Hello, hello, my friends! It’s 2020. Are you like me, in disbelief the new decade has started?
I’m still recovering from my busy end of year business activity with Ounce of Salt Jewelry along with the Holiday festivities. 2019 was a great year for both my business and life in general.
As I look to the future, I’m thinking about all the ways I want to grow both personally and professionally.
Part of this growth is to evolve, and I’m thinking of ways my Ounce of Salt Blog can continue to share great lifestyle information for my readers.
In an effort to bring more frequent quality content on Inspired Living, I am starting to take contributor posts from the network of people in my community whom I respect.
I’d love your feedback as you read these posts on whether they resonate with you.
With that note, here is a contribution post by Carrie Sacks., marketing, messaging and mindset strategist and Certified Professional Business Coach
It’s about envisioning what you want and why, then making it happen. For her, it took 5 years. A reminder that big dreams take time. Stay the course, keep your “why” close and be guided by it in your decision making process. Enjoy!
My Vision
USER NAME: CARRIESAKS
PW: ManhattanBeach2018
At least 20 times a day since 2013, I have typed these words in as my password to everything – my computer, bank accounts, amazon, email, eBay – you name it.
Even before I was a professional coach, I somehow intuitively understood that by
1) typing this repeatedly
2) having an unwavering trust and knowingness that it was going to happen, and
3) visualizing it every day
were the keys to making this dream unfold.
Moving to Manhattan Beach became my big vision–the overarching goal of my life. A goal that was so strong it kept me positive, excited and laser-focused even as my world (as I knew it) was unraveling.
I was in the process of getting divorced after 23 years of marriage, wondering how I was going to support myself after being a stay-at-home mom for 21 years. I had no idea how I was going to get three kids through college, let alone move across the country to live in a brand-new city without my support network of friends around me. And most importantly, how I would be able to afford to live in a beach community where the cost of living was probably triple that of suburban Houston.
Manhattan Beach or Bust!
I pushed those doubts and fears aside and decided I was moving to Manhattan Beach in 2018 when my youngest went off to college, come hell or high water.
I was determined that even though the gap in my non-existent resume was as wide as the Grand Canyon, I was going to launch my own business so that I could have the freedom and flexibility to work from home and the portability to move to Manhattan Beach seamlessly when the timing was right. That time, in my mind, was September of 2018.
Despite the frequent comments from well-meaning friends who would often ask, “How do you think you can afford to move there?” Or, “You are the only person moving to California from Texas as everyone else is doing the opposite.” Or, “How are you going to support yourself?”
All these comments could have chipped away at my resolve and dampened the fire in my soul, but I refused to let them penetrate my happy little dream. I knew in my bones that I could make it happen. If there is a will, there is a way, and I was determined to make my dream of living the beach bubble lifestyle in Manhattan Beach come true.
Why Manhattan Beach out of the hundreds of beach communities around the country? Let me back up a bit.
My Road to get to Manhattan Beach from Houston
After my kids were born, every summer our family would come to Southern California and rent a little beach cottage on Balboa Island for a week or two. As our kids got older, we would venture to Los Angeles more and more on our summer trips.
One day we stopped in Manhattan Beach on our way up to Santa Monica. I knew someone who lived here and was curious. We stopped downtown and walked around the shops and down to the pier and along The Strand. That was it. I was hooked.
I immediately knew this is where I was going to live someday. My soul just felt like it belonged here.
This was my spot. My place. My NO MATTER WHAT!
Carrie and her 2 sons.
Market Research: 30 trips in 5 years just to be sure
If I had a frequent visitor punch card for rentals (and the occasional splurge of the Shade Hotel) over the course of the five years between 2013-2018, I would have at least 30 punches. I filled my house with beachy items as my touchstones, and I hung a Manhattan Beach sign in my bedroom, so it was the first thing I saw when I woke up in the morning and the last thing I saw when I went to sleep at night
Making it happen!
My desire and vision to live here was so strong that I set my plan in motion and did not ever once veer off course. I knew my why and kept it close.
Like any road trip, there were the occasional bumps, obstacles and slight detours that popped up, but the GPS in my soul knew no matter route I took, my ultimate destination would be Manhattan Beach sometime in 2018.
Through a series of lucky breaks, hard work, amazingly supportive parents and one special friend who believed in me and gave me a chance, I was able to launch a successful marketing writing business. I quickly started getting referrals and found myself with a list of clients and a thriving business. Soon, all my worries about the huge gap in my resume eased away as I started to fill the space with website writing contracts, corporate public relations retainer clients, and freelance writing work for entrepreneurs to get their message out into the world.
In 2016, I embarked on a 360-hour program to become a professional business coach to inspire others to go after their dreams and to understand it’s never too late to create a new business or passion project. I did all my coach training in Los Angeles (conveniently right near Manhattan Beach) and never forgot my “why.” I knew I’d be Coachin’ by the Ocean in 2018.
Carrie’s farewell party cake to wish her well on her move to Manhattan Beach, CA
Living the dream
Fast Forward to 2020 and here I am. I’ve been living in Manhattan Beach for about 16 months since August of 2018. I sold my big, Texas-sized house, my Texas-sized, gas-guzzling car and almost all of my furniture. I dropped my youngest off at college, had a teary goodbye party with my friends, loaded up my car, and drove cross country with my dog and dad. I arrived in Manhattan Beach on August 27th, – a whole 4 days ahead of my original goal!
Every day I wake up grateful that I can see the ocean from my window. I may have a much smaller place, but everything in it has much larger meaning to me.
Community and Connection
While many people warned me it might be hard breaking in to a beach bubble community, I have found the complete opposite! I immediately joined the Chamber of Commerce and got involved in a local leadership program and networking groups. I’m fortunate to have gained new local clients, as well as maintained my Texas clients and others from all over the world. I have met so many wonderful neighbors and friends and there is ALWAYS something fun going on.
So, Now What?
What do you do when you achieve your big vision, your dream, and your ultimate goal? It sounds bizarre but you kind of experience a period of goal grief.
I took some time to stop and smell the roses and take in the experience of the sand and sea. To appreciate how far I’ve come and to make a few tweaks.
My next big vision is launching soon – a group program to help entrepreneurs create “all the things” they need to launch or grow their businesses.
As I tell all my coaching clients, the best way to start the next chapter is by taking a single small step. And to always remember keep your why close by.
So, my first step as this post is published:Listen to my son’s advice:
“Mom, change your password so nobody can hack into all your accounts.”
Carrie Saks is a marketing, messaging and mindset strategist and Certified Professional Business Coach based in Manhattan Beach. For more information, visit. www.creativelyignite.com or call 213-259-3075.
For more info about Manhattan Beach, you might like my post “A weekend in the life of a MB Local.” And if you’re interested in more posts like this, read my post, “To the over 40 woman- you CAN evolve.”
