Some people think that business coaches only exist to take your business to the next level revenue-wise.
A half million to a million. A million to ten million.
That is just one kind of business coach, though. And it’s not the kind that I am.
Read MoreA lot of people inquire about coaching when they’re dissatisfied with themselves and their overall situation.
They want to be better. Or they want things to be better for themselves.
“I’m so disorganized.”
“I struggle with perfectionism.”
Read MoreIt seems like a good financial move to buy commercial real estate to house your business if you can afford it.
After all, your rent might be one of your largest expenses. Shouldn’t you use it to build equity instead of just throwing it away?
Read MoreWhat I learned from writing songs is that the process cannot be forced.
What I learned from writing songs is that the process cannot be forced.
I came up with a melody in 2010 that didn’t get lyrics until 2020. I wrote other songs in the meantime, but that particular one had to gestate for awhile. It ended up being about a disagreement about the design of the Panama Canal, which I learned about in a David McCullough book that I didn’t read until 2020.
Read MoreLast May, around the time I found out that I was pregnant, I decided to go on a hiatus from this blog.
On a practical level, it was necessary. Though I didn’t yet know that I was carrying twins, I was already incredibly drowsy and hungry. Instead of getting up early, having a snack, and doing some writing for the day, I’d wake up ravenous, eat a full breakfast, and pass out on the couch immediately afterward. My writing time had been superseded by naptime. I had little choice but to accept it.
Read MoreThis week, I finally sent my tax stuff off to the accountant.
It’s too late, of course. Even though the deadline isn’t until April 15, my accountant is going to be extremely busy until then merely filing extensions for all of the people like me who didn’t get their act together sooner.
Read MoreOne of my favorite events at Eclectic Music, the school I founded in 2002, was when we did a student showcase at our old performance space in Inman Park, Atlanta.
Read MoreCaring for infant twins has been a stark lesson in priorities.
My first priority, of course, is my babies. Feeding them, changing them, snuggling them.
I take care of myself, my household, and my livelihood in the spaces in between. Some interesting insights have emerged as a result of my severely limited capacity.
Read MoreCertain online spaces, like Reddit, thrive on drama.
There, people share all of the details of their unpleasant interpersonal interactions (their side of the story, anyway) and hope to get validation of their choices and feelings.
I try to stay away from drama in real life, but I am fascinated by this dynamic when I come across it online. At the very least, it’s fodder for content creation because here I am writing about it.
Read MoreOne of my clients, Laura, was struggling to get repeat business from her clients.
It turned out that she didn’t have a habit of inviting them to rebook at the end of each appointment. She wasn’t following up with them later on, either. They had a good experience and then drifted away.
Laura, like so many of us, didn’t want to be pushy. She didn’t want to presume, and she didn’t want to tell people what to do.
Read MoreIt seems that some entity that sells my information has classified me as the owner of a record label or talent agency (in reality, I own a music school).
I’ve gotten a number of emails with garbage copy like “Your team's passion for music and commitment to fostering creative relationships between artists and brands is truly inspiring!” Yeah, I bet it is.
Read MoreThe trolls, whether they are bots or foreign interference or just plain jerks — or some combination thereof —have got a few things figured out.
They know exactly how to get attention, derail a conversation and cause general mayhem.
I don’t want to be like them. But I’ve learned a little bit from them. Because if the other pole is “make sure nobody is ever offended by anything you say or do,” I don’t want to be there, either. There’s no way to be myself if I’m trying to be innocuous.
Read MoreBeing a teacher taught me so much about human nature.
Some kids are compliant and eager to please. If you ask them to do something, they’ll just do it. If they don’t, it’s because they forgot or they don’t know how.
Read MoreAs a young adult, I was obsessed with the idea of being an expert instrumentalist.
I was a skilled singer, songwriter, singer/songwriter, and music educator. I’m also a good curator, and I would have been a pretty good producer if I’d had the chance.
Read MoreAn Internet friend joked ruefully about how, despite setting out to not yell at her kids on a given day, she inevitably did so by afternoon.
Understandable. Habits don’t get changed by sheer willpower. And a habit like yelling at your kids probably goes back to your own childhood — it’s deep-seated.
Read MoreWhen I help clients with their social media strategy (something I always seem to end up doing), the first thing I recommend is that they stop trying to do so much.
Having “a presence” on every major platform seems like a nice idea. But in practice, it’s really hard to maintain. When we’re just running our own social media accounts, we can’t really follow the advice of those who have entire teams to help them manage their content on all of those different platforms.
Read MoreOnce I started to gain momentum as a beginning knitter, I enjoyed learning complicated stitches and stitch patterns.
However, even though I was rapidly collecting knitting-related knowledge and skills, I was mystified by the idea of flipped stitches — that is, stitches facing the wrong way on the needle. Even when I consulted YouTube videos, I was unable to see what was different about a flipped stitch versus a correct one.
Read MoreI have only one objective at the current time: to keep my infant twins safe and nourished.
Of course, there is a whole lot that goes into that one objective, so it’s a more than full-time gig. In order to make it work, I have to keep myself safe and nourished, which is difficult when sleep is scarce.
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