Upside Down Cats

Wondering what NaBloPoMo is? Read this to learn all about it and why (and how) I'm participating!

What a difference a year makes - #21

2009: I am a natural writer. I am not a natural networker. The thought of needing to "hawk my talents" was the most unappealing part of my new career. It almost incited me to anger that I had to possess the ability not only to creatively and compellingly tell stories with words - but to also broadcast that fact to the world. It felt foreign and uncomfortable whenever I tried, like I was performing some unnatural act against my very nature.

When it came right down to it, however, networking and marketing must absolutely be a component of what I do. If I don't sell my abilities, who will? I knew I had to find a comfortable way to deal with this problem or my writing business was never going to get off the ground.

2010: With some admitted hesitancy, I embarked on some marketing exercises with my career coach. At first she tried to convince me to attend networking get-togethers and make appointments to pick the brains of champion networkers like Realtors. Nuh-uh...that wasn't gonna happen. If I was already feeling uncomfortable, putting me in an awkward situation like that was not going to bring out the best in me. And that in turn wasn't going to present a good image for my business. No, I needed to find a more natural way for me to talk to people about my burgeoning business.

The first real success I encountered was in completing my coach's assignment to articulate my business' offerings into an "elevator pitch." In other words, describe my business in the number of words I would have time to say during a typical elevator ride. That really helped me conceptualize my business, which made putting words to it much easier. Basically it got the words from the "writing" half of my brain to the "speaking" part of my brain.

Now that it comes more freely out of my mouth, you can barely get me to shut up about my business! It all came down to getting the concepts that were in my head - out of my head. The best part is that now the ability to promote my business does feel natural because it is natural - it came from me in my own words and in my own way. As my confidence in my abilities and in my business increases, so does my ability to talk about it with authenticity and authority.

I am very different in the department of self-promotion than I was just one year ago. Who knows, maybe there's a "networking event" in my future yet... (pssst...don't hold your breath!)

Wondering what NaBloPoMo is? Read this to learn all about it and why (and how) I'm participating!

What a difference a year makes - #13

2009: As my clientele dwindled throughout the year, I found my interest in and passion for child care business dwindling as well. Perhaps it had to do with feeling less necessary in the lives of working parents and the children I helped them raise. After all, how many clients do you have to lose (whatever the reason) to lead you to the conclusion that, well, your services aren't needed? On top of everything else, 2009 was definitely the year of feeling unneeded.

As a motivation for work, feeling unneeded is low on the list. It made me feel generally unimportant, which led to dissatisfaction with my work. Not that I derived the sum total of my emotional well-being from my work but it is difficult to have a positive outlook when your life's work fails to bring you satisfaction.

2010: Yay for deriving satisfaction from my work again! My new venture as a writer is constantly challenging. I experience great satisfaction as I continually meet and/or learn from those challenges.

I feel like I have something to offer to the world once again. It's satisfying to build a business doing what I love to do. It's also satisfying to feel I have a measure of control over the destiny of my career. A little satisfying work goes a long way toward turning a 2009 into a 2010!

Wondering what NaBloPoMo is? Read this to learn all about it and why (and how) I'm participating!

What a difference a  year makes - #6

2009: I used a laptop (Scott's old one) for the first time when we traveled to Colorado in August for my mom's 90th birthday. By that time, I had a couple writing clients so I had computer work to do while we were away from home.

When we got back home from our trip, Scott asked me if I would like to continue using the laptop instead of my desktop. I laughed hysterically at the concept, telling him that there was no reason in the world why I would need a laptop at home!

2010: Now that I work as a full-time webworker, I spend my entire working life (and a good portion of my free time) on a lapatop. There's been a sea change within my mental life that has caused me to embrace the computer as more than a household appliance. I enjoy it, I depend on it and I don't know how I ever functioned without it as my constant companion!

Even though I rarely leave the confines of Home Sweet Home, I can't imagine not having my computer with me all the time. It has become the one place where my life...lives. It's where I access my work, my information, my contacts, my todo list, our finances, and soon even my recipes.

How did I ever live without a laptop?

Wondering what NaBloPoMo is? Read this to learn all about it and why (and how) I'm participating!

What a difference a  year makes  - #1

Autumn 2009: I had lost all my daycare clients and was officially deciding to close Love and Learn Child Care after over 20 years operation. It was the only job I'd ever had. In reality, it turned out to be less of a loss than I anticipated. Perhaps on some level I knew that, while it had a good run, it was time to move on to the next chapter of my life.

The choice to pursue writing professionally was a natural one because I have always wanted to write. Here was my opportunity to go for it.

Autumn 2010: Writey Tidy has half a dozen fairly steady clients, a website, a business phone number (on which I talk to said clients), business cards...the whole shebang - just like a real business! My two favorite parts of my content creation business are the flexibility I have with my time and the potential to grow my business, experience and reputation.

Oh, yeah, and I get to write for a living!

My life is remarkably different since 2009 in more ways than I can imagine. I'll continue writing about some that have occurred to me each day this month as I participate in NaBloPoMo.

Stay tuned!

I have previously mused about the subject of how becoming a "professional" writer might affect my love of writing and/or my ability to write what and when I want. Well, recently I've had the opportunity to explore that very question. In February I was privileged to be hired as a writer for a Women in Business web site. I am writing syndicated content that will be sold to other sites on the topics of Finance, Technology, Procurement, Mentoring and Work/Life as they pertain to women business owners. I was thrilled to see the assignments rolling in quickly and steadily - it fueled my passion. The things I needed to do and learn to get up to speed really consumed my March, though. As you can woefully see, I posted here on my own blog only once last month.

Continue reading "Writing And Preservation And Deadlines...Oh, My!" »

Deciding to have a baby is a monumental affair! Adding a baby to the mix changes the dynamics of established relationships within the family, routines and schedules. As the arrival of a baby is anticipated, mental and physical preparations are made so that when the little one arrives, everything and everyone is ready to accept the joys - and responsibilities - that go along with him or her...

I know this is not news to anyone who has a family...

Continue reading "I'm Expecting A Baby...Tomorrow!" »

It's the 24th day of NaBloPoMo, so, as I've done each day of November, I'm going to write about things for which I am thankful. I am thankful that Thanksgiving is on Thursday and that I gave myself Friday off, resulting in a four-day weekend! Now that both of us are self-employed, vacations - and even long weekends - are difficult to justify, so it's been a long time since I could claim the luxury of four, not-working-at-my-job days at home.

Continue reading "Home Is Where My Heart Is" »

We live 2000 miles away from the California wildfires that have been burning seemingly forever. Until this week, hearing about them affected me the way far-off disasters always do...with a lump in the pit of my stomach for the horror I imagine the victims are experiencing. I am fortunate that I have never experienced a tremendous loss like so many in California. I cannot even comprehend all that they are surely going through. My heart goes out to all those who lost loved ones or possessions...it doesn't seem fair that things like that happen...

Until this week, we never even knew anyone personally who was affected by a disaster to the point of being evacuated. Scott's mom in Florida has sustained some property damage in a couple hurricanes, but fortunately she never had to evacuate and was never in imminent physical danger.

We, safe and sound here in the Midwest, were unexpectedly affected by the wildfires this week...A client of Scott's was evacuated from her home and, at least temporarily, is out of business until life returns to normal out there. As a result, she cannot pay him the next installment for the project on which he is working with her.

It is one of those situations where I am upset, but I feel even more guilty for being upset. Sure, this creates a financial disaster for us, but on the "disaster scale," I think it comes in at a measly 3 or 4 as opposed to the legitimate 8 or 9 of being evacuated from your home, and being subjected to the fear that you have lost everything you own, and your business to boot. It comes right down to one of those (extremely hard for me to accept) situations in life over which we have no control.

There will be no disaster relief coming to help us out of the jam this creates for us...chalk it up to the cost being self-employed. It is difficult to not be freaked out, but I have to find the fortitude to do the righteous thing, which is to count my blessings...for the things that are not falling apart in my world today.

This experience reminds me that - for better or worse - we are all connected...that no matter how far-flung we are from one another, what happens to one affects us all.