digital

Reflecting and Projecting

2016 was a year of learning for me. In my 52nd year I went back to school for the first time in 35 years. I chose to do an online digital marketing course with Getsmarter…yes me…the once VERY technologically challenged girl!
I ran my business and I studied for 10 very intense weeks, and I passed…proudly.

A certificate that makes me really proud.

I learnt how to REALLY delegate. Yes me the one time control freak. And how did it feel I hear you asking, it felt sooooooo liberating. If you’re not good at it, try it, it is life changing. Hire right, my business coach Brent Spilkin from Growing Pains said, never a truer word spoken. Delegating allows you to dream big, and deliver even bigger.

I learnt how to take a random chance and I signed up for an online iPhone photography course, that has completely transformed my life. It has unleashed a creativity in me that I never knew was there. It has taught me patience, it’s taught me to be so much more observant, it’s connected me with some of the most amazing humans all over the world. It’s awoken my creativity on an explosive level.

One of my favourite photos on my new iPhone photography journey.

I learnt how to expand my business without stretching myself thin. I took Hayley Joy online and have enabled women all over the world to have access to true Plus size fashion, designed by a genuine Plus size designer. To date we have not had one garment returned for a refund, and have only had two size changes. That is an enormous achievement in the online sales world.

fullsizerender

So how do I top 2016 in 2017?

I go back to school to do an online graphic design course, to realise a 30 year dream, to design and print my own exclusive ranges of fashion fabrics. They say that the only way we are going to make it in business, going forward, is to stand out. I have every intention of taking my new found love and knowledge of photography, and creating collections of fabrics that have never been seen before. I am going to listen to the future predictors, and I’m sooooooo going to stand out. I want to be that girl that at 52 took on the world and did it her way.

70d3062f-2b2d-4eeb-9c99-318938ae8349 — Future fabric inspiration from my magnificent Jacaranda tree in my garden.

❤ Hayley

January 4, 2017 4

A jacket in a packet.

My Plus size fashion journey is about to take on a whole new direction.

snapseed — A Pink jacket in a Lime green packet.

I don’t believe in coincidences, but I most definitely believe in destiny. Signing up to do a random photography course five months ago has set me on a life changing path with destiny, that is going to explode on so many levels in 2017. I love how quickly my eye has become trained, to see a photographic opportunity in every single thing I see. Whilst packing a pink mesh Miracle jacket, into a lime green carrier bag, for a client, I knew I needed to take a photograph. She looked at me a little strangely…

My inspiration, my design, my amazing results.

I then explained that I’m on a design journey, that is going to culminate in me designing my own exclusives fabric prints for my Hayley Joy collections. I’ve embarked on an amazing journey and am in awe of what is achievable.

The capabilities of an iPhone and the endless supply of apps has been mind blowing for me from a design perspective. However, if I’m going to achieve the ultimate in fabric design, I’m going to need to know a bit more….sooooooo…it’s back to school in the new year. Time to go and learn all about graphic design, so that we can step and repeat our prints perfectly.

When I look at these designs that I’ve created from a simple jacket in a packet, I get all tingly, because I know that 6 months from now, I’ll look at them, and know that going back to ‘school’ was a very good idea. But for now, if this was all I was able to accomplish, I’d be happy, because I absolutely love the resulting prints gained from my ‘jacket in a packet’ photograph.

💗 Hayley

December 18, 2016 0

I’m not big on sitting in peak hour traffic and I’m certainly not big on William Nicol Drive at 5pm. So when I received an invitation, via my business coach Brent Spilkin, to a presentation at the Microsoft offices, featuring Rich Mullholland, hosted by Heavy Chef, I took the plunge, because these are names you don’t let traffic stand in the way of.

On the morning of the presentation I received an email from Heavy Chef welcoming me, and reminding me to tweet as many times as I could, about the event. I’m not the biggest tweeter, but there were prizes to be won, and I never win anything because I never enter anything!! I managed to tweet twice and the prize I was after, was for an online digital marketing course, with GetSmarter.

I made it through the traffic, attended the event, which was mind-blowing, Rich Mulholland puts on a really good presentation, and at the end they announced the Twitter winners. I just knew I was going to win, and I did. I needed some variation in my working life, it was time to step out of my very predictable comfort zone.

And I won the course…it’s all about the law of attraction they say…that day, I say it was all about manifestation and determination. I really, really wanted to win, and I did.

So after 30 years, I became a student again, and embarked on a 10 week online course. It was the craziest 10 weeks, I didn’t know what had hit me, and as I am a bit of an overachiever, not passing wasn’t an option. I started to engage with people, I spent hours on Google learning about everything digital, and I really started to understand how fast our world is changing, and how important it is, no matter how old you are (I’m 52), that you have to be evolving with it, otherwise you will truly be left behind.

I’ve received my certificate acknowledging my participation. I passed, which is such an awesome feeling, you have no idea how hard I worked to gain an overall pass rate of 71%, this course was so far out of my comfort zone. It was intense, it was challenging on many, many levels, but the doors it’s opened are beyond anything I could have ever imagined. I’ve met the most incredible people in cyberspace, I’ve connected with relevant people in my field, and I’ve been introduced to a whole new world.

As the launch of the HJ online store approaches, my newly acquired knowledge, in so many fields, is going to benefit me, my future clients and all who are connected to HJ production and retail. The journey is going to be a much more enlightened one.

Through the digital course I came across an online photography course which I joined, and I am now busy seeing and connecting with the world on so many different levels. There is so much available online today. I never thought I could study ‘on my own’ but the support in the forums and groups from fellow students, is like nothing I could have ever imagined.
❤️ Hayley

I won an online course and turned my life upside down for 10 weeks.

Done, dusted and submitted, a full Digital Marketing Strategy thanks to GetSmarter who I studied through and Heavy Chef who I won it through, and of course the best business coach in the world, Brent Spilkin from Growing Pains Business Coaching, who is the real reason this all came to be.

I pushed myself to new limits, I nearly threw the laptop out of the window, numerous times, but above all else, I learnt that it is never to late challenge and educate your mind. I chose the Online Digital Marketing course, because I handle all the social media for Hayley Joy and I knew that it was time to delve a bit deeper, and start really understanding all the aspects.

I learnt how to create a website from scratch and how to optimise the various aspects, I learnt how to read my analytics, with insight that has helped me make major tweaks across my various platforms. I learnt how to delve much deeper into Facebook advertising, I learnt how to create an effective email campaign, I learnt all about cellphone marketing, and then in week 10, I took everything that I’d learnt over the past 9 weeks, and created a Digital Marketing Strategy from start to finish.

I’m both nervous and excited to see those results, and I’d like to believe that I gained enough knowledge in a field that I previously knew very little about.

And so life will gain some normality for a couple of weeks, until Hayley Joy online becomes a reality…soon.

❤️ Hayley

March 29, 2016 0

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digital

Reflecting and Projecting

A jacket in a packet.

It really is all about timing…

I won an online course and turned my life upside down for 10 weeks.

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