It’s that time of the week again. Below you’ll find my 10 Minute Guided Meditation to kick start your morning (Night owls and early birds alike!) centered and full of all the positive vibes necessary to hit the ground running with good energy!
Everything, good or bad starts in the mind, so why not be intentional about showing ourselves a little love before the day gets underway?
Still trying to figure out if meditation’s right for you? Here’s a link to an article I came across about how it all works: Meditation 101
Tell a friend. Show a friend. Send to a friend! And as always, thanks so much for stopping by! Full guided meditation by yours truly below. Enjoy!
Peace, Love, & Sunshine — Chelsea
Missed Part 1 of the Series?
You can check out Biko Gray’s 15 Minute Guided Meditation here!
So, a while back, I made the declaration to my little sister, Madison, that I was going to do a blog challenge. I didn’t quite know how long I wanted to do it. I wasn’t sure of the theme. All I knew is that life will pass you by if you aren’t intentional about taking it by the reigns.
2016 has been a big year. A really big year. And I’m still trying to wrap my head around it all. That’s where this challenge comes in. This season -the last 4+years- has been such a rollercoaster. With that in mind, I knew I wanted to be intentional about capturing the last moments of this amazing year.
December has always been special to me, and my reason for loving it so much is simple. It’s an indisputable close of something. So much of my current life is influenced by all these different variables –subject to change. Not December. December 31st marks the close of a year. That it’s over. So whether you killed it all year long, are still holding out for a breakthrough, or a mix of both, its onset signifies that last ditch effort to make the play, hit that home run, set goals, dream big, you name it.
Speaking of big dreams, on October 8th, I packed up my suitcase (the silver bullet), carry-on, purse, and backpack, to job search here in New York City (still so weird seeing that haha). I could go on and on about the story behind that, but I think I’ll save the full version for a Coffey Break Chat.
NY or bust!
Long story short, the transition has not been glamorous haha I’m forever grateful to my wonderful family friends for adopting me, love you Bill + Debra! And my August people Warren, Christa, and Josias, for literally absorbing me into their lives in such a loving, genuine way.
Being broke is not fun. Living out of suitcase is not fun. Being unemployed is not fun. (dramatic face emoji) I had totally forgotten about the toll job searching takes on your emotions and self-esteem. Not to mention, that the irony of it all, is that you can’t just drop the search in pursuit other feel good alternatives. The goal is to get a job. You have to keep going until you get something, it’s just that simple.
I just don’t know how in the world I could have made through this time without you guys…
My confession is that I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that I was hoping for the red-carpet experience. I knew it would be challenging, but it’s nearly impossible to anticipate the reality of moving away from everything you know and love without actually experiencing it.
That’s where faith and trusting the vision come in. During my second week, I made the commitment to myself that I would limit my focus to the day ahead of me. That I would make the most of that specific day. That I would be present, and fight the urge to consider anything beyond two weeks out –and that was only if it was absolutely necessary.
A default in my nature is that I have a tendency of being so forward thinking that I can’t ever be fully present. I’d argue however that that mindset welcomes the God moments. There’s something so freeing about surrendering, and saying Your will be done. Where do we go from here day in and day out?
It’s so crazy to look back and see that somehow I’ve actually hit all these little milestones in this short period of time. I know it couldn’t have happened without His divine intervention in my life, and I’ve got stories to tell! haha
Join me over the next few weeks, as I roll out a smorgasbord of reflections, favorite finds, vlogs, and archived content (my cute way of saying content I should have published a long time ago haha)
Madison’s taking Florence, Italy this year to study abroad. Here are a few highlights of our favorite vlog moments before her big move. Send some love and good vibes her way. Today was her first day of classes, and I’m so crazy proud of my baby sister! Enjoy!
How do I know how much to charge? I get this question all the time, ask myself this question all the time haha, and the truth is that the answer is fairly complicated. There are a number of different variables that go into calculating a final rate, package, fee, etc.
Here are some things to consider courtesy of Stephen Fishman, J.D. over at nolo.com:
Calculate Your Hourly Rate
Business schools teach a standard formula for determining an hourly rate: Add up your labor and overhead costs, add the profit you want to earn, then divide the total by your hours worked. This is the minimum you must charge to pay your expenses, pay yourself a salary, and earn a profit. Depending on market conditions, you may be able to charge more for your services — or you might have to get by on less.
Determine your annual salary. To determine how much your labor is worth, pick a figure for your annual salary. This can be what you earned for doing similar work when you were an employee, what other employees earn for similar work, or how much you’d like to earn (as long as your goal is reasonable).
Compute annual overheard. Next, compute your annual overhead. Overhead includes all of the costs you incur to do business — for example:
telephone expenses
office equipment and furniture
rent and utilities
stationery and supplies
postage and delivery costs
clerical help
business insurance
business-related meals and entertainment
travel expenses
professional association memberships
legal and accounting fees, and
advertising and marketing costs — for example, the cost of a yellow pages ad, website, or brochure.
Overhead also includes the cost of your fringe benefits, such as medical insurance… read the rest of his article here.
There’s a sweet spot for most things, and I’d like to think that time, prayer and dedication to ironing out processes are keys to finding it!
Enjoy the journey, and more importantly, don’t be afraid to go for whatever it is you envision for yourself!
I’ll leave you guys with a quote from Brene Brown that I shared on Instagram earlier this week:
Choose growth 🙏🏾❤️ // When we choose growth over perfection, we immediately increase our shame resilience. Improvement is a far more realistic goal than perfection. Merely letting go of unattainable goals makes us less susceptible to shame. When we believe “we must be this” we ignore who or what we actually are, our capacity and our limitations. We start from the image of perfection, and of course, from perfection there is nowhere to go but down. –#BreneBrown
As some of you may know, Instagram is my favorite social media platform. So, any big announcements catch my attention. There’s a lot of commentary going on about the upcoming change to their algorithm. I tend to do a little research before jumping on a bandwagon, and I finally came across the information I was looking for from one of my favorite writers @ggrenewrties (seen above).
The beauty of social media is connection, and say what you want about the downsides, it has been the coolest thing to see this network of real life and virtual friends build their brands and/or simply share their journey.
@ggreneewrites
@shopgirlblog
@businessrulesforwomen
@fredis_b
@deunivory
@thepetiteprofessional
@tamon
@juliejulez.jpg
@toneandtaste
@leyla_moon
@masterwiliams
@ohcilantro
@thebugs87
@thecoffeyshop.co
@shutterbugs87
@miascloset
@deunivorycollections
@compozition
@nichollekobi
I’ve spent the greater part of the last year redefining my own personal online presence for The Coffey Break, Mia’s Closet, and The Coffey Shop, and I totally understand the apprehension about the changes. Nonetheless, I think it’s important to understand the full scope of what this means for us and our brands.
@thecoffeybreak@thecoffeybreak
Assuming I’m not the only one who feels this way, I did a little digging and found the following article:
Ignore the Uproar. The Instagram Algorithm Change Is a Good Thing.
Here’s an excerpt.
Chronological newsfeed was truly effective only in two instances: businesses posted to Instagram every half an hour or their followers had a very limited number of handles they followed. This cannot be a widespread trend, because according to Optical Cortex data based on 20,000+ Instagram users, average number of people they follow is 822. So, for a majority of brand’s following those images most likely weren’t the first thing they saw; and that chronological order didn’t really matter anyway.
Now what really made a difference, and still will continue to do so, is getting ahead of the game with smart strategies. What you have (to continue) to do as a smart marketer is to focus on quality content that drives engagement.
A lot of people who follow brands and celebrities will deliberately go to the handle to see what’s new. People follow Nike, Lexus or Kylie Jenner, because they know that each new post will be amazing (whatever their definition of amazing is). So, strive to make your Instagram account a mecca for striking visual content. This is the only way to ensure people won’t stop engaging with your content, whatever the algorithm is.
There are also a few other tactics you can employ to stay ahead of the curve…
You can read her entire article about the Instagram algorithm change by LESYA LIU here.
Sometimes the only thing we have to fear is fear itself. Happy Monday guys!
