Meet Teresa Thomas, founder 50 Fun Things™

Award-winning speaker, facilitator.
Author of Win/Win Networking and 50 Fun Things

“When you have your groove, you just feel so right in yourself, you feel right in who you are, how you’re showing up in the world, how you’re interacting. You have that inner sense of alignment that you’re just being who you need to be. And sometimes we lose a sense of that…
I took an action a little over two years ago… I was approaching my 50th birthday. I made this decision that I was going to find my voice and I was going to speak it.”
[Video 05:06]

My go-to favorites areLouis Armstrong’s What a Wonderful World  and
John Lennon’s Imagine

What Ideas and questions did Teresa’s story and her songs sparked for you? You’re invited to share your own experiences with us in Athena Village – a free private online community.  Click here to join the conversation.

More About Teresa

In her 25 years as a professional connector, Teresa has facilitated hundreds of networking events, presented for countless groups, and helped thousands to connect and grow.

She is the recipient of the 2019 Women in Business Champion through the Small Business Association (SBA) of Minnesota. Teresa is also named as one of 2019 50 Over 50 leaders by AARP and Pollen.

Networking expert, author, facilitator and professional speaker Teresa Thomas energizes and empowers!

In her highly interactive style, she packs her presentations with “how-tos,” humor and inspiration, leaving people excited about creating meaningful connections and accomplishing their personal and professional goals.

People leave Teresa’s Win/Win Networking and 50 Fun Things™ workshops and seminars with new insights and practical strategies that are ready to put into action. Equip your team, staff, members or students to gain critical skills needed to master networking and to proactively build their network before they hit a crisis point.

Teresa provides networking presentations, workshops and facilitated networking mixers in an engaging format. Most recently, Teresa created the popular 50 Fun Things™ workshop and tools for participants to intentionally invite more joy, fulfillment and meaningful connection into their personal and professional lives.

Teresa created the Win/Win Connects Pillars to:

1. Create win-win meaningful connections.
2. Discover and apply new networking and professional development tools.
3. Energize and motivate through uplifting community.

At the core of each of these pillars is a commitment to joy and fulfillment for all involved.

Follow Teresa:

• 50 Fun Things.com

• Follow or Message Teresa in Athena Village
  

• 50 Fun Things on Instagram.com

• Teresa on Linkedin

• 50 Fun Things on Facebook

• Teresa on facebook

• Teresa-Thomas.com

My Story

Last Equals Lost

An empathetic soul is life’s gift and challenge. When others are in need you drop it all in the pursuit of helping out. Noble yes, healthy no.

When I began my quest to get my mojo back (I called it survival) I had suffered a devastating job loss. Add to that, being a single mom with two sons I supported and a weight problem that had become…sizable.

During this scary transition I started to lose multiple family members to cancer and Alzheimer’s. It seemed with each step forward there was another reality check. All of this affected my own health as I tried my best to be there for others. It brought me back to the time I was going through a tough divorce, losing my home, and nearly losing one of my sons to an unforeseen health crisis. I recalled how my own health suffered and I had somehow lost the person I could count on to get me through (myself).

What to do?

I decided to not totally disappear this time but looked for like-minded women who I felt had it “together.” I networked, I wrote, I joined communities and I started my own business, The Humane Marketer, after taking courses and completing a mini-MBA. (That was a frightening leap of faith). I discovered that like-minded women were also dealing with challenges of their own. The difference was that some of us were putting our needs last and some had a healthier view that being attentive to your mind and body was a much better way to move forward.

One of the groups I joined was called So Do It! and the women I met there were looking for some support, impetus, inspiration and conversation to start, or restart, things that were important to them. I had multiple seasons with So Do It! where I got my novel moving again, started a weight loss journey that is successful to this day, returned to my performing roots to feed my soul and simply, put my own needs forward without any guilt attached.

Another group I have been a part of for many years is Women in Networking. It has another amazing cadre of women who are interested in the greater good for each other. One of the offshoots has been 50 Fun Things which encourages us to keep joy in our lives by making time for fun, adventure and exploration – no matter how large or small.

You have probably heard of the saying ‘give yourself tough love.” But it is the love part of that intention which often gets left out. We willingly talk brutally to ourselves! Something we would never do to a friend.

When you are most fragile the “shake it off and be a big girl” attitude only goes so far. It sets you up to fail because you are in isolation trying to make things happen in a community-centric world.

For anyone on the mojo journey, my suggestion is to look for the ONE THING that is in your power to change.

To dive into the pool you need a sturdy platform. It can be as simple as getting more sleep or decluttering your home. No act is too small to start a revolution. There are times when you feel so lost because very little seems to be in our own hands. Look for the one thing that is in your power to change and make that your priority.

Make you your priority.

Meet Cj Staples

Fun-loving, creative, friend, mentor, wife, mother, grandmother/yaya and co-author, with granddaughter Lily of Cakewalk – The Science of Happy.

My Song:

Michael Bublé’s When You’re Smiling

My Story

In about 2015, working as an LOA – Law of Attraction – coach, I had opportunities to hang out with my oldest granddaughters quite a lot. Lily, the oldest, was 15 at the time and had a lot of questions about LOA. We engaged in many conversations about how it applied to her life, she was very intrigued, and it made sense to her.

One day as we talked, we both had a feeling that this was information all teens/tweens could use and learn from. Lily was finding that it gave her a great sense of peace and ease and she wanted to give that gift to others like her.

We didn’t know then what that would look like, we only knew that taking notes and continuing to have the conversations was fun, and we both learned more about how to live with more ease and joy life in the process as we dug into it more and more and worked it into specific life situations.

So, we met once a week after school to discuss and take notes. After several months we realized that we had something that could be made into a booklet or book. Then started playing with the idea and wondering what it would look like. We sat down one day and started doing a mandala coloring book while we talked and wrote down words that defined ease.  We had all kinds of them, but one stood out – Cakewalk.

Lily knew in a moment that’s what she would like the book to be called… if we ever indeed created one. That was exciting for us! We needed more. And when we met again, we started adding a sub-title phrase to describe our version of Cakewalk. And a full title was born – Cakewalk – The Science of Happy. Lily came up with that. From then on we worked on images, quotes, and stories, we liked for the book.

It wasn’t until months later that I found out about a group my friend Kelly Pratt had formed called The So, do it! Salons. I hadn’t seen Kelly in a long time when I ran into her at an event. I loved the idea of it – doing that thing that has been sitting on my back burner. It felt right, and I signed up. The So, do it! Salon was meant to be for me! Not only could I have the support of a group of fabulous, like-minded, women to encourage and cheer on this project, I could also do so for them. And in that group I found our “book doula” Kelly Pratt! She was just that, she helped us give birth to our wonderful book!!  We could not have done it without her…. Well, we might have gotten it done, but it would have been a much harder and longer road.
There are no coincidences!! It was meant to be. So on May 20th 2017, we launched Cakewalk – The Science of Happy! What a joyful accomplishment! Lily and I have enjoyed, and are still enjoying, getting out book out into the world. We did many book signings, and got ourselves on Kare-11 with Pat Evans. It has all been fun!
I think the biggest lesson I have learned in this adventure, is that we really can do anything we put our minds to. I would never have dreamed I would publish a book of any kind. And to publish one that helps others, especially teens, really is a dream. And to do so with one of my grandchildren is the best gift of all.

When we just go ahead, listen to our gut, and So, do it! doors open and fear gets pushed aside.

Seriously…Life is FUN!!
Cj Staples

More About Cj

Cj is a certified life coach with a passion for empowering others to live their best lives. She has always been interested in how and why we do the things we do and discovering how to change the patterns that do not assist us or allow us to live amazing lives.

Cj has studied and practiced Abraham-Hicks Law of Attraction teachings since 2001 as well as the teachings of many other brilliant individuals. These teachings have given her so much peace and ease in her own life.

She has two daughters, four granddaughters, and one grandson, and enjoys every moment she gets to spend with them doing the things they love; boating, swimming, camping, x-country skiing, and enjoying music.

She, and her oldest granddaughter Lily – 19, are proud co-authors of Cakewalk – The Science of Happy, which is a book based on the law of attraction for teens & tweens. They are passionate about helping young people understand their own power of positive thought and how, once understood, it gives the reader a true sense of empowerment, peace, and joy.

She lives in Minnesota with her husband Jeremiah, who is a chiropractor and also a lover of learning, so overall mental and physical health and wellness is how they play in their daily lives. – Oh, and so is having Fun!

Follow Cj

• Cj Staples in the Village
• Cakewalk Life The Book:  www.cakewalklife.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/cakewalk_life
• Facebook:  facebook.com/cakewalkbook/
• Facebook Cj: facebook.com/cjhoststaples
• Cj’s Website: www.cjstaples.com

Meet Eli Trier

Helping quiet revolutionaries rally the troops. Introvert, cat-lover, bookworm.

My Song:

Ian Dury’s Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll

My Story

How Gratitude & Creativity Helped Me Get My Groove Back

As my eyes flickered over the email, I could feel my heart sink. The full implications of what it said broke over me like a wave, and I felt myself go numb. I stood up from my desk, walked from my home office into my bedroom, crawled into bed, and pulled the duvet up over my head. I stayed there for over a month…

At the end of 2012 I had a business deal go south. It was a merger, of sorts, with a few other companies, and I had made huge life-changing decisions based on the outcome. Everything was looking rosy, until all of a sudden, it wasn’t. I won’t go into to all the details of what happened, but it turned out that one of the four companies involved in the merger (in fact, the mastermind behind the whole thing) turned out to be a front for a con-artist. He had deceived all of us.

It was a total sucker punch. I felt like such a fool – my business felt tainted and my confidence was in tatters. How could I have been sucked in by such a monster? I was burned out, exhausted, humiliated, and just, well… spent. I had definitely lost my mojo.

After a month of mostly sleeping, and crying, and watching crappy TV, I made a decision.

If I was going to be miserable, I may as well be miserable doing something I loved. So I dusted off my art materials and started drawing.

I set up a personal blog, and decided to concentrate on the good things in my life. The people who had made a difference to me, or brightened my day, or shown me a fresh perspective. Once a week, I drew a picture and wrote a thank you letter to one of these people – some living, some dead, some famous, some family, musicians, artists, scientists, business leaders, all sorts.

Every week, I set myself the challenge of making a brand new painting for the project, and gradually, I began to paint more and more pictures (unrelated to gratitude) just for the joy of it.

I kept producing work, and I kept publishing it. Some of it was awesome, some of it sucked.

And then, a funny thing happened – people started getting interested. The blog was picked up by a couple of news outlets, and I had a surge in traffic. I even ended up publishing it as a book!

All of a sudden, people were telling me that they loved my work and asking where they could buy it. I started being asked if I did commissions, what my illustration rates were, etc etc.

Lo and behold, a completely new career was born, and I loved it. For five glorious years I drew pictures for money (alongside teaching and creativity coaching, because illustration doesn’t actually pay very much!).

All of this was born from a desperate attempt to claw myself back from a pit of despair. All of this came from the tiny seed of a thought – that the only way out was to say thank you.

I have a very different job now, the seeds of which were sown during those years. And these days I keep my art as a special sacred thing just for myself. To nourish and inspire me in both dark times and light.

My creativity is my greatest source of joy and connection.

Being grateful forced me to be authentic, and when I approached my life from a place of authenticity and gratitude, everything changed for me. I saved myself, and I got my groove back in a big way.

These days I create when I feel like it – painting is the best antidote to anxiety I know, and it never fails to reconnect me with the true essence of who I am. Making art is my expression of my truest self, and it’s a precious jewel just for me.

MORE ABOUT ELI

Eli Trier lives in the wonderful city of Copenhagen, Denmark and is a community builder for Quiet Revolutionaries. She helps introverts with big dreams to get connected and build thriving, engaged communities around their businesses, so that they can make a massive impact, find their dream clients, and make their corner of the world a better place. A long-time business owner, Eli knows first-hand the power of human connection to build a business, and her unique approach got her featured in The FT Guide to Business Networking. She specialises in creating powerful, strategic online community projects and loves every minute of her work (even the boring bits). When she’s not working you can find her curled up with a book, painting, or hanging out with her husband Lars.

Follow Eli:

• Eli Trier in the Village
• Eli’s Website: elitriercommunities.com
• Instagram: @elitriercommunities
• LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/eli-trier-b888a8195/
• Facebook:facebook.com/EliTrierCommunities