Untied

Life and death of a business project

When you are juggling a gazillion plus one projects at the same time, failure is not only bound to happen, it’s a necessity. “Success takes a lot of hard work, and a little bit of luck. And sometimes, your luck just runs out.“ Julia Elliott Brown, My business just collapsed – the truths that entrepreneurs never tell you about failure Seeing the death of a business project is rarely a fun experience. And, as a hard-core multipotentialite, I’ve seen more than my share. But every projects that folds makes a…read more

Mid-year rear view

Early January, armed with the wise words of Leo Babauta and Gretchen Rubin, I devised a plan for 2019. I set my intention, this year, on the idea of Balance and I planned actionable items, divided into 12 categories from Vitality & Health to Business & Work, or Art & Leisure. Finally, I chose 19 of theses items to put on my 19 for 19 list. As August begins, marking the mid point of France’s summer, I thought it was a good time to sit down and see where I…read more

A mind-blowing penultimate WDS

Penultimate: “next to the last” (source: Merriam-Webster dictionary) 2020 will mark 10 years of WDS. 10 years of the gathering of some of the most amazing souls the universe has to offer, both on-stage and off-stage. After my second participation last year, where I might have put too much pressure on myself by wanting to share the wonders of WDS with someone else, I hesitated. What if I waited a year before coming back. Learning that WDS2019 would be the one before last helped me make a choice: I needed…read more

A matter of choice

Left or right? Up or down? Morning or night? Work or fun? It’s all a matter of choice. Or is it? More often than not, we are faced, all day long with choices. Some of them are conscious: “should I order dessert or not?”, others… not so much. My favorite example of a choice we’re free to make, although it doesn’t always feel like that is forgiveness. I want to be big and let goOf this grudge that’s grown oldAll this time I’ve not known How to rest this bygoneI want…read more

YOUR version of life

“You deserve the life you desire.“ Those words are staring at me in the face every day. They’re written on a note card, pinned in front of my desk at home. I grabbed it during my first WDS. At the time, they came as mantra I sorely needed. But what I didn’t realize then is how long it would take to finally figure out what was the life I actually desired. Life: what do you actually want out of it? In the quest of always coming closer to a firm…read more

Commitment: in or out?

Spring is in the air. People are coming out of hibernation and everywhere you hear about love and relationships. I recently discovered the work of Wednesday Martin and her book: UNTRUE: Why Nearly Everything We Believe About Women, Lust, and Adultery is Wrong and How the New Science Can Set Us Free in which, among other things, the author “asserts that monogamy is a tighter fit for the fairer sex.” I was never the cheating type. But I’ve rarely been the long-term relationship kind either. So, I had to wonder:…read more

Hello, I’m Audrey and I’m a workaholic.

Me: “I love to work!” Them: “What? Why?” [cue eye-roll] Me: “Work is fun!” Them: “…” Choose a job you love and you will never have to work a day in your life. Confucius Check. Mission accomplished. But, of course, it’s not always sunshine and roses. It took me a 20+-years career to understand the difference between “a job” and “working”. And while sometimes I’m bored with my job, that doesn’t mean that I’m not still in love with the concept of working. I’m a workaholic and proud to be…read more

Social medias: friends or foes?

Saturday night, bar conversation with a friend who refuses to give in to technology. She doesn’t use contactless payments with her credit card. Not only I do, but I now often pay directly from my phone. She doesn’t have apps on her phone. Not only I do, but I use app-based services on a regular basis. She doesn’t have any social media accounts. Not only I do, but I made a living out of it. We live on the same planet. Country. City. But our approach to digital couldn’t be…read more

Bucket List: 10 things you should do before you turn 30

Day in and day out I meet a lot of twenty-something. They’re attending lectures or workshops I’m giving in various schools, they’re taking their first steps as freelancers or entrepreneurs, they’re traveling the world… Sometimes, I try to remember myself before I turned 30 (and moved to the U.S. but that’s a whole different story). I was a very different person back then. I’m like wine, I get better with age. Had I known what I know now, had I had a little bit more self-esteem and self-confidence, I would…read more

“Show me the money”, or how to set the price you’re really worth

Posted by Audrey Julienne in Business

Pricing is a question that comes back over and over again, whether I’m coaching students working on an entrepreneurial project, chatting with freelancer friends or building a marketing strategy for a client. Last week, on The Kameleon Collective, a group of French freelancers and entrepreneurs who want to break free from cultural conventions, I asked participants to talk about a moment of pride and excitement. Super-talented graphic designer Sophie Spéciale, told us about the time two of her clients requested to pay her more for her services. How much better…read more