Podcast appearances and mentions of lindsay letters

Today I talk with my long-time friend Lindsay Sherbondy (or you may know her as Lindsay Letters). She's a full-time artist, living just outside of Madison, Wisconsin with her husband, Dugan, and their two kids, Eva and Phoenix. Their world was turned upside down in August of 2019 when Eva sustained a traumatic brain injury, and as you can imagine, every day since has presented itself with new challenges and new beauty. Today Lindsay is generously sharing their story and it was an honor to get to hear her talk about the broken-heartedness of what they've walked through and I think you're going to feel that too. If you're taking notes in your TSF Seasons Guidebook, we're on page 11. Shop Lindsay's amazing art at lindsayletters.co . . . . . TSF Seasons Guidebook is available for you over at anniefdowns.com/seasons that will lead you through this entire year as well. When you purchase it, you'll get a download of all of the questions and prompts for the winter season, and then we'll email the content for each new season as it begins.  . . . . . Want to watch this episode on YouTube? Head on over to our YouTube Channel and be sure to like and subscribe!  . . . . . Join our Patreon community Single Purpose League as we tackle the question: What is my single purpose and what is my purpose while single? . . . . . Sign up to receive the AFD Week In Review email and ask questions to future guests! #thatsoundsfunpodcast . . . . . Thank you to our sponsors!AG1: Check out DrinkAG1.com/soundsfun to get a FREE $76 gift when you sign up. You'll get a Welcome Kit, a bottle of D3K2 AND 5 free travel packs in your first box.  Thrive Causemetics: Thrive Causemetics is luxury beauty that gives back. Right now, my friends can get an exclusive 20% off your first order at thrivecausemetics.com/TSF.  . . . . . If you'd like to partner with Annie as a sponsor for the That Sounds Fun podcast, fill out our Advertise With Us form! . . . . . NYTimes bestselling Christian author, speaker, and host of popular Christian podcast, That Sounds Fun Podcast, Annie F. Downs shares with you some of her favorite things: new books, faith conversations, entertainers not to miss, and interviews with friends. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Beth McCord gives advice on what to consider when choosing gifts for every Enneagram Type. Chapter Markings:00:00 - Introduction To The Podcast04:11 - Gift Guide07:02 - YEC's Discounts20:38 - Type 126:57-  Type 238:15 - Type 344:45 - Type 449:32 - Type 554:20 - Type 658:41 - Type 71:02:24 - Type 81:06:27 - Type 9Ready to learn more about your Type? Get 50% off Beth's Enneagram Courses for a limited time: https://www.yourenneagramcoach.com/holiday22Shop YEC's top gift recommendations for every Enneagram Type:Type 1 - Clean & Caffeinated Bundle by Humphreys Street https://humphreysstreet.com/shop/bundles/clean-and-caffeinated-bundle-small/Type 2 - Mamuye Classic Tote by ABLE https://www.ableclothing.com/products/mamuye-classic-tote?irclickid=zMEw1A0UWxyNUwpRysQveTkDUkDSXpR1EWEp2w0&irgwc=1&utm_medium=Impact&mediapartner=YourEnneagramCoachType 3 - Full Focus Planner by Full Focus https://fullfocusstore.com/?platform=grin&link_id=1229964&token=FzhBWebQohT5dZlb5NxKjRJgWFsWG6Bb&contact_id=80a6c4b5-e364-4742-89d5-31b767f2f64b&attribution_window=30Type 4 - Fairy Garden by Lindsay Letters https://shareasale.com/r.cfm?b=1322217&u=3431869&m=86404&urllink=lindsayletters%2Eco%2Fproducts%2Ffairy%2Dgarden%2Dabstract%2Dsquare&afftrack=Type 5 - Over-ear Noise-canceling Headphones by Beat https://amzn.to/3NZ1ZlJType 6 - Dog Walk Kit by Wild One https://shareasale.com/r.cfm?b=1269790&u=3431869&m=83946&urllink=wildone%2Ecom%2Fproducts%2Fcollar%2Dwalk%2Dkit%3Ftitle%3Dmoonstone%2Dxs%2Dstandard&afftrack=Type 7 - The Starting Lineup by Great Jones https://greatjonesgoods.com/products/the-starting-lineup?sscid=b1k6_l6weq&utm_source=shareasale&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_campaign=3431869Type 8 - The Beast Blender by Beast https://amzn.to/3V2PUyvType 9 - Photo Calendar by Artifact Uprising https://shareasale.com/r.cfm?b=488472&u=3431869&m=47827&urllink=www%2Eartifactuprising%2Ecom%2Fphoto%2Dcalendars%2Fbrass%2Deasel%2Ddesk%2Dcalendar&afftrack=In this episode, we go beyond providing practical gift ideas (but we do give those out). We also cover the intangible feelings, desires, and needs to consider for every Type. For more gift ideas, shop the entire Enneagram-Inspired Gift Guide now: https://www.yourenneagramcoach.com/gift-guide#personalitytype #gift #enneagramGo to yourenneagramcoach.com to get your gift and experience up to 75 percent off!

Jess's newest book, Tired of Being Tired, just came out on April 9th, but since Summer is upon us, we thought this would be a good time to bring out Jess's last book, Breaking Free from Body Shame.  If you find yourself thinking you have to jump on a new fitness challenge, change your diet, or find yourself wanting to avoid the community pool for the next few months, this episode is for you. In this episode, we brought in our friend and team member, Katie Smith, to share her story of body shame + healing. You'll hear Jess and Katie share openly and honestly about their past experiences, what they learned, how the Lord was able to carry them through, and how this one thing remains true: YOUR BODY IS GOOD. This is for the woman who has never felt free, for the new mom dealing with a body she doesn't recognize, and/or the woman who thought she'd conquered this issue, but it's still cropping up.  If you have a body and want to live free, this episode is for you. Let's go! Katie loves you all and is so passionate about this topic. If you ever want to connect and chat more with her, please do! Her DMs + inbox are always open if you ever want to connect: IG: @katiejsmithh  // Email: katie@goandtellgals.com Don't miss:  Tired of Being Tired is now out! Click the link to get your copy + make sure to share it with your family and friends. ⁠ Don't forget to shop on Lindsay Letters and see the most special and beautiful abstract artwork, with color palettes ranging from subdued neutrals to bright and bold. There are over three hundred pieces of art to choose from, including landscapes, vintage reproductions and some meaningful words. They are available as small scale art prints or large scale framed canvases, and everything in between. Use my code JESS20 for 20% off your purchase.

This isn't my podcast, it's OUR podcast. So today we're hitting one of our most requested episode topics: singleness and marriage! Since Jess has been married for nearly 20 years, we brought in our friend and team member, Liz Cox, to share her experience as a single gal. You'll hear Jess and Liz share their life experiences and how they've learned to understand each other better, learn from one another, and be on one another's team despite being in different seasons of life. They're answering the question, “What do you wish your married friends/single friends knew?” and their answers might surprise you. If you're single, this episode is for you. If you're married, this episode is for you.  We encourage you to send this episode to a friend because we know there are amazing takeaways that could spark helpful conversations between you and your friends! Let's go! Liz loves y'all so much and wants you to know her DMs + inbox are always open if you ever want to connect: IG: @_elizabethcox // Email: liz@goandtellgals.com  Also, we briefly mention our dear friend Annie F. Downs' amazing podcast episode about friendship and dating, which Jess was on, as well as her Patreon community for singles, The Single Purpose League. We wanted to be sure to link those resources for you all if you're interested in listening to more thoughtful conversations on this topic. Don't miss:  Tired of Being Tired is now out! Click the link to get your copy + make sure to share it with your family and friends. ⁠ Don't forget to shop on Lindsay Letters and see the most special and beautiful abstract artwork, with color palettes ranging from subdued neutrals to bright and bold. There are over three hundred pieces of art to choose from, including landscapes, vintage reproductions and some meaningful words. They are available as small scale art prints or large scale framed canvases, and everything in between. Use my code JESS20 for 20% off your purchase.

If you like the idea of rest, if you're tired of being tired, if you're ready to stop living exhausted, this episode is for you. But what in the world do you do about your community? What do you do about your spouse who has a different schedule than you? How do you handle rest if you're an overwhelmed caregiver of small kids? These questions are ones that Jess gets asked all of the time. So, let's talk about it! This episode is all about community and rest and how we can have both, together. God has placed us where we are on purpose. And what if all of that was so compelling that it started a wave in our communities? One woman willing to rest changes her life. A group of women resting changes the world. Let's go. Don't miss:  Tired of Being Tired is out on April 9! Click the link to get your copy + make sure to share it with your community. When you order 5 copies, you can get my ⁠Rest Retreat Guide⁠ with short teaching videos to host your own version of Soul Camp! If you want to dive into Tired of Being Tired, join me for our book club, ⁠⁠⁠Leaders are Learners!⁠⁠⁠ When you join, you'll receive a suggested reading plan, additional Q&A, and a space to call in and share your thoughts on the podcast! Don't forget to use my code JESS20 for 20% off at Lindsay Letters! My friend Lindsay is my go-to for beautiful artwork for my home. She's got hundreds of pieces of art to choose from in all different styles, color schemes, and sizes - I promise you'll find a piece you love. Take a peek!

This episode is for all the tired women, who have a million valid reasons to keep going at the pace that is currently making them tired. If you know you're exhausted but have no idea how to get off the hamster wheel of doing too much, this episode is for you. This episode is all about everything that keeps us from resting. Jess prays that this episode is a blessing to you, and after you listen to this episode, your heart softens, and you believe this truth: God gives rest to those He loves, and He loves you more than you can imagine. Let's go  Don't miss:  Pre-Order 1 Copy of Tired of Being Tired⁠ and I'll send you the audiobook for free (with bonus content) and Real Rest Now, an exclusive podcast series I recorded with incredible women from all walks of life.  Life School is a new coaching community for men and women who are tired + want to keep going. Get your first month of Life School for free when you pre-order two copies of Tired of Being Tired! Let us know here that you've preordered and you'll get your first month of Life School. Don't forget to shop on Lindsay Letters and see the most special and beautiful abstract artwork, with color palettes ranging from subdued neutrals to bright and bold. There are over three hundred pieces of art to choose from, including landscapes, vintage reproductions, and some meaningful words. They are available as small-scale art prints large-scale framed canvases, and everything in between. Use my code JESS20 for 20% off your purchase.

Often times motherhood and creativity feel at odds with one another. We talk with Lindsay Letters about letting go of trying to be the perfect mom and how an accident changed her life forever.Go to www.mops.org for more information about MOPS, International. Guest: Lindsay Sherbondy of Lindsay Letters www.lindsayletters.co Instagram: @lindsayletters.co Facebook: @LindsayLetters Pinterest: Lindsay Letters Discount Code: 15% off sitewide for all "Moms Unscripted" listeners at www.lindsayletters.co with code MOPS. Resources Mentioned: Hope Anyway: Welcoming Possibility in God, Ourselves, and Each Other by Leeana Tankersley 

                    This week we have a blast talking about all sorts of fun, interesting, and useful gifts for that creative in your life (or for yourself)! Stay tuned for some value and a little bit of nonsense. Featured Music: Club Danger - "Living Legend" [clear-line] Inspirations, Thoughts, & What We've Been Up To Need some ideas on what to give to follow creatives or maybe to that person on your life who appreciates creative things? You have come to the right podcast. However, before we hear some great ideas, we hear all about Michelle’s week where she has been getting ready for Christmas. She didn’t bring a song this week, but she has a few suggestions of new music for the listeners. She suggests, new music by Copeland and Vesperteen’s new song "Operate". (Also, the band who Michelle couldn’t remember during the show was Broken Bells). They released a new song so give it a listen. Michelle also suggests another great podcast on Spotify by Guy Raz called The Rewind. Brandi’s week: Sad because her husband was sick and then she got sick, but she still managed to find a positive note to this week. Pantone just announced the color of the year for 2019: Living Coral, and it is gorgeous. Apparently Brandi is a trendsetter because she unintentionally bought her new planner in the color of the new year. Her song this week is Living Legend by Club Danger. It’s not how Brandi is feeling now, but it’s still a fun energetic song. Now we can jump into this week’s topic which may be helpful for some or hopefully all of you, gift ideas for fellow creatives in your life, or those people in your life who appreciate creative things. We hear from both Brandi and Michelle about what are some great gift ideas for creatives. The Christmas Gift Wish List: Shop Pantone: nice notebooks, pens, and pencils, FoodMood Cookbook Notebooks Mugs Ornaments Color Books Planners Ink+Volt Planner Drinkware for hot beverages as well as a Hydroflask Homesick Candles Fidget spinners or cubes, squishies or Thinking Putty Moment Lenses A nice pair of headphones (Michelle suggests Sony) Art from someone like Lindsay Letters aka The Art Bar An experience like going to a museum, tickets to a concert or a conference; even bowling Gradient Puzzles for the office Dana Tanamachi Illuminated Bible Temporary tattoos that you can design yourself from InkBox iTunes gift card Fujifilm Photo Printer that connects to your phone Typographic Ticket Book Classes from Skillshare or Creative Live, and Timeular Gadget  If you have any more ideas that we didn’t cover, please comment on our Instagram post to share with other listeners. Don’t forget to rate and review our show wherever you listen. THANKS FOR THE FEEDBACK!!!! "As a self-taught graphic designer who is constantly wanting to learn more about design in general, I've really enjoyed this podcast. I've been introduced to several new topics and ideas that I've then been inspired to go out and learn about more on my own."  - verolilianaaa on iTunes     Find us on all forms of social media via @BrandiSea on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and you can email us any burning questions you want Brandi to answer on an episode at brandi@brandisea.com. THANK YOU to the ultra-talented  Vesperteen (Colin Rigsby) for letting us use his song (“Shatter in The Night”) as the intro and outtro for every episode of Design Speaks.       [clear-line][clear-line] Transcription: Brandi: Welcome to Design Speaks, you're listening to episode 75 of Design Speaks. Michelle: On this week’s episode we are going to be talking about Christmas presents for creatives. B: But before we get into that do you want to tell us about your week? M: Sure, so I’ve just been getting everything ready from Christmas. I just decorated the entire office!

Have you ever thought about creating a physical product to sell online, maybe even adding one to your digital line up? And if you have, have you found yourself overwhelmed with not really knowing where to start in order to bring that product from merely an idea to something your customers can physically hold in your hands? As most of you know, my business consists of all digital products and I would say 90% of my audience is the same, but I still get questions, pretty frequently, asking me about creating physical products to include in their existing online business. Maybe you’re at a point where you’d like to add a physical product. Questions like: How do I know if I’m ready to add a physical product to my digital mix? Where would I even go to get started? What kind of physical product could I add to the mix? Since I get a lot of questions around this topic, but I’m not the expert, I thought, “Let’s bring on someone who is.” My guest today, Lara Casey - founder of CultivateWhatMatters.com, has authored two books, Cultivate, and Make it Happen, and has had huge success in launching and selling physical products online. If you’ve ever heard of the famous PowerSheets, she’s the creator! Lara is going to talk to us about how she knew it was time to launch a physical product; how she figured out and managed all the details around designing, producing, and fulfilling a physical product. And to keep it real, she shares the ups and downs as she created her product along the way. When I asked Lara to tell my podcast listeners a little bit about herself, this is what she said: “We’re all about planting seeds and helping women to Cultivate What Matters and giving them the tools they need to plant seeds of growing intentional relationships or cultivating their faith...whatever it may be, specific to them.” Planting seeds...cultivating...intentional… I love this! Lara continued, “I’m a mom to three, a grateful wife, and I’m really passionate about helping an instant-results culture embrace the power of little by little progress, instead of perfection.” Now, let’s dig into the interview! QUICK SIDE NOTE to those who are coming here from my podcast for the show notes, I'd love to know if you like this longer, more detailed version of show notes? While not everything from the podcast is included here, it's a pretty thorough representation. Please let me know yay or nay and why in the comments below.  Amy: What are PowerSheets? Lara: The PowerSheets are our goal planner, and they help you to uncover what matters the most to you, make an action plan and then TEND to that, little by little and take action. Amy: It’s beautiful! It looks like a planner. Would you call it a planner? Lara: We get asked that all the time and this is really your day planner’s best friend. We call it a planner because it fits into the marketing realm of being that same type of vein, but it’s more of an action book. We want people to not just plan but start planting things in their lives and to make a mess in this (the PowerSheets). Amy: What your very first product and why did you decide to create it? IN THE BEGINNING Lara: About 12 years ago, my husband Ari was deployed to Iraq, with the Marines. And as you can imagine, at the height of any time of war or turmoil, it can leave you feeling very anxious. And so, this first product, which was Southern Weddings magazine came out of that pain that I was experiencing at the time. As my husband was deployed to Iraq, I sat on my laptop computer alone one night and just thought, "I just really have a deep desire to create beauty in this world that feels so broken," and that sounded like a really grand thing at the time, but it was my real desire. And so, I got on my computer, and I started mocking up a wedding magazine cover, and I didn't have any formal training or background in this. I had an interest in weddings and started to get my feet wet into wedding planning at the time. I think I bought an ebook that was something like Wedding Planning 101. It was $0.99 at the time. What it was really about was that I was fascinated with stories of transformation and how even in the gift of a wedding celebration, you could transport people from feeling despair and hopelessness to a place of hope, to a place of thinking about the future. So, I mocked up this little wedding magazine cover, and I had no idea where it would go from there... I just knew I had to create it. I had this restlessness that I'm sure a lot of your listeners may feel at times. I put it out there to the world, and I thought, "You know what? This is something new and different." I started a blog at the time. If you would have said the word blog to someone, they probably would have thought about the movie The Blob and had no idea what you were talking about. Amy: Like the wild, wild West online, when blogs weren't even popular! Lara: I started a blog to talk about creating meaningful beginnings to married life and started sharing the idea about this wedding magazine. Long story short, it really took off. People were excited about something new and different in the South, not just talking about roasted chicken and tulle at a wedding, but a story and how that story could transform guests' lives. This is how the first physical product came to be. I used my whole life savings and created a physical print version of Southern Weddings magazine. I, again, had no experience in this. I have a degree in music theater, no background in journalism. I just had this desire to do it, and I figured I'm just going to figure it out. I created the first edition on Microsoft Publisher. WHY A PHYSICAL PRODUCT? Lara: There is something to the tangible. I still feel the exact same way today, that I felt 12 years ago -- there's something to holding a product in your hand that has the ability to change someone's life, potentially more than a digital product that maybe they see once and forget about. This physical product is something people could pass on. They could pass it to their sisters, their moms, their best friends...it really started a revolution in the wedding industry. This is back when the only publications that were out there were really big corporate publishing houses. And then, there was me and my cat in the apartment. : ) Amy: What year was this? Lara: This was 2008. If you fast-forward five years from then, I had a major life change happen. Our marriage was really rocky within that time period, five years later, our marriage started to come back together, and that led to our fifth-anniversary issue of Southern Weddings, being about love never fails. And so, the first shop product that we sold in more of an e-commerce platform ... it was Big Cartel at the time ... was a print that said, "Love never fails." In each of these things we've created have really been born out of a pain point, out of some challenge that I experienced in my life. But the print was more about how could we get meaningful messaging into people's hands. It was more about the profit of people, not about dollar signs. It eventually became dollar signs, but it started with the heart of, "If we could just get this messaging literally into people's fingertips, we believe that it would have a domino effect and a ripple effect." CREATING A SOLUTION TO A PAIN POINT Lara: It was right around that time that our business started to boom. as the heartbeat of Southern Weddings started to really beat with the message of, "Love never fails," people really started to grasp onto it, and I became really overwhelmed with so much work, and I just had my first baby. Our marriage was coming back together, so I was trying to balance and prioritize that. I know you've had so much of that in your story too, Amy. It was like, "How do you do it all?" And what I realized, the obvious is I can't do it all and do it well, but I can choose to cultivate what matters. And so, right around that time, I sat down at my desk one day, and I thought, "Man, I have all these things," like my facebook page, my Twitter account at the time (I don't even think that Instagram was a thing), "How am I going to tend to all these things and make them grow?" I would come to the end of a year and just get so frustrated looking back and thinking, "I could have made progress on these things if I would have tended to them little by little." So I got really frustrated, and said, "I need to fix this," and I made myself what I called a tending list. It was just a list of all the priorities, these seeds that I wanted to grow in my life and in my business. Things that I just knew, if I just touched on them a little bit at a time, it would add up. So I created a set of worksheets to help me make progress on the things that mattered, tending to them little by little. It's just like you teach, Amy, about it being focused on action by action. MAKING PROGRESS Lara: And that's when my life started to change. I started to make progress on the things that mattered. People started to see me making progress, amidst a lot of mistakes, and I got an email from a publisher who had read a series that I posted on my blog at the time about goal setting and about how I was doing this differently. The publisher emailed me, and that's how I got my first book contract for Make It Happen, and then my most recent one is Cultivate. At the same time, others began to ask me to create this set of worksheets for them too, and it really took off. Amy: I love these stories, where you create something for yourself and then others want it, and it grows into a business. I mean, how organic can you get, right? Lara: Yes! We have an unofficial, yet, official office motto that is: If you're not excited about it, nobody's going to be excited about it. So, for us, we have to create the things that we use in our everyday lives, the things that we need, and we just have to trust if we've done our research, and  looked at what the market needs, and listened enough, then other people are probably going to be affected by it too, if we are. Amy: If you created these worksheets for yourself, did you just put them out there and that's how you knew others wanted them? Did you sell them and then hope that others wanted them? How did that happen? Lara: It was a lot of both. It was a lot like throwing things to the wind. There weren't any shops around at the time, my friend Lindsay Letters had a shop with a couple prints in it, but there was no one that was really modeling this at the time. So, we were just testing the waters. At the time, I was doing coaching for branding clients, and I tested the PowerSheets out with them in little spurts. We would test it. The content, I tested with the Making Things Happen Conference, which we were doing twice a year (and still do twice a year now). It was being tested, but it wasn't like a full-fledged test in an e-commerce platform. We just really at the time had to take the risk and put it out there. Amy: You were creating a solution to your pain point, to begin with, and then your first customers were people in your local community and people who knew you through Southern Weddings and the Make Things Happen Conference who had that same need, and your product was their answer. Perfect! Tell us what happened from there, as far as you knowing that this was actually going to be a business and not just a one-off order for some friends. For example, did you have a certain amount of workbooks? These worksheets really became a workbook, right? Lara: Yes, you got it. Amy: So did you have a certain amount of workbooks that you wanted to pre-sell before you'd produce the product? Or did you place an order that you could afford at the time and then sold online at stores or events? Give us all the details. MAKING THINGS HAPPEN! Lara: I designed the first round, which was a loose-leaf set of worksheets. We printed them at a local printer, which is something that I think is very important for anybody that's starting out because you get the joy and the asset of having a relationship with someone who's going to hopefully walk you through that process. We did not speak the printer paper product language at first, and I still feel like we're learning that. We didn't know anything about paperweights or bleed on paper or even what was possible. I think it's really important to try a local printer first, even if you think you're going to get a better cost somewhere else, just so you can get that education. We did a very small batch at first, and I think it was like 500 sets of PowerSheets, and that felt like a huge amount for us, at first. I feel very strongly about the power of one, so I thought, "If we could get even these 500 sets of PowerSheets into people's hands,” -- I started to imagine the ripple effect. I hope that's encouragement for anybody that's starting out. Don't compare your numbers to somebody else. Do what you think is best for you right now and just think about the ripple effect. Amy: What were some of your biggest fears at this point, when you started to put it out there? Lara: So many things. The thought of just somebody buying something from us was scary. The thought of, do we know even how to do transactions, or what if someone is unhappy with the product? What if this product doesn't create results for other people like it has for us and the people we've tested it with? What do you do about customer service? How do you print labels? I think the biggest thing is that there was so much unknown. The only way that we were going to figure out how to do it well was to do it and to get as much good advice as we could. But at the time, there weren't any resources for shop owners like there are now. Amy: I love that you put this out there because a lot of my students want the whole roadmap in front of them, and they know I'm a step-by-step girl. So they'll say, "Amy, just give us exactly what we need to do." But if you look back at people that have had major success, they just put it out there, and when an issue comes up, they figure it out, and then there's their process moving forward. Lara: I think you're right. I think that if I would have had a "plan" to start out with, we would have changed so much about it. Especially with e-commerce or selling a physical product in a retail shop, whatever it is, there's so much testing that happens, and asking yourself, "Is this right for us? Can we make this better? How can we put our unique stamp on this?" So I feel like it's actually an advantage to not know the entire roadmap ahead because you get the freedom to change for the better. Amy: That's so powerful. Now, in these early days, when you did your first print run, and you've got your loose-leaf pages out there, you didn't do a pre-order, you actually put the money down, and you ordered 500. Did you sell those online or in person or both? Lara: We sold them online, for the mere fact that we work out of my house. It's a small operation, and that also brought a lot of challenges with it, too. One of the biggest bumps in the road that we've had with production was having a lot of manual labor to do ourselves to package the products. This is not something that our printer at the time could do. We were collating the products by hand, packaging them by hand, stickering them, figuring out how to use the label printer, which we actually did at first. We are grassroots. I remember going to the post office with hundreds of boxes and the post people looking at us like, "Are you kidding me?" Amy: This is how it's done! I love how you built this, because it is completely grassroots, just starting from something really small and doing all the labor yourself. You really had to just get in there and figure stuff out. Thank goodness the product you created was one to help you keep organized because it sounds like there were a lot of moving pieces! So many people get to a place of overwhelm in the process of creating their product, whether it be physical or digital, and they just get stuck and make zero progress. It sounds like this wasn't the case for you. You just kept moving step by step even when you didn't have all the answers. Such a big learning moment. So, you've got your first product out there and it was validated through continued customer demand and sales. How long did you stick with that business model? And when was the next major turning point in your business? TAKING RISKS AND MAKING PIVOTS Lara: I love this question because it takes me right back to the point of taking big risks. One was, at first, our shop was called the Lara Casey shop, and that was just because it was my name at the time that was the heart of the teaching. I was the one creating all the content and all the messaging. But, over the course of several years, we realized that we/I did not want to just tell my story. It was not about me. This product was about other people's stories, and those stories had so much power to them. So one of the biggest pivotal moments for us was stepping back and making the scary decision to completely change the name of our shop. The crazy part was that things were going really well. Sales were good. Things kept trucking along. We'd had a growth rate of almost 150% every year. At the same time, this is where you really start to get to, and I don't want to call it magic, but like, the real heartbeat of where I think success comes from is doing things from your core, from your why, and always being willing to take risks for that. So for us, we had this conversation I'll never forget it. We stopped one day, and we said, "You know what? This name is not working. This is not about me anymore. How can we have a name that allows us to give other people the reins and to make it about them?" And so, we went around and around with a lot of different ideas and just kept coming back to why we do what we do, which is to help women cultivate what matters. We changed the name of our shop from the Lara Casey shop to Cultivate What Matters, and that turning point was like a huge flood for us, because it wasn't about selling a product; it was about teaching people a different way of living and about changing the way that they think, and that's when things started to really click. It's easy to be complacent. It's easy just to look at numbers. But again, when you're looking at the profit of people, -- like how can we actually affect people's lives in a more profound way -- you're working with a whole different set of rules, and it makes the risks worth it. Amy: At this point, demand increased even more, right? Lara: Yes. Amy: What did that look like? Did you add more products? Did you move from local? Give us all the details. Lara: One Thanksgiving I was sitting with my family on shipping boxes for Thanksgiving dinner, because my living room was full of boxes, and that was the breaking point. That's when I said, "You know what? I think we have grown to the point where something needs to change." One change we made was taking the fulfillment away from our hands and putting it into a local warehouse, and that was a scary move because, through Southern Weddings, we have always held to the fact that there's magic in a handwritten note. I would write handwritten notes with all of the first PowerSheets orders. I mean, it would take me days, writing hundreds of notes because of that "power of one". But, in order to grow with your business, to affect more people's lives, sometimes, you have to let go of some things and choose more meaningful things that you can do on a larger scale. One thing that was really important to us was to have a local warehouse, where we could still have a touchpoint. We could still deliver handwritten notes and I could get my dining room back! : ) As far as production goes, we outgrew our local printer, and the strain of the manual labor really became unsustainable for us. And having so many amazing, sweet friends come to my house to collate PowerSheets on my back porch all the time, it just started to NOT add up. So, we started to look at different options. To give you a little bit of background, we are a debt-free company, which I’m very grateful for and it's something we worked very hard for. So we didn’t take out any loans for this growth. We have embraced this principle not just in our business, but in our lives and what we teach, that it's okay to grow slow. We have many times had to deal with sellouts, which sounds like a wonderful problem to have -- it's a blessing for sure when a product sells out, but for us, it was by necessity. We only ordered as much as we could. And in being a debt-free company, and in believing that growing slow was really important to us, it took a long time to figure out a better option for production. We wanted to be really intentional about that. So, fast-forward, during that bump, we started working with a company called Codra. Codra is essentially like a middleman between us — the designer and the shop — and international and US production. We found them through my book publisher, Thomas Nelson, who produce a lot of Bibles and book content like that. I'm telling you this because more than looking for the right price point, and more than looking for the best deal, it's about looking for the right relationship. Because if you're really in this for the long haul, and if you really want it to be a product that is sustainable for the long term, then that relationship behind it has to be, too. All that to say that the team at Codra are our best advocates, and they have found us international partners and even domestic partners - production manufacturers - that have really strong integrity. This was so, so important to us that the integrity of our product started even at production and went all the way through our customer delight, all the way down to the way we package things, that there was no stone left unturned. So, that was the biggest bump for us, was making that leap of faith to go with an outside production house. Amy: So now they're being printed in China, but you have a middleman, so you don't have to go over to China and watch them and make sure everything's working properly and all that stuff? Lara: That's correct. We love them so much because they take such care to make sure that our manufacturing partners are also really taken care of. They are the ones that travel there all the time, and they are there working with multiple clients at a time. It's neat to know that they have such integrity with those relationships, and they're passing that onto us. Amy: Did you have to get a business loan to move on to this next big step in terms of moving from local to international printing? MARKETING MATTERS Lara: No, and I'm really grateful for that. We just grew at the pace that we knew we could sustain, but this is where we had to get really smart. When you reach a certain point, I mean, really at any point in your marketing, as you know more than anybody else, Amy, you've got to get smart about your marketing. You have to have the right data, and that's when it was about four years into our process (we've had PowerSheets for almost seven years now) when we started to really look at the data, and we started to look at our analytics and started to grow our email list and work on these things that we felt like were great benchmarks to knowing. If we could get to those key performance indicators, like having a certain number of newsletter subscribers or whatever those metrics are, that we would feel more confident in making a larger purchase for more inventory for the next one. We couldn't take risks with that anymore or just shoot the wind with a number that sounded good. We had to start looking at the data and making great strides towards that. Amy: And it can be scary to look at the data. Some of my students say they don't want to look, because they're not really sure what they're looking for, and they might not even want to know the truth if they're being really honest with themselves. So this was something that you did that most people don't do -- you got really knowledgeable about what the numbers told you. Lara: Yes, and we started with no email list. I remember when our former marketing director came to us, and she's like, "So tell me about your email list." It was like I felt list shame. I was like,, "What kind of list are you talking about here?" Amy: It happens to us all. Lara: It does, but I think more so than any numbers, it was about providing helpful content for people...we're not product producers. Like I said earlier, we're seed planters. First and foremost, we're about helping women change their lives and giving them the tools to do that. If we weren't doing that in our day-to-day content, there's no way that product is going to be a long-term thing in their lives anyway. Amy: To give us a little perspective here, can you share a quick timeline from the printing of your first workbook to where you are at this point in our chat now, producing your product in China? Lara:  We first started in 2011 - I printed that workbook for myself to use at first. In 2013, we produced the first small batch of 500 workbooks at the local printer for our first customers. In 2014, we bumped up production to about 3,000 (switched from selling them on Big Cartel to Shopify, where we still are today). Printed at the same printing house in the US. In 2015, we sought out a really great international partner through Codra. We do most of our printing here in the US for our accessory products. We use a couple printers: We love Curry Printing, in Dallas, Texas, and then Smart Press is another partner that we use here stateside. But in 2016, that's when things started to change big time. That's the year that we changed the name of our company. And, up until this point, this was a mostly black and white product. And if anybody knows me, I have a very colorful product. This is really one of the hallmarks of our company, is about living your life in full color. And so, we took a really big risk. I remember being so scared to put color in our product thinking nobody's going to like this. It's not neutral enough. We're not going to reach everyone. But when we try to be everyone or everything for everybody, that's when you really miss the magic. Then we put stickers in there, and we started to make goal setting fun, and that became our hallmark. And that's also when we embraced that mantra of, "If you're not excited about it, nobody's going to be excited about it." We changed it from being loose-leaf worksheets to a bound workbook. One of the other big things we did is we started to cut products from our shop. We had grown our shop under the impression that more is better. FINDING YOUR CENTRAL FOCUS TO PROPEL YOU FORWARD Lara: Once you really find your niche, and you find what matters, having one central focus is really what propelled us forward. So we decided to make the PowerSheets the main product, with everything else as a support to that main focus and system. Amy: I can't get over how many great lessons you are sharing! It’s all the stuff that I teach, but you're saying it differently and putting it into a different light, and I'm loving it! So, you shaved down some of your products to get really focused on the one that was really doing well for you, and you knew it was the right fit for your audience. Lara: Yes, but it was scary because cutting things out makes you feel like you're not going to please everybody. But it had to become more about the impact and realizing that we could make a bigger impact if we could help people make a better buying decision by giving them less to choose from. Amy: So, now we know the product, but you said accessories -- I'm very curious about what that means. I'd also love to know about your team size, your production site, your warehouse, all that good stuff. Lara: I love that you encouraged our listeners, too, that this doesn't happen overnight. It's a joy and an honor to be able to share the start of the story instead of just where we are now, because I would feel so intimidated if I just heard the end instead of knowing that it took hard work, and most of these things that were successes were because I made a lot of mistakes on the way. But, out of all of those mistakes and trial and error, we have come up with a product lineup that, like I said, centralizes on or focuses on the PowerSheets and uncovering what matters to you, making an action plan and then doing something about it. We know there's not a one-size-fits-all program for everybody's life, so we have to be able to customize that for different people. We haven't shared any of this yet, but I'm excited to share here that for the release of our 2019 PowerSheets, we’re going to have four covers for the one-year sets. This is exciting for us because people have always wanted to choose the color that matches their life. And there's a lot of intentionalities that went behind those covers, too. So, we’ll have four one-year sets of PowerSheets, with one six-month undated set. The six-month undated set was a very intentional decision too. People sometimes find out about us in the middle of the year, and we believe there's nothing magical about January 1st. You should be able to set goals at any time you want. We also have another cornerstone product, which is our Write The Word Journal, and it's a Bible journal that allows you to just literally write Bible verses, and those have been super popular for people that want to cultivate their faith. So we have seven Write The Word Journals. We also have a new product we just released, which is Write the Word for Kids. And this is where it gets fun as far as dreaming about if you have a core product, how could an accessory fuel that product? We came up with five different goal guides: a goal guide for parents; a goal guide for friendship and relationships; one for wellness; and one for finances. So if those things are important to you, that's where that supports the main product. Amy: I like how these extras all support the main product. Lara: Yes, because if they detract or, here's where it gets technical, if we have a product that felt like it merited its own separate launch and didn't support the other products, we would have a hard time getting people to purchase the main system that we're teaching about in our day-to-day content. It can actually be a distraction in a way. We also have our Goal Setting Sticker Book, because goal setting should be fun! : ) Amy: Months ago, I wanted to buy the PowerSheets when all my friends were all about them and they were sold out and I was bummed out. Well, the other day, I was lucky to get this nice beautiful box in the mail from you - I was so excited! Thank you for that! I'm embarrassed to say how excited I was about the stickers, but I was. So that was extra fun! Lara: We often talk about how the stickers are fun, but this is where a researched-backed, data-oriented mindset can help you create a product that's really fun. For us, knowing that there is power in the handwritten word, as opposed to typing something digitally, there's power in marking something that's meaningful for you. And with the stickers, for instance, stickers that say things like “top priority” and “this matters”, there's actually something that happens in your brain when you're putting a sticker on a goal that really matters to you. Your mind starts to make decisions and you start to go through a series of trying to figure out how you're going to do that. THERE’S NO “I’ IN TEAM! Amy: Tell me about your team size and the positions you have on your team. Lara: We have a team of nine women who I'm very grateful to work alongside. Half of them work here in my home office in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and the other half work remotely. CEO and Visionary: That’s me (Lara Casey). We use our PowerSheets for business, but we also use the Traction model, and that has been really helpful for us, for anybody that is starting to grow a team, Traction and the EOS principles have been awesome to get us organized as far as our team structure, who reports to who, and how all that works really well. Creative Director: This is where we show our small business card. The Creative Director is also our Chief of Staff, so we like to do that when we're small. Director of Operations: Mostly handles the production side of working with our production partners on the products and making sure our fulfillment team is helping our customers to be delighted. Graphic Designer: Helps with both product design and marketing design. Customer Delight Manager: This is a huge position for us. One of the central focuses for us is making sure our customers feel delighted, which is why we don't call it customer service. Content Marketing Manager PR manager Conference Director for the Making Things Happen Conference And we're hunting for a Marketing Director right now. So, if anybody out there is interested, click here. Amy: I hope that someone reading this is the perfect fit or knows someone who is. Lara: We want to stay a small team, and even in our 10-year vision, we have plans to hopefully just remain like 12 to 13 people, because we have that agility, the ability to be nimble, the ability to make quick decisions and act on them. The Traction Model was really helpful for us to be able to do that. Amy: Tell us about your current production method and your new warehouse. Lara: We just switched to a new warehouse, in Kentucky, through a company called EasyPost. EasyPost is a tech company, so they're very much focused on advancements in technology. They created a software that is also labeled the same thing, EasyPost, but they also do fulfillment now. Fulfillment means that we get our product to their warehouse, and they take care of everything on the shipping side. Our system links in with them through Shopify, and they take care of sending all the orders out. For production, we still use the same people that we've been using for the last three years, which is Codra, Curry Printing and Smart Press. The reason we chose the new warehouse in Kentucky is there, through the advancement in technology, is a decrease in human error. We have a lot of influxes of launch dates, where we sold far more than we expected to. We had these big bumps, and our current warehouse just wasn't able to handle that without a lot of errors. It has been really helpful to work with the team that does Kickstarter. They do high production for lots of different shops that might have 25,000 products go out on the day, but they can also do our normal day-to-day quantities, too. Amy: Fantastic! Things happen...you made choices to change things up to make it better, and that’s how your business has grown over the years. So many different changes, but based on needs, wants, mistakes and everything in between. Looking back. If you knew back then what you know now, what would you have done differently? IF ONLY I HAD KNOWN THEN WHAT I KNOW NOW Lara: I would have owned our mantra earlier of, "If you're excited about it, chances are other people will be too." That really is the best form of marketing that we've experienced: If it’s a product or a piece of content that we need and will change our everyday lives, it's worth taking a risk to put out there in hopes that other people will too. That's where we really get to the power of one. So, I would say, "Take risks for what matters." And then I would also say, "Keep making it better." I am amazed that every year when we start talking about the next year's version of the PowerSheets, or really any of our products, that there are hundreds of changes that get made. We don't just rest on our laurels. We are making it better through listening to our customer, asking them questions like, "Is this working for you?" Hearing their stories and giving them lots of opportunities to give us feedback. Keep making it better. Never stop growing. Amy: If you could give my listeners and readers one or two pieces of advice if they're thinking about launching a physical product, what would that be? Lara: I would say make something that you need. Make something that you know that you will authentically be able to tell people, "This filled a need for me," or, "This filled a need for my mom," or someone that's close to you. It has to have a personal story behind it. People grasp on to the power of story, and they will listen to you if you’re being authentic with them and telling them about your product. The other thing I would say is, just what we have experienced throughout this whole six-year period of having PowerSheets and 12 years of Southern Weddings, that it's okay to grow slow. You don't have to have the whole plan to get started. Good things take root over time, and little by little, good things grow and they bloom. Amy: There are so many great little nuggets you’ve shared with us! This has been a real eye-opener for me as well because I've never done a physical product, would not even know where to start, but these lessons you learned along the way are just priceless for anybody thinking of doing a physical product or even just adding a physical product to their online business. I think your story shows us that there are no shortcuts, but it can really pay off when you come from a place like you did of wanting to serve your customer well and providing them with products that can bring about change. _______ Ok, my reader, was this interview not just packed with great insight and inspiration?! Head over to www.CultivateWhatMatters.com/Amy to see Lara’s amazing products (and check out that job listing, if they haven’t filled it by the time you’re reading this). When you use that special link, Lara is giving you a special discount because you’re part of my awesome community. Yay for us! And, thank you, Lara! Also, don't forget to let me know, in the comments below, if you like this longer, more detailed version of show notes. I appreciate your input! This episode is sponsored by my free masterclass, How to Create Your Ultimate List-Building Catch-Up Plan. You can get it at http://www.amyporterfield.com/listbuilding. If you are not building your email list every single day there is no better time than right now!

1. Check out the Pinterest board! A good start on ideas for your walls as well as examples of The Rule of One. 2. Here are the posts and items mentioned in the episode. When It Doesn't Matter That Your Walls Are Ugly Slant Design Handcraft - I have the Blossom of Snow sign, a custom sign of Annie's name, and the Kill with Kindness shirt. Great shop, great guy. Letterfolk - Get the The Wordsmith. I love my Poet, but I'm going to save up for the big one. Such beautiful, easy impact. Lindsay Letters - I have a couple of her calligraphy prints, and I'm saving up for her Oceans canvas. Huge and gorgeous. The Magical Way to Transform a Photo The Nester's Cozy Minimalist Course - The course is currently closed, but join the waitlist! You won't regret it for a second. Photo clips like these are an easy, cute way to hang prints. Don't forget about Command Hooks. Or eye hooks for wooden signs. 3. Join The Lazy Genius Collective! Get encouragement in your inbox. The best stuff goes to the mailing list, so I hope you join us! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

My guest for The Happy Half Hour #26 is my husband, the one and only, Aaron Ivey. Aaron is the only man allowed on the show, unless one of you can connect me with George W. Bush. Aaron is making his fourth appearance on The Happy Hour. You can listen to his previous interviews here: #39, #70 and #100.  In today's show, we give you some sneak peaks into The Happy Hour LIVE! You're not going to want to miss. We have some really fun surprises and an unforgettable night planned for you. You have just a couple more hours to snag your ticket. So, go go go right now and grab one.  We also hear Aaron's latest recommendations on TV and podcasts, the advice he loves to give and what he's aiming for in 2017. We also get an earful of his pet peeves - he's pretty peevey. Peeves and all, he's my favorite guest of all time, and I am pretty sure he's gotta be yours too. Y'all enjoy the show and make sure to hurry over and grab one of the last few tickets for the live shows! {You can listen to the showHERE. And of course, I would love if you would share with your friends. Just use the FB & Twitter links at the end of this post!} Links from the Show Aaron's Upcoming Book: Steal Away Home Chef's Table How I Built This Sleeping At Last Silence by Shusaku Endo Music from Jason Poe Connect with Aaron Twitter // Instagram Connect with Jamie Facebook // Twitter // Instagram Sponsor: Noonday Collection Noonday Collection is a business that uses fashion to create meaningful opportunities around the world. When you purchase Noonday accessories, you create a marketplace for artisan businesses, enabling them to provide dignified jobs in vulnerable communities. They develop artisan businesses through fair trade, collaborative design, responsible financing, capacity building and long-term partnership. On February 16, Noonday releases their newest line! If you host a Noonday Trunk show between February 16-28, you could earn gifts from some of their partners over at Lindsay Letters and The Object Enthusiast. Plus, with a qualifying show you'll be entered to win a trip for 2 to Austin! Contact your local Ambassador to book a show today. If you don't have an Ambassador, go to the here and you'll find a match with someone in your area!

My guest for The Happy Hour #127 is Sally Clarkson. Sally is the mother of four wholehearted children, a popular conference speaker, and champion of women everywhere. She is the best-selling author of numerous books and articles on Christian motherhood and parenting, including her most recent release, Different, written with her son. Sally lives in Monument, Colorado and loves Jesus, her family, reading, music, tea, traveling, long walks, and her golden retriever, Darcy. On today's show, Sally and I chat about writing her newest book with her son, Nathan. Growing up as an out-of-the-box kid with OCD and ADHD, Nathan writes about his experiences and thought patterns, and Sally writes about her journey in parenting him (mistakes and all). In our conversation, Sally shares more about the book - how it came to be, what it was like to write with her son, and what she learned along the way. Her wisdom in parenting kiddos with different personalities, different strengths and weaknesses is so valuable. Sally and I also chat about disciplining children based on their personalities. Finally, she talks about how she is passionate about making sure she is filled up, so that the people that draw from her, draw riches and not poverty. Whether you have been following Sally for a long time, and getting to know her for the first time, I hope you find our conversation to be inspiring no matter what stage of like you are in. Today's conversation is parenting-heavy, but I hope you're able to glean a little nugget or two for your life. {You can listen to the showHERE. And of course, I would love if you would share with your friends. Just use the FB & Twitter links at the end of this post!} Links from the Show Prayer by Philip Yancey Renew Your Heart Conferences What Sally is loving: strong cappuccino, being with her children and New York City Music from Jason Poe Connect with Sally Twitter // Instagram // YouTube Connect with Jamie Facebook // Twitter // Instagram Sponsors: EM Jewelry+Design EM Jewelry+Design is a woman owned and operated company that makes jewelry by hand from start to finish. By creating high quality jewelry we encourage women to invest in fewer pieces that will last longer. Our hope is to inspire confidence in women, by looking and feeling great in what they are wearing. Learn more at emjewelrydesign.com and use code 'HAPPYHOUR' to save 10% on your purchase!  Noonday Collection Noonday Collection is a business that uses fashion to create meaningful opportunities around the world. When you purchase Noonday accessories, you create a marketplace for artisan businesses, enabling them to provide dignified jobs in vulnerable communities. They develop artisan businesses through fair trade, collaborative design, responsible financing, capacity building and long-term partnership. On February 16, Noonday releases their newest line! If you host a Noonday Trunk show between February 16-28, you could earn gifts from some of their partners over at Lindsay Letters and The Object Enthusiast. Plus, with a qualifying show you'll be entered to win a trip for 2 to Austin! Contact your local Ambassador to book a show today. If you don't have an Ambassador, go to the here and you'll find a match with someone in your area!   The Heart of Marriage With beautiful photographs and poignant prose, Dawn Camp invites you to reflect on the heart of marriage. This collection is perfect for the good days, the hard days, and all the days in between. With stories from Crystal Paine, Lisa-Jo Baker, Alexandra Kuykendall, Holley Gerth, Shaunti Feldhahn, Renee Swope, Richard Paul Evans, Kristen Welch, Mo Isom, and many more. Pick up your copy here.

My guest for The Happy Half Hour #24 is Debra Parker. Debra is all about freedom and wild pursuits. She follows Jesus and manages the her party of six. She's a self-described beach dweller and anywhere adventurer. She is also the Founder of Wildfire Collective: Podcast + Happenings + Justice Initiative.   Debra first joined me on The Happy Hour for episode #10, when we talked about sex trafficking, her adoption story and celebrity crushes. She's back today to catch up and fill us in on the latest going ons in her life. We chat about what success looks like for her, what she would like her legacy to be, and what she would tell her 20-year-old self. Sage advice there, y'all. I hope you love catching back up with Debra.  {You can listen to the showHERE. And of course, I would love if you would share with your friends. Just use the FB & Twitter links at the end of this post!} Links from the Show For Her Prayer Initiative Wildfire Collective Podcast Wildfire Collective Happenings This Is Us Half the Church by Carolyn Custis James Music from Jason Poe Connect with Debra Facebook // Twitter // Instagram Connect with Jamie Facebook // Twitter // Instagram Sponsor: Noonday Collection Noonday Collection is a business that uses fashion to create meaningful opportunities around the world. When you purchase Noonday accessories, you create a marketplace for artisan businesses, enabling them to provide dignified jobs in vulnerable communities. They develop artisan businesses through fair trade, collaborative design, responsible financing, capacity building and long-term partnership. On February 16, Noonday releases their newest line! If you host a Noonday Trunk show between February 16-28, you could earn gifts from some of their partners over at Lindsay Letters and The Object Enthusiast. Plus, with a qualifying show you'll be entered to win a trip for 2 to Austin! Contact your local Ambassador to book a show today. If you don't have an Ambassador, go to the here and you'll find a match with someone in your area!  

My guest for The Happy Hour #126 is the incredibly gorgeous Sazan Hendrix. Digital media influencer and fashion/beauty/lifestyle icon, Sazan was born to inspire others. As one of the most recognizable and leading young beauty entrepreneurs, she is transforming the professional business of social and digital media all around the world with nearly one million loyal followers across her platforms in addition to the millions of views on her blog and YouTube channel. She has also become an exclusive digital media ambassador for Maybelline, and most recently has launched her very own monthly box subscription called Bless Box.  On today's show, Sazan and I chat about what her days look like as a fashion and beauty blogger. If you have ever wondered what a day in the life of someone who lives in the digital world looks like, Sazan does a great job of describing it. She shares about how she and her husband work together and how they make it work. She also tells about her Kurdish background, and the costs and challenges with her decision to follow Jesus and marry an American man. She recently travelled to Israel, and shares about her experience and the digital backlash she received. If you don't already know Sazan, trust me, you'll probably find yourself binging on her YouTube videos for the next few hours. That's how we met, anyway. Sazan is the kind of beautiful that's an itsy bit intimidating to me. But, I was so impressed by her, and how relatable and personable she is. I think you will love getting to know her...and now I suspect I have lost you to perusing her YouTube channel. If you can break away, come back on Friday for another episode of The Happy Half Hour! {You can listen to the showHERE. And of course, I would love if you would share with your friends. Just use the FB & Twitter links at the end of this post!} Links from the Show Together for Israel Sazan's Be Wild Bless Box What Sazan is loving: Downton Abbey, brown matte lipsticks and indoor cycling Music from Jason Poe Connect with Sazan Facebook // Twitter // Instagram // YouTube Connect with Jamie Facebook // Twitter // Instagram Sponsors: Noonday Collection Noonday Collection is a business that uses fashion to create meaningful opportunities around the world. When you purchase Noonday accessories, you create a marketplace for artisan businesses, enabling them to provide dignified jobs in vulnerable communities. They develop artisan businesses through fair trade, collaborative design, responsible financing, capacity building and long-term partnership. On February 16, Noonday releases their newest line! If you host a Noonday Trunk show between February 16-28, you could earn gifts from some of their partners over at Lindsay Letters and The Object Enthusiast. Plus, with a qualifying show you'll be entered to win a trip for 2 to Austin! Contact your local Ambassador to book a show today. If you don't have an Ambassador, go to the here and you'll find a match with someone in your area!   PrepDish Prep Dish is a healthy subscription-based meal planning service. When you sign up, you'll receive an email every week with a grocery list and instructions for prepping your meals ahead of time. After a couple of hours on the weekend, you'll have all of your meals ready for the entire week. You'll save time and have some amazingly delicious meals like Smoky Paprika Chicken Legs with Roasted Carrots, Parsnips & Fennel or Turkey & Zucchini Lasagna. Allison is offering listeners one month for just $4! You can't beat it. Check out PrepDish for this amazing deal! Use code: happyhour The Heart of Marriage With beautiful photographs and poignant prose, Dawn Camp invites you to reflect on the heart of marriage. This collection is perfect for the good days, the hard days, and all the days in between. With stories from Crystal Paine, Lisa-Jo Baker, Alexandra Kuykendall, Holley Gerth, Shaunti Feldhahn, Renee Swope, Richard Paul Evans, Kristen Welch, Mo Isom, and many more. Pick up your copy here.