Tag Archive for: money

Shadowlands   Intense times, that’s what’s been going on over here.   I’ve been navigating the darker parts of my soul, looking for gold in the dark roots of my soul that I’m not always friends with. Feeling scared, anxious, upset, and moody as a mofo.   And I wanna say right here how much I thank my partner, my seeester, my family and the friends who love me like they are family. Cause we are. Thank you for your support during this intense time.

I don’t know if it’s a response to the changing times (2012!!) or if I just decided to really excavate my dark corners, looking for healing and ways to support others on the journey,  but challenge is what I have.   And I grace and compassion hasn’t always been by my side while I walk this path. Last Wednesday was a total fail in this regard.   The areas I’m working on most strongly are financial literacy and health (agh, money shame and releasing myself from the crappy belief that healers aren’t prosperous, um hello, not true.) Another area of focus is always coming at an issue with an open heart and no hidden agenda. (Thank you to marriage for helping me look at this with an unblinking eye.)   My friend Merilee (artist , future Punk Rock Hoop Instructor and famous person) says that she asks herself in times of conflict that if she was coming from a place of peace and love, what would her response be?

  Thats so good let’s hear that again; Merilee says that she asks herself in times of conflict that if she was coming from a place of peace and love, what would her response be? This mantra is a compass, guiding back to where ease and open hearts rule. A place I want to be.   And if you wanted to take it up a notch, my teacher Danielle used this space to advocate for a peaceful conflict resolution. I aspire.   So leave me a comment, tell me what you are working on, the deep parts of you. Be brave and name them. I got ya. We got ya. All in this together. xo, Rowan

Got this today in a Facebook message from another massage therapist, she was talking ’bout my website. That is the most bad ass site I have seen in a long while! I could learn lots from you! Dude your one awesome lady I must say! Thats what folks are supposed to say when they see your prime ONE real estate, right? Your web site? The site that pimps your skillz, engages the reader, and lets them know your personal juju. Amy does that for me. in a XONF! way.*

Thank the website gods for Amy. Seriously. Pay Attention Folks, cause this a love story. Dont wanna hear the adoration fest? Wanna get your web on? Skip ahead. I was set up on a blind date with this hottie one time, but I didnt realize it was a date, or a meetcha or whatever. And I was newly in a relationship, so wasn’t interested. At all. Lucky me. Cause when I met Amy, she decided to start coming to me for bodywork, and somewhere in all this she said I needed a website. In 2002. This is the beginning of Amy telling me what to do. It was embarrasing. Pages of Long Ass Rambling Copy, going nowhere, The actual website looked great, Amy’s part rocked, but my part, the words written on the page,

SUCKED.

I want to say right now THANK GODS she loved my bodywork. I needed her, and she has stuck with me.

We are on our third, yes three!! times, complete overhaul of my website. I can hear the screaming and crying now, “But its so good! So well done!!! A work of perfection!!” Oh come on now, that’s how we roll. We are gonna make some shit more awesome that you have ever dreamed possible. My answer to YOUR question of how can you some AMY? Sadly, maybe not going to happen guys. See, she’s a fancy artist now. And her plate is overflowing full. SO she’s taking a few clients on the side, but I mostly I like her best full of paint, hanging in her studio, and making ART in her most fabulous ways. MAKE ART,  NOT WEBSITES! So good thing for you I have a Plan. Plan A ~ For technotards like myself, folks with low tech skills, all heart and warm fuzzies, Step 1) get a FB business page.  This is mine, a fine example. Step 2) get yourself a pinterest page, like this bad girl: Urban Curandera Pinterest. Step 3) Link it to a Genbook Site. Look over my Urban Curandera Genbook Page, works great as a standalone website. It has what you need:  services, fee structures, reviews, and waaaaay most importantly lets folks schedule a freaking appointment without a bunch of lame ass phone tag. 20 bucks, monthly, an extra $15 for the social media part (do it). So add a “Book Now” Genbook link to your Fb page, and you are already rocking away. Trust me on this. And when you sign up, use this link cause i get a kickback. This is the advice I would of given myself 20 years a go when I fist started out. I could of made 3 times the money that first year with this advice. dude. sob.   What’s that you SAY?

You fancy yourself a web designer, or at least a little more savy? You want to be a little more snazzy, have a newsletter and email list, and more bang for your buck? Great, lets roll out plan B. You’re gonna need you some Forest so that your web presence doesn’t suck and look half ass. Forest Linden, is the hubs of a Bschool Sister and my something special that defies current words Bari Tessler.   He is alson known as the !Tech Husband! 

He is teaching folks how run an online business with his Web Tech Genius course.  If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed by all the tech stuff you need to run a business, this is a game changer. dude. Forest has created a comprehensive, step-by-step video course on how to use all the web tools and software you need to create an online business that works and doesn’t super stinky suck. He walks you through every step in a sweet, fun way that actually makes sense. He doesn’t yell at you when you screw up, look around with a glazed look, hide in the garage or play a role playing game when you ask a question or have to watch a video (again). If you’ve been thinking about selling online courses, home study programs, or services like coaching, bodywork, doula care or some other awesome shit I haven’t heard of yet cause your online presence is weak, but the tech mumbo jumbo has been holding you up, this is for you.  The best part:  you don’t need to be tech savvy (at all) to do this. Just ready to watch again and again as needed. Which you can do. Totally no problem. Disclaimer ~ I get a kickback, but so far nothing major. Not like some tech husband sperm, or something, now we are TALKING!. Little tech babies!! ok, sorry (Bari) I got carried away. So if you are not totally stupid, sign up for Forest’s Web Tech class and get yourself going. Now. NOW NOW NOW NOW. Not ready to sign up? No problem, hop on over there and watch his free videos. See how much you can get done with free. Then decide if you are ready to get your prime real estate into the big leagues. The rest of us can stick with Plan A. XO to the Max, Rowan   * One day I was taking care of Amy after a surgery, a post op doula if you will, and we were at the drugstore killing time while we got her prescriptions filled. Trying on sunglasses, I said, ” Do you know what I’m going to do with  my nude modeling money?” And I got this look.

“Start from the beginning.” So I told her how I’d been discovered(!) in a coffee house cause an art teacher needed a curvey girl for her students, and somehow this involved being nude. I was pretty blase’ about it. Lauren, Amy’s honey, was not. She proclamed that she would of forked everyone in the eye who would of gazed upon Amy’s naked glory. So since then i’ve been Suuuuper careful to always make sure Amy and Lauren know that I love Amy to peices, in, you know, a non fork way 🙂 Every email I write ends in XONF!

Here is the deal. I’ve been working it like no other in the financial therapy dept, and this so far has pretty much sucked. SUUUUUUCKED. I’m moody, I’m not leaving the house much except to do fabulous work, to walk the dogs and occasionally hoop.

I’m looking at the past, and creating a new future. Fan fucking tastic. Cue up breakthrough number 83 ~ I realized I have a pretty rough relationship with money, and I want to have a smooth sailing, I feel you, this is a team, empathy relationship with money. Muy differente. And this is not my first rodeo, people. Ran with the scissors of Dave Ramsey, read books by Lynne Twist, learned about the Soul Of Money, and been on the floor of the SuperDome one year after Katrina, listening to Suze Orman tell the NOLA ladies that they had paved their own way to Hell by giving away their resources, and that she would teach them how to never, ever be there again. Thats a pretty big swing, right? Scissors to soul softness to the cold floor of the Superdome (that, by the way, a year after Katrina still vibed up despair.) Oh money, who are you? I thought about that, and I thought about dating money, go for a walk, a dinner, a dance, what would money look like? Cause I’m clear that I’m creating a face for money, much like folks create a face for divine source (God, Pan, Athena, HP, whatever.) So what would money look like, whose face is staring back at me over the candlelight? Know who I really wanted it to be? She’s so fly, I could wear her t~shirts, listen to her music, be DOWNNNNNNNNNNN.

No such luck. There I was, laying all angsty across my bed, hoping for Ani, when a sense of peace filled me, and the face of a man I’d admired for a long time floated into my mind. Someone who had changed my life for the better. Many times. Steve. Steve put a computer in my pocket, strengthened my bizness, gave me professional leverage and made me not AFRAID of computers. Creative genius that allowed me to be a creative genius. Steve also represents to me an authenticity with money, that you can make mistakes, be a jerk, get thrown out of your own company, learn from it, have vision, wear what you want, and remain yourself. Do cool things cause you want to, be real. Creativity with money. Nice. So this is the face of money for me, the energy I ask to take walks with me, to sit with me when I have to negotiate a piece of financial intricacy, be with me when I’m nervous and whelmd. Steve.

I have this taped up on a mirror in my living space, so I can chat and get reassurance that I’m going to make it through all this intense learning. Thanks again Mr. Jobs. I still need you. xo, Rowan ps If anyone has a left over Justin Beiber popup they bought for a halloween joke from Arne’s I’ll take it off your hands,  I wanna collage all over it and have a LIFE SIZE Steve collage. Yes, I will be the most awesome kid in school then, fist pump!

Howdy~ Ever lost your sh!t over money? The major melt down that looks like, “Screw it, I’ll never figure this out, my next option is to throw my self off the 59 bridge.” Below is an actual excerpt of a meltdown email, written by moi …..

      I got it last night (as I wept to myself in frustration and anger) that I don’t have enough money to manage. That I constantly scheme and move shit around to make things work, and that I’m exhausted and cant seem to possibly work any harder, and didn’t want to face a brick wall of reality of oh shit Im doing everything I can think of, and its still not enough, oh fuck, what now.

What happened then? Cause this is pretty neat airplane nose dive, right? Going one way, and thats down. Crash and burn. Flames. Done. I looked at my primary agreements around money…..       My agreements seem to be that I will work nonstop and never change the outcome.  Then I assessed the situation, without the emotions….      I am a mess And then I decided to change my mantra, and get healp (you know healing help, HEALP HEALP!!) ……….  I have a vision. a series of videos on how to help women get preg, mind, emotion, body & spirit. bschool style.  I can rock this. i can open myself up to more flow. I am of tremendous value, and today I am showing myself that with money. Thanks for holding my hand as I navigate this rough sea, rowan   Like who do you even send an email like this to? All full of typos, miss spellings and just raw PAIN? The I just threw up, I’m so not pretty, can you help me get the spew out of my hair email?! I sent this to my girl Bari, with who I’m doing a program with, an online course to help me just start TRACKING my money, which has all let all my “I am financial loser,” feeling-a-thon rise up. Wanna know why this is wonderful? Cause all this has been buried deep, so deep. And as it bubbles up, I can address it, look at it, lance that nasty boil, (ooooh, you so nasty!) All those (40) years of not good enough, thats not a real job, why cant you keep your money shit together like everyone else, what the HELL is wrong with you, that I have super squashed into a tiny little spot in my foot or some other place that hurts like hell. I said LANCE THAT M@THERTRUCKER!! Get some massive RELIEF. See what Bari sent back?

Rowan,  i hear you. i see you. i feel you. i understand. hang in there...you are clearly on the brink of change here. and the waters can be rough and then they will smooth out, but the rough ones need to be ridden...as you know. i have been there. the slow movement will speed up...just continue... And, hold the Vision...I love it. And, YOU would Rock it. I will hold this with you.
The world needs you to do this and bring this to them!  with love, bari

Is that just perfect or what? Like a cool compress on an angry bursting boil, easing the transition, and not afraid of the spew and goo. I adore this woman. Therapist turned financial maven. She has a a new program starting up.  Its about money and worth and something else and hell I don’t really know. I just know that I’ll be there, watching my little inbox and doing what she says. Cause I’m totally over being poisoned by toxic money beliefs, and this the YEAR of getting it together. So join me learning from Bari , see if you love her as much as I do. I’m not going to suffer like this any more. Its painful. Join me in healing. All in this together, Rowan