Earth Wind & Fire sang about it. Shining star for you to see, what your life can truly be. In this string of “badness,” in corporate America gone crazy, with CEOs making a mess of things, there is a shining star. In fact, it’s 27 million of us. A big freakin’ galaxy. We are small business. Speaking…
Just like peace, print deserves a chance, too. Last week, I proposed the death of print as we know it, just to see if I could get some kind of reaction. I did. In the black hole of advertising, where a gazillion dollars disappear each day, Mr. Who-Do-You-Think-You-Are, the 4-color brochure, was a star. We used them for…
Remember the first time you saw your name in print? For me, it didn’t happen until 10th grade. (I always related to the main character in that children’s book, Leo the Late Bloomer). That year, when I was 15, one of my poems was published in a national anthology. There’s just something about seeing it on the page,…
This is Abadou’s story, in celebration of Blog Action Day, and this year’s goal, to start a global conversation on poverty: In 1988, I left a classroom of 24 well-fed, intellectually gifted fourth graders in Spokane, Washington for— well, I wasn’t sure what for. I didn’t know where I was headed, just that I was…
Your parents drove you nuts. Come on now, you know they did. All their weird little rules. Moms can be way too practical. Mine got mad when I announced—at age seven—that I had walked all the way home from my friend Evie’s house with my eyes closed. Her eyebrows made a big V, her mouth…
Bob and I used to play a word game when we got bored at a business event. Driving back from, say, a State of the City rubber chicken luncheon, we scanned our notes of words we had jotted down. The point of the game: to make the sentence that used the most tired, overworked phrases…
I have a confession. I’m a recluse. A hopeless writer geek clicking away at the keyboard most days, oblivious to the world. So it makes perfect sense that I live and work on an island. I’ll never be a world-class speaker. Speech class was for me the equivalent of Chinese water torture. In fifth grade…
Where is it written that blogging is rewarding only when you post 5-7 times a week? The experts tell us that more is always better. But I’ve never been convinced. Since I started this blogging thing, I’ve subscribed to six of my favorite blogs. They range from daily posts to once a week, 1-2 times…
I signed up for a free service three weeks ago that’s kind of amazing. You might have heard about it. It’s called HARO (Help a Reporter Out). NYC PR expert Peter Shankman started it because ” a lot of my friends are reporters and they were calling me all the time for sources.” He got…
Recently, I returned from a business networking event frustrated. It was an evening event, promising good food and fun after a two-day conference. After the last session, many of us had dropped our nametags in a big box for recycling. After all, we live in Seattle. Who could not be green-friendly? That evening, with the…
Ask any six-year-old what they need and how they’re feeling. They’ll tell you flat out. “I want a cookie.” (I’m hungry. I want something sweet and good to eat. I don’t want to listen to you because my current need is more important than what you have to say.) “That boy on the playground hit…
Plans are good. I like plans. I couldn’t run my business without a plan. I even consult my marketing and business plans at least once a month. With my calendar, I normally schedule like crazy, always with an eye to how to make the best use of my time. Now granted, I usually work from…
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