Here is a quick heads up!

I have something really awesome in the works and I just wanted to let you in on some changes happening soon.

What’s Changing?

• Change to a Minimal Design
• Nuwomb takes on a Contemporary Art And Photographic Art Gallery feel
• Challenging the Day to Day Mediocrity
• Leading by Example
• Visual Inspiration
• And Rad Contests.  (don’t worry it’s coming….you know who you are :))

What’s not changing?

• Blog content isn’t disappearing
• My passion

I am a huge believer in evolution and you’re witnessing the evolution of Nuwomb!

More is coming leading up to the change! In the mean time, I have set up a new newsletter for this change. If you want to sign up, you can by hitting up daily photographic art newsletter.  I’ll have sign up here eventually as well.

I started this post just before the new year and wanted to get it up so that you could consider making your resolutions with a renaissance mindset.  I never got around to finishing it up.  Instead of saying that I missed the boat, I’m using the idea in the hopes that I can keep you motivated on your goals for 2010.  We don’t have to wait for until 2011 to make new resolutions and changes for the better.

A Brand New Year

A decade and a month has passed us by. We no longer live in 2009. We have moved into a year that is so fresh and so clean, and you’re high from the excitement that a new year brings is hopefully still there. If it’s not, you could re-establish your ideas here and now.

The way resolutions are formed can make a wold of difference in their success rate. I’m not talking about creating simple, achievable goals or resolutions.  You can still go ahead and make some insanely difficult goals.  Without them, there is no long term direction, and “thinking” big never hurt anyone. Never ever.   I’ll start off with what I feel you should not do as you plan resolutions.  These ideas do not have Renaissance Living in mind at all!

What not to do:

• Do not wipe the slate clean
• Do not come from a place of scarcity
• Do not let anyone or anything hold you back
• Do not form resolutions in a negative format like these sentences have been formed.

Resurgence

A renaissance builds on the past. It’s like rising above and knowing where it all came from.  Each year we talk about quitting something or giving up something.  I’m all for eliminating things in pursuit of a minimalist lifestyle; however, forming resolutions and personal changes in a negative format is dangerous.   Think of the next 11 months with renaissance living in mind.  Acknowledge your past and realize that you can recall that dream of being an artist or world traveller. It’s about allowing your creative self, your artistic genius to be revived and overtake the corporate (cubicle) mindset. This is the perfect time to allow your passions to rise up and do what you’ve always wanted to do in life.

Frame ideas and changes in a positive format! It’s hard at first but you’ll start to see how easy it is to turn a negative into a positive.  In my eyes, the office mindset has taken over the way we can frame issues in a positive light. It’s beaten the artist out of us because the company needs you to keep answering the phone or working the line. Suddenly our only resolutions are to quit smoking or lose weight.  How boring and sad.

Embracing life from the mindset of renaissance living and creativity will help in the art of change.  Making resolutions is an art form. I’ll look at the two resolutions that I hear every year.

Comparing Mindsets

In my opinion, people make resolutions from a negative mindset. I’ll quit smoking and it’s going to be so hard. I’ll lose 60lbs and not be fat anymore. How are you seriously going to do anything with thoughts like that.   I know, let’s blame reality television! You’ve been eliminated from the game, you’re fired, you’ve been evicted…etc.  We’re constantly bombarded with negativity.  Let me just give you an example of the 2 resolutions in a positive light:

• I am going to enjoy the fresh air more and more often. I remember how amazing the air was as I grew up and how I felt great being in natural settings associated with freshness.
• I’ll increase the amount of healthy vegetables I eat because I feel more alive when I take the time to eat properly. I remember how great it was playing soccer and other sports while growing up. I intend to play and have fun getting exercise.

These are 2 examples.  The first doesn’t even mention the act of quitting smoking, but it is the exact opposite of having a cigarette. The second idea doesn’t even mention being “fat” and needed to lose weight.  It only deals with eating better and getting exercise, but it’s relating to the past feelings of having fun.  Don’t make it feel like another chore.  We have far too many of those.   Both of these resolutions or life changes are looking into the past and reviving great feelings and interests.  Somewhere along life took a turn and we lose touch with such simple things that are so good for our lifestyle. The positive side effects are amazing.  Why would I smoke while the air is so fresh and invigorating?

If you’ve framed some of your goals or ideas in a negative way, revisit them for me and you. Re-phrase the ideas in a positive light and keep the renaissance living mindset active.  It’s seriously changing the way my brain is wired.

I’m sending out a newsletter later today.  It’s going to have the winner of the Linchpin Book Contest and an idea related to social media for you to think about and try. You can subscribe below the post.  Interested to see who wins the book! I’ll post here as well on Friday.  Thanks for all the participation! It’s hugely appreciated.

I know today has been full of iPad hype. I needed to wait til around this time to send out this post;  A post about Linchpin by Seth Godin.  I want you to have a copy. I started reading a copy of Linchpin and it is bang on what I am trying to get across here – sooner or later.  It’s saying what I did at the start of this month and worked towards last year.  Linchpin is a book that you cannot pass by and read in 5 years because everything is happening now, and you need to make the decision now.

I have not finished reading the book. This is not a review of the book.  I just want to get this book into the hands of person that maybe can’t go out and buy it, or knows someone else that can’t buy books but keeps talking wanting to live out their passions instead of making widgets faster and faster.

This is a contest in which I’ll send a hardcover copy to you. I want to pass a brand new copy so that you can read or give to someone in need of it.  If I can help one other person see the light that is sitting within Seth Godin’s book, I will feel so great.

Seth calls this a revolution.  I am seeing it as more of a renaissance.  Whatever you want to call it, you have so much to offer the world! We have everything at our fingertips now to create and live every passion we’ve ever had since age 3. Reconnect with your inner creativity.  I want you to win this book. I want to mail it to you so that you can experience what I’ve been thinking and how Seth Godin is able to communicate it so well.  I believe the information within this book is so much more valuable than an iPad. I’m not kidding.

Let me mention how to win:

I’m creating a ballot system.  It’s fun! More ballots = More chances to Win!

Comment on this post = 1 ballot

Retweet the post (simple button at the top of the post) = 3 ballots

Sign up for Newsletter just below the post = 10 ballots

Contest will End at 23:59 EST on
February 2nd 2010.

On Monday February 3rd, I’ll tally up the ballots and do the draw. Would be awesome if someone in my city won so that I don’t have to ship but I’ll ship this book anywhere.

I have read a few great blog posts related to this book recently.  After you get your 14 ballots in (best odds of winning), go check out these 2 blog posts:

1. Hugh MacLeod: “Linchpin: Ten Questions for Seth Godin“
2. Charlie Gilkey: “The Creative Entrepreneur’s Guide to Linchpin“
3. John Jantsch: “Talking Linchpin with Seth Godin” (this has a link to his podcast interview)

“So what exactly do you do?”

The Christmas season is over and you’re probably happy to have this question behind you for a little while.  How you answer this question can, apparently, tell a person a lot about you.  I used to hate this question.  I would go to get my haircut and the stylish would make small talk around:

“So did you come from work? Where do you work?”

Once this question was asked, I could feel my shoulders sink and my energy level go off a cliff.  I don’t know why I didn’t lie to make it more exciting.  Does this resonate with you at all? Keep reading and I hope to inspire you with my story a bit more.

A Long Time in the Making

Over the last 2 years, I’ve made it a dream to quit my day job and show my depression that I’m the one in control. The simple act of owning my own domain triggered an area in my brain that said: “Welcome!”  I make the decisions on my domain.  I had no manager telling me what was allowed, why I can’t work on this or that right now, and what the content must be related to for this quarter.  It was like the dark clouds suddenly moved aside and the sky opened up a beautiful blue, and a plane flew buy with a banner attached saying: “Don’t ever look back, Scott.”

In April of 2009, Marika and I went out to Calgary and British Columbia to see some of her family.  We stayed with her Uncle Ben’s Family while in Calgary.  It was a really great experience and synchronicity played a big part.  This visit with Ben and Pam made me realize how not doing what I love would be a disservice to myself and the world.  We didn’t exactly get that literal but it’s what I saw.  There was a moment when Marika asked Ben: “So what is it you do exactly? We always wonder!”

Ben laughed and I loved that it was so hard for him to quickly define his “JOB.”  If my memory serves me right, he said that he does Engineer Consulting, Podcasting, Video Editing, ect.  He works from home doing what he loves.  He’s now got a wicked thing going on over on a domain called Mechanical Mashup. MechanicalMashup is a Mythbusters like webcast for the DIY garage types.  Check it out!

Fast forward 9 months, and I’ve quit my day job. Interestingly enough and unplanned it fell in line with the name and purpose of this blog.  A fetus incubates in the womb for what, 9 months? Go with it. I didn’t plan this out; However, I do believe that I set this intention in motion a long time ago.

I cut the cubicle umbilical cord!

I have taken the biggest risk of my life and I wish I took it 7 years ago. Last week I said goodbye to my life in a pseudo-cubicle. I handed in my security pass and the dreaded dog-leash-of-a-call-centre headset.   You’re probably looking at the number of subscribers and gasping.  You have due cause. The number of subscribers is higher right now than it was at the time of my resignation.  Remember, I am taking the biggest risk of my life.

Or am I?

Absolute Certainty

n my life, I have always felt a connection with the right side of my brain. I loved the design aspect of my architecture program, yet dreaded the technical  drawings.  I am drawn to expressing myself in a creative manner. If I can’t than I am not myself.  At my first call centre job, I would design a new time-sheet everyday. I wish I had kept a few and not handed them in. I became known as very creative and people would want to see what I would come up with at the end of the day.  This was while mindlessly taking inbound calls for loan applications, or payment arrangements for a hydro company.  I was grateful for having a job and being able to go out on weekends with friends, but everything became mind-numbing.  I would drink so much on weekends that I would not remember anything due to blackouts. And the follow days were spent in bed trying to recover.  Ever read the book Million Little Pieces? My life felt like that book in the first few chapters.

With the time that’s passed, and the amount of knowledge and experience I’ve gained I came to a conclusion:

I  had to put an end to soul crushing work. In all my heart, I believe with absolute certainty that I will succeed. I am beyond excited to have the ability to focus 100% of my energy on blogging, design, photography and life.  Everyday that I spent at my day J.O.B. felt like my creative soul was being power washed away.  It took multiple talks with my fiance, Marika.  We weighed out pros and cons. We saw what the work there was doing  to me and my doctor, at our last follow-up, had said he didn’t want to mess with my medication much because he felt it was my job at this point. I had adjusted and made the effort to change everything else in my control and the last thing standing was the job I hated.

People were shocked, and some are still confused.  How or why would someone leave such an outstanding company to work for?

The company was highly recognized:

This company one of the strongest major banks within Canada.  The job served its purpose for the last 3 years, but it just beat me down. I knew deep down that the work was not for me.  I believe this is where the body, and the universe sends you a wake up call.  I mentioned my wake up call before here.

As much as I would love to say everything that did not work for me at that job, there is not value in doing so.  Since starting a blog, I’ve done so much self-reflection, self-development and it’s allowed me to combat depression.  Combining blogging, design, and photography is a serious dream.  I remember saying:

I want to blur the line between blogging and photography!

I feel that I am and more. I have to focus on earning an income and creating a greater value for you readers.  I am in this for the marathon.

What’s to come?

You’ll hear about progress on the blog from time to time.  A lot of the behind the scenes progress will be communicated via my newsletter – you can subscribe in the form below.  I finished the design and love how it looks. We’re in business!  I can finally commit my time to your needs.  Recently, I would have to put some work off because I would be at my other job, or just too mentally drained.

You’re going to see:

• More frequent blog articles. Blog articles are free and I know that free rocks.
• More frequent newsletter communication about this process and ways it could help your small business online
• My other projects gaining some ground and getting more attention
• Free eBook
• Future eBooks
• Blog Critiques

I am open to blog topics, questions, and things you’d like to see here.

What will I be doing?

Nuwomb is, in a way, going against the grain of the information provided by a lot of other bloggers. At Nuwomb, I’m not just about personal development, or business development, or business marketing. I what to help you out on a holistic level.  Nuwomb does  have an overall desire to help you in your own rebirth. A rebirth, or reinvention of yourself to follow your dreams (finally) and quit the job you somehow found yourself stuck in.  To make such a shift is not subjected to a micro-niche.  I want to help with giving you a look at everything that goes into this democratic renaissance.  I will help you:

• Start a blog to have a place of your own online
• look within to realize that you’re not trapped in the cubicle
• to be inspired to pursue your passions
• pursue a number of passions and not just one
• help you with your business blogging – either starting out or preventing you from giving up on it all
• to see what other bloggers are doing right that you may want to do with your blog.
• realize that now is the time to take control and you’re welcome to join me in my journey.

I want to do this in so many ways, ie blog posts, newsletters, eBooks and Critques. I have made a start on my services page. It’s located at the top under “Hire Us.”  This is to get going.  I am here to get you going too.  There are way too many blogs out there now that try to teach you how to blog, how to install your blog and so on.  I don’t want to waste my time or yours on those kind of things.  I don’t think you should waste your time on learning that information either.  I’ll do that work for you. I’ll install wordpress on your hosted website domain, set everything up with a premium theme like I have here, and we’ll do a walk through of the basics.  This gets you going in 24-48 hours!

If your looking for more – which I would highly suggest – I can also work on the design of your blog to make it unique to you and give you some schematic blueprint type ideas on where to place future features if you decide to expand. Premium wordpress themes are great! I adore WooThemes because of the many outstanding designs and then I can go to town on making graphic and code changes for you. This is great for lower budgets.  I also love Thesis because the framework is there, but it lacks serious personality. I have learned a lot about Thesis in the last year and I can go to town on making it unique.  You would then have a unique looking design, but know it’s using all the unseen benefits of the framework. We would discuss the use of your site, and your industry and other things if you’re starting up.  If you already had a blog and domain, I would hopefully be able to tell your intentions and we could keep the same theme and just give it a makeover, or rock out a totally new route entirely.

Lastly, I am also looking to help people with a blog currently. You may have seen the blog critique I did on myself. Check it out if you haven’t.  I am interested in helping you with that service as well.  So much time is wasted on blog tweaking and trying to figure out what to do.  You should focus on what you do best, ie your photography, your writing, your recipes.  I’ll take a look and give your a review of what I see going on with the blog from a new set of eyes.  The prices for a blog critique are on the hire us page as well.

I am in it for the marathon, and I hope you are here to join me.  I started with 60 people on the sidelines and I am excited for us to become a strong family that inspire each other.  We’re not an army, and we’re not out to take over the world. We’re here to take part in, move with the changing world, and live a life by our own set of rules.

I decided to say whatever! This wasn’t easy. I got the help of an awesome website on creativity. This website literally gave me the permission to suck.  This is also the website to help direct me towards the term ‘democratized renaissance.‘ I have so many thoughts running through my head, and I struggle with getting them out for others.  Forgive me if this post is not perfect, eventually I’ll be in a nice flow! But remember, I have permission to suck it up!

Shifting Culture to a Creative Class

The emergence of the Democratic Renaissance is happening within our culture right now.  It’s the reason behind your unstoppable urge to be creative, desire to look into new lines of work, and ability pursue your passions.

Times are tough right now for a lot of people.  Times may even get worse. I am here to help you realize that you’ve got to act on your dreams, desires, passions and open yourself up to your inner creative urge.  If you’re unhappy in your cubicle, tired of hammering the fence post, or depressed when you hear of others pursuing their own passions, then this is the website you’ll want to subscribe to.  I am trying my best to show it’s possible to live out every passion you’ve had since birth.

An emerging democratic renaissance means that everybody has the ability to create value and you want to be involved in something that brings meaning and purpose to all. Many products and services, reserved for the professional, become a commodity. This a time to reinvent yourself in pursuit of interests that you thought were childish because of that first hydro bill.  You’re able to pay that hydro bill with whatever you’re passionate for now.

The democratized renaissance is the force behind what’s allowing so many of us to quit the soul crushing day job and pursue your passions in creative ways.

Think about the notion of web design, photography, graphic design, etc.

How hard was it 10 years ago to get into the business of photography, design, publishing, and web development?  It was fucking difficult.  Excuse my language but it was not something you could do with only $100 in the bank.  Now you can!

Democratized Media

New media has given everybody the chance to get their creativity on.   Everybody know what Helvetica means today. Uproars exist over a font change in the IKEA catalog. Everybody can get amazing photographs with a digital camera.  Everybody can start a blog or website, use WordPress, submit video to youtube.  We can owe much of this renaissance movement to the Internet.  Just as the Romans built roads that connected people and became a network for communicating with others, the Internet has connected us on a new level.  The internet connects our ideas and exchange of information in new ways and faster than ever.

We’ve entered such an inspirational era that sitting idle isn’t an option.  You need to make the decision to follow your dreams, collaborate with others and forget competition.   The industrial era mindset needs to be washed away with a creative identity or renaissance mindset.  Every industry is going to be influenced by their web presence, design, usability, and their customer service.

So where is the value here? Anyone can make that website, anyone can take that wedding photograph, and anyone can can write a book now.  The end product or service is something you’ll be able to get anywhere.  This is where creativity and opportunity arise to allow people to innovate and connect on a new level.  There is a greater opportunity for all of us to do this work.

End Work/Life Balance

Think about how you can integrate yourself within the new culture by being you.  You can now be authentic and creative. There is no such thing as work/life. You can do everything you’re passionate about, make a living and have meaning behind everything you’re associated with.  The Roman roads had one problem: they were finite. Our access to the Internet is ever expanding and our most innovative days are ahead of us.

I want you to think about how you can position yourself to connect with people, a new industry, and or practice. There are a growing number of references for this new mindset in our daily lives.  I wish I had kept a list myself. I’ll be looking to build a list – so shoot me an e-mail, leave a comment, or use twitter and send me a reply.