Welcome to the New & Improved AS.com!

February 15, 2012

In the summer of 2009, Hubz and I leapt into a huge remodel of our home. We weren’t strangers to updating things; in years prior we had removed wallpaper from every wall in the house, painted everything, replaced all light fixtures, refinished all the floors, refaced the fireplace, refinished the bannister, updated every light switch and electrical socket…I’ll spare you the full list. But this remodel, the one we knew the moment we offered to initially purchase this house that would someday have to happen, was gonna be a doozy. It would involve knocking down walls, moving plumbing, and most importantly, taking one whole bathroom and our entire kitchen out of commission. Considering the enormity of the project, we kicked things off without too much concern or worry. And then, three months later, we emerged dizzy, disoriented, and with dust permanently greying the few hairs we still had left on top of our dazed little heads.

That remodel should have required a bit more thought. A couple more “Are we really ready for this?” type of conversations before taking the plunge. To this day, we both contain only fuzzy memories of that time.

Post Traumatic-Remodel Stress Disorder; it should exist, don’t you think?

For months now I have wanted to remodel things around here, on AnnieSorensen.com, but have been absolutely dreading the task. Would it mess everything up? Would it take up all sorts of time? Would you, my five lovely readers, be annoyed and frustrated? Would I be left to fend for myself learning how to develop some aspect of website-speak that I didn’t care to learn? Would it interrupt my daily coffee-chugging time?

Ok, so it’s decaf coffee these days. But still.

Home remodel, minimal consideration, monumental headache.
Website remodel, major consideration, no headache at all!

Find a competent, kind, honest, and responsive developer, folks. That’s all I’m going to say.

So here we are! On the other side! I hope you like the new and improved digs. The major changes are complete, but I will be tweaking little things here and there in the coming days, so keep checking back in with us. The point of moving things around was to be able to provide you with the easiest way to read and learn and enjoy the topics you want, without having to read or learn or be annoyed with the topics that you don’t care as much about.

All posts are now easily separated into four main sections:
Business, Musings, Books, and Style.

You can access each one via the tabs that you see at the top of the page, or the fancy schmancy feature slider that displays on the homepage.

Interested in Business but not Books? Stop by the home page, click on Business, and read your heart out.

Want to talk Style and laugh at Musings, but don’t care one bit about Business? Stop by the home page, select Style or Musings, and go for it.

Care about Books, Books, and only Books? You know what to do.

There are also featured and recent posts within easy reach on the homepage and in the sidebar, and my About page and Contact details are easily accessible. Look for even more featured posts – many of them posts that you have told me are your favorites over the years – coming soon.

There are millions of voices out there. I appreciate it so much that you spend a few moments of your busy day with me. And as always, if stopping by the homepage is too out of the way for you, subscribe via email and new posts will show up right in your inbox. Free and clear, easy peasy.

Thanks for being here! Enjoy.
AS

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P.S. The opposite is also true – if you’re reading this via email, please stop by and check out the new digs! Let me know your thoughts via the comments, and your next cup of decaf is on me.

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Pinterest Style

February 15, 2012

I’ve been playing around with Pinterest lately and I have to admit, it’s kinda fun. Have you heard of it? Have you tried it? If you aren’t quite familiar with it yet, Pinterest is a social networking site that acts as a virtual pinboard. You can create boards to “pin” images from around the internet to represent different interests or areas of your life; places you would like to go, recipes you want to try, inspirational quotes you find worthy of keeping, design ideas for your cousin’s engagement party. The boards are fun and the possibilities are endless. They can represent things you want, things you already have, or even just things you think are kinda neat.

AnnieSorensen on Pinterest

You can find all of my boards on Pinterest via the link above, but the subject I’m enjoying the most on the site has come a bit of a surprise to me; Style.

AnnieSorensen Style on Pinterest

Maybe it’s due to the discovery nature of Pinterest, the fact that the majority of items I pin to my Style board aren’t images I found myself but those I found via other Pinterest users I follow, but I have had so many Ah ha! moments related to defining my style lately that I didn’t really realize until now were true.

For example, I love scarves. Love love love love love love luhhrve scarves. If you asked me a few weeks ago about my personal style in clothing, it probably wouldn’t have occurred to me to mention that I wear a scarf practically every day, ten months out of the year, and feel like I’m missing a limb if I don’t have one tied around my neck. One glance at my Pinterest Style board, however, and my love of scarves and their place in my daily style and clothing selections is quickly apparent.

Another realization? I am a t-shirt and jeans kinda gal through and through. Now, I am all about throwing those jeans on with a pair of heels or accessorizing that tee with a long, simple necklace, but boy oh boy do I rarely stray that that uniform.

And Pinterest taught me that. Thanks, Pinterest.

What about you, have you enjoyed collecting and creating boards? Has anything lead to new discoveries or fun realizations? Style related or not, feel free to link to your Pinterest profiles in the comments. I’d love to see ’em.

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Monday morning reflections

February 13, 2012

My two year anniversary of leaving my corporate job and jumping into a world of time freedom and self-employment was a few weeks ago, and I’ve found myself reflecting quite a bit since then on how my life has changed.

Two years. Has it really been that long?
Two years. Hasn’t it been more like ten?

It’s interesting what working for yourself can teach you. Interesting and fascinating and freaky and fun, all at the same time.

I’ve talked about this a bit before, but whenever I reflect on how working for myself has changed me, the answer that continually comes to mind is the act of reflection itself. I’m better at reflecting on my life and myself because of my experiences the past two years.

I’m quieter, literally and mentally.

My eyes spend more time open, really, really open, to what’s going on around me. To the feelings of those I’m currently sharing the room with to the actions of those I’m communicating with around the world.

I’m more thoughtful; have more patience.

I have a calm about myself that I didn’t know I could possess before.

There’s something about waking up in the morning and defining your day just about 100% in your own way that changes you. Reflection is a natural part of this way of life. It becomes more apparent what you are thinking, how you are feeling, what you are missing. But the part that changed isn’t that you suddenly start thinking or feeling or missing.

Being able to pay attention to all of that is what changes.

When things are up to me, that me is the one who has decide. In order for me to decide, me has to know what me is thinking. How? Reflection.

How am I feeling right now?
What am I thinking right now?
How’s my motivation level this time of day?
Do I actually like this sandwich I’m eating?
Who makes me happiest to work with? Who doesn’t? And where does that work best get done?
How does this action affect my goal?
How would this make that person feel?
Is this a priority? Is this really necessary to get done right now?
What will accomplishing this do for my businesses? My relationships? My happiness?
What’s more important, finishing this email or sitting down on the couch with my husband who just asked me to join him?

Eyes wide open. Quietness. Reflection.

Clarity.

I’m not sure I had the ability to place a finger on any of this two years ago. I was definitely more quick to judge, to react. I had less patience. I was louder, in the mind-mess sense of the word.

(Well hello, Monday morning, you’re getting a little deep on us today!)

I think I like it, though; all of this reflection. And I know I’m grateful for it. And I also know that all of it is true; it’s all part of this shocking and awe-inspiring journey I have been traveling the past two years.

One I continually hope I can help you travel, too.

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End Malaria essay collection

February 8, 2012

Now, this is neat.


It’s a collection of essays from successful business authors. There are a bundle of names you might event recognize, like Gary Vaynerchuk, Seth Godin, Dave Ramsey, and Pam Slim.

It’s a book with an intention of inspiring and motivating the reader.

It’s organized into sections like Focus, Courage, and Resilience, with emphasis on ideas like disrupting normal, loving and being kind, and creating freedom.

Oh, and it also raises money for a good cause: Malaria No More.

Books, charity. Personal development, giving. How lovely is that?

Here’s the link for all the details:

End Malaria, Edited by Michael Bungay Stanier



This would make a great gift for the entrepreneurs in your life!

(Thanks, Courtney, for the tip.)

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Have you written this down?

February 2, 2012

My definition of success is being able to do whatever I want, whenever I want, without having to think twice about the finances to do so.

A checklist for this success would be:
– do I have complete control over my time? Yup.
– do those that I care about have complete control over their time, too? This would be Hubz, and…nope.
– are my finances in a position where they operate 99% of the time on auto-pilot? 75% there, I’d say. Getting closer.

The parts I’m least comfortable with about this checklist is Hubz. It will be a scary jump for our entire household to be relying on our own businesses. However, isn’t it just as scary for half of our household to be relying on someone else’s business? Hmm.

I will gain confidence and bravery in overcoming this by strengthening my businesses and myself. Always.

The daily to-do’s of this path are:
– adding cashflowing rental properties to our portfolio.
– growing my Vemma business, which is done only by increasing the number of active brand partners in my organization, which is done only by sharing the Vemma story with new people. Over and over and over again.
– developing additional income streams (read: writing).

I commit to doing 6 hours daily of dedicated practice on my to-do’s, for my success.

I will not wing it.
I will move forward intentionally, purposefully, and passionately.

I will not wait for the success to come to me.
I will make it.
I will go to it.

I will work simply. Overcomplicating only leads to frustration.

I will be brave.

I will continue to focus more on saying “Why not?” than “Why?”
Saying “What if it works?” more than “What if it goes wrong?”

And I will help others do the same. As often, and in whatever ways, I can.

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Have you written this down? For…you?

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Orange cones and flashing lights!

January 26, 2012

Well looky here, we’re getting fancier ’round these parts! I’m excited about the next phase of AnnieSorensen.com, and we have been working hard to provide more content, more readability, and more, well, me.

You have been warned.

While we work out the kinks, please bear with us! We will be back up and running in no time.

Thanks for being you,
AS

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From part-time ventures to full-time lifestyle

January 24, 2012

2010-01-21 20.54.25

It’s been 2 years.

I am so, so grateful.

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What kind of business are you?

January 24, 2012

I was recently introduced to an interesting way of defining a business; high-growth and lifestyle.

Per allbusiness.com, here are the definitions of each:

Lifestyle business: A small business that reflects the general lifestyle of the individual entrepreneur. Lifestyle businesses are not high-growth enterprises. The principal objective is to generate “adequate” income while living where the entrepreneur wants, doing what they love, or having the flexibility to be around when the kids come home from school or take long weekends in the winter to go skiing.

High-growth business: Small businesses designed for the purpose of achieving high growth and rapid profit increases. A high-growth business is one where the owner intends to build real assets with a growable, tangible value that can be bought and sold – either as shares or the entire business. Success would be defined as the increase in value of the business over time.

The high-growthers get the majority of attention, the majority of the press.

I am a lifestyler, hands down. Always intended to be, always plan to be. Barring any unforseen developments, of course. (Not saying it will never happen, just don’t currently have any plans to make it.)

At first, upon reading these definitions, I was a little taken aback. High-growth sounds fancier and more complex. Like it requires a higher level of complexity, intelligence, and experience. It sounds more aligned with the traditional definition of success. Ugh!

The feeling was fleeting, however. A lifestyle business, per the definition, is exactly what I want. It’s what I wanted, it’s what I worked towards, it’s what I have today and want to grow stronger.

I do want the time freedom to be able to stay home with my family.
I do want the flexibility to be able to attend all of their school events, field trips, and PTA meetings.
I do want not only myself, but my husband, to have that kind of flexibility.

I want to be able to travel wherever and whenever I please, for as long as I please, and I want to live in a comfortable house, with the ability to have or provide additional comforts as I wish, and I want to be able to give, freely, when I see fit and feel inspired to do so.

And I want to be able to do all of those things without a single worry about money.
THAT is what lifestyle business means to me.

Income, as passive as possible, coming in from multiple sources that allow me, that allow us, to wake up every morning and define our days as we, and only we, see fit.

I’m a lifestyler. I might not ever have Founder or CEO next to my name on a marquee, and I think that’s okay with me.

And I’m glad that I am now aware of the distinction. In some small way, knowing what type of business I’m growing gives me confidence in knowing that I’m headed in the right direction.

What type are you?

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