Popping in with you this week just to: Wish you a happy start to 2019 (done and done!) Share a win from 2018 (and invite you to share with me too) Share plans for 2019 (and invite you to share your feedback with me also)   1: Happy New Year, my copy poppers!   Okay, so, we already got item #1 complete. Hope 2019 is the best year ever for you!   Now let’s talk about #2!   2: Share my wins from 2018 (and invite you to share with me too)   My New Year’s Eve was fabulous. I got together with some of my neighbors and friends. 6 of us were entrepreneurs and 2 were not, but are significant others of us crazy biz peeps (1 of which is my husband Devin).       Just before the clock struck midnight, we 8 stood around the fire (in our neighbor’s outdoor fire pit), drank adult beverages, and shared one of our favorite moments or wins from the past year.   What did I share?   Well, for me, I’ve run away from public speaking nearly my entire life. I remember distinctly a few instances from my childhood where I had to present, was terrified, did horribly, and swore I never wanted to do it again.   That carried over into my adult life.   And if you know my story, you know I used to teach high school math and psychology. That is public speaking, of sorts. The first day I had to teach, it was during my student teaching program and I had to teach the unit circle to a group of 17 and 18 year old seniors in and honors pre-calculus course. I was like 24 or 25 myself, so not that much older. And I was mortified.   We used to use those overhead projectors where you write on a transparent film and it shows on the wall behind you.   Well, as I started my lesson, I noticed that the entire projector and resulting projection on the wall was shaking nonstop. Was there an earthquake? Nope...it was my freaking hand. I couldn’t stop it from shaking. And I felt even more embarrassed because I knew that everyone knew I was so nervous. It was painful.   But, my desire to become a teacher was just slightly higher than my mortification from sucking at it...so I persisted.   By my second year of teaching, I started to really find my stride and grew to love it. It was actually fun to perform the lessons, as I call it, and get teenagers to actually care about and enjoy mathematics.   I had many, many students tell me that they hated math until they took my class….that they hated all math teachers until they met me.   That was so fulfilling to hear.   But after teaching about 5 years, I felt like I had ‘mastered’ it and wanted a new challenge. I wanted to be an entrepreneur and the internet had matured more, so it was a lot more feasible than it was prior. The year was 2011. I quit teaching fulltime to make the jump.   And I worked on many different businesses until I found some real footing in my current one...in the Copy That Pops world….where I now focus on helping other entrepreneurs to do three things:1. Write a great book that shows off their expertise Self-publish their book as a bestseller on Amazon3. Leverage their books to grow their brand and businesses   I’m toying with some branding in 2019 around “Author Leadership,” but I’m getting ahead of myself.   To wrap up my item #2 around my win for 2018...let’s get back to public speaking.   After mastering speaking to 30 teenagers trapped in a classroom all year, I didn’t think that skill translated to doing well on stage in front of business people.   So, I started hiding and running away from speaking to larger than just a few people at a time...for many years, yet again.   In June of 2011, when I jumped into the business world, I had just turned 30 (my bday is June 6th, fyi). This past year in 2018, I decided to get over this ‘fear of speaking’ once and for all. It started in January and in June I turned 37. So, for about 6.5 years I hid from it yet again.   So happy that in 2018, I changed my story...and it’s helping take my business to the next level.   But, the win I shared around the fire just before the clock struck midnight was that I not only spoke on stage as much as I could this past year, I also spoke on stage on three different continents: North America, Europe, and Australia.   That sounds pretty bad ass. :-P   And, this is just the beginning…   I believe that being an published author gives you leadership credibility instantly. Speaking on stage is the next level too...and being an author helps you get more speaking gigs and get paid more for the paid gigs you book too.   So, that is a big win for me.   If you are terrified of speaking on stage, you are not alone. But if I can get over it and learn to love it -- something for 36 years I swore was impossible -- then you can too.   ACTION STEP:Please share with me a win of yours from 2018! I’d love to hear it! Post it on social media and tag me @LaptopLaura or send me a private message or email! (I’m at Laura@copythatpops.com for email). Would love to hear something you are proud of achieving this year! #3: Share some of my plans for 2019 (and invite you to share your feedback with me also)   Plans….my goal for 2019 is several fold. I want to scale my business up. And I want to take on fewer private clients so I can focus on growing my group programs and courses, which I really believe in and see my way to help more people, even those who can’t afford tens of thousands for private work with me.   I also want to scale more ONE-TO-MANY versus one-to-one so I have more time available for me to do what I love most in business:- speak on stage- organize events that bring people together   If you remember one of my podcast episodes from last January, episode 107 titled: Your ONE Word Quick Copy Tip [CONNECTION Edition] (copythatpops.com/107), you’ll know that at my CORE, what makes me happiest in life and always has, ever since I was little, is “connection.”I love feeling connected with others and connecting people with one another.   I feel I can best do that via:- my group coaching programs and masterminds around books and author leadership - speaking on stage to bigger and bigger crowds- attending and organizing events ACTION STEP:Please share with me feedback for me on how I can serve you best in 2019! I’d love to hear what I can do to make you feel more connected with others while also accomplishing your business goals.   Post it on social media and tag me @LaptopLaura or send me a private message or email! (I’m at Laura@copythatpops.com for email). Would love to hear your feedback. I appreciate your listenership and value your opinion.