The learning curve when it comes to teams
Any business that achieves some level of success eventually hits what one of my clients called, a “crisis of capacity.” This is when you have more to do than time to do it. I don’t just mean having a lot of things to do on your list, but having more clients, more work, more paying […]
Goodbye to Jason Stein
Years ago, back in… 2003, was it? I was serving on the board of a nonprofit, when someone who worked at the nonprofit introduced me to a friend of his, and we went out for lunch. That person was Jason Stein. Heart of Business was still relatively new, and he was on his own entrepreneurial […]
My Sufi sheikh’s business medicine
One of my clients asked me a question about hope, because I was going on and on about it… 🙂 He mentioned that there is a teaching about hope that links it to attachment and thus suffering. Sufism has a different perspective, and it has to do with a different understanding about hope – and […]
What the *bleep* is a “business model”?
Now that the new year of 2016 has begun, let’s get right down to business. Today, business is about “business model.” Maybe you know what I mean, or maybe you’re not quite sure. Or maybe you’ve never heard of it before. Simply said, a business model is how your business takes money in. That’s the […]
A Sufi blessing for the New Year
It’s been years since I’ve been to a New Year’s Eve party. It never was my thing, and mostly I’m asleep well before midnight. However, I do enjoy the calmness, the in-breath, that I sense on New Year’s Day. It’s also true that tomorrow night isn’t everyone’s new year. Yet, because it’s the common calendar […]
[Videos] From us to you
Hello, beloved. The Heart of Business team is (mostly) on a break, except for very skeletal administrative support, between December 18 and January 4. We love it! I hope you’re taking a break, too. We still wanted to send you good cheer for the end of year. So here we are! These videos are short […]
Saving money (even when you can’t)
When you’re self-employed, income can often be really inconsistent. And, for many, not only inconsistent, but not enough. So why bother talking about saving money? This is exacerbated this time of year, when I can sense two things from folks: 1) a relief to have some time off and 2) stress that the income is […]
How to keep clients from taking over your calendar and your life
To continue the theme from last week on healthy working schedules, I want to talk about client schedules. This week, not only did I map out my client schedule January-June, 2016, but there was a question from one of our Community members about whether it was selfish or unrealistic to regularly take one or two weeks off at […]
How to stop working the end of December
Earlier this week at Heart of Business we had the end of November conversation: What do we need to do to make sure we can really stop working at the end of the year? For years now I’ve aspired to not work from mid-December until early January. Some years I’ve been successful at that. Other […]
In the face of terror, finding both love and justice
Hey there, beloved, I’m hearing from a lot of people who are feeling fear, encountering fear. The terrorist acts in Beirut and Paris, as well as a hundred other places we may never hear of, weigh heavily on the heart. Tomorrow is the U.S. holiday of Thanksgiving, which, I mentioned earlier this week, has very […]