“Those of you who know me will be more than aware (thanks mainly to my packed Facebook and Twitter feeds) that I have gotten myself involved in a lot recently.

I share a health & wellness business with my partner Andy, I am an ambassador for a beauty company, I do a bit of social media management for a new hairdressers in Manchester (who are brilliant by the way) and now I am a personal stylist for a fashion boutique. All of this is in addition to my full time job and busy home life with my kids Lucy (aged 9½) Roddy the Wondercat (aged 2) and Andy (aged 41¾)

I cannot yet say that I have reached a point where I can quit my day job, but I can see that opportunity is on the horizon, so I keep trooping on.

The hardest thing for me has been (along with losing touch with a lot of my friends) is that I have encountered a fair bit of negativity from people; from being told that the products I sell are “a load of shit”, to “you are neglecting your daughter”

I will be brutally honest and tell you that this negativity has drained me at times. Although I know that I should let such poisonous comments wash over me, it is really hard to put that method into practice. Only yesterday was I sat in the kitchen in floods of tears (no, I hadn’t been peeling onions) mascara streaming down my face onto Andy’s shoulder and white tee (sorry, luv) wondering why I am putting myself through all this stress and heartache.

Then Andy reminded me why I am, because it is ME and what I LOVE TO DO. He also made the following points (as he always does when I have one of my episodes)

1. The things I sell aren’t shit. I wouldn’t be wasting my time selling them if they were.
2. I am not neglecting Lucy, I am building a better life for us, so we can have a holiday next year, and every year thereafter (and nice clothes, days out, a rainy day fund, a nest egg etc…)
3. The negative people are far outweighed by the positive people, who can see what I am doing and my WHY.
4. People are in awe of what I do. I receive a lot of messages from people telling me this, commenting that I have a lovely aura and who notice that I am still smiling all the time.
5. People who say they wish they were like me…!? He tells me that all these people see greatness in me, I just need to start seeing it myself.
6. If any of the above points were not true, then Hello Inspiration would not have got in touch…

Which brings me (finally) to the topic of my post…

A couple of months back, Chris Keep, owner of new company Hello Inspiration, and fellow resident of Urmston, got in touch with me via my favourite platform, Twitter.

He had set up a new business, which combines motivation with art, and he wanted to use me as a muse for a project he was doing, entitled ‘Inspiring the Inspirers’

Of course as confused as I felt at that point (in my Typical-Marie ‘why me’ kinda way) I accepted his kind request. He had already thought up some ideas of what he wanted to do from reading my earlier blog post (my post about finding acceptance after encountering a rude man in a pub) but being the perfectionist he is, he asked me to complete a series of questions:

• What three words to describe your outlook on life?
• Who/what inspires you?
• What’s the best compliment you’ve ever been given?
• What would you like to say to your younger self?
• What job would you do if time, talent, money etc were not factors? Why?
• Do you have a mantra or set of words you find yourself going over when things are challenging, a piece of advice that you rely on?

After a couple of weeks, he came back to me with a series of pieces of art which he felt encapsulated what I am all about.

All of the pictures contained a quotation or word which highlighted my strengths. We shortlisted the pictures down to two, and Chris decided on this as the final piece (which also happened to be my favourite)

He went for a subtle but strong message, which hints at the greatness which he sensed in me….’There is greatness within me’

Cool!

He then delivered to me, a mounted copy of the image, which is now hanging proudly on the wall of my hall (it stands out nicely against my vintage pictures) I was emotional, as you can imagine!!

Chris is a lovely gent with a brilliant concept. We all love to be inspired and motivated day to day, and one of his pictures on your living room wall or on your desktop will keep you feeling that way.”

The post Guest Post – A View From the Other Side appeared first on Hello Inspiration.

Welcome to the third instalment of the Inspiring the Inspirers project – a visual design project that examines the nature of inspiration, and how it affects different people in their daily lives.

I have been working with Steve Brennan on a unique design for the last few months. Steve runs Bespoke | Web Specialists, a web agency in Preston in the north-west of England. The agency started 13 years ago and Steve has now grown it to an established company with 13 full-time permanent staff. The company was a finalist for Creative Business of the Year at the 2014 BIBAs (Be Inspired Business Awards). He is truly an entrepreneur at heart, having run businesses from the school playground before the internet was even a twinkle in a modem’s eye.

I wanted to work with Steve to find out what inspires the spirit of entrepreneurship in him. I started off asking about the origins of his business.

“I had always wanted to own my own business.”

“I was working as a print designer, and when the web came into being, it felt like an opportunity. I had always wanted to own my own business – even as a kid I had little enterprises on the go, selling football programmes and making short-run magazines.”

I asked what guidance Steve would he give to someone just starting out in business now.

“Talk to loads of people that have already done what you want to do, and listen very intently to them.”

“The landscape is very different now in this industry – and every industry I guess – but my fundamental advice would be the same,” says Brennan. “Talk to loads of people that have already done what you want to do, and listen very intently to them. Take ingredients from each of them to make your own unique business recipe. There is a certain element of being prepared to take risks I guess, but you have to ensure that you know enough to be comfortable taking them. Above all, don’t let any opportunities slip by – you never know what they might lead to.”

“I’m a big believer that the founders of Factory Records had the right approach – they made up their own rules and succeeded. I definitely see them as inspirational.”

Steve believes that risk is absolutely necessary in the life of an entrepreneur – in fact, he knows that merely being an entrepreneur is a risk in itself. When it comes to taking chances, knowledge is key – a measure of risk diluted with a gallon of research.

“The world needs more entrepreneurs because… it’s fun and exciting…most of the time!”

Armed with knowledge of Steve’s background and business history, I set about producing a set of designs that would mean something to him. He is a quiet and unassuming man, with the genuine air of someone who wants to push his business to deliver ever-better results for his clients. How would he react to a set of designs which attempt to capture the essence of his entrepreneurial spirit?

The final design we agreed upon, after exploring several different concepts, was the “Tunnel Vision” design.

Image Credit: Andrew Sutherland CC-BY-SA 2.0

Steve said “That sums up a lot in a simple phrase, keeping the focus, and also keeping positive – it’s a phrase I use a lot at work.”

“I’m going to hang this in reception in the office – I think it will help to show clients (and staff!) that we are serious about staying focussed on delivery”.

Personally, I love the boldness and the simplicity of the design – it is striking and immediately grabs your attention. I’m hoping to see this in the reception of Bespoke soon, ready to inspire the troops!

Click here to download a FREE screensaver version of the ‘Tunnel Vision’ design artwork

Just remember to say thank you to Steve for the inspiration!

You can view other projects from the Inspiring the Inspirers’ project here, with designs from Ellie Depp and Marie Betty Davis.

The post Inspiring the Inspirers – Artwork Design for Steve Brennan appeared first on Hello Inspiration.

Here was a person who was willing to write so openly and honestly about challenges in her life, and how she has overcome them, that I felt sure we would be able to come up with an amazing design.

The first blog post I read of Marie’s was about why she loves vintage fashion. It isn’t really about fashion at all; rather it is about not fitting in, and not being able to wear what everyone else wears. Marie’s writing about the epiphany she felt when she discovered vintage clothing, and the confidence it gave her, was inspiring. She has also written beautifully about her battles with her weight, and reaching acceptance (just about!) with her physical appearance.

Before I even contacted Marie I had lots of ideas floating around in my head, but I wanted to get to know her so I could really design with her in mind. I started by asking who or what inspires her.

“My daughter Lucy is my inspiration, without a doubt. She taught me the meaning of unconditional love.”

“My relationship with her father was quite tumultuous, and broke down when she was only one year old, so it was just me and her for a long time. I realised I needed to do my best for her, not just for me. If I continued feeling ‘messed up’ it would rub off on her and may affect her in later years.”

“The other person who inspires me to work hard is my Dad, who passed away suddenly around the same time that I split from Lucy’s father. He was a hard-working and honest man. A man of few words, but those words were precious to me, because he always made a lot of sense.”

“Dad was a listener and he taught me not to always jump into things; to think before I make decisions.”

I wanted to dig further into Marie’s life and character, and was very interested in a recent experience she had with motivational speaker Sharon Amesu.

“I went to one of Sharon’s motivational events a few weeks ago. I became a tad emotional during one of the sessions, and at the end of the event, a lady I had never met before came over to me and said, ‘Excuse me, can I just say you have the most wonderful aura and persona about you. I can tell you are a lovely person. I just had to tell you that'”

“What a lovely thing to be told, I always used to think I was invisible to people, I just blended into the background. I need to tell myself I am wrong!”.

Having built up a really good picture of Marie and her life, I set to work creating some personalised inspirational designs for her.

I played around with themes of empowerment, self-confidence and defiance.

These themes came through strongly from her writing and from our preparation work for this project. So that we didn’t get too bogged down, I also came up with some more light-hearted concepts around fashion, mannequins and a rather forthright duck!

This is the final design Marie chose:

I wanted to capture something subtle, that hinted at the inner strength that I sensed in Marie.

“I love ladybirds, and I love this design!” said Marie.

“The words are a daily reminder for me that I AM strong and capable, if only I believe in myself.”

If this story and the Ladybirds design has inspired you, you can buy this design as a framed print, mounted print, poster and screensaver here.

You can find Marie on Twitter here.

The post Inspiring the Inspirers – Artwork Design for Marie Betty Davis appeared first on Hello Inspiration.

Very excited to publish this first instalment of the Inspiring the Inspirers project! Hello Inspiration has been working with abstract artist Ellie Depp to produce a piece of inspirational artwork based on her unique life experience. What would this talented young painter have to say about inspiration?

I was interested to work with Ellie because I wanted to get to the bottom of how inspiration plays a part in the life of an artist. Where does her inspiration come from? Does she have to go looking for it, or does it come and find her? Does she ever get stuck for ideas, or fed up with the creative process?

Her story of the redemptive power of art taught me more about inspiration than I had ever expected.

“I was at University doing Maths because I didn’t really know what I wanted to do with my life. I wasn’t enjoying the course, and began to struggle with depression, which started to spiral out of control,” admits Depp. After some of the toughest times in her life battling with serious depression and thoughts of suicide, she decided to return home from University to get treatment. She dropped out of her course and decided to take up painting to fill her spare time.

“I got the painting bug and now here I am,” says Ellie. “My healing process has been long and I don’t think it’ll ever really be over – but painting has helped me get to a place where I’m more stable and happier than I have been for a while.”

“Art is my saviour,” says Depp.

“It has created a world for me to escape into. Art doesn’t judge me, it doesn’t talk back, it doesn’t feel sorry for itself or ignore me. Life is still rocky and very hard work, but my happiness has become priority number one and will always have to stay that way. If I can make my life enjoyable and meaningful, and spend my time doing what I love, then I have a beautiful life.”

Ellie was keen to take part in the Inspiring the Inspirers project as soon as I contacted her. Her response to my long and rambling pitch for the project was simple and full of enthusiasm: “Sounds awesome I’d love to be included!”.

I initially expected to create a design based on where the inspiration for Ellie’s art came from, and I actually sent a set of primer questions about the mechanics of her creative process. What Ellie came back with was so much more personal and honest that I was blown away. The project was no longer about how she is inspired to create her art, but about how art itself inspired her to change her life.

“When Chris asked me to be part of  this project, I spent some time thinking about my journey so far. I wanted to convey how art has helped me to change my priorities, and ensure that happiness is my number one focus in life,” says Ellie. She summed it up perfectly in her simple brief to me:

“I’ve never been happier than when I’m making my life beautiful.”

Armed with this message, and an understanding of the challenges she has faced in her life, I played around with the concepts of beauty, happiness and the restorative power of art. I presented Ellie with a number of design concepts based on these themes, and this was her final choice:

I used Ellie’s acrylic painting Reminiscing Eden as a backdrop to this striking design. It is a stunningly bold and explosive painting – something which comes through even in the fragments which are visible in the lettering. The wording is a simple play on the phrase ‘art therapy’. By breaking it into two one-word sentences, we are emphasizing that Ellie’s work is both art in itself, and therapy for her. The two words – and everything they stand for – stand alone, but go hand in hand in Ellie’s life.

Ellie says: “I absolutely love this design!”

“I think it sums up everything about me and my art, and why I do what I do. I love the clean lines and the white background – the whole image just makes an instant impact. I am the living embodiment of art therapy, so using my artwork to form the words is genius.”

So how was the experience of working with Hello Inspiration? “I wasn’t sure what to expect when we first embarked on this collaboration,” admits Depp. “ I initially wanted to create some quote that was on the quality level of Martin Luther King and Einstein, but it was quite hard to say what I wanted to say without using a famous quote of someone else’s. I was delighted with the way Chris took my overall message and personality and managed to come up with several different options. I could never have managed anything like that myself.”

“The final design is something so simple, yet it represents me and my art work perfectly.”

Artwork featuring the “Art. Therapy.” design is available to purchase here, with 10% of all profits going to Mind, a charity which helps make sure no-one has to face a mental health problem alone.

Ellie Depp is a self-taught artist from Derbyshire UK, who creates stunning abstract works in acrylic and watercolour, and is particularly known for her striking use of colour. She has exhibited in Leeds, York, Sheffield, Derbyshire and London, and her work has been published in GQ amongst other publications. You can see more of Ellie Depp’s artwork here.

The post Inspiring the Inspirers – Artwork Design for Ellie Depp appeared first on Hello Inspiration.

It has been a very busy week on the ‘Inspiring the Inspirers‘ project…

We have a new ‘inspirer’ onboard – the fabulous Marie Betty Davis – and we have been making great progress with our other inspirers.

Most exciting has been the completion of the first set of drafts for abstract artist Ellie Depp. Ellie was one of the first people I approached about this project, having worked with her previously on a pop-up shop in Sheffield. I was interested to work with Ellie because I wanted to get to the bottom of how inspiration plays a part in the life of an artist. Where does her inspiration come from? Does she have to go looking for it, or does it come and find her? Does she ever get stuck for ideas, or fed up with the creative process?

Her story of the redemptive power of art taught me a lot more about inspiration than I had ever expected.

We still have some work to do to finalise her favourite artwork, but the collaboration is going very well so far, and I cannot wait to share the design, and the story behind it.

Until then, check out Ellie’s work here…

The post ‘Inspiring the Inspirers’ Update appeared first on Hello Inspiration.