December 2010
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Dec 29, 2010 12:30 PM
Pilar Galiana
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This is the year when I finally realized what I am truly capable of and I know for sure this is just the beginning. And yes, it has taken me 41 years! This year I started my own company, and it’s successful. Most importantly I peeled off the layers and finally started to see not only what I could do, but what I am really passionate about and how I can throw myself behind this and turn it into a career.
This isn’t your typical highlight of my blog posts, because after just one year and only recently blogging every day for 30 days, a “best of” is a bit silly. This is recognition of the journey that I took this past year.
January - Setting intentions
Who better to help you on your path to true enlightenment then Oprah. On January 1st (or some point really close to that date) I got an email from Oprah. And no, I am not “connected” I simply subscribe to her newsletter. The email had an invitation to a 21 day consciousness cleanse. I love cleanses, usually they involve food, but hey, my consciousness has never been cleansed - I should give this a try. I have to say I really loved it, and really looked forward to starting each day listing to the audio files. I want to tell you I made it all the way through, but towards the end it got to be way too much about God for me and I had to bail! But not before I set my intention for the year, which was to be “inspired”. I didn’t really know what that meant, but I knew that I needed it.
February - Yes I can
I got my first “new” job. I had started the year with a contract from my old employer, and although I realize that is a significant accomplishment, it was getting that first job with someone new that really delivered me the sense of relief and accomplishment and the feeling that “I really could do this”. And you know what, I sat in front of my computer and cried and even as I write about it, my eyes well up, silly I know, and monumental all the same.
March - the transition begins
I started becoming the person I had visioned for myself the year before. I hated being the mom that dropped my kid off at school in the fancy office clothes, I wanted to be one of those mom’s who looked casually hip and significantly less rushed than my old self. I had 3 new clients, lots of work, but as I look back at my calendar I see more mom/school stuff in my calendar. I was also see appointments for things like massages and facials - what is that? was I taking time for me!
April - Fire starter session
I did a Fire starter session with Danielle Le Porte. I mentioned her in my first blog post, I had heard her speak in 2009 and she really inspired my transition. After reading my post, a friend of mine reached out and contacted Danielle, which, I think is totally cool. So why hadn’t I? Partially because I was filled with self doubt and partially because I thought I wasn’t ready. The session was great, and gathering the feedback in advance of the session gave me insights (not all positive) that I needed to hear.
The outcome was that I needed to focus on hospitality marketing, kind of obvious I realize because of my background, but until this session I wasn’t confidant (like many new entrepreneurs) in targeting a niche. I walked away with a list of things to do, many of which I think about daily and many of which I never did do and until October I kept asking myself “why”.
May - 21 day detox
Oh I do love my cleanses and this virtual one was my all time favourite! Micelle is located out of Boston and participants in this cleanse were from all over the US, me in Canada and one woman from England. We had weekly calls which were encouragement and tips from Michelle. And we had the most amazing Google group where we all posted our updates and challenges - these total strangers made me laugh and cry. Michelle has amazing food suggestions and her cleanse gave me so many recipes and habits that I still use today.
Find Your Balance
June - time for boot camp!
Eating healthy, check. Now it is time to get into shape. I signed up for a boot camp, 3 days a week at 7 a.m. for an hour! And yes folks I made it to each and every class and had some very impressive shoulder and arm muscles when it was done! Sadly I have hardly done any exercise since, but it is a good reminder of what I am capable of, let’s hope that in 2011 I do more of it!
Best Body Boot Camp
June is when I started to let me self appreciate and acknowledge how powerful this change (working for myself at home) has been to my life and to my family. This post got the most comments in Facebook:
Ella says the rewards of working from home are more than green.
July and August - summer the way it should be
I enjoyed the summer, not that I took time off, cause I didn’t, but for once I didn’t feel like a crazy woman. My old work place had a summer hours program, work extra hours and you could take half day off each week or a full day every other week. But with two kids at camps in different parts of the city that started at 9 and finished at 5 (and that is after paying extra for extended care) it was almost impossible for me to put in extra time in the office. That didn’t mean I worked less, it just meant more of it was done at home and it didn’t qualify for time off. I managed to pull off extra hours in the office, but boy did I resent it! This summer there was no need for extended care and as with school mornings this year, there was no insane rushing or stressing.
September - don’t stress
I actually started to stress about having enough work and then I got more work. I had been working all year at reaching out, making connections, telling people how I could help them. Finding work didn’t happen magically, it was the result of the work I had done all year. Having it work out so quickly and easily is a good reminder that work will come, sometimes you just need to be patient and freaking out won’t ever make things better.
October - Inspiration
I got myself a coach, life purpose coach actually, her name is Sherry Waddington. And she really did help me find my life purpose. When I met with Danielle back in April, part of me knew I wasn’t ready yet, but when I met with Sherry I knew that I was ready.
One of my first homework assignments was to read The E Myth, a book that I had actually started the year before but never finished. I mentioned that Danielle had given me an amazing list of things to do to get my business up and launched, but that I hadn’t done them. For months I kept asking myself what I was resisting, was it success, was it failure? I had stopped readying The E Myth because I felt that I didn’t have enough structure and documentation in my business and I knew those would be key to long term success. But when I picked up the book again and read chapter 12 something in me clicked. This is where Michael Gerber asks you to define the primary aim of your company, and tells you that your aim needs to be you. To create a successful business he asks you to define what you value most, what you want your life to look and feel like and who you wish to be.
Its funny, for so long, I had been saying, I know “how” I want to work, but I am not sure “what” to work on. And suddenly I realized it was the “how” that mattered the most. I want to help companies and individuals create more successful and effective flexible and remote jobs. Its helped me be the mom, person and entrepreneur I know I am meant to be and I want to share this with others.
November - real accomplishments
30 days and 30 blogs. It doesn’t seem like such a big deal, but I am a digital marketing girl, I totally get the importance of a web presence and the value of blogging and social media and yet I hadn’t been following through. I now know, with Sherry’s guidance that it was because I was missing my “big idea”. I do details well, but I need the big picture and until I acknowledged that I want to help create more flexible working arrangements for people, I didn’t have my big picture. The blogging was my most favorite thing that I did all year. It didn’t pay me a cent and yet it gave me the biggest sense of accomplishment which is a valuable lesson for a woman who was so used to getting rewarded with salaries, bonuses and promotions.
December - Ella says ...you did a great job.
I am such a sap, is it okay that I want to cry again? Ella is my daughter, she is an incredible and amazing child who has something to say about just about anything and I promise you I am not exaggerating, that kid can jump into any conversation! The word “ella” is also the word for “she” in Spanish. My company, Ella says, was inspired by my daughter and my vehicle to to get my voice back and use it. And I have.
Its just the beginning, I will continue to provide digital marketing support to my hospitality clients and in the process show them how remote work arrangements complement their existing business structure. I will also spend a lot of time building my reputation and eventually clients, specifically focusing on creating more remote and flexible work arrangements. |
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All about ella says,
Inspiration
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Dec 23, 2010 4:32 PM
Pilar Galiana
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Penelope Trunk’s post the other day, that gift giving in the office is not very respectful of diversity, which I totally agree with, got me thinking, why do I celebrate Christmas? I am not Christian, its not my parents tradition and anyone who really knows me, will tell you I am ridiculously anti-religion. All this and there is an enormous and I mean really enormous Christmas tree in my skinny little living room. The tree is higher than my living room is wide!
Not only do I celebrate this holiday, I cherish it. This year my husband wanted us to have hamburgers for Christmas lunch, I mean can you believe that? My response was, “are you trying to ruin Christmas for me?”, and I wasn’t saying that to be dramatic, that really would ruin Christmas for me. That and having no surprises under the tree. Who am I?
Where does this come from? This desire to celebrate this very Christian holiday? And it is a Christian holiday, however watered down it has become. But that is what the Christians have always been willing to do to get the masses isn’t it? Didn’t the Christians , way back when adopt dates that corresponded with existing more popular pagan holidays?
And don’t tell me I am celebrating a pagan holiday....cause I’m pretty sure I am not! I don’t bring a tree into my house to remind me of the harvest soon to come, or celebrate that the days are now getting longer (as much as I am truly grateful for that), or engage in gluttonous partying (although at times it does feel a bit like that). Sun god, what is that?
I don’t put up a tree for Jesus or even think much about him that day. But I won’t deny and can’t deny that it is the Christian tradition that embraced the tree that inspires how I celebrate the holiday.
The Christmas morning tradition of exchanging gifts, maybe so we could be doing the same thing as all our friends, was something my parents created for us, it wasn’t something either one of them grew up doing. Not that our Christmas day was really like many others, after gift giving which took no time at all, despite my attempts each year to drag it out, we joined the rest of the Jews for a Christmas day movie and I think once or twice we may have even gone for Chinese food afterwards.
I don’t even celebrate Christmas with my family, I celebrate with my husband’s family. With his family we have a beautiful multi course dinner and exchange gifts on Christmas Eve. Christmas morning it is just the 4 or 3 of us and that is my favorite part. It was important for Gustavo and I to start and host our own traditions rather than going to his mother’s or to Rochester with my family.
Why Christmas? Is it because of the wonky traditions my parents created for me that I am still holding on to? Is it because of my atheist husband's traditions? Is it because everyone else does it? Is it cause there isn’t much else to do that day? Or has it become over the years familiar and comfortable?
For me Christmas is a time to connect to friends and family, even if it is just a greeting card with pictures of how our children have grown. It is a time to show our families how we care for them by cooking great food and sharing it with them. It is also a time to give gifts to others, that despite my late start this year, I really enjoy doing. And mostly, for me, it is a time to feel safe and warm and loved at home.
Happy Holidays everyone, may your holiday time be joyous and may the New Year bring you, health, wealth and happiness! |
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All about ella says,
Inspiration
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November 2010
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Nov 22, 2010 8:00 AM
Pilar Galiana
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Early this year I wrote a post, “Ella Says....be Authentic” where I explain my decision to include my life experiences along with my business experiences in this blog rather than having a “work blog” and a “life blog”. But here’s the thing, I never did it, I never really talked about what has been going on with me over this past year.
I am too caught up in creating the right impression for prospective clients. If someone knows that I am on the parent council at my daughter's school, on the board at her daycare and that I frequently attend her sports events during the day, they may think I won’t be dedicated enough to them. Ugh, can you even believe that I just said that? You know what is really scary? I feel too guilty to go to a yoga class during the day, even when I am not busy with client work! What does that say about my work experience before I worked from home?
It is no accident that my first real post about working remotely is about the benefits to an organization and not the life changing impact it has had on me and my life. I still need to sell this to the client.
I struggle with social media too, if I post too much of what I am doing will my clients wonder when I get my work done? Ugh again! Who am I?
I am not sure that I am the sort of person that would strike you as someone who only does what other’s expect or as someone who really gives a damn about what other people think. I mean I was the one who bought the house, had the kid and then got married. I dropped out of my sorority (and for those of you who didn’t know I was in one, close your mouth!)! I once told a professor in University that I wasn’t impressed with the fact that his Philosophy of War and Peace course didn’t contain anything from a woman’s perspective and that I planned on challenging him on that throughout the year, and I did! I even went through a stage of life when I didn’t shave - shocking considering the waxing tourture I subject myself to now!
Even as I write this I know there is this crazy “responsible” side of me, or I should say I have just begun to come to terms with this side of me that is overly practical and responsible. It came from an early age when I decided at 19 that I didn’t want to come home for the summer and, since my dad wanted me home, the only way to do it was to make enough money to support myself. Through a friend I managed to get a job at a bank and my life of conforming and fitting-in for a pay-check began.
In so many ways this side of me has served me well. We live in a house we love in part because I had money saved for a down payment. My daughter has always been in great daycare and after school programs because I put her on waiting lists before she was even born. I lead teams and plan projects for a living and a big part of a successful project management is anticipating what could go wrong and making sure it doesn’t!
Its not like I live this double life. People I work with me do see me for who I am. I don’t get on the soap box about my socialist political leanings, but most people know how I feel, I am not exactly a wall flower. Once at a job we were asked to complete a questionnaire about who we were, it was meant to be a bit whimsical with questions like what would you want on a desert island and which 3 people would you like to have dinner with. I made a collage and when our VP walked by and saw it she just said, “of course you did”.
What I have never done, until now, is give myself permission to work at something I really love and show it to the world.
Don’t expect me to start gushing about my day-to-day life, that is still too much of a leap and will have to come gradually. Just like I need to model to clients that working remotely works, I know I need to model the benefits of a balanced fulfilling life and how much that contributes to great work. |
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30 days 30 posts,
All about ella says,
SEO
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Nov 20, 2010 10:17 AM
Pilar Galiana
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When I left my job at the end of last year to “go out on my own” I honestly didn’t know what to expect. Would I constantly be stressed about getting new clients? Could I really make this work?
Most panic attacks happened before I left my job. I had proposed that I leave and work as a consultant, and they took a very long time to get back to me, so there was a period of time when I thought I could start January 1 with nothing to do. Fortunately, I managed to negotiate a retainer contract for the entire year, and I won’t lie, that made the transition so much easier.
I also did my homework, I talked to a lot of people, did research and on the financial side, we did a lot of planning. As is my nature, I prepared for the worst. We started scaling back our expenses 4 months before I left my job. I met with my banker, I met with my financial planner. I created spread sheets. Check this out, I am even quoted in Entrepreneurial Women in an article by Liz Doyle-Harmer on “How to: Fund your Business”.
But something else happened, along the way I stopped being scared. We have all heard it before, what would you do if you could over come fear. One day, in the panic filled days before the contract was signed, I realized that if it didn’t work out and I didn’t get clients quickly enough and we really needed the money I would just get a job at Starbucks and that would be okay. And a funny thing happened, as soon as I told myself it was okay to work at Starbucks, I knew I would never need to, I knew I wasn’t scared any more and knew I would make this work.
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30 days 30 posts,
All about ella says
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June 2010
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Jun 2, 2010 11:33 AM
Pilar Galiana
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Last year I read a blog entry by Rosebeth Moss Kanter on the Harvard Business Review Blog, it was titled, “Stay Home and Work”. In the blog, she suggests that President Obama make it the norm for everyone to work from home at least one day a week. And she states, “That single step could raise productivity, save energy, decrease pollution, reduce traffic congestion, cut household expenses, increase quality of family life, and keep educated women in the work force”.
I am one of the statistics, an educated working mom who left the corporate world to start my own business so I could work from home - something I couldn’t do in my former job. And in the past 5 months I have had the opportunity to reap the benefits.
Not only have I increased my productivity, I have cut household expenses, decreased pollution and contributed to reducing traffic congestion (just like Rosebeth Moss Kanter suggests), and I have increased the quality and health of my family life.
First I did the math, it turns out that by not commuting into the office everyday I got back 7.5 hours - that is an entire working day! No wonder my productivity is up and I feel more relaxed.
Something else happened and it wasn’t a product of a resolution or a new fitness goal, it just happened. We all started walking. We used to drop our daughter off and pick her up in the car, cause we were already in it. Now we walk her to school and walk to pick her up from daycare each evening.
Time for more math - those walks alone add up to 10 km each week. Not to mention all the other walks we take, to gab a coffee or some lunch, to pick up the dry cleaning or return a book to the library.
The most beautiful part of those walks are the stories my daughter tells on the way. In the past she would hop in the car and say “my radio station, please” and within 2-3 min we would be home. Now we talk - and truthfully some days she just talks non-stop and I don’t say a word, and that is fine too.
I will echo Rosebeth Moss Kanter in saying, “ we need public officials to put the infrastructure and permission in place, companies to start the change process, and people to learn how to work together with new norms.” There is so much to gain from having more flexible work places - for ourselves, our environment, our children and the future success of many organizations.
Read Rosebeth Moss Kanter's complete blog post, "Stay Home and Work". |
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Flex work,
All about ella says
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April 2010
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Apr 2, 2010 4:56 PM
Pilar Galiana
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Has it really been a month since my last blog post? Before I launch into “do what I say and not what I do”, Let’s take a look at what happened in March.
In a recent “interview” with a new potential partner I was asked, “since you launched your business, what challenges have you faced”. The first challenge, which we both had a chuckle about, was the proposal process. The truth of the matter is, in most situations we are putting budgets and timelines together for companies/partners we don’t know enough about. Agencies small and large often worry - did I under bid?
The other challenge, and the challenge faced by most business owners who opt to work from home is the “when to work challenge”. I can honestly say I am not one of those people who feels the need to do laundry in the middle of the day, but I also don’t want to be one of those people who works 24/7.
So how do you balance it all? Time for more honesty, I am still working on that. It was a busy month for me, I had two clients and a great opportunity to put together a proposal on yet another piece of business. It was a great month for leads and positive connections all leading to my current positive outlook.
All good and yet I need to figure out how to do more. I made some choices, client work took priority, next was business development proposals, then the ongoing networking. And you know what, my goal to launch more pages of my site got put off (until today), and my blog entries just didn’t happen. And Twitter, am shocked at the followers that keep coming on board despite my less than adequate contribution to that medium.
So what now you ask? Now we implement some fundamentals of project management and plan ahead. Social media needs to get a time slot in the calendar. And if that means the computer comes to bed or I grab an hour on a holiday weekend, that is what I will have to do. And I am confidant that the more I do it, the more naturally it will flow and before I know it, it will be habit. |
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January 2010
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Jan 23, 2010 7:36 PM
Pilar Galiana
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The core service offering of ella says is digital project management.
There was a time when I no longer wanted to be considered a project manager. Let’s face it, in the agency world, most people use that role as a stepping stone to the higher profile and more lucrative position of Account Manager or Account Director and it isn’t much different on the corporate side. On that career climb that so many of us get sucked into, myself included, I too wanted the “better” more senior titles. And then, I got wise and reflective and embraced the concept that doing what you are really good at is a very powerful thing and titles don’t really mean much.
I also learned to recognize the power of really good project management and started to see it as the key to actually bringing projects and ideas to life. Lots of people can have ideas - and everyone seems to want to be a strategist - but the truth is many of these idea generators don’t know the first thing about making their own ideas real (and that’s okay). Knowing what is required to take an idea, a concept or a vision and define the plan, understand the audience, create the content, build the team, the budget, keep it all on track and make it real is something I do very well - and I attribute my success to my project management skills.
Truth is, it has been a very long time since I held the title project manager - I have had many “bigger” roles, but I now know that the reason that I am good at what I do, managing large interdisciplinary teams, multi million dollar budgets, balancing resources and communicating with stakeholders is because at my core I am a really strong project manager. And even more importantly, I really love doing it.
To me, good project management is about bringing out the best in your team - empowering and validating them so they will do their best work - so they will take ownership and have pride in what they deliver.
Project management is also about communications - really good communications. That means you have to listen and yes, understand what the technical team is saying. That doesn’t mean you need to know how to do what a developer does, but you need to understand so that you can communicate to your clients and stakeholders. My trick is an old one - but it works....”okay guys, I am going to tell you what I heard - tell me if I got it right.” The best part of that trick is it shows your audience that you are listening - and “being heard” makes us all feel important.
Consistency is also key to good communications - always producing contact reports. Always starting a meeting with a recap of the last meeting - we are all busy, this is a great way avoid a time wasting rehash of the entire previous meeting.
Consistently taking notes also enables me to remember more - even if I don’t go back to the notes I took. One of the reasons is that I always summarize notes with clear next steps or take-aways. And yes, I take the notes, I don’t delegate them to someone junior - its not because I am a control freak (although I realize I am) - I am a strong believer that if you are the owner and a leader of a project a great deal of your success comes from owning the communications, defining the next steps and keeping everyone in the loop and focused.
Experience goes a long way - and at this point in my career, I have managed a lot of projects. It seems that with almost every project I take on there is something new to understand - a new technology or platform, a new audience, new design and usability enhancements, new SEO strategies and new tracking requirements - and that is what keeps it interesting and engaging.
At the end of the day, being a project manager is not about being the star of the show and its not about checking things off of a list, it is about leading and communicating effectively and letting your team shine - so collectively you can deliver great projects that bring your stakeholder and client’s ideas to life. |
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Productivity,
All about ella says
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Jan 10, 2010 6:20 PM
Pilar Galiana
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I have spent a good portion of today reading some really amazing blogs. And the truth is, I love blogs and I am fascinated by bloggers and I secretly want to be a blogger whose incredible followers constantly post beautiful words of encouragement. I should stop for a moment and acknowledge that I have received quite a few notes of encouragement and I loved everyone of them.
Blog fantasy’s aside, there are lots of practical reasons to blog. It gives you a chance to create fresh content and engage your followers. It gives you content to tweet and engage new followers and it is a great medium to establish your expertise and build your reputation.
How do you decided what to blog about?
That is the question I have been struggling with all day and I have to say that for much of this afternoon I considered creating a new separate blog to talk about all the things that are going on in my life as I launch my new business. It was going to be called me & my bean. And I was going to use WordPress so I could learn how to use that tool.
And then I had this thought - why should ella says have rules and constraints? Isn’t that why I wanted to break out on my own? To get away from rules and “should haves”! To spread my wings and be myself?!
So here goes folks - you are going to get it all. My perspective on the digital medium as well as my insights and experience of starting a new business, becoming a more active member of my community, creating a more balanced lifestyle and celebrating all the great things in my life. I will create categories and you can come back for all of it or just the topics that interest you.
It is Sunday evening - the end of week one of being self employed. My house smells delicious, Gustavo is making a roast for tonight’s dinner and something with baby octopus for later in the week (and yes I am grateful that the man in my life is an amazing cook who creates most of the food we eat). My 8 year old is watching a YouTube video of Lady Gaga and if for a moment if feels like she is growing up too fast, I can think about the TV box that she she was crawling around in and giggling about 5 min ago. It is for these things that I need this new venture to work. I need balance - I need more flexibility and I need to be fulfilled by my work and I need be true to myself.
As Ella says, "peace out peeps". Its true, she really says that, too funny, eh? |
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December 2009
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Dec 28, 2009 12:25 PM
Pilar Galiana
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ella says provides digital planning and project management services.
As I prepare to send out a contact update to all my friends, family and colleges, I know that many of you are going to ask, “what is ella says?” and “what will you be doing?”.
For those of you who have worked with me and are part of the digital world, I realize you need little explanation - many of you have seen me in action. For years I have managed multidisciplinary teams who create web sites, applications, solutions, campaigns and content. I am unique in the way I lead and empower my teams and in my ability to communicate effectively with marketers, clients, designers, architects and developers. Through ella says, I will continue to provide these services to a growing client base.
For the non-digital people in my life - I help people navigate the web. I help people and organizations take ideas and visions and make them come to life in the digital medium. This could be taking the idea of creating a restaurant web site - to the reality of having a site that shows up in search engines, creatively aligns with your physical space and is easy to maintain and update.
I will work out of my home office and at times, in the offices of my clients. As a project manager and planner, I will always be part of a team - I may work with the team that is already in place, as I will be as I work with a former employer. Or, I may be part of multi agency team brought together to meet a particular clients needs as was the case with the XM Radio project that was delivered as the result of the combined efforts of Your Web Department, onepixeloff, Blackbird and the talented Larry Farrall. |
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