I wonder often about my place in the world. I’ve shared the fact that I don’t feel like a consumer. I’m also a terribly generous and honest business owner, which, as you might imagine, doesn’t pay as well as being cutthroat. Being a generous and honest business owner means that I like to help people –…
Just like technology, money is a tool. It is not something to be worshiped. It’s not something that should break up marriages and cause stress and sometimes suicide. Money is a means by which to achieve our goals and live a life of happiness. Happiness is the end goal, or should be. I attended a women’s…
Charging what you’re worth doesn’t just achieve the obvious goal of helping you make a decent living. It also helps your peers in similar professions. I moved to a new town a few years ago and followed the link on a website to find out who built it. It was a great looking website, and…
I was chatting with an older associate yesterday who spoke of his upcoming retirement adventures. He said he was excited at the opportunity, which was provided to him, in part, by his good fortune to have invested in Apple when it was a young company. This was the second person I had recently heard about…
The image of your organization, while not always identical to the truth about your organization, is as important. When something negative happens in your small business or organization, you want to be able to put a rosy face on it before the press finds out and paints their own picture of the situation. You don’t…
If you are a creative, you have been asked to work for free. People generally think creatives do a few minutes of work a day and then spend the rest of their leisurely work hours drinking coffee or napping. Apparently what we do is seen as ridiculously easy and quick. As with any career, you…
When I was in grade school in my tiny two-room schoolhouse in rural Vermont, our school got a computer. One computer. And apparently I used said computer and became interested in computers because I asked my parents to buy me one of the first “personal” computers that was ever available to the public: Radio Shack’s…
It is often difficult to live with dignity in a small town. And it is even harder to get people to understand that you are searching for dignity without coming right out and telling them (which erases all the dignity you seek). A lack of diverse jobs leaves people feeling as though they are sentenced…
So, you want to start a blog or build a personal or business website? Great! Everyone should learn how to build an online presence. But first you should learn some things about the world wide web. Logic would tell you that if you post something online that paints you in a bad light, you can…
I just improved my productivity by about 200% by getting a new laptop and updated software! And it was long overdue – my laptop was at least 6 years old. Most people would’ve bought 2-3 new computers during that time. But not me. My Dell was so trusty that it just wouldn’t quit… and it…
I’m living life at a different pace here in Vermont. Along with the two businesses I was already running, I am now managing a third. Also, instead of being able to sit in my house uninterrupted for 3 days without seeing another human being, I am going to soccer games, buying 4 times as many groceries…
There is a weird phenomena on Facebook. It is called “Facebook Expectations.” It is that idea that if you are someone’s Facebook friend, you will re-post and attend every event they throw, recommend every product or service they supply, and support their business to the best of your ability. The problem? I have almost 1200…
I am feeling rather dejected about the state of the world this morning. I should wait and read my Grist.com emails later in the day. Seriously, though, things are going to hell fast, and we are doing nothing about it. Well, I should say many people… and many important people… are doing nothing about it. …
