Category Archives: Uncategorized

April 14, 2014

The Right Brain Business Summit Recap!

rbbizvivienne

Oh my. Its Monday morning and I wanted to share that my heart is feeling filled right up from the Right Brain Business Summit. Last Friday I was interviewed by the awesome Jennifer Lee about things like being visible in our business, authenticity and of course about taking self-portraits!

Jennifer has added on an extra day of the replay of my interview…so if you haven’t seen it, if you join the summit (its free) you’ll be able to view the replay until 8pm tonight! Or for those folks who upgrade in the summit, you can watch all the videos at your leisure!

Over the weekend, Jennifer and I held a contest for folks who were watching the interview….if they shared a self-portrait on Instagram, they could win a spot in the June session of Be Your Own Beloved (registration is open if you’d like to join us)!

So my weekend was filled with happily checking Instagram and each time I did there was another amazing and brave Summit participant sharing their selfie. It was really outside of the comfort zone for many folks, so it was such an honour that each and every one of them shared.

I tell ya, I’m LOVING this summit…and what was even better was that today while I was watching it, a package from Amazon arrived with Jennifer’s gorgeous new book Building Your Business the Right-Brain Way: Sustainable Success for the Creative Entrepreneur arrived in my mailbox! Perfect timing, right!

I’m going to share more about the book in a future post but can’t contain my excitement today about this book. It was such an honour to be asked to be a featured entrepreneur in the book and not only that…but this book itself is going to be a game-changer for so many of us creative entrepreneurs. Jennifer has such an accessible and inspiring way of sharing what can often be some of the parts of our businesses that stress us out. Just so proud of you Jennifer Lee & seriously excited to have this book as my go-to resource in my business.

Also, the #RBBIZ Summit is still on for the rest of this week! I’m getting so much out of each session and I especially encourage you not to miss the rockin’ Alexandra Franzen on Thursday!

April 10, 2014

Where the Magic Happens

viviennemagic1

Yesterday I headed to the community garden nearby with my tripod, both cameras and all my lenses. I was on a mission. I’m working like wild on this brand new class Your Beloved Camera which explores the technical side of taking self-portraits as we explore seeing ourselves with kindness through it (I can’t wait to share this class with you)!

When I arrived at the garden, my inner critic was ready to pounce on me. As I’ve been on this self-love through self-portraiture journey for a while now, its become much easier to push past my inner critic and take self-portraits (even on their fiercest days) but as I was shooting video for the class, it was like I opened up a whole new door for them to come through.

And they did.

The garden was busy too. People walking by as I was shooting. With photos, it can be a bit more subtle, but with my tripod perched high on a picnic table right in the middle of the garden, I felt super exposed and nervous.

So I used my go-to trick with when I’m hitting a wall when taking self-portraits. Getting silly. I shook it out with a silly dance. I took some ridiculous clips that will be fun outtakes and just got back in my own body, my own skin.

Did I get all the clips I hoped to? Nope. But I started.

And sometimes thats the hardest part.

After shooting video I decided to shoot some more self-portraits, with camera in hand (as in planning this course I realized I had very few of me shooting photos)!

Oh my…it might have been the most magical half hour of my life. The light, the cherry blossoms, the sudden space from people walking by. I felt so in the creative magic and came home feeling so energized.

I wanted to share with you as this kind of magical creative adventure is available to us all. And our inner critic or ‘gremlins’ are likely to be awaiting us if we try to access it. But thats where the magic happens….when we push past the NO that they tell us and choose YES for ourselves.

viviennemagic4

April 8, 2014

It’s not about the Photo

I’ve gotta tell you.

It’s not about the photo.

Not really.

It’s about everything that happens in the process of taking it.

It’s about coming face to face with our inner critic and choosing to take it anyways.

It’s about being in the present moment when we’re taking it, about being in our bodies.

It’s about finding moments of quiet from external voices of what we should act like, look like.

It’s about choosing to prioritize our own perceptions of our body over others.

It’s about finding breadcrumbs that lead us back to ourselves.

It’s about self-compassion.

It’s about letting go.

The photo? Its an awesome bonus.

But it’s not about only the photo.

The photo is the doorway to all of this.

April 7, 2014

I’m Speaking at The Right Brainers in Business Summit!

I’m a BIG fan of all things Jennifer Lee creates, especially her Right Brainers in Business Summit. Every year it feels like a spark that helps shift my year into gear and I try to watch as many of the interviews as I can.

So I wanted to share this with you and invite you to come on over to the f*ree 4th annual Right-Brainers in Business Video Summit April 7th through April 18th. There is no cost to sign up for the summit and the interviews are free to watch live (or you can watch a replay of it anytime later that day). The interviews run from 10-11am PST.

Jennifer is launching her second book this year during the summit…Building Your Business the Right-Brain Way and she’s inviting us to celebrate with her during the event.

I’m excited to share that I’ll be one of the speakers at the summit!

Join me live in the chat room on Friday, April 11th! While the interview is running I’ll be hanging out in the chat and watching it alongside ya’ll! I can’t wait to interact with you and I can’t wait to share it with you!

Grab your Free pass here!

Some of the things you’ll learn from this fabulous line-up include:

The power of thinking BIG, and leveraging your creativity and experience
How to make art that sells
How to create a highly profitable business, and work part-time
Advice on how to manage multiple moola-making methods
Using Pinterest effectively to grow your creative business
Why branding can get in your way – and why positioning is way more important

And the line-up of speakers is amazing:

Michael Port, New York Times Bestselling author of five books, and referred to as “an uncommonly honest author” by the Boston Globe and a “marketing guru” by The Wall Street Journal
Alexandra Franzen, writer, mentor, and founder of Alexandra Franzen.com
Alicia Forest, founder of Alicia Forest.com
Christine Kane, founder and president of Uplevel YOU™
Cory Huff, founder & Chief Monster Hunter at TheAbundantArtist.com
Lilla Rogers, founder of Lilla Rogers Studio, an international art agency
Marney Makridakis, founder of Artella Land
Megan Auman, jewelry and textile designer and founder of Designing an MBA
Melanie Duncan, founder of Melanie Duncan and Entrepreneuress Academy
Eeek….and me…Vivienne McMaster, photographer and founder of Be Your Own Beloved

Plus right when you sign-up you’ll get instant exclusive access to a special bonus interview that Jenn did with Andrea J. Lee, founder and owner of Wealthy Thought Leader. It’ll whet your entrepreneurial appetite as we gear up for the full-on creative feast during the live summit!

I can’t wait to “see” you there!

April 4, 2014

Evening Wanderings

Every April once the time changes and the spring flowers emerge, I try to go out most evenings for a short photo walk around the neighbourhood. The late day light just takes my breath away.

But this year I want to try to get out for more evening walks on the days when its not brilliantly sunny too. So on this non-rainy day (gotta celebrate that) I went out for a short stroll around my neighbourhood. The Camellia’s are out and a number of the streets are lined on either side with cherry trees and its a bit of a dreamland out there!

So I thought I’d share a few of the photos that emerged from todays stroll!