Twenty days ago I wrote a post explaining why I was getting up earlier in response to Mel’s question, “Why would you want to do that?!” It’s incredible to think that I’m now on Day 27 of my 30 Day Sunrise Photo Challenge, with only three days to go. Twenty seven days, twenty five photos.

When I was only a week in, everything still felt pretty easy. I was really enjoying the novelty and I guess I was still in the honeymoon period. Then things got tougher – about eleven days in, I got sick. I caught a particularly nasty and fast-acting form of tonsillitis – my resistance is always lower in the Autumn and Winter months. 

This challenge was never about forcing it – it was about supporting my well-being, not detracting from it, so I made sure to take care of myself on the days that I was ill. So on some days, I took the photo from the warmth of my window before heading back to bed, and on two of the days when my temperature was raging I left the alarm off and didn’t make it out of bed at all.

It was tough to get back into the rhythm again. It was an interesting time because although my body was struggling to get out of bed, there was also this urge to be outside. A sense of what I was missing. At the same time thinking, I have to do this every day? I wanted to, but it also felt like a big commitment.

Today, it was absolutely chucking it down when I got out of bed. The last time it rained properly (Day Two) it didn’t look like rain when I left the house and I didn’t wear waterproofs. It was stunning, with the rain on the lens smudging the image and giving it an even softer focus. Then it also started raining on Day Twenty, and you can just about see it in the puddles in the foreground while the sun stakes its claim on the day. Both days, the beauty was the most obvious thing, the first thing, and the rain came second.

This morning, the rain came first. It was grey. Grey, grey, grey. I thought, well, it’s not going to be spectacular. Dark clouds everywhere. I set off with my hubby in the car. Here’s a couple of blurry shots to give you a sense of the blustery downpour:

We were soaked; it was kind of funny! Our waterproofs did us proud, and we got back in the car. We set off for home, and decided to take a detour and try a different location. As we arrived, the rain lessened and we set off for an explore. The paths were streams; it was less soggy on the common. We walked and talked and looked and pointed things out to each other. We saw a heron flying through the sky, saw him swoop down to land, hop over a fence and explore a pond, his head just poking up above the reeds, peeking around. Then taking off and flying around the corner. The cows looked at us curiously. One of them gave us the stinkeye. One of them licked hubby’s coat.

For much of the sunrise, the clouds were obscuring the sun, and the gaps for the light to come through were all in the western half of the sky. Eventually, the wind blew them around so that the sun could show its face. We walked through an avenue of trees, the sun streaming through all the intertwined twigs and the leaves transitioning from green to yellow. I took my chosen shot of the day:

I’ve been very lucky on this challenge I think, that it hasn’t rained more. On the three occasions that it has rained, I have realised that something very special happens. If the sun and the rain combine, they have more power than either one. These shots that I’ve taken where the colours of the sky are reflected in the river (Day Two) or the puddles (Day Twenty), or where the wetness of the rain makes the surface wood of a fence much more reflective (today) – these are the days that I love the most. I’m continuing to answer the question, “Why would you want to do that?!”

As at Day Eight, once I’m out, I still find it difficult to come home again. And I think that the thing about commitment is, once you make it, it becomes easier. Getting up at sunrise every single day makes it easier to get up the next day; while having a break makes it harder again. Committing to make a change, one change, and see it through for 30 days has changed other things too, and I will try to explore these in my next post. This wasn’t a challenge I was scared of or excited about, but it was a change I thought was impossible, or at the very least would be really hard. It felt dangerous, because I really didn’t think I would be able to do it. And that’s what Danger Lou’s all about, right?

The magic of this time of day has seeped into my bones and my life and I really think that it has changed me. Three more days to go. What will I do after that?

Check out the full set so far here. If you like what you see, I’d love it if you would consider supporting my 5k challenge.

Twenty days ago I wrote a post explaining why I was getting up earlier in response to Mel’s question, “Why would you want to do that?!” It’s incredible to think that I’m now on Day 27 of my 30 Day Sunrise Photo Challenge, with only three days to go. Twenty seven days, twenty five photos.

When I was only a week in, everything still felt pretty easy. I was really enjoying the novelty and I guess I was still in the honeymoon period. Then things got tougher – about eleven days in, I got sick. I caught a particularly nasty and fast-acting form of tonsillitis – my resistance is always lower in the Autumn and Winter months. 

This challenge was never about forcing it – it was about supporting my well-being, not detracting from it, so I made sure to take care of myself on the days that I was ill. So on some days, I took the photo from the warmth of my window before heading back to bed, and on two of the days when my temperature was raging I left the alarm off and didn’t make it out of bed at all.

It was tough to get back into the rhythm again. It was an interesting time because although my body was struggling to get out of bed, there was also this urge to be outside. A sense of what I was missing. At the same time thinking, I have to do this every day? I wanted to, but it also felt like a big commitment.

Today, it was absolutely chucking it down when I got out of bed. The last time it rained properly (Day Two) it didn’t look like rain when I left the house and I didn’t wear waterproofs. It was stunning, with the rain on the lens smudging the image and giving it an even softer focus. Then it also started raining on Day Twenty, and you can just about see it in the puddles in the foreground while the sun stakes its claim on the day. Both days, the beauty was the most obvious thing, the first thing, and the rain came second.

This morning, the rain came first. It was grey. Grey, grey, grey. I thought, well, it’s not going to be spectacular. Dark clouds everywhere. I set off with my hubby in the car. Here’s a couple of blurry shots to give you a sense of the blustery downpour:

We were soaked; it was kind of funny! Our waterproofs did us proud, and we got back in the car. We set off for home, and decided to take a detour and try a different location. As we arrived, the rain lessened and we set off for an explore. The paths were streams; it was less soggy on the common. We walked and talked and looked and pointed things out to each other. We saw a heron flying through the sky, saw him swoop down to land, hop over a fence and explore a pond, his head just poking up above the reeds, peeking around. Then taking off and flying around the corner. The cows looked at us curiously. One of them gave us the stinkeye. One of them licked hubby’s coat.

For much of the sunrise, the clouds were obscuring the sun, and the gaps for the light to come through were all in the western half of the sky. Eventually, the wind blew them around so that the sun could show its face. We walked through an avenue of trees, the sun streaming through all the intertwined twigs and the leaves transitioning from green to yellow. I took my chosen shot of the day:

I’ve been very lucky on this challenge I think, that it hasn’t rained more. On the three occasions that it has rained, I have realised that something very special happens. If the sun and the rain combine, they have more power than either one. These shots that I’ve taken where the colours of the sky are reflected in the river (Day Two) or the puddles (Day Twenty), or where the wetness of the rain makes the surface wood of a fence much more reflective (today) – these are the days that I love the most. I’m continuing to answer the question, “Why would you want to do that?!”

As at Day Eight, once I’m out, I still find it difficult to come home again. And I think that the thing about commitment is, once you make it, it becomes easier. Getting up at sunrise every single day makes it easier to get up the next day; while having a break makes it harder again. Committing to make a change, one change, and see it through for 30 days has changed other things too, and I will try to explore these in my next post. This wasn’t a challenge I was scared of or excited about, but it was a change I thought was impossible, or at the very least would be really hard. It felt dangerous, because I really didn’t think I would be able to do it. And that’s what Danger Lou’s all about, right?

The magic of this time of day has seeped into my bones and my life and I really think that it has changed me. Three more days to go. What will I do after that?

Check out the full set so far here. If you like what you see, I’d love it if you would consider supporting my 5k challenge.

What will you do to show the world that you can?

Today we introduce you to seven individuals, some of whom may be familiar to you and some of whom may be new, all of whom have decided to commit to taking action to make a positive change in their lives, to do something that builds towards their dream, and also shows how much they believe in and respect themselves. They are united by a desire to make a change, to stretch themselves at the edge of their comfort zone and learn about themselves, providing mutual support in the process.

We are the Impossibles. We don’t have all the answers. We do believe that amazing things happen when you define your impossible – the thing that you think you can’t do. We decided to see what happens if more people defined their impossible. And so, here we are. We stand before you, each with a challenge, a challenge that, once, seemed impossible. We stand united, committed to helping each other through the tough times, and celebrating the good times. We’re ready to show the world that we can.

Meet the Impossibles

Meet Ruth. Ruth loves all things bikes but considers herself a ‘town cyclist’, not a distance one. So, she’s decided to cycle her furthest yet – 50+ miles!! Pedal power!

Meet Mel. A long time ago, Mel used to play guitar. She’s strummed and she’s hummed, but mainly in the privacy of her own home. Now it’s time to let her voice shine as she takes on her first public performance!

Meet Michael. Michael has been journalling for over 16 years. He’s a writer! And yet, he is timid about sharing his words with the world. With the support of his fellow Impossibles he’s going to start to share his writing, one step at a time, culminating in a public post before the end of December!

Meet Deb. Deb is on a mission – a fitness mission! Her impossible is getting to the gym, and her aim is to work towards four gym visits a week, embedding it into her routine!

Meet Neil. Neil has a self-confessed addiction to sugar. However, he’s seen the impact its had on his health and he’s determined to change his relationship with food. By the end of December he’s completing a food challenge, sticking to a healthy meal plan for 30 days straight.

Meet Lou. Lou is no athlete. Even before her health condition, she’s never been sporty. And since her health condition, she’s struggled with her fitness. It’s time for her to don her running shoes and try her first 5k run – and be the fittest she’s ever been in her life!

Meet our mystery Impossible. She’s recovering from a serious operation and struggling with the speed of her progress. So, she’s setting herself an Impossible challenge – one that’s all around TLC. She’s going to be taking better care of herself, so that she can make a positive contribution to her own well-being, and let her body take care of the rest!

See the full line-up of our Impossibles here, and prepare to hear more from them as they take steps to turn their Impossible into Possible!

If you want in on this amazing journey, join The Impossibles, and together we will answer the question, “What are you going to show the world that you can?”

In the past seven days, I’ve been making a start on my first 30 day impossible challenge – to get up, get outside, and get a photo of the sun rising. As Mel recently asked, “Why would you want to do that?” – and I thought you might like to know too!

Ever since I was ill back in 2007, I have really struggled to get out of bed in the morning. I had some problems with getting diagnosed which meant that by the time I got appropriate treatment I was spending three quarters of the day in bed and still not feeling rested or refreshed. I found it incredibly difficult to wake up in the morning; I didn’t respond to the alarm, and my now husband used to have to wake me up, almost like being woken from a drugged sleep.

Once I was on the right treatment, I still had problems. I’ve struggled on and off with chronic fatigue and after some experimentation with medication in the years after my diagnosis I was finally told “some people just feel rubbish on the meds you take” (I take a synthetic form of a hormone that my body has stopped producing as a result of an autoimmune disease).

Related to my health challenges, I’m planning on running a 5k this Autumn (something you’ll hear about soon if you keep an eye on #theimpossibles). This is something that would have been impossible for me not that long ago. A side-effect of needing to do more training to build up my fitness was a need for more space in the morning. So it was time for an experiment. Could I get up earlier?

This felt so difficult I knew I needed two things:
1) An incentive
2) External accountability

I voiced my concerns to my good friend and photographer Israel Smith and he set me a challenge – get up and see the sunrise by the end of the week. Then report back. I reported back in the form of a photo:

It was a great experience. I learned that I could get up early, actually – it wasn’t physically impossible. And I learned that I enjoyed it. The only thing is, after a few days I was back to struggling to get up again. They say it takes 30 days to set a new habit, so I decided to turn this little experiment into a 30 Day Impossible Challenge and see if I could make a more permanent change to my daily routine.

So, what does it feel like to be on Day Eight? With 22 more days to go? It’s actually kind of surprising…

I’m really enjoying it.

The last couple of days I have been awake before the alarm goes off. The “problem” that has emerged is that I am actually struggling to come home. Once I’m out, it’s such a magical atmosphere and there’s so many amazing things to see and learn. I’m developing a friendly relationship with my local cows – although they’re getting a little too friendly with my bike:

Play “Spot the Bike”

I’m noticing the patterns of the day – the way the cows move around the fields in the morning, the way the birds are hidden but singing at first, but then once the sun’s gold emerges they start dancing through the sky. The way the water on the river is milky still some days, and rippled on others.

I am tired. But actually, I don’t think I’m any more tired than before. I’ve had days where, at the end of the day, I’ve felt very tired. But that just means that I do less in the evening, and think more carefully about what I do with my energy at that time. And actually, I’m sleeping a lot better. I was sleeping really fitfully before, and now I sleep right through. I’m being careful to get to sleep earlier and have a good sleep routine. The week before I started the challenge, I had a week away with my husband and we had a sort-of retreat – we made a pact not to watch TV. And I found that’s really helped too; not watching TV in the evenings means that I’m more likely* to make better decisions about what I need to do to look after myself.

It’s funny because for the past five years, I haven’t thought of myself as an early riser – not at all. And this little experiment might just have turned that thought on it’s head, and had some unexpected benefits – the discovery of some magical creative time in the morning, time when I can take photos of cows and spiders and bikes and grass and feel just a little bit more grateful about things.

What about you – does my “Impossible” seem like a walk in the park for you? If you did a 30 Day Challenge, what would it be? Which area of your life do you want to experiment with?

* No one’s perfect, right? 🙂

You can see the full set of photos I’ve taken so far here: Lou’s 30 Day Sunrise Photo Challenge on Flickr. I can’t wait to hear what you think!

In the past seven days, I’ve been making a start on my first 30 day impossible challenge – to get up, get outside, and get a photo of the sun rising. As Mel recently asked, “Why would you want to do that?” – and I thought you might like to know too!

Ever since I was ill back in 2007, I have really struggled to get out of bed in the morning. I had some problems with getting diagnosed which meant that by the time I got appropriate treatment I was spending three quarters of the day in bed and still not feeling rested or refreshed. I found it incredibly difficult to wake up in the morning; I didn’t respond to the alarm, and my now husband used to have to wake me up, almost like being woken from a drugged sleep.

Once I was on the right treatment, I still had problems. I’ve struggled on and off with chronic fatigue and after some experimentation with medication in the years after my diagnosis I was finally told “some people just feel rubbish on the meds you take” (I take a synthetic form of a hormone that my body has stopped producing as a result of an autoimmune disease).

Related to my health challenges, I’m planning on running a 5k this Autumn (something you’ll hear about soon if you keep an eye on #theimpossibles). This is something that would have been impossible for me not that long ago. A side-effect of needing to do more training to build up my fitness was a need for more space in the morning. So it was time for an experiment. Could I get up earlier?

This felt so difficult I knew I needed two things:
1) An incentive
2) External accountability

I voiced my concerns to my good friend and photographer Israel Smith and he set me a challenge – get up and see the sunrise by the end of the week. Then report back. I reported back in the form of a photo:

It was a great experience. I learned that I could get up early, actually – it wasn’t physically impossible. And I learned that I enjoyed it. The only thing is, after a few days I was back to struggling to get up again. They say it takes 30 days to set a new habit, so I decided to turn this little experiment into a 30 Day Impossible Challenge and see if I could make a more permanent change to my daily routine.

So, what does it feel like to be on Day Eight? With 22 more days to go? It’s actually kind of surprising…

I’m really enjoying it.

The last couple of days I have been awake before the alarm goes off. The “problem” that has emerged is that I am actually struggling to come home. Once I’m out, it’s such a magical atmosphere and there’s so many amazing things to see and learn. I’m developing a friendly relationship with my local cows – although they’re getting a little too friendly with my bike:

Play “Spot the Bike”

I’m noticing the patterns of the day – the way the cows move around the fields in the morning, the way the birds are hidden but singing at first, but then once the sun’s gold emerges they start dancing through the sky. The way the water on the river is milky still some days, and rippled on others.

I am tired. But actually, I don’t think I’m any more tired than before. I’ve had days where, at the end of the day, I’ve felt very tired. But that just means that I do less in the evening, and think more carefully about what I do with my energy at that time. And actually, I’m sleeping a lot better. I was sleeping really fitfully before, and now I sleep right through. I’m being careful to get to sleep earlier and have a good sleep routine. The week before I started the challenge, I had a week away with my husband and we had a sort-of retreat – we made a pact not to watch TV. And I found that’s really helped too; not watching TV in the evenings means that I’m more likely* to make better decisions about what I need to do to look after myself.

It’s funny because for the past five years, I haven’t thought of myself as an early riser – not at all. And this little experiment might just have turned that thought on it’s head, and had some unexpected benefits – the discovery of some magical creative time in the morning, time when I can take photos of cows and spiders and bikes and grass and feel just a little bit more grateful about things.

What about you – does my “Impossible” seem like a walk in the park for you? If you did a 30 Day Challenge, what would it be? Which area of your life do you want to experiment with?

* No one’s perfect, right? 🙂

You can see the full set of photos I’ve taken so far here: Lou’s 30 Day Sunrise Photo Challenge on Flickr. I can’t wait to hear what you think!

Since Danger Lou first made her tentative steps on screen, many of you have been talking to me about the kinds of risks that you take every day, and particularly the things that scare you. There’s lots of things that we find scary: flying is a common one, sharks; speaking on a stage in front of people. Some fears are rational: things like sharks, heights, snakes – because they’re based, on some level, on keeping us alive. Sharks are dangerous – you know, sharp teeth and all that. Snakes can be poisonous. Heights – well, there’s always the possibility of falling.

Somewhere along the line, fears that help us to stay alive became fears that help us to stay safe. What does staying safe mean to you? Not risking letting people down? Not risking having what it takes? Not risking saying what you think? Fear becomes something that, instead of keeping us alive, is keeping us from living.

Chris Brogan tells us that the opposite of fear is not bravery, or courage. “The opposite of fear is surrender. The opposite of fear is giving up. The opposite of fear is not really taking the swing.”

Fear is personal. For me, fear is being willing to go on video dressed in a superhero costume you made yourself. Fear is committing to raise the funds to make it to a tiny conference in the middle of nowhere that no one has ever heard of, and asking people to believe in what will come next. Fear is then travelling on my own to the States for the first time. And it is also turning up to the gym for the first time back in January – and then keeping on turning up at the gym, even if I have weeks where I can’t make it, or a session that feels extra difficult. After I talked to Ann Hawkins on The Social Media Show about travelling to Fargo, she wondered if I was scared – of course I was. Danger Lou is all about being scared, and holding your hand up to say so.

For Mel, fear is being willing to go on stage in front of 2800 people dressed as a cardboard robot with just two days notice – and taking your robot head off in front of all those people so that they can see the person behind the box. And it is also just picking up the phone to query something.

What are the risks that you take, every day, every week? What is it that helps you to keep trying? When was the last time you were even just a little bit scared, perhaps about something that you think other people find really easy? And, what are the swings that you don’t take, where the risks seem too high? Where in your life do you give up?

In my next post I’ll be exploring three ways to think about fear that might be useful. Make sure you don’t miss out, and sign up here.

You might also be interested in joining Danger Lou in Cambridge at the end of this month: click here.

I’d love to hear from you! Leave your response below.

If you’re in Cambridge at the end of August, you’re up for a treat. You can join in with the very first of the Danger You Challenge Series!

Join Danger Lou!

August 27th 2013 – 6pm to 8pm

If you’ve watched the movie and you’re inspired to buy tickets right away:

This workshop is for you if:

• You want to build your confidence in small steps
• You want to create good habits
• You want to share the experience of taking on challenges with others, in a supportive group
• You want to show up and speak up – in different aspects of your life
• You want to be confident to contribute

You will:

• Take the first step and do something challenging (with people there to hold your hand)
• Develop a simple structure to help you show up more confidently
• Get awesome feedback from the community in the room with you on the spot
• Boost your confidence
• Take away real usable strategies for overcoming fear next time

**UPDATED DETAILS FOR INTRIGUED ADVENTURERS**

We can now reveal that this first challenge will be a speaking challenge. So if you aren’t confident meeting new people, if you don’t like picking up the phone, if you keep quiet in meetings because you think everyone knows better, if you don’t like being put on the spot or starting a conversation – then this is the workshop for you!

You will:

• Take the first step in speaking in front of others
• Practice in a supportive environment
• Identify a clear strategy to help you get talking, sooner

You will be working with two experienced facilitators including Danger Lou herself.

Spaces are limited. The session is for only 10 people so that you have 1:5 attention and get the most out of the session.

All you need to bring is yourself, and some fear and excitement!

Are you an Intrepid Explorer?

Until August 6th, only Intrepid Explorer tickets are available. This means that if you sign up now, you’ll get the best value AND an awesome title. Who doesn’t want to be an Intrepid Explorer? If you wait until after 5pm (UK time) on August 6th, you’ll miss out on that title. Tickets for Intrepid Explorers are now closed.

Are you an Intrigued Adventurer?

Hey there, adventurer. Up until now, you’ve been watching from the sidelines, keeping an eye on development. You’ve been intrigued! You want a piece of the action but, well, you didn’t want to be first. Well, good new! You don’t have to be! The Intrepid Explorers have leapt in, and now the way is clear for you. Until August 13th, 5pm (UK time), only Intrigued Adventurer tickets are available. If you weren’t ready to jump in as an Intrepid Explorer and you needed more information, now’s your chance!

Ready to jump in? Intrigued adventurer step this way!

We can’t wait to see you!

We’ll be releasing more information as the event gets closer – but if you wait for more information, the price rises. So what will it be? Are you an intrepid explorer, intrigued adventurer, inspired follower, or last minute lemming?

If you’re not ready to jump in just yet, sign up for the latest Danger You updates below. This also works if you’re not in Cambridge, UK and you’d like to hear about online opportunities to get more dangerous.

Community – what does it mean to you? Community is one of those words that has a different meaning to everyone, and everyone defines their community in a different way. That’s the amazing thing about community – your community is unique to you, because it starts with you and then reaches out based on your interests, the places that you go, the people that you see.

For us, community is what helps you when you ask and inspires you when you’re stuck – and you return the favour. It surprises you endlessly, and enables you to surprise yourself. We love community, and so we’re very proud that our You Can Check It Out Team founder member Ellie McKenny has been editing the Cambridge edition of the Community Lover’s Guide to the Universe – collecting stories by individuals about what community means to them, through the innovative community project they have been working on.

You can read the first stories here. Even better, you can come and meet the people behind the projects, share ideas and ways of working, and enjoy coffee and cake as part of a Community Lovers’ Meet Up during the Romsey Art Festival:

Wednesday 7th August

7pm to 9pm

CB1 Cafe, Mill Road, Cambridge

You Can Bike Too in the early stages back in 2011!

Our project, You Can Bike Too, is one of the stories captured and members of the project team will be going along, together with the people behind the other stories captured too. Anyone who is interested in any of the Cambridge stories, or who is interested in community and doing things collaboratively is welcome! If you’re planning to come please email Ellie to give her an idea of numbers: emckenny@hotmail.com. Unfortunately the venue isn’t wheelchair friendly.

Find full details of the Romsey Art Festival here (another great community event!). You can find out more about Community Lover’s Guide to the Universe and explore the other editions from all over the world here.

You can see what You Can Bike Too is up to lately here.

We look forward to seeing you at CB1!

Inviting People In

In Part One, you found out how I ended up with a ticket to a tiny conference about making a huge dent in the Universe, Misfit Conf. I had the go ahead from my team here at You Can to raise the funds to get to the conference and bring back all that amazing learning to help our community. Now I just had to… do it!

In my Misfit application, I talked about taking the gloves off and wanting to kick ass and be Danger Lou. At this point though, I really didn’t feel very confident about it. I wrote a post; note the question mark in the Danger Lou badge I designed in the picture.

There’s a funny thing about being scared. It makes us totally withdraw – that fight or flight response can be turned inward, so that we flee from the world, and fight ourselves. So I named the fear, and invited people in.

First, I asked the You Can Hub team for help to raise the funds. As soon as I asked them to help with ideas, first of all they wanted in. They wanted to help. And they said, “It’s got to be Danger Lou.” It had to involve a costume. And so, Danger Lou went from being a concept in an application form to a real character with a costume. Then Ruth’s fruit and veg box became my nemesis, the Robot of Mediocrity and the rest, as they say, is on youtube.

You might be thinking, it’s ok for you, Lou. You have a team of people around you ready and waiting to help – they already know you! What about me? Well, in the next stage of fear, I needed to ask for help from people I hadn’t met yet.

This was the first time we’ve invited donations at The You Can Hub. I was kind of blown away with the response; very quickly we had three quarters of the money I needed. Flights and accommodation were booked. This was actually happening. Was Danger Lou scared? Of course I was! I’d never been to the States before; never travelled on my own before. It was starting to freak me out. So, I had another thought – invite people in. And I recorded it.

I posted in the conference group. And it turned out there was someone there waiting for me to ask.

There was someone else on the same flight.

I met with Deborah at Heathrow; we shared breakfast and went to the boarding gate together, then met up again in Chicago. And it turned out my challenges weren’t done because a huge thunderstorm hit Chicago just as we were due to make our connection to Fargo. Our flight was cancelled and we had to stay overnight. Putting that post in the conference group was the best decision I ever made; it meant that I had someone to stay with and share the evening with during our unscheduled overnight in Chicago. And now, I’ve made a friend for life.

Here’s my challenge for you:

• What is scaring you at the moment? What are you struggling with?
• Who can you invite in?

There are a few key pointers that help when you’re making the invite:

1. Be open and friendly
2. Be specific about what you’re inviting the person to – give details
3. Be clear about who you’re looking for
4. Be clear about who you are and why you’re asking

Let me know how you get on! In my next post, the final one in this series, I’ll be sharing how I think the conference changed me!

Excited to read the next step? Sign up for our mailing list to get a heads up when the next post is up – straight into your inbox!

You can make a donation to support our work by clicking here.

You can also listen to me talking about Danger Lou on the social media show #TSMShow with Ann Hawkins and Eric Swain – and the great thing is my friend Martyn Sibley, whose nonchalant tweet led me to finding out about conference, features on the show too! Click the link!

On Throwing Your Hat into the Ring

Three weeks ago, on 4th June, I’d just got back from Fargo, North Dakota, for Misfit Conf – a tiny conference about making a huge dent in the Universe. I wasn’t supposed to have been there. This is how it happened.

Back in April this year, I was having a tough time. A year ago, my dad died two days before my 30th birthday in May. It was coming up to the one year anniversary of my dad’s death, and my 31st birthday. I wasn’t sure how to handle it; I just knew I felt pretty grumpy and emotional all the time. People kept asking me, what do you want to do for your birthday? And I couldn’t really answer. I didn’t want to do anything. I wanted to tell everyone to get lost. I wanted to find a cave to hide out in.

My dad at my wedding in July last year, two months after his death

In the past weeks and months, I’d been playing a lot with stories. I’d gained confidence with video and storytelling. And I was browsing Twitter one day when I saw my friend @martynsibley tweeting with someone called @ajleon. I followed the Twitter trail, as you do, and before I knew it I was reading a post all about the Power of Small (which you can read here).

It resonated.

A lot.

Especially in the world of social enterprise in the UK, when it seems that one of the first questions people ask you is, “Is it scalable?” (usually right after, “How are you funded?)

One thing led to another and I ended up here. A tiny conference in Fargo. I read the small print and it said, “All applicants will get access to the recordings.” I thought, this is amazing! A whole host of knowledge in one place, knowledge we know we need at You Can Hub right now. Crowdfunding, writing, creating a business that moulds to the life you want to lead, and makes a difference in the world. And I can fill in one short form with two questions, and get access to recordings and all that stuff? Win win! I filled out the application in quite a blase playful way. You can read the application in this post.

Cut to two weeks later. I’m sitting up in bed on a Saturday morning with a cup of tea. I write a little in my journal, the briefly check my emails. Something catches my eye – an email with no subject from someone called Melissa Leon. I recognise the surname but I can’t place it. I open the message. I turn to my husband and say, “Shit!” He says, “What?!” I say, “Shit, I’ve got a place at a conference in Fargo at the end of May.” He says, “What?!” This went on for some time. At this point is seems better to hand over to Melissa herself and her email to me:

Hey Lou it is great to see you here! Thank you for submitting to attend Misfit Conf: Fargo. I wanted to reach out to you because as we were sorting through and reviewing all the applications we received so far – yours really stuck out. Wow I am just blown away by your application and the courage that you are taking to make Misfit Conf Fargo a reality. As you said it is time to take the gloves off Lou! Needless to say we would love for you to come to Fargo! To confirm your spot at Misfit Conf please purchase your ticket by the end of the day next Tuesday.

No pressure then. Two days to work out if we could make this happen and if I could go – knowing that we didn’t have any money in the pot at You Can Hub to fund the ticket or flights…

I was gobsmacked. How had this happened? I wasn’t supposed to actually get a place, merely be unsuccessful in my application and then be able to access the recordings from the relative comfort of my own sofa. My husband and I talked it through over the weekend, and then I had a meeting of the You Can Check It Out Team on Monday. I presented them with what had happened and the aims of the conference. I told them I had worked out that if I got 30 people to each donate £50, I could do it – I could get to Fargo. They told me to go for it! And I got my first donor. And so, I was taking my first steps on my way to Fargo… and it was time for the fear to kick in!

So there you go – I’d thrown my hat into the ring for an off-the-wall conference in the middle of nowhere, and the You Can Hub team was now going to hold me accountable in raising funds to get to the conference and bring back some top-notch learning. In my next post, I’ll let you know how I ended up in a field full of cows in Cambridge wearing a cape, and what I learned about asking for help.

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**Update!** You can now read Part Two: Inviting People In by clicking here.

You can still make a donation to support our work by clicking here.

You can also listen to me talking about this on the social media show #TSMShow with Ann Hawkins and Eric Swain – and the great thing is my friend Martyn Sibley, whose nonchalant tweet led me to finding out about conference, features on the show too! Click the link!