I’ll Leave The House Again Someday

Still sick.

I have got to get right, I’m telling you, this is just a lingering feeling of awful that keeps me from focusing and I want to sleep it off but I’m afraid that might take a couple more weeks.

In the meantime, here’s what’s going on in Casa de G today:

  • Submitting a DBA to the local county.
  • Revamping and ordering business cards.
  • Writing a plan to get to the people we’re targeting. (Aim…ready…LOL)
  • Hounding hubby to finish his white paper and case studies (Aim…ready…NAG! haha)

It doesn’t seem like a lot, maybe, but it is a heck of a list and if I’m doing my job we’re going to get some serious traction on that white paper and those case studies. Both are very important to the new business plan. On the bright side, white papers and the like are hubby’s specialty.

You know me, I only write fun stuff. I don’t do well with dry writing. It’s not my bag.

But it’s Monday, and I’m feeling physically bad but mentally great.

It’s a new dawn, it’s a new day, yadda, yadda, yadda…the bottom line is it’s time to kick some butt.

In the meantime, if you’re in cook county, and need to download the forms to file a DBA you can go to the Cook County Clerk’s webpage to download and print a DBA form.

January 25, 2010 | Filed Under Current Events, Money, Networking | Leave a Comment 

Common Courtesy and The Small Business

There is a lot going on outside my front door.

From a local networking event run by a woman I wouldn’t let watch my dog for fear of it getting beaten while in her care (hi, Lillian!), to a very expensive conference that I don’t think has anyone there I want to meet based on my business model…

Finding the right events to attend is absolutely, positively daunting!

Yeah, I know this sounds like I’m about to tell you the solution and you wonder how much I got compensated to tell you about it, but that’s not going to happen.

If I could find a way to figure out which local networking events weren’t a complete wash for me to go to, I’d tell you about the site or service without having to be approached by anyone.

I just can’t figure it all out.

I have a business, I do lots of work, I have very little free time and what free time I have I would prefer to spend socializing with friends than networking – only because I don’t get out of my house much and when I do I want to let loose and have fun…not have a conversation about how my knowledge of social media can help someone else’s business…and then have them take up an hour of my life pumping me for free advice.

That’s not fun.

Especially when those same small businesses owners (hi, Miss M!) then question an invoice even though I’ve spent hours and hours on the phone with them giving them free advice and not charging them for even a tenth of the time I spent on them.

Because they don’t notice everything I’ve told them and done, because they only want to pay for the one thing I said they felt they could do immediately. No one takes notes when I tell them stuff. How stupid are these people?

Thanks to her small business management, as well as so many others like her…I’ve begun actively avoiding small business owners. I’m not sure how to act and behave, I’m not sure what the boundary line is where I can point out that if they want to continue the conversation they need to start sharing some nuggets of wisdom because they’re being a leech.

Let me be clear. If I wanted to be a small business social media and online networking coach I would know what to say. But that’s not what I do.

I don’t want to coach and I don’t want to implement systems for people. Especially when I know that I’m going to undercharge for my services and still get nickel and dimed when the invoice comes due.

I know this is a mommyblog and the small business owners I want to say this to don’t read this blog.

But my earnest wish is that people, in general, would be more mindful of what they say and ask of other people. Common courtesy would solve most of the problems I have with small business networking events.

Not acting like a stalker (hi, Crazy Yoga Lady!) would probably be second on my wish list.

Small business owners drove me to work with agencies. To snuggle myself in the rules and regulations of brand documents and powerpoints and boundaries to work within. The comfort there is something I cannot even begin to explain. 

While I’m blissfully happy consulting at the corporate level, I feel like there is so much I could – and ethically should – be doing locally to help my town and my own mini-economy within the small world outside my front door that I know I have to eventually figure it out.

What kind of person lives in a town and doesn’t help the locals with an aspect of marketing they really want – and sometimes need – to know?

Me, it seems.

But only for now.

April 20, 2009 | Filed Under Money, Networking, Non-Toxic Networking, Online Marketing, Social Networking, Work/Life Balance, companies can be dumb | 1 Comment 

Time Management is Going to Get Interesting

Before I went out in the cold and spent time at the grandmothers’ house I made an appointment for tomorrow. Now? My throat is killing me and I’m making sure to medicate liberally in order to be able to make it. Keep your fingers crossed for me – I just need to be well for like an hour tomorrow.

It seems that most details were knocked out by Cousin and I tonight and all that is left is to get into the grove of the new way of life we have all signed on for.

We saw Aunt and Boyfriend over at the grams’ and it wasn’t pretty today. They walked in mad at Cousin and then when I showed up acted all nice. Their goal is to try and convince me that Cousin is the bad person, but with the amount of times the story has changed that isn’t going to happen.

These are the same people that never paid me back $300 for car parts last summer – so – I’m well aware they are capable of stealing (not repaying, whatever) but I really thought Aunt wouldn’t do that to the grams – they’ve done so much for us through our lives that scamming money from them is really just unthinkable. To me, anyway.

Of course Aunt calling me and trying to sell her own daughter down the river in order to clear her own name…well…I guess that might be a little worse depending on your point of view.

I have another assignment plus background for another that I’m working on tomorrow, and both are very exciting. Randy is going to help with gram-duty and section out some writing I did so it’s in an easier to expand format.

Then he has a networking event in the evening that he has been looking forward to all month. I’m excited to see how it goes – he hasn’t networked in a while (not including Tweetups) and I think he’s going to do better than he thinks he is. He’s an awesome networker – just, you know, not as awesome as me. *laugh*

Ok, it’s off to bed for me – wish me luck – I need to feel great tomorrow!

January 20, 2009 | Filed Under Current Events, Family, Networking | 1 Comment 

Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice, That’s What Social Media is Made Of?

Not quite.

While everyone does, for the most part, do a great job of putting their best foot forward, people are people and to even try to make social media be anything more than regular humanity is shooting yourself in the foot. Or shooting your bottom line…or something involving shooting and pain and bad times.

Yes there are barriers to entry, but they only last so long and eventually the Internet will mirror society pretty well – even if it is mirroring a global society rather than a North American one. The Internet looks so much different now than it did in 1992 when I received and sent my first .gif file. Back then I was one of the hottest chicks on the Internet and no man could resist me.

I’ll wait for you to stop laughing.

Ok, ready?

But yeah, the hot chicks did not find the Internet as fast as us nerdy, geeky “lots of time on my hands because I don’t date or party” types.

And by golly didn’t we all relish that fact and roll around in our own little MuSHy and MUDdy and MOOey universes while we were the pretty people and the rock stars. Oh yes, yes we did.

Now? Lots of beautiful people and not everyone is as smart as they were in ‘92. Heck, I remember in ‘92 we were lamenting because the people on Telnet weren’t as smart as they used to be in the late 80’s when I started rocking the bulletin boards. (Back when I used to walk uphill to school both ways in snowdrifts taller than the Sears Tower.)

I’m 33, in case you were wondering. I know I’m making myself sound pretty old, so I thought I’d share.

The thing is, we weren’t saying this to the people we were making fun of. We said it among ourselves, the elite. So the signs are there and I fully admit I sometimes engage in mockery of those not as technically savvy as I am. You know, those people.

What does this have to do with anything from a corporation to a micro-business?

If you pretend the mockery and elitism doesn’t exist, you aren’t going to be able to put out a successful or even remotely memorable brand – because you are only using half-assed information to form your opinion of the Internet and you will only use that information you have to devise a brand strategy online which, because you have inaccurate data, will not give you the results you were hoping for.

To pretend there aren’t snake oil salesman and a bunch of broke people pretending they make fat stacks of cash from social media consulting any snips, snails, or puppy dog tails is to deny the humanity and wholeness of society presenting itself on the Internet. Especially in social media outlets where transparency and authenticity are vaunted while people pretend they are experts because they know more than their next-door-neighbor.

Ignoring the bullies and know-it-alls does not make them go away, it just means you aren’t prepared for them.

So enjoy the amazing success stories and the friendly foks and the smarties that are friendly while you surf the friendly sites – because all those things are really out there and you could be the next big thing, I’m not disputing that…but remember that it takes all types and not everyone is as successful or as friendly as you might think.

For your business? Have a plan…and for better and for worse know your fellow humans.

December 2, 2008 | Filed Under Blogging, Networking, Online Marketing | Leave a Comment 

Recessions and Passive Income

I want to let you all know two secrets:

  1. Passive Income is a full time job. 
  2. For most people, a recession is a mirage.

On passive Income
Everyone that runs a business from home eventually runs into an Internet Marketer that tells you that if you want to really succeed you need to get some passive income streams in addition to your regular business.

Passive income streams are a full time job. Sure, they eventually pay off and become passive (mostly) but in the beginning you’re looking at a lot of work. Don’t let anyone imply that you should be able to easily set up affiliate accounts to make enough money on the side to make a difference in your life.

Well, let them imply, just don’t listen.

On recessions and link-baiting
This recession thing is getting on my last nerve. I get at least three emails a day touting recession-proof businesses. As long as you can find someone to hand you money, you’re recession proof. If you suck at sales, consider honing your networking skills, because it doesn’t matter what the economy is doing, people still spend money and they give it to the people they like most.

Plus, because we did not have two quarters of negative growth…it wasn’t even really a technical recession, that’s why Alan Greenspan called it a "soft recession." So stop worrying. Do what you need to do to keep getting clients, and leave the Chicken Little panic to someone else (hopefully your competition!)

Be the person they like with the service they need and you’ll never need to utter the word, "recession."

May 13, 2008 | Filed Under Networking, Online Marketing | 1 Comment 

FuelMyBlog Party Downtown was a Blast!

DIsclaimer: I am not attending the actual SOBcon. I’ve now been asked 850 times and have come to realize that not attending may have been a mistake.

Friday night I found out through a twitter that @fuelmyblog was having a blogger party at O’Callaghan’s in downtown Chicago. Bloggers plus my favorite pub and I was determined to go. We found a sitter, lost that sitter, found another sitter, dropped off the kids and got to Chicago about quarter to 9pm.

I didn’t realize that there had been a 5pm meetup prior to this, so some of the guests had already been imbibing spirits. I just thought some people were awfully lively *grin*

Here is a list of the people I met, stolen directly from Paul O’Flaherty, thanks for everything Paul!

And Sara from Suburban Oblivion is my new BFF. We’re going to get one of those necklaces and hers will say BE FRI and mine will say ST END and we can put them together and they’ll say BEST FRIEND. Totally. Of course, it was past midnight and all of our Cinderella coaches had turned into pumpkins and our white horses were mice again, but we’d all had an absolutely fabulous time!

Thank you, of course, to both FuelMyBlog and Paul O’Flaherty for hosting such a phenominal event. It was intimate, without being stuffy. Drinky without being TOO drinky, and overall it was nice to socialize with a group of people who understand what I do!

May 2, 2008 | Filed Under Blogging, Networking | 8 Comments 

It’s difficult not to be snarky when writers are weird.

You all know (probably) that I’ve shifted my business model yet again to do more freelance writing. It fits in with my schedule and the demands that having two toddlers put on my soul/body/mind.

So I think, “Hey, I’ll go network with some writers, I’m sure they’re a creative, friendly bunch!”

Woah.

I’m in the Absolute Write forum, having a blast, it’s fantastic. But, like many boards that are highly specialized, if you step out of line you get dinged. It wasn’t me that stepped out of line, but wow, they tore some folks up in there!

My issue was when I saw that an author was willing to share his book on self publishing with the AW group free. I just purchased and am wading through the tome of information that is The Well Fed Self Publisher, but I figure having a secondary book can’t hurt. So, thinking I’m being a champ, I not only request the book but offer mine in exchange – trying to be a nice person and give something of value in return.

Big mistake.

First off, this book is crap. I mean it’s a 96 page .pdf and the text is four inches by six inches in the middle of every page, so no easy way to read it. But it is nothing more than page after page of worthless ideas. I mean worthless. I’d print some but I’m sure he’d snark all over me saying I reprinted his work without permission…

Then I get an email back (since I didn’t email the .pdf directly and sent it through e-junkie because I track things) saying “I don’t intend to pay for this I want it free like I sent yours free.” Wow, way to make assumptions instead of asking questions, you hack! It was the free link. I didn’t think to spell it out because I said I would exchange it for free. I emailed back with a quick apology, reassuring him it was free and saying that I wasn’t sure why there was a misunderstanding but here it is.

So he emails back again to let me know in BOLD what his misunderstanding was with the boilerplate text that goes out automatically with the link for the book. Wow.

Thanks for giving me a crap book that’s worthless AND wasting five minutes of my life. He made out way better on his end than I did. He got a real book with real tips and helpful suggestions. I got something that after glancing at once I’ll never look at again, because it’s worthless.

Between that guy and the potential for attack, I’m a little scared of Absolute Write. Maybe I’m not a real enough writer to hang with the big dogs. I certainly know that all the writers there aren’t rude, and all the books aren’t drivel…but wow. Two bad experiences in a row, I think, would make anyone a little gun shy.

Maybe I’m spoiled that all the people I talk to regularly online have the same play nice mentality that I do most of the time. I mean, we’re polite, say please and thank you, the usual humane things people do for one another. Am I just lucky that I found all the people with social skills online?

What has your experience been? Have you found pockets of not-so-nice people online? Do you think it was just individuals or certain niches that are plagued with lack of online social skills?

April 30, 2008 | Filed Under Networking, Social Networking | 5 Comments 

Turning Strangers into Friends

My friend Dawn and I were at a bookstore over the weekend.

I was telling her how much I thought Jane Austen sucks. Yes, I am admitting this for the Internet to cache forever, I said a classic author writing about women in the 1800’s sucks. (Try and find this level of class on the other mommyblogs. I dare you.)

Halfway down the aisle there was this uber-hip mama complete with adorable baby in a wrap and the baby had this amazing, hand knitted little cap on her head. The uber-hip mama looked smart, adorable, and really friendly…she also looked like she was interested in our conversation – so I turned to her and said to my friend Dawn, “I bet she’ll tell you Jane Austen is great.”

Lo and behold, cool chica at the bookstore did, in fact, think Jane Austen was great.

I was trying to give my friend Dawn an idea of how badly my taste in books sucks some insight about my personality and taste in books and thought the hip-looking baby-wearer just looked like a Jane Austin person (she looked smart, had glasses, had a baby wrap…come on…you know she had to be smart…)

So this great exhange happened where I passed my business card, she passed her business card (she has a home based business…I told you she was smart!) and my friend Dawn realized she recognized her from her job as a receptionist at a dance studio.

Now, I don’t know about you but I’m not surprised when these things happen. So much coincidence that it would make your head spin is kind of my cross to bear in this world. If you find you’re lacking for weird, unbelievable things in your life, come visit. You can have some coffee in my kick-ass breakfast nook and eventually something phenomenally weird will happen to you, too!

Now, here is where it gets interesting. I send an email over to cool new girl (this is her official name until I get permission to talk about her behind her back on my blog) with some information including my twitter address. She has a Twitter account and adds me.

Back in the day before all this new fangled new media someone would have had to pick up a phone.

I don’t know about you, but picking up the phone is not how I like to get to know someone. I stink on the phone if I’ve never talked to you on the phone before. I will stutter, I will breathe funny, I will leave crappy voicemails. I have a very unhealthy relationship with the phone, and if it was just me and a phone call to make my book a best seller and me a superstar…I’d make the call…but I’d probably manage to flub the deal.

But now, in the bright and shiny world of web 2.0 moms, I can be all passive about connecting to people. Connect on Twitter, maybe schedule a playdate or coffee, nice, slow baby steps toward an acquaintance. You don’t have to just jump on someone’s phone and then feel this overwhelming need to be entertaining. The pressure is off and you can get to know people slowly, without the pressure.

Wow. I love the Internet more today than I did yesterday. It allows me to turn strangers into friends without having to rush the process.

Even better, my friend Dawn purchased the seven novel monster of a Jane Austen book and then insisted I read it first, since I haven’t read it since high school. Maybe being older and the type of person that bawls at Hallmark commercials (and Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints commercials – remember those?) will make me more receptive to women in the 1800’s that want to be independent but society is too busy crushing their spirits to notice they’re human. Or something.

How do you feel about Jane Austen? (Book opinions only, no movie reviews you heathens!)

p.s. I would like to thank True Soliloquy of She Just Had to Say It for the stellar idea of crossing things out. Yes, I know people have been doing it forever, and she uses the technique better more profusely than I do, but I never thought it could work in my blog until I saw her use it in hers.

Creative Commons License photo credit: owlhere

April 29, 2008 | Filed Under Networking, Social Networking, The Everything Basket | 3 Comments 

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