So…I was a #startup co-founder

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It’s been awhile since a new post was added to my site and it’s because a lot has been going on. Business has been good. A partnership fell apart. Pivots happened and plans changed. Essentially, the normal ups and downs of being an entrepreneur are to blame, but I’m not complaining. I can honestly say that things have been good overall.

This past April, I wrote and scheduled the below italicized text. I had just joined an exciting startup as a co-founder and I was giddy about entering the tech startup space. I wrote this post initially to make the announcement to everyone as well as use the post as a way to cross promote the startup across my networks.

Life, in its usual fashion, decided to disrupt my plans. I had to make an exit from my new exciting startup life because I just didn’t have the time available to devote to the startup’s needs and proposed timeline to launch. I just didn’t have the bandwidth to do it all–run Colleen Eakins Design and help build the startup.

The startup had to go on without me and although I’m sad I was unable to take the ride with them, I still want to publish what I had written then:

Back at the beginning of the year I listed three goals for 2016 and I am seeing progress towards those goals. One of those goals was to plan and execute on another revenue source besides the ones I currently have.

It looks like this is going to be realized through the most recent development in my business life–I was asked to be a co-founder for Mully Lingua. Mully Lingua will be a web and mobile platform to allow parents to find, book and partake in cultural and language activities for their children. I had previously done work to create the logo for Mully Lingua (currently in my portfolio) by a client that I have worked with for several years, Tami Garcia.

Mully Lingua was born from the definition “necessity is the mother of invention;” because she wanted better cultural experiences, opportunities and language exposure for her daughter. She wanted to create the experiences that would aide in her being a well-rounded and highly skilled global citizen. After speaking with other parents in the Washington, D.C. area, she realized they shared her same frustration of finding affordable and convenient options to meet this need.

It was that need that brought her to me and started the brand. Since it’s inception, she and I have been meeting to discus branding and what the technical and design needs would be for the service itself, as well as the marketing for the service. A couple weeks ago, she asked me to come on as a co-founder.

Yay! I must say, I’m pretty excited about this venture and I’m excited to be on track to meet another goal I set for this year.

We are currently in the planning, designing and development stages of the project and that means my blog posting is probably going to be a bit more sporadic than it had already become. For now, I am planning to try to post at least once a month and it may very well mean that most of my postings will encompass the high’s, low’s and woe’s of start-up life.

While we are slaving away, you can stop by Mully Lingua online, to see what we are up to!

Although I am no longer involved, I still want you guys to go check them out and sign-up to Become A Mully Lingua Beta Tester.

Set Unattainable Goals

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We’ve all heard, and possibly pondered the question: “Is there life after death?” Well, here’s another somewhat similar question for you to think about: Is there life after ‘the dream’ has been accomplished? Have you ever taken the time to think about what life would be like after you’ve achieved your goal(s)? Chances are that you’ve thought as far as the overall enjoyment of life due to the achievement of your vision of success, but what this question is really getting at is: Have you thought about how you will keep yourself motivated about life after achieving the things that you have set out to? Essentially…what will keep you from totally letting yourself go, giving up on life and becoming a zombie…or even worse…a corporate robot?

Most recently, I’ve been really thinking about some people that I know – acquaintances that shall remain nameless (due to my personal goal of self preservation). Now these people seemed to have set out in full speed in the beginning…gone to great lengths in order to obliterate mountains, and made one, possibly two amazing dreams into reality. On one hand, it’s great to have seen them achieve so much early on in their 20s, but on the other…it’s sad to see that life for them is essentially over. I’m sure that you can think of a few examples of people who made it to fame and just seemingly disappear.

So how do we make life continually be worth living, and maintain a healthy heart and brain throughout the years? Unless you trust yourself enough to continually challenge yourself by making new goals after each accomplishment (kudos to you if you do), the trick may actually be to set at least one humanly possible, but somewhat unattainable goal. Now hear me out. I’m not suggesting that you dive into a world of stress due to an almost impossible goal. What I am suggesting is that you prepare your mind to keep working on maintaining the best version of yourself.

Think of an elderly couple, where the two individuals have been best friends for over 40 years; the couple has done everything together…to the point that when you see one…you see the other. They have lived life with the goal of being with each other until the very end. What happens when the elderly lady passes on? You probably guessed it; the goal, in a sense, is complete, and the elderly gentleman will most likely pass not long after. I’m sure we can all agree that his quick passing isn’t due to old age or even health complications, but simply because in the absence of the journey with his best friend, there is nothing more to live for and his heart truly believes that. Though his passing is majorly due to him grieving the loss of his best friend, and you may not physically die from a lack of goals or motivation, it’s important to note that one can be emotionally, mentally and psychologically dead…in which case, life is essentially over and survival at that point is based on automated tasks, repetitive behavior and routine.

We can survive as robots for quite a while, but is that really living? Humans need to dream; we need to believe that there is something worth living for. If not, we just become the real versions of the walking dead. My friends, do yourselves a favor…keep your hearts and minds active by continually chasing the butterfly in the wind.

Balance the Scales

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At the beginning of the year I said that I wanted to make 3 goals to reach by year-end.  You can read more about that here (click the word ‘here’).  We are now almost a month in and I am proud to say that I am making some progress on at least one of those goals–to find more balance.  As a matter of fact, today’s post will be on the shorter side because I am writing this while on vacation.

Over the years, I have found that the scales that balance my career/business side of my life and the personal/relationship side of my life are never in balance together.  If things are going well and less stressful on the career/business side, all Hell is breaking loose in my personal life.  If things on the personal side of my life are doing well, fires are consuming everything in sight on the career/business side.  I can never get the two to balance together.

Because I like to hyper analyze things and approach everything like a puzzle, I’ve been trying to take an introspective approach and look at what is in balance the most.  I figure if I can tackle balancing things on the ‘weaker’ side, I may be able to better balance the two together.

The weaker side is my personal life.

With my personal life I am guilty of not keeping and fostering relationships with friends, family and significant others.  I’m also guilty of not taking enough time out for myself.  I often feel that I’m not good at balancing the needs of others and my own needs.  I suck.  I think I’m socially under developed and on a personal level, I operate in an isolated silo.

That’s not a good thing.

I recently came across a podcast episode that featured Rob Scott (@rob_scott) on identity shifting.  In it, he talked about changing behaviors and mindsets by changing the lens that we view ourselves through.  If I continue to view myself as sucky and under developed socially, I will probably remain that way…in spite of trying to not be that way.  I have to first believe and see myself as something different.  The way I want to be.

Of course I have to actually put some actions with this change in thinking and view point, but it’s something that I think is worth me trying to do.  I see it as being similar to cognitive behavioral techniques and therapy used to help people that suffer from anxiety disorders.  The way they work is to get the person to change the way they think and feel about a trigger for their anxiety.  The initial thoughts and feelings that bring on the anxiety when the trigger is encountered are replaced with a different way of thinking and feeling about and towards the trigger.  In time, a person does not have to work as hard at replacing the thoughts and feelings and the anxiety attacks become less frequent or non-existent when exposed to the trigger.

This is something I have decided to give a try.  If you get a chance, check out Rob Scott and the podcast I heard him on here:  http://colleeneakns.me/1Ua2jev

Now, back to vacation!

3 Reasons Why I Won’t Steal Your Idea

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Over the past several years we have seen a boom in technological advances, tech-driven companies, products and services.  All started from someone’s idea and believed in by investors and consumers.  One thing they all have in common is someone like me.  Someone that understands marketing, advertising, design and how they benefit a business’s bottom line.  In the beginning, they may have only had one someone like me and now they may have a team of my clones.

Another thing they had–trust.  They trusted someone like me enough to share their idea and allow that person or team to shape the visual story around that idea.  Granted, there may have been a non-disclosure agreement otherwise known as a NDA involved some where in the process.  However, they still had to put their trust in that person.

So I guess you can say that today’s post is a bit self serving.  Because today I am going to not only tell you that you can trust me with your idea, but also give you some reasons why you can be assured that I won’t steal your idea.

Reason #1 Why I Won’t Steal Your Idea

Lack of interest.  As a business owner myself I know how much work, patience, blood, sweat, tears and MONEY goes into launching a successful product or service.  I really have no desire to invest that kind of energy and resources into something I’m not passionate about.  What I am passionate about, is what you are interested in hiring me to do.  It’s the reason you were referred to me, or googled me.  It’s the reason you ended up on my website and reviewed my portfolio.  It’s what I went to school for and it’s something I love to do.  I design.  I brand.  I understand marketing.  I combine that understanding with design and branding to create visuals that tell a story and get consumers to commit the actions you want.

While I may lack interest in stealing your idea, I am very interested in helping you succeed with your idea.

Reason #2 Why I Won’t Steal Your Idea

I already have a business that is launched and doing well.  If it wasn’t, frankly you wouldn’t have found me, or even wanted to hire me.  I also have a notebook full of side projects that I am working on launching or initiating in my spare time.  I just don’t have the time to figure out how to steal your idea and make it a successful business on my own.  Without you, your idea would be lacking something.  I would more than likely need you or someone like you, to pull it all off.  While I may be able to figure out the marketing and visual side of things, I would be missing your knowledge base; experience and the insight that makes your idea unique to you.

I make a better partner with your idea, than thief of your idea.

Reason #3 Why I Won’t Steal Your Idea

While I may believe in you and your capabilities, I may not believe your idea to be a viable, scalable or profitable idea.  Yes, I really am that honest and straight forward.  Ask any of my clients and they will tell you that I will honestly tell them if I think a path, marketing idea, etc., they are venturing down might not be a good one.  I always give them reasons, examples and analogies to illustrate why and I often try to help them brainstorm or suggest an alternative option.  In my personal life, people like talking and consulting with me because I look at things objectively and I don’t just tell them what they want to hear.

So I may not want to steal your idea solely because I don’t think it’s a good one.

If after all of these reasons you’re still feeling a bit leery, I would be more than happy to sign a NDA.  However, I can’t quote or give you an estimate without first knowing what it is I need to estimate. 🙂

My Goals for 2016

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It’s 2016!  Another year has gone by and for many, a lot of resolutions were broken or left unrealized.  Now it’s time to make new or repeat old resolutions for the new year.  I know there are many schools of thought against making new year’s resolutions, so to quiet the rabble rousers, I am going to just call them goals.  Not only that, but I am going to publicly proclaim my goals for 2016 so that I can be held accountable.  I feel by posting them for the world to see and not just on a poster in my bedroom or office, I will have a little more motivation to accomplish them.

I’ve also decided that instead of making a long list of things I resolve to do in 2016, I’m going to limit my list to 3 items.  3 items to go full throttle on and execute for the new year.  So without further ado, I present to you…

My Goals for 2016

Create an additional revenue stream.  I have a running Evernote notebook full of ideas to create additional revenue sources.  Some of them are new business concepts and some of them are additional services I can offer through my existing business.  The goal for 2016 is to take those ideas and act on them.  My friend Vanessa wrote a guest blog for me a few weeks back that talked about having hopeful ideas and not acting on them.  I’m going to take some of her suggestions in that post and do just that–act on them.  By the end of 2016, I want to have successfully executed this goal.  Even if it’s just $5.00 a month in additional revenue, I will feel accomplished because it’s no longer an idea just sitting in a notebook.

Fix my eyes.  This one is more of a personal goal, but a goal that will have an affect on my quality of life and my pocketbook.  I am very, very, very nearsighted.  I have been wearing glasses since the second grade and contacts since college.  I have always hated not being able to see and when I was young it was a hinderance as an active tomboy.  I can’t tell you how many times I broke my frames and put them back together by bending staples where screws should go and using wood glue from my father’s garage.  This is primarily because tape would have made me look even more like a nerd and I was inspired by the television show, McGuyver.  I have already started doing my research and reaching out to friends that have had LASIK to gain insight on the procedure.  My uncle had LASIK done back in the late 80’s and I used to tell my parents that when I grew up, I was going to get my eyes fixed.  It’s time to act on that.  By getting my eyesight corrected, I will be able to do more activities and save the money I spend each year on contacts, contact solution and glasses.

Find more balance in my life.  Keeping a healthy work/life balance has always been something I have struggled with since working for myself full-time.  At times I feel I am doing a great job and at other times, not so much.  Towards the end of 2015 I was able to identify a couple of things that I had done that seemed to be helping.  One was getting regular massages.  I found an awesome massage therapist not far from home.  Shout out to Peace of Mind Therapy by Christine!  I now get a massage every 2 weeks and it has been an awesome stress reliever.  The second was to take vacations…and not work.  Before 2015, I was traveling for weeks at a time, but bringing work with me.  I was trying to adopt a bit of a digital nomad-like lifestyle in order to travel, see the world and still earn an income.  Now that I have added contract work into the mix, I don’t have the same need to work while I am traveling.  Last year, I took one week vacations, on three separate occasions throughout the year…and didn’t bring my laptop with me.  I was truly on vacation.  What it did was give me a break and it also allowed me to return back to work refreshed and renewed.  I want to continue both of those things in 2016 and find more ways to find balance between work and life.

To keep myself on track, I have set a mini-goal for this month.  I am going to take these 3 goals for 2016 and find a creative way to display them in my office.  The year I decided to make a vision board, I posted it in my bedroom where I could see it everyday.  I was successful with every goal on that board that year.  Since then, I have set goals, but haven’t reached all of them.  I think having a visual reminder everyday may be key to my successful completion of these goals for 2016!