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When I signed up for the Meet the Editors event at Miraval Spa in Tucson last June, I had no idea how well-timed this getaway retreat would be. These last few weeks have been intensely full and productive with my recent free webinar and subsequent sell-out of the actual 8-session course starting next week.
I’ve wrapped up all the trimmings for the first session on 11/17, so feel really good about taking a long weekend of rest, renewal and some pretty cool networking.
My coach asked me what my ‘high dream’ would be around the event. What would be the best outcome? I don’t know how this came out of my mouth, but ‘a column’ was what I responded. I’ve got copies of my book to distribute–I shipped them ahead to avoid shlepping them on the plane. And I believe I walk the talk of a Soul Proprietor. A monthly column geared toward women-owned businesses would work beautifully in that publication.
Earl Nightingale said that “Luck is when preparedness meets opportunity.” Wish me luck!
It’s not every day that a business owner turns down business, but that’s exactly what Robin Horton did recently. She had completed graphic design work, the bread and butter part of her company, for a client who proceeded to compromise their agreement and cause her hesitation about moving forward on the next project.
She was relaying her situation to me on the phone this week when I called her to discuss a Mastermind Group of mine she’ll be joining. During our conversation she told me about the client who attacked her value of feeling appreciated. Because of Lesson #6* (see below) in my book, Soul Proprietor, which she had recently read, Robin said she kept thinking about that story. This gentleman’s lack of respect and arguing was belittling her and caused her to re-evaluate their working relationship. She politely excused herself from future work. “I felt liberated!” Robin told me with a lightness that was palpable.
Robin is passionate about urban gardens and writes an award-winning blog in her ‘spare’ time. Freeing up the energy that becomes constricted with a burdensome client allows the natural flow of the universe to move freely. In the same way that a rising tide lifts all boats, so a positive self-image attracts opportunities and people to your door.
*Lesson #6 – Truly understanding your core values make some choices easier to refuse. [My core values are: time for friends and family, feeling valued for what I do; keeping my life uncomplicated.]
Now that the print edition of Soul Proprietor has been published, I am working to update the audio version as well. Yesterday I was so happy to have my daughter Lindsey come to CT to record the foreword she wrote for me. Foreward_Lindsey.mp3.
She’s such a pro! As a consultant to LinkedIn, she regularly gives webinars for them and is used to working with recording equipment. Walt Graham, my go-to sound person, was duly impressed.
We extended our time in the studio a bit, discussing the project with Walt and snapping some candids of the process.
A funny thing happened on the way to Lindsey’s arrival from NYC. In order to entice her to get on MetroNorth for this favor, I offered to treat her to a pedicure with my favorite practitioner. Lindsey was happy with the prospect of being pampered, so I was a tad disappointed when Monica, my pedicurist, texted me to let me know she would not be able to give the treatment as her mother required unexpected care in NJ. She canceled Lindsey’s appointment. Not an hour later Lindsey called to say she had a request. “Would it be okay with you if I don’t get the pedicure today? I really need to get back into the city.”
Sometimes things just work out so well.
After we left Walt’s place, Lindsey and I had time for a relaxing iced coffee at Starbucks near the train station. I hope you’ll take 3 minutes to relax and listen to Lindsey’s reading. If you’d then like a copy of the new edition of Soul Proprietor, click the title to order your copy.
I won’t mention any names, as I don’t want to incriminate my wonderful and helpful counselor from SCORE. But, we were talking about the new edition of my book yesterday, and he said, “If you sell 600 copies you’ll be lucky.”
I was incredulous. I immediately responded, “I intend to sell 5000.”
He said, “If you sell 5000 copies, I’ll give you a million dollars.”
The interesting thing was what happened to my marketing spirit when he put out that challenge. It fully ignited. What could I do to sell 5000 copies? My mind went into full gear, high speed calculating and asking-for-help mode.
Then he amended this, by adding, “And my wife goes with the offer.” (This is why I won’t mention any names.)
My spirit sagged when he hedged his offer.
My job here is to stay connected with the energy he sparked with his first statement. I’m fully capable of selling 5000 books. I loved the extra motivation of his dare. I’m a real I’ll-show-you kinda gal. I realized I’d need help to accomplish this goal.
Please send along any tips you have for large order book sales. I’d love to sell (52 copy) cases at a time along with the onesies. I’ll show him!
(Some of you may remember when my husband bet me $1000 that he’d never watch the Oscars from beginning to end again. I put that hand-written wager in my tickler file and pulled it out just in time to collect the following year. I’m good at holding people to their word.)
The drive to the Danbury Federal Correction Institution and the facility itself were surprisingly attractive, if you could look past the sea of barbed wire and fencing all around. I was there last Friday and felt a little bit nervous upon arrival. We were screened as though getting on a flight and had our hands stamped in order to pass through an ultraviolet process and heavy-duty sealed passageway.
My daughter Laura joined me for the job fair at the prison. We set up along with about 10 other vendors including the Women’s Business Development Center (WBDC), an organization I’m very familiar with and whom I greatly admire. Lucy Baney of Access Technologies also had a table. She and I had met a few years ago when she spoke for WBDC. When she saw me rolling in my cartons of books she came right over and said, “Boy, they let anybody in here, don’t they?” Any nervousness I was feeling quickly dissipated with her warm and funny welcome.
I wasn’t sure who the prisoners were until someone pointed out that anyone wearing all khaki was an inmate. We had met a few women before the event who fit that description, but I thought they were staff. There was no discernible difference in appearance from those visiting and those residing there. The inmates ranged in age from twenty-something to sixty-ish and older. They were very open about how their incarceration would impact their ability to get jobs when released. Many were very interested in entrepreneurship and creating their own futures.
I gave a brief talk to each group that convened in my area. I wanted to convey hope and possibility no matter what the industry they were interested in. I brought my first book, Decorating Eggs, along to show them what I had made a successful business out of. They were all intrigued and could immediately understand the potential of their ideas, whether it was running a beauty salon or helping others with communication skills.
The women were eager to learn. I donated a copy of my newly republished book Soul Proprietor to each of them and was tickled that they lined up to get my autograph. This is the closest I come to feeling like a rock star.
My contact information is in the front of the book. I hope to hear from some of them as they develop their plans. It felt good to share a positive message with women who have served their time and deserve a second chance.
Two years ago when I made my first blog entry, my dear friend, mentor and book proposal coach Lucy Hedrick said, “This is really good, Jane. In about two years, you’re going to have quite an accumulation of material. Could even be your next book.” I love Lucy. What she said was entirely correct. But in the moment of elation that I’d finally begun a process I’d been hemming and hawing about for almost as long, the last thing I wanted to hear was that it would take two years to get the traction I was looking for.
Of course, she was right.
When I first started speaking professionally, the pros ALL said, you really don’t have your speech down until you’ve given it 50 times. Who wants to hear that? When you’re all enthusiastic about getting on the platform, having the applause and getting paid?
Again, they were right.
So the message is, enjoy the joy of getting started and being a newbie. Enjoy whatever the immediate rewards of the process bring. And know that the deepening of your talent and message are what reap the larger benefits.
I’m now celebrating my 300th blog post and my second anniversary of writing blogs 3x per week. I think I’ve got the hang of it now. I’m becoming comfortable with my voice. I see that my readership is increasing. None of that happens out of the gate no matter how much I want it to be so.
My advice to those of you considering starting a blog? Do it! I have learned more about myself, what I care about, who my market is and what’s important to me than I had in the 10 years prior. It’s an investment in time and resources, but the rewards are incalculable. I’ve gotten to know you better, and the impetus for republishing Soul Proprietor was entirely a result of being in touch with you through my blog.
Thanks for telling me the truth, Lucy, painful as it was at the time.
After a super-busy weekend in NYC and out of my office for nearly three days, things have a way of piling up exponentially. It feels burdensome to walk into my office and see every countertop filled with business cards, unsorted mail and yellow stickies with important to-do’s jotted down on them.
The first thing I did this morning was a gross sort. As you can see from this photo, I have a lot of areas in my life. I just assigned each of them a pile and labeled them so I can spend quality time on book promotion, my new Mastermind groups, speaking and family matters.
By doing this, I opened up space on the other side of the office for actually generating the effort:
Lesson 48 in the new edition of Soul Proprietor is all about getting organized. “What really, really gets me inspired is a clean desk.” (p. 94)
It happened for me this morning. As soon as all the piles were sorted out and that space next to my computer was cleared out, I could feel my creative juices begin to flow and my energy rise. Try it. You’ll like it.
BTW, I set a timer and give myself 15 minutes for the sorting. It’s motivating to know I don’t have to spend an hour doing this, just 15 minutes. Don’t you know, after the buzzer goes off, I’m so into the process I set it for another 15 so I can keep going.
Lesson 80 in the new edition of my book, Soul Proprietor, is “Doing nothing by appointment is essential and energizing.” I wasn’t planning on using this lesson today because productivity is on my mind.
I’ve just come from a one-on-one training at Apple to really nail down the label making process. I went to show the young man an entry I’d made yesterday which turned out not to be there. I know for a fact I entered it. Yet it didn’t show up on the list. I took a deep breath, didn’t blame him for making it disappear, didn’t give up and didn’t cry. But my frustration level was rising.
Now I’m in Starbucks. The library in Stamford doesn’t open until 10am. Since when don’t all libraries open at 9am and provide the free Internet access I was expecting? I wanted to use my time productively as I wait for an 11am appointment. I’m creating a document I owe someone. I’m trying to drag photos onto the page, but the computer is not letting me do that. Every time I go to ‘insert,’ nothing happens. I have reached a dead-end.
I know that Mercury is in retrograde, but, hey! I’m unable to complete the work I’ve set out to do and in the time slot I scheduled in which to accomplish it. I even paid for time to use the Internet. But I recognize that I need to stop.
I am going to do nothing for the next hour; just let the pieces fall where they may, breathe, observe and stay quiet. There’s only so much swimming against the tide I can do. I write this to let you know that I experience everyday frustrations regularly. Here’s an inside look at how I deal with them. It’s not a pretty picture, which is why I recognize the need to stop and change course. This, too, shall pass.
It’s in these in-between times that the Universe manifests. I have no idea what the next outcome will be. I just know it’s essential to take down the sails for the moment and just be.
See ya later!
My committed goal to my action partner yesterday was to complete the design and printing of a mailing label off my MacBook. I just bought a new printer for the job as my HP All-in-One rejects my mailing labels. I unpacked the printer, read through the instructions (the short form, not the manual), did a mail merge with my Pages app on the Mac and Address Book and pushed print.
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.
