Forecasts call for tepid weather

Hello, digital world! So nice to see you!

Here are some updates:

Dog collars - Got my first sample, and it looked good. Really good. I spent 3 weeks waiting for the rest of the samples and was then told that the buckle the factory used was patented and not usable unless I want to get the pants sued off of me. No thanks. So another road block. I gave my vendor an ultimate deadline though - figure this out and get me product by the end of the year, or give me my money back. So less than 2 months till I have my collars or I have my savings back. I'm pulling for the former.

Writing - Dragging on this one, I know, but took a step back this past weekend - birthday weekend - time for reflecting - and tried to visualize what I really want my life and income device(s) to be, and diversification kept blinking at me hard and loud. So I sat my butt down and sent another pitch to ReadyMade as well as one to Money Magazine. Not holding my breath on either, but it's a start, and I know I just need to focus on coming up with story ideas OR figuring out how to be a real writer that is given real assignments.

Lady Rogue Business Network - This one is a big, fat fail. We failed to promote the right way and reach the right people, we failed to sell tickets, and we failed to have the confidence in ourselves that we could really pull this off. Ultimately we canceled the sucker. I'm still bummed about it. We had so many great, insightful speakers, and there would have been a lot to glean from it. Hopefully we can revisit this at some point and make it shine.

And lastly, work. I really love the agency I'm contracting at - the people, the environment, even the commute is much better. Unfortunately the account I'm working on is not so lovely. They extended my contract commitment from 3 months to through the end of the year, and the plan is to talk permanent hire at the beginning of the new year. They're already treating me like I'm an established part of the team, which is awesome, except for the fact that I had a little taste of freedom when I freelanced for that month, and I really, really liked it. And when I visit that little birthday-weekend reflection place, it's pretty clear that a j-o-b is not part of my vision anymore. Not that I don't want to work. To borrow from the words of Jersey Shore's Sammi, I'm the hardest-working bitch you'll ever meet. I just don't necessarily want a job. So ... things are still to be determined.

For the best

Whew, it's been a while! Sorry, interwebs, I've been busy, and I've neglected you.

So much to update! I got laid off in July. It was ... willed to happen, I think. I was miserable, and put it out there in the universe, and it was the wrong decision for my boss to make, but he did it anyway. (I think even he was a little confused as to why he did it.) The power of desire, huh?

Since then I've been freelancing (literally from the day after I got laid off) and reveling in not doing the death march every day, and then last week, I started a 3-month contract with an awesome small local ad agency! So I'm very excited and nervous and hopeful that this is a much better place for me.

Other updates:

Writing - My piece ran in ReadyMade!!!



















Woohoo! So exciting! And I keep meaning to pitch some more stories, but it hasn't yet happened...

Dog collars - Gawd, these things are taking forever. This endeavor is a fight. I've been pushing my vendor to push their factory, and then I get the answer I want, but nothing happens. So then I check in with the vendor, and oh yeah, there's all these issues that he forgot to address with me 2 months ago. This is par for the course. So it's back and forth, back and forth, and I just keep fighting and pushing and keeping my fingers crossed. I should get my first sample in the next few weeks, so we'll see... The goal is to have product in stores for the Christmas holiday shopping season, which we're really cutting close at this point.

Other business venture - Sigh. This one is biting the dust, I'm sad to say. This was actually going to be my main focus when I lost my job. I figured I had 3 months of severance to focus solely on getting this project off the ground and giving it a go. Ha! No way. Other opportunities kept presenting themselves - ones that actually paid money - and this project got pushed down on the priority scale lower and lower. C'est la vie.

Finances - This category is seemingly in good shape! Getting laid off and getting severance is giving me the opportunity to basically earn dual income for several months. And throw all that into savings and at debt. Mainly saving at this point. Especially since after this 3-month contract ends, I have no idea what's next! Especially, since that puts me back at unemployed at the beginning of December. Not especially the best time to find a new job.

Lady Rogue Business Network - We've been busting it on this! Our big event day is Sept. 25, less than a month away. We have gotten a ton of amazing speakers to commit to participating, and now we're starting to sell tickets. Hopefully the response will be good!

At the beginning of the year, I converted this blog from visual to wordy. Or emotional. Both are accurate, I guess. But I did it b/c I felt antsy, unhappy, unfulfilled. It's helped to get it out. Truly.

And I'm feeling it again, but it's different now. More "antsy" in an anticipating way. "Sea change" is the descriptor I keep using. I feel like it's not just me who feels this way - there's a whole lotta people out there that are feeling it too. I sense it. And it feels fitting to put this out there in the world on a day when we all remember the past and the amazing people that gave themselves so that we could live this life. And not just this life, but the life we want to make.

"Freedom." Freedumb b/c so many aren't taking advantage of it. Freed...um b/c so many just go with the motions. The motions of the ocean - they are a'changing. Freed...oommmm. Zen it.

This is such an exciting time to exist. Something big is about to go down, and we get to experience it and live through it. History. The way the U.S. at least has been operating for the last, I don't know, 200 years, maybe more - it's crumbling around us. Big businesses - that ain't security. Staying put and growing roots (which more often than not means consume!) - nope, you'll get pulled out by the hairs on your chiny chin chin. Working a crap job that requires little to no effort or brain power and pays you just enough to get b(u)y - no thank you.

Local, small, independent, revolutionary - but not in a huge way. Subtle revolutions are happening all over the place. I'm amazed and inspired every day by the people, businesses, blogs I come across that buck the norm, buckle down in the face of conformity and tell it to fuck off.

Viva la Revolucion!

Oof, this is tough

I'm pretty late on the update this time around because I was waiting on some things to be finalized. And they kept changing. And then changed again. And they're still up in the air. So no more waiting to write at least - here's my not-much-progress progress report.

Dog Collars - April started off good. I've been to the 2 stores I targeted in Atlanta and the 2 stores I want to be in in Austin. All the owners really, really, really liked my collars and said they'd buy them. Yay! I negotiated hard with the factory to get the minimum order requirements lowered, and they agreed. Then they changed their mind. So my vendor found another factory that would go with my low minimums. Then they changed their mind. So once again, I'm waiting. Sigh. My vendor said they're pushing back on the factory, so we'll see....

Letterpress Class - Only a couple of weeks left! Super fun, but more labor-intensive than I thought it would be honestly. I placed a small polymer plate order - which means printing my own designs as opposed to using existing metal type (letters) - and will play with those a little through the end of class. Not ready to make product yet, but maybe soon.

Writing - Surprise! ReadyMade picked up my pitch for their August/September issue! Woohoo! It's not exactly a full-on story, just a 200-word trend piece, but it's something! So maybe I should start working on other pitches. Hmm. Gotta think about that one.

Marching Along

Alright, mid-March. Time for a life update! So, let's see. I've been very busy. Too busy in fact. I got sick for about 3-4 weeks. Pretty positive my body was rejecting my 110% effort. But I've shut it up, and am now back on track.

Finances - Priorities: One - building some semblance of an emergency savings fund (which also doubles as a business-launch fund); and two - paying down debt, particularly paying back family members who have given us loans for school and house. So Priority 1 is good, good, good! I've been utilizing Wachovia's Way2Save program, diligently socking away any and all freelance money I've earned as well as the (didn't-believe-it-til-I-saw-it) bonus I got this year, and working hard to travel hack and earn miles to travel without paying for it (thanks Chris Guillebeau!). I should mention that I've been doing these things for a while now, at least a year, but I'm very happy to say that I hit the $5,000 mark! Not a huge safety/launch net, but definitely a starting point. Priority 2 ... not much progress yet, but it's now up to bat as opposed to sitting the bench like before. I subscribed to Man Vs. Debt's RSS feed, and Josh and I will start Operation Money Attack in T-minus 20.

Business Forum - Now over. Kinda happy about that. It's a bit pressuring to have this additional task looming over your head every day. But it was so worth it. I learned a ton, and even more importantly, got forced to do and think about lots of elements in order to start my business. (My second business actually.) Working on the branding for this guy now, and will have more about this in next month's update for sure.

Dog Collars - Super excited! Got pricing back from the factory, and it's great! This might actually happen. (Fingers crossed.) So next step is approaching stores (as this business will be primarily wholesale for me), and committing to have the factory make samples, which is basically committing to forking over about $10,000 to have product made. So it's a big step. I hope to meet with a store owner this week, so we'll see what she thinks!

Lady Rogue Business Network - I had to miss the last meet up as I was out of town for work, but apparently it was great, and we had about 60 people come out. Sad to miss it. Plans are progressing for our workshop, and we've got tons of ideas. Action steps are next.

Letterpress Class - Starts tomorrow! Yay!

Writing - Hmm. What can I say? Something had to take a backseat I guess, and sorry Writing, turns out it was you. I did pitch ReadyMade, and here's the response I got:

Hi Shari,

Thanks for getting in touch and thinking of ReadyMade for your pitch! Rogue Apron definitely sounds like something our reader would be into... While we have our content finalized through the April/May issue, I will hang on to this for our future issues‹this also could be nice piece in our "To Do List: Food" section. I'll be in touch if we decide to run with the story, but please feel free to contact me any time!

All my best,
Alexa

To be honest, I'm not sure if that's a rejection letter or not, but regardless, I'm not currently writing the story for them.

Full disclosure - I don't think many people are reading this blog, but for you few that are, I really appreciate the support. =) I'm offering up a fair amount of transparency (numbers, etc.) b/c this blog has become less about sharing my life and more about a measure of tracking my progress. In essence, it's not for you - it's for me. That sounds sort of cold I think, but there's a small amount of fear to overcome in putting all these goals out there for the world to see, and in exchange I've realized that there's a lot of power in accountability that comes with actually doing it. So in this digitized world (and I'm not referring to just the lives we lead through social media), making promises to myself become so much more concrete and realizable by sharing them with all of you. So thanks.

Change update

So I have committed myself to drastically changing my life this year - 1 month down, 11 to go. The main objective is to increase and diversify my income, while filling my life with much more meaningful and fulfilling endeavors. The progress is not bad so far, if I do say so myself! Here's the details:

- Began a month-long business forum along with 149 other enterprising entrepreneurs. By the end of February, we should all be armed to the teeth with the tools to unleash our businesses on the world. I've been doing daily assignments as well as additional reading, research, planning, and meeting-setting-up on my own. I (very naively) am aiming to have this business in action 3 months after the workshop ends, so that gives me a deadline of June 1. Eek!

- Along with the 5 other girls on the board of my local indie business networking group, we have decided to take it up a notch, becoming a for-profit venture. That means more structure, more value for members, and more awesomeness. We have a good plan for the first half of the year's meetings and events, and have started planning a day-long workshop for May/June that participants will pay $100 to attend. A yearly membership fee is still on the table as well.

- Dog Collars - ah, dog collars. I basically took about a year-long hiatus on the dog collars, and have now decided to take another shot at making it happen. Essentially I really wanted to keep the production domestic, but in doing so, I couldn't get the manufacturing to the quality I wanted, and the price point was way too high. So I said screw it, and am now giving the factory-in-China angle a go. If this doesn't work, I think it may be time to just give up on this one.

- Decided that even though my Daily Candy writing days have come to an and (thank you, Comcast - ech!), I still want to write occasionally. And be compensated for it. So just this morning I sent a story pitch to ReadyMade Magazine, and we will see what they say.

- Enrolled in an 8-week letterpress class starting in March. I hope to get a good grasp on the process and technique, so that I can design some products to take to market. Or etsy anyway.

- Much smaller victory, but something that's been in the back of my head for a while - this weekend, I put together a Facebook page aimed at cataloging any number of Atlanta DOT signage blunders that I come across. My aim is to have other people contribute the ones they find as well, gain a following, and hopefully bring all this insight to the DOT so maybe someone can finally do something about it. This is also an exercise in not planning too much. I have no back log of images and locations to keep a steady stream of posts going - I'm just putting it out there and seeing what happens. Not a bad way to do things these days.

Everything will be

What's that word when you notice themes in your world? Like the universe is gently smacking the shit out of your face with something? Synergy? Maybe. I try to be aware of that stuff, but I know I'm too wrapped up in my ownness to notice too often.

I've been really itchy, ansty, feeling trapped for the last few months bordering on years. I want a change, I want fulfillment, I want to be something. No, not just want - I FEEL that stuff. Does that make sense? I know in my heart that continuing to live the same day-to-day that I am is just wrong, that nothing good can come of it. It's like I'm delaying potential and purpose.

Trying to let something out or something in, not sure which. The 4-Hour Work Week and The Art of Non-Conformity have crept up from inspiring to biblical, but still, nothing's different except for how much harder I'm pushing against my world to get out of it. Not my whole world - I guess this is sounding really dramatic and epic. But 40 hours a week of barely making enough to live somehow invades the rest of my life with fear, dread, unhappiness, waste.

In Seth's Godin's blog yesterday, he wrote "No, everything is not going to be okay" - we seek solace and reassurance and lie to ourselves, but once we shun that, we can take risks. And then last night, as I cried my eyes out during the Hope for Haiti telethon, Jennifer Hudson covered the Beatles "Let it be."

So 2010, I will make change of you. I will stop moping around in a depressed, victimized state and take risks. I may fail miserably and hopefully not go bankrupt, but at least I will try. Something's gotta give. (Thanks Nancy Meyers.)