Handling the Hard Parts of Owning a Business

Don’t get me wrong for even one second.  I LOVE LOVE LOVE what I do. In fact, I wrote a whole post about it recently on our Leaders Blog.    I sincerely believe I have the best/coolest/most rewarding job on the face of the planet.  And really, who could argue with this cuteness?  But that’s where the conversation usually ends with most people who also think they have the “best/coolest/most rewarding job”.  Most business owners I know won’t openly divulge the icky, not-so-fun parts of what they do, which is terribly unfair.  Business ownership is often put on a tall, shiny pedestal without so much as a mention of how that pedestal was built, how it stays standing and polished, and what it takes to stay there living the perceived awesome entrepreneurial life. Want the honest to goodness truth??  It takes a lot of hard work and grit. We are talking serious determination. Long hours. Unpaid work. Tons of trial AND error. Revisions like you wouldn’t believe. And so on and so on… There are things I have dealt with as a business owner that I never Read More

Test of Trust

This year has been almost like one giant trust exercise. Like the trust fall you see in Mean Girls… but only an entire year of being vulnerable, putting my truths out there, and hoping people will catch me.  (So not truly like the scene in Mean Girls, but you get the point.) Trepidatious. is a word I commonly use to describe myself.  In other words, I am often apprehensive and have trouble accepting help or jumping in to new things because I get anxious and feel as though something bad or unpleasant is going to happen. The unfamiliar and new can be really REALLY scary. So, I sit and think of every possible question or problem that could arise before moving forward or handing over the reigns. I organize and try to solve problems before they even seem to be there… But what else does this make me sound like? A control freak, maybe? Definitely. Probably. But as long as I’m in control and asking the questions and handling things then less can go wrong, right? WRONG. Trying to do it all Read More

Being a Supervisor…

…definitely has it’s challenges and tough moments.  There are long nights, hard conversations, sweat, tears, stress, etc.  I get it! However, it is one of the most rewarding and consistently joyful things I have ever done professionally.  I love having the opportunity and ability to influence someone and help them grow into the professional they want to be.  I love being there when they have questions and being able to answer them or learning new things along the way by finding the answer together.  I like being able to have conversations where we talk about the aspects of Music Therapy or business that often get swept under the rug or taken for granted.  AND I am absolutely thrilled whenever I see my intern succeed. The past few weeks, Alisabeth has displayed an incredible amount of growth (whether she realizes it or not) and in spite of some really challenging situations. Needless to say, I am beyond excited to see where the next few weeks lead! Mostly, I just wanted to take a moment to encourage anyone in a teacher, supervisor, student, or Read More

2016: Simplify, Streamline, Self-care (part 2)

Welcome back!!   In my previous post, I divulged the 3 major words Rachel and I elected to describe our goals for the new year that I have also adopted personally. I took on simplify in my last post.  Streamline is a little trickier. It’s not a terribly fun or pretty word, but it is definitely essential in both the future of our company and my future personally. streamline (verb): to make (an organization or system) more efficient and effective by employing faster or simpler working methods. There aren’t many extra hours (or even extra minutes) in any given day.  A lot of things get done at the last minute (or never) because there feel like there is no time.  There are a lot of ideas that never even get started because I’m always playing catch-up. By taking a little time to find the methods/systems that work best for me and my company, I can become more efficient and effective thus creating more time and space in my life to do more of what I love and start on some Read More

Listen & Learn for Leaders! – Launched TODAY!!!!!!!!!!

I am SO excited to share this news with you today! Since you are reading this, YOU are probably a leader in some fashion and this new series of resources is just for YOU! Over the past few years, I have spent countless hours creating, crafting, recording, and putting into practice my own songs, materials, and session plans.  This past year I partnered with Rachel Rambach and together we have been producing even more quality materials and using them in our Early Childhood Groups. Every few weeks,  Rachel and I sit down and plan the next session of our Listen & Learn for Little Ones classes. This is one of our favorite parts of the job — we both love brainstorming new songs, choosing how we will address specific goals, and then recording the new music we’ll put to use with our kiddos. But we know that not all leaders like doing that same work. Maybe you are passionate about marketing but not songwriting. Perhaps putting together your curriculum together completely stresses you out, but you are passionate about putting songs into action Read More