Today I find myself fully immersed in the state of being transformed. My chaotic, fragmented self longs for peace. In order to bring that about, I must make some big changes. And that screams for Transformation trans·for·ma·tion…
- The act or an instance of transforming.
- The state of being transformed.
- A marked change, as in appearance or character, usually for the better.
And that, my friends, is what I am up to of late. I am stepping into the muddy river of change. The Cre8tive Compass dragonfly is going back into it’s cocoon to emerge with a fresh new look, feel and format. Changing the banner is the easy part…changing the direction of the magazine is a little more challenging. But I am up for the challenge and so ready for the transformation.
You see, I have been blogging for some 14 odd years. I started a Live Journal in 1999, just to record my thoughts for a book I was writing. I was recovering from a major spinal injury and three surgeries later, I found myself with loads of time on my hands. I stumbled upon Live Journal one day, and that led me here writing today for you.
Why Transformation?
I hit a wall recently…hard! I began to ask myself, “What is the point?”
I am a storyteller…a raconteur, a performer. I love applause. It is what fuels me, fires my soul and keeps me moving in the direction of my dreams. That applause has never materialized here on Cre8tive Compass. The content is amazing, loads and loads of it written letter by letter, word by word over the past three and a half years. Sandra Lee called C8C “genius” and me “the wordsmith that other wordsmith aspire to be.” That is pretty good applause.
LinkedIn named my profile as one of the top 10 most viewed profiles in 2012. That is out of some two hundred million profiles! People are coming in droves to view my skill set obviously. Pretty heady stuff…great applause.
I am engaged with my audience on social media. People know who I am and believe me to be a success. They also believe I am busy, busy, busy…which I am. Exceptional applause!
Yet…I have not been able to convert any of this applause into a viable, income producing enterprise. Oh I am making money doing what I love… pretty good money most would say. However, all my eggs are in one basket so to speak. And if that basket goes away or sells itself or unravels…I stand the chance of going out of business also. That is not a comfortable place to find myself today.
So I have hired two experts to guide the transformation as I am way too close to the heart of the matter. The initial conferences with both the arts marketing expert and the personal life coach were difficult to undergo. The initial views and comments were rough. The digging into my stats was even more upsetting…but oh so revealing. Answers…albeit sad…were right before me on my Google analytics. Work needs to be done!!!
This Website is Under Transformation
It is not just under construction…C8C is getting a major overhaul of scope and direction. It seems I have been attempting to be everything for everybody. Superwoman thinking and OCD (Obsessive Creativity Disorder) at play here. Of course, I can do it all. My life coach says, “No Rebecca…you need to focus on doing one thing extremely well…better than anyone else in the universe. Once that is achieved, you can add other things into the mix.” My marketing expert says, “The website is fractured, confusing and busy!!! People coming here do not know what C8C is, nor can they navigate to discover what it is. There is nothing that says C8C is __________.”
Simple, straight-forward truth smack down. Ouch!!!!
I asked for this. I paid for this. So my ego has taken a beating…but I am ready to move forward with the transformation. No more blaming, complaining or making excuses. I am letting go of emotional addiction of the familiar and predictable same old same old. This begins the process of braving that muddy river of change where things are so unpredictable….and way outside my comfort zone. The one life lesson I know for sure is that life will kick you in the teeth…hard. Wait for you to stand up again just so it can sock you in the gut. But you can never, ever let this momentary pain prevent you from enjoying every sweet moment of this one wild, wonderful adventure we call life.
How amazing that you care enough about your craft to seek guidance when you’re not exactly sure where to go. I can’t wait to see how this site…and you…transform.
I relate to so much of this … except for the success you have found. I wanted to write for the pure love of words … and thoughts and stories … and somehow I always thought that should be enough! That through some miracle the people would find me and be in awe of my passion and creativity. Some of that has happened (in miniature) and I have a small group of faithful followers who badger me to expand some short stories I have shared with them into novels. But the teeming masses are still in hiding! Dan Morris, of Letters from Dan, took a look at my blog last week (to fix my malfunctioning SEO plugin) and told me that I really need to put some time and effort into Keyword Research. I also know I need to better define my voice, my message, my brand … Part of me still wishes I could just write!