I’ve been writing Daily Art Muse for more than four years and in that time I have never felt compelled to write an endorsement for a product or service. Until now. Please read this post all the way through – if you are feeling stuck at all in your creative life, I think you really need to know about LightningWork.

Last year I found myself at a crossroads. Over a three + year period, I had invested a lot of time and money into building this blog, but I wasn’t receiving a large enough return on my investment to keep it going any longer. It was time for me to either leverage my reputation or bail and reinvent myself again. I seriously considered turning my back on all of it and ending Daily Art Muse.

I had ideas but I couldn’t see a clear path. I could see the genius of the ideas but I could also see the obstacles.  Except for a little bit of inching along, which was frustrating and unproductive, I was letting the obstacles stop me in my tracks. I needed an income. I wanted to get back to my art. I needed to breathe new life into DAM. I decided to give things one last try before giving up, but I knew I had to find help because everything that I was doing myself wasn’t getting me where I wanted to go.

Someone close to me suggested hiring a career coach, but it all sounded so gimmicky. Then I discovered Tory Hughes was offering Creative Strategy Coaching Sessions and I decided it was time for me to find out more. I already knew she was an innovative artist, engaging author and a gifted educator. I had read her book and several years ago was lucky enough to participate in one of her 5-day workshops, so I was aware of her style and approach.

“Need to feel a zap of energy ? Want clarity and renewed vision? Want to hear your own voice taking charge again? With this work, we will illuminate your deepest goals and hidden strengths. These creative strategy sessions get you back on track, taking creative action on those goals.

LightningWork is a fast, powerful interactive method, like coaching. In LightningWork, potent questions and accurate listening lead to answers and your tools to implement them. This is where I come in. You want an experienced guide along the path. I’ve traveled this landscape many times before.

With individuals and groups, I coach strategies for creative action.

- I pose questions,

- I listen closely,

- I hold you accountable for your goals,

- I help you reconnect strengths you have with the goals you’ve set.

- You move back onto the path to creative fulfillment, getting unstuck and getting things done!”

Tory Hughes

I also knew one other thing: Tory Hughes doesn’t live or work in a box – not one to think outside of, not one to get stuck inside of. That’s who I needed.

Signing up for the LightningWork Creative Strategy Coaching sessions was the single best decision I made last year – and I don’t say that lightly.

The descriptions above and below, taken from the LightningWork website, are accurate descriptions of my experience with LightningWork.

“Stuck? Frustrated? Need to get moving? LightningWork is the zap that gets you unstuck. We hook you back up to your own innate creativity to get things done.Like lightning, this grounds your ideas into your abilities. Like lightning, this works as fast as you want.” Tory Hughes

Immediately after I started working with Tory I began to see the direction, the path, the map. She uses a combination of conversation, exercises and homework that help create focus, prioritize and unblock negative thinking patterns that don’t serve you – and she delivers it all in a style that is non-threatening and easy to digest.

A supportive and encouraging guide, her uncanny ability to take the charge out of challenging obstacles and help visualize solutions are among her strongest gifts, coupled with real-time, practical ideas and suggestions.

Soon I was able get traction and gain the momentum I needed to put things in motion. I quickly prioritized and began to actualize the ideas that had been lying dormant. Before long I had tangible results – TANGIBLE RESULTS! My investment in the creative strategy sessions has already paid for itself. Here are just a few things that came directly from my LightningWork:

• The apprenticeship project that has taken this New Yorker out from behind the computer screen in her home to artist studios – so far in Connecticut and Washington DC (where I am now gathering material for a book and where I am writing this post today). Your support of the project is crucial to its success and for this I am truly grateful.  But the truth is, without LightningWork the project wouldn’t have gotten off the ground at all.
• Streamline, a business that allows me to do work that I feel passionately about – helping artists create or streamline their web presence by providing clients with resources for affordable web design/website building, guidance with setting up a WordPress website or blog (no HTML or Dreamweaver needed!), Photoshop assistance and more. A long-held dream is realized.
• DAM’s recent redesign which had been on the back burner for almost two years.
• I’m making art again! This is HUGE for me  – I am excited to see where my artistic expression takes me next.
• And that’s just the beginning. . .a juried gallery site is coming soon.

My first time using the torch – check out those safety glasses!
Washington Glass Studio. Apprenticeship Project 2/10/11.

I had no shortage of ideas before I signed on with Tory but I was stuck and my ideas remained stalled. Over the last few months people have noticed that I’ve been hopping: creating and putting together the apprenticeship project, revamping the website, starting a business. I get emails every day asking how I did it; asking where this burst of creative energy came from. I answer with two words: Lightning Work. The ZAP is big, bold, immediate. You will be amazed at how quickly you get activated once you feel the ZAP of the lightning bolt.

If you prefer to work on this yourself Tory has prepared a 159 page manual with 65 exercises – the next best thing to working directly with her. You can read an excerpt from the manual here.

LightningWork isn’t just for individual artists and entrepreneurs it also works for groups, organizations, collectors, gallery owners, curators and corporations.

If you are in that stuck space and ready to make a commitment to your life, art or work, please do yourself a favor and sign up for LightningWork – the manual, one quick Zap or a series of Zap sessions (I did the series). You won’t be sorry. You WILL be amazed.

Have a great weekend – see you Monday with a post and more images from the apprenticeship project!