Life of Kim

This is where I will share my sources of inspiration from the past week: it could be from books, podcasts, blogs, films, artwork, food/recipes, etc. I hope you find some encouragement here as well!

Recipes:

Moon and Spoon and Yum is a gorgeous website with absolutely stunning photography and plenty of Kim-friendly recipes. I tried two of her recipes over the weekend that I really enjoyed: Lavender, Ginger, and Walnut Shortbread Cookies and a Moon Milk Recipe . Olive and Mango has been posting some Greek–inspired dishes on Instagram that I am going to try in the next week or so. Her mouthwateringly lovely posts have me looking at photos of Greek islands, and dreaming of traveling there to enjoy the light and color and beauty of a Mediterranean country.

Blogs:

This was a post called “Tips for Easing Inflammation” from Lotuswei, a flower essences company I recently discovered and love. They have their own podcast, The FlowerLounge, hosted by Lotuswei founder, Katie Hess, which is a fascinating foray into the world of flower essences and the natural lifestyle.

Podcasts:

Jenna Kutcher’s The Goal Digger Podcast had two incredibly helpful and encouraging podcast episodes this week: HIT RECORD: Tips to Incorporate Video TODAY, which is nudging me toward video content planning and development for the next few weeks. I’ve been doing a few Live videos each week, but I’ve mostly been ignoring Stories on my Instagram accounts because, like lots of people, I think my life is too boring and I don’t have anything interesting to say. But I am missing out on the latest way to connect with my audience. Her second episode, How to Pivot When You’re No Longer Passionate was great because Jenna shared how she’s changed her business several times in the past ten years, as she changed and outgrew different business models.

And Rachel Hollis interviewed the CEO of it Cosmetics on her podcast in this episode:Building a BILLION Dollar Company with Jamie Kern Lima. If you’re an entrepreneur, you know how I might be feeling in year two of my journey. I will have a positive week, when all I’m doing to market and share my message and products seems like it might work. People might come to a class, buy my stuff, make an appointment for a consultation. And then there are the weeks when it seems like no matter what I do, nothing moves forward.

The women in this podcast episode remind me that everyone goes through this. There are pretty much no overnight business and entrepreneurial success stories. After listening to this episode, I realized I’m on the right track, and that if I’m making progress the path will be uphill all the way, as John Maxwell says.

And because I need this encouragement right now, and maybe you do too, I loved Todd Henry’s interview with Austin Kleon on The Accidental Creative Podcast. The title is How To Keep Going and had some very helpful words from Austin Kleon who just released his third book Keep Going. One thing he said that stuck with me is how people tend to think their career will be a slow rise and they’ll just keep going up, when in fact it’s more like a spiral. Yes! In my short time as an entrepreneur, that is my experience. Highs and Lows. It’s normal and it’s ok!

Articles:

Beloved British folk singer Kate Rusby shared this on her Facebook page a few weeks ago. It’s an article in the Guardian, written by fifty different authors, called “Something To Celebrate: 50 Favourite Places in the UK”. The music and arts festival she founded, Underneath the Stars Festival, is number 2 on the list. This time of year, when the weather is mostly still cold and the landscape is wearing drab tones of brown, I like to dream of all the places I want to visit. The UK can be cold and dreary too, I know, but Spring is a bit further along this time of year, at least in England. Anyway, if you’re interested in the British Isles, you will enjoy this read.

Books:

Show Your Work by Austin Kleon is the second book he wrote for creatives. In it, he shares how to connect with your audience, why behind the scenes/the process of art is fascinating to people, and why you need to just keep putting work out there. I just read it so I can move on to his third book Keep Going.