I just read the book Make It Happen on my trip to the Dominican Republic and it was a life changer for me! I highly recommend it to any entrepreneur. It is an incredible testimony and had some basic but perfect action points I’ve started in my life. It was hard to read at times because, as Lara says, she gives her readers “a swift kick in the pants” many times throughout the book. But, I needed to read those words, as it was so telling of how I’ve been operating over the past four years.
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When I started Chancey Charm, I had just left a job where I was on call 24/7. I also tried to compensate for my lack of knowledge in event planning by being overly responsive and saying yes to all requests sent my way. As Laura calls out in the book, I feared not being enough. Even though I am experienced and knowledgeable now, I realized I was still operating the same way. It feels so good to finally face that fear and break the lies I have been living by in my life. Since reading the book, I’ve established business hours and “social media free weekends”. These two simple actions are helping me get my work life balance back where it needs to be for myself, my family, and my business to continue to grow in a healthy spirit. Strange enough, it’s made me even more productive, on top of giving me a renewed passion for life.
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I know that the stuff I learned from this book will help me lead my team into healthy, long careers that they love. I felt like it was the perfect timing and just another confirmation of the direction I’m currently moving in within Chancey Charm as Creative Mentor. For those of you who don’t know, moving forward, I will be stepping in behind the scenes of CC to support our planning and design team through mentorship and design consulting / sketches. This transition has made me face a lot of insecurities I’ve had with leadership, and my team has played a huge role in giving me the confidence I need to move forward in it. Lara’s book spoke to this as well, as you follow her journey through obtaining and leading a team. I appreciate how raw and open she is about her successes and failures. I also adore how she points it all back to the Lord. Having and maintaining confidence in Christ is so very important in this industry, and her book really hits strong on this point.
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Lara’s book also helped me come up with a personal mission statement or purpose statement, “To help planners have a creative career that they love with the freedom to focus on their families.” I’m trying to do everything thru that lens now, and it’s already been very life-giving! As crazy as it sounds, I’ve even adjusted the way I do social media from this purpose statement. I’m not longer “letting Instagram happen to me”, but taking back control of my time intentionally.
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If you’re an entrepreneur I truly hope that you’ll take the opportunity to read Lara Casey’s book. I promise it’ll challenge you in all the best ways and be an incredible encouragement. I love how clear her take-away statements and action lists are; a must read for the modern creative!
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Cheers!
Sarah Chancey
Chancey Charm, Wedding Planner Course
