Meet Alice Barry
I am Alice Barry, your Idea Artisan and fellow Inspired Entrepreneur here to help you synthesize your ideas, energize your momentum and step forward toward your dreams through your business.
A Different Way of Working
I work with Inspired Entrepreneurs—creative people who are designing a business and a life born of their interests, passions and dreams.
Focusing first on your whole self, we'll work together to capitalize on all your natural talents and abilities, while providing resources to support the tasks that slow you down.That means we talk about desires, both personal and professional, and the dreams that propelled you into business in the first place.
Together, we utilize a collaborative, co-active process of working that engages your self, your senses and your spirit.
Then we'll look at fresh ideas and creative solutions to make that vision materialize, and we do it in a way that is start-to-finish true to who you are, as well as where you are headed.
My Story
From Restrained...to Ready for Anything
About five years ago, I found myself at the end of the line. Literally.
Having been accidentally self-employed one year after quitting graduate school (my first esacape from my corporate cube) I found I was flying solo unprepared.
So I took a J-O-B with a company that was nothing short of a toxic energy dump. It was the land of "the unwilling" where two formerly competing companies had merged to form one massive toxic waste dump of blame and negativity. I had to network everyday just to find someone who was willing to help me do my job.
In just a few short weeks, my health began to deteriorate. I gained back several pounds that I had lost when I was self-employed, and day after day felt miserable. The money was paying the mortgage, but I was paying the price as I sacrificed my happiness, health and home life for that paycheck.
The End of the Line
I rode the bus to and from work every day. One particular day, after about eight weeks on the job, I was overcome with a sense of dread and sadness as I rode home . With each passing block, I recounted everything I had given up in exchange for a paycheck. On the verge of tears, I was snapped back to reality as the bus driver’s voice called to me, “Ma’am, sorry, ma'am, this is the end of the line." I was dazed and didn’t know what he meant. Then he clarified. “Ma’am you have to get off the bus. It doesn’t go any further than this. This is the end of the line.”
I launched into full fledged tears, got off the bus, miles from home, and began walking. That voice echoed in my head. “This is the end of the line. You have to get off the bus.”
I called my husband for a ride. By the time he picked me up I knew this was the last corporate pit stop I could make and that those words were a message for me. I had to “get off the bus” and get going where I wanted to go using transportation that would get me there. My own mode of transportation.
Purposeful Preparation
I gave myself a timeline to prepare to leave that job and begin my own business. Ten months later, I quit. In order to avoid that unpreparedness I had when I was first self-employed, I began working with a life coach to gain a sense of direction and get some support.
One of the most memorable days early on was the time we began the process of discovering my life’s purpose. I was immediately taken back to that last job and in a flood of memories I realized that something which always bothered me during my previous job was actually a sign of my life purpose.
You see, where I worked in downtown Minneapolis, everything was connected by an indoor skyway system so you would never have to outside to get between buildings. When my coach asked me, “What is you life purpose,” I realized the answer lie in those skyways. I remembered that as I would walked through the skyway each day to get to work, lunch and the coffee shop, I would often notice that so many people around me were so numb to life and their surroundings that they would never open door for other people as they passed through the connecting doors. I became suddenly aware that so often I had found myself being the one who opened the doors. I also remembered that standing in line for coffee (during my many workplace avoidance breaks) the lines were always long and I was so often the person other people would cut in front of to get through the line in order to doctor up their drinks after they ordered. Again. another sign.
Open Doors
So when my life coach asked me, "What is your life’s purpose," those memories flooded back to me. I immediately responded, "To open doors for people and provide safe passage toward their dreams and creative pursuits," I said.
I had just spent ten months physically opening doors for other people. Now I was opening doors for myself at the same time.
Today, I live my life purpose by opening doors for Inspired Entrepreneurs and other kindred spirits by connecting them to inspiration, creativity and like-minded people. And I am also honoring all of my natural gifts and talents by developing ideas, supporting people, singing and performing to inspire, and gathering people together to build community.
And, in 2008 I co-founded another company that is literally open doors to people and their dogs (see www.sidewalkdog.com).
I know now that this essence of opening doors will take many more forms over my lifetime and there are some days where I just day dream about what those future ideas will feel like. That's the beauty of Inspired Entrepreneurship. I'm ready, willing and can't wait to open the door for myself, or someone else, when opportunity knocks.