Say LessLast week, a friend and fellow business strategist shared a piece of advice she'd recently received that really struck a nerve with us both. Part of its brilliance is in its simplicity. "Say less." That's it! This is not the 'say less' of modern lingo where it means you don't have to say more to convince me, I'm in. This say less means stop talking so much. Say less because you don't owe others an explanation, a justification, or even a reason. Say less because your yes or no is enough….Keep Reading
Bulking Up Email ProtectionsAre you aware of the new guidelines Google and Yahoo (AOL) will be implementing in February as a way to help reduce spam and malicious emails? Don't feel bad if you're not. I just learned about this last week and it totally blindsided me. If you currently send out bulk email, i.e., to a email list, or plan to in the future, then you're going to want to pay attention. To be honest, the majority of the changes impact bulk senders who distributed 5,000 emails per day. But, this isn't just 5,000…Keep Reading
Are You Trying Too Hard?I don't know about you, but the new year kick-off was a kick in the pants for me. Let's just say a change in my health insurance meant hours of research online and then on the phone and lots of anxiety and mental fatigue! I don't really like to moan about this stuff because really what can you do, but it took up so much of my time and brain space that it got me thinking how this kind of stuff can really sabotage us entrepreneurs without our realizing it until it's already too late. When I…Keep Reading
New Year's EvolutionI always find this time of year bittersweet as I contemplate the year that was and plan for the year ahead. It takes me a little bit to get myself back up to full speed. The older I get, the more grace I need to give myself in this regard. Which leads me to share my one kinda-sorta-if-I-did-new-year's-resolutions-this-is-what-it-would-be goal for 2024: To be kinder to myself. Because I'll tell you, I'm my own worst critic. Like, the absolute worst. By a long shot. I know, on its face value,…Keep Reading
Your Money. Your Life.As we enter the countdown to a new year — 10 days to go — I'm reminded of an end-of-year ritual I started a few decades back. Last week, I mentioned that in 1999 I went on a six month walkabout along the Pacific Rim. About 4 years before that grand adventure, I was working two jobs to make ends meet (and pay off my student loans) when I read the book Your Money or Your Life by Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin. This book really did change my life and point of view about work, money, and…Keep Reading
If and WhenAt the end of 1999, I left my job, family, and all that was known and familiar to me to travel alone to Taiwan, the first stop on a 6-month mostly solo journey along the Pacific rim. When friends and family asked me why I would do such a thing, I said, "I don't want to wait til I'm 65 to travel the way I'd like to and see parts of the world a week or two of vacation doesn't allow me to do." It's almost a quarter of century since then (I can't believe it!!) and boy am I glad I had the presence…Keep Reading