Today we’d like to introduce you to Elsie Gilmore.
Hi Elsie, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I grew up on a small dairy farm in a teeny, tiny town in Vermont. It was the most peaceful location with the most beautiful natural surroundings you can imagine. It was pre-internet, and our television antennae brought in the three major networks: ABC, CBS and NBC. I caught glimpses of different kinds of people on TV, but everyone I met in real life looked and thought just like my family and me. In my 20’s, I lived in a nearby city. Population: 17,000. I spent a lot of time engaging people in conversations because I was always looking for something interesting to discuss beyond my rural envelope. The internet, as we know it, began to take shape around that time. Suddenly, as I sat in my homogeneous city, I could chat with someone from across the country or across the world. I started having random, magical experiences with people. I met two U.S. soldiers stationed in Kuwait who said all they wanted were some homemade cookies. I had my mother bake them 7 pounds of cookies, and I shipped them to Kuwait. Another time, a small group of musicians in the Netherlands turned on their audio and let me listen to them playing in their studio. This randomness of human interactions struck me as the most amazing thing I’d ever experienced. It’s led me through a lifelong journey of facilitating random human interactions between myself and others. I call them “social experiments,” and it’s how I live my life. My openness and curiosity led me to take a backpack to Europe at age 29. My trip had no set itinerary and no set end date. I stayed in hostels, met people from all over the world, visited strangers in their home countries, and created stories that will last me a lifetime. And this was before the smartphone and before mobile phones could be easily used abroad! As a result, I was communicating with the world via payphones and internet cafes. My curiosity fed my courage for more than two months of traveling alone. I also built my first blog in 2002 to coincide with this trip, which practically makes me a pioneer in blogging.
When I got back to my hometown, it felt smaller than usual. I soon made my way to Sarasota, Florida, where I started my first web development business. There was a certain energy in Sarasota when I was there, and I met some amazing women creatives and entrepreneurs. This was a resource not readily available to me back in my hometown. I decided to invite some women to gather and connect, and it was more successful than I’d hoped. Out of this intention, I built a women’s networking business called Women With Moxie. Ironically, I designed it for people who hate networking! That’s why all our events were happy hour mixers… sort of a girl’s night out with a business twist. The business was so successful that I eventually felt the need to choose between it and my website business. I sold Women With Moxie to an amazing colleague who continues to run it from Portland, Oregon. I’ve been to living in St. Pete for six years now. While I still build websites, I feel the time is right to get back into the “connection” business because that’s my true calling in life. I’m building a women’s networking business called Crazy Sexy Magic. When people connect authentically, they create magic together, and women’s magic in particular is a crazy sexy kind of magic.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Being self employed always has expected pitfalls and disadvantages. Plus, my learning curve was pretty steep because no one in my family or small-town community had done what I was doing, so it was a constant trial by fire. I was blogging and building websites at the very beginning of when that was possible. As a result, all the successes I’ve had were hard-earned.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Crazy Sexy Magic?
Crazy Sexy Magic is a network of smart, creative, entrepreneurial women who are interested in sisterhood, support, connection, and collaboration. This business is evolving as we speak, and I’m building support for the launch of its main features. I’ve observed that women tend to be less goal-oriented about networking and more relationship-oriented. Building relationships builds trust and loyalty that can lead to collaboration and authentic connections. This is what I aim to facilitate with this business by hosting engaging online events that result in real connections. Other components will be online membership profiles and a suite of weekly events that help spark creativity, keep our members focused and hold them accountable for accomplishing their goals. Now is a great time to sign up for our email list.
How do you think about luck?
I’m a believer in putting yourself out there to receive “luck” in the form of valuable connections with people who could bring amazing things into your life. This has happened to me over and over again. Whether I’m sitting on a barstool, scrolling through Facebook, or reaching out to someone on the phone, I invite magic into my interactions. Was it lucky that I was eavesdropping on two English guys at an Irish bar in the middle of Rome, joined in their conversation when they mentioned The Cure, and ended up buying their extra tickets to see The Cure the next night in Rome? I don’t know. You tell me. Luck, to me, is something you keep yourself open to.
Contact Info:
- Email: hello@crazysexymagic.com
- Website: www.crazysexymagic.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/crazysexylife/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/crazysexymagic
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7_KoDk-zAHSDpisy9Y11Pg
Image Credits
Robert Taylor
