Where community strategy
meets intentionality.

In a world of constant “doom and gloom,” discovering that positivity is one of my Top 5 Clifton Strengths isn’t a surprise considering what I shared with you in the last strength, “Communication,” when I worked as a journalist; I focused on the facts, and no compassion was offered. What I learned about myself is that the challenge with positivity is a dance between optimum and pessimism. Before I dig into how I use positivity in my business, let me share with you how I have used it during times of challenge over the past ten years. 

After leaving journalism, I decided to focus on the photography aspect of my background and work to make a living as an artist.

In 2011, my mother worked at a Lititz, Pennsylvania retirement facility. She’d mentioned that there was a hallway in which local artists exhibited their work. I decided to select nature photography that I’d created for a large-scale exhibit that went up, and within the first few weeks, I’d sold a few pieces. I felt accelerated and quickly replaced the empty wall with copies, hoping they would sell too. 

Unfortunately, they didn’t. The experience broadened my awareness and interest in artwork exhibitions, so over the next seven years, I created photographic artwork for exhibitions in over 20 venues in Central Pennsylvania. It took me hours to decide on the photograph, order prints, frame the work, and prepare it for transportation to the venue. 

In addition, I created marketing materials that I printed and distributed to the venue for “takeaways” that people could pick up and take home to remind them of my work. Today, I have a collection of all of the marketing promos I created, and the blog CaptureMyBestLife.com still holds my experience with the photographs and locations of exhibitions. 

Although I didn’t become famous for selling artwork, I did secure two big projects out of this that made it all worth it financially. The first commercial project I landed was working with the Radisson Hotel, in 2014, I provided 600 photographs to be placed in 125 rooms. I worked with the Radisson Hotel (Now Penn Harris) again in 2019, providing 10 large-scale photographs for the convention center. The second commercial project was working with McNees Wallace & Nurick LLC, in downtown Harrisburg and that was thanks to a dear friend who had followed my work over the years. 

What I learned from the years I spent doing artwork exhibits, is it bought me a sense of joy knowing that my work was valued and that I was in alignment with the kind of work I really wanted to do at that time. Had I allowed myself to become discouraged after not selling a lot of pieces in the first year, I might have given up. The shadow side to positivity is pretty obvious, it’s easy to miss the “red flags” and it’s harder to see the truth when a person is so focused on the good things, and what’s working.

People with positivity, like myself, in their top 5 strengths will be easy to spot. My enthusiasm is contagious. I’m upbeat and enjoy creating excitement. People want to be around me because I lighten their spirits and find it easy to make everything more impactful for others. 

On the Clifton Strengths Podcast, How to Improve Your Wellbeing with Positivity with Jaclynn Robinson, she says, “ When difficult situations arise at work, look to this person to find an opportunity in the problem. They naturally inject positive energy and inspiration to keep their coworkers motivated. If you’re on a team, you can support team members by being a thought partner and a troubleshooter. They likely count on you to see the good in the situation, and where there’s a will, there’s a way out.”