That’s the title atop page 68 in The War of Art, a volume I recently listened to on CD and also own in paperback. The author, Steven Pressfield, likens being an artist to being in the Marine Corps.

“The Marine Corps teaches you how to be miserable.

This is invaluable for an artist. [My note - You can substitute business owner for artist here.]

…He will be dining for the duration of a diet of isolation, rejection, self-doubt, despair, ridicule, contempt, and humiliation…

Because this is war, baby. And war is hell.”

There’s something perversely heart-warming about how Pressfield states this. I want to say, “Yeah! I’m fighting for my life every day!”

If you’re reading this, and you’re and artist/entrepreneur, you will thoroughly enjoy this book. As promised in the subtitle: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles.

I don’t know an entrepreneur out there who doesn’t face the challenges of, what the author calls, resistances and coaches call gremlins. This book arms you for that battle and makes you proud to show your scars.

I’ve been enjoying listening to podcasts of National Public Radio’s (NPR) This American Life via mp3 downloads. On my walk this morning I heard a recent program called Million Dollar Ideas. During one segment there was a discussion about the good old elevator pitch. They talked about venture capitalists meeting with students at MIT who are learning this important communications skill.

I’ve learned and taught several variations of the elevator pitch, aka 30-second commercial. One of my favorite renditions is by Mark LeBlanc who refers to this as a defining statement for your business. One of the elements for success, according to Mark, is that it should be in language that an 8th grader would understand.

While listening to the NPR podcast, this was slightly altered. What the university advised the students pitching the investors was that it be in language that your grandparents would understand.

Anybody else taken aback by that?

It works every time. What’s the first piece of mail you open, should you receive any, in your snail mail box? If there’s something there that is thick and bulky with a first class stamp and a valued name on the return address, my money says that’s what gets ripped open before you reach your front door.

I received such a mailing last week from trusted client and colleague Brooke Feder. It included a beautifully written note thanking me for my part in her Joy Project launch and a cool-looking white plastic container (in photo).

I slid open the top of the device to reveal a stack of colorful cards, each with a phrase such as: seeing an old friend, a local farm stand, as well as the ones you see here. Each of these cards stated a shared joy which is Brooke’s mission: to spread and share joy.

To learn more about what Brooke is up to and to participate, visit her website: www.3minutestojoy.com. Her mailing to me, and I presume several others, is her living her purpose. It certainly brightened my day.

In addition to spreading joy and closing the loop on her goals from when Brooke participated in my Mastermind sessions, this mailing set me in motion. The neat gadget that Brooke sent is from Moo. I had ordered cards from them when I first began my blog. I’ll be attending the BlogHer Conference in NYC next month and realized I needed to re-order for that event. Brooke’s well-timed mailing was just the reminder I needed.

There’s another trick I want to share in this post. It’s called letting go of perfectionism. I know that the image I took of the cards is ‘blown out’ in photography lingo. The flash was too bright on the cards. I could have spent time and effort making it better, but have learned to focus (no pun intended) on what was more important here: Brooke’s genius mailing, and to let go of getting the image just so. Done is better than perfect.

In the meantime, I got a hearty response to my last blog about fees and pricing. Even as I was writing it, my mind kept flashing on my friend and colleague Kate Kelly. Sure enough, this message arrived soon after I posted. Take advantage!

From Kate:

How to Set Your Fees and Get Them, a book I wrote to address the difficulty of fee-setting, provides VERY helpful advice for anyone selling their services.  Now that I’m writing more in the field of American history, I haven’t had time to re-publish the book so some of the anecdotes are a bit dated.  That said, the book’s advice is still very solid, very relevant.

The book retailed for $17.50 but because I’m not actively promoting it, I would be more than happy to provide your readers with a “deal.”  If they are willing to mail me $6 which will cover the envelope and first class postage, I will be honored to send them a copy of the book.  Pls put Fees Book in the subject line and e-mail me:  kkelly@katekelly.com.  I’ll send them my mailing address and the book will go out as soon as I receive payment to cover my costs.

Gaining our customers’ trust is important and anything that disrupts that process can create ill-will.

You are not alone if you have given an estimate or proposal for your goods or services, only to realize a few days or weeks into the project that you have underestimated your own time and value. Welcome to the club! This is part of the learning curve in entrepreneurship.

If there was one book that had the exact answer for how to price a job, it would be an all-time best-seller. The fact is, no one can say for sure what YOUR time is worth except you. And, you have to figure it out as you and your business grow over time.

A client recently shared with me that she had undervalued her creative services and asked how she might go about collecting the shortfall from her client. I recommended against this as a practice or even one-time happening. I am not in favor of passing along your learning to the person who is paying you. We, as business owners, are responsible for the cost of our own education. My friend Terri Lonier* calls it “tuition” and says “there’s no good way to ask for that money.”

Here’s the growth challenge. Rather than underbid a job, take the time to calculate your anticipated hours labor, materials and overhead. Be generous with yourself, as you know that things always take longer and that unexpected occurrences will pop up during any project. Account for those in your budget.

The risk here is stating your true anticipated cost upfront. The amount may be surprisingly high to you, but you’ve got it justified by your carefully considered mathematics. You may be pleasantly surprised by your prospect’s acceptance of your estimate.

If you believe in the saying, “Pay me now, or pay me later” you’ll appreciate the wisdom of asking upfront for what you really deserve rather than trying to make it up with explanations and pleading after the fact.

While I know that pricing can be a tricky issue, it’s better to gain clarity around your costs before, rather than after, the deal is made. Like most customers, unhappy surprises produce resentments.

*I had the privilege of being interviewed by Terri for her online newsletter. Here’s today’s issue.

In March I conducted back-to-back goal-setting workshops for the Cultural Alliance of Fairfield County. One of the characteristics I noticed among the creative and talented men and women attending was an inability to focus. By spreading their abilities over a wide range of projects, nothing of note was getting accomplished. This is common, not only among artists, but all of us. Staying busy, but not productive, is the curse of our times.

I challenged the class individually and as a group to let go of the non-essentials in their lives and make a decision as to where to put their energies. Trying to produce art, get your website up-to-date, be active on facebook, cook dinner and go to yoga can squash any creative desire. My advice? Pick one and do it thoroughly, even if it means allowing some of the other areas of your life to slip. The satisfaction gained from doing one thing really well and to completion will lift all the other areas soon enough.

One volunteer attendee, Lana Peck, allowed me to drill down to help her find what she was truly passionate about. Lana has multiple talents, but where I noticed the strongest desire was around song-writing and performing. It’s pretty easy to spot this kind of yearning because it’s often accompanied by tears. Lana allowed herself to become vulnerable in front of the group and admit that if she could be successful in just one area, it would be performing her own music.

I knew what a risk it was for her to make that statement publicly. Huge! But the relief and satisfaction of getting those words expressed showed up in her wide grin. The final activity in the session was to write down a goal that each participant would accomplish by May 1 (the class met in early March). I asked Lana if she would commit to writing a song, performing it and sending me the video on youtube. I received an email from her last week saying it was in the works, and got the final link to her performance Monday morning. Take a peek…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8fchawZyiM

Nothing happened. Aarghh. This is when I really wish there were a cubicle next to my home office where I could simply ask Mr. or Ms. IT, “What am I doing wrong?” But, no. No wonder isolation is one of the top complaints of home-based business owners. So, I did the next best thing and called the help line. Eventually it worked. I felt inordinately pleased with myself over this accomplishment. So happy in fact, I decided to take on yet one more technology learning–how to work the timer on my digital camera. The motivation was that I wanted to show you with my printed label. Having a compelling motivator made learning this trick quick business.

In my new edition of Soul Proprietor I devote an entire chapter to gaining an edge on technology. When I wrote the first edition, back in 2001, I was using email and not much else. Now, many of my conversations at networking events revolve around technology. I met someone yesterday who is a computer instructor. Before long we were deep into a discussion of the Parallels program for getting PC programs running on Macs. You can learn a lot about a person through the topic of computers.

(To pre-order your copy of the New Edition of Soul Proprietor, click on the link above.)

I rejected the first cover proof of my book Soul Proprietor because the red in the New Edition area was too dark and the type on Lindsey’s name bled into the background.

My wonderful book designer Kim Barron made the necessary adjustments; we sent it back for modification, and the revised proof arrived this morning to my liking. Approved and checked off the long list of to-do’s.

Not sure you can see it on this size image, but in the dark area to my right, it says “Foreword by Lindsey Pollak.” I can’t tell you what a huge thrill this is for me. For those of you with children, you know that asking for things doesn’t always get you the desired answer. So, I was a little nervous making the request of my very successful first-born. She’s super busy, and I didn’t know if she’d appreciate the extra task on her list. She knocked me over with her generous acceptance, and touched me deeply with her eloquent words and heartfelt references. Wait’ll you read what she wrote…

I’m excited to tell you that I’m now taking pre-orders. We got the website and shopping cart set up. These first orders will be shipping out a month from today. Be the first in your entrepreneurial network to have your copy! Here’s the link to place your order. One of the bonuses in pre-ordering is that you can get an autographed copy. You can put in any special requests–names, salutations, quotes you’d like included in the inscription in the comments area on the order form–and I’ll gladly include them.

Kim feels light years ahead of me on the technology front which enables her to provide so many learning opportunities. For example, she has her website set up so that I already have ‘met’ the other people in the class via the profiles we each created. Through her expert level of technology, Kim has pre-qualified her participants in the same way I like to pre-qualify my clients. There are hurdles to be leapt and knowledge presumed which makes the experience that much richer for everyone–teacher and students–involved. I like it that way.

What I hope to learn from this multi-week course, is how to take my existing content and re-purpose it into tele-seminars like Kim’s, as well as podcasts, videos and other learning tools my community has been seeking from me. It’s not for lack of information, but more “how do I do that?” that has stalled my product progress.

Kim’s downloadble handouts have set the stage for the questions I want answered. I can’t wait for our first session. I’m ready to take notes, make a commitment to this group and be held accountable for my actions. I know that the excitement and creativity of the other entrepreneurs on the line will be a driving force. More to come…