WDS2013

Life has been so crazy for me these past two months. I haven’t had much time to sit and write or even read! I’ve been missing it. So now, I sit in my new apartment on a borrowed internet connection to reconnect with my blog and all of you.

Amongst the craziness of moving I attended my second World Domination Summit. It was different than the first, of course. I was able to reconnect with my friends from last year’s summit, people I’ve met online since then and a bunch of new folks. The people are truly the best part of WDS. It’s my community. My people. I love that I fit in!

All of those people in one place, with so many great ideas, is so inspirational. It’s the best kind of energy. Caffeine not required, but more of an added bonus. I mean it is one of the best cities for a cup of joe! Stumptown is some of the best, just ask Chris.

Second to the people, WDS has some great speakers. I connected personally with a few of the stories and had some great takeaways. I didn’t have nearly the same amount of takeaways as I did last year but maybe that’s because I’m in a very different place in my life. Since last year, I quit the job I hated, moved out of the apartment and town that I disliked, moved to a city I’ve loved for a long time and started working on building my graphic design business. I’m now in my favorite neighborhood, in a city I love, surrounded by a fabulous WDS community. I think I might finally feel settled and at home. I haven’t felt that way in years! (Read the rest of the journey here.)

The downside of WDS was finding out that even in a sea of awesome people they don’t all interpret the rules as you do. But I guess that’s life in general, it’s not fair. Sometimes you lose when you should have won. Sometimes you aren’t recognized when you think you should be. But the learning part of it all, is to get past it and move on. No sense letting those things drag you down. I have more important things to think about, like employing my own rejection therapy! Thank you Jia Jiang! Yours was my favorite talk. Tess Vigeland, second and Donald Miller Third. You all get medals from me (virtual of course)! Bob Moore gets honorable mention for best business practices! I love that there are still larger businesses like that in this world. Thank you Bob for giving us all something to aspire to.

The goals I set last year that I achieved:

Quit my job to focus on more passionate projects.
Take more time to enjoy the many unofficial meet ups.
Print business cards with my new name and hand them out.
Submit my book to a publisher…never heard back but I’ll be trying again soon.
Share my goals with other WDSers throughout the year and have them hold you accountable.

The goal I didn’t achieve:

Go from third place to first in the unconventional race. However, I don’t think this is totally my fault for not achieving. I played by the rules and gave it my all. But sometimes technology and others beat you. I would say there’s always next year, but I think I’ll pass on racing again. I’ve got more connecting to do!

Hope to be writing more about my food adventures. I’ve been having a lot of those and people have even let me photograph them! Fun times!

Cheers!

UPDATE: My top 30 Portland restaurants….finally added to my blog