Life can give us a lot of ups and downs. As the year comes to a close, have a think about your year and what you want for the year to come. By focusing on what our personal legacy is, we can look back on the year and put everything in perspective. “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it …
Why Business Owners Need More Support Than “Regular People”
You are a business owner, and need support. So you go out with your friend and you unload. But, you know the look, on her face. Your friend– her face, she is SO BORED, so tired of you talking about your business. You did this really exciting thing that you could never do before and you leaped for joy and felt so proud and And …
How to Start Your Own Startup for under $100!
So, you are interested in creating a $100 Startup Business? Doing a business that you love? Possibly a company you can run from anywhere? In that case, I have a recommendation for you. You need to read Chris Guillebeau’s book The $100 Startup: In this post, I’m going to go through some of the most important topics, tell you why they work, and get you started …
How To Be a Successful Introvert In Business
In my previous post, I explored the difference between being an introvert, or extrovert. And, if you’ve realized you are an “inny”, rather than an “outty”, I’m going to try to help you realize even more about yourself and how to be a successful introvert in business. If you are wondering–yes, I am an introvert–and as an introvert, I have come up against a lot of obstacles. …
Introvert or Extrovert? & Why This Matters for Your Business
Are you an Introvert or Extrovert? This post will help you find out, and let you know why this matters for your business success. “One-third to one-half of individuals are introverts.” – Rowan Bayne, The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator In a world where the Extrovert is extremely favored, it is becoming more and more important to see where we fit in to the grand scheme of things, …
How to Enjoy the Process when You are Going Through Difficult Times
Going through Difficult Times? This post should help. Recently, a friend of mine posted this quote from Buddha on Facebook: “Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.” And, being the slightly sarcastic friend that I am, I replied, “Ok, how?” The truth of it is, being in the moment and enjoying the process …
What it Takes to Be a Small Business Owner
Entrepreneur Magazine just recently published this fantastic infographic created by Constant Contact (but I did have to change “Jack” into a “Jane”, OBVIOUSLY!) Find Out What it Takes to Be a Small Business Owner below. Check it out! I love infographics! Do you agree with the chart above? I do agree with most of it, but not the working all of the time and never taking any …
What Kind of Perfectionist Are You?
Let me begin by saying that my inspiration to write about this topic is that I am seeing a trend — and so is Google. The issue of being a perfectionist, and even the language has gone up DRAMATICALLY, look: It is no surprise, then, that we have begun to take this trait on, and incorporate this thinking into our lifestyle. Plus, given the rise …
Overcoming Perfectionism
One of the biggest issues that business owners and all of my clients have is a disease called Perfectionism. I call this a disease, because it is. It is debilitating, and it stops you from getting what you really want in life. It makes you feel awful, and it is not (by any stretch of the imagination) improving your life in any way. In this …
Army of One – The Part of Being a Woman Business Owner That Nobody Ever Talks About
When I first went into business, I thought I had a pretty good understanding of what I was in for. I grew up in a business environment, and I had been in the working world for over ten years. But something that nobody ever told me (and I wish they would) is this: When You Go Into Business For Yourself You Are an Army. An …
7 Magical Ways To Get More Creative in Your Work & Your Life
Finding the Magic We all grew up watching or reading stories of magic. And whenever there was a spell to be cast, the witch or sorcerer would need to put together a combination of strange ingredients. It might surprise you to read my list but each of these steps help me to get back my mojo and Get More Creative! One of the things that …
Why I stopped writing for 4.5 years.
Hello, …again. It’s me, Brooke, I’ve been gone for awhile now. And I’m about to tell you why. About 4.5 years ago, one of my best friends died. She died at the peak of her life. Newly married, just moved to Paris, ready to learn more French and take on the world. She went on holiday, and in some freak accident of nature, she got …
Expat Hacks for Free TV, Free Movies, and Free Music Downloads
Part of being an Expat is that while you may not miss your home country, you do miss your favorite shows. The fastest and easiest way to do that is to know how to download torrents. Next, I’ll talk about where to get the best access to pirated sites that have your favorite shows. There are loads of tools and torrents, but how do you …
It Is Your Right to Thrive
Have you ever felt angry that you were just trying to survive instead of feeling like you have fully reached your potential? Are you annoyed that you have done everything you were ‘supposed to do’ and are still waiting to THRIVE? Then, it is my duty to introduce you to The Thrive Movement. I have always believed inherently, that is possible to thrive, and, not …
The Best Places to Eat in Koh Tao
I am a firm believer that the best part of your trip research can be done by other people. In my case, I just happened to be super lucky with Koh Tao. My friends that I was going to meet there had both lived there before so they told me all of the best places to eat in Koh Tao. In your case, you can …
How To Avoid Travel Scams (Yangshuo Tai Chi School Master Huang Scam)
We book our travels now in advance, trusting the websites are accurate, the Trip Advisor reviews are current, and that our experience is going to be enjoyable and (hopefully!!) that our trips will be fun, meaningful, and memorable. That is why we travel, right?? Well, sometimes, things to go wrong, and other times, they go terribly wrong. This is my story of the Yangshuo Tai …
Weekend Getaway: Pangkor Island, Malaysia
Whether you are looking for a weekend getaway, or have some more time on your hands, Pangkor Island, Malaysia has it all. Pangkor is located on the north-west part of Malaysia, and the islands are just a quick ferry ride from the mainland in Lumut. Where to Stay We stayed at Pangkor Island Beach Resort which had all kinds of activities available, including: Kayaking Bike Rental Jet …
What Are You Grateful For?
So often in our society, describing our lives and lifestyles is either a list of things we still need to get done, or a long list of complaints. We talk about how busy we are, or what is going wrong in our lives. The only time people really stop to say something positive or clever is when they are posting on Facebook. We are too busy …
Fat Rant
If you are a western girl that lives in Asia, you are fat. I am not talking about whether you actually are fat, because more than likely you are not fat in Thailand. You are just a normal western girl in Thailand. However, in the eyes of every Asian girl, you are a towering giant that King Kong’s around town squashing tiny beings with your …
The Story of Not a Normal Girl
Hello dear readers. TODAY is Story Time and I’m going to tell you the story of Not A Normal Girl. Do enjoy! finding a new rock I’m pretty sure that there was nothing normal about my morning. I woke up in Thailand with an insatiable urge to find a new rock. I’ve been back in Thailand about a week and a half and have had …
The Real Good vs. Evil: Freedom vs. Control
This is the question you should ask yourself right now: Do I want Freedom, or do I want Control? This might be the biggest life choice that we face on a minute to minute basis, every single day. We have a choice to make in how we handle every situation in our life and our business. It comes down to Freedom or Control. Freedom …
Is Society’s Voice Louder Than Your Own?
In our lives, we experience many external pressures. most of which are meant to help guide us towards a “better” life. These social, political, and religious cues are meant to make us “successful”. Some of these are subtle—like a disapproving look—and some of these are dramatic, like being told what we want is wrong, bad, or stupid. Or, even worse, being told that what we …
What You Really Want Scares the Shit Out of You!
Let’s be honest with each other for just a minute. Deep down, you know what you really want. You have burning desires, fantasies, you spend time daydreaming about it. But, after you think about what you really want, two things happen: 1. You talk yourself out of all of the ways it could possibly become a reality, and 2. If all of the excuses went …
WOW, Singapore!
Let me start by saying I don’t like Most Cities… but as soon as we crossed the border into Singapore, Singapore, I immediately fell in love. Here are some of my highlights of what to do on a Weekend In Singapore. Here’s Why Singapore is Awesome The architecture is amazing. Everything is new. There’s a wide variety of people, all different cultures from everywhere. You …
Are You Ready To Make Money?
I recently had the pleasure of Louise Hay’s book, Receiving Prosperity. It really shook up some deep seeded feelings I had about money that I didn’t even realize I was holding on to! For those of you that are struggling with getting more of the green, this article is for you! Are you ready to receive? Most of us think about money, and we think …