Transformations: 1 Year Later

Tomorrow, Vivid & Brave turns 1.

Back in July of 2013, Stephanie and I traveled to  Denver, Colorado to act as mentors at a workshop there. For awhile, we’d been talking about so many things – the future, how our transition from photography to coaching would go, what the best path to take would be. And it was on that trip that the seeds for Vivid & Brave were planted. We discussed endlessly, and wrote the outline of the 12 week program in the car, Stephanie at the wheel, me writing, as we drove up to Breckenridge after the workshop for a quick moment in the mountains – for some fresh air.

When you launch a company with someone who lives almost as far away from you as someone can get without leaving the continent, this is how it looks, the story taking place on multiple pins on the map. Our program was sketched out in Colorado, and written on Stephanie’s kitchen table in Calgary a month later. We got tattoos the day after launch day, in Okotoks, a town just south of Calgary, and came together in January in Houston to create a three hour workshop. Since we launched, we’ve been together in 9 cities, two countries. We’ve had the privilege of speaking to dozens of amazing people. We’ve written workshop slides over dinner in Galveston and hung out in the ER in South Carolina. It’s been an adventure.

When we first started, we knew one thing was for sure: we wanted to work with women in transition. Women who were experiencing changes in their lives, and who were searching for who they were, what their purpose was. We ourselves were there, in post transition worlds, on journeys to becoming more fully ourselves. We knew the women we wanted to work with were just like us: creative, deeply introspective, driven, passionate. They wanted to live the life we would find ourselves living – making our dreams come true, shifting and changing to find the best fit for the lives we wanted, denting the universe.

Our first year in business has been so many things: exhilarating, frustrating, inspiring. There were days we were ready to throw in the towel, where we weren’t sure where we were going, and days we were certain we just needed to keep moving forward, keep hustling. We built a vocabulary around our community, a manifesto, we sharpened our focus. Some times we fought. More than a few times we cried. We laughed really, really hard. We logged a whole lot of miles, on the ground, and in the air. We sent more than 22,000 Facebook messages to each other.

And we’ve gotten the honor of watching our clients unfold. Step into themselves. Refind what they thought they had lost. We’ve hugged a lot of people and given out a lot of buttons. We shared as much inspiration and advice and love as we could muster. We got to be part of people’s breakdowns and breakthroughs. We’ve done a lot of happy dances for our clients, who have become our friends. We’ve written more 100 journal prompts to help others open their hearts to their own personal clarity.

I’ve been putting off sharing this blog post. Because I know how it ends. It is with both a heavy heart and an eager one that I have to tell you all what’s next for Vivid & Brave, and for Stephanie and me.

I have made the decision to pursue other projects, and so I will be moving on from Vivid & Brave. You’ll be able to find me here, at ChristineTremoulet.com, from now on, sharing content on the business of photography, blogging, and coaching people to build awesome businesses.

Stephanie will be continuing on with Vivid & Brave, with a brand new, 8 week, one on one version of the coaching program, more half day and full day workshops, and a deeper focus on the heart work of running a creative passion business.

It’s this change that demonstrates what we’ve known about Vivid & Brave since the day we realized it was something we both needed to do, in my Mini Cooper, winding through the Rocky Mountains. That you have to bring your passion and your purpose together into your work. That the best work – the most fulfilling work – is work that fills you with joy. And that it’s okay to give yourself the grace to realize there’s a better fit out there for you. We journeyed together, and now we’re ready to part ways, though we’re guaranteed to continue to log miles, and add pins to the map. We can’t really resist a Mini Cooper road trip. I hope you’ll stick around to see where both of us end up next.

(This post originally written by Stephanie, and of course shared with permission.)