Somedays It's Out Of Your Control

I think being an entrepreneur is one of the few things you can do where you can be busy all day long and at the end of it have no idea what you have done to move the needle. 

I've had a lot of those days since that damn Mercury went into retrograde.  Those in the know will tell you it's been exceptionally hard for people. A lot complaining about exhaustion and intense emotions. 

I admit to being one of those people who believe in planetary influences. I understand energy and how sometimes it flows and sometimes it doesn't.

But that does not make me feel any more satisfied when I hear that maybe the reason I  have no idea what I have done to move my business is because of something out of my control. 

Yes, I admit it. Deep within me lies a control freak.

All those years of selling ingrained this idea into my head that there is always something I can do to move things in the direction I  want them to. That me - only me - has the ability to make something happen by controlling every move.

Only part of that is true. I do possess the ability to create - but not necessarily by controlling every step. 

Yes there are things you can do and should do and if you were working with me I could give you a long list of techniques to grow your business. 

And then there are those things you are driven to do - if an entrepreneur - hopefully from deep within your soul. 


But you still can't control it all.

You never will.

There will always be days when every moment is filled and things spin in unforeseen directions, at the end of which you have no idea what it all meant.

At which point the only option is to surrender and trust that a power greater than you sees the bigger picture. 

And be thankful Mercury straightens itself out on November 11.



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I Had A Dream

I had a dream that one day I would no longer work for someone else. In that dream I imagined being more generous and benevolent to myself when it came to things like taking days off. I imagined that I would be able to shut off my work brain in much the same manner I had learned to do when I had my corporate job, letting it rest just long enough to refresh itself before the wheels started turning again.

Turns out that part of my dream isn't so true. The wheels never stop, government holiday or not.

They don't necessarily take a break on the weekends either. In fact, it is not that rare an event where I get my best work done on a Sunday. This is not to say I now work 24/7. I don't.  But I will own up to the fact that it is often a Tuesday or Thursday when I get the least amount of work done. It's just what happens when you work independently.

Some days you are up before the sun and others find yourself in your pajamas at noon. Some days you are planning and in my case always writing....sometimes at 11PM, and others you are hard pressed to check two things off your to-do list.  Somedays it is back to life before you left the corporate world like tomorrow, when I have a networking lunch that will involve wearing stockings and heels. It's just what happens when you are your own boss. It's something you learn to relax into but always struggle with. Especially if like me you spent A LOT of years working for "the man."

I had plans to be generous to me and to sleep in today. Mostly because for some reason that I will not even try to explain, I was up before the sun on Saturday and Sunday and consequently had a very productive weekend. But the jackhammers on the construction site next door to my building had other ideas. They started working at 7AM as they have been for months. Apparently, whatever union they work for doesn't know that Martin Luther King's Birthday is now a federal holiday. Or perhaps they are just happy to be getting time and a half.

I have learned that the dream as Martin Luther King so eloquently demonstrated is the vision. What manifests doesn't always necessarily look exactly as the picture you had in mind, and that is okay. It's a first step. The key is to keep dreaming and to keep dreaming big.

As for me, I have decided to work until Noon today and then play this afternoon, or what I like to think of  as the best of both worlds.

Pink Slippers On The Reinvention Runway

Last August I wrote a series of posts on my advice to those receiving the dreaded "Pink Slip." It's almost a year later and while I believe the economy is starting to turn for the positive, I also think those pink slips will continue for a while longer.  Corporations like to use difficult economic times as a justification to restructure, reorganize and weed out those they couldn't see a way to get rid of before. They're not quite done yet.

The question is what to do if one comes your way.

I, as always, have contended that the "Pink Slip" does not have to be dreaded. It can be the beginning of something much better if you allow it.

And if you follow my advice # 4  and  #8 you may want to check out this free discussion at NYU Stern on June 9,  "Seeing the Silver Lining in the Pink Slip- From Pink-slipper to Entrepreneur."  According to the event details this panel believes as I do, that the pink slip can open the door to doing what you really want.

Whether you are fearing the pink slip, hoping for one or just interested in hearing how others have taken the leap to do something different you might want to check it out. If nothing else you will not only be following my Pink Slip advice #3, you will be surrounding yourself with like minded individuals.