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...

I want you to add this book, Shoedog, to your reading list. Why? Because it’ll light a fire under your ass and relight the flame in your head that tells you “yes I can.”

As a kid of the 80’s and 90’s I was a fan of Nike, a huge fan. I wore the shoes, the apparel, had the posters on my walls.

I’m not sure when or why it happened but we grew apart.

When we moved to Portland in 2018, Nike suddenly came to the forefront of my mind again. Every other person I bump into works there. Their swoosh is everywhere. I drive by their stunning headquarters several times a week.

Then, in the summer of 2019, I read this book. And the day I finished it I was doing an airport run to pick up my husband. The airport was about 75 minutes from where we were staying for the summer, and coincidentally the exact amount of time I needed to finish the audiobook of Shoedog, that I hadn’t been able to put down since I started it three days prior.

When I pulled up...

A monthly letter from the desk of Sarah Fejfar

Hey there

We spent the Labor Day Weekend camping on Mount Rainier, and it was as magical as I imagined it would be.  Gosh, there’s so much beauty in the Pacific Northwest.  I love it!

It’s fascinating to me that it took us 3 years to make it to Mount Rainier because it was one of the biggest reasons we moved here. We’ve been going on so many epic adventures all over this #pacificwonderland, and there’s just so much beauty to see, it took us this long to make it happen.

I took a Girl Scout trip from Milwaukee to Washington State when I was in middle school.  My time on Mount Rainier, following a mountain stream upriver during that trip, stuck with me forever and I’ve always looked forward to going back.

With all that said, wow, it’s already mid-September!

What did you learn last month?

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

1. Making Plans Works! In early August I made...

You wanna know my secret to “acquiring” discipline?

It’s removing the decision.

That’s my trick.

Every time I make the decision to “remove the decision,” the discipline I’m looking for magically appears.

What do I mean?

If there’s an area of life or business I’m looking to be more disciplined in, once I remove the decision to do anything but the thing I’m wanting to do, magic happens.

Take breakfast. I’ve decided, that there isn’t a decision to be made there. I drink my green smoothie every day. Period. It’s not up for discussion. There's no decision to be made. I want to fuel my body with healthy things, so this is what I do.

There's no decision to be made.

Where do you need to decide, that there are no longer “options?”

If you're feeling brave, reply to this email and let me know. I promise I'll read it and I would honestly love to hear your story.

Sending you love and courage.

Make it an outstanding...

Ever sat at another influencer's event and been like, "this isn't me."

Or maybe you've sat in a bunch of influencers' events and you've said that every time.

They aren't speaking to you, yet, you're still feeling called to put on your own.

It’s not everyone’s fantasy to put on an event in front of hundreds in a hotel ballroom.

I get it. That’s totally cool. And here’s what I say to that:

DO THE WORK of figuring out what the live experience of YOUR BRAND would look like.

And then you do you.

Simple as that.

So what does that look like? The whole figuring out what the live experience of YOUR BRAND looks like?

I'm so glad you asked.

I like to call it R&D. Research and Development. Subscribe to other influencers' email lists.  Follow influencers who are putting on events on socials. Go to influencers' events.  Heck, go to non-influencer events. Lots of them.

Maybe the light bulb moment for YOUR BRAND's live event will come from going to a gallery...

Ever had the opportunity to go to a physical store of a brand you just LOVED? And you were like OH MY GOSH I’M HERE!

Something where you had to wait and you had a lot of anticipation building.

It's exactly how I felt when I went to a game at Lambeau Field for the first time or Nike Town in Chicago when I was a tween.

And I imagine that’ll be what it’s like when I venture into a farm stand or florist or restaurant in the Hamptons favorited by Ina Garten or Williams Sonoma’s test kitchen in San Francisco one of Chef Chloe's restaurants in New York City or Magnolia Market in Waco or Tiffany’s in New York City...ok, I’ll stop. I think you get the picture.

It’s kinda like when your kiddo got to go to Disneyland for the first time. Do you follow?

Can you imagine that feeling of pure elation?

THAT is the gift you give your community when you create the live event experience of YOUR brand.

Such a gift. And they’re dying to open...

Call me crazy.

But I believe Serendipity, or the Universe or God has a hand in our success.

I believe that if we cast our vision for what we want and get it as clear as we possibly can in our minds and on paper, that Serendipity, or the Universe or God shifts things in our favor.

I just had a monumentally freaky coincidental thing happen for me.

Now don’t get me wrong, the thing that happened, caused me to cry tears of “why is this happening.” Because at this moment, it’s not a good thing.

But, and that’s a big but right there, I believe in the pit of my soul, that this thing that just happened FOR me, while isn’t what I thought I wanted or needed TODAY, has some bigger purpose in my life and someday, maybe, I’ll learn why.

No, I wasn’t a philosophy major in college. Yes, I’m a very grounded, no-nonsense person. No, I don’t usually talk woo woo or like anything woo woo, but…

There’s a big piece of me that just KNOWS...

A monthly letter from the desk of Sarah Fejfar

Hey there,

We’re back in Oregon after four weeks away and enjoying our first taste of an Oregon summer after living here for almost three years!  We’ve got lots of “new to us” summer adventures planned for our family this month which I’m excited about and I hope you do too (yay for novelty!)

But I have to say, one of my favorite Oregon adventures of all time happened last month. We walked a section of beach in Cannon Beach that we hadn’t travelled before (because it entails walking through a river to get there.)  Taking the risk was 100% worth it to experience new terrain (sand dunes and lava rocks to climb) and less crowds.  Gorgeous. 

I think that’s what I love about living here the most is that there’s seemingly no end to the options for adventure.

With all that said, welcome to August!

What did you learn last month?

Here’s a quick recap of my favorite aha’s:

1. ...