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75%

Ok, so I didn't blog every day for 12 days. I had nine entries during that time, and that's 75%. Right up there with my attendance rate in high school.

In spite of my lack of enthusiasm for sitting in class and my overwhelming enthusiasm for drinking Mimosas at brunch with my friends at least once a week, I was an honors student with four advanced placement classes who went on to a top university. As with blogging now, I just had other, generally better or more interesting, things to do.

Even at 17 it would make me cringe when someone would say something like "if you are doing this well not applying yourself, think of what you could do if you put forth some effort!" And all I could think was 1)I just got into the school ranked #5 in the U.S. News and World Report annual overall ranking (and #1 in my intended field, History), 2)This was my dream school, and why work harder than I had to when I was already going in the direction I wanted?

Somewhere along the way, I lost sight of that line of thinking. It came to mind the other day when I mentioned that in 2007 I had over 5,000 additional unique visitors to my site than I did in 2006, in spite of being a little slack on the blogging and portfolio updating fronts. "Maybe you should resolve to blog more consistently in 2008," was the reply. "Um, no..." was all I could think.

I don't really buy into the New Year's resolution bit. For me, at least, I feel like I am kind of setting yourself up for a bit of self-flagellation when (inevitably) I don't meet that resolution I set forth. It also requires a glaring look at what's "wrong" rather than appreciating what's right. That's why I really appreciated Pam Slim's post yesterday on this very topic at Escape from Cubicle Nation:

...Current practice tells us that we must be dissatisfied with where we are now in order to make improvements.

But what I have found is quite the opposite. You have to be satisfied with yourself as you are now in order to truly appreciate the change in the future.

This is not to say I don't set goals. But I also like to view things day-by-day, and I would rather look at my goals in the context of what is right than beat myself over the head with what I think is wrong. And when I get where I want to go, I'll try to appreciate myself and those around me for what's right, and spend the rest of my time on a new adventure. I think I'll keep blogging when I feel like blogging, and not force myself into some unrealistic schedule and level of effort that I'll only grow to resent.

So yay 75%!

Menu for Hope

I know it's a little late for this, as the deadline is today, but I just found out about this last night...

Menu for Hope 4 is a fundraising campaign orchestrated by Pim at Chez Pim on behalf of the United Nations World Food Programme in Lesotho.

It's a virtual raffle. For every US$10 you donate, you can enter to win one of the prizes donated by participating food bloggers, and there are some really cool prizes for food-lovin' foodies like myself.

So everyone wins, and it only takes a small donation. Hungry children get fed, and you might even win some cool swag. But hurry...tonight is the deadline!

Learn more about Menu for Hope 4

Donate now

I think dogs are the most amazing creatures...

I think dogs are the most amazing creatures; they give unconditional love. For me they are the role model for being alive.

What a wonderful sentiment! Yesterday I received a thoughtful holiday gift from my long-time client, Laura West of The Center for Joyful Business. With the gift was that quote, which has made me smile since I read it. Those words are as precious to me as any gift. :-)

I've touched on that wonderful love and fearless spirit in my own life with Roscoe before, and it's true more than ever.

The cat? She's still around. She continues to excel at demonstrating the heights of self-absorption and disdain for everyone around her. But I'm cutting her more slack these days...when you're the equivalent of 382 years old in cat years, you have to focus your energies on something.

Go with the Flow

I've been thinking a lot about the concept of flow lately, both in general and in relation to my own work. Being deeply engaged, hyper-focused, tuning out the world around you; in short, effortlessness. Obviously a desirable state for anyone who expresses themselves creatively in their work, and a source of frustration when it just doesn't happen.

I've been struggling to pinpoint why it eludes me at times (too frequently as of late), and at the same time this struggle has been running parallel with my own attempts to "grow a backbone"...that is, learn to say no and not take every client who comes my way. I certainly don't need to take every job, and I'm slowly realizing that by doing so I am sabotaging my success by taking away the time I could spend working with clients whose projects do intrigue me.

So imagine my delight and relief when I found How to cultivate mad-hot creative flow, love what you do and double your fees in today's Freelance Switch. It was almost like walking into a physician's office and having the doc diagnose me before I even opened my mouth!

Jonathan Fields writes that flow begins in your very first contact with a project. I do know that intellectually, but it has yet to make it into full-time practice.

In fact, you need to actually make the opportunity for flow an integral part of your decision to accept a new client or project. For example, when I consider taking on a new client, beyond gathering a lot of information and getting as good a beat possible on the personality and work style of the client, I think seriously about whether the nature of the relationship, the content, the timing and the overall project is likely to cultivate flow.

...more often than not, I use a simple gut-proxy…passion. I ask, “Am I becoming increasingly excited the more I learn about the project? And, can I get passionate about working on it?”

For me, if the answer to either is no to either, I pass.

Here is what made the connection and really hit home for me:

...when you consistently fill your time with jobs that empty you out, you leave fewer opportunities to create opportunities you love or take on jobs that would fill you with flow. And, you pretty much ensure that you’ll build a career and a clientele that increasingly frustrates the hell out of you, burns you out and leaves you struggling to deliver passable, let alone remarkable work.

This leads to a vicious cycle of passable-work which leads to low/moderate perceived value which leads to low/moderate fees that leave you to feeling like you’ve got take any client who walks in the door just to pay your bills.

Wow. He's so right. And there was a reason that flow and client quality have been floating around in my head...they are related. More so than I cared to admit.

Guess I'd better ask Santa for a new spine...

Chicks, Man

A couple of years ago, Sam and I decided that we would no longer buy Christmas gifts for most of our family members. Apart from an intense dislike of Christmas shopping, we had both grown tired of trying to choose gifts for people who simply did not need anything. In our view the only logical step was to pay it forward by donating to various causes on behalf of our families. Heifer International, Humane Society of the United States, and The Elephant Sanctuary have been among the causes we have embraced.

Not only does it feel good to give to someone or something who actually needs our help, but it saves my sanity by keeping me out of the mall.

This year I'm taking it another step, by making donations in honor of my clients. My first donation is to Oxfam America Unwrapped for a dozen chicks. And by chicks I mean baby chickens, so get your mind out of the gutter.

These fuzzy babies provide HIV/AIDS-affected households with a starter flock: a dozen chicks to produce eggs, generate income, and improve nutrition.

That beats a fruitcake any day!

Maybe it's not all bad...

Working for someone else, that is.

I missed my blogging time last night because we were enjoying the holiday party held by Sam's employer. It was a Vegas theme, complete with gaming, fabulous prizes, delicious food, and an open bar. Sam decided to run with it and dress up as a 70's-era Vegas lounge singer, complete with burgundy polyester tux, ruffled shirt, a lovely gold medallion, and a rubber cigar that glows at the tip when you inhale. It was brilliant, and he was the hit of the party.

Sam and I at the party...don't we make a lovely couple?

There are some benefits you simply can't create for yourself when you are your own boss - summer picnics, holiday parties, that sort of thing. Oh sure, I can kick back here at the office with a Diet Pepsi or even go all out and find something in the fridge and eat in front of the TV for a few minutes. Not really same now is it?

But for me, giving up an evening of festivities once or twice a year is indeed a very small price to pay for being out on my own. All I really have to do is remember the billiards tournament from the summer of 1996 given by my then employer, when I (and about 10 other folks) contracted salmonella. Somehow it fit right in with my feelings about that job.

Great spirits always encounter...

Great spirits always encounter violent opposition from mediocre minds.

-Albert Einstein

Style is knowing who you are...

Style is knowing who you are, what you want to say and not giving a damn.

-Gore Vidal

Check in with yourself

If there if one thing I definitely don't miss about working for someone else, it's the endless parade of meetings each week. One meeting I particularly loathed, no matter where I worked, was the weekly "this is what I'm up to/this is where things stand" group status meeting. The only way I could manage to stay awake at times was to fantasize which would hurt worse - scratching my eyes out with the pen I was allegedly making notes with, or sitting in that damn meeting for one more minute.

When you work for yourself, that kind of status check takes on a whole new meaning. It can be very easy to blow off checking in and strategizing when you are your own boss. Of course you know what's going on, right?

If you're like me (and I hope for everyone's sake you're not), it's all too tempting to focus on paying client work than to take some time to plan and reflect. Unfortunately, that can lead to chaos, which can land you on the express bus to Crazy Town. And that chaos can make it seem even more difficult to step back and take time to plan.

But it's really not that hard, Dave Navarro at Freelance Folder tells us in 3 Questions That Can Instantly Boost Your Bottom Line:

A good strategy session doesn’t have to take long - it could literally be a lunchtime appointment you set with yourself once a week to just stop, breathe, and think about how you want to tweak your way of working for the next seven days. Here are three food-for-thought questions you could ask yourself during your weekly strategy session:

What events/obstacles stole valuable, billable time away from me this week?

Things happen during the week that suck time away from you doing the things you got into business to do. Don’t let these things “just happen.” Isolate what they are (whether it’s a failed hard drive or a meeting that spiraled out too long) and plan ways to avoid this moving forward.

What’s non-billable, “routine” tasks am I spending a lot of time on?

You have a certain billable rate that you can get from clients. If you’re spending time on other activities required to run your business, and you can get someone else to do them for less money than you could make if you billed those hours out, than you need to consider making that happen. Sounds like a no-brainer, but it’s an easy mistake to make when you’re in the heat of the moment with a busy business.

What strategic tasks have I been procrastinating on?

Chances are there a few things you already know would make a strategic difference for your business … but you just haven’t gotten around to doing them because you’ve just been “too busy.” Well, what if you decided that you weren’t going to accept that as an excuse? Push yourself to start putting those smart ideas you’ve already come up with into practice; grab a calendar and a pen and carve that time out so it gets done.

The brief amount of time spent checking in with yourself each week will end up being an investment in your business, leaving you with better ideas to work more effectively.

I've been served...

Yes, I know...I've been so very slack. But (whether she realizes it or not) Dina at WordFeeder has kicked my ass into action.

I'm taking her up on 12 of her 24 days of Christmas blogging challenge. Believe it or not, I plan to blog every single day for the next 12 days.

I hope to use this to get past the traumatic memories that the song of the same title has for me. When I was about 8, I chose that as my piece for the Christmas recital given by my piano teacher. It was far more advanced than my "skill" level, and Mrs. Sanderson actively tried to get me to choose a more appropriate piece, like Jingle Bells or Chopsticks.

I would not hear any of it. I was going to play the 12 Days of Christmas for the recital.

The day of the recital comes, and my mother had dressed me the the ugliest, most uncomfortable dress ever. It had a high neck (always a bonus for a chubby, no-necked child), a stiff baby blue velvet top, and a pleated chiffon skirt that dragged the floor. It had belonged to my cousin Leigh Ann several years before (when it was actually fashionable), and I'm sure it fit her nicely being 20 lbs lighter and 6 inches taller when she wore it. It was as if my mother could forsee the trauma that awaited me, and wanted to make the event that much more hideous. God knows I wasn't attracting any attention with my flaming red hair.

The recital was held on a December afternoon in the Sanderson home. She had a baby grand in her living area, with French doors that opened into the family room that could comfortably seat 30 people.

After the opening pieces, I took my spot at the piano, tripping over that ridiculous dress in the process. I played the first days so slowly, so laboriously, that when I finally, finally got to the end of the 5th day, Mrs Sanderson came out in front of me, and interrupted my "playing" with one of those big straight-armed claps, proclaiming "Thank you, thank you! What a fantastic effort!" She cut me off, and shooed me away from the piano. I was mortified.

I'm pretty sure I quit piano lessons not long after that.

And so won't you help me put a more positive spin on the 12 Days of Christmas? Anything has got to be better than that, short of gum surgery.

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