Remabulous

Thoughts on "Better late than never" and the frequent question: "Why haven't I reached my goal yet?"

We think we know best, don't we?

 

When things are supposed to happen and how, when our goals are meant to show up. 

 

But, often we are not the greatest at setting the time on these. 

 

Last week, I wrote a letter to a dear friend in Chicago whom I've known since college. I really missed her and said I was really dying to come and visit her. Well, guess what? My flight was delayed, on the way back from a wedding due to weather, and when I called her to let her know I was going to be in Chicago for the night, she came right out to get me and we had a magical visit.

 

Want to know the funny part? The letter hadn't even shown up in her mailbox yet. 

 

While I was wistfully dreaming of a late spring weekend in Chicago in 2010, life dished up a visit three days later. Magic.

 

We so often think we know how things are to unfold. We think our plan is the best one, or that any deviation from our intended outcome is a disaster. 

 

But what if these little hiccups were just life's way of giving us what we ask for, even faster than we thought it was possible?

 

I could have been miserable in a hotel by the airport and waited all day to get on the first available standby flight. Instead, I took the one in the evening that gave me an inspiring and uplifting day with an old friend. 

 

Hmmm. What if every so-called hold-up this week was really a blessing in disguise? It can be... as long as you choose to see it that way. 

 

Please share your thoughts on unexpected outcomes in the comments below... we'd love to hear from you!

Avoiding burnout with the Point System

When I was about 7, I really wanted a Barbie. She wasn't exactly a Barbie, more a princess doll, but in the same general ballpark.

As a young kid, I didn't have the money to buy the doll for myself, so I did what every kid does: asked my parents to get her for me.

No dice.

But they did come up with a nifty little plan: the point system.

On the fridge, we posted a chart of chores and how much each chore was worth. At the bottom, they posted the number of points that would get me the doll.

So everybody won: I was happily working away washing windows and weeding the yard, taking out the trash and doing the dishes on my way to the coveted doll. And my parents weren't doing any of these chores.

Now, as entrepreneurs, we are in a similar position to mine at 7: there isn't always as much capital as we'd like there to be. And we also have a ton of chores to do, tasks to accomplish, and benchmarks to hit.

I have decided to revive the point system as a motivating factor in my working life. Because if there is one thing I hear all the time, it's that people have trouble avoiding burnout when there is such a massive volume of things to accomplish.

So, here's how to set up the point system for yourself and your business (and an explanation for that bread loaf pictured above):

image: Caroline Donahue for Remabulous.

Ask Remabulous: How do I do my best work using methods that are effective for me?

This week, our Ask Remabulous column is covering a topic that comes up eventually with almost every single one of my clients: working methods. It is amazing to me how harshly we judge ourselves and the way we work, even when we are getting a lot done. I am so grateful for the following letter, since I get the opportunity to encourage each one of us to breathe a big sigh of relief about how we each get things done.

"Dear Ask Remabulous,

I am having a very strange problem with my working process...

I have these methods of doing things that seem to work well for me, but I feel like there should be a better way to do them. Like lately, I am doing a lot of work late at night and getting tons done, but I can't help but wonder if I should be getting up early and working then instead?

Working for myself, I am having a hard time really embracing making my own schedule and seem to keep trying to cram myself into the old 9 to 5 model I was in before. Is it ok if I go totally off the grid with my time management and try really strange hours, or should I be trying to get something standard in place? Help!

Time Traveler"

Dear Time Traveler,

Thank you for bringing this up. We entrepreneurs and business owners sure have a guilt complex about how we use time, don't we? Here's what I suggest to make this work issue an asset for you...

image: Evil Erin.

Ask Remabulous: To reply to comments or not to reply, that is the question...

Hello everyone! It looks like the blogging encouragement has worked, since this week's question is about how to manage all the comments showing up on a blog. I'll let the blogger speak for herself...

"Dear Ask Remabulous,
I had a question about blogger etiquette I thought you could help with.  I’ve started getting more and more comments on my blog which makes my heart sing but I don’t know if I should respond to each and every one of them, especially when most of them are not questions but simply “Ah, I relate” type comments.

Do you have any guidelines for this?

Thanks,

Cupcake"

Great question, Cupcake, and it's one that every blogger wrestles with once her site gets any attention. Here are my thoughts and strategies below...

Ask Remabulous: How do I update my look to reflect my professional image?

Today I cover a topic that most people don't associate with business: fashion and personal style. We often forget that, as entrepreneurs, we are our brand. I have been taking a wonderful class on PR with Lisa Elia of The Clear Publicist, and she reminds us that every point of contact we make with the public is part of our PR as business owners.

So it seemed appropriate that I answer the following questions this week, as I teamed up with an expert yesterday, Catherine Cassidy of LifeStyled, who was just the right person to spruce up my look and help me answer this question:

"Dear Ask Remabulous,

I feel like a frump! Working from home, I often hop out of bed in the morning and head right to my computer. If I don't have meetings, I'm often still in my pajamas until late in the day. I know I am doing good work, but sometimes I wonder if I wouldn't feel a bit more legitimate if I dressed for work, even though it's just as my desk in my apartment.

Do you have this problem? What do people generally do to make sure they are putting out a professional image both when working at home, and when out meeting contacts in the world?

Thank you for any advice you can offer,
Pajama addicted entrepreneur"

Thanks for your question, PJ addict! Let's dive right in, and remember, if any of you have questions you'd like answered on the site, you can e-mail them to: [email protected]

Context is everything, or Why mannerism was the beginning of gang signs.

I am back from Spain and back to work! I had a lovely trip and am sure to be sprinkling things I discovered along the way through lots of posts.

The first example is from the painting above: a mannerist work that we found in the art museum in Seville, in southern Spain.

When first looking at it, I simply saw the strange hand positions that were popular during this art movement. People had gotten tired of plain old renaissance works, so strange hand positions had become the rage all over Europe. Who knew this was the antidote?

But what I realized when looking closer... if you stop thinking about this as a painting and remove that context, it really does look like these guys are facing off and throwing down gang signs:

Right?

Craziness. Read on to learn why you need to know what context you are in when you talk about your business, or your likely to start a rumble just like these guys in robes would do today...

Ask Remabulous: preach it, Seth Godin!

Seth Godin knows what he is talking about. There are many people who fit in this category, but the thing I love about Seth is that there is so much joy, play, and fun in what he writes and in his message. I can't think of a better guest to leave in charge of Ask Remabulous while I am away. Many people I know are thinking about branding, connection, and how to get ideas out into the market in a compelling way.

Here is the master on that topic:

Ask Remabulous: How do I make my blog the best it can be?

"I'm scared to start my blog!"

This is a cry I am hearing from many clients lately.

There are two groups of people who fear blogging: those who have no desire to blog but feel they are supposed to, and those who are dying to blog but are too afraid of getting it wrong to get started.

This post is for the second group. For the first group, I have been getting them on twitter, where they all seem to be quite happy and connecting well with those they want to reach.

But now... onto the journey it takes to become a blogger.

It does not happen overnight. This is my first post, written nearly three years ago. Really. That's all I had to say the first time out. No pictures, no branding, no tagline. Just a scared lady about to make a big move somewhere new. Here's how I went from there to here.

image: DavidErickson

Ask Remabulous: How can I add video to my site and marketing?

This week's question is one that I think most small business owners need to hear the answer to. So here it is-- listen up everybody!

"Dear Ask Remabulous,

It seems like every other week there is a new technology that I need to learn to promote my business. First I needed a blog, and then facebook, and then twitter. Now people are talking about video. Help!

I didn't start my business in order to market it 100% of the time. I want to get clients and customers, don't get me wrong, but can you please explain if video is worth my time or if it is just another trend that is going to suck up my precious time?

Thank you,
So Over Media Right Now"

Wow. Thank you so much for asking this question, So Over it. I KNOW you are not alone in your confusion or frustration. But I have some news for you... video is the most essential media you can engage in right now for your business. Read on and I'll explain why.

Ask Remabulous: James Frey on the writing process and on tough times.

I usually answer a reader's question on Wednesdays, but this week I was lucky enough to get to film James Frey at a Book Soup event. After all the crazy things that have gone down in his career, I was particularly touched by what he shared about the process of finishing books and how it feels to complete a big project. That he is still writing after all he's encountered in his career is such an inspiration. I was so grateful to get to spend time with him this week and was so touched by how open he was to filming and letting me record his comments after the reading as well. Thank you , James! I know this will be more inspiring than anything I could answer this week, since it comes from one who's been in the creative trenches himself for a long time.

Enjoy: