Click here to listen. © Jane Pollak 2025 (illustrated with pieces of my art process along the way) I’ll say it. I hate being a beginner. Which is kinda silly, because anytime I try something new, which I love to do, I’m in that role. I don’t like failing....
Click here to listen. Talk about ink in one’s veins! This birth announcement, created by my dad, is prominently displayed in my baby book from 1948. My mother, too, had a way of making things newsworthy just by naming them. When a neighbor in the Midwest...
Click here to listen. I took a hard stumble in mid-September, broke my shoulder and have had to pivot my well-organized life to accommodate what is. Still, I’m able to create exciting new digital mock-ups of wall installations. My fantasy: I would announce to you...
Click here to listen. This post tells the story of an exception to the rule of thumb: Never meet your heroes. In the early ’70s, when my art students from Westhill High School competed in the state’s Scholastic Art Awards annual competition, we were upstaged and...
When I first got back the personal essay I submitted during my 5-week writing-for-magazines class, I cringed at the amount of red ink covering the pages. "I'll never get this right," I cried inwardly. But then I remembered a comment my teacher at Gotham Writers...
I'm thrilled to report that my first free webinar last week attracted over 50 participants and that every space available for my upcoming program sold. In my own business and the businesses of my colleagues, and what I see in the world at large, we must keep trying...
I've worked with Arlyn over the course of a few different Mastermind Groups and have seen an evolution and unfolding of her imagination and skills that reinforces why I do this work. I'm not sure if everyone has the 20-20 vision to see the artist inside the...
In my current skill building around coaching relationships I learned a term for the space between where you are and where you want to be: edge. Two examples in my manual are: Trying on a new idea or perspective. Being a shy person and choosing to speak up. I...
...Mastermind Group member Nikki Bates (see 11/10 post) recently sold a piece of her jewelry for close to $10,000. We track goals of each participant from when they enter my group until the final meeting. One of her earliest goals this session was to create a...
It doesn't get any better than this for a client or her coach. Attending Patti Tower's View From the Tower Open House on Saturday was like watching a vision unfold. She had several dozen guests and clients visit and purchase items from her new collection of...
Whenever I have a big idea that I want to capture, I use a mind-map to dump out everything I'm thinking. It's a simple and elegant tool I learned way back when I first discovered goal-setting. For me, it's a non-linear way to brainstorm, and it works. As you can...
I had the privilege of visiting two open houses this past weekend. Successful Mastermind Group clients invited me to their events, both of which were beautifully mounted and exciting to witness. Carrie Wittenstein, at right with her sons, came to my group with an...
In the 10 minutes before my Mastermind Group session started a few weeks ago, my clients were chatting among themselves. The conversation was about me and what happens when others ask them about "working with Jane". I was all ears. There was a lot of energy in the...
I hear this a lot in different versions: "I’m good at what I do, but I don’t feel good about what I do." The bottom line here, I believe, is that the people saying these words are paid a lot of money to do something they're not particularly passionate about. When I...
My client, Jill Flynne, is a watercolor artist with a passion for animals. During the course of our coaching sessions it became clear that the positive energy she found in her work with animals needed to have its head. I encouraged her to begin a foundation, which...
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