Cosmic Change Bullet Train Runs Through #MIMASummit and 100 Handshake Modeling

I spent yesterday attending the MIMA Summit in Minneapolis. In comparison to the lower key and smaller MN Blogger conference, MIMA was a rockstar event of marketing who’s who. Color lights, fancy lunch, snacks, drinks and an after party that zoomed by at an epic pace.

I took the day off work – probably unpaid – in order to push the energy forward on the job search, get to know the MIMA leadership and the organization itself. I joined the Marketing Committee, we’re about to create strategy for 2017 and well, it’s a job even if I don’t get paid. So dig in.

I shook a lot of hands, maybe like 100 over two days and did a lot of tweeting. I slammed even more information into my already clogged brain. I may need to sleep for a couple weeks and integrate.

Inspirational notes came from Sara Critchfield and Nora McInerny Purmort who had very different experiences creating powerful content. So I am not the only one writing from the heart, writing truth-based pieces and sometimes crying…

I left The Summit on a good note, preparing to dig deeply into the work at hand, which right now is volunteer-based. A session which involved ideation work on the future of MIMA conducted by GoKart Labs, recalled a course we had in our MBA (Creative Strategy and Innovation). I realized I knew how to ideate. The guys at the table with me over-thought it too much.

While I made new connections, telling almost everyone I met that I am post MBA, and job hunting, it was very ethereal in nature. Energy. Moving.

My boss asked me if I got any 100K job offers. “No,” I answered, “but I met a lot of people making 100K”. I keep thinking there has to be a tipping point in all this. A point in which the energy expended and expanded becomes the thing you are creating. Physical.

The more I show up the more I learn. My conversations become grounded in the lexicon and the knowing. The trust I know what I know increases. I need to be doing this.

Still, I came away exhausted and tired, in need of rest from the constant “on-ness” of networking events where everyone walks around like a rockstar in a suit jacket, skinny jeans and cute booties. I felt like I needed a new wardrobe. I am reminded of the old days, in film school when we used to act, and the internal focus was ‘how do I look?’ I’m mostly over that level of narcissim but events like this come with a lot of baggage.

The other thing I learned was how much I wanted to get on stage and do a talk. I don’t have any idea what to talk about. I just saw myself doing it. None of the speakers were flawless speakers, they all lost their way at least once while on stage, lights pointed at them. Maybe I’ll start with a smaller stage and get used to it first.

Now I feel like I am in a bigger space. Waiting. I looked ahead in the calendar and really there is nothing to “DO” for awhile. I did find out about one job I want to send a resume in to over the weekend. This will necessitate doing some tweaks to my resume – adding MIMA, adding my conference attendance, maybe see if there is anything to add on content creation.

Probably time to balance though. I need to integrate. Rest. Recoup from the people stuff. I plan to curl on Saturday in the All American which is very physical, very grounded work with the granite stones and the focus on the body itself. I’ll be sore by the end of it.

Honestly I was happy to come back to my regular day job Thursday. Familiar people like family I have been with for over two years. People I can laugh with and they know me and I know them. There’s something to be said for that level of familiarity. It may be awhile before I feel that calm in the world of marketing and business strategy.

Things, like circumstances and myself have changed a lot this year. They may change a lot more before we conclude 2016. We aren’t going back, and we can only move forward. A pace not always comfortable and certainly not consoling.

I’ll be ready for the career move proper when I am ready. I’ll know because I’ll be turning in my two-week’s notice and taking the new role. I’m obviously not ready. It hasn’t happened. I can only keep preparing and clearing and showing up when asked by my soul.

I am not even curling with a permanent team this year – both of my previous teams fell off and I decided to be a freelance sub. There were a few reasons why I didn’t want to curl on my usual night, Wednesday and so everything changed up.

In career everything is up in the air and changing, each piece of the puzzle leads to more puzzles and conjectures. There is a position out there, it hasn’t quite coalesced. I’ll be sure to let you know when it does.

In the meantime, maybe I should reach out to Nora and ask her if we can collaborate on crying, humor and authentic soul-based writing – or something. Was it weird that I wanted to run up on stage and hug her like a sister? I’m “Still Kickin’” over here too…

If you want to help support my career transition - I am still running my YouCaring.com campaign. While I did have some donations in the previous round, I have additional networking/conference type events, up keep on this website and other processes to go. You can also reach me personally for direct donations and I take PayPal

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