FAQ

Process FAQ

What Are The “Flexible/Adaptable Meetings” All About?

I once had a client who had had a super busy, difficult month at her day-job. We’d had to reschedule some meetings and she had not gotten to our agreed upon assignments in the ways she had hoped. A high achieving human just generally, she felt badly for all of this and was ready to reschedule again as much out of what seemed to me like shame as for any other reason. I suggested we meet anyway. We caught up on what was going on in each other’s lives and did some fun, loose writing exercises together. I knew that the net result of this flexibility and adaptation would still serve our overall goals and by the time we parted, she felt lighter, had done some writing, and our next meetings returned to their easy, shame-free energies. 

Most of us have strong narratives of what a “meeting” is or should be: Organized, efficient, productive, accountable etc.. Your meetings with me are going to be whatever they most need to be in that moment and that’s how I like it. For people who really need an agenda to feel focused, I will make an agenda. For people who get resistant if there’s too much structure, I stay loose and improvise. I’ve yet to have a client meeting that has not produced something truly useful to our shared goals and I would be heartbroken if I held an attitude that was so rigid it made a client prefer not to even show up for fear of “disappointing” me. 

It’s the showing up that matters most. So, though having meetings is a fixed and non-negotiable part of how I work, I am flexible and adaptable about the scope of meetings to ensure that even through difficulties and unexpected life hiccups, we can still hang out, work,stay accountable to each other and our goals, and get stuff done.

I am happy to discuss this with you further in person so, really and truly, please reach out for your FREE meeting.

More About Non-meeting Time. (I.E. What Are You Paying For Besides Meetings?)

When I am not in meetings with you I am working on things that have arisen during meetings and/or things that you have sent me for one of our “ROUNDS.” What I do tends to breakdown into five general categories:

Creative Contributions

Where I actively write, create, and contribute to your work and process. Unless we have chosen to make a different arrangement, everything I offer belongs to you and these contributions are always conditional on your review. Sometimes I will create something entirely supplementary, sometimes I will directly add to work you have offered to me. Everything in this category is created to prompt new perspectives, visualize new directions, and/or to further your relationship with relevant techniques.  

Feedback & Assignments

Typically geared toward content-generation, feedback and assignments are entirely relational, specific, and responsive. In a “ROUND” I will make various kinds of notes and comments on submitted materials for your consideration. I will also assign different tasks and exercises tailored to you. All of this helps maintain momentum, connection, and – perhaps most importantly – to find and build missing pieces of ongoing projects. 

Editing

Project and relationship-specific forms of editing take place throughout our work together and ramp up when a project has all its pieces and is finding its final form. This covers everything from organization/flow to dotting ‘i’s and crossing ‘t’s in whatever ways your project requires.

Resource Sharing

At any point, you might have resources with which you wish me to engage and I might also have resources I wish to share with you. The point is to do whatever we can to be on the same page and to make that page as big, beautiful, interesting, and useful as possible. 

Communication

This covers all types of email communication, voice-recordings (if we decide that might be useful for you), and if we have decided it is acceptable to us both, text messaging to support our work and working relationship.

What Does The Process Look Like?

Each client and each challenge, goal, and/or Project begets its own systems and relationships. I want you to feel accomplished and connected when we work together, so I start with one simple practice I know works – mandatory meetings – and everything else is generally built around those.

In our meetings and other communication, we will talk about ideas, our lives and thought patterns. We’ll swap stories to provide each other with insight and understanding. From these ongoing conversations, a system of resource-sharing, tasks, assignments, and feedback will be developed to suit your goals, challenges, projects, and the structure of your day-to-day life. Some tasks will be worked on solo, some together during meetings. 

The process is emergent, responsive and designed to bend without breaking in the sometimes unpredictable flow of real lives.

I say it in other places all over this site, and I will say it here too: If you truly want to know what it might be like to work with me, the best thing to do is reach out and set up a meeting. The first one is always FREE and I would love to hear about your ideas and your life. Just click HERE to answer a few questions (I will always get back to you no matter what!) and we can set a meeting up at a time that works for you!

What Do You Mean By “Stories” When You Say You Want To Help People With Their Stories?

Thomas King says that “The truth about stories is that that’s all we are.” (From The Truth About Stories: A Native Narrative). And a wildly accomplished scientist and spiritually engaged person I know told me, when I was only 14, that, “a thought is a thing.” Put these pieces together and you can begin to see that what I do not mean is that you have to be a “writer” to work with me. Though I do happily work with writers, “writing” is by no means the best or only way for us to share our stories.

What I do mean by “story” is all the things that make up a life. Most of us have cooking stories and a cleaning stories. We have personal connection stories, stories of loss, stories of love and success, stories of nature and weather. If you’re like me, you might also have a “How did I end up with this many streaming services?” story and one about learning to be a little more kind to yourself every day.

What I want most to help you with are the stories that maybe do not always get the most attention in your day-to-day life but which excite you when you think about them. To be clear, I cannot help you finally try hang-gliding or surfing, but I do want to hear about the relevant stories – appropriate to my skill set – that often start with, “I’ve always wanted to…” or “I have this idea for…”

We’re made of stories. We all have a story that might require support to get into the world. I’m curious to know more about yours.

Why Should You Work With Me?

If you care about credentials that suit me to this work, I have them. 

If you care about varied and extensive experience, I’ve got it.

If you care about kindness, attentiveness, meaningful encouragement, and being seen for who you are, I’m all about those things. 

I have truly solid communication, collaboration, and editorial skills and I know how to invite new insight in accessible ways.

Also, if you like to work with humans who love what they do, I offer that too.

Why Do You Limit The Number Of Clients You Take On?

A client limit allows me to give you my absolute best as we forge a new working relationship. When you give me lots to work with, I give a LOT and require time to refresh and restore so I always have time and energy to take care of myself and attend to my own creative projects. 

How on earth can I make you believe that you must make room for your challenges, goals, and projects if I do not make room for my own?

Why Do You Require The *Free* “Get-to-know-you-and-your-ideas” Meeting?

My process is very personalized and collaborative. I will tailor everything we do to your needs (both known and as they emerge) and personality. This requires that we are able to share who we are in a free, safe, and expansive way. 

Perhaps most importantly, I’m asking you to pay me, trust me with your stories, your creativity, your passion, your discomfort, your amazing ideas, and for us to carve out some real time to get things done. I think it is only reasonable and sane to have a visit and figure out if we actually want to spend time together.

The bald truth is that I do not take on every client who reaches out and you should not want to work with me unless you know you like talking to me and feel like I might be fun/interesting to work with. 

Why Do First-time Clients And Large Projects Usually** Require 3-month Agreements?

The kind of work we will do together requires time to build foundations, grow, and be effective. We need time to set boundaries, create structures and workflows that are appropriate for you, and to help you prove to yourself that you can get sh-t DONE. I want you to see and feel your progress and to be able to recognize my contributions. 

Too often, at other stages of my business, I have agreed to do irregular, more one-off, sessions without any long-term plan or structure and it always feels like a stream of endless, dissatisfying stream of promises no one can keep. Without sufficient commitment and accountability, my approach doesn’t work. So, I don’t do it anymore. 3-month minimum agreements have been a game-changer so I stick to them unapologetically.

**Some projects are better suited to flat rate contracts that can be done in a shorter time frame. This is typically decided/negotiated at our first FREE meeting!

Packages & Agreement Structures FAQ

Packages

Most of my pricing varies by project and person. We meet, I find out more about where you’re at and what you want to do, and then I provide a proper, informed quote. The process does fall into 3 Basic Package Structures with client limits:


First-time Clients & Bigger Projects

  • Usually** 3-Month Minimum Agreements Mandatory
  • 2 Spots Available
  • Provides up to 8hrs of flexible/adaptable Meeting Time, approximately 4-6 rounds* of Non-Meeting work, plus all communication time (email, voice-recorded notes etc.) per month.

**Some projects are better suited to flat rate contracts that can be done in a shorter time frame. This is typically decided/negotiated at our first FREE meeting!


Returning Clients & Project Retainers

  • 3-month Minimum Agreements Preferred**
  • up to 3 Spots Available
  • Provides 4-6hrs of flexible/adaptable Meeting Time, approximately 2-3 rounds* of Non-Meeting Time, plus all communication time (email, voice-recorded notes etc.) per month.

  • 3-month Minimum Agreements Preferred** 
  • up to 3 Spots Available
  • Provides up to 1-2hrs of flexible/adaptable Meeting Time & approximately 1-2 rounds* of Non-Meeting Time, plus all communication time (email, voice-recorded notes etc.) per month.

3, 6, 9, 12-Month Agreements Available

* a “ROUND” of work is when I am given material to look at, problems to solve or brainstorm, I do so, and I send my thoughts and contributions back to you. For example: You send me notes (audio or written) or sketches of ideas, I engage with them and provide feedback based on your needs, and send that feedback to you. Ultimately, Non-Meeting Time is entirely dependent on client participation levels. You give me lots to work with, I work a lot. You give me only a little to work with, I work less. The price is the same either way.

** Month-to-Month Negotiable for returning clients & retainers: Add $75/ month

Why Do First-time Clients And Large Projects Usually** Require 3-month Agreements?

The kind of work we will do together requires time to build foundations, grow, and be effective. We need time to set boundaries, create structures and workflows that are appropriate for you, and to help you prove to yourself that you can get sh-t DONE. I want you to see and feel your progress and to be able to recognize my contributions. 

Too often, at other stages of my business, I have agreed to do irregular, more one-off, sessions without any long-term plan or structure and it always feels like an endless, dissatisfying stream of promises no one can keep. Without sufficient commitment and accountability, my approach doesn’t work. So, I don’t do it anymore. 3-month minimum agreements have been a game-changer so I stick to them unapologetically.

**Some projects are better suited to flat rate contracts that can be done in a shorter time frame. This is typically decided/negotiated at our first FREE meeting!

Why Is There A $75 Monthly Fee For Month-to-month Contracts?

Two reasons: (1) 3-month minimum agreements leave more room for real productivity because when life inevitably “happens” – and a meeting, or agreed upon set of tasks, gets missed or delayed – there’s still time to regroup, redesign, reschedule and meet our goals; and, (2) With my client limits, I do not always benefit from month-to-month agreements so – frankly – I am unabashedly trying to make them less appealing.

Why Are Most Projects** done through Monthly Payments Instead Of Other Payment Models?

A monthly payment structure with taxes included:

  • Makes it super simple to budget/plan
  • Leaves room for improvisation, flexibility, and adaptation
  • Reminds us both that we are accountable to each other and your project(s) all the time, not piecemeal; and
  • Ensures I’m not an anxious mess constantly watching a clock, worried that my “estimate” is wrong when all I want to do is to play with you and your work.

WIN WIN WIN WIN.

**Some projects are better suited to flat rate contracts that can be done in a shorter time frame. This is typically decided/negotiated at our first FREE meeting!