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Places and Spaces – Our Garden

Posted on 2013-06-12 at 1:47 pm.

Welcome to ‘Places and Spaces’, our Wednesday column where we share places we go to think, get inspired, or come alive. The environment around us has such a bearing on how we feel, and sometimes a change of scene can make a world of difference to your perspective, thought process, or decisions.

Today I want to share somewhere very special to us both and somewhere I have rediscovered and found a new appreciation for recently. Our garden!

Since beginning my new venture with Do What You Love I have found myself working from home for the majority of the week. Much of that time is spent behind the computer. This is not something I have been used to as in my previous career I spent a lot of time on construction sites. This time outside always – by myself or laughing with my team, along with a big dose of fresh air – helped me put into perspective any problems or issues that I was dealing with at the time.

I had wondered how I would replace this valuable and necessary escape time whilst working at home. The answer presented itself in the form of our garden. It provides great sanctuary away from the computer, whether it is fending off the dreaded bindweed, rustling amongst the ferns and flowers or providing a thirst quenching drink to the plants.

I find it particularly comes alive for me whilst watering it. The sun glistens off the varying shapes of leaves and the colours are enhanced. For a few fleeting moments I forget about everything else other than the garden itself.

The garden provides so many different perspectives with a different treat in store depending where you choose to look.

I love our sunken table – the perfect place for outdoor meetings, dinner and chats, or gatherings of friends. A fair few big decisions have been made in this wooden oasis, usually with a glass of wine in hand.

I certainly never have thought I would enjoy gardening. To care for and nurture the garden provides respite from the world around me. One I would not have discovered without changing other aspects of my life.

Where is your sanctuary? Where do you go to escape from the hustle and bustle?

Change vs transition

Posted on 2013-06-11 at 6:05 pm.

Written by Beth Kempton

Inspired by Jennifer Lee’s latest newsletter, Mr K and I were having a chat today about the difference between ‘change’ and ‘transition’.

As we started packing boxes for our next house move in three weeks’ time, here are some of the things we pondered:

‘Change’ is often an event, whereas ‘transition’ is often the period of time running up to that event as you prepare for it, and following that event as you settle into it.
The word ‘change’ feels huge and in-your-face. ‘Transition’ feels more subtle.
Change seems sudden. Transition seems gradual.
‘Change’ sounds like a destination. ‘Transition’ sounds like a journey.
Change seems practical or physical. Transition is more emotional.
To make a change you usually have to stop doing something, start doing something, or do something differently. And it can be forced upon you. This often takes a sackload of courage. To make a transition perhaps you can be more gentle on yourself, take baby steps, and test the water as you go.

With both change and transition you end up somewhere you weren’t before. And that’s exciting, but can be scary! From the many changes we have gone through over the past few months, we have found that the following really help:

Know what you want to be different after the change. Keep reminding yourself of this when things get tough.
Have a plan for making the change, and handling the emotional transition.
Be aware that these things usually take longer than you expect.
Expect to feel disoriented, a little in limbo, or nervous. Being uncomfortable for a while can lead to great things.
Talk to someone about it. You don’t have to go through it on your own. And if someone is sharing the journey, that is even more fun!
Take a moment to reflect on what has gone past before you leap into the change.
Celebrate your new beginning.

How about you? What do you think is the difference between change and transition? And how have you handled the big changes in your life?

Honeymoon (3): Winetasting in Tuscany… yum!

Posted on 2013-06-10 at 2:00 pm.

Written by Beth Kempton

We couldn’t spend a week in Tuscany without doing a whole lot of wine tasting! The first vineyard we visited was deep in the countryside, and produced not only wine and aged meats, but the most incredible balsamic vinegar – some of it 30 years old!

It was a wonderful experience to hear all about the wines and other products direct from the owner, who used to have a corporate job many years ago and gave it all up to do what he loves! We were fed delicious food matched with each kind of wine we tasted, which helped slow down the onset of drunkenness just a little (good job as it was only 10am…)

Have you ever tried 30-year aged balsamic vinegar on vanilla icecream? Neither had we but it was A-MA-ZING! It was so unexpected – alone on a spoon it just tasted like very good balsamic, but with the icecream it became like something more akin to chocolate sauce. Needless to say we got some shipped back home!

The second vineyard we visited was perched high on a hill overlooking miles of fields, olive groves and poplar trees.

We were fed yet more delicious cheese and cold meats, with fresh bread and a selection of different wines. By the end I had no idea which was which but had a brilliant day.

Last time we went winetasting it was in Napa Valley in California. We joined a tour bus (which is very unlike us) and although it was a lot of fun, we felt a little herded from place to place. This time we were lucky enough to have our own driver and interpreter which made all the difference. We could go at our own pace, soak everything up and linger a while by the open fire when we felt like chatting longer. Ahh that’s what honeymoons are all about…

You can read my other honeymoon posts here: (1) Florence / (2) Castel Monastero / (3) Winetasting in Tuscany / (4) Borgo Santo Pietro / (5) Pasta masterclass / (6) Pisa and home

Thought for the Week (16)

Posted on 2013-06-10 at 8:00 am.

Written by Beth Kempton

I think Wayne Dyer is on to something very important here. Maybe every now and again it would be worth asking someone else what they see? And then try looking at things from a different perspective.

Do you agree?

Mentorship giveaway winner announced

Posted on 2013-06-08 at 11:06 am.

Written by Beth Kempton

Huge thanks to everyone who entered the giveaway to win a place on Jennifer Lee’s Right Brain Entrepreneur Mentorship Program worth nearly $1000. The winner is…

Theresa Smythe from the US

Congratulations Theresa! We hope the programme will be a huge boost to you as you grow your children’s book illustration business. Be sure to let us know how you get on!

To everyone who didn’t win – stay tuned for more gievaways here in the coming weeks, and keep taking those steps towards doing what you love!

Life According To Mr K. – Love to Change (1)

Posted on 2013-06-07 at 8:00 am.

Written by Beth Kempton

I appreciate that the majority of you who read this blog are female. I just hope by sharing a few thoughts and experiences with you I can provide a little insight to the male perspective. This may surprise you but we are not always the most vocal or the best at communicating. That hasn’t been our role! But trust me, we certainly have our own personal insecurities and issues. I am sure this is true of the men in your life as well.

Change! This month’s theme is certainly a very fitting topic for me to begin my blog adventure with you. I guess that this blog is a change in itself.

To ‘love to change’ though is certainly a strange concept at the off-set, as most changes are inevitably difficult at first. That said just because it is difficult does not mean that we should not embrace change. We all just need to find the courage to do so.

“Change will never happen when people lack the ability and courage to see themselves for who they are.” – Bryant H. McGill

I have made some huge decisions in the past two years. All of which have dictated big changes in my life. Basically because it needed to change and change it certainly has!

I must stress that there was nothing particularly wrong with my life before. In fact if I’m honest my life has been pretty good. I have great family and friends, I have been lucky in health (touch wood) and six years ago my greatest inspiration walked into my life (my now wife – more on that later in the month). I found myself in a good job with plenty of career opportunities.

My moment of epiphany occurred around two years ago. It was in the winter during an early drive to work through the rain and sleet that I questioned…. What am I doing? Why am I doing this? Where am I going?

Answering these questions had been easy at one time. I was going to work like most people to primarily earn some money. These questions became much more difficult to answer once my girlfriend (now wife) started her company ‘Do What You Love’.

The concept was brilliant and the scope almost limitless. Who wouldn’t want to do what they love? But while I supported her endeavours, the cynical male in me was thinking “But very few people, especially guys with families to feed, are that lucky!”

Throughout the months prior to my a-ha moment I witnessed how many people were actually changing their lives in positive ways directly because of ‘Do What You Love’. I was becoming one big contradiction. I was sat across the table from the person helping so many people change their lives yet I was too stubborn to accept the reality of my own life. I was not doing what I loved, in fact far from it! As the months went by I was even beginning to hate what I did.

“If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading” – Lao Tzu

Did I really want another 30 years of feeling like this? No.

So what was I going to do about it?

I could moan about it and do nothing, which at best is a momentary escape or I could put my male cynicism aside and accept that I needed to make changes. Ultimately who else other than me is in charge of my life?

“There are two primary choices in life: To accept conditions as they exist, or accept responsibility for changing them.” – Dennis Waitley

I decided to take a six month sabbatical and go and live in Kyoto, Japan with Beth, both for a change of scene and to find some time to think. A little drastic I admit. The truth is the destination could really have been anywhere. The point was I needed time away from the daily grind to give myself an opportunity to take charge of my life.

“It is never too late to be what you might have been” – Mahatma Gandhi

Later this month I will share what happened to my outlook whilst taking that all important time out. For now I’d like to know what changes do you know deep down you need to make? Or what changes have you made recently – and how are things different now?

And if there are any men in your life in a similar situation to me, try to encourage them to talk about it or at least think about it. Please don’t be surprised if it is a difficult subject for them to talk about. Maybe they just need to take some time for themselves to reassess. Just because we never raise the topic doesn’t mean we aren’t thinking about it.

Until next time…

Mr K

Places & spaces: The canal boat cafe and book shop

Posted on 2013-06-05 at 8:48 am.

Written by Beth Kempton

Welcome to ‘Places and Spaces’, our new Wednesday column where we share places we go to think, get inspired, or come alive. The environment around us has such a bearing on how we feel, and sometimes a change of scene can make a world of difference to your perspective, thought process, or decisions.

Today I want to share somewhere I discovered recently when stepping out of the office, hopping on a train and going to London for the day. I was there researching a super-secret new project with Rachael Taylor, and we decided to walk between tube stations taking a detour by a canal. And look what we discovered – a travelling cafe and bookshop, in two separate barges moored alongside each other! It didn’t take much to persuade us to stop and have our meeting with a slice of cake and a steaming cup of tea, sat inside the floating cafe.

When we found the boats they were near Angel Tube but they never stay in one place for more than a week. Ahh life on a canal boat…

‘Word on the Water’ canal boat bookshop

Canal boat cafe

Who says you have to be stuck in a boring office to get productive work done?

Where is the most inspiring place you have ever had a meeting?

Thought for the Week (15)

Posted on 2013-06-03 at 8:00 am.

Written by Beth Kempton

It may seem very obvious, right? But how many of us can honestly say that where we are heading is where we hope to end up?

When was the last time you really thought about the path you find yourself on and where is it going to take you?

And is it time to change that path?

IF YOU WANT THINGS TO CHANGE, YOU HAVE TO TAKE ACTION. GET READY TO L.E.A.P.!

Time for change (+ amazing giveaway – win mentoring worth $997!)

Posted on 2013-06-01 at 8:27 pm.

Written by Beth Kempton

As the grey skies fold back to reveal a swathe of blue, and as the sun comes out and the coats come off, it feels like change is in the air. And there is certainly a lot of change going on around here at DWYL HQ.

We are putting the final touches to our brand new website (which will launch this month and we hope you will love). With that will come a new kind of blogging from us, with a different theme for each month to explore all the different aspects of doing what you love.

We are starting this today, June 1, with the first theme ‘Love change’. Change is fundamental to shifting from a life doing what you don’t love, to doing what you do love. Over the coming month we will share a series of interviews with people who have undergone major changes in their life (often involving bravery, excitement, and no small measure of fear), along with our own thoughts on how change has and continues to be a major part of our lives.

Fittingly, this month we are preparing for a major personal change, packing up our home in the north of England to go and live by the sea! We have spent many holidays by the ocean, or by other kinds of water, and every time we are near it we just feel happy. I grew up on the south coast of England, and it is time to return, and start to live in the environment which makes us happiest.

Brighton here we come!

This is yet another major change after several big ones these past couple of months – from getting married to my new husband then quitting his career of 12 years and starting to work together here at Do What You Love. After two months of it we have started to find our own work rhythm, and I know for sure both those changes were very good decisions. The best in fact!

Through this month’s posts we will be exploring the things that push us to change, the things that inspire us to change, and the things that hold us back from changing. We hope that along the way you will share your stories of change too.

And we are excited to kick of this brand new blog series with a massive giveaway from Jennifer Lee of Artizen Coaching, someone who has experienced significant change in their own life, and now helps others make major changes in their creative businesses – see below for details, and get involved! (THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED. THANK YOU TO ALL WHO ENTERED.)

THE PRIZE: The Right-Brain Entrepreneur Mentorship Program, which starts on June 10th, is an intensive 8-month programme led by The Right-Brain Business Plan bestselling author Jennifer Lee. You have a chance to win a seat at the Cohort Circle level (valued at $997) where you’ll learn how to develop new moola making methods, package your gifts and craft your offers, build your list so you can authentically attract and connect with your right peeps, create a successful plan to launch your offers, and more through right-brain interactive video chats, group coaching calls, and a private Facebook group. Any questions? Check out the programme’s FAQ here (includes dates for calls).

IS THIS FOR YOU? The mentorship program is for you if you’re a Right-Brain Entrepreneur yearning to finally take your creative business to the next level but are unsure what steps to take next because the left-brain details overwhelm you. Or you’ve been at your work for awhile but are tired of struggling to make a living doing what you love. You can find out more here.

HOW TO ENTER: Check out The Right-Brain Entrepreneur Mentorship Program here and think carefully about how this could benefit you and your business. Come back and leave a comment below this post explaining where you are on your enterprise journey, and why this programme is exactly what you need right now. Please include your full name, country and a link to your business website/blog if possible.

DEADLINE: This giveaway will close on Friday June 7, 2013 at 9am EST / 2pm GMT. Any comments left after that time will not be counted. THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED. THANK YOU TO ALL WHO ENTERED.

THE SMALL PRINT: This giveaway is open to anyone over the age of 18 from any country, and entry is free of charge. One winner will be chosen from the comments left below this post by the deadline. Do What You Love’s decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into. There is no cash alternative. The winner will be requested to write a blog post for the Do What You Love blog once the mentoring programme has finished, to explain the impact it had on them. By entering this giveaway you give permission for your name and email address to be added to the Do What You Love mailing list. We will not pass your details on to third parties, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

If you think this is for you please go for it! Someone has to win… it might just be you. And if anyone you know might benefit from this amazing prize please share this with them.

Pop back on Thursday for a special Do What You Love interview with Jennifer Lee, the mastermind behind this mentorship programme!

MOYO Issue 4 (The PAPER Issue) – is here, and it’s delicious!

Posted on 2013-05-30 at 11:17 pm.

Written by Beth Kempton

The fourth issue of MOYO is here and it is all about paper (yum!). Your FREE copy includes:

Behind the scenes with top art agent Lilla Rogers
An interview with stationery designer Carolyn Gavin
Papercutting with Mr Yen
Rachel Hazell on patterns in paper
Hannah Nunn reports from a wallpaper factory
MOYO learns to make paper
…and much more!

We also have design tips, a designer diary, a brief for you and more – see inside for details. Being a team of paper lovers you can only imagine how much fun we had putting this together!

Get your FREE copy of MOYO Issue 4 here!

MOYO is the world’s only online magazine dedicated to surface pattern design. Packed with interviews, design briefs, colour challenges, art reviews, student showcases, design tips, inspiration, trends and more, this free resource is published quarterly. You can see the our back issues here.

MOYO is free and we want to share the wonderful world of surface pattern design with as many people as possible – please help! You can share it on Facebook, Tweet about it (@surfacepatternd #moyomagazine) or email a link to your friends. Please also feel free to blog about it or share it in your newsletter and inspire even more people to dive into the exciting world of surface pattern design!

Get your free copy HERE!