Let's Get Workin'!

One of the things that is most important to me these days is finding an inspirational space to work. Between going to school full-time, working part-time, juggling my Fragrance business and web development business, creating e-courses to help entrepreneurs and bloggers start online businesses (more on that later) and of course blogging - it's extremely hard to find a quiet place to work that's inspiring and motivational.

It's extremely important for me too to be able to really sit down and feel relaxed while working because I'm constantly going from one place to another.

With that said, let me tell you about my current "workspace" at home. Let's just say it isn't the greatest. It's me in my room working with my laptop on my bedside table where I'm constantly distracted with my family around. It's not the greatest "workspace", but it's the only place I had within my reach to get some work done and unwind.





Enter WeWork.

I was approached by a WeWork community representative who spoke to me about discussing a particular message on my blog. She wanted me to talk about how workspaces should inspire you to not just create a living, but to create a life.

I was uber excited about this as this very message is close to my heart. Everyday, my whole motive behind my businesses and behind helping others create and develop businesses is to encourage myself and others to build a business and life they love.

The WeWork community representative gave me a chance to tour one of the WeWork coworking spaces to showcase how their company is making it possible for aspiring entrepreneurs, creatives, and innovators do what they do best in an environment that enables them to do so.






The beautiful 11 story building in Bryant Park, NYC is where I toured WeWork.

The whole building is designed to enable creative work flow and increase employee happiness. A few of the many things I loved about WeWork is that they offer private spaces for individuals and teams for rent as well as offer permanent office spaces, along with the perks and benefits of having your own space such as getting your mail delivered to their convenient Bryant Park address and discounts on dozens of business friendly services such as TriNet and Slack, and a snack bar so you can fuel up on coffee and fruit water.



My most favorite thing about WeWork, however, was the Motherhood room offered at this location. In a hallway between some spaces was a room dedicated to helping mothers work while taking care of their family at the same time. How cool is it that they added privacy just for Mothers to feel comfortable in their own work environment?!

Membership to a beautiful workspace like this also just starts at $45 a month. Inspirational workspace, co-working areas with entrepreneurs, businesses, and creatives, along with the added perks of having your own office for only $45 a month.




I loved my tour at WeWork and I was honored to work with the wonderful staff at this location. Everyone was friendly and helpful, I would definitely recommend joining WeWork!



Beyond that, I was so inspired by the atmosphere in this workspace that I sat down and wrote this blog post before I left the space! 

I Did my First Periscope...and it was AWESOME!

Periscope quickly became something I wanted to try after I downloaded it and saw a few business owners and entrepreneurs scoping. They were simply talking about their businesses while sharing their knowledge and answering questions which seemed pretty cool to me!

If you aren't familiar with Periscope, its a live video broadcasting app where people host "scopes" and broadcast video while viewers can chat and send hearts (the native periscope currency similar to Instagram hearts or Facebook likes).

I strongly recommend using Periscope! Here's why:

People came and checked it out as soon as I went live!
It was unbelievable to me that almost 30 people viewed my scope as I was recording it. Trust me. It does not feel the same as it would if you uploaded a YouTube and then you received some views. This was live and people were watching me raw and unedited! It was both exciting and nerve-wracking all the same!

People encouraged you to keep talking.
I invited my best friend to the scope in case no one asked any questions or sent any hearts and in case I was stuck and started to show how nervous I was, he would be able to change the subject for me. But, it didn't happen that way. Once people were there, they wanted to have a conversation and loved tapping the screen to encourage you to keep the scope going by sending hearts!




It was so much fun!
Everything was fun - everything from learning to get over the nerves (because you're being watched live by people you've never met) to answering questions by people you've never met. There are some things I could have done differently, but the learning experience was also so much fun! I can't wait to broadcast another one!

Definitely follow me on Periscope to get notified of my next live scope!

Have you tried Periscope yet? Are you nervous to give it a shot?

My (Near) Future Projects + $75 PayPal Cash Giveaway

Since the spring semester of my first year at college has ended, I have been worried that I am not picking up the pace and getting going with all that I have set out to do. Plus, I have been thinking of what that may actually mean or in better words, if it would be worth it? Are all the projects I have set out to complete worth my time and effort and how will it fit my overall mission? These questions are hard to answer for me and just thinking that I would have to cut a few projects completely or that I would have to hold them off until the time is right drives me insane.

This past weekend, I attended the Live Smart Conference in New York City and it really forced me to think about it. I will blog about my experience at the conference soon, but in this post I just want to share some of the projects I am sure about continuing with along with an idea of when these projects may be released.

Little Eternities Design Studio - Launching August 2015

Little Eternities Design Studio Etsy Shop - Launching this Winter

Fragrance Essence LLC (with new inventory and new brands) - Launching August 2015

It's Technologic (an old tech blog becoming anew) - Launching this Fall

These are projects I am sure about releasing, with my website/blog design business launching being of top priority. The rest of the month of July will be spent on getting everything in order for me to set up shop both at the design studio and Fragrance Essence.

With that said, here is an awesome giveaway brought to you by women behind The Blogging Elite:
Nina | Tiffany | Emily | Erica
Kirsten | Sarah
Dana | Erin | Leah
Elizabeth | Pamela | Jessica

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Do you guys have any projects you're thinking of starting? 

My (Blogger) People Rejected Me...

Now I am one to be optimistic, innovative, and I love taking part in new blogger opportunities as well creating new opportunities for my blogger community. Last year, I created two major blogger opportunities, including a group giveaway opportunity to giveaway a beautiful fragrance basket from my business, Fragrance Essence and another project called the #7Things Project. Both of which opportunities I had one or none takers.

This year, I decided to create this wonderful (if I say so myself) blogger awards program called the Eternity Awards and had literally TWO responses after all my advertisements, posts, hundred of e-mails to other bloggers, and either everyone is two busy to participate or refuses to even look at it. It feels as if my (blogger) people rejected me...

I worked very hard on this project and I even extended the nomination period until March 15th even though it does not comply with the timeline I already built.

The Eternity Awards is a free award event for bloggers and participating in it is absolutely free. Being a judge costs $5.00 and I am looking for 4 judges in order to contribute to the prizes.

By participating, you'll get promotion back to your blog whether you are a contestant or judge. You'll have tons of free publicity.

Plus, one winner in each blogger category will win a prize, and I really wanted to make the prizes special so bloggers can feel appreciated. So I ask all of you guys (my readers, followers, and blog viewers) to help contribute either by participating as a nominee, nominator, or judge.

I would love to feel loved again...come participate. Start by nominating your favorite bloggers and reading more about the awards by clicking here.

Introducing the Eternity Awards

For the past few months, I have been working on a brand new project I call "The Eternity Awards". This is a blogger event for those who would like to receive recognition for all their hard work on their blogs! I have seen a trend of little awards going around such as the Liebster Award and Best Blogger Award. I love the concept of these awards, however, I never thought it gave bloggers enough recognition for what they do. Granted, I have had my fair share of earning these rewards from other bloggers, I feel that it is time for something new!

Introducing The Eternity Awards! A completely virtual online awards event for bloggers with real prizes!

To kick off the awards, I am starting the first part of the awards: the nomination period. This period lasts for one week and will end on February 23, 2014. You can nominate as many blogs as you would like in whichever category you see fit. You can even nominate your own blog!

Plus, I am also looking for four (4) judges to help out with the first ever Eternity Awards! Judges will help make decisions as to which contestants will move forward in this competition, contribute to and decide the prize, receive tons of publicity throughout the event with tweets, Facebook likes, and a spot in the judges panel page with a short description and unlimited links!

Nominate your favorite blogs and bloggers here. All the other details about the award event can be found on The Eternity Awards site. 

#7ThingsProject: Getting Started

Sometime in July of 2013 while I was working on launching my Kickstarter campaign for my novel, I mentioned another project I was working on called the #7ThingsProject. This project is sort of like a bucket list. You list 7 things you want to do. Then, whenever you complete anything on your list, you write a blog post on it. Once you're all done with all the 7 things you set out to do, celebrate with another blog post and link up all your achievements! This project has no set time frame, start whenever you want and end once you achieve all 7 things! I'll be curating a list of all the blogs participating in the project on the 7 Things Project page and constantly sharing all your achievements through social media! This project is all about doing the things that make you happy, so I'm starting this project today!

#7Things

1. Score at least a 1600 on my SATs. 

2. Host a little imaginary party with my little sister that makes her happy. 

3. Upload a video on my YouTube channel and start doing some V-logging.

4. Create Open When... letters for people with significant meaning in my life.

 5. Spend a whole weekend with my family without using the internet once.

6. Save up enough money to buy my sister her own laptop or tablet.

7. Speak confidently in front of a large group of people. 

Join me and do the things that make you happy, sign up for the #7ThingsProject!

Less Than 10 Minutes to Go...

With less than 10 minutes to go, I am concluding my project on Kickstarter. Time's up and my 35 day funding period will be over soon. I have worked so hard putting up posters, creating contests and giveaways to encourage people to share my project, reaching out to lots of friends and family members, and using every social network I have an account on to try to advertise my project. Ninety percent of my attempts to fund one of my dreams failed and in less than 10 minutes the rest is history.

However, there is a bright side to funding my novel through Kickstarter. A lot of my friends, family members, people I know, and even some of my clients were very supportive through out the whole journey. Although my project was not successfully funded and I did not receive any money towards my novel at all, I learned that there's a time and place for everything and that I will publish my novel, just not this year. I also learned that if you're truly serious about your own work, people will do whatever they can to support and encourage your endeavors.

My novel will hopefully be published next year and I will be sure to keep everyone updated. Also, to those who pledged and selected a reward tier that included a copy of the novel will still be sent a paperback copy of my novel as soon as it's published. Just as a thank you.

You can still check out my novel "Within the Bindings" on Kickstarter, Like the "Within the Bindings" page on Facebook, Tweet me questions or comments with hashtag #WithinTheBindings, and read all about my novel writing journey on my blog.
xoxo,

You All Overwhelmed Me...With Joy!

I just recently launched my novel "Within the Bindings" on Kickstarter and I was overwhelmed with the response and feedback I received since then! A lot of my friends showed interest in my work and even some family members from the other side of the world decided to pitch in as well! I was so happy about all of it! The project has only been live on Kickstarter for about a day and I only raised 1 of 100 percent! It may not sound like a lot, but it was to me. I usually never receive responses that fast or that early. It was a great feeling.

My Kickstarter project took a lot of work to put up. The verification process took me about a month. (I blame myself, Kickstarter approved me within a day). Plus, shooting and editing my Kickstarter video was the hardest part. I shot the video twice. The first time I shot it with my phone and it appeared in HD on when played back on the phone, but on my computer it looked as if it were shot on an old flip phone. I could never publish that! The second time, I had my sister, Tabeer help me. She did great and all it took was about 3 hours of editing and staying awake until 5 A.M. to upload it to Kickstarter and send it in for approval.

Watch the video and see for yourself.



All your feedback and pledges mean the world to me! Please don't stop sending them! Be sure to follow my novel's Facebook page for updates and Tweet questions or comments to hashtag #WithinTheBindings!
xoxo,

Project Update: #7ThingsProject and Kickstarter

I have lots of projects going on and I want to make sure I can keep track of them all. I'm a multitasker and I'm known to launch several projects at once. I like being busy, what can I say? Two projects that I am currently working on are the #7ThingsProject and funding my yet-to-be published novel on Kickstarter.

My Kickstarter project is soon to be launched for my novel titled "Within the Bindings".

The novel is written by me and is about family, love, and the meaning of life in general. The novel itself was started in November 2012 and will be published November 2013 or December 2013 through Kickstarter funding. Be sure to show some love once the funding process is live and drop a comment or pledge a buck or two. I'm going to be giving back to all of my project backers by trying to make their experience with me as friendly and genuine as possible. I will be accepting questions and reading comments on Twitter through hashtag #WithinTheBindings and also giving a few backers the opportunity to be character in my novel. Follow my Twitter or Facebook for updates on when the Kickstarter project will be live or search "Within The Bindings" on Twitter, Facebook, and Kickstarter

The #7ThingsProject is a 7 part blog series and hashtag project run on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Tumblr. 

What is the #7ThingsProject?

This 7 part blog series & hashtag project brings people closer to achieving their goals, facing their fears, and just embracing life. 

Most people spend their lives saying one day I will be able to do this, one day I'm going to do that, and perhaps one day I'll be strong enough to do everything I ever wanted. This project brings these people closer to dreams by taking little steps (7 steps actually). 

Check out the official #7ThingsProject page for more details and how to sign up!

Love,

Believing in Yourself

Let's face it, often times it's really hard to keep your confidence and your mind content when everyone and every thing is making you think otherwise. That is why I am writing this post. I too have been a victim of my own negative thoughts as well as not-so-nice criticism from others. I am busy writing a novel (so close to finishing), running a technology blog, a personal blog, a quote log, keeping up with social media, running an online business (be sure to check it out: FragrancEssence.com), and not to mention trying to fulfill my life with as much love and adventure as possible. Seems a lot for a young lady, doesn't it? Well it is!

Since, there's so much going on it gets extremely hard for me to believe in myself as is. Then comes the feedback from those I love. It starts out with questions rather than opinions from the first few friends and family members I ask. Questions such as "Where did you get the idea from?" or "How did you do this?" After that, the next few people give me cheerful comments that really are the reason that keep me going. If any of my work inspires someone, makes someone laugh, gives someone an idea, or anything of that sort then I have done my job. A few words like "Great job!" is all I really need to keep me going through out all my projects and endeavors.

Then comes the crowd that can never pleased. In order for me to understand others feedback on this, I need to ask everyone. I can't just not ask certain people of their opinions even if I know what their reaction may be. In order to get accurate feedback, everyone I can possibly get an opinion from counts. Majority of these people have negative things to say. I mean constructive criticism is one thing and negativity another. You can tell constructive criticism apart from negativity easily. If someone says "I love it, but maybe you can add a thing or two here and then it'll be perfect" or even "I don't like it, but I would if you took out this. Other than that, great!" That's constructive criticism. But, negativity is this "I could have done a better job", "Nah...you can do better", or even "Is that all you got?" I understand that you can't please everyone, but when majority of the people that you know and would like to reach out to with your works and projects are not accepting your idea, what are you to do?

Here's the answer...believe in yourself. It's easier said then done (Honestly!), but it's essential to making sure you succeed in all your endeavors even when everyone thinks you can't. If you are in my boat and want to make something big out of yourself. Letting anything like that get in the way of your opinion, won't get anything done. Negativity hurts and it gets the best of us, but we are better. We know how to be ourselves and show that in the best way possible and any negativity towards that should be ignored. After all, all it takes to make things possible is  creativity, hard work, and the belief that you can do it (and by that I mean, you can do it YOUR way)!

xoxo,

New Year's Resolution: Project 365

Everyone has a New Year's resolution whether it's planned months before, the day of, or a last minute thing, no one seems to give up the opportunity to change something about their lives the following year and let's face it we all have at least one thing about our lives/ourselves we could improve. After seeing a variety of Photo 365 projects, I decided as my New Year's Resolution, I should do one too. It'll show me how to prioritize better and stick to something for once. It's the perfect resolution!

What I'll Be Using To Make This Happen:

1. iPhone (I carry it everywhere so I will always be ready.)
2. Laptop (Where else can I back my photos up?)
3. Media Drive (Found a place to back up the back up!)
4. My Flip Mino HD Camera (Video stills make great photos as well!)
5. Instagram (Best way to filter my photos as I take them and share them along.)
6. Shutterfly & Snapfish  (Can't think of a better way to organize my photos.)
7. Facebook (Sharing my photos instantly with everyone I know!)
8. Twitter (Tweet my best shots, 365 tweets about my photo project might have the unfollow effect on some people.)
9. And of course on my blog, I will posting weekly photo updates; 52 in total! 

The Purpose of This Project:

• I will finally learn how to start a project and finish it too!
• It'll be easier to blog/journal using my photos to show me what was going on that day.
• Cherish everyday memories!
• Use media to the best of it's ability.
• Blog more photos.
• Make it real, make it all my own. 
• Give everyone who follows me something interesting everyday.
• Improve my organizational skills.
• Give others more of a sense of who I am through pictures.
• Show that pictures are really worth a 1,000 words

This list could go on forever, truth is there are many reasons why I am doing this, but the one main purpose is to see if I can actually do this without skipping a day! (If you haven't noticed, I seem to have a habit of loving to start new projects and then hate getting back to it later, bad habit if you ask me especially with all the projects I have started.)

Project starts January 1, 2013! Feel free to join me! 

xoxo, 

Organizing Years of Photos

For the past two months I have been wanting to post about how I organized my family's photos in these photo boxes.

4 Words...It took too long!

I organized all the photos from our drawers, ripped family albums, and I even included the photos that somehow always end up on the floor, in between closet space, and what not.

I started off by organizing thousands of photos by year. I thought this way any photo within that year would be easier to find, but because that was just too easy, I decided to organize them by month and by day. It worked out fine from the 1993 photos to the 1998 photos. Then, I realized that all the other photos were dated wrong. Someone always set the camera's date wrong. So I sorted the rest by event and year estimation. TOOK HOURS! Then after 2 weeks of giving a couple hours each day to this project, it was finally done!

This second box, the purple one with polka dots is where all the favorites (in other words, pictures others can see) ended up. Organized by each member of the family. I did the purple box as I was organizing the red box with polka dots using my "system".

After the first couple days, a huge stack of photos still haunted me until I finished organizing. 2 weeks later, I was done. Each day I would spend a couple hours working on it and even took a few days off (It became hard some days).

The finished product made me extremely happy. I was left with the purple polka-dotted box full of our favorite family photos that are approved for guests to go through and the big red polka-dotted box for us to enjoy years from now. All organized and safe from damage.

Now to avoid having to go through this in the years to come, I'm thinking family yearbooks that I want to work with my Mom to put together will showcase and replace all these photographs. Plus, our digital photos won't go to waste. Shutterfly & Snapfish are going to be a huge help on this!
xoxo,

My New Project: Fragrance Essence

Majority of the people that follow this blog know that I’m always up to something and that new projects are always around the corner. Well, here’s another one! Between keeping up with all my projects, keeping up with all my blogs and websites, and not to mention keeping up with life, I try my best to be able to let everyone know what I’m up too.
My most recent project, just launched on April 11, 2012 is Fragrance Essence! An online fragrance shop for men & women. With it’s unique products, great sales, and exclusive offers through Twitter and Facebook, Fragrance Essence will soon be your online destination for fragrances!
I’m currently looking for Sponsors that would like to either review or link to Fragrance Essence and in turn be featured on Fragrance Essence with a blog post introducing them and their own free account on Fragrance Essence. Having your own account means you’re the first one to receive great deals and more! If you’re interested in becoming a sponsor, please e-mail thelifeofazobot@yahoo.com for further information and details!
In the meantime, here’s a little introduction video of Fragrance Essence! (www.fragrancessence.com)

Brought to you by: www.fragrancessence.com

Thanks for reading & showing support!

*Update: May 27, 2013: Video has been deleted.

xoxo,

Tech Blog Launch

            
Guess What? I just launched my Tech Blog! What's that? I just launched my Tech Blog! November 5, 2011 is the official launch date. This blog is about tech reviews, opinions, ideas, and more. Check it out, subscribe, and comment. Click the image to go to the blog or click here. Thanks for reading.

xoxo,