WIN BIG

A while ago I was having lunch with my boss and we were talking about success and getting ahead. He told me that I can't keep doing the same things and expect to get different results. Around the same time I was reading the book The Success Principles by Jack Canfield (seriously inspiring!) and thought about creating a networking group. I did a lot of networking in STL for my job and because it was easy to do in the city. I enjoyed networking and meeting new people. (I met my amazing wedding photographer at a networking event.) I missed meeting new people and making connections here in LA. It was getting old just working out and going to work. I researched networking groups in downtown LA and didn't come across any that interested me or worked with my schedule. (Wednesdays are spin class nights!) I decided to create my own group to meet my needs.

It took me a while to execute on my vision. I described my vision to my study group at work and got the feedback that it is better to have a few good quality relationships rather than a bunch of people you'll never contact. My group encouraged me to build some strong relationships and not bother with the hassle of organizing an ongoing networking group. Despite their advice, deep down inside I knew I wanted to try to start a group. One day I was walking my dogs and it hit me. Create a networking group for women in downtown LA. I am very interested in women in business and want to meet more women professionals who are focused on success. Targeting a specific group of people in a specific place seemed much more doable than just creating a networking event.

I came up with the group name WIN BIG. WIN BIG stands for Women Into Networking for Bigger Impact and Growth. WIN BIG connects women focused on success in downtown LA. The women of WIN BIG want to impact their lives, careers and businesses. I created a Facebook page, twitter account and email address. I designed a logo (very simple and was created in word, definitely room to upgrade) and started to promote the event. I was hoping to get about 30 women at the first event.

I chose a trendy Mexican restaurant as the venue for the first event. I know the manager and Joe and I patronize the venue all of the time. (It's all about who you know!). I made name-tags, sign-up sheets and name-tents for the tables at the venue. Just a few women showed up, but they ended up being the right women. One of the women who attended the event even said she was interested in quality relationships. (Maybe my study group was onto something after all!). Even though I did not meet my attendance goal, I left the event feeling happy. The group decided they would like to have an event in October and we discussed strategies to increase attendance. (More personal invites are a must!). I created this group to help other women WIN BIG, but it turns out that I won big tonight. I got some great support from colleagues and reconnected with someone from college. It might have been a small group, but it was a good group. I think it is important to have a strong foundation. WIN BIG officially started and I am looking forward to the group growing, but more importantly to building quality relationships.

Where Does Time Go?

How has it been nearly 3 weeks since my last post? Life has a funny way of happening and I seem to get busier and busier (which is a good thing for an energetic person like me). I have also been very distracted when I am on the Internet with Facebook and Twitter. Who knew updating people on your life could be so addicting. Does anyone really care what I just did 5 seconds ago (probably not!). I also must be getting older or my bed is just too darn comfortable, because lately when I had the choice to write a post or take a nap, the nap clearly won. I realized that if I don't stop to reflect and enjoy life it will quickly pass me by. Plus, I enjoy writing (as you can probably tell from my marathon length posts).

A lot has happened in the last 3 weeks, so I'll do my best to write an abbreviated version. Work has been challenging, exciting and demanding. I successfully survived the busiest time in my career. When you are in the middle of coordinating training classes, coaching, managing meetings and completing daily tasks it seems so overwhelming. Now that I look back on all that I did over the last few weeks, I feel like I really accomplished a ton. I managed to learn a lot about my role and about myself (I need to work on stress management! I don't handle unforeseen circumstances very well when I am under a lot of pressure and deadline. There were many days when I felt like my head would roll off my shoulders if it wasn't attached. I was not my usual bubbly self and I was wound up tighter than a spool of thread.) I have no idea what changed, maybe it was Joe telling me he was sick of me talking about work, or I just woke up one morning with a new attitude and fresh approach. Even though I still have tons going on, I feel much more relaxed and in control. Now that I think about it, maybe I am finally getting the hang of things. I am happy to report that I am enjoying work!

Wedding planning is moving along. I still have a few more save the dates to mail out...opps! (Come on, give me a break. I need Joe to get me most of the addresses.) We picked out our photographer and I am so excited. We are working with a friend of mine from St. Louis who is extremely talented and creative. She designs her own antique jewelry, has great taste in fashion and has one of the best decorated places I have seen. The best part...she said she would boss me around on wedding day. (I want someone to tell me how to pose and where to be for pictures. I don't want to try to be creative with the pictures, especially since the bus will be stocked with champagne.)

Speaking of champagne, it is my new drink of choice. I have been ordering the bubbly like crazy when we have been going out, and we have been going out a lot. I think my liver might disown me after the month of July. Some of our great friends and wedding party members, Max and Anna came to LA for the 4th of July. We crammed so much into a weekend and every bit of it was amazing. You know those people that you love to be around? That is Max and Anna for me. I think I burned off all of my drinking calories by laughing all weekend long. On Thursday night we did the usual downtown night out. Dinner at Bottega Louie, a trendy restaurant that is always packed and serves delicious food, followed by drinks at The Standard. We had to wait in line forever to get into The Standard. Finally, the doorman came up to us. I told him patience is a virtue because I was so excited that I waited in line without complaining loudly (patience is not one of my strong virtues). Who blurts our philosophical terms in line at a bar? Yours truly! On Friday night we went to the legendary Mr. Chow in Beverly Hills. I see why people rave about this place. Best Asian food I have ever had! I convinced our friends to sign up for the Redondo Beach 5k, so I started my 4th of July off running one of my best 5k runs. It helped that the course was on the Pacific Coast Highway, so we ran next to the ocean. Anna and I spent the day relaxing on our rooftop patio. We moved the chairs close to the water fountain and if you closed your eyes you could picture yourself at some exquisite spa. Saturday night was one of the greatest nights of my life. We watched the fireworks at USC and the show was an hour long. I kind of got bored, and I felt bad for getting bored since you don't get to see fireworks everyday. After the fireworks we headed to Hollywood to celebrate Independence Day at My House (one of the best clubs I have ever been to). The DJ was incredible, the drinks were strong and the dancing was fierce. Anna and I met Roy from the office and wished Rob from Rob & Big a happy b-day. No night out in Hollywood would be complete without stumbling around looking at the stars. I got a picture next to Kiefer Sutherland's star and Hugh Hefner's star (those pics did not make the Facebook cut). We also found Michael Jackson's star. There were flowers and signs and people mourning the pop star. Leave it to me to knock over one of the cardboard signs as I bent down to take a picture (the people mourning were not happy! I swear I was not trying to be rude, I just had no sense of balance). Needless to say, we got a slow start to Sunday given that our cab dropped us off around 3am (how did I go out hard core night after night in college? I really must be getting old). We still managed to venture down to Laguna Beach and had dinner in Newport Beach to end the weekend.

Joe and I had the chance to have fun with friends all over again last weekend. Our high school friends Rory and Rhonda flew out for a little vacay in LA. We did the usual Thursday night out in downtown LA. I missed all of the fun in Malibu and Santa Monica on Friday, but caught back up with the group for an amazing dinner at Kincaid's on the Redondo Beach Pier. It was no surprise that Friday was an early night after devouring our meals. We made up for being lame on Friday with a fantastic night out at Elevate in downtown on Saturday. My dancing shoes were strapped tightly to my feet! Joe and I truly enjoy hosting guests, so please come visit.

The most exciting thing of all is that Joe and I are about to become parents. Pug parents that is! We are adopting two black pug puppies (I know I must be crazy!) from a rescue here in Southern California. The puppies are brothers, so they can't be separated. Joe and I figured that it would be better to have two dogs since we both work full-time. I am already trying to condition myself to an even earlier alarm, and I am failing miserably. Today, I turned off my alarm and continued to lay in bed. 30 minutes later I miraculously woke up. I need to break this habit stat before I don't wake up in time for work. I am looking forward to having two little buddies around when Joe is traveling. I also need someone to walk with when I go to the beach. Now I will have a leash in each hand. If I fall of the face of blogger again for the next few weeks, you'll know why. It is hard to believe that I have been in LA almost 6 months. Our wedding is less than 5 months away. It is utterly amazing how fast time flies.

The Difference An Hour Makes

An hour does not seem like a ton of time. I spend an hour every day working out. It takes me about an hour to get ready to go out if have no idea what I am wearing. I watch Jack Bauer save the world on 24 every week for an hour. An hour time change, on the other hand, does feel like a huge amount of time. When daylight savings time occurred last month we lost a precious hour of sleep one night, but I felt sluggish all week long. Imagine loosing that hour of sleep for a week straight…brutal.

I started working different hours this week, because of my role as the Director of Training & Development. I have to be in the office and attentive during a coaching meeting that starts at 7:00am. I didn’t think the time change would be a big deal, because after all it is only one hour earlier. Ha! An hour earlier day after day makes a huge difference. I almost passed up an opportunity to watch the NCAA championship game Monday night with some friends from work, because I was exhausted. I took a 30-minute power nap and decided to be social (who am I to turn down any socializing opportunities at this point? I am still in hard core friend recruiting mode). On Tuesday afternoon I couldn’t get out of the office soon enough. I realized why children need afternoon naps (they get too cranky when tired). I know I got quite cranky after my clock struck 4:00pm (my quitting time!) and a colleague asked me some questions about an upcoming project. I was so annoyed to be dealing with work stuff when all I wanted to do was crawl into my bed for a nap (I had been dreaming about it all day long). I finally escaped from the office at 4:30pm and almost went ballistic when I saw a guy playing a saxophone on my street corner. I thought about bribing the guy with money to move away from my building. (Why are people allowed to play musical instruments, solicit money from innocent walkers and disturb city residents’ peace? Can’t the police boot these musicians off the street?) I decided to keep my money (figured he would want a lot more than a dollar to move) and left the saxophonist alone. I was so tired that I ignored the horrible jazz music and indulged in the best afternoon nap. Even after my afternoon siesta, I was in bed on Tuesday before 9:00pm.

When the alarm rang at 4:30am on Wednesday I thought about skipping work to stay in bed, but the professional side of me convinced me to get out of bed and hit the gym. I drudglingly got on the treadmill and surprisingly cranked out 4 miles. I decided to push for 5 (even thought I should have left the gym because of time) and after watching the mile ticker change I made a bee-line for the shower. I have this really bad habit of being almost late for everything (I always try to do more than I have time for). The whole concept of arriving early to be relaxed and calm sounds amazing, and I go to bed each night planning to implement the concept. Never happens. I barely make it out the door before 6:50am and hustled to work. I bolted to work in a sleeveless shirt and got quite a few odd glances from other commuters since it was only in the 50s. I made it into my office with 3 minutes to spare. After putting on my heels, I started to sweat bullets. I guess I never cooled down from my run. I inhaled a Luna bar (thank goodness for portable breakfast items) and plopped down in my chair for the coaching meeting. The day flew by and before I had a chance to cross off any items on my to-do list I was out the door heading to a campus event. I finally made it home around 9:00pm (I believe that equals a 14-hour day) and if it wasn’t for my recorded Hills episode I would have crawled into bed as soon as I got home. The thrill of catching up on the cast’s drama gave me the endurance I needed to stay awake for the Hills season opener. (I might have made mental notes of the places they went on the show, so Joe and I can check them out. I plan on hitting up the Dime!)

This morning I practically had to pry my eyes open with pliers. At least I am getting up to go to a job I really enjoy. With my new schedule and responsibilities my day flies by. I am in coaching meetings for the first 2-3 hours of the day. By the time I get to do “work” I have no choice but to be uber productive. I love the challenge of new tasks and think this is going to be the perfect role for me. It is going to be another late night tonight, because I am going with a rep to a dinner presentation he is hosting. Needless to say I am so ready for the weekend. I am actually looking forward to a quite Friday night alone. When did I get so old? Who knew how much difference a measly hour could make!?

Greetings From Milwaukee

I feel like I have so much to write about since it has been several days since my last post. I am out of town for work and on a short break from the training class I am attending, so I don't have much time. Of course, I was able to find a computer with Internet access so I get to write a quick post.

Staying in hotels is brutal. Why did I get stuck in the room next to the elevator? I tried to make a good responsible choice last night by staying in instead of going out. Jokes on me. I was unable to sleep due to the frequent use of the elevator outside of my door. Annoying!

Don't take a vegetarian to a Brazilian stakehouse. Man, what an experience I had at our group dinner last night. Waiters walked around serving giant hunks of various meats. I have never been bothered by the sight of cuts of beef, chicken or lamb but that changed very quickly last night. Why do restaurants always serve the vegetarian some nasty pasta? Come on, don't I deserve a glorious meal just like the meat eaters?

On a positive note, I am learning a ton of great things about my new role. I am even more excited to start coaching and developing reps in our office. My dad is driving up to Milwaukee today so we can hang out before I fly back to LA. I am so excited for some quality time with my dad!!!!

I'll be in touch later with more updates from the last week. I have to talk about our recent visitors, how comments can make or break your day and the joys of flying. As always life is fabulous! Back to learning!

Just A Day At The Office

When Joe and I were discussing a move to California I was hesitant, because I did not want to give up what I thought was the best job in the world. I had autonomy, worked on a variety of projects, made great friends in the office and wrote my own job description for my position. It does not get much better than that, or so I thought.

When we moved to LA I was able to stay with my company. I have been making some friends in my new office (I do miss my old work buddies) and have started to dabble into a variety of projects. I am truly excited about jumping into a new role in the organization for the growth experience. I won’t get to write my job description, but there is talk of revising the role to include some marketing and community relations activities (score!). Yesterday I attended a management meeting and fell in love with my new office.

One of the things that I enjoy most about my company is that you can interact with top-level management all of the time. (Successful people surround themselves with other successful people!) There seems to be an open-door policy that exists in offices across the country. I don’t think this kind of openness exists at many companies.

At the management meeting our managing partner (top dog at the office) spoke to the group. This was the first time I had the chance to interact with our MP for more than a few brief minutes. I was completely blown away. I left the meeting feeling inspired and ready to make an impact in this office. I also felt like I was working in the right place (everything happens for a reason, right?). I value both personal and professional growth. You will understand why I feel like I belong in this office after reading the points below.

I wanted to share with you some of my MP’s philosophies and perspectives, because they made a huge impact on me. These are not his exact words, because I am not that fast of a note taker, but some sayings are pretty darn close.
•Your internal self-image needs to be in touch with how others see you, in other words do your actions align with your values and intent)
• Struggles in life help you grow. Analyze your struggles to learn from them.
• Disgust with where you are in your life is the greatest motivator to move forward and grow.
• Mediocracy is a slow boil.
• You have to overcome fears to achieve.
• When faced when an adversity think of the toughest thing you have ever accomplished. When you compare the current adversity to the toughest thing you have ever accomplished it won’t seem so bad.
• Being emotional and open about struggles can help inspire others. Talking about struggles shows your humanity and can help others share their struggles.
• If you want to inspire someone help them develop. (My new role is to be the Director of Training & Development. Pretty neat!)
• The greatest compliment we can pay to another person is to listen. (Might need to work on this one. I sometimes get so excited to share my thoughts that I stop listening.)
• Being thoughtful in life comes with a higher price. You have to understand how other people think.
• Experience teaches all lessons.

I hope some of these points help you as you strive to move forward in this life. Go inspire someone!

Must Have Mentors

I can not even begin to describe to you how important it is to give back and volunteer (I'll save this for another post). When you get involved in a non-for-profit organization you meet amazing people. I am very active with the Arthritis Foundation. I am on the Executive Committee for the LA Walk and I recently joined the Marketing & Communications Advisory Committee. I am gearing up to Chair the 2010 LA Walk.

I recently met with the VP of Marketing & Communications for the Arthritis Foundation. I think that meeting with people of such high caliber is imperative for career success (I would not have had the chance to meet the VP if I was not a volunteer). I firmly believe that if you want to be successful you need to surround yourself with other successful people. I asked the VP of Marketing & Communications how she got to where she is in her career. I am always interested in ways to propel my career to the next level. She told me she couldn't have done it without the help of mentors.

I wanted to share this vital piece of advice with my readers. It makes sense. We all need a support system with people that will lift us up and help us succeed.

I asked the VP of Marketing & Communications to be one of my mentors and she agreed. I have a wonderful PR mentor in St. Louis. We developed a strong professional relationship by working together on both company projects and non-for-profit projects. I frequently email my PR mentor to get his opinions and ask him questions. No question is too small to ask a mentor.

I enjoy having a group of mentors because they are cheerleaders for your success. I hope that one day I can mentor a young woman starting out in her career. After all, one of the best things in life is giving.