ladies who launch

It never seems to end!...the business building stage [is] an unraveling story, so thank goodness it isn't ending. ~ Ladies Who Launch, page 186

Even your bills are cause for celebration because they are evidence of [&] receipts from a life well lived. ~ Ladies Who Launch, page 205

I hardly slept last night. Too much to think about and do. Too many papers to sort. Too many projects to dream and execute. No time to eat properly, exercise, sleep. Later, the word “unraveling” really resonated with me. On the way to see the chiropractor, I had a cry. Couldn’t hold it in. Those emotions are no good held inside, so I let them out.

Conversation: Called my friend Sherry for a pep talk. She listened, prayed, & helped me figure out just ONE key goal for today. Whew.

Conversation: Sometimes you just need cheer & an ear. I also talked to Lisa & received some cheer. Gave her chords to a song.

Chiro helped, too.

Conversation: When Dr. Melrose walked into the room he could tell I was tired. “It looks like your brain is working overtime,” he commented. He was right. I was honest with him and his assistant that today didn’t feel like a good day. Healing can be like that. His assistant Bev recommended a walk along the Glenmore Reservoir. I did—just 10 minutes, but it was so refreshing. Would have walked longer but couldn’t find my keys! Rushed back to the car to find them hanging in the lock. Oops! At least I didn’t have to coat hanger the door!

The day got better from there.

Went to a coffeeshop to finish reading Ladies Who Launch. This has been a very important book for my entrepreneurial journey and I have savoured it, digesting slowly, and texting nuggets to Twitter and Facebook.

Realized for sure that I need to go to Breakforth. Posted about that ephiphany on www.siretona.blogspot.com: “say yes to change.”

Conversation: Speaking of tweets, Kathleen announced good news: Once Upon a Huckleberry Bush (children’s books) in Vancouver wants to feature us at book fair Monday and they need more books. Kathleen send three batches! (I have no idea how many are in a batch, but it’s certainly more than one!)

Conversation: Called Shelley L about my Breakforth ticket. Learned that she watched Dara & I on SCN’s 15 Minutes of Fame last night & liked it. Can't wait to see it myself! Dara doesn’t get SCN either.

Conversation: Dara emailed about the documentary (among other things).

I have had a number of people tell me how wonderful the premier of our doc was last night and am anxiously waiting for my dad to come up on the weekend to show me it.

He and Charlotte, along with Ray and a few others watched it with a supper night and celebration last night in Yorkton - yay!

Conversation: Kevin and I got together for the first time since Sunday. I served supper to him and my landlady/roommate and her 3-year-old granddaughter who adored Kevin. I love watching him with kids. After supper we went to his place where we had a good talk then harmonized our calendars. So simple and important to make sure we’re connected in these ways.

 

What a day. It started out overwhelming and precarious. It ended peaceful, fulfilling.

The others, the ones who go to the edges, who reach for the remarkable and do work that feels risky—these are the entrepreneurs who thrive. …

I was on the brink of bankruptcy for more than five years. No cash flow, living week to week, paychecks on the verge of bouncing. Sticking that out, not looking for shortcuts or quick hits or panicking… that was the most difficult challenge I’ve ever overcome in business. …

You say, “Art is about intent and communication, not substance.” In your opinion, what is the best way to create and distribute (market) art that is effective?
Change people. Connect with them and deliver something that transforms their day or their week or their life. You do art when you free a housekeeper to get paid fairly, or a mom to have an hour to herself. Not with standardized business practice, but by being honest and human.

~ Seth Godin in Ladies Who Launch Magazine

a simpler day, but no less important

Conversation: Calvin Plum of Leading Edge Printing Services. Calvin & I grew up going to camp together at Arlington Beach. He printed the inserts for my first CD, Good Storyline, in 2000 when he still owned Optima printing company. Now, instead of operating scanners and printers, he offers printing services in the form of consulting and project management. We had a good chat about some of my potential printing needs, including a project I need to quote on.

Conversation: Melanie, a very creative lady who started attending Okotoks Alliance Church around the same time I did. Melanie is already a very talented visual artist, working in mixed media and jewelery. She’s got a lot of raw talent for songwriting. One of these days I hope to unveil a website of her work. For now we encourage, support and cheer each other through our personal and vocational transitions. I’ve been procrastinating another conversation, which I’m to initiate by email. She’s waiting for me to report that I’ve done it…

Conversation: Kathleen, of course. Email. Business names—registration options; voice over studio; another paid booking came through. Recalling serendipitous events from the summer buoys our confidence.

Conversation: Kevin. Surprisingly we haven’t seen each other since Sunday and haven’t really had a conversation since Saturday. We chatted for a few minutes this evening and he asked about my successes. I reported on the above. I also sorted a lot of papers today… and have a lot more to go.

One success that’s not business related: Kevin’s looking for new steel-toed work boots, but he needs some special features. Turns out it’s hard to satisfy his needs, but I discovered a shoe store today and had an excellent, informative conversation with a certified pedorthist (see also this). Who knew there was such a thing? Certainly not my spell checker!

 P.S. There’s a new post on the Siretona blog about Rebekah Joy Plett and how we knew she was “the one” to illustrate BlueBeary’s series.

catching up … on sleep!

I’m several days behind. Oops. No excuses for slipping this far, though there was a birthday party for a recently-turned 11-year-old, with 16 guests, an intensive bear-stuffing-and-decorating craft, a movie (Kit Kitteridge), and a sleepover where hardly anyone slept. One guest proclaimed to me, “Steph always has the best birthday parties of the whole year!” and “This [bear] is the best craft ever!” Kudos to Steph’s dad for establishing such a strong birthday-party-throwing reputation. Then there was about 12 hours of novel contract homework with said 11-year-old on Sunday, where she worked on the related tasks while her dad and I took turns reading the novel aloud to her. Dad had a meeting in the evening so I stayed to feed and read to the sweet, busy girl. 

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And on top of this, I’ve been having LOTS of conversations about books and music, but mostly books. So here’s a review of the key conversations:

FRIDAY

Conversation: email, Peggy, Vice Principal of Harry Sayers School in Abbotsford, booked Kathleen for a full day of presentations in May at our full asking price. A very good moment!

Conversation: email, Lynette of PicPocket Books. I sent her all of the files for BlueBeary.

Conversationsssssssss: Kathleen was on fire catching up on her emails! I received about 20 messages from her in one day!

MONDAY

Conversation: my massage therapist declared that I’m doing very well with recovering from December’s car accident and that she believes I’ll come out of this healing process stronger than I was before this whiplash. We talked about how I’ll need to learn to hold the guitar differently and that it will be better than ever.

Conversation: Kathleen Busch in Victoria. This was a simple conversation via email:

ME: Still want me [to sing] for the weekend of Palm Sunday? I made a decision on the weekend that frees up most of my weekends from now until Easter.

HER: Yup!

Conversation: A timely email led to a very late Skype call with my friend Crystal in China. We talked about goals for personal growth and business. And as it was a video call, I was able to see her two younger children dance and prance around where the camera could see them. :)

TUESDAY

Conversation: Mike Michalowiz: my contribution to the Toilet Paper Entrepreneur blog was posted today: http://bit.ly/BizIdeas. Scroll down looking for the icon of BlueBeary. 

Conversation: Kathleen by phone, trying to figure out Twitter’s relationship to her Facebook accounts, generally catching up.

Conversation: Roy Salmond of Whitewater Studios in BC, by phone, about the possibility of doing the iPhone app voiceover in his studio. What is a voiceover? It’s the narration of the story—the reading soundtrack to go with the pictures. We’re planning that Kathleen will do her own voiceovers.

Interestingly, Roy & his wife know our illustrator Rebekah’s family quite well. Another potentially amazing connection: Roy’s wife Gayle is a children’s writer, working primarily with Wind and Tide, apparently the largest preschool company in Canada. She has written some curriculum and children’s books for them, and has done four albums of songs & vignettes. Hmmm … Roy & I talked about other possible formats and applications for the voiceover. Whether we end up recording in Roy’s studio or now, this was like a valuable 1/2 hour free consultation!

You know there were more, but technically it’s Wednesday already and I’m yawning, so it’s time for me to sleep in order to get up and have more conversations tomorrow!

video+, PubStock, contract

Conversation: Kathleen McMillan, email & phone.

The emails have been flying today! You might say, “Of course,” but there was quite a gap before, during, and after Christmas when Kathleen and I hardly talked or emailed at all. But we’re into production mode for the iPhone app, booking mode for schools and fairs, and we’re constantly updating the website and promo tools. Here’s a new video we just posted on YouTube:

Conversation: Carley at BookManager, phone & email.

I have placed books in several stores, some of which have an online catalogue.  Every so often I browse the catalogue to look for our books, but they never show up. Today I looked at Monkeyshines and Owl’s Nest Books in Calgary, and Book & Brier Patch in Regina, but none of them listed the book(s) I placed there.

Suddenly it dawned on me that they all had something in common: a BookManager link! Hmmm. So I clicked on the link, browsed the site a bit, then picked up the phone. Carley was most helpful. TitleLink is a free service. PubStock is a comprehensive service requiring a yearly fee, but considering that some of the bookstores we’re in are either on this list or use BookManager for most of their ordering (i.e. McNally Robinson in Saskatoon), and that there are lots more stores to approach on BookManager’s list, this service will be MORE than worthwhile. A gold mine, perhaps? I hope so. Certainly BookManager blends the best of all worlds: the local bookstore and online ordering. Love it. Eager to get listed!

Conversation: Lynette Mattke of PicPocket Books. We now have a personalized agreement, ready for Kathleen to sign.

the click and the connection

Conversation: Heidi Clay, email. I like to call Heidi “my personal dragon,” because she once prefaced some great advice with, “Well, if we were on Dragons’ Den I would tell you…”

     We met in Strasbourg. Early on she bought a BlueBeary book for her little girl, who loved it because her name is Samantha just like the main character in the book. In our emails today, Heidi and I talked about what businesses catch on and which ones.

Me to Heidi: “So excited about how your Kindermusik business is growing! It's interesting, isn't it, how we can be in one business [like the same network marketing biz we were both in] and know that other people are making a living or even a killing with it but we can't seem to get enough traction, no matter how much we believe in the product. Then along comes something that seems to have a magical click for us—like Kindermusik for you and BlueBeary for me. Suddenly motivation is less of an issue and it feels so much more natural to think of and pursue leads and do the work involved.”

Heidi to me: “I really know what you mean about struggling with one business and then something else just clicking and taking off. My Kindermusik program has its own life and energy, I just have to keep up with it! And its not hard to keep going, and find opportunities, I LOVE IT!”

Conversation: Lynette Mattke of PicPocket Books, email. Ironing out contract details for converting BlueBeary to an iPhone application for sale on iTunes. “I think we should schedule another phone conversation to smooth out these next set of details,” wrote Lynette. “I do really look forward to working with you. I feel a nice connection growing. :)”

I feel exactly the same way.

arts and iPhones

Conversation: Lori Youngman—more hashing through ideas for her Breakforth workshops on prophetic painting. We also talked at length about some of my dreams for helping women in the arts with community & mentoring. Oh such big dreams! God-given dreams …

Conversation: Kathleen McMillan called while I was on the phone with Lori. We haven’t had a voice-to-voice talk in far too long! We revisited our goals, and prioritized our upcoming activities:

1. Sign the agreement with PicPocket Books to convert BlueBeary into an iPhone/iPod Touch application and sell on iTunes!!! Kathleen will do the voice over.
2. Book presentations in schools, primarily for Kathleen (Lower Mainland BC), secondarily for me. 
3. Get books in stores to be available after school readings.
4. Arrange book signings for Kathleen in stores, esp. in BC.

 

 

 

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serendipity and support

“Writing on one’s own blog is the easy route in so many ways. Deadlines and topics are self-imposed.”

~ Seth Daire, http://www.christianimagination.com/2010/01/03/writing-in-2010/

It’s Monday and I suppose I should write a new post. Not that I have nothing to write about, but sometimes a commitment to reporting is a burden rather than an anticipation.

Officially, I give myself one or two days off from seeking conversations. But sometimes the less you look for or engineer something, the more serendipitously it comes to you.

Conversation: Yesterday, as part of my Sabbath intention, I didn’t turn on the computer, but I did not take the business cards out of my purse.

Business cards are helpful little shortcuts for explaining what I do. Sometimes I will hold back, especially at church: I don’t want to turn ‘fellowship’ into opportunistic ‘networking’. However, over lunch with Roger & Holly and their daughter, I couldn’t resist passing a card to this fascinating grade 12 student who is already excelling in creative writing and wants also to be a marine biologist. I recommended some Madeleine L’Engle books to feed both interests, such as The Arm of the Starfish. She has already read A Wrinkle in Time and Many Waters. It was fun to feel that this conversation might help to “empower a [young] woman in the arts.”

Conversations: On Sunday morning I woke up with sharp, constant pain in my mid-back. Fortunately, today I had both chiropractic and massage appointments, back to back. After a very bad sleep, I was exhausted. During a very gentle chiropractic movement where Dr. Melrose pressed on a cushion on my chest, I started to cry, as if he was squeezing out sadness. He consulted with Alexandria, the massage therapist, advising her on how to proceed with my poor body, then advised me “behave yourself” and “no lifting.”

Face down in Alexandria’s room I confessed, “I’m feeling emotional.” She responded, “That’s alright. You just have a good cry if you need to. Those emotions aren’t doing you any good held inside. And you can talk about it if you want to.” So I wept, and I talked, and ended up having a bit of a counseling session along with the physical ministrations. Really, our bodies are so interconnected, whose idea was it to separate the body from the spirit? Gnostics? Fellow Regent College grad, Kirsten Jeffrey, struggles with some serious health issues and, as only a person with chronic illness can do, has some profound reflections on the importance of body:

“I nonetheless think that neither a faith-shaped worldview (ie me) nor a non-faith worldview (many of my dear friends) cohesively allows for a “well, our bodies don’t *really* matter” perspective. Not if your belief system – Christian, atheist, or otherwise -- is thought through logically. Our bodies do matter. They are more than simply the vehicles that carry us through the day – yet even in that role as vehicles, how they do or do not function has great impact on our emotional, mental, physical, and spiritual engagement with the world.”

Alexandria also asked, “If you were at home [i.e. Saskatchewan], who would you be talking to and turning to for support?” I told her “my girl friends.” She suggested that I need some conversations with girlfriends. Which leads to my next serendipity:

Conversation: Sue called me today. She is my favourite poet and knitting machine, Sue, aka the Accidental Poet/Housewife. She is also one of those kindred spirits with whom I have experienced instant connection. She was calling to invite me to present a one-hour session on creativity at Inscribe’s Spring Wordshop (not a typo) on March 20th at First Alliance Church in Calgary. Most gladly, I accepted the invitation. Also gladly, I welcomed the opportunity for a visit with Sue. Her voice and her perspective were balm for my soul. Thank you, Sue. And thank you, God, for ‘sending’ Sue today.

Oh, and an online conversation: I’m looking for ideas on how to promote and sell Notes from Over the Hill (www.marthamorgan.ca). Thanks in advance!