E144 - Deborah Shoemaker and her success mantra: "What if I tried that?"

Here's what happens when you just "see what happens".

Deborah retired after 38 years in government, tried knitting, watercolor, and acrylics (turns out she’s not a patient painter), and somehow ended up running her own publishing house with two crime-solving cats and a squirrel who thinks he’s a rock star. 🐾📚

This week on Create Today, Beth sits down with Deborah Shoemaker, author, and founder of Feather Mountain Expressions, to talk about what happens when you actually chase the question "I wonder if I could do that?"

In this episode, you’ll discover:

• Deborah’s own personal spin on Beth’s Going FourWords™ framework and why it took her a full two years to get there (completely normal, by the way)

• The “rabbit hole rule” that keeps her Canva and Pinterest and videos from turning into a thousand saved pins she never opens again

• How two real housecats inspired Salt & Peppa, a pair of pizza-shop detectives solving mysteries above a Brooklyn pizzeria

• How one bedtime story grew into an entire fictional world, squirrel included

• What a mentor told her when she got her first online hater and how that one reframe changed how she shows up online

• Why she fired an executive coach who told her to “calm down,”

• The focus trick she uses to manage her big creative energy (picture a garden hose and 20 buckets)

• The telemarketing job that gave her confidence she still leans on today