So, most weeks I send out helpful business advice for you and your company.

Well, as I mentioned before. . . today is different.

I want pull back the curtain a little bit and share something more personal. Here goes…

I’ve been looking back on some of the BIG MOMENTS in my life lately. Six years ago I quit a job that was killing me slowly, with no job lined up in my future. For one year, I freelanced doing what I knew: I organized people, and I set up company offices with accounting systems, client tracking and marketing plans. I hustled. A year later, my husband, Jason, also quit his steady job, and we started our own consulting firm.

Since then, I’ve experienced more freedom, travel and creative expression than I ever dreamed possible. I attend about 10 conferences a year to meet and learn from some of the most innovative thinkers in the world. Just this year, I traveled to Austin, Texas for the crazy 20,000 attendee extravaganza that is South By SouthWest (SXSW), then flew first class to Qatar in the Middle East to attend the TEDxSummit with 700 other TEDx global organizers, and just recently, I met up with my friend Chris Guillebeau and 1000 of his die-hard fans for the World Domination Summit (WDS) in Portland, Oregon where he personally handed out $100 bills to each and every one of us to go make the world better in however way we see fit.

Yes, I am blessed. Lucky. Fortunate. All of those things, and more.  I have this need to do something MORE. Do better, to make this world better. I’ve heard so many personal stories from all over the globe. We have so much more in common than we know. This got me thinking about how I should share some of these ideas with you…

You will see why as you read further.

This journey back home there was a moment of letting go, changing and expansion. As I came back from the Middle East I thought about the past year and what I want to change, do and accomplish for the rest of 2012… Personally and professionally. Locally and globally.

Here are just a few examples of past years for me. I’ve made goals for . . .

• Travel to new places: Cuba (Nov 2012), Qatar (Feb 2012), Costa Rica (2008, 2007), Alaska (March & Aug  2009), Ecuador 2013…
• Take a month off and live somewhere else! (Homer, Alaska 2009 & Lake Tahoe, California 2010)
• Going to the gym more often (not terribly original I realize)
• Keep the inside of my car clean, so it’s ready for me, my friends & clients
• Become a healthier vegetarian (yes: chocolate, cheese, wine and coffee are all vegetarian)
• Spend time each month individually with my niece, nephew, Mom & Dad
• Travel with Jason on business trips each month
• Reach out to my community as I travel and build Socials wherever I go
• Build and connect with the TEDxWomen community everywhere I go
• Speak Italian with confidence (not just “Where is the train station?” 🙂
• Work less (get out of being a 24/7 email responding machine)
• Read a fiction book for every business book I read
• Invest in my retirement fund consistently
• Pay off our house mortgage in 10 years
• Start growing vegetables and flowers in my garden again
• Meditate daily (even if it is only for 5 minutes)
• Write everyday
• Create a new product for business owners
• Write a book
• Be in unconditional love…

. . . and the list goes on.

Some big goals and some small, but all with the intention of creating something new. Changing it up so to speak.

This exposure to so many outrageous people sharing their stories throughout SXSW, WDS and TED really spurred a new thought process. I’ve found myself having BIG paradigm shifts in my life and the way I look at my business.

The time we have here is precious. And there’s nothing in the world to remind us more than when we tap into what we’re really meant to do. Something that’s so in alignment with who we truly are, it just seems like the most natural extension of us. So obvious.

You may be asking, “Jodi, it’s 8 months into 2012, why are you talking about goal setting now?”

What I didn’t tell you is that I made one more BIG GOAL and that GOAL is about YOU!!

I’m serious.

As many of you have noticed, I am designing the way I do business and am focusing on what YOU have told me over the years that you would like to see me offer or address.

Request:

Hence, my blog posts, The monthly Women’s Business Socials, the how-to YouTube video library, the No More Nylons Resource page, Snooty Lady recipe cards…

There’s still more to come! I am always interested to know what you wish for me to provide, so keep the ideas coming!

But… (the infamous “But”)…

There is one REALLY BIG request you have made that I’ve been holding back on– for YEARS, despite many of your pleadings and outcries.

I’m contemplating stepping up and giving you what you’ve been asking for since the very beginning.

But I’m nervous because it means sharing with you more of myself and my business than I have in the past.

But I’m hesitant because it means I’m going to have to tell you all about me. The real story. How I got to this level of abundance and success. How much fun I have. And… how hard I work.  I will disclose with you more of myself and my business that I ever have in the past.

And I’m also going to need your help.

Anyway, that REALLY BIG request is . . . . (stay tuned until next time)

Your friend,