Anyone who tries to tell you that you have to feel motivated to work towards your dreams and goals all the time is probably full of BS. Sometimes motivation is in short-supply. The options are to push forward anyway or to take a break until you’re ready to start again. Both are valid options — the trick is knowing which one to choose. In this episode: This week’s episode is brought to you by QuickBooks Self Employed. Motivation feels good when it’s pushing you forward. It sucks when you lose it. Sometimes you have to find way to keep going....

In this week’s episode, I talk about imposter syndrome and anxiety and about how our brains can make us believe things that aren’t true for a lot of other reasons. Mental illness is very real. I don’t offer solutions to every situation, only what’s worked for me in the past. Most importantly, I want to remind you and myself that we’re not alone and that others go through the worry, angst, and fear that our minds can put us through. In this episode: This week’s episode is brought to you by QuickBooks Self Employed. Imposter syndrome is not the same...

I’m one of those cheerful, optimistic, and determined people that doesn’t talk much about quitting. Mostly because I’ll (usually) do everything in my power to avoid it. But sometimes, the best choice you can make for yourself, your goals, and your sanity is to quit what isn’t working. So let’s talk about that on the podcast this week. In this episode: This week’s episode is brought to you by QuickBooks Self Employed. Quitting doesn’t have to mean that you’re a loser or you failed. Not all failures are bad. It means you tried something. There’s a difference between giving up...

I admit to going on a tangent in this one, but the overall message is pretty clear (hopefully): Slow progress isn’t a sign of failure. No shame if you’re moving at the speed of a sloth, y’all. In this episode: This week’s episode is brought to you by QuickBooks Self Employed. The overnight success probably worked for 10 years in obscurity before getting “found.” Some people write thousands of words a day and some write dozens. Believing you’re not doing enough can stop you in your tracks and make you think, “Why bother?’. Mentally berating yourself for not writing or...

Fear seems to be on my mind this week. First a blog post (link below) and now 35 minutes on the topic in the podcast. We can’t always conquer fear, but we can learn how to run through, work around it, and deal with it. I hope these tips help you deal with your fear. In this episode: This week’s episode is brought to you by QuickBooks Self Employed. We fear being wrong. Afraid of offending Afraid of losing our anonymity. We need your voice anyway. Decide what you’ll do now. Being prepared can take the pressure off. Ask someone...

I never feel like I’m going enough or that I’ll ever reach my own goals, and I know other smutlancers feel the same way. Part rant, part ramble, here are my tips for how to take small steps to keep moving forward to achieve your big goals — especially when it seems like you’ll never get there. In this episode: Lack of inspiration and time make us wonder if it’s worth it Not seeing fast results can get us down Commit to a single task or goal — Write Every Damn Day in June Stop waiting for a big chunk...

When I found myself recording multiple podcast episodes in the midnight hour between Monday night and Tuesday morning, I started thinking about all the things you and I do to make our dreams a reality. It was time to celebrate it — and I may or may not encourage you to play a silly “drinking game” while listening. In this episode: I recorded this episode at midnight. What sets us apart from others isn’t the amount of money we earn. It’s that we don’t do things like other people. We should never feel bad about taking care of our health...

Once you begin to make money as a smutlancer, you’ll start to get offers of jobs that you’re not sure you’re qualified to do. Sometimes you won’t be, but most of the time, your concern will be fear or imposter syndrome. This week let’s talk about why you ought to say yes even when you’re scared you won’t be able to do the job. In this episode: Did the show sound weird in episode 19? Yeah, we had a mic problem that didn’t get discovered until Friday morning. The more you put yourself out in the world as being for...

John Brownstone (my husband and Dominant partner) joins me for a discussion about how your partner might feel about and react to your smutlancer life. If what you’re creating or writing about includes them, what they think matters very much. But even when you leave them out of your content, a supportive partner can make all the difference in how you feel about your professional goals. In this episode: As a creator, you don’t necessarily need permission to write and create smutty things. But when your partner is involved — talking about your sex life, taking pictures, etc — what...

A huge thanks to Cara Thereon — one of my favorite people — for unintentionally inspiring this podcast episode. She started a discussion on Twitter about the practice of commenting on blogs and how to handle it, and she got me thinking. We all believe there are things we should or shouldn’t be doing as sex bloggers, smutlancers, creatives, and/or business people. And some of those things tend to stress us out, make us think we’re doing it wrong, or kill our creativity. This week, I share what I think we should do…and what we really shouldn’t. In this episode:...