Thursday, December 21st, 2006
Did I mention I’ve been swamped lately? Because of my lack of time to bring you the latest at Ekcetera, here’s some holiday fun. I especially recommend the conspiracy carols, elf yourself, my holiday sweater, north pole dancing (be sure to check out Santa’s icy river jig, sprinkler, and thriller moves), save the snowman, awww heck, they’re all great!
Remember to be creative and allow yourself plenty of time to check them all out! Merry Christmas!
Oh, and if you’re at work, be sure to look at a little, “yes, I’m working”
Some great stuff from the folks at office max. http://www.officemax.com/max/solutions/minisite/minisiteTemplate.jsp?msno=17
Wednesday, December 13th, 2006
In honor of my recent 26th birthday, I’m going to talk about getting old. 26 is a strange time. My elders look at me and laugh, saying, “you’re not old….I wish I was 26″ and those that are a bit younger (usually around the 5-10 age) say, “Wow, you’re old! I remember having that conversation with my 6 year-old cousin at the dinner table when we were practicing math. My age added up to 5 hands - I was still 25 at the time. This is a very odd feeling. My husband and I cherish with each other that these are the times when we’ll probably feel our physical best in life and can live with high hopes and energy. But, it’s hard not to feel life rushing by and to wonder if I missed out on anything as a youth in my constant desire to grow up and experience grown-up things. All those are gone now….getting a license, graduation, turning 21, graduating college, getting a house, even a wedding is over. I’ve done all of the “biggies” and now I’ll only live them through my children. It’s odd how these things happen so early in life.
I make note of this “getting old” - however you want to look at it - today because last night I experienced my first instance of Alzheimer’s. I took some time off from this crazy job I find myself in and decided to put together our Christmas card - I know it’s getting late, but it’s coming. I also had high hopes of working on a Christmas gift for my in-laws (shhh, it’s a surprise). This meant I needed my mini hard drive and USB adapter which I normally take everywhere with me. It’s usually in my purse and I couldn’t find it. Dan and I searched the house, the car, and I finally decided I needed to go to the office to see if I left it there. This was such a terrible feeling because I’m usually very good about remembering where I put something like this. It’s always with me so the only place I lay it down is in my purse or my briefcase. It wasn’t at the office. Finally, back at home after about an hour or so of looking and thinking that we may have threw it out in the recycling, Dan found it between the seats of my car. We really just wanted to drive it around town…ha ha. I decided that this was a new kind of stress I’m feeling with work that makes me lose my ability to remember fine details that I am normally good at remembering. I finally knew what others were talking about!
So a couple of things have reminded me this week to slow down a bit and look at life differently. I feel bad that my life is so wrapped up in this business right now and I’m sure at times I’m somewhat dull to talk to because it’s all I’ve got at the moment. I know that will change once things calm down - my life has so much more to it than the business. Anyway, in church on Sunday the sermon was about preparing for Christmas and how busy this time of year is. I took away the message that we need to take the time to enjoy life right now and CELEBRATE preparing for Christmas, rather than stressing about it. This will make Christmas a much happier day, rather than rushing all the way up to it, then it rushing by and moving quickly on to the next thing. Let’s stop and enjoy the time NOW until Christmas and then Christmas will seem like much more of a celebration. So, I’m going to work on praising people for the positive things they bring to my life and to enjoy each moment as much as I can.
I was also reminded of this because there was a shooting on one of the major highways here on Sunday. A man was driving in his car and it was believed he was in a traffic altercation. Some poor soul decided to pull out a gun and shoot him. The joke we all make about cutting someone off and getting shot is very true.
So everyone, my purpose for this message is just to remind you to slow down for Christmas and try to promote something positive.
Carpe Diem!
Monday, December 11th, 2006
On Friday the store’s sign went up! It’s a bit more green than I would like, but apparently when it comes to signs, there’s only a limited number of colors that you can get in vinyl letters. I still think it looks fab. I noticed that while we were there, there were an abnormally large number of cars pulling into the empty parking lot and looping around to check out this new store. I put a banner up outside that says, “Coming Soon!” The word soon is relative. I wonder what most people expect for a timeline when they read those words.
Anyway, things are starting to take shape. My husband and I etched and stained the concrete floor this weekend. Wow, what a job. After doing this, I wouldn’t hesitate to stain a concrete basement or garage floor - it was actually quite fun, but when you’re talking about 2800 sq ft. of concrete, it’s an entirely different beast. Let’s just say it felt like we were saving ourselves from the great flood, as our shoes and the bottom of our pants were soaked in water and etching acid (no worries, the acid only harms concrete and metal - cloth and plastic/rubber were fine). We have to seal the floor last. I’ll post pics of the final product when we’re finished.
Back in the office today, I’m relieved to be sitting at a desk - much needed relief for my aching muscles. I’m going to take some time today and push aside client projects (shhh, don’t tell)… to do some much-needed work for Ekcetera administration.
Wednesday, December 6th, 2006
I’ve heard one particular word three times now….FRANCHISE. Lately, when I’ve been telling people about the store, a common reponse I get is, “You should franchise that!” One person looked at my marketing materials and said, “Is this a franchise?” Wow, that’s really flattering. However, I don’t know that’s the direction I want to go…definitely multiple stores and establishing a recognized brand, but I’m not quite sure I want to go so far as to franchise the idea. This isn’t something that can easily be done by someone else who doesn’t have the passion behind it that I do. I’d have to carefully select people to sell the license to, but I think I’d much rather hire them to run my store - still under my company, rather than sell the rights to open their own store.
Who knows what the future will bring…
Tuesday, December 5th, 2006
It’s only noon and I think I’ve already had more excitement today than I can handle. I’m out all day at an employer’s workshop learning about how to pay my employment taxes correctly and such. Wow, I can’t believe that they let people run businesses without attending this workshop. There are so many things that are being done incorrectly - even when people don’t have employees. Anyway, before I even got to the workshop, I received phone calls from the city (”hello city!” - inside joke…ha ha, Mom) and the builder’s permit was APPROVED! Wow, that must have been a record - 2 days! I was told to prepare for 2 weeks. Looks like our architect, Paul, must have pulled some strings as he works with the inspectors often. Glad we hired him.
Seconds after I hung up the phone with the city, it rang again. This time it was the sign guy (reminds me of that episode of Friends when Monica dates that guy they call, “Paul, the wine guy” - I degress…). He said that the sign is done and they will be coming to hang it Thursday! Wow, I wasn’t thinking it would be done so soon. Why is it that whenever you do something ahead of time it gets done long before you want it to and when you’re strapped for time, it takes MUCH MUCH longer?!
On the design firm end of things, last week I finally started with a client I’ve been working on since June and they’ll need me on-site for 1-2 days per week. This is GREAT news for the business, but unfortunately, I’m having a hard time fitting them in. I hope that as things progress, they’ll find that I can do the work more efficiently from the office and they’ll let me do it from there. I guess I just have to prove myself.
Monday, December 4th, 2006
Don’t you just love the relief you feel after a period of chaos and then you finally get things organized? This weekend was all about clean-up.
As an entrepreneur, one of the things I’ve found to be most valuable in business are the people who are willing to help you out and are excited for your progress. I think it goes against most any entrepreneur’s nature to hand over control of things when your business is your baby. However, I’ve found that training yourself to let go and allow others to help can be one of the best ways to grow and be successful. The true test of my ability to do this will come when my first employee starts later this month.
Well, this weekend, one of my biggest fans came to help…my mom. We started on Friday in the office and organized all my file and cleaned off my desk. Today when I came in, it was nice and organized. It was such a refreshing feeling.
Then, Saturday, we did some shopping for organizational materials and got some fixtures for the store. We cleaned out the bathrooms (wow, were they dirty! Pics to come later) and cleaned up all the paint dust that had covered the entire floor from spraying the ceiling. The store is actually clean enough to work without inhaling a cloud of dust. I can’t say enough how much help it was to have a couple of partners (my dearest supporting husband included) to triple the labor force and get things done quickly.
Of course, this doesn’t lessen my work load for the week. This one’s busier than the last - I’m finding that each week gets worse and worse. But, at least I can work at a clean, organized desk. Now, if only my house had magically cleaned itself!
By the way, Dan and Mom - THANKS A MILLION! I owe you so much!