Feeling Tender, Nervous, Uncertain
Here’s what happened- I dragged my feet. Well, not exactly. We just got overwhelmed, and didn’t get out from under a huge pile of projects and to-do’s until about a week ago. But, what was supposed to happen was we were going to start promoting our Path to Profitability Retreat back in April. Really gently, […]
Cafe Days, Space Defense, and Being Consistently Creative.
==Flash back to 2004== As I sit down to write an article, I feel stumped. I’ve got an hour to “get it done,” and meanwhile I’m just staring at the screen… 55 minutes later, with a few sentences written, I have to stop, and I’m off to the next thing- two back-to-back conference calls. ==Flash […]
Why and How to Create an Information Product
In a little tweeting back and forth with Naomi of Ittybiz, I was kinda curious about her product release strategy. Instead of releasing a book that was standalone- she released it with support. Then, cut off sales. I’d give you a link, but the book is no longer available, as of August 8. When I […]
Less is Less–Do Less, Earn Less, Be Less
My good friend and co-collaborator Leif Hansen, passed along an article from the Harvard Business Review on 37signals.com (who created the award-winning app Highrise, which we use religiously). Here’s the gist of the article, quoting founders Jason Fried and his colleague David Heinemeier Hansson: “No, less is less—because more is not better! Everyone tries to […]
Capital Investments in Teensy Weensy Businesses
In great big, sluggish, behemoth businesses the term “capital investment” refers to buying great big things, like buildings. The term is “fixed assets” and covers things like buildings, machinery- stuff that’s going to be around for awhile. The trouble for most personal-sized businesses is that revenue- if you even want to use that word, I […]
The Art and Science of Business
I was just reading an interview with Wendell Berry in this month’s issue of The Sun Magazine, and he was quoted as saying: “Art is a way of making, and science is a way of knowing. You’re never going to escape the need for either one; you’ve got to have a certain amount of knowledge, […]
Smoothing Cashflow When Your Business Is Small or New
A participant in the Opening the Moneyflow Course has a fairly minimal email list of potential clients, about 80 or so. It’s enough to bring in a few clients, but not enough to keep her pipeline full. While she’s ramping up to increase the list, which is growing every week, she’s still facing that cashflow […]
Discipline versus Flow in Your Business
It’s Wednesday morning, and a stack of to-do’s in your business await you. You need to get on your marketing, you need to deal with the bookkeeping, and those pesky clients keep needing things from you. ;-)And you don’t feel like doing any of it. Instead, you want to just read a book. So, what […]
The Myth of Being Successfully Solo in Business
I want to riff off of the post I put up the end of April, How Productivity Contributes to Global Warming and Debt. The issue, as I was talking about then, was capacity. And yet, there’s an awful lot of things to get done in business. There’s a breakneck pace that many new solo business […]
Taking Me to Task for Grammar
Someone I respect very very much has recently taken me to task more than once for my grammar and word choice in the weekly Business Heart article. I thought I’d share my perspective on writing, communication, and linguistic conventions in my letter back to her. I have nothing but the highest respect for the person […]