Contributor post by Rena Tom
I just came back from Salt Lake City, Utah, where I spoke at Alt Summit on a panel with my fabulous hometown ladies Anne Sage, Liz Stanley and Lisa Congdon. The title of the panel was “Kickstart Your Next Project” and it was fun to talk about creative projects, how to get them going and why one should do them - for more reasons than the fact they are just plain fun to do!
Anyway, I felt rather silly to be spilling my guts about my personal goals at a blogging conference, since none of them had to do about blogging, and since my biggest, craziest goal is...to open a design-forward boutique hotel, the kind of place I would want to stay at, in San Francisco.
Woo! I just said it again, in public. I truly feel like you have to dream big, really big, to motivate yourself. A goal should be attainable - maybe not all at once and maybe not without help, but definitely doable with a lot of hard work and planning.
During the panel, I also explained that I plan to take several steps to get there. I am going to open a social club/event space first, to hone my skills at building a community and to meet the kind of people who would want to support, stay at, and invest in a hotel. I am going to continue to think up (and execute) smaller creative projects to increase my visibility in the world. And I’m going to keep reading blogs and books and pull all of the best ideas that others have, and let them shape my vision for these physical spaces I want to create. For all of you readers who are dreaming big, definitely do the reading, and collect all of your resources in one place. Pinterest works, and Evernote does too.
What were the results of my talk? First of all, the act of saying you will do something brings you that much closer to achieving it. It encourages accountability and for many, that is what helps you to get things done. I am always telling my clients to ask for what they want. A corollary to this would be: say what you want to happen, in order for it to happen. It’s part visualization and part clarification.
Another result is that people are interested in helping others fulfill their goals. Maggie Mason’s life lists and Erin Loechner’s resource parties are based on that premise. It’s a very lovely, very human trait - why not take advantage of it? I have been sifting through a flurry of business cards, emails and tweets from people who are excited about what I want to do. One Alt attendee even told me her husband worked with a hotel group. Score! When you share your big dream, it becomes smaller and more manageable. If I need help in the future, these are the people I’m going to call.
OK, time to spill the beans. What’s your dream, the one you’ve never told anyone before?
Dream Big - Then Do It
Rena Tom is a retail strategist for creative business owners. She previously owned Rare Device, a boutique and art gallery with locations in New York and San Francisco that was renowned for its carefully edited collection of design objects, books, housewares and accessories, and for supporting small, innovative designers and artists whose work was not easily found in stores. Rena blogs about personal projects as well as retail trends and small business tips at renatom.net. She lives in San Francisco with her husband and baby boy in an apartment filled with too many laptops, Sprecher root beer, half-finished craft projects and overdue library books.
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| (Yours truly dreaming out loud in front of a ballroom full of people at ALT Design Summit 2012. Photo by Justin Hackworth. ) |
Anyway, I felt rather silly to be spilling my guts about my personal goals at a blogging conference, since none of them had to do about blogging, and since my biggest, craziest goal is...to open a design-forward boutique hotel, the kind of place I would want to stay at, in San Francisco.
 |
| (Lost and Found, a hotel/publication concept in Melbourne, Australia. http://www.wearelostandfound.com.au/) |
Woo! I just said it again, in public. I truly feel like you have to dream big, really big, to motivate yourself. A goal should be attainable - maybe not all at once and maybe not without help, but definitely doable with a lot of hard work and planning.
During the panel, I also explained that I plan to take several steps to get there. I am going to open a social club/event space first, to hone my skills at building a community and to meet the kind of people who would want to support, stay at, and invest in a hotel. I am going to continue to think up (and execute) smaller creative projects to increase my visibility in the world. And I’m going to keep reading blogs and books and pull all of the best ideas that others have, and let them shape my vision for these physical spaces I want to create. For all of you readers who are dreaming big, definitely do the reading, and collect all of your resources in one place. Pinterest works, and Evernote does too.
What were the results of my talk? First of all, the act of saying you will do something brings you that much closer to achieving it. It encourages accountability and for many, that is what helps you to get things done. I am always telling my clients to ask for what they want. A corollary to this would be: say what you want to happen, in order for it to happen. It’s part visualization and part clarification.
 |
| (Creators Inn, a project that offered free accommodations to visiting creatives in Sweden. http://www.creatorsinn.com/) |
Another result is that people are interested in helping others fulfill their goals. Maggie Mason’s life lists and Erin Loechner’s resource parties are based on that premise. It’s a very lovely, very human trait - why not take advantage of it? I have been sifting through a flurry of business cards, emails and tweets from people who are excited about what I want to do. One Alt attendee even told me her husband worked with a hotel group. Score! When you share your big dream, it becomes smaller and more manageable. If I need help in the future, these are the people I’m going to call.
OK, time to spill the beans. What’s your dream, the one you’ve never told anyone before?
Dream Big - Then Do It
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