Back in my Mattel days, my cubicle was next to a good friend of mine, Ms. Lisa Steadman. (She’s such a good friend, she’s the one who recommended I get the Barbie.com lead writer position once it became available. God bless her!)

Lisa, naughty girl that she was, had herself a little interoffice romance with a guy in the QA department. The relationship was passionate, tumultuous, exciting, emotional, and had as many ups and downs as an industrial fork lift.

After their first breakup, Lisa was in pain. But being the resourceful, creative writer that she is, she found herself drawn to the universiality of her pain. Surely, other people go through breakups all the time. How do they get through it? What good comes from it? How can we all make sure we come out better because of our heartbreaks?

After their SECOND breakup, Lisa turned those questions into an idea:

The Breakup Chronicles.

The concept was Chicken Soup for the Soul meets Sex and the City - real life stories of people “wakin’ up, breakin’ up, and movin’ on.” Friends, colleagues, and family sent her their tales of woe-turned-wow, and she took ‘em in. As she read the flood of stories people sent to her, the idea evolved.

Originally, she was thinking a book - a compilation of breakups and the growth opportunities they created on the other side of the misery. But as the senior writer and assoc. producer of BarbieCollectibles.com, where thousands of women (and an unexpectedly large number of men!) flocked to dive into their interests and obsessions, Lisa couldn’t help but wonder…

What if this Breakup Chronicles thing was a website? A resource? A community???

Like all ambitious young professionals, Lisa was busy. She had a raging social life, workouts, bills, writing classes, work and family obligations. But as much as she tried, she couldn’t shake her idea. So Lisa did what she ultimately HAD to do:

She put her idea into ACTION.

She got a team together. Hammered out details. Outsourced. Interviewed. Hustled. She worked with a designer, wrote site copy, goal and vision statements, and TONS more stories.

And wouldn’t you know it, she launched that darn site, she did. BreakupChronicles.com was born. I think it was in 2003.

Within a year of the launch, she had forged herself as the one and only Relationship Journalist.

Since then? Check it out:

• She’s got articles all over the Web. (Including iVillage.com, Tango.com, WooFactor.com, and ItsJustCoffee.com.)
• She’s been interviewed and has conducted interviews with other high profile experts in the relationship niche.
• She’s had on-air shout-outs by some of LA’s favorite radio personalities. (Including Lisa Foxx, Jamie White, and Heidi, Frosty, & Frank.)
• She’s launched a “Celeb Splits” column AND a breakup advice column.
• She’s been an expert guest on the Tyra Banks Show. (Complete with limo escort to and from the studio!)
• She created a Message Board on her site, to give more to her growing community.
• She launched an online shop, where she sells original breakup-branded FUN like journals, T-shirts, buttons, bags, mugs, etc.
• She was the guest for a feature segment on KTLA’s morning show to give tips on finding the upside of a broken heart.

And to top it all off…

Just last month, she turned the final draft of her FIRST BOOK into her publisher!!! (Behold the preliminary jacket design to your right. Pretty keen, eh?)

This is all part of the “A-Ha-ing Yourself” process. Lisa is a world-class example.

1. She had an idea she simply couldn’t shake.
2. She finally surrendered to the idea and got it rolling.
3. She took chances, made mistakes, and overcame (or at least worked through) frustration, overwhelm, confusion, uncertainty, and FEAR.
4. She invented multiple channels to put herself out there to different audiences in a variety of ways (articles, interviews, blogging, networking events, workshops, etc).
5. She never stopped creating fresh angles for herself AND her content.
6. She nurtured relationships with other like-minded people and businesses.
7. SHE CLAIMED HER VISION, LISTENED TO HER OWN INSTINCTS (ignoring the doubters and naysayers!), AND KEPT HER VISION MOVING FORWARD…even in the face of all life’s challenges, distractions, and imperfections!!!

I have no doubt Lisa’s book is going to hit BIG. She’s already got her marketing strategy in place, and she’s got six months before its release.

And the best thing is, the book is now just one marketing element of a bigger picture. Dozens of other opportunities will take shape and reveal themselves between now and her release party. As her idea continues to gain momentum and crystalize into more than she ever imagined, the opportunities will breed and multiply like oyster-slurping rabbits.

In the meantime, Lisa will continue to work her mojo, feed her passion, hone her expertise, and become a living example of the “overnight success story.”

When this happens, some may refer to Lisa’s personal story as a product of the Law of Attraction.

Me? I say Ms. Lisa Steadman - writer, site creator, author, and the one and only Relationship Journalist - is a textbook example of how to “A-Ha Yourself!”

(Wouldn’t you?)

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Posted in How do you "A-Ha Yourself"? |

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