Shame, shame, shame on me. I was seriously considering taking a video business training course…online. Despite the program’s creator being a standout—not only from the standpoint of what was being covered in the training, but in the quality of the delivery and visuals—I was 100% sold on something from an online “relationship” I had with essentially, a stranger. Gulp.

But let me back up a little:

RICH, HAPPY & HOT
During the first few months of 2011—going from resigning a major account to seeing them off safe and securely—I was diving into a lot of new territory, including sporadically visiting Marie Forleo’s free, weekly, online marketing videos. Her energy was totally over-the-top and always chock full of rich, actionable content. I watched and each week said aloud “That woman is gooood!’ Then she opened enrollment for her Rich, Happy & Hot B-School…for short (and shame?), RHH.

Oy! That name killed me, but not enough to NOT listen to what Marie had to offer. “B-School” sounded exactly what my future clients would be needing. The program was a triple threat: convenient, fun and useful. With one particular client of mine in mind, I signed-up.

I was taking an online training. The “As Seen on TV!” and QVC-ness of it all made me keep this decision, under wraps. My RHH shame gauge was at an 8. Maybe 9.

BEYOND MY EXPECTATIONS
A year later, speaking the acronym RHH flows naturally and without the same degree of shame because without a doubt, RHH B-school is the tits. To me, Rich, Happy & Hot now means I am well taken care of. When Marie says “I’m here to help you make money, make a difference and be your happiest, wisest and most loving self.” She means it. And delivers. Her six-week business training blew my pre-conceptions of:

online training
marketing
making bank-busting money online though marketing

PLUS, I was having a blast! This was in addition to the genuine thrill of creating a successful program, using tools I learned in “B-School”, for my client. Her most intimate, highest price-point workshop filled to capacity—resulting in $5k in revenue in 2 weeks time. MY business too was seeing incredible growth—sustainable, spot-on, fit-me-like-a-glove growth.

Shame gauge? A solid 5. What can I say, I’m a tough nut to crack.

My sporadic marieforleo.com visits became the weekly vlog I anxiously awaited. As I continued to learn and grow with Marie’s sage and sassy advice, in November I invested yet again and flew to NY to attend her 3-day RHH Live event. Needless to say, Forleo delivered AGAIN… and then some. My always “on” bull-shit detector never left zero the entire weekend. This is when I fell totally, gaga in love with Marie. It was like a coming-out party. No need to assign a number to the degree of my shame anymore. I was loud and proud.

I was also so impressed with the quality of Marie’s programs I applied, right then and there, for her exclusive Adventure Mastermind. The mastermind requires not only an intense personal investment but a MAJOR financial commitment. And only 20 people are accepted from hundreds of applications—so beyond any budget concerns, my chances were slim.

10-FOLD RETURN ON INVESTMENT
When I received my Adventure Mastermind acceptance notice, I knew my life would never be the same. Marie’s content-rich offerings had already affected incredible growth not only for Viewers Like You, but for our clients. My reasoning went like this: if the $2k tuition for B-School came back to me 10-fold, what would happen if I invested $20k?

Currently, I am half-way into a year-long Adventure Mastermind journey. My appreciation for, and confidence in, Marie and the entire Forleo team grows deeper each week. I know the big-time money I’m spending is in fact a HUGE value. I am so confident in, and enthusiastic about, what Marie offers that I am now a (shame-free!) affiliate for her Rich, Happy & Hot B-School.

NEVER SAY NEVER
I used to think Rich, Happy & Hot? CHEESE! And you now know how that got turned on its head. I used to think I’m never shilling for another’s program. But guess what, that belief too has been reevaluated. The experience in B-School, for myself and my clients, has been so incredible, it would be selfish NOT to share my experience. Viewers Like You’s incredible growth is absolutely tethered to every and all RHH offerings.

I encourage you to check out Marie and B-School to see if it resonates with you. You’ll know if its a good fit when you feel it in your body. You will notice you are leaning towards the screen. That’s your clue. The body never lies.

And do feel free to contact me with ANY questions you have, I am happy to share my experience in more depth.

Rich, Happy & Hot B-School

For this experience I am grateful. And yet, I still have RHH shame.

RHH is an acronym for Rich, Happy & Hot. A little cringe-worthy, right? [Probably because it's not the easiest thing to admit aloud that I feel that way about myself. But let's save THAT for the couch.] The uncategorizable event I attended last Fall was called Rich, Happy & Hot Live and I knew about it from being a part of Rich, Happy & Hot B-School. Thats a whole lotta RHH in my life. You’d think I’d be over it by now. Especially since any RHH “product” I’ve invested in, has been worth it’s weight in gold. B-School specifically was off the charts.

If we have ever met up to talk collaboration, you for sure have heard me sing B-School’s praises. At the very least I’ve suggested you check out Marie Forleo’s weekly videos online. And because my studio’s method has moved away from piecemeal projects and consultations, I have been directing more and more people to see for themselves if B-School is right for them.

WHO IS RHH B-SCHOOL FOR?
It’s not for everyone, and yet, that’s not the full truth. Even my li’l boutique agency gained massive amounts of quality ideas, useful tools and actionable plans–that not only served our clients’ growth, but our own–despite not being a typical B-School student. B-School was one of the smartest moves I’ve made ever and I think it’s something that could absolutely benefit all business owners. Especially if your business is, or is moving towards leveraging online opportunities. And who’s business isn’t.

WHY RHH B-SCHOOL?
Because you trust me and you trust yourself. I trust that when you check out B-School you will know right away if it’s a “Hell yes!” Because it if not a “Hell yes!” then it’s a Hell no, yo. You will feel it in your body–there will be a feeling of lightness and excitement. You will notice that you are leaning into the screen. Your breathing will be fuller. You’ll want it.

Why else? Because of Marie Forleo. Marie has a knack for attracting a community of women who are supportive and ambitious. Because that is who she is. And that Marie delivers the pathway to results, to so many, so successfully, takes it to a whole ‘nother level. B-School isn’t just brilliant inspiration, although it is always inspiring.

::

I want to share part of my story with you, because I think you can relate to a lot of it. I don’t have a whole lotta visitors here that I don’t personally know—so I feel confident saying you’ve heard this before—but dive in, because some of it was even news to me. I mean, it wasn’t NEWS news, but I hadn’t really examined it this deeply before I began to write it down. This is the story of how my RHH shame was born.
DID YOU KNOW I WALKED AWAY FROM A 100K SALARY?
A little over a year ago, on the first working day of 2011, after 12 years working on retainer with a high-end optical manufacturer, I resigned the account.

I resigned an account that brought in 75% of Viewers Like You’s income. An account that I “grew up” with as a designer. An account that over time became family.

But it was a dysfunctional one.

IT WASN’T OKAY ANYMORE
For 7 years I was unhappy working with this client, but the steady income and continued success we created for the company kept me warm. Until it didn’t. I reached a breaking point. It wasn’t okay anymore to keep on keeping on. Good enough, wasn’t good enough. The hit my bank account would take became less a sacrifice than a temporary part of a smart life strategy. The ease in knowing exactly what the client wanted became less attractive to me. Challenging myself and utilizing all my talents to create success for all my clients took priority. Not surprising, this shift fed my professional satisfaction as well.

I CHOSE JOY
I gave my client 4 months notice. Over a decade of work means there was a lot to tidy up and transfer over. There were tutorials galore. I was effective, efficient, kind and feeling a spaciousness in my days that hadn’t existed for a long time. Any fear I had about resigning the account was washed away simply by declaring joy, not security or a big paycheck, as the foundation of my professional practice. I thrived like never before. Walking away from something that was “secure”, “good enough” and “lucrative”—but ultimately hurting me—turned out to be a great personal boon.

During this time of incredible personal and profession growth, Rich, Happy & Hot B-School came into focus. I immediately saw a clear picture of what was necessary for the future of our studio, and ultimately what would serve our clients. And the beginning of my RHH shame began.
::

You can read “RHH Shame Part 2″ here.

And if you are dying to learn more about this B-School thing now here’s where to go.

My collected “musts” are hidden in a secret place on this site, and I am dolling them out, one at a time, each week. You Should Know is a curated collection (I know, everyone’s a curator!), of what I am currently jumping-for-joy about.

Well…you should know about Ze. I’ve loved him for a long time. No, not that way. In 2006 he had a daily online program “The Show with Ze Frank” that ran EXACTLY a year. Despite it’s wild success. It was fun fun good times (full of wit and delight). And now after a killer Kickstarter campaign he’s come out of retirement. It’s same same, but different. So run, don’t walk, to his new show here.

And return often.

As often as you should return to You Should Know.

Unless he starts posting daily again, cause I’m sticking to my one “Should”, every Tuesday schedule.

With Mad Men’s season 5 premiere, there is a lot of publicity. And hooray! I happened on an interview that includes details about the look of the show—a mid-century modernist’s wet dream. It is no secret that Director Matthew Weiner is beyond exhaustive in his research on the era. He also skillfully rides that edge of collection and omission. Take note of the reason behind why he “withholds” in his shooting style:

It’s a classical style of shooting—no gratuitous camera tricks. We put so much time and care and love into the design of these sets and the design of these clothes and the hair and these people that the frame is going to look full and rich. You don’t have to do some fancy camera move to try to add some excitement.

There is a time and place for showing off your assets: products, back story, good taste. It’s easy to get carried away when there is so much goodness to share. Knowing where that perfect point is, just this side of saturation, is the embodiment of sound design.

Article: Ari Karpel for FastCoCreate.com
Image: Unattributed.

Viewers Like You believes whole-heartedly in and makes all efforts to credit the creators whose images inspire our posts, a.k.a.: linking with love. However, if at any time you see work that is improperly recognized or you know the original “source” send me note and I’ll gladly update/correct/attribute. 

Presently, we’re collaborating with DC-based Vs The Brain on a film that will tell the Viewers Like You story. Production begins next month and no doubt our purpose will be elegantly infused with their mad skills. And soon thereafter the blog will be populated again with the results of ALL that is stirring.

What else are we up too?

Later this month we will be joining Kinfolk Magazine in their Austin dinner series. This intimate evening is bound to inspire. I mean, ga, check this out. And in that indescribable way like-things attract, Kinfolk too worked with Vs The Brain for their filmmaking needs. We are in great company.

Separate from our similar preference for filmmakers, we feel a special affinity with Kinfolk. In their words: “The Kinfolk dinner series is about inviting people to gather and take advantage of the rich community that already exists around them opening up and drawing close to the people that share a common place. We aim to encourage collaboration amidst local artisans and small businesses.”

The result of the VS/Kinfolk partnership can be found here.
More about Kinfolk here.

Foam elephant, fish, horse and mouse Fluffizoo’s are top on my list. Imagine them peppered on a lush green lawn, children atop. I wonder if the client will go for the $710 price tag?

We’ll probably end up here.

Still, what a delightful reverie. Musing fantastic and colorful professional dreams.

The above Saint Valentine’s Day card, made for our beloved client Carrie Contey, is not the only place we’ve been feeding our enchantment.

The studio literally just wrapped up an identity system for the Austin Office of Sustainability’s Rethink brand. Included with the more formal logo type created is a system of 21 hand drawn (by me) words, that visually juxtapose and emotionally support AOoS’s mission. And despite our highs from the influx of Sharpie off-gassing in the studio, we had enough sense to NOT attempt to execute a custom logo for our client, a Los Angeles-based Psychotherapist. For this we were inspired to hire calligrapher Nancy Howell. More about both of these projects after their official launches.

The hand drawn influx we are experiencing is feeling good.

Even Chelsea got into the act, lending her hand to the lettering project for Carrie’s Valentine’s Day card. For this project, we attempted to capture and equal Ms. Contey’s fondness for the coterie of families that she works with. But knowing Carrie, as lovely as they are, they don’t hold a candle to her affection for them.

Image: Chelsea Fullerton (dot com)