Girlfriend Power

“All I can tell you today is what I have learned. What I have discovered as a person in this world. And that is this: you can’t do it alone. As you navigate through the rest of your life, be open to collaboration. Other people and other people’s ideas are often better than your own. Find a group of people who challenge and inspire you, spend a lot of time with them, and it will change your life.”

- Amy Poehler

Week 17: G is for...

I've just spent the last few days hanging with some of my best girlfriends, and boy, was it fun! They came to Tiki from across the country - Tameka flew in from New York City, Kim from California, Anne from North Carolina, and Mary drove down from Dallas.  We're not just separated by miles; there is a 30 year age difference between 'Baby Bear' Tameka and 'Mama Bear' Anne, with the rest of us somewhere in between.  Our political views cover both ends of the spectrum and some spots in between.  We don't share the same religion, and our levels of education vary.  You may be wondering what we have in common and how we ever became friends.  And that's what today's story celebrates!

Years ago, and for many years, I was a Creative Memories Consultant.  I helped people organize and preserve their photographs by making scrapbooks that allowed them to share the stories behind those photos while having fun and enjoying a creative outlet.  Originally, this was done in traditional paper scrapbooks, but by 2006, my focus had shifted to digital scrapbooking, as Creative Memories introduced a cool, albeit limited, digital scrapbooking program called StoryBook Creator.  A year later, a more powerful version of the software was released and something ignited in me.  I quickly picked up the program and soon was trying to make it do more than it was designed to.  Since much of my 'real job' life as a pharmacist (back in the day) had involved computers, and since I took my first computer classes in high school, I only had to learn to use the program, while many women my age had to learn to use a computer first.  That meant the software was not intuitive for them, and in fact, it was overwhelming and somewhat terrifying.  Soon, I had found a niche teaching my friends (customers and fellow Consultants) how to use the software.  I even gave people lessons over the phone, without the benefit of screen sharing!

Fast forward to late 2008 - Facebook was a 'thing' and we CM Consultants were given permission to use it as a business tool.  The third version of StoryBook Creator had been released, and the floodgates opened!  We could do so much more with the software, and of course my friends and I were still pushing the envelope to get it to do more.  I joined the beta test team for future versions of the software and I was still providing training for Consultants and customers, but now we could post our completed pages on Facebook, and two friends and I started a Facebook group that provided a forum for people to ask questions and get them answered.  The next year, I was doing live webinars for Creative Memories and I started a blog to help people learn how to use the software.  And now comes the good part!

Creative Memories was an international company, and I started seeing lots of pages posted by women in Australia.  They were beautiful pages using techniques that were different than those I was used to seeing, and then I learned that they were still on version two of the software.  That meant that they were really pushing the envelope!  I had to get to know these women! I watched to see who posted the coolest pages and took names, and then I sent them all a group message.  Soon we were chatting (via Facebook) on a regular basis, and before long, one of them suggested I come to Australia.  Haha - they didn't know me well enough yet to know that casual invitation was all I needed!  By August, I found myself on a flight to Sydney with a gig to speak at the Down Under version of the Creative Memories annual convention.  I met all of the 'Digi Divas' and lots more wonderful women and I stayed there a month!  Rex joined me after the convention and we traversed the county, going to the homes of all of the women I had met on Facebook.  And we didn't just go to their homes - they invited us to stay with them, without knowing whether we were ax murderers or decent humans.

What the Digital Divas didn't know was that I already had this crazy idea to gather together a team who embraced digital scrapbooking and training as much as I did.   I envisioned a website where we could pool our resources and work to our strengths instead of trying to do it all individually.  As great as our little Facebook group was, I found myself answering the same questions over and over, as there was no way for people to search to see if their question had been asked and answered.  (I've since learned that most people don't search for an answer even when they know it's there - it's easier for them to just ask it again!)  Anyway, I thought my new Australian friends might not be willing to join me in this 'adventure' if they hadn't met me in person, so it was important to me to let them get to know me on their turf.

Back home, I was taking names of American and Canadian 'friends' who seemed to know how to use the software and who were patient and friendly when they answered the same questions, over and over, in our Facebook group.  I noticed who had blogs themselves and who had really creative ideas.  By December, I was ready to put my plan into action.  I called or emailed a dozen women, all Creative Memories Consultants, and basically asked them if they were interested in joining me to do something that would probably get them deactivated from CM.  All twelve of them said 'YES!!' and the week before Christmas, we had our first (of thousands) group phone call.  [Side note: while I had met the five Australians in person, I only knew two of the other women personally at that time.  And by 2011, none of us were still CMCs.]

Talk about giddy!  Even though we were only 'meeting' each other by phone and computer, it was so cool to talk to each other and hear all of the different accents.  We very quickly learned that there is indeed a language barrier between America and Australia!  We also learned that we not only brought different skill sets to the table, but that we had almost exactly the skill sets we needed to do what we wanted to do.  Never mind that none of us had ever started a website or a company before!  By January 2010, we had a name (pixels2Pages), a mission statement, and a few domain names - it was really going to happen!  And it did!  We launched the website on 7 April 2010 - happy birthday, p2P!

So that's the beginning of the story of how I've spent the past ten or so years, and how I came to be the best of friends with my wonderful tribe.  When I read today's quote by Amy Poehler, I thought, "I could have said that!" (and I probably have...) and it is so true!  Working together may not have made life easier for any of us, but it certainly changed our lives!  We sold the company we started to Forever.com a couple of years ago, and p2P is currently training on the fifth version of the software, Forever Artisan.  I retired from active service last August, and while the p2P team is only a fraction of what it once was, pixels2Pages lives on and continues to thrive and share the joys of digital scrapbooking with a wonderful community of women around the world.

At pixels2Pages, we have a saying: 'Once a Pixie, always a Pixie', and so it is.  Nothing can take our time spent as p2P team members from us, and each Pixie has made contributions to the team and to the website that are still viable, important, and valued.  And so it was that while Anne, Mary, Kim, and Tameka were working at Tiki this past weekend, we toasted all of our Pixie friends.  Here's to you, Shelley Alexander, Carolyn Bodkin, Tameka Bond, Mary Browder, Jeannine Campbell, Justine Forrest, Janice Gilhooley, Kerrianne Hobbs, Marilyn Innes, Anne Lineberger, Jenny MacKay, Kim Mannino, Penny Peterson, and Allison Woof!  From the bottom of my heart, I thank you for taking a giant leap of faith with me, and I thank you and honor you for being team players and for sharing your hearts, your knowledge, your ideas, your creativity, your lives, your time, your families, your stories, your photos, and your magnificent pages with us.  Thank you for challenging me and inspiring me, and thank you for making a difference in the world. Cheers!

LYMI!!

Jan

P.S.  If you'd like to get a little taste of what pixels2Pages does, take a look at Pages magazine.