I had a meeting today in a part of town I hadn’t driven to in a very long time. Sitting at the stop light near my appointment I realized my stomach was in knots and I was breathing oddly. My visceral reaction to where I was had nothing to do with my upcoming appointment and everything to do with where I was. It had everything to do with being next door to a ‘big’ that I had thought was long since behind me.
Most small business owner’s dream of getting big and bigger; more sales, more employees, more overhead, more locations and more income. More and more. Dreaming is great. We all need to dream and visualize and have a concrete plan for the future. Unfortunately, many business owners dream and do and fly by the seat of their pants not realizing what may come with getting bigger. Where is the bigger plan? The bigger road map? The bigger energy? The bigger story?
My company got big. Really big. And while it did, I just flowed with the bigness of the day to day. While I saw a future, I didn’t take the time to put a road map on paper. I said over and over again that I could handle everything that came my way. As you now know, I owned a very large corporate catering company in Austin, Texas. My first kitchen was the ideal. Great size, perfect location, a layout that couldn’t be beat and an amazing atmosphere. This kitchen was stuffed to the gills and in hindsight, it was perfection and I should have never left it. But I got a whiff of BIG. A smell of ‘what if’ and before I knew it, I was jumping. No plan. No agenda. Just straight off the cliff. My ideal kitchen was 1400 square feet and before you could say, ‘fool’, I was building a 3600 square foot kitchen facility mid-town in a mall undergoing revitalization as a corporate facility. It was a stunning place with new and beautiful equipment, a beautiful conference/meeting room and a fresh clean big atmosphere. It was a dream to work out of even if it was out of the way and far away.
Before the story ends, I got even bigger and ultimately lost everything. The story is long and tough to hear but rewards with a happy ending.
One of the essential ingredients for any business is the plan. We can talk about ‘your’ time, what your dollars look like and which relationships you need to keep, but before the bottom line you must have a plan. It is great to have a vision and to believe that the universe will provide. But before the story ends, there needs to be a chart, a graph and drawing of the future.
My meeting went very well this morning and afterwards I drove slowly by the mall where my big kitchen used to be. I was amazingly calm as I accessed the face lift the place had gone through in the years since I had last been there. My back door was still there with its welcoming window and green awning. No signage so I couldn’t satisfy my curiosity over who was in ‘my’ beautiful space. All these years later, I have a sense of closure that I didn’t know I needed. I drove away with a satisfying sense of calm over the fact that I made it through my ‘big’, intact with plenty of lessons learned.
Do you have a road map to your BIG?
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Stamina and Guts-Straight From the CIA?
I don’t dig my birthday. I could tell you all the reasons why but that is not the point of this story. I just need to tell you that my parents call me every year on my birthday. It is usually the only day of the year that I talk to my Mother. I do talk to my Dad a little more than that-his birthday, Christmas and Father’s Day usually. Last week on my ‘lucky’ day, when they called to sing Happy Birthday, I happened to be driving and answered the phone. They sang together and then we actually chatted for 10 minutes or so. They asked after my children which is a very big deal and asked after my book, also a very big deal. After we hung up, I had plenty of windshield time to contemplate our communication; plenty of time to think about how my parents, my Dad especially, affected my professional life.
This past weekend Lou and I went to the IMAX Theater to see ‘Hubble’ in 3D. Settling into our seats, my thoughts went straight back to my Dad and the still fresh birthday conversation. My Dad is an amazing man. He was deeply educated at MIT and holds many patents, namely for the gyroscope. He founded Sperry Gyroscope and we found out just a few years ago, he was recruited by the CIA during his Sperry days and spent the rest of his career with them working in an extremely high level and highly secretive position. His professional career is still kept very tight lipped. Every now and then one of my siblings will hear a story and pass it on. We discuss in amazement and wonder. My Dad is somewhere beyond brilliant. He is the one who taught me determination and guts. From him I learned stamina and intestinal fortitude. I remember asking him once how he got up and made it to work every single day when I knew there were days when he probably needed to just hide. How he could get on that airplane and prepare to be gone from his family for an extended period of time. He told me that he did what he needed to do. I have said that same phrase myself many, many times over the years.
The ‘Hubble’ documentary was rather fascinating and I mentioned to Lou afterwards how I couldn’t help but have my Dad and his space involvement on my mind. One year on my birthday, my parents didn’t call. During this time we were lead to believe that Dad was designing payloads for the Space Shuttle, working for NASA. I wasn’t too worried about them not calling because there was a shuttle currently in space and I figured he was covered up with the mission. The shuttle was having trouble getting back to ground needing to finish a project and wait for weather to clear. Still a week after my birthday and no call, no news. Instead in the mail from Dad is a one page piece of paper with a New York times article taped to it. The article and picture are talking about how much, W. G. McArthur, my Dad, enjoyed his shuttle trip and his exciting first space walk. In my Dad’s barely legible handwriting on the same paper is a note: What a great ride. Can’t wait to tell you all about it. –Dad
No wonder he didn’t call on my birthday! My Dad was on the freaking space shuttle orbiting the earth and strolling in no man’s land! I called my parent’s house in Aspen, no answer. I called their house in California, left a message. I flipped that he didn’t tell any of us so that we could be watching him this whole time. I flipped because my kids could have been talking about Grandpa being in space at school! I called my siblings-all who received the same ‘letter’ and we were all flipping.
At this time we had no idea that our Dad was enmeshed in the CIA and could keep a secret better than anyone as obviously his whole life was a secret. He waited days and then finally called us one at a time. He wasn’t on the shuttle; he was ‘just’ in the control room. It was a total coincidence that one of the shuttle astronauts had his same exact name. Apparently they joked constantly, my Dad in the control room and his clone in space living out my Dad’s dream of being an astronaut.
So here I am many years later, celebrating yet another birthday and thinking about my Dad and his example of high-test life and career dedication. There are plenty of stories surrounding my Dad. How he ended up at MIT instead of honoring Canada’s request that he be on their Olympic Team, both summer and winter. How he accepted his job with the CIA. How he fostered determination and grit in his five wildly self-sufficient children. How his work ethic is evident in all of us. His story just may need to be told.
May you have a ‘Dad’ in your life to set the example of doing it and getting it done when you least want to. The example of being brilliant in what you do because that is what you have chosen. That you can take everything you learn and funnel it into being an entrepreneur who isn’t afraid to take risks and perform under pressure. May you take control of your business and learn from all the examples of success in your path.
I think this may have been a good birthday. Recipies From A Life: Essential Ingredients for Your Business Success. I may owe it to my Dad.
This past weekend Lou and I went to the IMAX Theater to see ‘Hubble’ in 3D. Settling into our seats, my thoughts went straight back to my Dad and the still fresh birthday conversation. My Dad is an amazing man. He was deeply educated at MIT and holds many patents, namely for the gyroscope. He founded Sperry Gyroscope and we found out just a few years ago, he was recruited by the CIA during his Sperry days and spent the rest of his career with them working in an extremely high level and highly secretive position. His professional career is still kept very tight lipped. Every now and then one of my siblings will hear a story and pass it on. We discuss in amazement and wonder. My Dad is somewhere beyond brilliant. He is the one who taught me determination and guts. From him I learned stamina and intestinal fortitude. I remember asking him once how he got up and made it to work every single day when I knew there were days when he probably needed to just hide. How he could get on that airplane and prepare to be gone from his family for an extended period of time. He told me that he did what he needed to do. I have said that same phrase myself many, many times over the years.
The ‘Hubble’ documentary was rather fascinating and I mentioned to Lou afterwards how I couldn’t help but have my Dad and his space involvement on my mind. One year on my birthday, my parents didn’t call. During this time we were lead to believe that Dad was designing payloads for the Space Shuttle, working for NASA. I wasn’t too worried about them not calling because there was a shuttle currently in space and I figured he was covered up with the mission. The shuttle was having trouble getting back to ground needing to finish a project and wait for weather to clear. Still a week after my birthday and no call, no news. Instead in the mail from Dad is a one page piece of paper with a New York times article taped to it. The article and picture are talking about how much, W. G. McArthur, my Dad, enjoyed his shuttle trip and his exciting first space walk. In my Dad’s barely legible handwriting on the same paper is a note: What a great ride. Can’t wait to tell you all about it. –Dad
No wonder he didn’t call on my birthday! My Dad was on the freaking space shuttle orbiting the earth and strolling in no man’s land! I called my parent’s house in Aspen, no answer. I called their house in California, left a message. I flipped that he didn’t tell any of us so that we could be watching him this whole time. I flipped because my kids could have been talking about Grandpa being in space at school! I called my siblings-all who received the same ‘letter’ and we were all flipping.
At this time we had no idea that our Dad was enmeshed in the CIA and could keep a secret better than anyone as obviously his whole life was a secret. He waited days and then finally called us one at a time. He wasn’t on the shuttle; he was ‘just’ in the control room. It was a total coincidence that one of the shuttle astronauts had his same exact name. Apparently they joked constantly, my Dad in the control room and his clone in space living out my Dad’s dream of being an astronaut.
So here I am many years later, celebrating yet another birthday and thinking about my Dad and his example of high-test life and career dedication. There are plenty of stories surrounding my Dad. How he ended up at MIT instead of honoring Canada’s request that he be on their Olympic Team, both summer and winter. How he accepted his job with the CIA. How he fostered determination and grit in his five wildly self-sufficient children. How his work ethic is evident in all of us. His story just may need to be told.
May you have a ‘Dad’ in your life to set the example of doing it and getting it done when you least want to. The example of being brilliant in what you do because that is what you have chosen. That you can take everything you learn and funnel it into being an entrepreneur who isn’t afraid to take risks and perform under pressure. May you take control of your business and learn from all the examples of success in your path.
I think this may have been a good birthday. Recipies From A Life: Essential Ingredients for Your Business Success. I may owe it to my Dad.
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Small Hotel Today-Hotel With A View, Tomorrow!
I find myself hiding away in a small cramped hotel room in hot and humid Houston. Lacking my GPS, I really have no idea where I am. This is a good thing. I have a funny feeling in the pit of my stomach as I wrap up my work day and hunker down to spend time concentrating on the last edits I will be able to make to the book. This feeling is definitely a new one. Not good. Not bad. If I stop to think about it I am directed to the power of my own intention. The intention I had to write my story and to help as many small business owners who would possibly listen to what they can do to fulfill their dream of real success.
Recipes From A Life is a reality. That is the feeling in the pit of my stomach. This is really happening. Despite the odds. In spite of the people who told me I couldn’t do it or would probably never really do it, I am really going to be one of the 2% who actually publish a book.
I’ve been dreaming about ‘my’ flock; about the people that I am going to be able to help. Dreaming about the weight I am going to take off of their shoulders. Dreaming about the power I am going to help them realize. I am going to tell people that they can indeed enjoy their business and that running it doesn’t need to be a 24/7 exhausting mess. I am going to be able to tell entrepreneurs far and wide what they need to do to run their business in a manner that will work for them and show them how to do it. I am going to teach them how to manage their business from the inside out so that they can enjoy all the other aspects of their lives that are important to them.
I was lucky enough to speak to an association in Corpus last week. Only about 100 people but each one of them was fabulous. It was a very engaging ‘speech’ on the differences between managing and leading and I had a great time. The group was interactive, the best kind and what I wish for as a speaker. Afterwards, the leader gave me a gift and more than one participant wanted to take their picture with me. I am not a picture taker and was quite uncomfortable. In thinking about this event later as I thanked God for the opportunity, I realized something. They wanted to take my picture because I made an impression. I offered a nugget of information that they wanted to remember with a photo. Wow.
I promise myself that I am going to spend more time hiding away in small hotel rooms enjoying the process of this book journey. I promise to enjoy and savor every moment until its birth in just a few months. Then I am going to sign copies and speak. Sign more copies and speak some more. I am going to tend to the flock with everything I have in me and then some. Then when it is all said and done, I am going to escape to bigger and more wonderful hotel rooms in fabulous faraway places!
Recipes From A Life: Essential Ingredients for Your Small Business
Recipes From A Life is a reality. That is the feeling in the pit of my stomach. This is really happening. Despite the odds. In spite of the people who told me I couldn’t do it or would probably never really do it, I am really going to be one of the 2% who actually publish a book.
I’ve been dreaming about ‘my’ flock; about the people that I am going to be able to help. Dreaming about the weight I am going to take off of their shoulders. Dreaming about the power I am going to help them realize. I am going to tell people that they can indeed enjoy their business and that running it doesn’t need to be a 24/7 exhausting mess. I am going to be able to tell entrepreneurs far and wide what they need to do to run their business in a manner that will work for them and show them how to do it. I am going to teach them how to manage their business from the inside out so that they can enjoy all the other aspects of their lives that are important to them.
I was lucky enough to speak to an association in Corpus last week. Only about 100 people but each one of them was fabulous. It was a very engaging ‘speech’ on the differences between managing and leading and I had a great time. The group was interactive, the best kind and what I wish for as a speaker. Afterwards, the leader gave me a gift and more than one participant wanted to take their picture with me. I am not a picture taker and was quite uncomfortable. In thinking about this event later as I thanked God for the opportunity, I realized something. They wanted to take my picture because I made an impression. I offered a nugget of information that they wanted to remember with a photo. Wow.
I promise myself that I am going to spend more time hiding away in small hotel rooms enjoying the process of this book journey. I promise to enjoy and savor every moment until its birth in just a few months. Then I am going to sign copies and speak. Sign more copies and speak some more. I am going to tend to the flock with everything I have in me and then some. Then when it is all said and done, I am going to escape to bigger and more wonderful hotel rooms in fabulous faraway places!
Recipes From A Life: Essential Ingredients for Your Small Business
Sunday, September 26, 2010
The Power in a Mani/Pedi
I managed to disappear into a manicure and a pedicure yesterday. Middle of a Saturday afternoon, after a long and satisfying workout, I decided that I needed to not only treat myself but that I needed to be quiet. No phone, no computer, no one in the chairs next to me. It was only me and the little girl who has been massaging and beautifying my feet for years now. While she knows me and my daughter by name, she doesn’t make, encourage or force conversation. I am allowed to disappear into whatever my mind chooses. My own kind of mediation.
Of course my thoughts started with the list of errands I needed to finish before I started another hectic work week on the road. Workout, dry cleaning, box to the Goodwill from the trunk because it was in my suitcase space, grocery store, gas… I realized that I can run these errands without thought or concentration because I have been going to the same places to satisfy the same needs for many years. Dan at Foundation for my car, Adam at the dry cleaner, Julie for my nails, Zona at the Dr’s office... In my quiet, I realized more deeply than ever that I have an amazing personal group of supporting businesses that I both trust and adore.
Week Seven in the book is all about the supporting people and businesses that your business needs to be connected to in order to be ultimately successful. Now, only as I contemplate moving across this country, alone, did the power of my own personal connections dawn on me. I can drive to Church without thinking, park in the same area and sit in the same seat as I have for years. I know my Whole Foods and Sprouts like the back of my hands. I find it interesting that while I know how powerful business connections must be, I would only now be impacted by the power of our personal ‘business’ connections. I am saddened to think that I may have taken them for granted.
Not too long ago, I started a mission to hand write a thank you note every day. Some days I miss and some days I write several. I love snail mail and sending post cards when I am on vacation is one of my very favorite things to do. I love showing gratitude and want to show appreciation as much as I can. I am going to challenge myself to write a thank you note this week to everyone on my personal support team. I challenge you to do the same.
Next set of edits on the book are due this week and I am quite ready to immerse myself back into rewording, rewiting and rethinking my original thoughts and words. I am excited to read Editor Emily’s notes and play with her revisions. It will also be interesting for me to reread Week Seven now that I have this new perspective. Business and personal connections=professional and personal success.
Want to keep updated on book progress? Annmarie is now on Facebook.
Of course my thoughts started with the list of errands I needed to finish before I started another hectic work week on the road. Workout, dry cleaning, box to the Goodwill from the trunk because it was in my suitcase space, grocery store, gas… I realized that I can run these errands without thought or concentration because I have been going to the same places to satisfy the same needs for many years. Dan at Foundation for my car, Adam at the dry cleaner, Julie for my nails, Zona at the Dr’s office... In my quiet, I realized more deeply than ever that I have an amazing personal group of supporting businesses that I both trust and adore.
Week Seven in the book is all about the supporting people and businesses that your business needs to be connected to in order to be ultimately successful. Now, only as I contemplate moving across this country, alone, did the power of my own personal connections dawn on me. I can drive to Church without thinking, park in the same area and sit in the same seat as I have for years. I know my Whole Foods and Sprouts like the back of my hands. I find it interesting that while I know how powerful business connections must be, I would only now be impacted by the power of our personal ‘business’ connections. I am saddened to think that I may have taken them for granted.
Not too long ago, I started a mission to hand write a thank you note every day. Some days I miss and some days I write several. I love snail mail and sending post cards when I am on vacation is one of my very favorite things to do. I love showing gratitude and want to show appreciation as much as I can. I am going to challenge myself to write a thank you note this week to everyone on my personal support team. I challenge you to do the same.
Next set of edits on the book are due this week and I am quite ready to immerse myself back into rewording, rewiting and rethinking my original thoughts and words. I am excited to read Editor Emily’s notes and play with her revisions. It will also be interesting for me to reread Week Seven now that I have this new perspective. Business and personal connections=professional and personal success.
Want to keep updated on book progress? Annmarie is now on Facebook.
Saturday, September 11, 2010
Don't Leave Home Without Them-Clean Drawers
We will always remember where we were on 9/11. Always. For me, it was one of those typical days when I went into work early, 3: am. I still owned my corporate catering company then and we had breakfasts to deliver and plenty of lucrative lunch business. It was going to be a great day. I was addicted to National Public Radio in the morning, still am. Early, early they broadcast from the BBC. Early morning, still dark outside, money making business on the books and National Public Radio. I remember that feeling of how life just doesn’t get much better.
Rudy, my best driver, was out delivering breakfasts when news of the twin towers stated coming across the radio. When Rudy was finally able to call in, he was setting up breakfast in a conference room that had a TV tuned into CNN. He was rooted to the floor. Immobile. As was I. As were we all. Obviously, sadly as a nation we made it through the day as dreadfully terrifying as it was. That day wasn’t the whole story for me though. It was that night and the morning that followed.
My children were full of questions that evening, just as everyone’s children were. I answered their questions as best I could with what little information I had and with all the words God could put in my mouth. I remember we stayed up late no matter how hard we tried to follow our usual routine. With Lia and Casey finally settled, I myself made it to bed about midnight. I laid my XL nightshirt carefully at the foot of the bed along with my cozy house slippers and fell dead asleep in one of my simple white cotton nightgowns. My internal alarm went off, per usual, at 3: am. I slid out of bed, put the nightshirt on over the nightgown, stepped into my house shoes and slipped so very silently out the front door and into my car. Without turning the headlights on, I pulled out of the driveway and headed to the kitchen. This was my normal routine, slipping out of the house in the dead of night without waking up my children. I’d go the kitchen and get work done, in my nightgown and nightshirt until the sun started coming up. Then I would head home get dressed, feed my kids and get them off to school.
Did I feel like the guilty Momma for leaving my kids in the morning? Absolutely! Yet, I had no choice. The kitchen needed tending and many a morning over all the years, I completed more work between 3: and 7: am than I did the rest of the day. I was a single Mom doing what I needed to do to provide.
In the wee morning hours of 9/12, I slipped quietly out for the mile drive to my kitchen. Haven’t brushed my teeth and not wearing drawers. I pulled out of the neighborhood onto the main street where the kitchen was located and was immediately greeted with flashing blue and red lights, fire trucks and police cars. Emergency vehicles end to end in front of the group of buildings where my business was! The street was blocked off and I am close to hyperventilating as I crept up towards the first police car. I was waived out of my car so I could speak. Yes, in the nightgown, covered with the nightshirt, hair pebbles style on top of my head in the big clip and rotten morning breath. I tell Mr. Policeman that my business is in there and I need to get in as the panic bubbles up from my gut. Turns out there is a fire at the other end of my building and I need permission from Command Central down the street in order to enter the parking lot and get to my business to see if there is any damage. So here I am at 3: something in the morning, walking down the main street in my house shoes and no underwear to get permission to get into my business.
I did get in and I didn’t have any damage. Praise God. I don’t remember crying. I just brushed by teeth, arranged my hair back on top of my head and got to work. Apparently the business at the other end of my building was owned by a group of Muslims. The security cameras showed that they set fire to their own business in an effort to burn it down and blame it on a 9/11 hate crime. Bad scene. Bad people. Bad damage. Bad day to not be wearing underwear.
I was born in Manhattan and remember the towers well. They are part of the fabric that is me. My Lia and I had a theatre trip planned to Manhattan in the spring after 9/11. Even though we were encouraged to cancel it, that was simply not an option. We visited Ground Zero where the air was silent and respectful. There were still working cranes standing tall in the hole and debris hanging from the tress. The buildings next to the tower’s hole were still covered with burnt windows and charred concrete. Some of my closest relatives came to join us and we took the ferry out to Lady Liberty and Ellis Island. My grandfather came through Ellis Island so many years ago and I still remember taking the stairs to Lady Liberty’s crown when I was little. You can’t go up inside of her anymore, sadly she’s closed. The view from the top of her head is unbelievable. Like you can see the whole USA!
My Cousin Joe and I stood at the ferry railing looking back at the Manhattan skyline, minus the twin towers. It was a powerful moment as we remembered doing this exact thing so many, many years before when the towers were standing so strong and larger than life. The skyline was sadly empty. It hurts to think that my children will never see them and that the Manhattan skyline has been forever altered.
Our theater trip was perfect and New York City was as clean and welcoming as ever. Returning home, I never again went to work in my nightgown and nightshirt. I never again went to work without brushing my teeth, brushing my hair and making sure I was fully dressed.
I pray for all the people today who lost loved ones in the Twin Towers and for all those affected personally by the dreadful events of 9/11 so many years ago. I pray for them peace and healing.
Rudy, my best driver, was out delivering breakfasts when news of the twin towers stated coming across the radio. When Rudy was finally able to call in, he was setting up breakfast in a conference room that had a TV tuned into CNN. He was rooted to the floor. Immobile. As was I. As were we all. Obviously, sadly as a nation we made it through the day as dreadfully terrifying as it was. That day wasn’t the whole story for me though. It was that night and the morning that followed.
My children were full of questions that evening, just as everyone’s children were. I answered their questions as best I could with what little information I had and with all the words God could put in my mouth. I remember we stayed up late no matter how hard we tried to follow our usual routine. With Lia and Casey finally settled, I myself made it to bed about midnight. I laid my XL nightshirt carefully at the foot of the bed along with my cozy house slippers and fell dead asleep in one of my simple white cotton nightgowns. My internal alarm went off, per usual, at 3: am. I slid out of bed, put the nightshirt on over the nightgown, stepped into my house shoes and slipped so very silently out the front door and into my car. Without turning the headlights on, I pulled out of the driveway and headed to the kitchen. This was my normal routine, slipping out of the house in the dead of night without waking up my children. I’d go the kitchen and get work done, in my nightgown and nightshirt until the sun started coming up. Then I would head home get dressed, feed my kids and get them off to school.
Did I feel like the guilty Momma for leaving my kids in the morning? Absolutely! Yet, I had no choice. The kitchen needed tending and many a morning over all the years, I completed more work between 3: and 7: am than I did the rest of the day. I was a single Mom doing what I needed to do to provide.
In the wee morning hours of 9/12, I slipped quietly out for the mile drive to my kitchen. Haven’t brushed my teeth and not wearing drawers. I pulled out of the neighborhood onto the main street where the kitchen was located and was immediately greeted with flashing blue and red lights, fire trucks and police cars. Emergency vehicles end to end in front of the group of buildings where my business was! The street was blocked off and I am close to hyperventilating as I crept up towards the first police car. I was waived out of my car so I could speak. Yes, in the nightgown, covered with the nightshirt, hair pebbles style on top of my head in the big clip and rotten morning breath. I tell Mr. Policeman that my business is in there and I need to get in as the panic bubbles up from my gut. Turns out there is a fire at the other end of my building and I need permission from Command Central down the street in order to enter the parking lot and get to my business to see if there is any damage. So here I am at 3: something in the morning, walking down the main street in my house shoes and no underwear to get permission to get into my business.
I did get in and I didn’t have any damage. Praise God. I don’t remember crying. I just brushed by teeth, arranged my hair back on top of my head and got to work. Apparently the business at the other end of my building was owned by a group of Muslims. The security cameras showed that they set fire to their own business in an effort to burn it down and blame it on a 9/11 hate crime. Bad scene. Bad people. Bad damage. Bad day to not be wearing underwear.
I was born in Manhattan and remember the towers well. They are part of the fabric that is me. My Lia and I had a theatre trip planned to Manhattan in the spring after 9/11. Even though we were encouraged to cancel it, that was simply not an option. We visited Ground Zero where the air was silent and respectful. There were still working cranes standing tall in the hole and debris hanging from the tress. The buildings next to the tower’s hole were still covered with burnt windows and charred concrete. Some of my closest relatives came to join us and we took the ferry out to Lady Liberty and Ellis Island. My grandfather came through Ellis Island so many years ago and I still remember taking the stairs to Lady Liberty’s crown when I was little. You can’t go up inside of her anymore, sadly she’s closed. The view from the top of her head is unbelievable. Like you can see the whole USA!
My Cousin Joe and I stood at the ferry railing looking back at the Manhattan skyline, minus the twin towers. It was a powerful moment as we remembered doing this exact thing so many, many years before when the towers were standing so strong and larger than life. The skyline was sadly empty. It hurts to think that my children will never see them and that the Manhattan skyline has been forever altered.
Our theater trip was perfect and New York City was as clean and welcoming as ever. Returning home, I never again went to work in my nightgown and nightshirt. I never again went to work without brushing my teeth, brushing my hair and making sure I was fully dressed.
I pray for all the people today who lost loved ones in the Twin Towers and for all those affected personally by the dreadful events of 9/11 so many years ago. I pray for them peace and healing.
Saturday, August 28, 2010
In Love With the Trash Man
The trash man took the chairs. Didn’t think he would, but he did. They were beautiful chairs, once. They went with the perfect round wood dining room table. They were high backed, cushioned all over and covered in a fabulous golden hued fabric. I remember when I first bought the perfect round wood dining room table with the six stunningly beautiful and super comfortable chairs.
The kids and I were in the green house. Our home. I was entertaining more than ever and the three of us were very happy. Our house was perfect. Every inch of it bore our signature and everything that had been redone from the mantel over the fireplace to the faux finishing on the stair banister was done with love and care. It was the small and manageable home with the perfect for entertaining square dining room that called out for the perfect round wood dining table. One of my favorite stores at the time was Storehouse and they had not only the perfect table but the ability to order the perfect chairs to go with it.
They took almost two months to arrive and it was well worth the wait. That perfect table and chair set was the foundation of our house. We entertained on it constantly. We had dinner party after dinner party after dinner party. We loved on our table and chairs and in return they brought us many unforgettable memories.
Then we went through the crash and had to move into an apartment that didn’t have enough room for the perfect wood dining table and perfectly cushioned set of golden fabric chairs. Regrettably, they had to live in the garage. We managed two amazing dinner parties. In the garage. With the China and the stemware. Just wasn’t the same though.
Then we moved into a house with a dining room. But things were never the same again. One of the chairs broke. It was sad. I was sad. Then another of the chairs broke. It was almost like they were saying something. Life was different. Life wasn’t okay. Then another chair broke. Three chairs just don’t make a dinner party.
Lia is off at college by now and Casey has one foot out the door. Entertaining in on hold. Life is on hold. Breathing is on hold. The perfect round wood table with the three lonely chairs is barely hanging on to its memories. I think we are barely holding on to our memories. Memories from the green house with the perfectly square dining room, six cushioned chairs and the canopy of trees.
We all move, yet again, and Lia doesn’t have a dining room table. She doesn’t need the three remaining chairs so we split up the set. The table looks perfect in her new home like it might have enough energy to generate some new memories. Casey doesn’t need a table or chairs in his new dining room; he has the ping pong table. What would a group of guys need a dining room table complete with memories for anyway? I moved into a house that already had a dining room table and a dining room that doesn’t fit round any way.
The three broken chairs stopped in the garage. They’ve been looked at and can’t be fixed. They are finished. Goodwill wouldn’t take them because they were broken. The Salvation Army wouldn’t take then either. The garbage man was my last hope to put them and my memories out of their misery. They left with him this morning.
I read an article a while back that has stayed with me. It was about a woman who was happiest when all her belongings fit in her car. She treasured the time when she had no ‘stuff’. Throughout this last move the story of this woman has energized me into getting rid of stuff. I don’t want any baggage. Material or emotional. No more stuff. While I have too much to fit in my little green car, I have a heck of a lot less than I did just a month ago. When the garbage man took the broken chairs, I felt huge relief that I had just disposed of some ‘stuff’. Material and emotional baggage drove off down the street.
Of course, everything I do these days has some correlation to publication of the book and some relation to owning a small business. (We are in the middle of conceptual editing right now!) How many small businesses are full of broken chairs? How many small businesses have too much stuff? How many spend too much time on making things pretty instead of taking care of the things that need to be taken care of or too much time spending money on the things that are just unnecessary window dressing? How many spend time decorating the waiting room instead of spending time and money on getting customers in the front door?
Was I the only one who heard a recent statistic regarding storage units and how they are our fastest growing industry? That there is one storage unit for every 10 households? What is the deal with the ‘stuff’? Doesn’t make us any richer. Doesn’t make us any happier. Probably won’t make your business any more successful. Having dinner parties on the old and scarred table with the six mismatched chairs I have now are going to make me as many unforgettable memories as my perfect round wood table with the beautiful cushioned chairs ever did.
Thank you, Mr. Trash Man. I may fit it all in my little car yet.
The kids and I were in the green house. Our home. I was entertaining more than ever and the three of us were very happy. Our house was perfect. Every inch of it bore our signature and everything that had been redone from the mantel over the fireplace to the faux finishing on the stair banister was done with love and care. It was the small and manageable home with the perfect for entertaining square dining room that called out for the perfect round wood dining table. One of my favorite stores at the time was Storehouse and they had not only the perfect table but the ability to order the perfect chairs to go with it.
They took almost two months to arrive and it was well worth the wait. That perfect table and chair set was the foundation of our house. We entertained on it constantly. We had dinner party after dinner party after dinner party. We loved on our table and chairs and in return they brought us many unforgettable memories.
Then we went through the crash and had to move into an apartment that didn’t have enough room for the perfect wood dining table and perfectly cushioned set of golden fabric chairs. Regrettably, they had to live in the garage. We managed two amazing dinner parties. In the garage. With the China and the stemware. Just wasn’t the same though.
Then we moved into a house with a dining room. But things were never the same again. One of the chairs broke. It was sad. I was sad. Then another of the chairs broke. It was almost like they were saying something. Life was different. Life wasn’t okay. Then another chair broke. Three chairs just don’t make a dinner party.
Lia is off at college by now and Casey has one foot out the door. Entertaining in on hold. Life is on hold. Breathing is on hold. The perfect round wood table with the three lonely chairs is barely hanging on to its memories. I think we are barely holding on to our memories. Memories from the green house with the perfectly square dining room, six cushioned chairs and the canopy of trees.
We all move, yet again, and Lia doesn’t have a dining room table. She doesn’t need the three remaining chairs so we split up the set. The table looks perfect in her new home like it might have enough energy to generate some new memories. Casey doesn’t need a table or chairs in his new dining room; he has the ping pong table. What would a group of guys need a dining room table complete with memories for anyway? I moved into a house that already had a dining room table and a dining room that doesn’t fit round any way.
The three broken chairs stopped in the garage. They’ve been looked at and can’t be fixed. They are finished. Goodwill wouldn’t take them because they were broken. The Salvation Army wouldn’t take then either. The garbage man was my last hope to put them and my memories out of their misery. They left with him this morning.
I read an article a while back that has stayed with me. It was about a woman who was happiest when all her belongings fit in her car. She treasured the time when she had no ‘stuff’. Throughout this last move the story of this woman has energized me into getting rid of stuff. I don’t want any baggage. Material or emotional. No more stuff. While I have too much to fit in my little green car, I have a heck of a lot less than I did just a month ago. When the garbage man took the broken chairs, I felt huge relief that I had just disposed of some ‘stuff’. Material and emotional baggage drove off down the street.
Of course, everything I do these days has some correlation to publication of the book and some relation to owning a small business. (We are in the middle of conceptual editing right now!) How many small businesses are full of broken chairs? How many small businesses have too much stuff? How many spend too much time on making things pretty instead of taking care of the things that need to be taken care of or too much time spending money on the things that are just unnecessary window dressing? How many spend time decorating the waiting room instead of spending time and money on getting customers in the front door?
Was I the only one who heard a recent statistic regarding storage units and how they are our fastest growing industry? That there is one storage unit for every 10 households? What is the deal with the ‘stuff’? Doesn’t make us any richer. Doesn’t make us any happier. Probably won’t make your business any more successful. Having dinner parties on the old and scarred table with the six mismatched chairs I have now are going to make me as many unforgettable memories as my perfect round wood table with the beautiful cushioned chairs ever did.
Thank you, Mr. Trash Man. I may fit it all in my little car yet.
Friday, August 13, 2010
Riches-No Money Required
Don’t you love that intoxicating feeling when you slowly put something in your mouth that you know is going to amaze all of your senses and completely satisfy your hunger? You know as you are lifting the spoon or fork up to close your eyes and savor before you even taste. Then when you have whatever it is in your mouth, you move your jaw ever so slightly to make sure that the sensations reach every single one of your taste buds and you assure yourself that you can feel the flavor past your gut and down to your feet.
I just had this experience. This deeply satisfying and richly rewarding experience. With a group of very old and very treasured friends. I felt this experience on every physical and emotional level and absolutely down to my toes. It was, in a word, magnificent.
I owned my big company for 18 years. During that time, I wasn’t able to spend time with my friends or do any work cultivating relationships on a deep or truly connected level. My children were small and needed me, my company was small and needed me more. My life was needy. I allowed my needy life to get in the way of the life I needed. In the way of the relationships I needed.
I hadn’t seen my friend Carol in too many years. She lives in a city that I frequent on business now so we really have had no excuse for not spending delicious time over a beverage or two over the last year other than the neediness of both our patterns. Twenty plus years ago we lived in Tulsa together and shared the company of a third musketeer, Doug. While Carol and Doug have stayed close, Doug and I unfortunately have only connected over Christmas cards and letters.
Doug is going through a rough patch and decided he needed to spend some time with Carol and friends in Carol’s city. Carol and I connected and without hesitation, I made plans to be there and surprise him. What a magnificent surprise it was! What a stupendous day and evening we had. I chuckle now just thinking about the memories we shared from way back when and the new ones we made that day. We shared and made memories that no one and no experience can ever take away. We had a day that was lush and deep and everlasting, full of both laughter and soul searching conversation. You would have thought that the three of us hadn’t been parted for as long as we had. You would have thought that we had never let life get in the way of the connection that ran so deeply like a current between us.
This richness comes with deep regret. Regret for the time wasted minding the store of my business instead of cultivating my friendships. I can only imagine how many business owners out there are doing the same thing right now. Working late into exhaustion and neglecting the bounty of their friendships. Working unorganized and missing out of the wealth within their own families. All of my business owners will now be instructed to add a dose of richness to ‘their time’. Because I see now that without the richness, there are no riches. Without the richness, there will never be any deep satisfaction or true feeling of success.
How can we be truly satisfied if we don’t taste and savor the richness of our relationships down to our toes? How can we be truly successful if we don’t treasure this opulence?
I just had this experience. This deeply satisfying and richly rewarding experience. With a group of very old and very treasured friends. I felt this experience on every physical and emotional level and absolutely down to my toes. It was, in a word, magnificent.
I owned my big company for 18 years. During that time, I wasn’t able to spend time with my friends or do any work cultivating relationships on a deep or truly connected level. My children were small and needed me, my company was small and needed me more. My life was needy. I allowed my needy life to get in the way of the life I needed. In the way of the relationships I needed.
I hadn’t seen my friend Carol in too many years. She lives in a city that I frequent on business now so we really have had no excuse for not spending delicious time over a beverage or two over the last year other than the neediness of both our patterns. Twenty plus years ago we lived in Tulsa together and shared the company of a third musketeer, Doug. While Carol and Doug have stayed close, Doug and I unfortunately have only connected over Christmas cards and letters.
Doug is going through a rough patch and decided he needed to spend some time with Carol and friends in Carol’s city. Carol and I connected and without hesitation, I made plans to be there and surprise him. What a magnificent surprise it was! What a stupendous day and evening we had. I chuckle now just thinking about the memories we shared from way back when and the new ones we made that day. We shared and made memories that no one and no experience can ever take away. We had a day that was lush and deep and everlasting, full of both laughter and soul searching conversation. You would have thought that the three of us hadn’t been parted for as long as we had. You would have thought that we had never let life get in the way of the connection that ran so deeply like a current between us.
This richness comes with deep regret. Regret for the time wasted minding the store of my business instead of cultivating my friendships. I can only imagine how many business owners out there are doing the same thing right now. Working late into exhaustion and neglecting the bounty of their friendships. Working unorganized and missing out of the wealth within their own families. All of my business owners will now be instructed to add a dose of richness to ‘their time’. Because I see now that without the richness, there are no riches. Without the richness, there will never be any deep satisfaction or true feeling of success.
How can we be truly satisfied if we don’t taste and savor the richness of our relationships down to our toes? How can we be truly successful if we don’t treasure this opulence?
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Decisions, Decisions, Decisions
Next phase, conceptual editing. Tate Publishing and my editor are going to want me to make decisions. They don’t know that I am not making decisions right now. Not making big decisions and not making little decisions. I think that I won’t be able to make any decisions until at least Halloween when I know the Texas temperatures have cooled and my children and I are all safely settled into our new homes. No decision making is going to be possible until the leaves are turning up north and the weather permits me to drive with the lid down on my car. No decisions will be made until cool and stiff breezes have cleared my head of the consequences of all the decisions I have had to make over the last 18 years. 18 years, exactly. I have decision making exhaustion.
As a small business owner and single Mom, decision making demands have been a constant and almost unbearable part of my world. In order to survive, I had to make large and small decisions. I made terrible decisions and I made great decisions. Some were made after extensive deliberation and some were made on the spot. I have been held accountable for every single decision I was forced to make. Many carry huge regret while others are still heralded as the best decisions I ever made. Some will affect me for the rest of my life and I can hardly bare to think about them and their far reaching effects. Others were but a moment on my big screen.
In the beginning, I made all my decisions on my own. I didn’t trust very many people at all and was, frankly, running exhausted and scared. Business growing, small children, mortgage, expensive divorce(s), you get the picture. I just did what I felt I had to do because at that moment in time I didn’t trust anyone. I find this interesting now because looking back, that was during a time when I trusted myself least of all. Yet, I still forced myself to make all my own decisions without counsel. What terrible decisions I made and what an ugly person I was to be around as I was making some of them.
My business grew and my children grew and the dynamics of my life changed. Instead of needing to be so hands on with both my business and my children, I noticed that I was able to use my brain power a little bit more often than my physical power. I was learning from my mistakes. I was training employees to do the tasks that in the past only I had completed. Consequently, I was able to concentrate on the cerebral side of my company. I learned the hard way that in order to really see progress and success, I needed to empower people around me. I needed to learn how to trust and depend on my employees and business associates. That meant giving some control to my banker, CPA, web man and insurance man. That meant giving some power and even a key to the employees working in the evenings.
That meant realizing that my company could grow even bigger and stronger if I didn’t need to do everything myself. That meant that I didn’t have to make ALL the decisions. Could I pick up the pieces if a bad decision was made when I wasn’t on watch? Absolutely. I learned what an amazing feeling it is to give some power away and watch it flourish and blossom. How great it felt to watch an employee stand taller and sound more decisive and strong when they were given the ability to come up with a plan without asking any questions.
I am realizing now all these years later and as the book is getting closer and closer to release date, that I want to give the decisions away again. I want small business owners all over the globe to know that they don’t need to make all of their decisions all by themselves. That they may not be the experts in every single area of their business and they just might need to place trust and power in others. In order to make the right decisions, they might not need to be the decision maker. They might need to empower those around them to take charge.
In order to make the right decisions right now, I need to not be my decision maker. In exhaustion, I want to give my decisions away to someone else. Tell me where to be, when to be there and even what I should be wearing. It’s too hot outside for me to decide.
As a small business owner and single Mom, decision making demands have been a constant and almost unbearable part of my world. In order to survive, I had to make large and small decisions. I made terrible decisions and I made great decisions. Some were made after extensive deliberation and some were made on the spot. I have been held accountable for every single decision I was forced to make. Many carry huge regret while others are still heralded as the best decisions I ever made. Some will affect me for the rest of my life and I can hardly bare to think about them and their far reaching effects. Others were but a moment on my big screen.
In the beginning, I made all my decisions on my own. I didn’t trust very many people at all and was, frankly, running exhausted and scared. Business growing, small children, mortgage, expensive divorce(s), you get the picture. I just did what I felt I had to do because at that moment in time I didn’t trust anyone. I find this interesting now because looking back, that was during a time when I trusted myself least of all. Yet, I still forced myself to make all my own decisions without counsel. What terrible decisions I made and what an ugly person I was to be around as I was making some of them.
My business grew and my children grew and the dynamics of my life changed. Instead of needing to be so hands on with both my business and my children, I noticed that I was able to use my brain power a little bit more often than my physical power. I was learning from my mistakes. I was training employees to do the tasks that in the past only I had completed. Consequently, I was able to concentrate on the cerebral side of my company. I learned the hard way that in order to really see progress and success, I needed to empower people around me. I needed to learn how to trust and depend on my employees and business associates. That meant giving some control to my banker, CPA, web man and insurance man. That meant giving some power and even a key to the employees working in the evenings.
That meant realizing that my company could grow even bigger and stronger if I didn’t need to do everything myself. That meant that I didn’t have to make ALL the decisions. Could I pick up the pieces if a bad decision was made when I wasn’t on watch? Absolutely. I learned what an amazing feeling it is to give some power away and watch it flourish and blossom. How great it felt to watch an employee stand taller and sound more decisive and strong when they were given the ability to come up with a plan without asking any questions.
I am realizing now all these years later and as the book is getting closer and closer to release date, that I want to give the decisions away again. I want small business owners all over the globe to know that they don’t need to make all of their decisions all by themselves. That they may not be the experts in every single area of their business and they just might need to place trust and power in others. In order to make the right decisions, they might not need to be the decision maker. They might need to empower those around them to take charge.
In order to make the right decisions right now, I need to not be my decision maker. In exhaustion, I want to give my decisions away to someone else. Tell me where to be, when to be there and even what I should be wearing. It’s too hot outside for me to decide.
Saturday, July 3, 2010
12 Days of Silence-Yes, 12!
Two years ago right now I was submitting my application to attend a silent retreat in an Ashram in Northeast Texas. Twelve days with zero talking, very light vegan food and lots of sitting in the lotus position. No phones, no hairdryers, no makeup, no radio, no TV, no electrical anything. No reading. Nothing but you and your soul. Nothing but space, time and quiet to dig really deep. Painfully and necessarily deep. Everyone in my world thought I was bonkers to have committed myself to such a ‘holiday’. The thought that someone as out-spoken and seemingly extroverted as I could never go away for almost two weeks and not say a word was unthinkable.
To me, the idea of silence was a dreamy.
I don’t think a lot of the people in my world know me very well. Extroverts get their stimulation from the people around them. They energize themselves by feeding off of the people, personalities and events in their circle. Introverts are energized by their internal being. I am an introvert. I know how to, can and prefer to energize myself. I am happy to keep myself company. While I just adore being around others, I don’t need to be surrounded in order to be peaceful and content. I don’t have to jump up to answer the phone each time it rings in case I might be missing something going on outside my space. Most of the time I would prefer my phone not ring at all.
My favorite dinner party is the small group of 4 or 6 around a round table where meaningful conversation including all guests can take place. I am not comfortable in the large party where the room needs to be worked and everyone greeted. To an introvert like me, the large party where I might not already know everyone requires me to ‘put my personality on’. To an extrovert, a large party is stimulating and exciting. It takes me days to gear myself up for a large event and hours after to calm down. To an extravert, a large event can unfold on the spur of the moment and they are thrilled.
Have my circumstances forced me to be an extrovert? Absolutely. Does this exhaust me? Absolutely. Am I exhausted by life right now? Yes. Am I anxious to get to my authentic self? Yes. I am anxious to slow down. Settle in. Eliminate drama. Have meaningful conversations with people who matter to me.
Tate has asked me to be quiet. Specifically, ‘the month of July will be a quiet month’, while we work on your manuscript. The universe is unfolding before me and it is making itself known through Tate. I know they are working on the book and they have asked me to be quiet.
I have been begging to be quiet for a long, long time.
Once final manuscripts are submitted to production, Tate makes it very clear that no changes should be made. Apparently, most people tend to want to tweak and revise what they have written and unfortunately, if they make changes they are not usually for the better. This was a relief to hear. I thought, my manuscript is out of my hands after working, fretting and praying on it for so long. I could leave it be and know that the process had begun. I will admit that I am fretting a little bit now. I’ve made a few omissions in my writing and I am worried.
I have not instructed my small business owners to take any quiet time. While I ask them to work hard to define their ‘time’ and the ‘time’ they will take to do specific things for their business, I have not asked them to take any time for themselves. I have not asked them to be silent. If we do not get silent, how can we evaluate our actions?
We spend so much time on Plan A, enacting Plan A, throwing ourselves into Plan A, fighting to make Plan A ‘the’ plan. What if we don’t take any quiet time and come up with a Plan B? If Plan A just isn’t what the universe has ordered, there has got to be a calmly calculated Plan B waiting in the wings. How are we going to see the whole picture if we don’t take any quiet time? How are we going to be successful if we don’t get silent?
How can we honor ourselves and the position we have in the world if we don’t take time to be introspective?
I didn’t make it to my retreat. Lia had just gone off to college and I couldn’t bring myself to be away from Casey or away from the phone in case Lia needed me during her first critical weeks away. Not going was the right decision and I didn’t have any trouble making it. As a very blessed and happy Momma it would have been selfish of me to leave during that time of transition. But I just haven’t been able to get the idea of 12 days of silence in that remote location out of my mind. I think about it, dream about it and crave it, constantly.
Silent Retreat-Plan B. Plan A has run its course.
To me, the idea of silence was a dreamy.
I don’t think a lot of the people in my world know me very well. Extroverts get their stimulation from the people around them. They energize themselves by feeding off of the people, personalities and events in their circle. Introverts are energized by their internal being. I am an introvert. I know how to, can and prefer to energize myself. I am happy to keep myself company. While I just adore being around others, I don’t need to be surrounded in order to be peaceful and content. I don’t have to jump up to answer the phone each time it rings in case I might be missing something going on outside my space. Most of the time I would prefer my phone not ring at all.
My favorite dinner party is the small group of 4 or 6 around a round table where meaningful conversation including all guests can take place. I am not comfortable in the large party where the room needs to be worked and everyone greeted. To an introvert like me, the large party where I might not already know everyone requires me to ‘put my personality on’. To an extrovert, a large party is stimulating and exciting. It takes me days to gear myself up for a large event and hours after to calm down. To an extravert, a large event can unfold on the spur of the moment and they are thrilled.
Have my circumstances forced me to be an extrovert? Absolutely. Does this exhaust me? Absolutely. Am I exhausted by life right now? Yes. Am I anxious to get to my authentic self? Yes. I am anxious to slow down. Settle in. Eliminate drama. Have meaningful conversations with people who matter to me.
Tate has asked me to be quiet. Specifically, ‘the month of July will be a quiet month’, while we work on your manuscript. The universe is unfolding before me and it is making itself known through Tate. I know they are working on the book and they have asked me to be quiet.
I have been begging to be quiet for a long, long time.
Once final manuscripts are submitted to production, Tate makes it very clear that no changes should be made. Apparently, most people tend to want to tweak and revise what they have written and unfortunately, if they make changes they are not usually for the better. This was a relief to hear. I thought, my manuscript is out of my hands after working, fretting and praying on it for so long. I could leave it be and know that the process had begun. I will admit that I am fretting a little bit now. I’ve made a few omissions in my writing and I am worried.
I have not instructed my small business owners to take any quiet time. While I ask them to work hard to define their ‘time’ and the ‘time’ they will take to do specific things for their business, I have not asked them to take any time for themselves. I have not asked them to be silent. If we do not get silent, how can we evaluate our actions?
We spend so much time on Plan A, enacting Plan A, throwing ourselves into Plan A, fighting to make Plan A ‘the’ plan. What if we don’t take any quiet time and come up with a Plan B? If Plan A just isn’t what the universe has ordered, there has got to be a calmly calculated Plan B waiting in the wings. How are we going to see the whole picture if we don’t take any quiet time? How are we going to be successful if we don’t get silent?
How can we honor ourselves and the position we have in the world if we don’t take time to be introspective?
I didn’t make it to my retreat. Lia had just gone off to college and I couldn’t bring myself to be away from Casey or away from the phone in case Lia needed me during her first critical weeks away. Not going was the right decision and I didn’t have any trouble making it. As a very blessed and happy Momma it would have been selfish of me to leave during that time of transition. But I just haven’t been able to get the idea of 12 days of silence in that remote location out of my mind. I think about it, dream about it and crave it, constantly.
Silent Retreat-Plan B. Plan A has run its course.
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Hot Momma on the Edge
I am hot. I am tired. I am cranky and I am so done with the whole anticipation, it’s Christmas Eve in June idea. What in the world was I thinking? Ugh. Casey has graduated. My ‘other-one’ Momma, Frances, has been safely put to rest. I’ve put 1620 more miles on my car. It has been in the 90’s+ every day for as long as I can remember and I’m done with it. Time for Tate to help me get the show on the road. I need a new plan, some new direction and an AC that will work for me reliably.
Last Thursday was a particularly horrendous day. I don’t do this Texas heat very well at all. (read: UNDERSTATEMENT) Unfortunately, I had to drive 4 hours for a work function that was a disaster. A team of us ended up cooking and showing food to a customer in an UN air-conditioned warehouse because one of the team members is an idiot. (Yes, I did say that.) After over 2 ½ hours in the UN air-conditioned warehouse, not only was I feeling extremely ill, my patience was worn completely out, my smile totally melted off of my face and my demeanor that of a woman in terminal menopause. The icing on the cake was when we were finally finished, the customer hugged me and he was as sweaty as I. Delightful. Yes, sweaty. Sweat running down my back, soaking my drawers and traveling down to my knees was not ladylike ‘glistening’. It was downright unladylike disgusting.
Took me all Thursday night to calm down and get my core temperature cool again, laying crossways over my hotel room bed, naked, before I would undertake the drive back south on Friday. At this time, I would really like Mr. Hotel Chain Man Owner to explain to me why and how all hotels seem to have this new gimmick of turning OFF the AC in their guest rooms in the middle of the night? All of them seem to do it. Do they really, I mean really, think none of their guests are going to wake up in the middle of the night and notice that the AC in their room has magically turned off so the hotel could save a few pennies? Seriously.
Sorry, I digressed. Friday morning I am up at 4:, in the car by 5: and on the way south to the office to work for 7 hours, give or take, depending on who has a personality in the office and who doesn’t. Three hour dive to the office. AC on full blast. 90 degrees outside already but my car is good and I can do this. Besides, I am totally excited because my Lia is bringing 22 of her Aggie Fish Camp friends to my house for dinner and I GET TO COOK for all of them AND they are all going to hug my neck and call me MOMMA!! I am beyond excited. Get to work. Work, work, meet, work, meet, work, run, run, run, out the door and another hour in the car and home! I am finally here!!!
And my AC is broken and it is 88 degrees inside. Felt like 2 million degrees and I had walked into hell. The butter I had left out on the counter to soften to make my famous Garlic Cheese Bread with is totally MELTED. Not just soft, melted liquid. Which would lead me to believe that the AC had been broken for all the days that I had been away. It is 4:pm and I have 22+ people that I have never met, who are going to hug me and call me Momma, coming for dinner in just under 3 hours. This makes the nightmare of the dinner party I had with no silverware seem like a distant chuckle at this time. (I didn’t mind my cardinal rule and set the table the night before. I left it to last forgetting that I had taken all the silverware from home to the big kitchen to use with an event so when I went to set the table, after some of my guests had started to arrive, I had zero silverware. It really was hilarious now that I think of it. We like shared large serving pieces to eat with. Big huge knives. Toothpicks. Now I am laughing! It WAS funny!)
Call the office. Please fix the AC now. Unfortunately, this is not the first time my AC has gone out in the last month or so. You would have thought they would have fixed it the first, second or even third time, but no, why bother finding out what the real problem is. I’m cooking, baking, sweating and trying to come up with a plan B. We are having dinner here because of the pool. There is a beautiful clubhouse by the pool but it closes at 7: and they will not let me use it. Even though the broken AC is their fault and they are not fixing it, the office has no intention of helping me come up with a plan B. They are not nice people. They are supposed to be giving me a Wonderful Living Experience. Kiss my a__.
6:30 pm. Supposedly the AC is fixed. It’s down to 84 degrees and yes, it will take a couple of hours to cool further.
7:00 pm. Food is ready and I am a wreak. Big wreak. 89 degrees and I am calling the office, again, for one last time. The Big AC fix it man is on the way. I get in the shower praying for cold water. Hah. Who am I kidding? Throw on the little dress with No bra and No drawers because I am crying now I am so hot. I want to just die.
No AC man.
7:30 Kids start showing up! Every single one of them hugging me, calling me Momma and thanking me for having them. 88 degrees and No bra and NO drawers and I am hugging, hugging, hugging. Praise God for Lou showing up with the Vodka and Tonic and fresh Limes!
No AC man.
8:30 pm. Kids are in and out, eating, laughing, talking. We have the doors open to let the cool 85 degree nighttime air in to cool the place off.
Still no AC man.
10:20 pm. AC man is supposedly on the way. Again. Kitchen is clean and I have an opportunity to go shower again and sleep elsewhere but no, I am instructed to wait for the AC man.
11:45 pm. No AC man. I make one final phone call. I wasn’t nice.
Bottom line, I am done with the whole anticipation gig. I am ready for the show to hit the road. I am ready to put the next set of plans in place. I am ready to revisit my goals and challenges. Ummmm, I am ready to rewrite the business plan! I am done with being hot and cranky. I am done with people who say they are going to show and they don’t. I am ready to plan the book signing road tour. I am ready….
Dear Tate Publishing:
Please call me, now. It’s time to get the show on the road. All these small business owners out there who are dying to get out of the heat need to hear from me!
Sincerely,
Annmarie!
Aka: AMCQ (Annmare the Cooking Queen)
2:00 pm Saturday afternoon. THE NEXT DAY! AC man showed up.
Last Thursday was a particularly horrendous day. I don’t do this Texas heat very well at all. (read: UNDERSTATEMENT) Unfortunately, I had to drive 4 hours for a work function that was a disaster. A team of us ended up cooking and showing food to a customer in an UN air-conditioned warehouse because one of the team members is an idiot. (Yes, I did say that.) After over 2 ½ hours in the UN air-conditioned warehouse, not only was I feeling extremely ill, my patience was worn completely out, my smile totally melted off of my face and my demeanor that of a woman in terminal menopause. The icing on the cake was when we were finally finished, the customer hugged me and he was as sweaty as I. Delightful. Yes, sweaty. Sweat running down my back, soaking my drawers and traveling down to my knees was not ladylike ‘glistening’. It was downright unladylike disgusting.
Took me all Thursday night to calm down and get my core temperature cool again, laying crossways over my hotel room bed, naked, before I would undertake the drive back south on Friday. At this time, I would really like Mr. Hotel Chain Man Owner to explain to me why and how all hotels seem to have this new gimmick of turning OFF the AC in their guest rooms in the middle of the night? All of them seem to do it. Do they really, I mean really, think none of their guests are going to wake up in the middle of the night and notice that the AC in their room has magically turned off so the hotel could save a few pennies? Seriously.
Sorry, I digressed. Friday morning I am up at 4:, in the car by 5: and on the way south to the office to work for 7 hours, give or take, depending on who has a personality in the office and who doesn’t. Three hour dive to the office. AC on full blast. 90 degrees outside already but my car is good and I can do this. Besides, I am totally excited because my Lia is bringing 22 of her Aggie Fish Camp friends to my house for dinner and I GET TO COOK for all of them AND they are all going to hug my neck and call me MOMMA!! I am beyond excited. Get to work. Work, work, meet, work, meet, work, run, run, run, out the door and another hour in the car and home! I am finally here!!!
And my AC is broken and it is 88 degrees inside. Felt like 2 million degrees and I had walked into hell. The butter I had left out on the counter to soften to make my famous Garlic Cheese Bread with is totally MELTED. Not just soft, melted liquid. Which would lead me to believe that the AC had been broken for all the days that I had been away. It is 4:pm and I have 22+ people that I have never met, who are going to hug me and call me Momma, coming for dinner in just under 3 hours. This makes the nightmare of the dinner party I had with no silverware seem like a distant chuckle at this time. (I didn’t mind my cardinal rule and set the table the night before. I left it to last forgetting that I had taken all the silverware from home to the big kitchen to use with an event so when I went to set the table, after some of my guests had started to arrive, I had zero silverware. It really was hilarious now that I think of it. We like shared large serving pieces to eat with. Big huge knives. Toothpicks. Now I am laughing! It WAS funny!)
Call the office. Please fix the AC now. Unfortunately, this is not the first time my AC has gone out in the last month or so. You would have thought they would have fixed it the first, second or even third time, but no, why bother finding out what the real problem is. I’m cooking, baking, sweating and trying to come up with a plan B. We are having dinner here because of the pool. There is a beautiful clubhouse by the pool but it closes at 7: and they will not let me use it. Even though the broken AC is their fault and they are not fixing it, the office has no intention of helping me come up with a plan B. They are not nice people. They are supposed to be giving me a Wonderful Living Experience. Kiss my a__.
6:30 pm. Supposedly the AC is fixed. It’s down to 84 degrees and yes, it will take a couple of hours to cool further.
7:00 pm. Food is ready and I am a wreak. Big wreak. 89 degrees and I am calling the office, again, for one last time. The Big AC fix it man is on the way. I get in the shower praying for cold water. Hah. Who am I kidding? Throw on the little dress with No bra and No drawers because I am crying now I am so hot. I want to just die.
No AC man.
7:30 Kids start showing up! Every single one of them hugging me, calling me Momma and thanking me for having them. 88 degrees and No bra and NO drawers and I am hugging, hugging, hugging. Praise God for Lou showing up with the Vodka and Tonic and fresh Limes!
No AC man.
8:30 pm. Kids are in and out, eating, laughing, talking. We have the doors open to let the cool 85 degree nighttime air in to cool the place off.
Still no AC man.
10:20 pm. AC man is supposedly on the way. Again. Kitchen is clean and I have an opportunity to go shower again and sleep elsewhere but no, I am instructed to wait for the AC man.
11:45 pm. No AC man. I make one final phone call. I wasn’t nice.
Bottom line, I am done with the whole anticipation gig. I am ready for the show to hit the road. I am ready to put the next set of plans in place. I am ready to revisit my goals and challenges. Ummmm, I am ready to rewrite the business plan! I am done with being hot and cranky. I am done with people who say they are going to show and they don’t. I am ready to plan the book signing road tour. I am ready….
Dear Tate Publishing:
Please call me, now. It’s time to get the show on the road. All these small business owners out there who are dying to get out of the heat need to hear from me!
Sincerely,
Annmarie!
Aka: AMCQ (Annmare the Cooking Queen)
2:00 pm Saturday afternoon. THE NEXT DAY! AC man showed up.
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Thank God I Was A Single Parent
Lou and I were settled in the other night quietly playing a game of Backgammon when Casey and his energy burst in the door carrying sacks of groceries. He was preparing French Toast breakfast for ‘the couples’ (himself, girlfriend Jordan and another couple, their best friends) the following morning. No, I was not allowed to help. No, I could not put out the pretty plates and linen napkins. Yes, he would be using paper towels and yes, that was okay. No, I could not set the table and put the coffee in the pot. No, I didn’t even need to be there.
Unintentionally, I laid my ground work very well. My children were 4 and 6 when I became a single parent and because of the nature of my business and my personality they were forced to be very responsible immediately. Lia and Casey have done their own laundry for as long as I can remember. They know how to load, turn on and even empty the dishwasher. They know how to make their beds and what a hospital corner is. I never had to wake them up in the morning and get them ready for school. They have always gotten themselves up, had breakfast and dressed in the clothes they laid out the night before so that they were ready when I arrived home to drive them to school. They knew how to get themselves fed when there was ABSOLTELY NOTHING to eat in the house.
The three of us have had repeated conversations about how in many ways they were blessed to have been raised in a single parent home. How they had no choice but to have initiative. The power of this foundation is more and more apparent as they move into adulthood and it’s all good. How fabulous to see Casey not only cooking for his guests but cleaning up after. Just recently, Lia had to teach one of her new 20 year old roommates how to do their laundry and what a laundry bag for delicates was!
Just as we lay groundwork for grownup success in our children, as small business owners we absolutely must lay a solid foundation for our business enterprises or we will not enjoy success and reward. I am saddened and shocked both at how many entrepreneurs will sink their life savings into marketing, selling or producing a product without doing any due diligence. They don’t understand the power of managing their time in a manner that is indigenous to their habits. They don’t understand the power of their business relationships. They don’t take the time to manage their employees so that they will have a vested interest in their business. They don’t even take the time to study their potential competition!
Lou and I resumed our Backgammon game talking about my children. How blessed I am to have been able to raise them in an atmosphere that forced a strong foundation for their future. How blessed that I was rewarded with a business that had huge failure and major success. How blessed am I that I will be able to share tools for laying solid ground work with small business owners all over the world. How blessed Lou was that my thoughts were full of my blessings. He won every game of Backgammon we played that night!
Unintentionally, I laid my ground work very well. My children were 4 and 6 when I became a single parent and because of the nature of my business and my personality they were forced to be very responsible immediately. Lia and Casey have done their own laundry for as long as I can remember. They know how to load, turn on and even empty the dishwasher. They know how to make their beds and what a hospital corner is. I never had to wake them up in the morning and get them ready for school. They have always gotten themselves up, had breakfast and dressed in the clothes they laid out the night before so that they were ready when I arrived home to drive them to school. They knew how to get themselves fed when there was ABSOLTELY NOTHING to eat in the house.
The three of us have had repeated conversations about how in many ways they were blessed to have been raised in a single parent home. How they had no choice but to have initiative. The power of this foundation is more and more apparent as they move into adulthood and it’s all good. How fabulous to see Casey not only cooking for his guests but cleaning up after. Just recently, Lia had to teach one of her new 20 year old roommates how to do their laundry and what a laundry bag for delicates was!
Just as we lay groundwork for grownup success in our children, as small business owners we absolutely must lay a solid foundation for our business enterprises or we will not enjoy success and reward. I am saddened and shocked both at how many entrepreneurs will sink their life savings into marketing, selling or producing a product without doing any due diligence. They don’t understand the power of managing their time in a manner that is indigenous to their habits. They don’t understand the power of their business relationships. They don’t take the time to manage their employees so that they will have a vested interest in their business. They don’t even take the time to study their potential competition!
Lou and I resumed our Backgammon game talking about my children. How blessed I am to have been able to raise them in an atmosphere that forced a strong foundation for their future. How blessed that I was rewarded with a business that had huge failure and major success. How blessed am I that I will be able to share tools for laying solid ground work with small business owners all over the world. How blessed Lou was that my thoughts were full of my blessings. He won every game of Backgammon we played that night!
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Firm Timeline? Yeah, Right
Yes, I am a kid and it IS Christmas Eve! Sadly, I’d forgotten the Christmas Eve feeling of anticipation a long, long time ago. Now, it’s back and it is the best feeling ever, ever, ever. Kind of like a feeling of young love and lust and… This is most yummy! I know this is quite good and I relish living in this moment. How did I capture Christmas Eve in June? All it took was communication from Tate regarding what to expect from my conceptual editing process. It is here! My time is just around the corner and I can’t wait.
Here is an excerpt: Your Conceptual Editor will be a highly trained professional who works every day with the elements of literature—things like logic, flow, and engagement in nonfiction. He/she is an objective reader who will be both your toughest critic and your closest ally.
You can expect Conceptual Editing to be the most difficult and most rewarding part of the publishing process. It will take time, patience, and hard work from both author and editor.
My toughest critic and my closest ally! Most difficult and most rewarding! Time, patience and hard work! Yes, this is my holiday. I am ready to learn! I am ready for adventure! I am going to keep this feeling of Christmas in my bones for a long, long time. I am going to be rewarded for waiting patiently. For breathing deeply and managing my day to day while waiting. Besides, my new friend Ruth was reading my palm recently and she told me that I was in a time of transition, that I had power in my patience and that in the end, my book was going to be amazing and that I was going to reap success because I was going to empower so many others to thier own success.
I have chosen to believe and envision every single thing that my palm had to tell me!
Meantime, I have been working on my own PR campaign and taping notes all over my vision board. Front and center are my road trip locations! I have been talking about taking a road trip forever and now have the power to finally begin visualizing it. My goal is to get in the car and circle this country visiting all the people I adore and who I call my ‘other one’ families. I’ve now decided that yes, my road trip IS going to be a reality and I am going to be signing books in every single location! I am going to be cooking amazing food in everyone’s kitchens and we are going to visit and talk and share. (drinking really great wine!) This makes me very, very happy!
Along with my little PR campaign, I allowed my friend Gerald to prod me into finally starting a Twitter account. I did it! I’ve told Casey that I am going to be the queen of social networking and of course, he thought that was a hilarious joke. Don’t notice that he has a Twitter account… http://twitter.com/RecipesFrmALife
In closing, Tate tells me that my editing timeline is firm. A firm timeline? Doesn’t get any better than a firm time line! My palm tells me so! Merry Christmas in June!
Here is an excerpt: Your Conceptual Editor will be a highly trained professional who works every day with the elements of literature—things like logic, flow, and engagement in nonfiction. He/she is an objective reader who will be both your toughest critic and your closest ally.
You can expect Conceptual Editing to be the most difficult and most rewarding part of the publishing process. It will take time, patience, and hard work from both author and editor.
My toughest critic and my closest ally! Most difficult and most rewarding! Time, patience and hard work! Yes, this is my holiday. I am ready to learn! I am ready for adventure! I am going to keep this feeling of Christmas in my bones for a long, long time. I am going to be rewarded for waiting patiently. For breathing deeply and managing my day to day while waiting. Besides, my new friend Ruth was reading my palm recently and she told me that I was in a time of transition, that I had power in my patience and that in the end, my book was going to be amazing and that I was going to reap success because I was going to empower so many others to thier own success.
I have chosen to believe and envision every single thing that my palm had to tell me!
Meantime, I have been working on my own PR campaign and taping notes all over my vision board. Front and center are my road trip locations! I have been talking about taking a road trip forever and now have the power to finally begin visualizing it. My goal is to get in the car and circle this country visiting all the people I adore and who I call my ‘other one’ families. I’ve now decided that yes, my road trip IS going to be a reality and I am going to be signing books in every single location! I am going to be cooking amazing food in everyone’s kitchens and we are going to visit and talk and share. (drinking really great wine!) This makes me very, very happy!
Along with my little PR campaign, I allowed my friend Gerald to prod me into finally starting a Twitter account. I did it! I’ve told Casey that I am going to be the queen of social networking and of course, he thought that was a hilarious joke. Don’t notice that he has a Twitter account… http://twitter.com/RecipesFrmALife
In closing, Tate tells me that my editing timeline is firm. A firm timeline? Doesn’t get any better than a firm time line! My palm tells me so! Merry Christmas in June!
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Hurricane Brownies
Those who know me know that I am absolutely not a procrastinator but boy, oh, boy, I have been procrastinating finishing the Author Outline pages that the Dolphin had asked me to complete. Don’t know what pushed me off the edge, but I finally finished and submitted them today. All questions answered including where I think my book should be displayed in a bookstore. I wanted to say right inside the front door, duh. But I was respectful and realistic and didn’t! I did say that I could see it in every airport terminal bookstore in the whole wide world though! I also answered who my audience was going to be and what I wanted people to take away from my book and more and more.
I’ve also now read the Tate Marketing guidelines. Now, that was exciting! All these directions on book-signings and paraphernalia like bookmarks and post cards and posters and t-shirts. On and on! They suggest that I have my first book signing in the town that I live in and have a minimum of 30 of my own guests in attendance. I am going to have to bribe everyone with Hurricane Brownies!
I still have the message from the keynote speaker from Tyler’s graduation running around in my head. One of his points was to do more than average people do. He talked about how average people just survive not necessarily succeeding. In order to succeed in life one must exceed expectation. I promise that I am going to do more than average with this book. I am going to exceed expectation by doing everything that I need to do going above and beyond with each task that Tate gives me. No more procrastination!
I’ve also now read the Tate Marketing guidelines. Now, that was exciting! All these directions on book-signings and paraphernalia like bookmarks and post cards and posters and t-shirts. On and on! They suggest that I have my first book signing in the town that I live in and have a minimum of 30 of my own guests in attendance. I am going to have to bribe everyone with Hurricane Brownies!
I still have the message from the keynote speaker from Tyler’s graduation running around in my head. One of his points was to do more than average people do. He talked about how average people just survive not necessarily succeeding. In order to succeed in life one must exceed expectation. I promise that I am going to do more than average with this book. I am going to exceed expectation by doing everything that I need to do going above and beyond with each task that Tate gives me. No more procrastination!
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
News From The Dolphin!
The email begins…’Just to prepare you now, the book business is not known for its ‘quickness’. My lesson in patience has officially begun!
While I was at Tate, Rachel, the formatting goddess, let me know that I would be hearing from Dave Dolphin on Friday regarding my production schedule. As anticipated, I heard from the Dolphin on Friday. How I love how these people follow-up! They have done everything they have committed to doing. They do business the way I do business. An ideal match.
I feel like I have just opened the door to a learning curve like no-other I have experienced before. From the day I allowed myself to be managed when I visited Tate to the Dolphin email warning me that the publishing industry is not known for its ‘quickness’. I have always been the one to make things happen and to make them happen NOW. Now, I am going to sit back, do what I am told and let the process unfold before me. The Dolphin even says, “Many authors have commented that God used this time in their lives to teach them patience. But remember good things some to those who wait and this can be a very exciting time in your life.” Understatement!
I feel pregnant! The book is there and I need to just let it incubate. I am just going to have faith that it IS going to come out! Production will officially begin in July and apparently at this time I will be assigned a team consisting of many players including an editor, cover designer and layout artist. Apparently the first month will be copyediting and I already feel sorry for whoever will be assigned this task! They will be dealing with technical/grammatical issues and obviously, spending quite a bit of time deciding which of my exclamation points to save and which to discard.
Of course, the Dolphin gave me homework. I need to complete two Author Outline pages. Lots of questions such as, ‘What is the goal of your book’ and ‘Who do you see as your target audience’ and ‘where does your book fit in a bookstore’. I look forward to stopping and taking the time to answer these questions. The more time I spend on them in answering, the better idea they will have of placing me with the best conceptual editor match. This editor, I cannot wait to meet! They will be the person who will take my words and make them real!
I was lucky enough to be in Nashville last weekend for my Florida Nephew’s college graduation. It was a fabulous weekend with the actual graduation being one of the highlights. The commencement speaker was talking straight to me like my pastor at home normally does. He talked about his Seven Steps to Success with the first being to Dream Big. (Yes, I took notes!) I have been dreaming big about how I am going to help so many small business owners all over the whole wide world to be successful in spite of themselves! Teaching them from my experiences how to manage themselves within their businesses. With my news from the Dolphin, I really think I can begin my lesson in patience and realize that my dreaming big is paying off!
(On an off note, my personal goal is to have 500 followers to this blog by the time I am in print. Have you clicked follow? Who do you know would like to be following…)
While I was at Tate, Rachel, the formatting goddess, let me know that I would be hearing from Dave Dolphin on Friday regarding my production schedule. As anticipated, I heard from the Dolphin on Friday. How I love how these people follow-up! They have done everything they have committed to doing. They do business the way I do business. An ideal match.
I feel like I have just opened the door to a learning curve like no-other I have experienced before. From the day I allowed myself to be managed when I visited Tate to the Dolphin email warning me that the publishing industry is not known for its ‘quickness’. I have always been the one to make things happen and to make them happen NOW. Now, I am going to sit back, do what I am told and let the process unfold before me. The Dolphin even says, “Many authors have commented that God used this time in their lives to teach them patience. But remember good things some to those who wait and this can be a very exciting time in your life.” Understatement!
I feel pregnant! The book is there and I need to just let it incubate. I am just going to have faith that it IS going to come out! Production will officially begin in July and apparently at this time I will be assigned a team consisting of many players including an editor, cover designer and layout artist. Apparently the first month will be copyediting and I already feel sorry for whoever will be assigned this task! They will be dealing with technical/grammatical issues and obviously, spending quite a bit of time deciding which of my exclamation points to save and which to discard.
Of course, the Dolphin gave me homework. I need to complete two Author Outline pages. Lots of questions such as, ‘What is the goal of your book’ and ‘Who do you see as your target audience’ and ‘where does your book fit in a bookstore’. I look forward to stopping and taking the time to answer these questions. The more time I spend on them in answering, the better idea they will have of placing me with the best conceptual editor match. This editor, I cannot wait to meet! They will be the person who will take my words and make them real!
I was lucky enough to be in Nashville last weekend for my Florida Nephew’s college graduation. It was a fabulous weekend with the actual graduation being one of the highlights. The commencement speaker was talking straight to me like my pastor at home normally does. He talked about his Seven Steps to Success with the first being to Dream Big. (Yes, I took notes!) I have been dreaming big about how I am going to help so many small business owners all over the whole wide world to be successful in spite of themselves! Teaching them from my experiences how to manage themselves within their businesses. With my news from the Dolphin, I really think I can begin my lesson in patience and realize that my dreaming big is paying off!
(On an off note, my personal goal is to have 500 followers to this blog by the time I am in print. Have you clicked follow? Who do you know would like to be following…)
Thursday, May 6, 2010
All About the Sign!
As you know, I am a very visual person. You can tell me anything and I get it. Show me, however and I am all over it. This being said, yes, I am thrilled about the opportunity to sign a contract with Tate Publishing. Tate who now had in their hands my new baby, The Book. I decided that I couldn't move forward unless I saw Tate in person. I needed to meet the people who were going to work with me to birth my dream.
Off to Oklahoma I go. I used to live in Tulsa and I loved it there. It was a very happy time in my life and I clearly remember the stunning seasons. I used to travel from Tulsa to Oklahoma City to do some freelance work way back when and loved it. You will love this: The last time I was in Oklahoma City was when I traveled up on a whim to audition for Martha Stewart Apprentice. Martha's spin off from Donald Trumps Apprentice series. Yes, there is a story there!
I was going to be in Dallas and made arrangements with Tate to travel to Mustang, OK to visit, have a tour and meet everyone and anyone who would take the time to talk to me. Excited. I was excited!
My best friend, my GPS, took me straight to the front door and the sign. 'Welcome Author-Annmarie McArthur' They spelled my name right! They put out a sign! Just for ME! I know they have a million authors and I am sure they have many that visit all the time. But frankly, I don't care. They put out a sign, just for me with my name on it and they spelled it right!
I didn't start out Annmarie. I'll tell you now that I started out Ann Marie. There are a zillion Ann's in the world and my parents always called me Ann-Marie. While you meet many Ann's in a lifetime, you sure don't meet many if any, Ann-Maries. Because I am totally a one of a kind and I get that I am a one of a kind and got it a long time ago that I am a one of a kind, many, many years ago, I went to court and became Annmarie! One of the best decisions I ever made. I love my name!
I digress. My visit to Tate was very interesting. I was managed. Managed like I am not used to being managed. Tate managed me. They told me what I needed to be told. Introduced me to the people that I needed to meet. Showed me what I needed to see. Glently walked me along when I was staying too long in one spot and talking too much. They MANAGED me and I loved every moment. Everyone there was young. Organized. Focused. Obviously talented. Wow! I am now part of their family!
Before I knew it I was walked out the door and to my car; With a Tate mug and a Tate pen. I loved Tate and I am going to love Tate and I am going to work with Tate. I understand that a book like mine is a first for them. They haven't taken on a project geared towards empowering small business owners before! I am the first. One of a kind!
My next communication from them will be my production schedule. I can't wait to hear! They got my name right and they put it on the sign. I have no doubt that they will do everything else right also. We are going to help alot of people manage themselves to success!
Off to Oklahoma I go. I used to live in Tulsa and I loved it there. It was a very happy time in my life and I clearly remember the stunning seasons. I used to travel from Tulsa to Oklahoma City to do some freelance work way back when and loved it. You will love this: The last time I was in Oklahoma City was when I traveled up on a whim to audition for Martha Stewart Apprentice. Martha's spin off from Donald Trumps Apprentice series. Yes, there is a story there!
I was going to be in Dallas and made arrangements with Tate to travel to Mustang, OK to visit, have a tour and meet everyone and anyone who would take the time to talk to me. Excited. I was excited!
My best friend, my GPS, took me straight to the front door and the sign. 'Welcome Author-Annmarie McArthur' They spelled my name right! They put out a sign! Just for ME! I know they have a million authors and I am sure they have many that visit all the time. But frankly, I don't care. They put out a sign, just for me with my name on it and they spelled it right!
I didn't start out Annmarie. I'll tell you now that I started out Ann Marie. There are a zillion Ann's in the world and my parents always called me Ann-Marie. While you meet many Ann's in a lifetime, you sure don't meet many if any, Ann-Maries. Because I am totally a one of a kind and I get that I am a one of a kind and got it a long time ago that I am a one of a kind, many, many years ago, I went to court and became Annmarie! One of the best decisions I ever made. I love my name!
I digress. My visit to Tate was very interesting. I was managed. Managed like I am not used to being managed. Tate managed me. They told me what I needed to be told. Introduced me to the people that I needed to meet. Showed me what I needed to see. Glently walked me along when I was staying too long in one spot and talking too much. They MANAGED me and I loved every moment. Everyone there was young. Organized. Focused. Obviously talented. Wow! I am now part of their family!
Before I knew it I was walked out the door and to my car; With a Tate mug and a Tate pen. I loved Tate and I am going to love Tate and I am going to work with Tate. I understand that a book like mine is a first for them. They haven't taken on a project geared towards empowering small business owners before! I am the first. One of a kind!
My next communication from them will be my production schedule. I can't wait to hear! They got my name right and they put it on the sign. I have no doubt that they will do everything else right also. We are going to help alot of people manage themselves to success!
Sunday, May 2, 2010
I Am Not Rachel Ray
Now I totally understand when artists and actors talk about being an overnight success, after being in their line of work for a life time already! I know that very few of you really know that I have been working on a book, actually two books, for a very long time. Now that my book is going to be published, everyone is assuming that it is a cook book. It's not! Consequently, I am starting this blog to talk about the book and to share my publishing experience.
For many, many years I have wanted to write a cookbook. Primarily because while I was in business, everyone wanted me to write a cook book. They wanted the Fudge Brownie recipe and the Sour Cream Chicken Enchilada recipe and the Amazing Chocolate Chunk Cake with the Fudgy Chocolate Frosting recipe. Turns out though, that the universe had no intention of me ever producing a cook book. Besides, there are plenty of cook book authors out there. We don't need another one and especially not one from me!
When I went through the crash of my business in 2004 the world was very bleak. As you know, I gutted it up and resurrected my business and ultimately sold it. During this time, I learned an amazing amount from the mistakes I made. I learned enough lessons that I ultimately developed a 'process' by which to manage my business to success. Not only that, my process and the way I managed myself and the way I ran my business enabled me to start and run another highly successful business. I turned this process into an 8 week 'course' with my goal being to realize my passion of nurturing and empowering other people with knowledge.
Everyone has a passion and most small business owners start their companies because they are passionate about producing a certain product-tangible or non-tangible. Unfortunately, allot of small business owners spend allot of time producing their product and not a lot of time managing the business side of their business. They don't really know how to manage their time, what their filing system should look like and what kind of business relationships they really need to have to support their business. I developed a way to show small business owners everywhere what they need to do, why and how they need to do it so that they may also enjoy success!
When I sold my first company I was still playing with the idea of writing a cook book. I tried my hardest to convert recipes from massive amounts into smaller in home amounts. I tried to measure and document portions and ideas. Then I started writing stories to attach to the individual recipes. As you can imagine, after being in the catering world for almost 20 years, there were plenty of stories. Not only stories about the business, but great stories from the roller-coaster that was my single Mom life.
Then, during a frustrating time cooking, the light bulb went off. I was not meant to write the cook book! The way I was going to feed my passion to empower people, was to attach my stories to my 8 weeks course! Consequently, we now have Recipes From A Life: Crisis Prevention for YOUR Small Business!, the working title.
A few years later the book is complete. Publishing a book is not an easy task as you can imagine. I was persistent with my dream though and made the decision to visualize a finished product. Little purple notes have littered my house for years. All just saying: The Book! I entertained the idea of self-publishing only to find that all self published books really do look the same and there is no marketing or PR support. When you self publish you have minimal choices. Cover A or B. Format A, B or C. Layout design A, B, C or D. That's it. I just knew that my book just could not look like any other book!
As you can imagine, I spent a ridiculous amount of time on the Internet exploring the publishing world. In February of this year, I happened on a publishing company just outside of Oklahoma City called Tate Publishing. They are one of the largest in the country and the only large publisher that commits to reading and/or reviewing unsolicited manuscripts. On a whim and a prayer, I sent Tate my manuscript the first week in March. They commit to following up with all authors with in 6-9 weeks.
I tried to forget about Tate and my book sitting in their care. That line of thought worked for about 4 weeks. Last year Tate only accepted 2.8% of the manuscripts subbmitted to them. I knew that if there was hope for them to accept me, that I needed to put the word out to the Universe. So I did. In my prayers and in my mind and most importantly, in my heart. I put it out there that I have the ability to ensure success for small business owners EVERYWHERE!
On a Tuesday morning early in the middle of week 8, I opened my email inbox to a message from Tate asking me to respond with answers to a few simple questions including the kicker: Why did I think my book could be successful and what would I do to support it's success. I responded immediately with as much energy as I could and attached my author bio and headshot.
I was out of town that day and the next. I returned home that Thursday night late, exhausted and hungry to be welcomed to my dark little apartment by a FedEx envelope. As you know now, the letter read: Welcome to the Tate Publishing Family!
No, to the cook book! Yes, to ensuring success for small business owners everywhere!
Thank you for reading. Next post, my visit to Mustang, Oklahoma!
For many, many years I have wanted to write a cookbook. Primarily because while I was in business, everyone wanted me to write a cook book. They wanted the Fudge Brownie recipe and the Sour Cream Chicken Enchilada recipe and the Amazing Chocolate Chunk Cake with the Fudgy Chocolate Frosting recipe. Turns out though, that the universe had no intention of me ever producing a cook book. Besides, there are plenty of cook book authors out there. We don't need another one and especially not one from me!
When I went through the crash of my business in 2004 the world was very bleak. As you know, I gutted it up and resurrected my business and ultimately sold it. During this time, I learned an amazing amount from the mistakes I made. I learned enough lessons that I ultimately developed a 'process' by which to manage my business to success. Not only that, my process and the way I managed myself and the way I ran my business enabled me to start and run another highly successful business. I turned this process into an 8 week 'course' with my goal being to realize my passion of nurturing and empowering other people with knowledge.
Everyone has a passion and most small business owners start their companies because they are passionate about producing a certain product-tangible or non-tangible. Unfortunately, allot of small business owners spend allot of time producing their product and not a lot of time managing the business side of their business. They don't really know how to manage their time, what their filing system should look like and what kind of business relationships they really need to have to support their business. I developed a way to show small business owners everywhere what they need to do, why and how they need to do it so that they may also enjoy success!
When I sold my first company I was still playing with the idea of writing a cook book. I tried my hardest to convert recipes from massive amounts into smaller in home amounts. I tried to measure and document portions and ideas. Then I started writing stories to attach to the individual recipes. As you can imagine, after being in the catering world for almost 20 years, there were plenty of stories. Not only stories about the business, but great stories from the roller-coaster that was my single Mom life.
Then, during a frustrating time cooking, the light bulb went off. I was not meant to write the cook book! The way I was going to feed my passion to empower people, was to attach my stories to my 8 weeks course! Consequently, we now have Recipes From A Life: Crisis Prevention for YOUR Small Business!, the working title.
A few years later the book is complete. Publishing a book is not an easy task as you can imagine. I was persistent with my dream though and made the decision to visualize a finished product. Little purple notes have littered my house for years. All just saying: The Book! I entertained the idea of self-publishing only to find that all self published books really do look the same and there is no marketing or PR support. When you self publish you have minimal choices. Cover A or B. Format A, B or C. Layout design A, B, C or D. That's it. I just knew that my book just could not look like any other book!
As you can imagine, I spent a ridiculous amount of time on the Internet exploring the publishing world. In February of this year, I happened on a publishing company just outside of Oklahoma City called Tate Publishing. They are one of the largest in the country and the only large publisher that commits to reading and/or reviewing unsolicited manuscripts. On a whim and a prayer, I sent Tate my manuscript the first week in March. They commit to following up with all authors with in 6-9 weeks.
I tried to forget about Tate and my book sitting in their care. That line of thought worked for about 4 weeks. Last year Tate only accepted 2.8% of the manuscripts subbmitted to them. I knew that if there was hope for them to accept me, that I needed to put the word out to the Universe. So I did. In my prayers and in my mind and most importantly, in my heart. I put it out there that I have the ability to ensure success for small business owners EVERYWHERE!
On a Tuesday morning early in the middle of week 8, I opened my email inbox to a message from Tate asking me to respond with answers to a few simple questions including the kicker: Why did I think my book could be successful and what would I do to support it's success. I responded immediately with as much energy as I could and attached my author bio and headshot.
I was out of town that day and the next. I returned home that Thursday night late, exhausted and hungry to be welcomed to my dark little apartment by a FedEx envelope. As you know now, the letter read: Welcome to the Tate Publishing Family!
No, to the cook book! Yes, to ensuring success for small business owners everywhere!
Thank you for reading. Next post, my visit to Mustang, Oklahoma!
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