Author / sara

Author / sara

Thank you for visiting Strong and Worthy! My name is Sara Hodge and I am founder of the site. I am, and have always been, a firm believer and passionate supporter of all things self care, and hope to continue my work in extending that message to my fellow career women. I don't believe there can be true success in work without first achieving healthy personal growth, and my mission with Strong and Worthy is to inspire and motivate working women to fortify their confidence and resilience from the inside, in order to let it shine even brighter on the outside. In addition to strongandworthy.com I also founded my original site, www.Mumsnchums.com in 2009. Mums 'n Chums is a parenting community that serves the Greater Toronto Area and has, in many ways, been the catalyst for the majority of the projects I have worked on over the past 7 years. Those projects have included large scale events, social media consulting and management for brands, Twitter party hosting, networking group leadership (I currently run 3 large groups), charity events, speaking engagements, and of course writing. I'm so glad you're here and would love to know your thoughts on this site as I continue to grow it into what I have envisioned it to be. Any and all feedback is greatly appreciated and will be taken into consideration. Thanks again for stopping in!

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http://www.strongandworthy.com

Self Care Video: Tips, Ideas and the ESC Method

I am incredibly excited to launch this first video in this tip-filled self care series I recently co-created with the fabulously talented Life Coach Elvira Hopper of ElviraHopper.com!

I met Elvira a few years back at a networking event and knew at some point I would love to work with her. I am not one to normally use the term “effervescent” when describing people, but I will make the exception for Elvira, as she truly is what she claims to be: a woman living on a HIGH vibration. It’s impossible not to feel a wave of positive energy when in her presence and it has been an absolute honour working on this series with her!

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Get Featured With Your Inspiring Story

Get Featured With Your Inspiring Story

Would you like to be featured with your inspiring story on the Strong and Worthy blog?

Strong and Worthy is always on the lookout for more inspiring stories, and we’d love to feature more incredible entrepreneurial women here. If you have an inspiring story about success, failure, or any of the processes in between, we welcome you to apply for submission.

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Facebook networking

How to Network for Success on Facebook, Part 2

Part 2

Did you miss out on reading part 1? Check it out here. In this second Facebook networking post, we’re going to focus on etiquette in Facebook groups. Be sure to also check out part 3 for even more great tips!

Facebook networking group etiquette:

(Please note that each group has its own set of specific rules, determined by the group owners. This is a generalized list to help you get started on the right foot, but please check each group’s individual requirements before making your first post anywhere.)

Ready to get started?

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Moving Forward After Failure - Strong and Worthy www.strongandworthy.com

Failing vs Failure: Life Lessons From My Personal Journey

I need to tell you a little something about the “f” word.

No, not that one. But one that seems, to many, equally profane.

That word is failure.

Like many entrepreneurs, I have experienced my share of them amongst the victories. Some small, and one in particular, very, very big.

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What is the save button on Pinterest

Pinterest Save Button: What Is It?

If you’re like me and have a Pinterest account that is showing you a “save” button instead of your usual “pin it” button in the top left corner of the images in your feed, don’t panic.

I noticed this today and at first was fairly confused. Had I done something wrong, or perhaps clicked on something that made my setting change?

What is the save button on Pinterest?

I started poking around in my profile, then my settings, then in the Pinterest help pages. No information about a save button. I decided to try my search engine, assuming I’d find a slew of articles explaining what the Pinterest save button was, and you know what I found?

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Network for Success on Facebook

How to Network for Success on Facebook

Part 1 (of a 3 part series)

Be sure to check out part 2 and part 3 for even more fab Facebook networking pointers.

Whether you haven’t yet tapped in to the beauty that is Facebook groups, or whether you’ve already joined 100 of them, there are likely some things you haven’t heard of or considered that may help to boost your Facebook networking success.

Considering many people out there are using Facebook networking groups incorrectly (and likely complaining about their lack of results), being savvy and using groups to their full potential will automatically put you ahead.

When you’re ready to join some groups on Facebook, consider first asking yourself what specifically you hope to get out of your membership(s).

Good quality groups, when used properly, can drastically increase your visibility (and credibility) with colleagues in your industry, and with potential clients.

Make a list of what you hope to accomplish in the groups you join, so you’ll know which groups are the best fit for you. Consider also how much time you’re willing or able to commit to actually networking in your chosen groups. It’s better to be an engaged member of 5-10 groups than it is to be a disengaged member of 100.

Ready to get started?

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Strong and Worthy work life www.strongandworthy.com

Making it Work

I’ve been so looking forward to announcing and launching this site, and a great deal of work has gone into it.

Now a full 2 weeks behind the originally scheduled launch date, delayed by illness, technical issues, a death in the family which involved some travel, and the last minute decision to attend a conference, it is finally ready!

In hindsight, I’m glad it didn’t work out 2 weeks ago. Because it’s launching now, on International Women’s Day, which couldn’t be more fitting for a site that supports, empowers and inspires women to live their most fulfilling life.

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5 Ways to Keep Your Fitness Resolutions www.strongandworthy.com

5 Ways to Keep Your Fitness Resolutions

If you have made resolutions this year that are self-care related, such as making fitness a priority, eating healthier, losing some weight, or getting more sleep, you’ve made a commitment to yourself. Such commitments have proven hard to keep for many, and rightly so. We’re all leading incredibly busy lives, struggling as it is to find bits of extra time in our days for the extra things we want to do, never mind additional things we may not want to do.

And there is the problem.

Even with the best of intentions, if the resolution you’ve chosen is something you dread or genuinely don’t enjoy, it is destined to eventually fail. If something is going to be dropped from your to-do list in March, you can bet it’s going to be that thing that you hate but have been forcing yourself to do each day.

So, what’s the workaround?

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Tea for one

Break out those “good” dishes.

We talk a good game, don’t we? About the importance of self care. About knowing how critical it is in order to function and be fulfilled in our lives and our work.

We adore Pinterest boards dedicated to it, reaffirming our love affair with the notion. From inspirational quote pins by Oprah to the ever-popular “can’t fill an empty cup” analogy, all styled beautifully with artful backgrounds. Such a romantic idea, self care is, isn’t it? Like some kind of dreamy other world we get to occasionally get a wistful glimpse of while admiring other fantasies on the internet. As we stay up past 2am to meet a deadline…

Such images and quotes are beautiful but they’re not realistic, right? I mean, we don’t actually bother with setting aside dedicated time for ourselves because seriously. Those 50 million things on our ever-growing to-do lists aren’t going to miraculously all complete themselves. Self care, it would seem, is but a glamorous fantasy.

It’s that “good” porcelain teapot, safely displayed behind the glass doors of our china cabinets, expensive and frivolous and so very rarely used. It’s that indulgent spa gift card a friend gave us 6 years ago that is still probably somewhere amidst the chaos in our wallets. It’s the $10 purple orchid we swoon over and then walk away from in the grocery store flower department. Surely that $10 is better spent on something more practical, anyway.

The notion of self care, like using that teapot or gift card or buying that flower, is lovely and romantic, but the reality is, there’s no place for such things in day to day life.

Why?

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Fast Easy Hearty Cabbage Soup www.strongandworthy.com

Fast, Easy and Hearty Cabbage Soup

Love cabbage soup but hate the fuss of making it?

Me too.

I don’t know about you, but “fast” and “easy” are not typically the words I would normally choose to describe what it’s like working with cabbage, including recipes for soup. In fact, there are approximately a gazillion things I’d much rather do with my time than core out and chop up a cabbage, no matter how yummy the recipe sounds. Working from home does not mean extra time to cook.

That said, I do love and often crave a warm, hearty bowl of cabbage soup and so I became determined to find an easier way to have it. Enter my flair for finding shortcuts to overly complicated… anything.

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