Party of One

Being single is definitely a LifeStyle in itself.  So tonight I embraced my singleness and took myself to the movies.

As I walked into the theatre with ice cream cone in hand, I felt happy.

That’s all that ever matters.

Technology Rocks!

A Video First

By Sheila R. Rose

So I'm not what my friends would call tech savvy, but I like to pretend I am when I discover new mac programs.

Here is my latest technology adventure. Enjoy!!

Creature in Green

Faith in a Creature

By Sheila R. Rose

Last Friday, I noticed a big, green cricket starting at me from the adjoining wall outside my front door.

I couldn’t help but to smile when I saw this peaceful creature looking intently at me without making a move. I walked away feeling like maybe something bigger than I can possibly imagine was looking out for me.

Both yesterday and today, I noticed the cricket once again. “Hello, Jiminy!” I said as I walked out my door. Jiminy and I are forming a rare kind of bond. I am beginning to look forward to our daily encounters.

A certain familiar quote stirs in me as I walk away from my new green friend, “When your heart is in your dream, no request is too extreme.” Jiminy Cricket.

Trend it Up!

Trendsetting

by Sheila R. Rose

So I have a bit of a spunky DIVA-like persona. (If you couldn’t already tell!) It’s why my radio personality name at Radio Disney Phoenix 1580 AM was “Sassy Sheila,” yo!

To live up to my own hype, I like to start and end my own trends. Like this past week I decided to end random sentences and thoughts with the word “yo.” I felt it gave my dialect a bit of an urban flare and sass that seemed to be missing as of late.

The best way to start a faux trend is to declare it right away. Basically, I told everyone I came into contact with about the grooviness of ending sentences with yo. Itslikeifyouwanttobecoolyoubetterstarteddoinitorelseyourafoolyo. Pretty soon people started following suit. I had yo’ers everywhere.

Yet, to really be a trendsetter, you have to end the trend almost as soon as you begin it. Therefore, as of 8 PM (PST) on August 26th, 2008, the whole YO thing will become so last week.

If you want to become a verbal trendsetter like moi, then you need to drop everything you are doing right now and head straight over to UrBAn DiCTiOnaRy, yo. All of us cool kids hang out there. Go ahead, click on over.

Note to Tim & Sasha: Where are the posts? I feel like a lone LifeStyler. Back a girl up, yo!

Live It!

Living Out A LifeStyle

by Sheila R. Rose

As LifeStylers, we don’t just talk about the kind of life we want to live. We actually Strive for it. Attain it. Live it.

But it’s not always easy.

Despite fair warning, I naively imagined that living outside the confines of a 9 to 5 corporate job would feel wonderful all the time. As a fledgling entrepreneur, I would float through my days working on ideas and doing things I loved. However, when the opportunity presented itself, I felt paralyzed. Fear, anxiety, doubt and worry became the kind of emotions that hung out all the time. The monkey in my head would just not shut up.

Yet recently something in me clicked. I realized the voices would never go away, but I could combat them by strengthening my thoughts and actions in a way that better served me.

Here are 5 ways I’m learning to THRIVE.

1. Focus.
It’s so important to dream big, yet focus small. If I get an idea in my head, I can take it from ground zero to international phenomenon in two seconds flat. I love the dreamer girl in me, but dreaming big can hinder functioning well. I get so wrapped up in the enormity of the dream that the steps to get there seem impossible. So now I focus on small steps I can take today to get me to where I need to be tomorrow. It’s so much easier to do what I can actually see ahead.

2. Work hard.
Nothing replaces good honest hard work. When you give 110% of yourself to a project, you walk away from it a better person than when you started. I’m also realizing hard work is addictive. Once you get in the groove, you want to keep on going. This proves that good habits are as easily picked up as bad ones.

3. Be bold.
Take risks and don’t be afraid to make bold moves. The first time we do anything it feels uncomfortable. I, highly doubt, any of us just jumped on a bike for the first time and felt fearless going down the street. As I start my own business, sometimes I have no idea what I’m doing. Like not a clue. So I have to be bold enough to raise my hand and ask questions. I have to be bold enough to approach clients and ask for the job. I have to be bold. Period.

4. Evolve.
Face it. Our desires change overtime. The things we thought we wanted or the things that seemed so important sometimes no longer do. Living a rigid a LifeStyle (even if it is always to live a carefree one) can stifle and suffocate a person. That’s why it’s important for me to see my LifeStyle as dynamic and constantly changing. Evolution requires us to remain flexible.

5. Believe.
There will be times when I’m up and times when I’m down. Sometimes others will praise me and sometimes they won’t. I will face hurdles and stumbling blocks. It’s part of the game and the reality of living life outside the comfort zone. So I have to have an unwavering belief in myself. Stay humble when I’m up and confident when I’m down. Dreams do come true. They happen around us every day. People do live out the LifeStyles of their dreams. You and I can too.

Living out a purposeful LifeStlye is possible. We just have to stop thinking about it and start doing something about it.

Sometimes you gotta survey

August Currents

by Sheila R. Rose

current book: Franny & Zooey by J.D. Salinger

current music: Ben Harper

current guilty pleasure: incessant cleaning of my pad.

current drink: Kombucha, of course!

current wish-list: Bebe clothes, Gucci purse, Dior sunglasses, Cartier watch (it's a wish list people)

current needs: Windex, Nail Polish Remover and a shower (in no particular order)

current favorite film: Taxi Driver

current favorite tv show: sunset tan (did I just type that outloud? -- I've only seen it once. I swear.)

current #1 blessing: mama bear and papa bear -- always

current bane of my existence: figuring it out, the economy

current color: teal

current news flash: Oh My Gosh!

current confusion: my purpose

Let's Kombucha

Do you Kombucha?

Part of living a kick-ass lifestyle is through treating our body temples with the utmost care. There is a direct correlation between our success in business and how we maintain our health. With all the information we have at our disposal, there is no excuse for us not to take our health seriously. I mean, come on (pause, pause, pause), seriously.

So every Sunday I shop at Sprouts. Sometimes I like to try new things, and I feel kinda hip and cool when I try a product in what I label the "new agey" category. Last Sunday, I bought what I thought was iced tea. It was $2.89 a bottle. Honestly, it was one of those impulse buy decisions I feel obligated to make as a marketer. It's my "do as I do" philosophy in marketing. If I want others to buy products and/or services based on impulsive decision making, then I should at least do the same.

Monday morning rolls around. I wake up and grab this iced tea concoction from my frig as I'm running out the door.

Snap, I open the bottle. I didn't really realize my iced tea was carbonated. Sip. Ahhh. Tastes surprisingly refreshing. Even a bit sweet, so I check the label to make sure there is no added sugar. Nope. Then I look closely into the bottle and this gooey stuff is floating around. Ewww.

Finally, I start to read the packaging. I realize I am Kombucha'ing. Kombucha is basically a tea made by fermented cultures. The drink dates back to 250 B.C. in China where it was referred to as an "Immortal Health Elixir." It has recently become popular with cancer patients because it has been known to help the body heal. The fermentation process produces traces of alcohol in the drink (0.5 to 1.5%).

While I was impressed to read about its potential health benefits, I actually found this low calorie drink to be quite tasty and refreshing. Way tastier than a Diet Coke.

So I am on a personal mission to make Kombucha this hippest drink around.

The LifeStyle Group : Creating Connections

The LifeStyle Group
by Sheila R. Rose

In my dictionary, “networking” is a bad word. I cringe at the thought of attending a business related function where conversations feel contrived and relationships are formed out of tit-for-tat obligations.

This being said, I revel in “connecting” to people. To me, a true connection is formed when strangers relate to one another based on ideas, beliefs, backgrounds, interests and/or experiences. For a brief moment, life makes sense when you’re talking to someone and you think, “Wow, I get that.”

The LifeStyle Group is about connecting smart, creative, fun and genuine individuals who have an appetite for living life outside of what they know.

Several years ago when I lived in Arizona, I read about an avant-garde artist who saw life as his ultimate art project. Something in me knew I had to connect to him, so I did the unthinkable and e-mailed him. We started a string of e-mails back and forth until we agreed to take our virtual connection and physically meet at a hip coffeehouse called The Willow House in downtown Phoenix.

In many ways, Pete and I were completely different in how we lived life, yet we connected on how we saw life as art. Pete asked if I would like to attend a First Friday Art Walk with him, and I agreed. A few days before the event, Pete e-mailed me to tell me Friday would be my first performance art piece. He instructed me to show up to the event dressed in homeless attire. “He must be kidding,” I thought to myself. But he wasn’t, and I was willing to live out art.

That night two mere strangers walked through various art galleries to see life through the spectacles of “bums.” An open house art night is open to the public. The public includes people of all socio-economic backgrounds, including those who live on the streets. As a girl who has lived life in the upper middle class echelon, I was amazed at how people treated me that night. I was shoved around, avoided, ignored, ridiculed and mistrusted not because of my actions but all because of how I appeared.I learned something that night I will carry with me forever. All because I was willing to connect to someone based on a common interest and take a risk.

As a marketer, I am constantly looking for ways to take myself out of my box and experience life through other lenses. I feel it makes me a better marketer.

I can’t wait to meet you. Hopefully, we will “connect” on some level.

The Lifestyle Group: Founding Story Part 2

So, as a co-conspirator of the Lifestyle Group, I thought I would add my bit of how I got to this point in life and what Lifestyle Group means to me.

I moved to California six and a half years ago from St. Louis, MO, and started down the road of a "real" job. You know, the 9 to 5er gig. The kind that many of us have and many of us hate. I began that road in the printing and fulfillment industry and over the course of the next 6 and half years jumped to 3 different print and fulfillment companies, one software consulting firm, and one sales position. However, these weren't the jobs that got me to where I'm at now.

Now, If I really thought about it, I'd have to say that my years in the service industry is what really got me to this point. I spent about 7 years working in restaurants, bars, and nightclubs, trying to figure out what I was doing and where I was going. But those were not years spent in waste. Rather, they were years well spent in the study of psychology, human nature, conversation, fashion, art, and all things that people have to offer. I met anywhere from 50 to 100 people a day, had conversations of more than 5 minutes with more than 1000 different people a year, ranging from couples on a date, people on a business trip, CEOs, vacationing families, pro atheletes, artists, actors, movie stars, musicians, etc, et al. Every walk of life. And the big advantage of working in the service industry is that "people gotta eat and people gotta go out", no matter who they are in life and you will be there to meet them.

Well, I'm sure you're asking yourself where all this is going, and where I'm at now? I'll have to admit that I'm not quite where I want to be, but I know I'm traveling the right path. I still have a 9 to 5, but it's days to months before I blow that joint and am on my way to the lifestyle that I dream about. Why? Because I belive in in the idea of a lifestyle. Lifestyle is what I learned during my years of conversations and interactions with clients, customers, and and most importantly friends.

So, what is Lifestyle Group and what's it all about? It's exactly how it reads. The STYLE in which you wish to live your LIFE. Life-Style..........So what style do you want to live your life?

Every facet of a person's life makes up their lifestyle. But there's livin' life and there's livin' life. And if your like most poeple, you want to live life. What I've come to realize is that what's going to drive most of our lifestyles is our professional lives. And what's going to drive our professional lives is our connection with other people.

In meeting Tim Andren, co-founder of Lifestyle Group, I made one of those all important connections. We instantly bonded on a personal level. We found we had similar tastes in music, fashion, style, philosophies, and goals. Because of this personal connection, we found it easy to connect on a professional level and are currently working on several projects, one of which is Lifestyle Group, that we believe will set each of us free to live a lifestyle of our choosing.

And that's what Lifestyle Group is really about. Making connections with people is the reason for our founding of and commitment to the group. We want to meet people that have similar interests, similar passions, similar dreams as well as meet people that are completely different from us but can teach us something about ourselves that we could not learn on our own. It is our belief that it will be these connections that will help all of us reach the point where we can choose whatever lifestyle we wish to live.

Welcome to Lifestyle Group.

I hope to meet you soon.

The LifeStyle Group : Founding Story

The LifeStyle Group
by Tim Andren

My story began years ago when I took the leap of faith and became a sole proprietor. I am a graphic designer and marketing professional by trade and have over ten years of experience in the industry. I've worked for a printhouse, an advertising agency and in the corporate world. I realized in 2005 that I had a strong desire to work for myself and founded my first company, Andren Creative.

Over the years one thing continues to impress me is the fact that people and their amazing ideas and energy are the unstoppable current of the business world.

I am an avid reader on the subjects of business, success and psychology. Through acquiring this knowledge it became apparent to me that I wanted to form an 'official collective', an organized group of people who want the same things and are motivated in the same way I am.

I approached a good friend and business partner of mine by the name of Sasha Alms with the idea and together we formed the collective known as The LifeStyle Group.

We all want the something out of life. The members of The LifeStyle Group are business people who want success that accompanies a lifestyle of freedom, health and a reasonable level of comfort. They recognize the importance of building a network of people with a focus on the principles of success. Some of the principles include embracing a positive attitude, focusing on health and appearance, embracing the power of technology and most importantly, how being part of a network of like-minded people can make all the difference in the world.

The LifeStyle Group is organized and meets regularly to discuss ideas, network and enjoy the life that we create. We are very selective about who we include in this group in order to not dilute the message. We believe that good people find good people and there is nothing more powerful than these relationships in any area of the business world.

People + Ideas = Success