The Metal Fork: A Modified Version

CWIP's Freelance Edge event

I attended a Chicago Women in Publishing (CWIP) event last night—Freelance Edge. This was my first CWIP event as a full-fledged member of the organization, and I was excited about the prospect of learning some novel marketing techniques to grow my business.

The introductory speaker, Kelly James-Enger, was very enjoyable—entertaining, insightful, witty, and informative. Having published a wide variety of books, articles, and other material, James-Enger had a lot of valuable information to share. I was most intrigued by her concepts regarding making more money via freelancing. (“Six Figure Freelancing”? Yes, please.) I particularly liked hearing that when she first started in this business, she had virtually no experience as a journalist. In fact, she had been an attorney for years. That was encouraging and inspiring to me.

James-Enger shared several useful insights with us, and the majority of these centered on the ideas of mindset, efficiency, and connections. Using each of these elements to your advantage is basically what will enable success—all tangible and accessible suggestions for action.

After the introductory session, the group broke into two separate targeted panels. There was one for folks interested in potentially making the shift from full-time employment to full-time freelancing, and the other (the one I attended) was targeted toward established freelancers looking for advanced marketing strategies. While there was some good information offered, I found the opening session to be considerably more useful for me.

Many of the ideas that James-Enger had shared were reinforced here. The panel discussion was not quite as “advanced” as I might have liked it to be. There was a lengthy conversation about the use of social media and blogging, but essentially I would have liked to take away some more innovative strategies and tactics to enhance business success. I felt that the opening portion of the event was strongest and most successful. Overall, I am glad that I attended, and I definitely jumped into my work today with a renewed energy and fresh focus.

Bringing it!

It seems that there are ads for P90X on almost every web page I visit lately. Maybe I’m just hyperaware of them these days … having just reached the end of the first two weeks of the program. P90X is a super-intense, rather extreme home fitness program.

While in Ohio visiting family over Christmas, I discovered that my oldest sister had lost a tremendous amount of weight since I’d last seen her. When I asked what she’d been doing that was working so well, she excitedly replied that she and her husband were in their second 90 days of the P90X program. I had never heard of P90X, but the proof of its effectiveness was quite obvious.

My sister was more energetic than I’d seen her in a long time. When she talked about her workouts, her face lit up and I could tell that she felt really good. She ate differently and carried herself with more confidence. She inspired me to seek more information about the P90X program.

I have long wanted to discover the right fitness niche. Sure, I have a small collection of exercise DVDs, but when’s the last time I used any of them? I took a few sessions of tap class last year and that was fun. But I took an extended break and have not yet returned. I craved more physical activity, though I was not particularly interested in joining a gym, and exercising outdoors is pretty far from an option during the winter in Chicago. So, after hearing my sister raving about P90X, I thought I should at least check it out to learn more. When I started to read testimonials online and—especially—to see the dramatic results that others were experiencing, I decided to join the P90X revolution.

Having made it halfway through the first of the three phases, I am already feeling stronger and more energetic. The nutrition plan does not differ too much from the norm for me, except adding several servings of protein. The food I’ve been eating is healthy and delicious, but I have yet to document it photographically. I will aim to do that and share here soon.

The workouts are seriously intense and challenging, but fun … for the most part. They say it takes 22 days to form a habit. It takes some willpower to commit to the P90X program, but so far, so good. Here’s to the next two phases, and beyond!