First, a quotation from successful businesswoman Martha Stewart:

“Without an open-minded mind, you can never be a great success.”

Since your thoughts turn into reality, remember to focus on ideas that strengthen, uplift, and inspire you — and be open to new possibilities and opportunities! For help starting a homebased business, click Start and Run A Business From Home: How to Turn Your Hobby or Interest Into a Business. And, read on for five hobby ideas that became careers…

5 Female Entrepreneurs Who Turned Their Hobbies Into Into Careers

Do you already have a business idea or hobby you love? Read For Female Entrepreneurs – Martha Stewart’s 10 Rules for Starting a Business for tips.

1. More than a biker chick: a published author. Babs Ryan started the Chicago Motorcycle Meetup four years ago. ”I’m a 49-year-old woman who turned my hobby into a job, and then back into a hobby again,” she says. “I started riding motorcycles at age 21 in grad school for fun, on a trail bike riding in the desert in Arizona.  I became the chief marketing officer at Kawasaki in the UK; two years ago, I started a motorcycle club in Chicago called Chicago Motorcycle Meetup. It grew to 180 members in three months. I’m still riding, but I had to hand over managing the club to someone else because my business book, America’s Corporate Brain Drain, was published and I needed more time for marketing.”

2. Leaping into the wild unknown. Tai Kuncio, founder of Absolute Adventures, Inc, says, “My business partner and I have been running Absolute Adventures, Inc for almost nine years now. We started the business because we both love being active in the outdoors and wanted to take that passion and turn it into a way of making a living.  Our company offers fun outdoor events on the weekends, ranging from kayaking to hiking to sky diving.  We actually get paid to do all the fun things we’d be doing anyway!  We also offer a wide variety of unique team building events to corporations all over Northern California, ranging from high-tech scavenger hunts to sailing regattas to culinary events.”

3. “Wining” her way to success – and writing a book. ”I turned my love of unwinding with a great glass of wine into a career,” says The Wine Coach® Laurie Forster. “With the help of my life coach, I left the corporate world years ago in search of a career that I could be passionate about. Now as The Wine Coach®, I blend my training as a professional sommelier with my experience as a life coach to help people connect to wine, each other, and the things that bring them joy. I wrote my first book, The Sipping Point: A Crash Course in Wine.” 

4. Making jewelry out of science. Raven Hanna, PhD, started Made With Molecules. She says, “My hobby has become my career – and now I need a new hobby! Working as a scientist and science communicator, I was always making crafts on the side. After many comments from friends and strangers that I should sell my serotonin necklace and other molecule-inspired jewelry, I started Made With Molecules.  I never imagined that it would be so successful. It’s now my full time job, and I love it!” Marrying science and artistic creation is a great hobby idea that can become a successful business – if you have an open mind.

5. Greening the baby’s food. Connie Pope, co-owner of Jack’s Harvest, explains how she became a female entrepreneur: “My good friend Heather Schoenrock loves to cook and has always made organic baby food for her children.  She had her third child, son Jack, around the same time I had my second son, Avery. I don’t even like to cook dinner so I wasn’t making my own baby food, but I wanted Avery to have the healthiest food possible.  Since Heather was already making her amazing food for Jack, I offered to pay her to make Avery’s food too. One thing lead to another and three years ago we launched Jack’s Harvest!”

For more ideas, read Turning Hobbies Into Homebased Businesses – Stories From Female Entrepreneurs.

Do you have a hobby you love — and can you see yourself making money from it? I welcome your comments below!

Related posts:

1. When You’re Starting Your Own Business – What Successful Businesswomen Know
2. How to Make Your Business Successful: Find Your Personal Advantage
3. For Female Entrepreneurs – Martha Stewart’s 10 Rules for Starting a Business

In fact, what your Halloween mask reveals could be more important than what it hides.

If you could dress up as anything you want for Halloween this year, what would it be? An Egyptian Queen, glamorous gangster woman, a blonde bombshell Marilyn Monroe costume, or Queen Josephine in the picture? Whether you tend towards superhero costumes or nurse attire says something about your personality traits.

And the Halloween costumes your friends choose – as food items, famous movie stars, or stuffed animals – reveals their personality traits. If you go beyond the Halloween mask, you’ve also found a great conversation starter at parties!

For more info on a wonderful Halloween costume for women – Queen Josephine – click on the image to go directly to Amazon. And, read on for what Halloween costumes reveal about your personality traits…

What Halloween Costumes Reveal About Your Personality Traits

Superman, Wonder Woman, or Cat Woman Halloween costumes. If you gravitate towards superhero or heroine costumes, you could have a child-like fantasy of saving the world and a desire to fight evil. You like the feeling of being omnipotent and strong, admired and revered. Superhero Halloween costumes for women reveal personality traits connected with fantasies of good and evil….which are both part of our authentic selves.

Fairy Princess or Peter Pan Halloween costumes. The innocent costumes of your childhood could indicate a wish for youthfulness, and a desire to recapture the naïve tendencies of children. Perhaps you wish for safety and simplicity. Similar to the superhero persona, you may wish for the magical ability to save the world. Some Halloween costumes reveal not just personality traits, but also secret childhood wishes.

Strong women in history Halloween costumes. If you were to dress up as an amazing woman in history, who would you be? Some ideas are Frida Kahlo, Thelma or Louise (fictional women — but oh so daring!), Amelia Earhart, or Whoopi Goldberg. Whatever woman you choose has personality traits that you admire and perhaps even wish you had.

French maid Halloween Costumes. Your “trick or treat” mask could reveal a natural comfort or inclination towards a particular persona. If you choose an “oo la la” French maid or dominatrix costume, you could be either repressed or liberated in the bedroom. In other words, you’re yearning to explore your wild side, or you’re already game for anything in the bedroom…and you enjoy being the centre of attention!

Rabbits, horses, puppies or other animal Halloween costumes. Animals represent instincts and the characteristics of the creature of your choice. For instance, bears represent power and strength. Giraffes are peaceful and serene; bunny rabbits furry and cuddly. Animals have mythological as well as contemporary traits, such as loyalty (dog) and royalty or self-confidence (lion). Dressing as cat, for instance, could mean you admire independence in yourself — or you wish you were more independent.

Dark vampire or scary witch Halloween costumes. Scary creatures are a favorite Halloween costume trend every year; the scarier, the better, it seems! Choosing a macabre costume reveals personality traits that revolve around a fascination with the dark side, and perhaps a desire to get in touch with your own dark, hidden, nefarious self. If you’re into a gothic witch costume, click the image for more info.

Creative Halloween costumes for women and men may reveal personality traits, but sometimes “a cigar is just a cigar.” This means that sometimes a “trick or treat” mask is simply a quick and easy choice for Halloween – and not necessarily indicative of personality traits!

What are your thoughts on Halloween costumes and personality traits? I welcome you below… 

Related posts:

1. How Not to Lose Your Personal Identity in a Romantic Relationship
2. How to Be Authentic – Diana, Princess of Wales
3. 6 Steps to Healthy Weight Loss – Rita Rudner

The life lesson: the most successful women in history are the ones who failed the most. The successful woman: JK Rowling! These five ways to build resiliency are inspired by Rowling’s Commencement Address at Harvard, called “The Fringe Benefits of Failure.” 

First, my favorite quotation about failure from Samuel Beckett:

“Ever tried, ever failed? No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.”

To Jane soar, you need to build resiliency and use your failures as springboards to bigger, better things. Read on for five ways to build resiliency, inspired by JK Rowling. And, click on John Maxwell’s Failing Forward: Turning Mistakes Into Stepping Stones for Success for more in-depth info on rising like a phoenix from the ashes!

5 Ways to Build Resiliency – JK Rowling

“Had I really succeeded at anything else, I might never have found the determination to succeed in the one arena I believed I truly belonged,” said Rowling at the Annual Meeting of the Harvard Alumni Association. “I was set free [by failure], because my greatest fear had already been realized, and I was still alive, and I still had a daughter whom I adored, and I had an old typewriter and a big idea. And so rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life.”

Building resiliency and overcoming failure is the biggest predictor of success at work, home, and in life in general.

1. Rebuild yourself. Failure isn’t a fatal flaw that renders you helpless and unhappy. It’s not a permanent condition. It doesn’t make you less worthy, less intelligent, or less capable. Failure isn’t who you are. It’s simply an event. How you cope with it – not the failure itself – is what determines your future as a successful woman. To build resiliency, accept that you’ll often be rebuilding your self, your business, your life.

2. Stop and think. Figure out exactly what caused the failure: Did the location of your business lead you to bankruptcy? Were you fired because you weren’t focused? Be honest and specific. To build resiliency, accept your mistakes and take responsibility.

3. Regain control. Once you know what went wrong, don’t make the same mistakes. You’re not doomed to repeat history unless you’re unaware of it! Ask yourself what you did right with your kids, your partner, your work, and savor your successes. To build resilience, take back control. 

4. Connect. To build resiliency, talk to successful women who survived similar situations. Find out what worked. What would they do differently? Compare stories. The more you hide the worse you’ll feel; be honest about your mistakes and regrets.

5. Adjust your perspective. “I actually consider my failure to become a feature film director as the beginning of what I consider a saner and more successful life,” says award-winning Bert Salzman. To build resiliency, adjust your perspective of what being a successful woman means. 

“The knowledge that you have emerged wiser and stronger from setbacks means that you are, ever after, secure in your ability to survive,” said Rowling. “You will never truly know yourself, or the strength of your relationships, until both have been tested by adversity. Such knowledge is a true gift, for all that it is painfully won, and it has been worth more to me than any qualification I ever earned.”

What do you think of these ways to build resiliency? I welcome your comments below!

Related posts:

1. How to Follow Your Heart to Fame and Fortune – J.K. Rowling
2. 5 Ways to Learn From Your Mistakes – Ella Fitzgerald
3. 5 Ways to Cope With Mild Depression for Women – JK Rowling

“When they fail, their failure must be a challenge to others,” said Amelia Earhart. She was the first woman to fly solo non-stop across the Pacific from Hawaii to California. She set speed records, earned the Distinguished Flying Cross, and disappeared over the Pacific Ocean before her 40th birthday.

Amelia Earhart knew about obstacles, fear, and overcoming failure. If you want to succeed despite your fears and frustrations, read Find Your Strongest Life: What the Happiest and Most Successful Women Do Differently.

And, here are five ways to overcome failure and be more successful in life…

5 Ways to Overcome Failure -  Amelia Earhart

1. Keep a record of other successful women’s achievements. Earhart kept a scrapbook of newspaper clippings describing the achievements of fearless women in mechanical engineering, film direction and production, and advertising. She knew how hard it can be to forge ahead, especially in male-dominated fields. These newspaper clippings no doubt kept Earhart’s motivation, passion, and confidence alive!

2. Stay connected to your mentors. Whether you’re a fan of a strong woman in history like Earhart or your good old granny, stay hooked in with her. A mentor doesn’t have to be present in your actual life; you can be mentored through books, websites, forums, e-mail, and even movies. Learn how your mentor overcame failure. You’ll can apply her wisdom to your life even if she kept failing. Especially if she kept failing and eventually succeeded.

3. Mentor others. Earhart was a guidance or career counselor for young women at a university. She was also the aviation editor for Cosmo Magazine, and she wrote books about her successes and failures. I think all this contributed to her success! The more you encourage and inspire others, the more you yourself will be encouraged and inspired. Mentoring others – even if it’s just a phone call every month or two – can help you overcome failure by lifting your self-esteem and self-confidence.

4. Learn resilience. This is your “bounce back” factor. How quickly do you bounce back from setbacks or mistakes? Think of resilience as being like one of those punching bags for kids. Those bags just kept bouncing back up no matter how hard the kid punched (but not if a knife was pulled). Of course, I’m not saying we should be punching bags! But, the higher our “bounce back” factor is, the more success we’ll enjoy – and the happier we’ll be.

5. Learn from your past failures. “Successful dieters meet their goals by learning from past failures,” say the folks at the National Weight Control Center. Maybe you’ve failed at losing weight, or you don’t exercise regularly, or you can’t get into the habit of eating healthy foods. That’s okay, as long as you learn why you’re failing. Are you being sabotoged? Are you lazy? Are you dealing with some heavy life problems? Figuring out the root of the problem is a productive way to overcome failure.

To learn more about how to be a successful woman, read 7 Signs of Inner Peace – The Peace Pilgrim.

Related posts:

1. Succeeding by Taking Risks – Amelia Earhart
2. How to Succeed Despite Criticism – Amelia Earhart
3. How to Motivate Yourself – Amelia Earhart

Here’s what she said when asked about the danger of flying:

“I am quite aware of the hazards,” said Earhart. “I want to do it because I want to do it. Women must try to do things as men have tried. When they fail, failure must be a challenge to others.”

I love how Earhart compared women to men – and accepted that failure happens. She was criticized publicly, despite her smashing successes — and she learned to overcome failure.  If you’re reaching for success but can’t quite reach it, read Find Your Strongest Life: What the Happiest and Most Successful Women Do Differently.

And, here’s how Earhart succeeded despite criticism…

Succeeding Despite Criticism – Amelia Earhart

Foolish publicity stunts? Some of Amelia’s ventures, such as her solo flight from Honolulu to Washington in 1935, were criticized as foolish publicity stunts. If she was lost at sea – and she indeed crashed on land several times – she would cost the taxpayers millions of dollars in search and rescue efforts (which she eventually did, to the tune of $4 million).

Flying without a purpose? Plus, Earhart used the U.S. Army’s public resources, such as runways and manpower, to get her “ships” in the air. People sometimes questioned the purpose of her flights. One Newsweek reporter wrote, “Every so often Miss Earheart, like other prominent flyers, pulls a spectacular stunt to hit the front pages. This enhances a flyer’s value as a cigarette endorser, helps finance new planes, [and] sometimes publishes a book.”

Useless adventures? A journalist from the British weekly The Aeroplane called her solo journey across the Atlantic “a useless adventure” because she had already proven her courage and ability. This reporter suggested that Amelia’s drive to achieve was because of “boredom – a dangerous feature of modern life.”

Amelia Earhart flew as often and as far as she could, and despite criticism from some paparazzi members, she succeeded. She bounced back and overcame failure. That alone – aside from her records in speed and distance – makes her a successful, strong woman in history.

To succeed despite criticism, remember that it’s not always about you. “Don’t take things personally; someone’s always going to be mad at you and that’s okay,” writes Robert K. Cooper in The Other 90%: How to Unlock Your Vast Untapped Potential for Leadership and Life. “What other people convey – in what they think, feel, say, and do – is rarely about you; instead, it’s almost always about them.” 

Earhart’s critics may have been dealing with their own issues – and even if they weren’t, who cares? Life is too short to get our panties in a knot because of what people say! Read 5 Ways to Build Resiliency – JK Rowling to increase your “bouncebackability” factor.

And, don’t let criticism slow you down! No matter what you do or how hard you try, there will be some people — such as difficult family members — who don’t understand and who will criticize you. It’s inevitable.

Listen to what your critics say, decide whether there’s a life lesson in there for you, and either let it go or learn from it. Don’t obsess about criticism, worry about it, or let it stop you from achieving your goals. In everthing exists a possible way to see Jane soar!

How do you respond to criticism – and have you succeeded anyway? How do you take back your power and turn ”woe is me” into action?

Related posts:

1. How to Motivate Yourself – Amelia Earhart
2. Succeeding by Taking Risks – Amelia Earhart
3. Earning Money to Pursue Your Passions – Amelia Earhart

The life lesson: success is often about finding the right timing in life. The successful woman: Anita Roddick, founder of The Body Shop. Here’s what she says about timing and business – and her thoughts on how age makes women radical!

“I am aware that success is more than a good idea,” says Roddick. “It’s timing, too. The Body Shop arrived just as Europe was going ‘green’.”

Her timing was perfect for The Body Shop – and for her hungry family. Here’s what inspired Roddick to start her business, and how finding the right timing increases your chances for success. And, click on Anita Roddick’s book Business as Usual: My Entrepreneurial Journey, Profits With Principles to learn more about how she succeeded.

Finding the Right Timing in Life - Anita Roddick

“I started The Body Shop in 1976 simply to create a livelihood for myself and my two daughters,” says Roddick. “My husband, Gordon, was trekking across the Americas.”

Roddick says that entrepreneurship is survival – even though nobody talks about it that way – and being an entrepreneur involves creative thinking. I’d say creative thinking is essential to being a successful entrepreneur! So is resilience, flexibility, and determination.

Roddick started The Body Shop to feed her family – just like many women start writing, teaching, or selling their products or services. Out of necessity, to survive. And that’s what they say about invention — it’s borne of necessity (“Necessity is the mother of invention”).

The first life lesson from Roddick: Perhaps the more necessary your dreams and goals are…the more likely you’ll succeed. That is, if you want to be a writer or small businessowner – you may be more likely to taste success if you have to succeed to feed your family and pay your bills. If you’re writing or playing with your business on the side, as a hobby, you may not be as hungry to survive. Hunger that can bring successful women to life! If you need a little push into a new career, read How to Successfully Change Careers – Suze Orman.

The second life lesson from Roddick: Success is – in large part – all about timing. To build a truly successful business, we need to be in the right place at the right time. Here’s an example I’ll never forget: Michael Creighton pitched the TV show ER in the 1970′s – long before viewers were ready for that type of medical drama. ER finally aired in 1994; the first time Creighton tried to run with the ER ball, he was 20 years too early.

So, you need to find the right timing in life…but what if you don’t? Successful women are resilient, and bounce back when their timing is off or when they fail. Successful women can put their ideas on hold for a few months or years, until the timing is right. And, successful women keep their eyes open so they recognize when new opportunities knock! For more info about bouncing back from failure, read 5 Ways to Build Resiliency. 

“The most exciting part of my life is now – I believe the older you get, the more radical you become,” says Roddick. She quotes Dorothy Sayers, who said, “A woman in advancing old age is unstoppable by any earthly force.”

What are your thoughts about finding the right timing in life and taking risks? I welcome your comments below…

For more info about The Body Shop, go to Anita Roddick.com.

Related posts:

1. When You’re Starting Your Own Business – What Successful Businesswomen Know
2. Turning Failure to Success for Female Entrepreneurs – Maya Angelou
3. 5 Steps to Being a Successful Woman – Katherine Hepburn

The life lesson: to succeed, you have to take risks. The successful woman in history: Amelia Earhart. Here’s how Earhart succeeded by taking risks…and how her experience applies to your life!

“…I believe that little red airplane said something to me as it swished by,” said Earhart – but even though she loved planes, she couldn’t “just” fly.

Earhart had to work hard to earn money to pay for flight lessons, planes, fuel, contest entry fees, navigators, and so on…and she earned her money by taking risks. These risks helped her succeed and increased her self-confidence. Here’s what Earhart did - and why taking risks helps women succeed.

To learn more about successful women, click on More Than 85 Broads: Women Making Career Choices, Taking Risks, and Defining Success- On Their Own Terms.

Succeeding by Taking Risks – Amelia Earhart

To pay for her flight lessons, Earhart drove a truck, hauled gravel, and worked at the telephone company. After she bought her first plane and in between flights, she taught English to immigrant factory workers and became a social worker.

Earhart reluctantly married publishing magnate George Palmer Putnam in 1931 – this was a risk that helped her succeed! She wrote him a letter stating that marrying him was “as foolish as anything I could do” (this, from a woman who flew alone over vast oceans through fog, rain, and darkness at 10,000 feet, inhaling gas fumes, barely eating or sleeping). After the wedding she insisted on keeping her full name – “Miss Amelia Earhart” – for business and writing purposes.

Putnam called himself “Mr. Earhart.”

Amelia Earhart’s Jobs

She definitely wasn’t afraid of getting her hands dirty. Her jobs included:

• Gravel truck driver
• Photographer
• Nurse’s aid in WWI
• Teacher
• Telephone company clerk
• Pre-med student at Columbia University
• Social worker
• Aviation editor for Cosmo magazine
• Career counselor for female college students
• Book author (20 Hrs., 40 Min. in 1928 and For the Fun of It in 1932)
• Fashion designer
• Lecturer (her principal source of income)
• Creator of and investor in National Airways, a commercial airline
• Endorser of products such as Kodak film, airplanes, gasoline and oil products, etc.

Earhart lectured about flying and wrote many articles and essays for magazines, as well as two books: 20 Hrs., 40 Min. in 1928 and For the Fun of It in 1932. Earhart was the aviation editor for Cosmo magazine and a career counselor for women students.

The “succeeding by taking risks” life lesson: Each job that Earhart took was a risk. She didn’t know if she’d be good at it (or even like it!), if the money was worth it, or if she’d lose her job within weeks or months. Earhart didn’t know how long she’d stay in that position, or what it would lead to. But she took risks anyway…and it worked.

“And the day came when the risk to remain tight in the bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.” – Anais Nin.

Have you succeeding by taking risks? Are you afraid of risk – and yet also afraid of remaining “tight in the bud”? For help overcoming fear, read Overcoming Fear – Suze Orman and Cher.

For more info about Amelia Earhart, visit the Amelia Earhart Birthplace Museum.

Related posts:

1. Earning Money to Pursue Your Passions – Amelia Earhart
2. How to Motivate Yourself – Amelia Earhart
3. Christiane Amanpour – Taking Risks

The life lesson: to succeed at anything, you need to know how to motivate yourself! The successful woman in history: Amelia Earhart. The unexpected twist: even when you’re pursuing your dreams and goals, you still need to find ways to motivate yourself to keep going!

First, a word from our sponsor:

“When they fail, their failure must be a challenge to others,” said Earhart.

Other people’s failures could motivate you to succeed where no woman has succeeded before – and no doubt that’s partly what spurred Earhart to achieve her goals. Here’s how to motivate yourself, with life lessons from the most famous female pilot in history…and, click on 20 Hours, 40 Min: Our Flight in the Friendship by Earhart for more info about her record-breaking flight.

How to Motivate Yourself – Amelia Earhart

Thrive on the success of others. Amelia Earhart had her own version of See Jane Soar: a scrapbook of newspaper clippings describing the achievements of successful women in law, engineering, advertising, business, and the film industry. Amelia knew how difficult it was (and is) to forge ahead, especially in male-dominated fields. Those articles improved her confidence, motivation, and passion. They represented the victories of women Amelia didn’t even know – women who nevertheless inspired her to soar.

Don’t compare yourself to others! There will always be successful women who are smarter, stronger, more confident, and even luckier than you. And, there will always be less successful women who aren’t as smart, strong, confident, or lucky as you. To motivate yourself, don’t compare yourself to anyone. You have your life to live, and other women have theirs. Read The Definition of a Successful Woman – Eleanor Roosevelt to learn what success means to different women.

Find – and push – your own buttons. If you really want to motivate yourself, pay attention to what drives you. Me, I like earning money for writing – so I’m motivated to keep writing and keep pitching articles no matter how many rejections I get. The life lesson here is that you can’t rely on others to motivate you…you have to find your own triggers, and you need to keep pulling them.

Do what comes naturally. Amelia Earhart broke records in altitude, speed, distance, and solo flying – partly because she was doing what came naturally to her. She was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and received countless other honors. Do you think she needed to find ways to motivate herself? No. She was a successful woman in history because she did what came naturally to her.

How do you motivate yourself? I welcome your comments below…

Related posts:

1. Earning Money to Pursue Your Passions – Amelia Earhart
2. Succeeding by Taking Risks – Amelia Earhart
3. How to Succeed Despite Criticism – Amelia Earhart

The life lesson: Listen up to find your direction in life. Focus on the whispers only you can hear – because the Universe is opening and closing doors and showing you the right way to go. The successful woman who teaches us this life lesson? Frida Kahlo, of course!

“…I paint because I need to,” said Kahlo, a Mexican artist who inspired feminists all over the world after her death. She lived from 1907-1954, and was one of the most authentic women in history.

Kahlo began painting because she was “bored as hell” while convalescing in bed after a traumatic bus accident. Have you ever wondered what direction to take in life? You need only listen and look for open doors…here’s how the events in Frida Kahlo’s life told her where she needed to go…and how she went there with passion and intensity!

Finding Your Direction in Life – Frida Kahlo

Kahlo was an artist – some say Mexico’s greatest – who didn’t bother waxing or plucking her bushy unibrow and moustache; she painted them right into her self-portraits. Kahlo subtracted three years from her birthday and claimed 1910 as her birth year. Whether she did this to make herself younger or associate herself with the Mexican Revolution (which started in 1910) is still debated.

Frida Kahlo did what she wanted. Kahlo had Oprah Winfrey’s key to a successful life! According to one biographer, Frida Kahlo swore all the time. She drank tequila and smoked heavily. She sang loud songs and told off-color jokes at the wild parties she hosted; she was a vibrant extrovert who was sexually liberated. “She is a devil,” her father told her future husband. “I know,” said Diego Rivera. Frida’s first male love interest was Alejandro, the leader of a gang at her school. She became a feminist cult figure towards the end of the 20^th century, particularly because her intense paintings were dominated by female themes.

Pain was a huge part of her existence.

Frida Kahlo was real. She was obsessive, passionate, despairing, and brutally honest. Kahlo danced – she loved crowds – and she flirted with and seduced both men and women. Her lust for life was evident in everything she did. Kahlo delighted in gossip, dirty jokes, and pets like spider monkeys. She treated children like adults, servants like family, and students like colleagues.

Kahlo didn’t care what people thought.

Finding your direction in life. Whether you’re fervent like Frida or quietly passionate like Amelia Earhart, be aware of the open and closed doors in your life. Whether you’re struggling with cancer, chasing a promotion, bored as hell, or getting a divorce – those open and closed doors are pointing you in the right direction.

Go boldly, my friend. Go boldy. And, read Getting What You Want Out of Life – Angelina Jolie for inspiration.

If you’re lucky enough to find direction in life, how did you do it? Comment below – I’d love to hear from you!

Related posts:

1. Finding the Right Timing in Life – Anita Roddick
2. What Halloween Costumes Reveal About Personality Traits
3. Finding the Motivation to Do What You Love – Julia Cameron

The “See Jane Soar” life lesson: you have to leave your comfort zone to earn money if you want to pursue your passions! The successful woman: Amelia Earhart. She was an American aviatrix – female pilot – who took risks and forced herself to do things she didn’t want to do, just to earn money to pursue her passion – her infamous flying career. 

It’s debatable what Earhart hated more: not being able to fly because she had no money, or performing like a circus pony for the public. She had to force herself to play to the crowds – but her husband, however, loved the spotlight. In Amelia Earhart: A Biography, Doris Rich writes, “If G.P. Putnam needed to bask in her limelight, she needed him to maintain that limelight.”

Here’s how Amelia Earhart earned money to pursue her passion for flying…and two life lessons you can take to the bank! And, if you’re a woman who wants to earn more money, click on Women’s Way of Earning Money by Cynthia May Westover Alden for some money making ideas.

Earning Money to Pursue Your Passions - Amelia Earhart

1. Get out of your comfort zone. Earhart reluctantly married publishing magnate George Palmer Putnam in 1931. She wrote him a letter stating that marrying him was “as foolish as anything I could do” (this, from a woman who flew alone over vast oceans through fog, rain, and darkness at 10,000 feet, inhaling gas fumes, barely eating or sleeping). After the wedding she insisted on keeping her full name – “Miss Amelia Earhart” – for business and writing purposes. To earn money for her flying “hobby”, Earhart forced herself to take action, even when it scared her. And for you to pursue your passions, dear reader, you too will need to leave your comfort zone.

2. Be prepared to work hard. Earhart feared marriage was a cage that would prevent her from working, but her concerns were groundless. She worked. A lot. Her pockets weren’t deep enough to pay for the planes, fuel, licenses, contest entry fees, flight arrangements, and navigators that her record-breaking flights demanded. So, Putnam kept Earhart jumping through never-ending, increasingly demanding hoops: speaking engagements, media interviews, professional dinners, new business ventures, press-friendly junkets, photo opportunities, and book signing tours.

Fame brought money, which gave her wings to fly. Earhart worked hard to make money so she could pursue her passions…and it gave her wings to fly. 

Are you finding it difficult to pursue your passions because you don’t have enough money? Do you have any suggestions for other women about earning money to pursue their goals? Comment below!

For more info about Amelia Earhart, go to the Amelia Earhart Birthplace Museum.

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3. How to be a Successful Woman – Amelia Earhart