This is not my typical, career-focused blog post…
A few weeks ago, while I was waiting to board a delayed flight, I started thinking about the people and services that I loved in 2017 and decided to create a list of my top 10 things from 2017. That list quickly became 16 because, well, 2017 brought so many great people and things into my life.
Here’s the quick list (with more about why I love each below):
- The New School of Finance
- Firefly Creative Writing
- Tiny Lantern Tarot
- Suicide intervention workshop for weirdos, freaks, and queers; helping your friends who sometimes want to die maybe not die
- Gather North
- Camp Tech
- SheEO
- Jennie K. Ormsen, therapist specializing in couples and entrepreneurs
- Lindsay Simmons, therapist specializing in young people with learning differences
- Creative Mornings
- HER Agency
- Yuli Scheidt, headshot photographer and art director
- Libby Brewer-Dulac, Cake Artist
- My Kindness Calendar
- MAC retro matte lipstick in Ruby Woo
- “Marlena” by Julie Buntin
For me, one of the simple pleasures in life is finding and sharing awesome resources and services. Let’s just say I have a weird knack for this kind of thing. And it gives me a huge sense of genuine fulfillment.
I think it’s connected to my values of gratitude and good judgement (side note – assessing your values and how they need to be integrated into your job search is one of the 52 things on the free What’s Next Checklist for Your Career).
Three updates
1. You can now register for my new free workshop on Tues Jan 9th at 12:30pm Eastern: The Top 5 Resume Strategies for the New Job Market (resume template included)!
Click here to see what we’ll cover and to sign up.
2. And on Mon, Jan 15th at 9am, Guidance Counselling for Adults will open for registration for the last time until Fall 2018.
3. And (yup, there’s more) at 12:30pm Eastern on Mon, Jan 15th, Tues, Jan 16th, Wed, Jan 17th I’ll be doing a Facebook Live job search tips series starting with the workshop, Process & Plan. Process your 2017 career progress and plan for your 2018 career path. Just like ye olde Facebook page here to get notified when I go live.
Pocket it
There are a ton of useful links in this blog post. As you click on the links, add them to Pocket Pocket so you can save them for later AND for offline reading (so good for subway or airplane reading).
This is my favourite prevention strategy for having A MILLION TABS OPEN FOREVER. You can use Pocket in your browser and on your phone.
Ok, on to the list!
The New School of Finance
What it is: Fee-only financial planning by women financial planners (hi Shannon and Liz!), epic DIY online courses, a new, fresh-off-the-presses book, Worry-Free Money (this is me fan-girling at my local Indigo)
Can’t see the image above? Scroll up and click “Display images.”
Why I love this: The New School is my secret to paying off over $65k of student debt by age 30, figuring out taxes, sharing finances with my love, starting a business, and financially planning for a kid. During their first year in business I referred 100+ ppl to them – New School is THAT GOOD.
I often refer my clients to New School when they’re planning to negotiate salary or a raise and need to know their financial goals (which is only one part – but a very important part – of salary negotiation).
New School’s “Financial 101” recorded workshop is also one of the bonuses that’s included in the upcoming round of Guidance Counselling for Adults (registration opens Mon, Jan 15th).
Handy links:
- Worry-Free Money by Shannon Lee Simmons (NEW book) – I legit ordered multiple copies
- Epic DIY online financial courses (some as low as $97 CAD) on topics ranging from evaluating if you can buy a house to taxes to budgets to splitting finances with your partner. I’ve partnered with New School to offer a 10% discount* on their courses when you use the promo code “kathrynmeisner.”
- 1:1 fee-only financial planning sessions – How is “fee-only” different from the free advice you could get from a bank? Banks sell financial products to you, fee-only planners don’t. So you know that the financial advice New School of Finance gives you is genuinely best for your needs.
Firefly Creative Writing
What it is: Cozy and joyful creative writing workshops, coaching, retreats, and studio space in Toronto, Ontario, and through snail mail to anywhere in the world.
Why I love it: I hate writing! Firefly has helped me to hate it less and maybe even like it. They’ve helped me dive into writing (both professional and personal) by providing an internet-free, silent co-working space and wonderful workshops.
Firefly has also just launched a new service: Snail- mail support for writers. It’s like a lighter alternative to writing coaching, all conducted through the old fashioned post, and it starts in January.
Handy links:
- Silent studio membership – No internet. No talking (not even when you arrive). Just uninterrupted time to work on whatever writing you need to. This TOTALLY appealed to the hardcore introvert in me.
- Snail mail for your writer’s heart
- Writing workshops – I had a good friend die this year (oof grief is a beast) and Firefly’s grief workshop was like a healing balm.
Tiny Lantern Tarot
What it is: Collaborative tarot reading.
Why I love this: I love self-reflection and find that tarot helps me reflect as I move through key life events. Carly Boyce, the tarot reader behind Tiny Lantern, describes a tarot reading as:
“A three way collaboration between the cards (they are pretty magical), me (my intuitive sense, my relationship to the cards) and you (your experiences, your questions, your relationship to the cards and the ideas/archetypes they represent).“
I go to see Carly at least once a year, for a birthday reading (my treat to myself). Carly also does readings focused on things like careers, grief, grad school support, and pregnancy. I’m seeing Carly for this last topic next week!
Plus: Carly has awesome wealth of knowledge and experience that they integrate into their tarot practice:
“Emotional awareness, intuition, holding space for hard feelings, and having sturdy boundaries are skills I developed through a combination of my own experiences of trauma and violence, and my training (community based and academic) in support work and social services. I have an MSW and a decade of experience working within queer and trans communities and with survivors of sexual and gender based violence.”
Handy link:
Suicide intervention workshop for weirdos, freaks, and queers; helping your friends who sometimes want to die maybe not die.
What it is: A workshop to help you support ppl who are dealing with suicidal thoughts while communicating and respecting your own boundaries. This is a workshop designed and facilitated by Carly Boyce of Tiny Lantern Tarot (a person of many talents).
Why I love it: The title, obviously. This fantastic workshop provides practical strategies for folks who want to build and share skills around supporting people in their lives who are suicidal.
Handy link:
Gather North
What it is: A professional getaway for women who create the web. This isn’t just for software developers or coders though…
Do you write online? Market online? Project manage online? Do something else online? This micro conference is for you.
Why I love it: I spoke at Gather North about salary negotiation for women and let me tell you – this is THE BEST conference I’ve ever been to. And I’ve been to a ton.
Gather North is usually limited to 60ish ppl. It’s hosted at a beautiful location (often with great views and spa services). It’s a mix of practical workshops, speakers, and free time. I absolutely love that Gather North is not just another loud, obnoxiously over-scheduled conference.
Plus, you get to meet a group of amazing women.
Handy link:
Gather North is founded by Avery Swartz who is also the founder of Camp Tech.
Camp Tech
What it is: Beginner-friendly, hands-on workshops for adults who want to learn practical tech skills. Camp Tech offers group workshops as well as private and corporate trainings.
Why I love it: I’m a pretty tech-savvy person but when I don’t know how to do something or need to brush up on a skill, I take one of their workshops. I love their small group-to-instructor ratio and how welcoming they are (no question is ever too silly). I’ve referred several of my clients to Camp Tech when there’s a tech skill they need to boost their career.
Personally, I’m nerdily looking forward to Camp Tech’s next Excel workshop.
Handy link:
SheEO
What it is: A global community of women pooling funds to support women-founded and women-led businesses. The goal? To radically transform how we finance, support, and celebrate female innovators.
Why I love it: I know how much I’ve benefitted from other women sharing and supporting my business so I decided that one way to pay it forward was to become an Activator.
SheEO aims to reach 1M Activators (aka women who contribute funds), 10,000 women-led ventures, and a $1B perpetual fund to support women for generations to come.
Handy link:
Jennie K. Ormson
What Jennie does: A therapist (can you tell I love therapy?) who specializes in couples counselling and support for entrepreneurs.
Why I love Jennie: I first met Jennie at Gather North when she did a short but powerful talk on self-esteem. I love her wonderful, warm, down to earth approach. I also love her Instagram!
Handy links:
Lindsay Simmons
What Lindsay does: Lindsay is a therapist and social worker specializing in a variety of things including supporting youth with learning differences (ADHD etc) and their families.
Why I love Lindsay: Her services are SO NEEDED! Having worked with a lot of kids in my past career, I know how hard it can be for kids and families to navigate these waters.
Handy link:
Creative Mornings
What it is: A free monthly breakfast series for the creative community (or anyone who wants to join), hosted in 180 cities.
Why I love it: The monthly speakers and themes are amazing (past themes include context, magic, broken – next month’s theme is anxiety). Both Shannon Lee Simmons of the New School of Finance and Avery Swartz of Gather North and Camp Tech have been past speakers.
AND the continental breakfast is amazing.
Handy link:
- Get free tickets to the Toronto CM – they go fast! CMTO is now hosted at the Design Exchange
- Find out if your city has a chapter here
- Or start a chapter here
HER Agency
What it is: A communications agency. HER = human | empathetic | responsive
Why I love it: The founder, Angelique de Montbrun has a unique and creative approach to communications – she and her team use empathy as the foundation!
Handy link:
Yuli Scheidt
What Yuli does: Yuli has done all of my headshots (see my website, Facebook page, and Instagram profile pics).
Why I love Yuli: As soon as I get in front of a camera, I freeze up. This results in awful pictures that do not look like me. But not with Yuli! Yuli is an incredibly encouraging, body-positive photographer. She’s also an art director and designer!
Handy links:
- Yuli Scheidt
- If you want to inquire about Yuli’s extremely reasonable headshot rates, contact her directly at yuli@kindredstudio.ca.
Libby Brewer-Dulac, Cake Artist
What Libby does: Makes unbelievable cakes.
Why I love Libby’s cakes: Because cakes are my husband’s love language, I commissioned Libby to make this one for this birthday (it did not disappoint).
Libby is also getting ready to launch Pitchfork Kitchen, a shared kitchen and co-working space for food in Toronto’s East End. In a collaborative and supportive environment, we offer commercial kitchen space for local food producers, a shared workspace for entrepreneurs in the food and wellness realm, classes, workshops and a beautiful, welcoming place to get things done. Workshops range from how to brew kombucha, to mastering basic knife skills, to learning successful meal planning for your family.
Pitchfork Kitchen is being launched in collaboration with Libby’s vegan, gluten-free chef business partner.
My Kindness Calendar
Handy links:
MAC retro matte lipstick in Ruby Woo
What it is: My absolute favourite lipstick ever.
Why I love it: Before I found this lipstick line (I only use MAC’s retro matte or matte), I didn’t think lipstick really suited me. Then, Carly Boyce of Tiny Lantern Tarot, introduced me to this little guy. Now I wear Ruby Woo or Flat Out Fabulous in all my business photos and videos. How could I not include it in my top faves list?
“Marlena” by Julie Buntin
What it is: The best book I’ve read in recent memory. I read it in the summer and I’m still thinking about it.
Why I love it: I feel like the author was reading my teenage mind. If you’ve ever had an intense female friendship as a kid or teenager, read this. Read it even if you haven’t.
Handy link:
And that’s my list for 2017! What’s on your list?
Happy New Year,
Kathryn
PS: Hate doing resumes? Register here for my free resume workshop on Tues Jan 9th at 12:30pm Eastern. If you can’t make it live, sign up to get the recording which will be available for a limited time.
*Full disclosure – if you use this link, I get a small portion of sales. Please know that I only share services and products that I’ve found to be incredibly useful. I take my recommendations **very** seriously.