The Educated Emotion

In general, entrepreneurs and small business owners tend to practice healthier lifestyles. That may be because many entrepreneurs understand that losing time or illness can hurt business. Still, that healthy lifestyle is not the reality for many startups or female entrepreneurs who tend to have increased demands on time and unique challenges that can leave them depleted. Fresh and New Spring is a good time to think about beginning a new project or starting over , and Monday is a good time to begin a new project. But, most small business owners do not have a clean break between work and play, week and weekend. Friday is not the jubilant release and Monday morning does not always bring the refreshed promise that we see and hear around us.   However, each morning is actually a new opportunity to start again. Whether you practice yoga, journal, exercise on the treadmill, or just still -- find some time to rejuvenate this morning so that you can have enough of you left at...

With the help of Social Media, we are all surrounded by discussion about the Olympics! The only people talking online about the Olympics more than the United States are Great Britain and Australia. The media has been struggling to keep up with all the news, controversy, and highlights.  Handball Event at 2012 Summer Olympics. Photo by:  los_bandito_anthony   Recently, one of my clients pointed out to me that there are a lot more competitions in the Olympics than he was privy to via his local television networks or newspaper. Out of curiosity, I looked it up and found that there were some 36 competitions with everything from Beach Volleyball to Shooting. It would be nice if there was more time and attention afforded to some of the other sports represented at . There are some really talented and dedicated folks competing. It is inconceivable how much they all sacrifice to participate. It is inspirational to me even before execution or finding out who wins...j...

When the remake of the movie,  Sparkle , arrived to theaters, I had to watch the 1976 version just one more time. This has been a favorite since I first watched it as a teen almost 20 years after it was released. Every time I watch the movie something different stands out. This time that I watched it, I noticed how sweaty Stix, the character played by Philip Michael Thomas, was when he hugged the girls mom. It was at the point that I experienced an epiphany as to why this movie impacted me so much. Here are three sweaty business lessons that I learned from the movie: 1. Sweating is Natural  In Sparkle, when Stix came to Sparkle's debut and hugged her mom he was sweaty. She didn't turn him away. In fact, she gave him a full embrace while in her finest threads. He had made a mistake and she knew it, but he had survived it and she was encouraged.  As a entrepreneur, I have to put in my sweat equity to get my business off the ground. There aren't ...

A Full Moon, taken around midnight on August 1, 2012, several minutes after  it reached its fullest  phase. Have you ever witnessed something so breathtaking that you wanted to capture the image and share it with the world?  At the top of August, I was outside when the moon became Full. It took up the entire sky. Due to street lights and limitations with the photography (lacking proper equipment and skill), I was unable to capture the full glory of the moon. But, whenever I look back at this photograph, I am reminded not only of what I can see in the picture - but the memory of what I saw that night. Similarly, most entrepreneurs and businesses begin with a vision. But one of the key purposes of a vision, is being able to share it. If a business is unable to communicate that vision with stakeholders, prospects, and employees - the purpose is lost. Here are a few necessaries to capture that vision to share with others: Focus - In order to focus, y...

One of the hardest things to do is start fresh, start anew. As an entrepreneur, you will inevitably find yourself in situations where friends, family, mentors, former coworkers...are simply unable to help. That is because you are doing something different, something that has not been done before.  A Template For Life   In an excerpt from a poem I wrote in 2010, "Blank Pages and Empty Rooms" I weigh the pros and cons of a blank page. I was raised on templates. There is a way to cook, to bake, to love, to study, to be a lady. As an adult, that has been expanded to include a way to eat, walk, talk, write a contract, and even begin a business. As much as I complained about all these "rules" of society, I realized recently that I had also been comforted by this structure.  As an entrepreneur, I have had to reexamine my fears of the blank page. In the planning stages, I still had templates to rely on - business books, business plans, financial sheet...

Monday mornings come every week; they are just crazy like that. But, did you know that they can kill productivity for the entire week? I didn't know that either -- until I reached the end of my first year in business and realized much of my year had been just a string of bad Monday Mornings . Here are four things I learned over the course of my first year: It Was The Night Before Monday and All Through the House..  Whether you have 3 hours or 15 minutes, a little preparation on Sunday evening can help in big ways on Monday morning. For me, that is often just 15 minutes creating a to-do list or journaling. Laurita Thomas, who is the associate vice president and chief human resource officer at the University of Michigan, spent several hours each Sunday in her office, preparing for the week ahead for the first few years in her position. "I don't do that anymore" said Thomas, "but I do spend time each Sunday evening preparing for the week." Schedule ...

*originally posted on April 18, 2012 Three Farmers and Two Geese Today the entertainment industry lost one of its greatest contributors, Dick Clark. He spent over 60 years in numerous memorable roles from radio to music to television. One of the roles that he is less noted for is entrepreneur; some of Clark's biggest marks on the industry were actually ones he created. Dick Clark was always the 'cool kid'. He wanted to be a part of what was new. In fact, he said that he wished he had been a little younger when the Internet takeover began.  In an 1999 interview  with James Moll, Clark was asked "How do you describe the start to your professional career?" Clark responded with a story of his first job in the mailroom of a radio station. In the mornings he would sit with disc jockey, Danny Fusco and give the weather forecast for the rural radio network, assuming that no one was listening. But when Clark started performing as if someone was listening, that...

Please note: Comments can be made directly underneath each blog post. Any Comments made previously, via Google +, will no longer show up under blog posts. An Ode to the Monday Morning Soloist She pulls into the parking lot of the library, away from familial responsibility, where she plans to get things sorted out for the week ahead. Mind and body are tired, yet she still is ready to push ahead. She calls a fellow solopreneur to wish her a great week and shares a virtual laugh and fist bump. When she walks in the building, she passes tables of kids and parents with tidy spheres of chaos contained in the front section and retirees and tutors trying to establish routine with their open schedule in the back.  She quietly sits in the farthest seat near the back window overlooking the man-made marsh rendered beautiful by the gorgeous sun. She exhales before opening her computer and viewing all the things she was not able to attend to over the weekend. "Some guys have all ...

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN APRIL, 2012. REST IN PEACE... Three Lessons on Social Media From Dick Clark   Three Farmers and Two Geese Dick Clark spent over 60 years in numerous memorable roles from radio to music to television. One of the roles that he is less noted for is entrepreneur; some of Clark's biggest marks on the industry were actually ones he created. Dick Clark was always the 'cool kid'. He wanted to be a part of what was new. In fact, he said that he wished he had been a little younger when the Internet takeover began.  In an 1999 interview  with James Moll, Clark was asked "How do you describe the start to your professional career?" Clark responded with a story of his first job in the mailroom of a radio station. In the mornings he would sit with disc jockey, Danny Fusco and give the weather forecast for the rural radio network, assuming that no one was listening. But when Clark started performing as if someone was listening, t...

It's too scripted to be a movie: a comfy cozy Sweetest Day weekend where your loved ones whisk you away from the to-do list your crazy/creative, entrepreneur-self never seems to complete.  Drizzly Seattle-Movie-like rain softens your hair, skin, and heart until the sexy mysterious moon writers kill readers with every day comes into view. You lay down Sunday feeling comforted and, although you know your weekend of folly might bite you in the butt - you rest peacefully knowing that you will be ready for whatever.  Giving a total 100% all week is the plan. (insert scary music) Then, Monday arrives! You oversleep (because you slept in the last two days), your morning mile walk feels like a triathlon (because you skipped a couple few workouts to make time for chocolate) and the cute rain is now annoying with hard, cold smacks across the face, appointments are late (because they are in the same boat), breakfast prep takes longer than usual (because you went to sleep with dishes...

There is no getting around it! Monday, with its 700 emails and malfunctioning alarm clock, comes every week. According to a recent study, the average worker is only productive about 3 1/2 hours each Monday. That means at least 5 hours each week employees are paid for complaining about Monday, traffic jams, running kids to school after they missed the bus, locked car keys, eating out after leaving lunch on the counter, stressing out about starting the week, anxiety, head and stomach distress. There is even a 20% increased risk of having a heart attack on a Monday! Even as an entrepreneur with a home office, I still fall prey to the dozens of unplanned distractions each week that all seem to occur on Monday. To help you get through this Monday, and the 32 Mondays left in the year, I have a couple ways to help you be more productive on Mondays. Preparation - I was sick this past weekend. Consequently, my mom and a friend brought me lunch and dinner, respectively, yesterday....

Among my favorite business leaders of the last 20 years are C. K. Prahalad, Larry Page, Stephen Covey, Barack Obama, Oprah Winfrey, Melinda Gates, and Mark Zuckerberg. Each of these leaders has made a profound impact on not only business – but on society as well. Social media has helped to blur the lines between business, industry, and popular leaders. Internet memes and graphic quotations have helped to revive archived thoughts and words from notable people in history. Qualities of leadership such as life balance, grit, creativity, and critical thinking, can be exhibited online by businesses,  entrepreneurs, celebrities, and politicians of the past and present. As we celebrate the life of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., I am exposed to how relevant his work was to today's entrepreneur and reminded of how his words have guided my thoughts about life, purpose, and ethics over the years. Consequently, there are many quotes from Dr. King that have helped guide me in my en...