3 Things I Learned From Alexandra Franzen

Alison Chino

3 Things I Learned From Alexandra Franzen

A few months ago I had the great pleasure of sitting down face to face (via Skype!) with one of my internet heroes, Alexandra Franzen.

We had no big agenda for our conversation.

Just chat + inspiration.

We covered a lot of topics.

From writing and creativity to time management and social media.

We talked about a few road blocks I was hitting in current projects and my summer long obsession with the Enneagram.

It was a delightful hour.

Here are a few things I learned from my time with Alex.

1. If you really want to have time for writing, you have to schedule it.

Like in your calendar with red ink that indicates to you and everyone else in your life that this block of time is not negotiable. If you schedule your writing hours, then the time is yours for writing.

Now you can show up for it like a hot date.

2. You can run a successful business on the internet without maintaining a presence on social media.

Seriously.

Before I sat down with Alexandra, I had been wondering for a while if this was true. I had been experimenting for about a month with being off of social media and was trying to decide if I wanted to stay off. We talked about how there is a lot of fear mongering around making sure you keep your social media profiles constantly updated. And that it is a great tool for folks that love it.

But if like me, you have a little voice telling you that you really wish you could give it up, but you just need a little encouragement, Alexandra has got you covered.

3. Skype sessions with other creatives are a good idea.

Here’s why.

We need people to ask us the questions we don’t have to answer on a daily basis. You know, something besides, “What’s for dinner?”

We need someone to ask us the bigger dreamy kinds of questions.

And then we need that someone to hold space for us while we answer those questions.

Or to sit with us in the uncomfortable silence while we listen to our hearts long enough to answer those questions.

We see these questions all the time. 

What are your biggest dreams?

What do you wish you could do?

What is holding you back?

What are you afraid of?

Methods for following your dreams and overcoming your fears are the topic of about 1008 blog posts. Weekly.

We skim those blog posts and save them and tweet them and file them away.

But often we don’t get around to saying anything out loud.

Because no one is listening. 

Maybe the best Christmas gift you can give to one of your Arkansas Women Blogger Gals is an hour face to face. 

Just for dreaming. And listening.

What if you gifted a creative soul in your life with these same words Alexandra sent to me the day before we sat down together?

We’ll just have a delightful conversation about words, stories, and how to make a positive difference in people’s lives, and hopefully… you’ll walk away feeling happy & inspired.

You might just make her day!

PS A big thank you to Alexandra Franzen for gifting me with an hour of her time after I did her online course Unstoppable, which I highly recommend. And also big love to Paige Ray for talking me into doing the course with her in the first place. Paige has started a podcast since we did the course and she is pretty dang Unstoppable herself!