An entrepreneurial freakout moment, a business turn around, or simply: making a Whoopi?
Read more on Bone Up! Blog at Herringbone.
Photo by: StevenGregoryPhotography.com – warmly recommended for event photography, professional or children portraits as well as tongue-in-cheek business photos.
Whoopi photo credit: Annie Leibovitz
Originally posted at ShoeRumors.com
In the Starbucks line this morning:
“Excuse me, may I ask which shoe size you wear?”
“For what? Size 9.”
“Ah – then you are too small. We’ve just launched a shoe line for women with size 10-12. It is so difficult to find shoes that size, and when I see women who I think could be my size, I ask.”
“Oh I don’t know – I am size 9 in men’s shoes.”
DO YOU GET THE PICTURE? I need a megaphone… size 10-12, Italian handmade shoes…. LLXLLQ
Please SHARE this and send your friends and friends of friends with larger sizes shoes my way. Have them sign up for the newsletter http://bit.ly/LLXLLQnews , using campaign code “FRIEND” and they will receive a very special offer on top of the 15% for signing up for the newsletter.
If you act now they can participate in the LLXLLQ shoe giveaway by June 30, 2013: http://splur.gy/r/dz2v4
I came across an INC Magazine article about “5 reasons your need to meet in person” – which reminded me about a meeting with The Artist Catrine Näsmark in Sweden about a year ago. Read the full article here – and here comes the abbreviated version:
These are the 5 reasons to meet in person:
1. You’re off the record.
Avoid phone conversations in non-private offices.2. Make use of not-so-small talk.
Build relationships over personal topics through small talk.3. Make an impression.
The example is a new pink handbag becoming a topic for conversation. (I would say shoes…;)4. Read the body language.
Facial expressions often communicate so much more than words.5. Learn where the action is.
By visiting the office you get much more information from the environment.
When it comes to coaching and consulting I have found that meeting in person is of course very nice. I would say, to the extent you can, always meet once for an intake/introductory session. The time and effort required for meeting in person is a different equation, why we at Herringbone have decided to differentiate our offerings based on virtual/Skype meetings or in person. That way, we can offer our services to a larger audience, and meet the needs and budgets they – maybe you! – may have.
Catrine Näsmark at Restaurant AG
The reason why this article originally made me think of Catrine Näsmark is because when I met her in Sweden a year ago, she made an impression with a pink handbag – at a restaurant that took pride in serving high quality meat. Very obvious as you face the meat fridge by the end of the red carpet leading up from the street entrance.
Since then I have had this blog post title and photo in my mind. (Imagine how much is still stored up there…) Taking the photo, I was thinking – this set up of a restaurant would not happen in San Francisco. Although – the title of the blog post is taken from a blog Nice to Meat You originated in San Francisco, by a local entrepreneur friend Willo O’Brien with WilloToons.
Thank you for finally letting me share it! 😉 Puh.
So happy to meet you!
Johanna
DON'T GIVE UP!
Coming back from NYC this time I had one new thing to unpack: a package of magnets with the look of iPhone apps. Hm. As I put them up on my fridge, I was thinking – I guess it’s official: I am an apple nurd! Or fan, to choose a more flattering word.
My fridge has a number of photos of family and friends, and a few motivating cards and statements etc. The one card that draw my attention, that got surrounded by iPhone apps, had the message “DON’T GIVE UP!”. They had one thing in common. This very card I got when visiting a friend in London, the summer before starting my business studies at Stockholm School of Economics. I was spending a whole day in the city – shopping – and came home with one thing: this card. Summer of 1995. Since then I have moved more times than number of years that have passed, and it is still with me…
So now it sits on my fridge, surrounded by a reminder of my original business idea of Herringbone. The software – and app – that will support and inspire stories of change and positive impact. Maybe, if the idea still holds, I will get there one day. But there are many roads to Rome.
The main software I use today to get voices heard for positive change is another one. Objective Marketer, the social media marketing campaign manager. The core reason why I am doing what I do is still the same. It’s not about marketing. It’s creating a positive impact by using social media to reach out with your story or offering, making yourself accessible and provide others with something valuable for them to gain from, because they choose to listen. And at the same time reach those who express that they want what you have to offer, because social media can help you find them. Real time. Globally. Or locally. And create a social media community landscape of likeminded where demand and supply meet. I think that is a beautiful way to serve the world.
Now – what is your story? What is your dream to create? And is something holding you back?
A friend of mine shared the video in this link from Harvard Business Publishing on this topic: What is holding yourself back? with special focus on leaders and entrepreneurs. Maybe that will give a kick in the right direction.
Enjoy,
Johanna
It’s happening. All over the world. A global movement to create a better place. Many actors large and small, all with a similar purpose, and yet different approaches depending on their individual gift and need in their community. There is no surprise why the coaching profession is gaining ground, why the numbers of self-employed are increasing and bartering is a common currency to make things happen.
One man on the forefront with a grand dream, vision, mission and purpose is Michael E. Gerber. April 22, 2010 and he launched Origination. Pay attention. Notice. Look around. This is how it is now – remember and compare to a later date.
Origination: Awakening New Entrepreneurs, Growing a New Economy, Creating a New World http://www.bit.ly/MEGerber
Origination. Listen to the message from Michael E. Gerber himself. “An invitation is being sent to you to engage you in the most meaningful entrepreneurial conversation you have ever had. The world’s economy has been shattered in a way not experienced since the Great Depression. Do you want to join the economic revolution and transform the state of entrepreneurship?” Click here to see and hear the presentation.
And as Michael said:
New Age Entrepreneurs – we are changing the world. Nobody owns this. Anyone personalizing this is doing the biggest mistake in the world.
There is a reason why Michael’s daily radio show is called “Big Voices in Small Business“. Not only because he has a big voice himself. Join the conversation – if you have already been successful in your business implementing the E-myth or if you have the biggest problem to take your business to the next level – you can get on there too.
I know there are many other efforts cooking. It’s all great. Make your voice heard, draw on each other and make it happen.
Johanna
And – are you one of them? Let us know in the comment section and bring us to your site. How can we help you? Spread the word? Buy the product? Need some sort of expert?
From small beginnings come great things. Proverb
Laura Guy - Founder, Healthy Cakes
I got a card with this text from one of my acappella friends Laura Guy after having hosted a dinner for them 3 years ago. She is a great friend, talented singer, yogini, real estate agent, attorney and… entrepreneur with a passion for health and wellness. Now I am inviting you to take part of her new small beginning that I know will become a great thing.
My first interaction with it was when we met for coffee in November. “I baked brownies – try this”, she said, “it’s got a secret ingredient and you have to guess what it is. It doesn’t contain flour and it doesn’t contain sugar”. I had no chance of guessing. And it was one of my least favorites as a kid. But it was DELISIOUS!
At this very moment she is making the premier commercial batch of Healthy Cakes for first participation at the SF Underground Market tonight 5-11pm! Come and taste!
“OMG! This cake is perfection. It is moist, cakey, with just the right amount of sweetness and a nice thick layer of fudgy icing. I’m in heaven! Would not know it is low carb if you hadn’t told me. “~Michelle
What if the dessert below was healthy?
Do you see how this can revolutionize the way we eat and treat, become healthier and also open up for allowable sweets for diabetics and dieters. Sweet Victory with Healthy Cakes!
If you also want to become a fearless entrepreneur, you should check this link out: http://www.fearlessnessinc.com/fearlessentrepreneur.php
As Laura said: Planning is good, but doing is better. And obviously, it can go quicker than you might think!
Just do it!
Johanna
I am very good at saying it, and promoting others, rather than doing it myself – at least I am doing this ;). One step at a time…
Photo: Anastasia Hockinson
The below is a handout I received in Leadership. It followed a great group exercise that really brought home the message. Recently I have been referring to it in conversations with clients and friends – I hope it will serve you too…
A FIXER – A HELPER – A SERVER
A fixer has the illusion of being causal.
A server knows he or she is being use
in the service for something greater,
essentially unknown.
We serve always the something:
wholeness and the mystery of life.
Fixing and helping are the work of the ego.
Serving is the work of the soul.
When you help, you see life as week.
When you fix, you see life as broken.
When you serve, you see life as whole.
Fixing and helping may cure.
Serving Heals.
When I help, I feel satisfaction.
When I serve, I feel gratitude.
Fixing is a form of judgment.
Serving is a form of connection.
In this context – what is your pattern? Are you a fixer, a helper or a server? Do you choose to help because someone has asked you to? Or what is really the driver? There is a difference in-between helping someone who ask for it, verses helping someone because you think s(he) needs it.
As Rachel Naomi Remen expands on it “When we help we may inadvertently take away from people more than we could ever give them, we may diminish their self-esteem, their sense of worth, integrity and wholeness.” Read her full reprint “In the Service of Life” from the Noetic Sciences Review by clicking here.
However – in life, and business, it may be very powerful to ask for help. It may even be key to get ahead and get things done. It may be the perfect way when it comes to starting a business. I stumbled on an article this morning in Huffington Post by Tanja Aitamurto, a Silicon Valley-based Finnish writer: Woman: How To Start a Business Without Money. “According to my observations, the older and the more successful the women are, the more likely they are to share their knowledge and the less hesitant they are to ask for help. Also, they seem to integrate fun and friends with work more often than we younger women do.” Not only women do it. An example is Chris Lindland from Cordarounds, who traded pants and meals for web design and ads. Read the article for more juice.
Bottomline: The door to success is to ask for help when you need to. And serve others.
Be Kind - Serve - Ask for Help - For Success.
So you got screwed today – most people nail it.
That was a joke by the associate at Wheel Works when I came in with my flat tire today. Screwed big time. I mean the screw was big. But wow what such an incident can be seamless when everything just works. AAA roadside assistance showed up after 30 minutes at no cost thanks to great insurance. I made it on time to the next meeting and Wheel Works was on the way home, with drop-off and instant service for a low cost. Meanwhile I enjoyed a cup of tea at Starbucks and got some work done on my computer – with a gift card worth $5 you have free internet during two hours per day.
I experienced something new today: traveling with my mobile office wasn’t just to bring the computer(s), the phone, and the coaching client folders. Today I traveled with the white board filled with colorful Post IT notes. Size big enough to just about fit in my Subaru Outback. I got the comment once: “Why… do you have this kind of a car? Either you are lesbian, or a great skier.” If I would have listened to my mentor in San Diego, I would be driving a truck – I wonder what the assumption would be then? Anyway – back then I didn’t respond – he could well wonder. Today I would say “no – a software designer”. I kind of like that. But I guess – that is just part of the picture.
Coming home tonight, seeing my bedroom wall without the storyboard made it look so empty. I put up a blank piece of paper and started sketching out the Meta view perspective of my idea. Pulling together the bits and pieces I have gathered in conversations with or readings by different people, and added some new. Holy moley – I think I had a eureka moment! Talk about potential – now I just need to figure out a way to make it happen… The face of the book won’t be the same… and the face of the Earth neither I guess.
Thanks for the inspiration guys and gals: My dear Dad, my bro’ Johan, Henry Kimsey-House and Leadership, Vikram Lamba, Michael E. Gerber, Laura Guy, Tim Shaw, Christine Comaford, Rob Espinosa and Sally Grisedale. I think we nailed it!
Johanna
May I introduce to you, one of the world’s greatest filmmakers: Jan Troell.
That was the beginning of a very impactful experience Saturday evening at The Smith Rafael Film Center in San Rafael, CA. Had I known which treat I was up for, I would have let you know and spread the word ahead of time. And luckily I just realized that there will be a warmly recommended repeat at the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, Berkeley Thursday night. And more. Check out the above links for details of the complete program.
“Jan Troell is to me a genuine, outstanding genius…an extraordinarily singular, totally original and deeply inspirational director.” Ingmar Bergman (1997)
If I would add to this statement, there are three things that I have learnt about Jan Troell: he is humble, self-taught and his personal favorite among his movies is “The land of dreams” (1988).
Saturday night he said that the reason for the pick of that movie was 1) his daughter Yohanna had the leading role in it at the age of 3.5 and 2) it started as a need to express a feeling at the time being Swedish. In an article in SFGate where he was interviewed last week he said to explain what it was about “I tried to put it in one sentence and it was something like this: “the increasing absence of life in Sweden.” If the state interferes too much with the individual, with the best intentions, it can backfire. That’s to simplify it very much.”
It makes me think of a comment by Michael E Gerber, calling the entrepreneurial spirit in the American population: “We don’t need Obama, just as we didn’t need Bush – we need you”. And you don’t need to have an MBA or a high degree of some sort, to make a difference. Start with what really moves you.
Jan and Agneta Troell at Smith Rafael Film Center, February 27 2010
What made the evening with Jan Troell very special was the beautiful and touching movie, the personal introduction of it, and the presentation of its origination and Q&A together with his wife Agneta. At a deeper level it connected to what is important for me, thoughts about my deceased father’s family’s history that I wish I new more about, and to the product I am about to create. What if you can document your own history as you go? Not only in words and pictures, but also in a way that has structure and supports you in reaching your goals and dreams; and provides you with inspiration from your own progress.
I won’t tell you about the story. To quote Jan Troell: “I never read reviews of movies that I will see. I want to get my own impression. What’s good to know though is the name of it…”
The name is “Everlasting Moments”. And seriously – what if you can create them?
Enjoy,
Johanna
The Cinema of Jan Troell: Sat. through March 6, Smith Rafael Film Center, 1118 Fourth St., San Rafael. Troell will be present at several screenings. (415) 454-1222, links.sfgate.com/ZJEY. Troell will attend a screening of “Everlasting Moments” at 7 p.m. March 4 at the Pacific Film Archive, 2575 Bancroft, Berkeley. (510) 642-1412, bampfa.berkeley.edu.
The film series is organized by the California Film Institute in association with the Swedish Institute, Stockholm, and the Consulate General of Sweden, San Francisco
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