inside and out - which positioned me really well for helping entrepreneurs.
I created a new container last week - a Friction Audit - and it's the 3rd thing in a row that I've launched to crickets.. so demoralizing..
And I feel like the way I just described what I do would disappoint Ash to no end... because it's all business lingo and it's boring AF.
You could not disappoint me, Julie! I LOVE the idea of a Friction Audit!!!! Whenever something flops, I always go back to one question: is this a sales problem, or a marketing problem? It's a sales problem if you have a list full of entrepreneurs, and no one bit. It's a marketing problem if, however, you're struggling to get anyone on your list. Sometimes being able to diagnose where the hole is, can be helpful because you look at it more clinically than "this is all my fault and I suck." Which you do NOT. All of us are constantly trialing & experimenting new offers - that is what entrepreneurship is, as you know! Keep reminding yourself this is all one big experiment.
So, you think it's a sales hole, or a marketing hole?
Sounds interesting, Julie, such a bummer about those freaking crickets! :/ Did you do the whole funnel email thing and send email sequences, host free calls, etc.? Or give a $7 or 27 dollar teaser to reel them in? Maybe going to corporations or small local businesses could be a cool money maker if you like that kind of thing. I think with reading Ash's stuff, you're in the right place for sure -- and taking the Marie class will help a ton! I'm sure I'll see you in the group (I signed up myself). I handle social media, publicity & promotion for small businesses, after a decade+ in book publishing. I love what I do, but I sometimes feel like starting anew with an all new niche, etc. - (?) Maybe there's a way to spruce up your message? :) What's your site, if you don't mind. :) p.s. I have to head to dinner, but I'll reply tomorrow. xo Lee
Yep! Here's that author's info: https://www.fredrikbackmanbooks.com/books.html . I've also read Anxious People and listened to Britt-Marie Was Here. Both have a quiet, funny and very quirky dimension of what you're always talking about Ash: Finding your purpose and passion in life. I'd recommend them, but you do have to be comfortable/willing to have a story develop slowly.
Totally onboard with you about how you can choose what you wish to do. Just discovered yesterday that someone I spent thousands of dollars - a so called SEO expert years ago is now an Interior Designer. That experience was so bad that now I do my own SEO instead.
I love talking about passions! I did the Dream Business Bootcamp a few years back following Ash on the Middle Finger Project, and loved it.
! was one of the lucky ones who knew what my passions were early in life like by the age of 3 or 4, , Visual art, writing and dance, and I always feel like something is right when I honor them and dig into the middle of them. But making money from them has always seemed forbidden and was sort of impossible or at least a lot harder back before the interwebs came along. But now its much easier to go do whatever you want to. But you do sort of have to do some SEO along with passion just to get the site up and right the content. Business knowhow is a sacred key that goes with passion.
Our culture teaches weird ideas about money, it's dirty, doesn't go with creativity, starving artist, all this bullcrap.
"...making money from them has always seemed forbidden." This is so worth exploring more in a future post, because how true.
Yes! I'm looking forward to "exploring" this. I, too, have known my passion since I was a little girl yet haven't managed to make money with it.
Dying....I actually signed up for the Bootcamp earlier this morning. Thanks for validating my decision!
I genuinely almost cried reading this - I have been trying to figure out what idea to follow for around six years now. Basically since I realized that I love having a job that lets me connect with people, but I crave time and location freedom just as much. My husband and I have had countless arguments over it too because I'm a collector of courses. Particularly business ones (like B-School!) that never get implemented because I just can't pick a passion to start with.
Thank you for the reminder that it's okay for me to focus on what actually makes me happy and not the income. Because I know what I really love: this little tiny idea about melding an RPG style adventure with habit building that sounds like the most fun thing ever right now! Something that would let me write about all the things I've read on personal development but also tell stories while I'm at it :D
Ash, Ash, Ash!!!! This is soooo good. And your timing is perfect. I'm a lifelong struggler of "what the fck is my passion"... like I love to do a lot of things... but I really hate most people. I completely identify with an 80 year old curmudgeon man who patrols his front yard yelling at all the pesky neighbors who refuse to pick up their dog poop. Which reminds me, I don't think I've ever commented on one of your articles and NOT mentioned dogs.
Life just feels so fckin' heavy lately... and your emails remind me that I get to choose how I spend my time. And today's message was a particularly great reminder that making money doesn't have to be complicated - in fact when we complicate it we don't actually make money.
I'm off to patrol my front yard for errant pooping dogs...
xoxo
Julie
Have you ever seen Me, Myself & Irene?! I hadn't ever seen that movie, with Jim Carrey, until someone made me watch it recently - and good lord was I rolling. Jim Carrey plays a schizophrenic with multiple personalities. It develops because in his everyday life, he's a SUPER polite guy, and everyone walks all over him...constantly. So he develops this alter ego named Hank, who is a major asshole and gets revenge. In one scene, Hank walks over to his neighbor's house, pulls down his pants, and poops right in his front yard....because the neighbor has been letting his dog poop in HIS yard for way too long. 🤣 Somehow relatable LOL.
lol... very relatable. And now I have to watch that movie.
I mean this in the best possible way, but have you heard of the book A Man Called Ove? :) That cranky, 80-year-old man is at the center of that story, and it can actually help a bit with embracing passions (and people). (There's a Tom Hanks movie version of the book that's nice, too, but the original is a bit weirder in a nice way.)
Ha! I saw the Tom Hanks movie!!! Did not know it was based on this book, Bethann!!!!!!!
I will check out the book.... I saw the beginning of the movie, but didn't finish it. And I had no idea it was based on a book.
The three of his books that I've read developed pretty slowly, and my memory is the movie did, too. If that's why you didn't finish the movie, I can totally understand it.
I think I didn't finish the movie because my son walked in and wanted to watch something else. I don't think it was because I wasn't enjoying it. But I will definitely check out the book.
Oh Ash, I needed this today, since I'm going through some major shittiness right now (just found our sweet little Westie has an incurable cancer, ome of my clients passed away, and one is closing their biz) -- I can deal with all of it, except for the first one -- such a stab 'n twist right to the heart. I'm ready to burn my business down -- or rent a squirrel suit and jump from the highest mountain, or Thelma & Louise it -- ok, I'll calm down here, but maybe this will bring my total MEH some SPARKLE -- I really need it right now, and I know it's going to get worse, and that stab will turn to shatter. :(
Oh no, I'm SO sorry. I had a Westie growing up—my first dog ever, and loved her to pieces. I came home one day from kindergarten and she was there. I named her Sarah. She was the sweetest dog ever, and I remember going through that loss when it was time, too. Sending you big-ass hugs, Lee!
Thank you, Ash. It's never easy, but today she's a very happy girl - so, I'll try to take it one day at a time. I'd LOVE to prove the ER vet wrong in this case. My goal is to call them up in a few months and say NAH NAH NAH NAH NAAAaH - Belle is doing just fine! :)
I'm so sorry about your pup... that's so heartbreaking. If you need someone to Thelma & Louise it, let me know... I'm in the gutter and signed up for the Bootcamp hoping for magic... because can't we all use some magic. Sending lots of love to you and your doggo. 💗
Oh Julie (aka Louise) The gutter? Oh no, I'm so sorry. What's going on if you don't mind sharing? Maybe I can offer some advice -- it'll keep my mind busy. Also, thank you for your kind words about our sweet girl Belle.- it's such a shock, we thought she'd be with us for years to come (we adopted her just 3 years ago, and she is the gentlest little being. xo
You're so sweet for asking... I've had 6 months of my business being slow and I'm losing confidence in myself. I feel like I'm not adding value to the world... which is an awful headspace to be in. It's like I'm my own worst enemy right now. I've actually wondered is there a secret "anti Julie" society that exists? Crazy, I know...
oh noooo. I totally get you, and that feeling sucks. :( -- What's your biz?
(I'm sure you ARE adding value, btw).
xo
I work with solopreneurs and small business owners helping them to stabilize their business, grow their monthly recurring revenue, and reduce/remove friction (which I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE doing)... I spent years in the Mergers & Acquisitions space, learning business inside and out - which positioned me really well for helping entrepreneurs.
I created a new container last week - a Friction Audit - and it's the 3rd thing in a row that I've launched to crickets.. so demoralizing..
And I feel like the way I just described what I do would disappoint Ash to no end... because it's all business lingo and it's boring AF.
What is your business?
You could not disappoint me, Julie! I LOVE the idea of a Friction Audit!!!! Whenever something flops, I always go back to one question: is this a sales problem, or a marketing problem? It's a sales problem if you have a list full of entrepreneurs, and no one bit. It's a marketing problem if, however, you're struggling to get anyone on your list. Sometimes being able to diagnose where the hole is, can be helpful because you look at it more clinically than "this is all my fault and I suck." Which you do NOT. All of us are constantly trialing & experimenting new offers - that is what entrepreneurship is, as you know! Keep reminding yourself this is all one big experiment.
So, you think it's a sales hole, or a marketing hole?
Sounds interesting, Julie, such a bummer about those freaking crickets! :/ Did you do the whole funnel email thing and send email sequences, host free calls, etc.? Or give a $7 or 27 dollar teaser to reel them in? Maybe going to corporations or small local businesses could be a cool money maker if you like that kind of thing. I think with reading Ash's stuff, you're in the right place for sure -- and taking the Marie class will help a ton! I'm sure I'll see you in the group (I signed up myself). I handle social media, publicity & promotion for small businesses, after a decade+ in book publishing. I love what I do, but I sometimes feel like starting anew with an all new niche, etc. - (?) Maybe there's a way to spruce up your message? :) What's your site, if you don't mind. :) p.s. I have to head to dinner, but I'll reply tomorrow. xo Lee
I'm ever so sorry to read this about your pup, it's heartbreaking. I'm not really a hugger but I'm sending you a virtual one anyway xx
Hi Sue, I'll take it!
Thank you , luv 💖
Yep! Here's that author's info: https://www.fredrikbackmanbooks.com/books.html . I've also read Anxious People and listened to Britt-Marie Was Here. Both have a quiet, funny and very quirky dimension of what you're always talking about Ash: Finding your purpose and passion in life. I'd recommend them, but you do have to be comfortable/willing to have a story develop slowly.
The links to sign up for the bootcamp do not work. So.....?????
Hey Wendy! Try copying & pasting this into your browser:
https://marieforleobschool.com/business-bootcamp?partner=ashambirge&banner=8398f52b
Thanks! It turned out I had a browser problem! All registered now!
Browser problems are the bane of ALL of our existences, ha!!!
Totally onboard with you about how you can choose what you wish to do. Just discovered yesterday that someone I spent thousands of dollars - a so called SEO expert years ago is now an Interior Designer. That experience was so bad that now I do my own SEO instead.
Oh no! Well, maybe they realized it, too. :)