Several weeks ago Pam Slim, coach and author of Escape from Cubicle Nation–the blog and recent book, swung through Atlanta on her world tour and I hung out with her for the day at her workshop, contributing my graphic facilitation magic. Fun-O-Matic!
I found Pam’s blog several years ago. We’ve been internet friends for a long time and this was the first time we spent time in person. And just as I expected—she rocks!
And because Pam attracts some incredibly interesting and gifted people, I made a couple of wonderful new friends. Yay for new friends!
Her workshop was full of great ideas to help brainstorm a business into being. At several points in the day, I captured the conversations in visual maps.
Hi, I’m Julie and I’m in Stage 3
Introductions were done using Martha Beck’s Change Cycle which has four stages: Death and Rebirth, Dreaming and Scheming, The Promised Land, and The Hero’s Saga.
We gave a brief description and identified where we were on the Change Cycle with our businesses. It was no surprise that most were in stages one and two: Death and Rebirth or Dreaming and Scheming as there were a lot of people in the brainstorming or formative stage of starting up a business.
You have an idea, then what?
A lot of the participants already had an idea, or a kernel of an idea, so the next step was to figure out “Who are my people?” We did this with two business ideas. One was for a business that helps other businesses start wikis and get engaged with social media. The second was for the Curvy Yogini, a yoga business focused on curvier people.
“I’ll never be successful”
After lunch one of the areas Pam had us focus on was negative thinking—all those thoughts that come from the reptilian brain telling us we’ll never be successful, and we’ll end up living in a van down by the river.
One person volunteered to explore her fears around her coaching practice; specifically that she doesn’t provide enough value. Pam broke down her fear thoughts and asked her questions from Byron Katie’s The Work to see whether her fear was true.
Toward the end of the day I mindmapped while we brainstormed an idea for a travel-based business that gives innovative entrepreneurs the time and space they need to be creative. We thought of all the different aspects and questions to sort out when thinking about how this business could work.
Mindmapping + brainstorming=powerful results
I loved doing this work with Pam at her workshop. In fact, it’s one of my favorite ways to use graphic facilitation: to help you see your big dream clearly, in focus, so you know what to do next.
There’s always that moment (often more than one) during a personal mapping session when you can see all the moving parts and how they fit together and suddenly it starts to make sense. There’s an “a-ha!” And more importantly, the steps ahead become much easier to accomplish. That moment is magical.
Many thanks to Pam for such a fabulous day!!