Birds Eye: An aerial perspective applied to meaningful work.

I set out on my paddleboard with a wandering mind and a weighted heart. I was pursuing the mist in the distance with each long stroke and was amused by its elusiveness and intrigued by its science…

“When did you stop dancing? When did you stop singing? When did you stop being enchanted by stories? When did you stop being comforted by the sweet territory of your own silence?”

Can I get you to postpone your current agenda for just 15 minutes as I invite you to go on a brief date with yourself, outdoors, right now? What can happen when we grant the doorknob a higher status as a symbol of freedom?

As Birds Eye focuses on supporting mission-driven entrepreneurs and leaders in the sectors of food systems & farming, health & wellness, and arts & design, here is a cross-section of a few of the folks near and dear to my heart

Often our gripping is so reflexive, so deeply conditioned, that we don’t stop to think first about whether “the something” that we are stepping in to control actually wants or warrants being controlled. How could our bodies and businesses benefit from a temporary release?

Often times in life, and business, we must leave in order to experience the beauty of the return. The most beautiful sky that I traveled thousands of miles to find was waiting to welcome me back 20 minutes from home.

Where are you finding yourself right now in the oscillation between despair, determination, and discovery that is happening for so many of us multiple times a day?

Over four years ago a dialogue began between Ally O’Meally- Watson of Business Bright and Annie Milroy Price of Birds Eye exploring the possibility of working together to license the Birds Eye curriculum and develop support for entrepreneurs in her local community

This summer we area excited to share in our newsletter about the launch and growth of Turquoise Ladder, our licensing and training expansion to Jamaica, upcoming trips to Detroit and Portland, and enrollment now open for our Fall Folly Beach retreat.

While the seeds of Turquoise Ladder were initially planted last fall, it is this spring when they have blossomed. We are proud to share that this social enterprise that serves as the creative studio for Birds Eye is now open for business.

When you first read those words you may be like me and feel a tinge of contraction. Maybe it conjures up memories of someone telling you to stop asking questions or being provocative. That you should know better. That your time is not now and dial yourself back a bit until it comes. But today I find myself reflecting on these words differently, in relation to our markets, as entrepreneurs, and ourselves, as human beings.

Why Iona, Scotland? The sky. The air. The water. The land. The warmth of the Scottish people…. I love the way Scotland invites and I am excited to explore it alongside you and give my attention to what you are working on and where you are feeling led.

Restore: to return to an original or former condition. To bring back to health and good spirits. To return to life. To get or give new life or energy.

“You have 30 minutes to go on a solo adventure. The intention of it is to reflect on what is calling to be restored and then seek out reflections of your restored sense of self in the natural world.”

Staring at the climbing wall from the safety of the spongy mat and feeling a sense of assurance from the calming, guiding voices of experienced climbers on either side of me, I take in their advice on the best strategy for getting up the wall.

I remember last year at this time,  I gave Birds Eye the gift of mainly working on our business from Thanksgiving to Christmas. That time was spent doing what we do for others for ourselves, in order to enter our busy season of January anew, and I ended up vowing to do it every year. Ha!

Recently, one of our facilitators, Jodi Rhoden, spoke eloquently to her Birds Eye class when she stated “Your businesses are extensions of you out in the world. They can serve as microcosms of your beliefs, skills, passions, and daydreams.”

I am enjoying the bounty making its way out of our farmer’s fields and the simultaneous experiences of surrender and exploration of this summer season.

I am curious what it means to put your whole heart into something? One of the first questions we ask aspiring entrepreneurs is: Is this dream worthy of the investment of their own precious resources of time and money?

I have come to anticipate the turbulence of re-entry following leading a Birds Eye Adventure. My own feelings are coupled with a keen awareness of the challenges the participants are experiencing when they re-enter the day-to-day after a seizing an opportunity to get away and regain perspective.

This image shares the vantage point from the Birds Eye office window. Yesterday this terrace served as a place of contemplation and connection for both a socially-driven local company and a mission-driven international non-profit organization.

Here in Western NC, we are experiencing a stretch of extraordinarily cold weather that is generating some incredible ice formations.

Over the years, I have enjoyed exchanging words with others who maintain the tradition of declaring a word in honor of the New Year, something to hang our hopes on and help clarify direction.

Empty shelves, a weathering beach house, and a red barn dream.

I have been hiding out in the woods as much as possible in recent months. Last night was the first time I ventured out to reconnect with our local entrepreneurial community in a good while.

At the end of our last Folly Beach retreat, while facilitating our closing session, I felt a subtle yet sincere shift happening. I wrote one simple word on the page I was working on as a result: Refuge.

I am, what a compassionate school psychologist might refer to as, an “experiential learner”. However, I am coming to accept that the other side of that same coin may hold the inscription “stubborn as hell”.

After weeks of feeling like I had 27 simultaneous hamster wheels racing in my mind, and I couldn’t channel a clear sense of focus into any one of them, yesterday I finally experienced the swoosh that comes when we convene back into flow.

One of the most common questions that I receive from people who are interested in starting their own business is, “what does it take to succeed?” Over the years I have boiled my answer down to these two core characteristics

A few months back, when I was engaging Birds Eye in a deep strategic planning process, a friend reminded me of what it means to create a culture inspired by a starfish versus a spider.