Jess Lively

In case you were wondering,

Dear Jess, If you are reading this you have made me luckiest man on earth. Everyday we have been together you have given me a radiant smile and unending enthusiasm that I wouldn’t trade for anything, and you have chosen to give it to me the rest of our lives. After our first brunch I told my [...]

  Big news! The Things I’m Afraid to Tell You movement which started as a simple post and spread by Ez, has landed on the pages of The Huffington Post. I’d like to applaud everyone who has pushed themselves to be more honest online. I hope that going forward people feel more comfortable being real outside of this [...]

Tomorrow a juicy Wish I Knew Wednesday email is going out. It’s all about when to drop a popular product. As usual, I’m going to use Jess LC as my case study. I’ll be sharing my decision making process which led to my choice to stop producing new iPad covers, despite their popularity. If you’d [...]

To be honest, part of me feels like complaining to you today. Part of me wants to tell you about all the things I have on my plate, how much I have to do in such a little time, and how anxious I feel because of it. I really do want to lay it all [...]

  Happy Memorial Day! Today I have a new Keeping It Real post by Katie of Gadanke and Making This Home. Enjoy! I’m building two dreams at once: a home and a business. After a long day of hanging sheetrock or installing bamboo flooring at our future home in an old airplane hangar, I come [...]

Today myself, Mr. Lively, and friends are off to camping in Wisconsin! I haven’t been camping since my Girl Scout days, so this should be fun (and interesting). This week had a lot of highlights. On Wednesday Mr. Lively and I were able to see a sample of the finishes for the new apartment we [...]

  Last week I shared about how ruminating on the same problems in my life kept me stuck for much longer than needed. And in the comment section Jacqueline asked exactly what I had done to stop making the problems bother me. Though I responded with a few things that helped me, I didn’t share [...]

Over the past few weeks I’ve been sharing my life intentions. For me, this is one of the foundational aspects of designing a life with intention. When people ask me how to live intentionally, I usually go back to this core concept. There is a good chance if we don’t consciously choose the direction we want our [...]

During our first Chicago workshop we also were doing double duty by filming a video about the workshop. I’m beyond thrilled with the results brought to us by Dan Hale, Michael Lippert, and filmed by Derek Cox. Also, the New York early registration discount is only good for one more week, so register soon to snag [...]

Today it’s time to announce the second Wish I Knew Wednesday topic: why I retracted my web design contest from last week one day after I launched it. I know I’ve mentioned that this business advice series would have takeaways from all 13 years of business experience – including things that I may have learned [...]

Today I’d like to return to my intentions for my life. Over the past few weeks I’ve covered how I work in a balanced way, am in a committed relationship, and listen to and honor my body. Now, it’s time to share my intention for connecting with my spirit in my everyday life. To be [...]

As you can see, while we were in DC last weekend besides the workshop itself, we ate our way through the city. Far and away one of the best seafood places ever was Hank’s Oyster Bar. At Clara’s suggestion Mr. Lively and I headed there for a date night and had an amazing lobster roll. In [...]

Yesterday I talked with a good friend who had just received bad news. One of her big clients decided to pull a contract they had just approved and her work and cash flow for the next few months was going to be deeply affected. So while we were talking about all the possible good things [...]

  Update 5/17/12: I have decided to go in a new direction and this is no longer open for submissions. Thanks so much!

The other day as I was crossing the street on Clark and Diversey, I realized that my mind was occupied with thoughts about our new workshops, balancing Jess LC, and MML. And I did a little cheer inside. You see, for years I spend my time dwelling on what I had to overcome as a [...]

As I am finding the balance of Business with Intention and MML, I realize there is a large overlap of readers who want intentional life and business advice. To make sure that I address both concepts, I am starting a new email series called I Wish I Knew Wednesday which will share something that I [...]

First off, I’d like to say that I had a great weekend in Washington DC with our BWI Workshop! I will have more photos and details to come later this week. I’m also taking today off as I have mentioned. But I wanted to drop by MML quickly and share a breakthrough I’ve had… just [...]

Today Mr. Lively, Clara, and I are off to DC for our second BWI Workshop! Thank you for reading MML and I hope you have a great weekend! I will be back next week!

  I’m now on my third intention in my DESIGN MY LIFE, To Listen to and Honor My Body. Over the past few days I’ve also talked about my intention to Work in a More Balanced Way and To Be in a Committed Relationship. Of course it goes without saying that these are my personal [...]

Today I’d like to continue sharing my intentions for my life in my more extended DESIGN MY LIFE series. Yesterday I explained how I work in a balanced way and today is about my relationship. Be in a committed relationship. I would love to say that my relationship with Mr. Lively has been a bed [...]

  Today I’d like to welcome the newest MML sponsors, Liz and Joe of Coach House Pictures. They are an adorable Chicago photography duo. I’ve actually worked with them myself on product shots for Jess LC recently, and I cannot say enough nice things about them. Read below to find out more about themselves and [...]

Once upon a time on MML there used to be a beloved series called DESIGN YOUR LIFE which allowed interviewees to share their intentions for their lives along with the specific, tangible ways they “designed their life” to make the intentions become reality. After a while it became too much for me to run alongside [...]

  Some wise words on clutter from lady Joyce M.  

Just wanted to give one more shout out about the Washington DC Business with Intention Workshop. Sign up by Wednesday to join us! (It’s also the last chance to grab the workshop introductory rate.)

Over the weekend I thought about this new wave of truth that’s spreading online and I think there a few other personal boundaries that I’d like to smash. Though I thought I shared most of my personal hang ups in my first Things I’m Afraid to Tell You post, there are other things that I’m [...]

Man. What a week. After taking Monday afternoon off, things felt so much easier. And for the next few days Mr. Lively and I have very few plans or obligations. Amen. Thank you for reading MML this week and I hope you have a great weekend!   PS – I’d like to congratulate my brother Mike for [...]

You guys, I really don’t know what to say. As you may know, a month ago I wrote a post called Things I’m Afraid to Tell You which detailed all the things that I was… afraid to tell you. After pressing publish I immediately felt better and more relieved that I was no longer “hiding” these [...]

It’s time to reveal the photo recap of Chicago’s BWI Workshop! Here is a quick glimpse of our Chicago workshop taken by Kim Vargo of YellowBrickHome (she’s such a sweet person and wonderful photographer).   I had such a wonderful time getting to know these amazing women entrepreneurs. Below is a smattering of feedback from the workshop [...]

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