How Do You Get Inspired?

There are times when I feel totally uninspired. That's when my creativity is stifled and my mood is down. I admit, I'm often looking for inspiration in the form of a book, podcast, video or blog. When I want to kick up my inspiration to the next level though, I always attend a live event. That is how I recharge my creativity, make new friends, create solid relationships and get inspired to move mountains!

When I first moved to British Columbia, I was living in the lower mainland. One of the first things I did was look for a networking group. Mompreneurs Vancouver was one of the first groups I visited. I had heard of Mompreneurs in Ontario and even met the founder, Maria Locker, a few times but had never attended an event. I figured it was just like every other networking group.

I was wrong. That first meeting I was welcomed with a hug from Elaine Tan Comeau who runs the group in Vancouver. Elaine is a very successful entrepreneur who runs 3 businesses, while raising 3 kids with her husband. The community she has created for this Mompreneurs group in so incredibly powerful and inclusive. I've always felt loved and included when I attend these events. That's why I take an early ferry to attend the meetings now that I live on Vancouver Island!

This week was the annual Achieve and Lead Women's Conference in Vancouver.

It's a larger event held once a year that includes very special guest speakers and a marketplace. This full day event is filled with great speakers, so many opportunities to create meaningful connections and a right sized Marketplace to support each others' businesses.

All of the speakers shared really valuable and insightful experiences that inspired me and the room full of incredible women. That's one of the reasons why I love these events! I have high expectations and somehow, every time, they exceed my expectations.

Here are a few of the lessons I learned:

Put your time and energy into where your heart is - Elaine Tan Comeau.

Stop wasting time on things that don't bring you joy. And she also reminded us the importance of single-tasking vs. multi-tasking. We even did an exercise that physically showed us how much more difficult it is to multitask.

Sandy Gerber shared that we can fundamentally change our conversations when we understand each others 'needs' language, before we even get to their love language. This 'decision driver' is key to better communication with our partners, our kids, our colleagues and our clients. Take the quiz on sandygerber.com to find out what your needs language is.

For anyone who has an ecommerce business, Paul Gaspar from UPS shared a wealth of information on how consumers are doing their online purchasing. Most important to remember is that most of our online purchasing is being done on our phones, so our websites must be optimized too!

I'll add that our newsletters also have to be optimized. Heck, I now write my blog, update my newsletter and add products to my store right from my phone. You can download this report at ups.com/pulse.

Ashley Freeborn of Smash+Tess shared ALL of her secrets on how she has grown her Canadian, Vancouver based business to 8-figures in revenue in 3 years!! Oh and she's humble, authentic, enthusiastic and kind as well as being a total business powerhouse.

The most important point I learned from what she shared is that they built their business for THE CUSTOMER FIRST. We are in an age where the customer experience really matters. Read that twice. How are customers experiencing your brand?

And from our final keynote speaker, Sarah Nicole Landry of The Birds Papaya shared her story in an authentic and powerful way. A few really key nuggets are that now when she's posting on social, she's thinking about the caption FIRST and then the photo. Lastly, she reminded us that it's so important to think about we vs. you when we are writing. At the end of the day, we are all in this together.

Collaboration over competition wins every time.

I also had the chance to share my story in an 8 minute Power Talk. The biggest lesson I learned? Be prepared! Due to a misunderstanding I thought I was meant to speak AFTER the last break. Nope, I was the last speaker BEFORE the break (following Ashley, gulp!). You can see how I made the transition from her more fun and light talk to my more serious power talk in this YouTube video.

If you watch to the end, you'll learn about my sparkly kicks - which by the way - I wasn't wearing as I was being introduced as a speaker! Yes, the priority was to change my footwear even though I had been caught off guard 😂😂.

Where in your life are you finding inspiration? Who motivates you to take on the day, face another challenge or get up from when you're feeling down?

I invite you to find sources of daily inspiration. Join my Weekly Gratitude Love Letter where I curate books, podcasts and blogs that have inspired me in the past week.