A monthly letter from the desk of Sarah Fejfar

Hey there

As silly as it sounds, October 2021 will go down as the month I *didn’t* get COVID.  After 19 months of doing our best to live our lives and avoid getting sick, Cliff came home from a week-long guy’s trip to Moab, UT with COVID, even with his two Pfizer COVID vaccine shots.  We kept him isolated in one bedroom of our house for 12 days and managed to keep my kiddo and me from getting sick. #winning

While I spent more time than expected brushing up on my hospitality and nursing skills, our family did manage to get in a few adventures in #pacificwonderland in October.

My favorite adventure, hands down, was last night, trick or treating in our neighborhood for the first time since the pandemic hit.  There’s just something about people feeling good, together, that makes me smile: the shared experience of meeting neighbors, kids racing around with huge grins, and friends gathered around campfires in...

I’ve got this event coming up for that I bought tickets for months ago.

I absolutely love going to your events. Influencers put on the BEST events!

I call it R&D in my budget. But to be perfectly honest, it’s indulgent. I feel so darn lucky every time I get to go to an influencers’ live event.

It lights me up inside to see what ya’ll are working on and teaching and I freaking LOVE taking in all the excellent details you’ve spent months working on. It’s so. much. fun!

Here’s the problem.

At this event I’m planning to attend, I bought two tickets. One for my husband and one for myself. And it’s across the country. Four nights. Eek. That means I need childcare. And we’re not really in a position where we have any ‘easy’ options.

It’s making me really question whether we should go.

Apathy has set in.

Don’t get me wrong. I WANT TO GO. This event WILL BE amazing. But I still feel like opting out and throwing...

No duh.

It’s one of those ‘facts of life’ of living here in the City of Roses, or PDX, or Stumptown, or Bridge City, or Rip City; gosh I’ve never lived somewhere that had so many nicknames!

At my daughter’s school they fully embrace the philosophy that there’s no bad weather, only bad clothing.

We’re instructed at the beginning of each school year to have her cubbie full of rain pants, a raincoat, and rain boots. And we’re scolded if she ever gets out of the car at drop off without a rain jacket on.

(For Pet’e’s sake it’s just a little mist! But I digress, the rain here is nothing like I’ve experience growing up my whole life in the Midwest. When it rains in Wisconsin and Minnesota you SEE IT COMING and it rains HARD.)

Do I have a point?

Yes.

Does it relate to you?

Yes.

Preparation is 99% of the game when it comes to live events. That’s why I spend a whole module in Live Event Academy™ giving you all the...

I “finished” the laundry yesterday. I realize that’s an oxymoron. There’s never an end.

What I mean, is I got to a place where I can see the bottom of all the baskets. I feel like I won the lottery.

I have this system of eight white laundry baskets on a big silver commercial rack we got at Sam’s Club.

Four are labeled “dirty.” I use those to sort out the colors, towels, whites, and darks that need to be washed. The other four are labeled “Hubbie” “Sarah” “Kiddo” and “Towels.” I sort the clean stuff straight out of the dryer into those four.

Most of the time our clean clothes just sit there, and I never get around to folding and putting the stuff away. Wrinkles, I know.

But, that’s why most of my clothes don’t require ironing. Just like my laundry system, I keep my clothing simple. It’s less for me to think about so I can spend more time thinking about my business.

Do you have any...

I found it just present on my phone. I was scrolling through Instagram admiring a Peloton dance party and heard this song I liked. So, I went into my SoundHound app to figure out the name [Cheerleader - the Felix Jaehn Remix Radio version].

And that was awesome. It never ceases to entertain me when I learn the name and artist of a song I like.

Anyhoo, while I was in the app I found my search history.

I forgot it was in there.

I found some gems that I don’t own yet! Now I’m going to go buy them on iTunes so I’ve got them for good.

I’ve been trying to be more intentional these days about collecting up music I like. I’ve learned the right music puts a smile on my face, and that’s a good thing.

So what’s this have to do with you?

Great question.

I like using SoundHound at events I attend because if I hear a song that’s really getting the audience fired up, or if I hear some perfect journaling music, I can look it up on the spot.

Give it a try....

A monthly letter from the desk of Sarah Fejfar

Wanted to tell you… My favorite adventure from September is hands down, getting to drop my daughter off for her first day of in-person school since March 2020.  Wow.  What a gift.

I hope something amazing happened for you too in September.

And now it’s nearly mid-October!  Bring on the gorgeous Fall colors and chai tea lattes!

What did you learn last month?

Here’s a quick recap of my favorite learnings from September:

1. I’m not managing stress as well as I thought. I came down with a case of shingles while planning a hybrid event for a client last month.  The first thing out of the doctor’s mouth was: “are you under a lot of stress…” it felt like an ironic question given what the world has gone through (and what I have gone through) over the past 20 months.  It’s been stressful, yes.  But seriously though… I thought I was managing it well so I’m...

I eat the same thing for breakfast.

Everyday.

Yes, that makes me sound incredibly boring.

Yes, that makes me sound incredibly disciplined.

But not really.

I do it because it’s easy.

I do it because it’s healthy.

And maybe best of all, I do it because I don’t have to think about it. The less I have to think about, the better.

I can get more work minutes in when I clear the clutter in the spaces around my work blocks.

Do you follow?

Once my husband started working from home, just like I do, I started making them for him too. I can have breakfast made and cleaned up for both of us in 15 minutes. I love that.

So what’s in it?

5 oz. spinach or kale or a mix of the two*
1 cup of frozen blueberries*
2 T chia seeds
2 T flax seed meal
2 T hemp seeds
1/2 banana (for sweetness - optional)
1 1/2 cups spring water or coconut water

Easy peasy, right?

NOTES:

*Put the spinach/kale in first so things don’t get stuck in the blender.

**It’s important the blueberries are frozen so the...

That’s the story I told myself until I was 36 years old.

Right now, I read a book a week.

What changed?

I met Audible.

No, this isn’t an ad. I just love Audible so freaking much I want to shout it from the rooftops.

I didn’t know until I was nearly 40 years old that I have ADD. And how that manifested itself for me, was when I would read a book, I’d get to the bottom of the page and have to start all over again because I couldn’t remember what I was reading because my mind would race off on 100 different tangents.

When I met Audible, the whole book world suddenly became accessible to me.

It’s awesome.

Now I use the majority of my transitional time to read. I read while I’m washing dishes, while I’m folding laundry, while I’m out for a walk, while I’m driving, while I’m cleaning the house, and while I make dinner.

It is AMAZING how much content I can move through now. It’s literally opened doors for me and opened my eyes...

I stopped and stared the first time I saw a lawn service mowing the lawn in the rain.

It’s not a news flash that it rains in Portland, this you know.

But, did you know that they mow lawns in the rain in Portland?

After we moved to town in 2018, I noticed this phenomenon and it totally shocked me.

You see, I grew up in the Midwest. Never in my 38 years had I ever seen someone mow the lawn in the rain. It’s just not done. It’s frowned upon because the grass gets all clumpy if you mow in the rain. It can even gum up the mower. In fact, when rain was in the forecast, homeowners race out to get their lawns cut before the rain arrives. Because not only won’t they mow the lawn in the rain, they will wait until a day or two AFTER the rain, to mow to ensure the grass is completely dry.

But in Portland, it just might rain every day in the Fall, Winter, and Spring. You just never know. It’s not like the Midwest where you can see the storms roll in. It’s kinda...

What?!

Before you start calling me crazy, hear me out, because I thought this was crazy too, at first.

I was just at another influencer’s live event. And there were lots of other influencers there too. And I got to talking to one of them who ran a coaching certification business. He had hundreds of certified coaches all over the world. And the job each of those coaches has is to host monthly small events, like 10 to 20 people or so. And he told me that one of his coaches hosts her events in funeral homes.

Can you guess why she says she does that?

Because they’re quiet and they have lots of parking.

My jaw dropped. I totally cracked up laughing. A tear even popped out of my eye.

I had never in a million years considered this possibility.

But yeah, it’s totally possible and true!

There are so many options for where you could host your live event. Do what feels right for you and your brand. If you’re not a hotel boardroom/ballroom kinda guy, then don’t host your...