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Momentum call: Otter Voice Meeting Notes

Momentum call

Jessica Mehring51min

Jessica Abel (she/her)

00:00

miss all of them, all the details. Okay, so let me hit record here. Hello. This is momentum system for january 20/21, 2025, okay, so open session today. I just want to check in with everybody and see how we went this week, how everything went this week, and next week is our last session. So I want to check in and ask

Jessica Abel (she/her)

00:30

what you would prefer to do next week. And so give that a little think while we get started here.

Jessica Abel (she/her)

00:40

Ri you were the one with your your screen on. So why don't you get started and let us know? The thing I'm interested in is, you know, last week you were sort of thinking about the MVP process and warm letters and, sorry, this feeling like you're quote, unquote, making it up as you go along. How is that going?

01:02

Yeah, thanks. So I wrote a warm letter, and I need someone to read it. I even edited it a little yesterday, like I went back into it. I updated my product Project Tracker. Yeah, it's, do I feel like I'm making it up? It just feels like this business makes a lot of sense for me to do, but it's also something I haven't been doing. It's not like organically arising, and so I'm just like imposing it on my life. And so there's some wobble there, and then there's also, I think there's fear slash embarrassment. There is fear. I have fear and embarrassment about like sharing this new development with people I've known a long time. They just feel exposed as not having come up with something that's sustainable before now that I would be still doing, yeah, but I'm still into it. The other thing that's happening is, and it's very temporary, is my housemate went away for three weeks, and suddenly it's like I have my own private artist residency, like it's the first time, and actually quite a long time when things align that my mental health is just so and I have this time and space, and I'm i It feels really good to just allow myself to do my creative work fully, fully. So in some ways, I'm just like, okay, in a week, but I mean, it's also still alive for me. I was lying in bed this morning, and it was I was thinking about it and how to frame it. It almost, and I'll stop after the sentence. It almost makes sense for me to like formulate some kind of hybrid offering that includes the cranio that includes, I don't know, visualizations or something, but I don't want, I don't want to clutter my decluttering offer,

Jessica Abel (she/her)

03:12

yeah, I mean, I guess I would say maybe start with the simplest version, which is just the decluttering. And then, as you're talking to people, feel out the rest of it, and whether it makes sense to add that to the offer. So that's the one way you work, or have it be an option. You know, like, fewer options is better for you. Like, it makes it simpler for you. Like, I do it this way. This is what I do. It just keeps everything really streamlined and straightforward the but the fastest way off the blocks here and getting past this phase of feeling like self conscious around sharing this is just to do the simplest version you can think of, yeah. I mean, I do think longer term, that whether or not it becomes an official piece of this offer or not, that training is very valuable, and that what you will bring to this will be informed by that, and should be, you know that makes sense to me.

Jessica Abel (she/her)

04:28

I want to acknowledge your fear and embarrassment around sharing this offer with people. It makes a lot of sense as somebody who's like a really accomplished professional in creative fields to be like, what is what does this mean for me? We've had other conversations about this too, like, what does it mean for me to be in this position now of starting a new thing from scratch?

Jessica Abel (she/her)

05:01

And I mean, I just, I like, that's just true. Like, it's gonna, there's a little bit of that that's just gonna feel that way until you are in it already. On the other hand, I also feel like I need to say that it's the most natural thing in the world to be sort of midlife, you know, empty nest. And then it's like, Okay, time for a new thing. You know, I don't think anybody's going to question that on the outside, you know, you are questioning it on the inside, but on the outsiders, like, well, obviously it seems like a good moment to launch a new thing. Why not? Nobody's going to go into it going, Oh, is this because ri needs to make money, and that's so weird that she didn't argue how to make money. Like, nobody's thinking that, you know.

05:42

Okay, good, I'm thinking that. Yeah, you're

Jessica Abel (she/her)

05:44

thinking that. But, you know, the inside of it, they don't know the inside of it. They're just like, Oh, that's great. What a great thing to do to start a business.

05:53

Okay, cool, yeah. So, so then the question is, I mean, would you read my warm letter, or should I ask, like, a friend to read my warm letter? How does this go? I mean,

Jessica Abel (she/her)

06:03

it doesn't fit within like, the structure of like, okay, great, works. But I think we'll have time today. If you want to share it, we can all talk about it. Okay, cool, yeah. I mean, I'm sure we'll have time to look at it today, okay? And you can get feedback on it.

06:18

So, yeah, so that's really it. And then I have a warm letter. And I even have, like, a short list of like three or five people I can say it individually, which is what you said, is just a handful. And then, yeah, I mean, when I get like, a little, when I get that round done, I will actually send it to my temple, see how that goes.

Jessica Abel (she/her)

06:44

That's great. Yeah, I think that's perfect. I mean, that's, that's a great, you know, warm community. They know you,

06:49

they don't, they don't. I'm new to the community, but it's, it's a, it's a warm community, so, yeah,

Jessica Abel (she/her)

06:55

I mean, they know you well enough, like you are a member. It's not, you're not just somebody coming in from wherever, yeah, okay. And the other thing I wanted to address is this, you know, the sort of artist residency thing you're in right now, and I think that you should honor that. It seems like that's a great opportunity. If it means that you just, like, it's way too distracting to be working on this business, then, I mean, I understand you want to postpone it by a week or whatever, and just dive into your creative work. I do think that it's different enough work that it may not disrupt the piece. Yeah,

07:34

I think so. I think the warm letter issue and sending that out is not a big deal. It's not like I'm like, going to a client, and like, spending right on site or something. So you're

Jessica Abel (she/her)

07:44

laying groundwork, yeah,

07:45

yeah, it's fine. And actually, think would feel good to layer that into like, rather than like, wait and then have to do it after

Jessica Abel (she/her)

07:53

right and like, getting these things rolling, getting things happening, will help, I think, because it's then you're there's sort of some fallow time there where you're waiting for responses, or maybe you're following up, you know, and eventually maybe you're having a chat with some people, and that's like, in a week or two weeks, you know, it can be kind of enervating if you don't have something else you want to be doing. So that's good, yeah, yeah,

08:16

no, it's good. It's good to layer it and yeah. So that's, that's where I am. It's good to have this. I'm gonna miss this community. I mean, heck, bummer, man. All right. Well, I think

Jessica Abel (she/her)

08:27

you guys should still meet. I mean, you know, you should like, this is a time that you like, you know, set up a set up a date, at least for the next couple of months, when you're still in the, you know, in the CFW and, and onward. Why not? You know you. You know each other. You have a sense of this journey, and I think that that's a really good base for at least a period of time, meeting up with other people and moving forward with them. All right, cool. Jennifer, how are you doing? Thank you, by the way. Yeah, you're welcome.

Jennifer Catalano

09:07

I'm doing okay. I'm not feeling well. Yesterday, just didn't feel productive. And I'm both, like, arguing with myself about that, and like, also, like, a big thing happened yesterday nationally, and like, maybe, maybe that's okay. So, but today's been more productive, so that's good. I am in an interesting spot, because when I signed up for this program and started thinking about all of this, I was in the space where I was just like, something has to shift, and I didn't know how, I didn't know what. I just knew, like I had to take action to and this was part of that, because I wanted to be doing more of what I cared about, and just kind of shifting a lot of things in my life. So I'm in this point where I'm actually wrapping up a lot. There's a lot like finishing I'm just in this kind of, like ending energy, this like wrapping up, this finishing energy. It's also very cold here. I don't know if it is in where you are, Jessica, are you in Providence? No,

Jessica Abel (she/her)

10:07

I'm in Philadelphia, but it is Philadelphia.

Jennifer Catalano

10:08

Okay, yeah, okay, so is it cold down there too?

Jessica Abel (she/her)

10:13

Yeah,

Jennifer Catalano

10:14

it's like, it was six degrees in LFS this morning. It was just like, I know, I know. I'm in, I'm in a co working spot that looks like an airport oven factory that they refitted, which is, it's lovely. But anyway, I meant to this list, this, like winter, like hibernation energy. So I'm not, you know, like a starting new things kind of space. I'm kind of in this, like, but me, and it feels really good, because often I like to be in the kind of creative, starting new things and thinking about idea space, and I'm not, and I'm really okay with that. So I'm not sure there's a whole lot I kind of feel like I'm going to take another couple of weeks to just wrap things up and complete what needs completing. And then once I'm done with that, I'm looking forward to, like, thinking about the next stage, which is also why I would love to continue to meet, because I am going to be wanting to, you know, think about some new business ideas. And just, I'm just going to be, I'm going to move into that, like, exploratory phase, I think in a couple weeks, February, probably. And, yeah, creatively. I mean, I I have almost like it's almost been too easy, but I feel like I've been doing what I started out, like what I wanted to do, when, when we when we started out, and it's not flashy, it's not fancy, it's just, like, the first step. But I've been doing it, and that feels good. So yeah, I think because of all of that, like, I just don't have a whole lot to talk about right now. I'm just like, that

Jessica Abel (she/her)

12:00

sounds fine. I mean, I think that, you know, you're you, as you said, you're in a wrapping up, closing down phase. I think this is a good moment to, you know, think about the reflect phase of the creative engine. And, you know, do go through the quarterly review process, whether it's the end of a quarter or not. But like, look at the projects and think, what did I learn from this? And what I want, you know, whatever, give that a little bit of space, and then I think you'll be ready to plunge right back in. Yeah,

Jennifer Catalano

12:32

yeah. So that's where I am. I definitely also with, even with the creative focus workshop I, you know, I did part of it. I didn't do all of it. I feel like I'm gonna want to dip back in. But I like that. I did what was right for, what was like, what I need in the moment. And I kind of have enough of a sense of like, what I can go back to when I'm ready for those pieces. So good. So yeah, actually, one thing I just a very concrete question I had for you, Jessica, was just, if we want to stay in the creative focus workshop longer like, what does that look like? Yeah.

Jessica Abel (she/her)

13:03

So the end of the program is, the end of your access is six months. So it'll be two more months. It'll, you know, end of March, I guess. And near that time, you'll get emails letting you know how to continue. And that's going to be, it's $300 for another six months. Okay, so that's how that works. Sounds good. And then you have access to the creative focus workshop curriculum, the ACC, any calls, whatever, anything that's you know, in the community, yeah, yeah. I hope you will all right, great, um. Elizabeth, how about you,

Jennifer Catalano

13:44

actually, Jessica, so I don't forget to ask this. Can I ask? I've had this question since we started. Can I ask one more question? Of course, yes. Again, it's like, super practical. It's not process oriented at all. You have the best webcam of anyone I've seen in time. Like, your setup, like I just noticed it right away. Can you, like, share what you use? Because I I'm using, and it's not that exciting. I

Jessica Abel (she/her)

14:06

had, I had one of the new Macs, you know, the whatever, the new dry, the new chip fit Mac, and I it was, like, first generation. And I hated it, because it was so, like, the storage was so bad, and I need, like, a lot of stuff open at the same time, and I need a lot of storage on a computer. So I downgraded. I went to, this is a 2021, Mac now, and it's a 24 inch big screen, and it the camera is terrible, so I had to buy a camera. So it's a, it's a Logitech camera. Let me look it up real quick, because if I take it down and look at it, it will, you know, yeah. So I went through a whole process of, like, figuring all that stuff out. Let me see my

Jennifer Catalano

15:05

so is that because so you needed more memory? Is that what it was? Because you wanted more things.

Jessica Abel (she/her)

15:11

I needed more RAM and more hard drive. I needed both, both

Jennifer Catalano

15:14

and so

Jessica Abel (she/her)

15:15

I ordered an old, like, a refurb computer that was, like, maxed out on, yeah,

Jennifer Catalano

15:21

hard drive

Jessica Abel (she/her)

15:22

and RAM. So it's, like, really fast. But that doesn't have to do with the video. That's separate, you know,

Jennifer Catalano

15:27

no, no, I get that. I'm just curious about that.

Jessica Abel (she/her)

15:29

So this is a Logitech BRIO 4k and the thing I would say is, there's a an app that you get from Logitech called, what's it called? Even, I don't know, it's kind of like a required, like, you have to have this thing, and so you have to, really, you have to be ready to deal with the settings, like, to get into the image adjustments and mess around with them. Like, I turn off, like, right now. This is auto white balance on. This is auto white balance off. You know, messing around with contrast saturation. I have the exposure automatic right now. But like, sometimes I'll turn it off if it's, like, the wrong thing. And also, when I log in to zoom this app, like, doesn't find the thing right away, I have to open the app and click Image Adjustments, and it clicks into place. You guys might have seen that. And once in a while, it'd be, like, kind of fuzzy. And then I'll, like, pop into view. That's because I'm doing that. So that's what I did with that. And then I don't have any lights on right now, but I have a light over here if I need it, and I just got better lights in my studio, so it's like you can actually see me. The other thing is, I'm using in zoom. I'm using the setting, which is like portrait mode or something. Okay, what's it called? Settings? Video.

Jessica Abel (she/her)

17:18

I forget where it is, but like, it might be in the actual like online, but it, what it does is it doesn't fully blur my background, but it kind of like lightly blurs my background and focuses on me. So that's the other piece of it, like, so that it looks better in zoom than it does when I'm on a different platform. Looks good. It sort of improves. It a little like one step more. The other thing is, since my mic is a sure mic, and it's it's a really great mic, this guy right here,

17:51

oh, what kind of Sure, okay, maybe he may be

Jennifer Catalano

17:58

cool. Thank you. You have another link to that, or

Jessica Abel (she/her)

18:01

that is,

Jennifer Catalano

18:07

if you don't, that's fine. Yeah,

Jessica Abel (she/her)

18:09

it's what is it? The

Jessica Abel (she/her)

18:18

mic is the most important thing to me. You know, the camera is great, but it's like to be able to hear really clearly.

18:25

Yeah, it's true. You're really clear all the time. Your voice is great. And it never crossed my mind that there might be a reason for that other than that, you have a great voice. Thank you.

Jennifer Catalano

18:37

No, I'm so aware of it now that we're doing everything online. It's like getting dressed in the morning. You know? It's like, it's a subtle thing that communicates so much. And, yeah,

Jessica Abel (she/her)

18:45

you know,

Jennifer Catalano

18:47

I I'm aware of kind of what I could be doing better. So it feels like a small thing that is worth investing in.

Jessica Abel (she/her)

18:55

Yeah. I mean, it's definitely like, it, it, it definitely costs money. Got this from B and H. It is an MV seven. Oh, thanks. Er, I think it is, yeah, I think that's right. Anyway, I love it. I think it's really, it, like, has a really warm, like, great quality to it. And it also has an app where you can mess around with stuff, which I don't use very much, but you know, sometimes, one thing it does that's really cool is it has a it's on near setting right now, but if I have the mic over here, you can't hear me very well, right? Really terrible, but I can put it on far setting. And now it's not as good, but it picks up. So, like, if I were, if I needed to have something where I'm, like, standing up and far away from the computer, I can put it on fire setting, and it picks it up enough. And then I also use for my videos, near for my videos I that are recorded, pre recorded, I use descript, and descript has a setting which is called studio sound, and that will clean up, you know, any noise and other kinds of things. And, like, really, like, there's a little bit of echo still, because the room is big and hard sided, it'll clean that right up. So that's the other

Jennifer Catalano

20:18

cool. The other thing

Jessica Abel (she/her)

20:18

that I do, my next step is to improve the lighting situation around here. I've never

Jennifer Catalano

20:24

noticed it being a problem. I mean, it looks pretty good, but

Jessica Abel (she/her)

20:27

it looks good now because it's like, I mean, I have a big window here, and I have another window over there, so it's like, you know, it's okay, but if it's really sunny and like, then it's like, over here, or if it's dark, you know, I can't whatever it's, it's a problem. Often, not, yeah, but yeah, you know, it's absolutely worth to me. It's definitely, especially since I'm, like, leading sessions and stuff, it's super important, but, but I think in general, it's really worth having, you know, getting all that stuff in line. Yeah? So thank you. Happy to share. I

Jennifer Catalano

21:05

appreciate it. Yeah.

Jessica Abel (she/her)

21:08

Ri, you raised your hand about something. Did I answer your question?

21:12

Yes. Well, I wanted to know about lighting, too, but it says your, I mean, I'll do research online. I already am. I just wondered if you had had something already sounds like you're still working on that I have,

Jessica Abel (she/her)

21:22

like, it's a big kind of, you know, circular, not a not a ring light, but a panel that's over here. But when I put it on, it's actually facing down towards the desk right now, because when I put it on, then it'll bounce back up. But if it's facing me, I get, like, a big, glossy, like, circle over my face, you know? And I need to get something softer, and I need to have it like a larger, softer light, but it's going to be really ugly, so I have to figure that out.

21:52

Yeah, yeah. I think that's helpful. The really ugly, I found some lights, but I just like, I don't want the physical objects around, and so that's confusing. Yeah,

Jessica Abel (she/her)

22:00

I have this big rig thing that's really, actually designed for holding up monitors that's clamped to my desk, that this thing is attached to, and also that lights attached to the monitors are not they're just sitting on the table. But it's a it's pretty ugly, but people come in, they're like, Oh, she's serious. So, you know, I have something to attach it to, but if I get some kind of, like, big light, I need to be something I can easily collapse and put away, like, you know, a big reflector or something like that. So I use it only when I'm recording or when it's really necessary.

22:41

Yep. So I mean, I can share the lights that other people recommended. Oh,

Jessica Abel (she/her)

22:46

yeah, please do. And they

22:48

need to be mounted on something, but they're like, they look really feasible. They come in different sizes. That's

Jessica Abel (she/her)

22:59

kind of continuous, met. That's so wild. I just noticed that I looked at the chat it's got last week's chat stuff in it on my side. Anyway, it's interesting.

Jennifer Catalano

23:09

It doesn't show up for us. Yeah,

Jessica Abel (she/her)

23:11

I mean, it's there was nothing, really. It was like, no big deal. But it's just, is there weirdly, all right, so these are the lights here from BH, no, that's the podcast mic.

Jessica Abel (she/her)

23:32

Are you still looking ri, I think, take your time. Let's talk to Elizabeth and get checked in and find whatever you've got. You can share it in the group too, if you don't find a don't find it right now, it's totally fine. Lisbeth, are you there?

lisbethf

23:47

I'm here. Hi, hi. For some reason it's on, it's on safe driving mode, so it doesn't show the video. But I'm okay. I can see you guys. That's good. That's good checking in. I got my application sent off last week a day early, which was amazing. And of course, then I I wanted to pull it back. But no, I had to let it go. And the other big thing was that my husband's just so much worse, so that's basically all I've done since, is family caregiving. Yeah, so, I mean, I'm

Jessica Abel (she/her)

24:33

glad you got that application off your plate and you can focus on that.

lisbethf

24:37

I mean, really. And I think this coaching has helped me see that and appreciate that, and I don't feel any qualms about it. And then I was able to actually join the CO creativity thing last night. I'm here at the nursing home as we speak, and I'm here a lot and and so I had some watercolor paper, and I worked on these things that I was thinking of throwing out, but it was just really fun to get some materials here, like coffee. So I painted with coffee and salt and reworked these old things and and I was able to, I was very healing. And then a lot of other people in my life, going back to what Ri said, I was thinking that one of my friends just said that one of her, one of our mutual friends, has had a slump in her and her income, and now she's actually starting to work at a, at a at a nursing home. I mean, there's so many other ways to get supplementary income. And I was, I was trying to a couple of weeks ago. I don't think I mentioned this. I decided, after all my talk of Instagram and having trouble posting, and was a really great thing. You said, Jessica, well, you know, it's supposed to be casual. It's like, can you just post something? Isn't that the spirit of Instagram? And so I did post some things. Now I haven't had time to go back to it, but I was actually thinking of just trying to make a continual thing, and just posting some stuff and feeling like I'm building it up, and maybe it's not the right way, maybe it's not the best way, but just doing it, and it was really freeing just to have something moving. So I think I'll start. I'll post some more,

Jessica Abel (she/her)

26:41

and then I think there's no, there's no right way. There's a way that's right for you, like, what makes sense for you. So doing something that's a that feels supportive and easy is the right way. Yeah, and I would say, you know, as we discussed last time, like, there's a time and place for portfolio presentation, like in your application, or, you know, maybe on a website or something like that. But like in Instagram, the way people interact with it, they want to see process. They want your conversation. They want to see behind the scenes. They want they want to engage with you in your creative practice.

lisbethf

27:23

Could you remind me of that? Yeah, yeah.

Jessica Abel (she/her)

27:25

So I think that that in in an even more like, it's right for you, so great, but also I think it's really actually right, like, there's no problem with that there. There some people do it differently, but I think that you'll find more engagement and more fun and probably more utility in doing something a little looser.

lisbethf

27:49

Yeah, yeah. I will definitely try to continue in that vein. And

Jessica Abel (she/her)

27:53

then I've

lisbethf

27:54

been thinking of how to announce that I've gotten this residency at the at the at the other place in Virginia that I hopefully will get to end of March for three weeks in April. And, yeah, I think I should announce it on Instagram. I think that would be the place for it,

Jennifer Catalano

28:20

sure. Yeah.

Unknown Speaker

28:21

And,

Jessica Abel (she/her)

28:22

I mean, you can say, like, Hey, I'm, you know, I'm so proud and pleased. And, you know, thank you so much to this, the foundation or the residency, yeah, I'm going to join this group or do this thing. So excited. And you can, you can do that. And you can also say, like, if you have any questions about it, or like, you know, you can engage people by having a conversation around it, or you can simply make it like, yay celebration post,

lisbethf

28:46

because it hasn't happened yet. So it would be, but

Jessica Abel (she/her)

28:50

you can still be grateful for the opportunity. Oh,

lisbethf

28:53

I am so grateful, and it really is. I mean, I feel so fortunate, you know, because it's and it is a grant, because I pay a third and they contribute, you know, two thirds. So that's fantastic,

Jessica Abel (she/her)

29:06

yeah, and it's

lisbethf

29:07

for the same project that I've been talking about all along and and it's a continuation of that same project that would that would lead me, or prepare me for this women's studio workshop thing, if I were to get in, because it's a really cool opportunity, because it's both applying to get a book published, the artist book, and it's a residency to create the artist book that then they, they take, you know, most, most of the copies They will, you know, you sort of distribute them, yeah, and then they distribute them, so you become part of their, their you could say it publicity and promotion. So, yeah, it's a double thing. That's what you just applied

Jessica Abel (she/her)

29:54

for. That's what

lisbethf

29:55

I just applied for. I don't know what my chances are, but yeah, so I had to both send a physical book, which is really tough, from Europe to the US. It's incredible, but we have like seven different postal courier systems. It's ridiculous. So yeah, so anyway, but I got it sent off in a little box that I made and everything, and, um, very funky application, so I don't know. I mean, I was pretty affected at the end of, you know, my own state of mind wasn't the best, but it was very therapeutic to get it done as much as I could and to simply get get that sent off. I

Jessica Abel (she/her)

30:39

mean, it's a really major achievement, just to have closed that loop, and, you know, done your best job to, you know, get it out there, and hopefully it works. But if it doesn't, yeah, you know, you're already receiving lots of validation around this project and a lot of people interested in it. So, you know, hold on, but

lisbethf

30:59

it, I mean, I'm just so grateful for, you know, the sense of something beyond, like this major crisis that this is right now that I'm in the middle of, so to be able to have anything at all that I can focus on, and that gives me something that I want To continue with in whatever form it will take. So, yeah, okay, yeah,

Jessica Abel (she/her)

31:26

there's a lot of waiting time I know in the situation that you're in. So it's nice to be able to have, you know, paint with coffee or, you know, do. I was

lisbethf

31:38

thinking also what Jennifer said, I mean, and I was talking with my my stepdaughter about it yesterday. It's like, the winter time is just it is a time for, you know, hibernation and retreat and celebration with, you know, Christmas and New Year and Solstice, Winter Solstice. It is a part of it. And, you know, I was watching the birds today. They were tracking around. I was like, what are those birds doing? Do they do? They actually think that the sun is back, I mean, but it is getting, you know, the days are getting a little longer. And, yeah, sense of it, life isn't completely standing still, you know, I just one last thing, just to be make a weird political thing is, you know, I'm in Denmark, and, of course, this whole mess about Greenland and Trump, it's like, it's just like one weird event after another. So I've been thinking, let's

Jessica Abel (she/her)

32:37

just focus on renewal of the seasons.

lisbethf

32:42

I don't really, I want to, but it's like, that's been in the middle of it. It's like, oh, fuck yeah. Anyway, so, but we're focusing on renewal of the seasons. And I just, I decided with with my step daughter, it's like, I just get like, we're just gonna ignore the news altogether. Yeah.

Jessica Abel (she/her)

32:58

I mean, there's nothing you can do about it. So ignore a way. Okay,

lisbethf

33:04

just wanted to say that one little thing from the Danish part of the world. Oh,

Jessica Abel (she/her)

33:08

yeah. Like, no. I mean, I hear you, and it's interesting. I wasn't thinking. It wasn't as I was thinking about that issue. I wasn't remembering that you are there. I'm in the

lisbethf

33:16

middle of it, yeah, where I, like, live. The one thing I was

Jessica Abel (she/her)

33:19

thinking about is the actual Greenlanders. And I'm like, Who, what greenlander would give up being Danish to be American. That makes no sense.

lisbethf

33:28

Anyway. Yeah, it's a long story.

33:31

So Jessica, I

Jessica Abel (she/her)

33:33

know there's a lot of backstory. I get it. There's a lot there's a lot of anger, and a lot of you know reasons for being angry. And I get it, I totally do. But in the current day and the kind of, you know, the social systems and things, is what I'm talking about, not the long held, you know, problems. So, anyway, so yeah, Elizabeth

lisbethf

33:57

point being with the turmoil in on whatever level you know how to keep your creative, creative practice going when it's when times are very challenging. Mm, hmm,

Jessica Abel (she/her)

34:12

yeah. I mean, I think it's, it's it's really all about turning it around and letting it be something that's supportive of you, something that you get to do, rather than something you have to do, you know, just like figuring out ways in which it is, you can turn to it for support. I'm glad you came to, you know, a co working meeting, and that was supportive for you. That's great. I mean, just spaces where you can show up and be that part of yourself in the midst of the, you know, incredible, painful situation you're in right now is, I mean, it's just, I'm really happy that you are able to access that. Yeah,

lisbethf

34:53

me too. I'm really appreciative and and this thing about, I think you said it, I don't know, maybe a month ago. I mean, such a simple thing sometimes, just you say these things that are, like, so obvious in a way, but it's like, it's not really about the size or the necessarily measuring any kind of for me from for my project, the it's really about it could be a very, very small project. It's really about finding the people who might be interested in it, and that might be a small amount of people. It might be a kind of a niche, and it's like being in that niche and being happy with with whatever, with with the process, with the getting something you know, out there, and yeah,

Jessica Abel (she/her)

35:39

yeah. Yeah. I think that embracing that is going to be a very energizing and sort of life giving approach to the project. It doesn't lower the bar in terms of what you're trying to achieve with the content of it, but it does lower the bar in terms of all those external expectations, yeah,

Jessica Abel (she/her)

36:03

yeah, yeah, great. All right. Ri, do you want to share your letter so we can look at it?

36:15

Sure? I will just paste the content into the chat,

Jessica Abel (she/her)

36:19

or you can share screen. If you have it up, I can

36:24

share my screen. Yeah, just a sec.

36:37

Also,

if anyone has any genius business ideas, I'm probably going to take out Happy New Year because it's the end of January.

Jessica Abel (she/her)

36:46

Yeah,

well, I mean, hope your new year started well, or, you know, you can still acknowledge that.

36:53

Yeah. I

Jessica Abel (she/her)

37:24

I mean, I think it's a very strong start. I don't think there's nothing you know,

Jessica Abel (she/her)

37:37

nothing specifically missing

37:40

feels a little perfunctory to me somehow. Mm, hmm.

Jessica Abel (she/her)

37:46

I mean, I think that you're gonna want with, you're gonna send this to three or five individual people, and you can say something personal to each person,

Unknown Speaker

37:53

yeah, yeah, you

Jessica Abel (she/her)

37:54

know, like, hey, what's, what's up with such and such that we talked about last time, you know? So you get a little bit more warmth there. And I think you could start off with after that, with saying something like, you're an awesome person, and you hang out with awesome people, which is why I'm writing you about this, you know, like you're somebody who knows cool people, you yourself are cool, you know. And then then you get it into explaining what it is that you're doing, I mean, that you're awesome, you know, awesome people would be sort of like, leading into, yes, you personalize. And then something like, yeah, that's a new paragraph. Like, here's what's going on. Like, you're a great person, and I'm doing a new thing, and I would love to ask your help in getting the word out. So you're

Jessica Abel (she/her)

38:58

gonna probably need to put like, Yeah, I'm doing a new thing in there. And then you're like, here's what it is I'm doing this, this new business, decluttering and organizing. And I think you could put a little of, a little bit more of like, what your differentiator is there. So decluttering and organizing, from the point of view of this, right, like, it's that I want to be able to support people through this difficult kind of, the decision making and the like, the, you know, the tactical thing of, what do we do? But also supporting people emotionally through, you know, like addressing the conflicts that come along with this, or however you want to put it right,

39:50

I love it. You're great. You're hired. Jessica,

Jessica Abel (she/her)

39:57

remember

this all recorded too, so you don't need

40:00

to, I know it helps my hands.

Jessica Abel (she/her)

40:02

Yeah, no, it's fine, but I'm just saying, like, don't, don't worry about, like, catching it, because you can go back to the transcript and grab it, and then the thing about why you're doing it, I think you can, like, put that a little down, like, put that into new paragraph and say, because it this is a person who cares about you and knows you, and so they are interested, I think, in what this is for you. Like, why it's intriguing to you. When you're writing to groups that are less warm, you might want to just leave that off. You know, it doesn't it's like a friend of yours is going to be like, Huh? That's so cool. Why are you doing that? And you can talk about it, but you're writing to your temple. You might not want to put that in there, because, you know, they don't have context to, yeah, to, you know, like, need that information, basically.

Jessica Abel (she/her)

41:09

And

then I would say, in the in your whatever paragraph four, if you or someone you know, could use support going through this stuff, I would say, I am looking for two to three people to help with clearing out, and, you know, thoughtfully dealing with chaos in whatever you know, in a small or a large context, you know, like a single room, or, you know, a much larger project. I'm open to all of those things. If you know someone, if you know if you yourself, or if you know someone who is in need of this, I hope you'll put them in touch with me. And here's how to do that. Here's how that can happen.

Jessica Abel (she/her)

42:07

Basically, you want to ask people for like, do you know a person? Do you know one person I could talk to? And you can also say, like, if this isn't something that that you know anybody off, like, off hand, if there's anybody else you feel like I should talk to about this business or about, you know, the direction I'm taking, please. You know, I'd love to meet them too, you know. So you kind of give them an out. Because one of the things about asking for a referral is that if people don't have a referral for you, sometimes that can put them off and and have them make them feel embarrassed like they can't help you. They want to help you, but they can't help you. So if you can give them a way to help you that isn't a referral, that's a kindness, I think, and can build that relationship. So I don't know what that would be. There could be multiple ways that that you know could play out, but like, do you know someone I should share this with, as like, who would know other people? Do you have any ideas? Do you like what I don't know like? If you can think of some smaller ask that's a secondary ask,

Jessica Abel (she/her)

43:19

then

you give people a way to answer you positively without having any specific people.

Jessica Abel (she/her)

43:32

I would leave off the specific, like the pricing stuff for now, because you could also say, this is, the thing is, you're saying, like, I'm looking for clients. Here's another option. I'm offering, like, a free half hour consult, which is probably what you do anyway, because it's like a sales call, essentially. And I would love to, you know, like, no pressure, no, you know, no high pressure sales stuff. But like, I, you know, I'd like to meet people who are curious about this. And then again, they're not putting their they don't feel like they're putting their contacts into, like, directly into a sales conversation. They're getting something that's also going to get you something which is, at least, it's a research interview, but it could be a sales conversation, you know, curious

Jessica Abel (she/her)

44:33

about whether this could work for them, or curious, you know what? I mean, like you want to make sure that they understand that you're looking not just have conversations with just anybody about this, but people who are like, you know, organizing curious,

44:47

yeah, I

Jessica Abel (she/her)

44:52

think that would be a nice way to lighten the pressure on the ask, yeah, and still be beneficial to you. And then I would say, you know, you're gonna put in here a way to get in touch with you. Or wait, like, here's you can either, like, just forward this to them. You know, get them, like, Here's my email. You can, I can reach out to them if you prefer, like, whatever you want to say in terms of, like, how this mechanically will work. Ideally. What you want is an introduction. You want them to introduce you to this other person. But what form does that take?

Jessica Abel (she/her)

45:40

And then just say something along, you know, thanks for paying attention, you know, thanks for your time with this. I really appreciate it, and I will get back in touch with you. I don't hear back from you. I'll, I'll reach out, you know, in a week or two. And so then you have, you've told them you're going to follow up. I

Unknown Speaker

46:04

cool.

46:07

Now I have more to chisel away at.

Jessica Abel (she/her)

46:10

Yeah, I mean, it can be shorter than this, but just those are the kind of those are the big chunks I'm thinking about. Yeah,

46:17

no, that's helpful. Super helpful.

Jessica Abel (she/her)

46:19

There's a great So Michelle Warner is my was my business coach. I worked with her for a year or so, and she's great. She's really excellent.

Jessica Abel (she/her)

46:36

She has a podcast which is primarily, although not exclusively, it focuses a lot on relationship marketing, which is a big specialty for her. And she did an episode recently. Let me see if I can find it here

Unknown Speaker

46:59

about

asks. I'll put the link in in the chat here, so

Jennifer Catalano

47:09

I'm gonna

47:10

stop sharing

Jessica Abel (she/her)

47:13

so that this is a the podcast episode about asks. And she talks about why asking is super important, how to do it. And she talks about this thing of like, how referral asks are hard and sometimes not a great idea, because you set up the situation where people can't, like, they'll retreat rather than say, No, you know, they want to help, so it's hard. So if you can set up a situation where there's a there's an ask there that they can fulfill. It's very much within their power to fulfill that will help the relationship build. You know, because people want to be able to do easy things they can do, and because they want to help you, they want to feel helpful. So I think there's some really nice strategy in that. In that episode, you're muted.

48:12

Thank you. That was helpful. Thank you.

lisbethf

48:16

What is

Jessica Abel (she/her)

48:17

it good? I'm glad. Yeah, yeah.

48:23

Yeah, it's good to have. Actually, this is interesting because it was more than like editing. It's like an infusion of information that I didn't have.

Jessica Abel (she/her)

48:34

Yeah, it's, it's sort of like the the functional pieces. There's certain, like, functional pieces to lead people into, you know, set up what you're doing, do it in such a way that they don't feel like they're cornered, you know, and make it possible for them to help in a super easy and straightforward way. Those are the main things. Yeah, yeah. All right, so for next week, I'm happy to just meet again like this, and chat, you know, and get check check in. I feel like we're kind of all in the middle of stuff, and maybe like doing a big review and planning type thing isn't going to be all that helpful. I'm going to have individual calls with all of you also, so we can definitely touch on that in the next couple of months, but I'm open if there's something specific you would like me to do, I'm happy to lead An activity or whatever. Any thoughts.

Jessica Abel (she/her)

49:41

Okay, cool. Well, let me know, you know, like you post in the group, if you have some thought, you're like, Oh, I wish we would do this thing. Then we could totally do that. Otherwise, we'll just have an open meeting like this, and then at some point in that week or so, I will send out information about setting up individual calls. If you did the tracker, make sure you, you know, shoot a photo and post it in the group and, you know, screen grab, or, if it's the I know ri, you have a physical one, just like, post the post the picture, and if you've been using it, and then that will qualify you for an additional half hour coaching, yep. So then we can do our an hour call instead of half hour call, or we can do two half hour calls, although I think usually doing an hour is like a nicer way to do it, and you can use it when you're ready. So Jennifer, like, you can wait, you know, like, as long as it's by the end of the six months. You can do it a little bit later if you want to yeah okay that covers it. Okay, great to see everybody. And I hope Justice back next week and I will hope you have a great week.

50:53

Thanks, you too.

Jennifer Catalano

50:53

Bye everyone, thank you bye everybody.

lisbethf

50:56

Bye everyone.

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