Not work...just life

“Persistence. Perfection. Patience. Power. Prioritize your passion. It keeps you sane.”
― Criss Jami

It's almost June.  Schools are getting out for the summer.  Office-bound adults are trying to figure out how many times they can swing getting out of work at 3 instead of 5.  Freelancers are waking up early and squeezing as much work out of their morning so that they can order a noon margarita from their local wi-fi engaged restaurant while they work from the patio just an hour or two longer.  Sound like you?  No?  Well why not?

In the summer months (mid-May through mid-October here in Michigan!), I prefer to wake up early (5 - 5:30), get in as much work as I can before 7:30, have a leisurely family breakfast, do some yoga or a HIIT workout, then get back to work around 9:30/10am.  I'll do meetings or correspondence until 11:30/12, then have another leisurely meal.  Between 1 and 3, I turn off email alerts, phones, and any distractions and get a couple more hours of work done.

What does this have to do with life?

What does this have to do with balance?

Well, the way I see it, knowing your own energy and how it flows throughout the day can set you up for success...or failure.  Getting enough work done at peak time allows us to work fewer hours in the day in the most efficient way, allowing us plenty of playtime.  Does this happen every day?  No, but it does happen more often than not.

http://www.key-dynamics.com/blog/bid/271857/10-questions-for-you-and-your-life-balance-coach

Here's a concept that I've noticed most businesses miss: scheduling meetings first thing in the morning, especially on Mondays, is a waste of time.  Sure, once in a while it's nice to come into work and grab a coffee and bagel, then idly sit in a meeting for 2 hours before actually starting your work day, but it's highly unproductive.  How about planning your first 10 minutes around the water cooler, then getting to work?  No, not answering emails and checking your voicemail.  The other things.  Those productive ones.  The things that you get paid to do.

Most days, I don't respond to or answer emails or voicemails until mid-morning.  By then, I've had a few actually productive hours of my day, so I can sit in meetings or make phone calls or play back-and-forth on the email.  And then I can shut it down and get back to actual work.  Our corporate society makes it impossible to actually work.  According to this Forbes article, more than 50% of employees waste  up to 2 hours of their work day on just social media.  That doesn't count how often Susie over the cubicle wall distracts you, or how long it takes to get back on task after babysitting your outgoing fax for 10 minutes.  I would wager a bet that the average office worker has 4 or fewer hours of productive time a day.

So back to life and balance -

Imagine a world where you had a 4-6 hour work day, spread throughout the day to benefit your energy schedule.  Imagine that you weren't tied to your desk, and you could work from that restaurant at lunchtime with a drink and no one would mind.  Imagine that you could end your work day at 3pm every day, not just Fridays, and not just in the summer.  

What would you do with that time?  

How would you live?

Nicole
The Restless Entrepreneur

Resources for the restless entrepreneur

“My soul is impatient with itself, as with a bothersome child; its restlessness keeps growing and is forever the same. Everything interests me, but nothing holds me.”
― Fernando Pessoa

As a restless entrepreneur, I like to have my hands in a lot of things.  I like to read a lot of material and talk with different people.  My introverted, hyperactive, attention deficit mind allows me to constantly, and efficiently, bounce between ideas in order to get work done.  This has worked out well for me with my involvement with start-ups.  They don't need someone around long term.  They need guidance and ideas, then for the purse strings to be cut so they can flourish on their own.  It plays well in my need to create businesses and then have others run them.  I plan and push and prepare, then I step back and let whatever team I put together handle the business so that I can move on to something new.

I love industry.  I love new ideas.  And more than anything, I love digging through my vast supply of resources that inspire me.  I'd like to share my five current favorite resources with you.


1)  The Solopreneur Hour Podcast

Michael is a freelancing pro - so much so that he has branded the word "solopreneur."  His podcast is attractive sounding, with informative nuggets of business knowledge, and his tagline "job security for the unemployable" hits a note with me (I am quite proud to be unemployable by traditional standards).  On top of that, his "resources" page is a good start for those of you thinking of venturing out on your own.

2) The Middle Finger Project

Ash and Jess are hilarious.  Not only that, but they know business - and they're not going to beat around the bush to get that info in your head.  Aside from their hilarious banter and waxing poetic about vacations (they started a company for that too!), they blog about all aspects of life and business, and they give it to you straight.  These ladies are fun, informative, and chock-a-bock full of good information.

3) Freelancers Union

Freelancers Union is the kind of company that would almost make me uproot my family to move to New York.  Sara has the kind of ideas that allow freelancers to work for themselves, including an amazing insurance program that, in my humble opinion, should happen everywhere.  I became a fan of Sara's after reading her book The Freelancer's Bible, almost 10 years into my career as a freelancer.  Let me tell you - I didn't know what I didn't know until I read that book.

4) Joan Garry

 A good portion of my consulting clients are nonprofits, so being a faithful reader to Joan's website and blog are necessary.  I thought I understood how boards operate after sitting on them for the past few years...until I read how they are suppose to operate.  And don't get me started (seriously, not yet) on what I learned about Founder's Syndrome (and why I will not sit as chair of my own nonprofit's board)!  Joan blends humor with sound, practiced advice, and should be required reading for anyone looking to start a nonprofit, join a board, or accept a position as executive director.

5) Entrepreneur Magazine

True story - when I was putting this list together, I was trying to find not-as-mainstream resources.  I dug through bookmarked pages and articles, open tabs and browser histories, and what I found was that Entrepreneur Magazine is, by far, one of my favorite go-to resources.  I follow them on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook, plus get email newsletters and have a subscription.  They provide solid information about so many different aspects of business that I seriously cannot think of a better magazine to reference.  They seem to publish articles about topics that resonate with me, the people I mentor, or groups that I'm working with such timing that I sometimes think they have a live feed into/out of my brain.

What are your favorite go-to resources for all things business, entrepreneur, freelance, nonprofit, or life?

Let me know in the comments!

Nicole
The Restless Entrepreneur

Let's talk about community

“What should young people do with their lives today? Many things, obviously. But the most daring thing is to create stable communities in which the terrible disease of loneliness can be cured.”
― Kurt Vonnegut

If there is one thing that you, the reader, takes from my little blog, it should be the importance of building a supportive community.  Scratch that, I have two; integrate yourself fully within your community.  These are the yin and yang of community.  Surround yourself with supportive people who have different strengths and weaknesses than yourself, and make sure that you reach out to people in your local region to help and build a better place.

I moved here, to the Great Lakes Bay Region of Mid-Michigan, a little over four years ago.  I knew my boyfriend at that time - no one else.  I didn't have clients or business partners in the area.  I didn't know what resources were available or where to even look.  I felt alone and friendless, and quickly because fairly reclusive.  It was easy to hide from people here.  I could be anonymous.  I could become anyone that I wanted to be.  I could make any impact that I wanted to without coming in with preconceived notions.

http://cloudcatamaran.com/2014/01/customer-community-customization-part-2-visualforce-pages/

 
So what did I decide to be?

What impact did I decide to make? 

 How did I build my community? 

How am I working to make my community a better place?

After moving here, I decided to regionalize my once worldwide company.  Instead of traveling around, meeting with clients, I decided to find the local market that could use my strengths.  And then I decided that the best way to decide what I wanted to be was to become someone's employee.  And 11 short months later, I realized that I knew all along what I was: an entrepreneur who had an opportunity to once again re-brand myself.

My impact came through a series of events.  Last year, I started networking.  You've heard of "fake it till you make it?"  I lived that.  I introduced myself to everyone as a consultant who was looking for local opportunities.  I listened to the needs of the community.  I looked for opportunity.  I faked it until I started getting enough viable leads to actually be a regional-based consultant.

Building a community came later.  After realizing that I lived here for nearly 3 years and didn't have someone I considered a close friend, I decided that had to change.  So once again, I looked for opportunities.  I joined a local Rotary club.  I joined a women's leadership organization.  I volunteered in the community.  I took leadership roles that existed.  I kept reconnecting with potential friends.  And after a year of feeling out my regional area, I found my community.  I found people I was comfortable with, who understood me, and who I could lean on when needed.  People I could help.  People I could be there for.

This translated huge for my involvement with my city and how I work daily to make it a better place.  Within the past year, I've developed a relationship with a group of locals who are working on a community project to curb violence and clean up the city.  I worked to bring resources to small businesses and start-ups in the form of a coworking office space, a business incubator, a manufacturing proto-shop, and a private think tank on community violence and rebuilding our forgotten cities.  All of these projects are in a different level of research and development, but these plans and programs are huge.

The main point of building community is actually getting out there and talking face to face with others.  It's not hiding behind a computer, waiting for something interesting to happen.  It's getting out there, in your world, following your passions and finding like-minded individuals to help you make them happen.  Good things are happening here in Saginaw because of it.

Nicole
The Restless Entrepreneur

Like a phoenix rises from the ashes...

“Remember the two benefits of failure. First, if you do fail, you learn what doesn't work; and second, the failure gives you the opportunity to try a new approach.”
― Roger Von Oech

Some of my favorite lessons over the past over 10 years in business for myself have been learned through failures.  Failure can be a blessing in disguise.  A dying business can bring new ideas, innovation, that wouldn't have happened otherwise.  Failure forces you to reassess your skills, knowledge, and goals, which most don't revisit often enough.  By failing, you learn better how not to fail in the future.

Once upon a time

 I was wading through a vast pool of government bids and start-up businesses.  This time was about 2007.  Connections were easy to make in the military contractor business, and I found myself in a position to sell some of the most innovative, useful, and life-saving products to the government.  It was nice work if you could get it.  2007 was a good time for start-ups, and I worked to build businesses all over the United States and Europe, taking ideas and pushing them through the grueling process on business planning and investor meetings, grant proposals and lead generating.  Then something happened.  The bottom fell out.  The stock market crashed.  The government contracts froze immediately.  The start-up businesses dried right up.  And I was not prepared. 

The biggest failure I had in my business was not preparing for the uncertain future.  Being successful so quickly in business clouded my better judgement and left me in a tough spot when I woke up one day and didn't have a back up plan to save my business.  So what was one to do in the face of a failed business?  Innovate, of course.

http://www.chcp.edu/blog/sharing-your-failures

I didn't immediately seek out more work.  I took time to reassess.  I thought about the needs in the region.  I thought about my strengths, weaknesses, and knowledge.  I thought about applying to every job available in a quick moment of panic, but then I relaxed and decided that was the worst idea of the bunch.  I came to a conclusion:  I needed to find a line of income that would cover me until I came up with a better plan.  That was it - I needed a bandaid.

2 days later I had ordered a home-study kit from the top fitness training company, chock full of books on becoming a personal trainer.  I also ordered a home-study kit from a yoga teacher training company.  And lastly, I started taking classes to become a nutrition coach.  Within a week, I had my bandaid - I was going to become a personal trainer, yoga teacher, and nutrition coach.  I was not going to build a business for someone else.  I was not going to take a low-level office job to tide me over.  I was going to learn new skills that matched my interests to "re-brand" myself so that I could control my income.

The band-aid lasted me a few years.  In the time where I was learning and testing, I put 100% effort into my new materials.  As soon as I had passed my tests, I got to work.  I took on clients and started making money.  And in my free time, I read everything that I could about starting a business.  Wait...why would a start-up business professional read about how to start a business?  I decided to literally start from scratch.  I decided to reforge my business in the heart of the dying economy.  I decided to try to get ahead of the next unseen entities that would interrupt my plans.  I met with mentors.  I read books and blogs and magazine articles.  I listened to podcasts and radio shows.

How did this help me?

It taught me that failure wasn't an option.  It taught me that while failure can be scary, it's the perfect time for learning, reassessing, and building new skills.  It taught me that failure doesn't mean failure - failure now affords us the chance to do it better next time.  And more than anything, failure taught me to be innovative.  Six years after running my own business into the ground because I wasn't prepared, I am better than ever. 

Nicole
The Restless Entrepreneur

Adventures in Mentoring

“In learning you will teach, and in teaching you will learn.”
― Phil Collins

One of my favorite activities that I've started this year is actively mentoring others.  At the present, I'm mentoring a young college student, a non-traditional (older) college student, and one of my best friends, a post-graduate mid-level career woman.  By "actively mentoring," I mean that I set aside time twice a month to meet with them and guide them.

My favorite lesson so far is that I have learned so much from mentoring them.  They are all different from me; different experiences and in different stages of their life.  They have different degrees and grew up in different areas.  They have reminded me of different life experiences that I've had that I can weave into my stories and lessons.  They have challenged me to grow.  They have required that I learn more by researching, asking questions, and coming up with new solutions to problems.  They remind me that the line between mentor and mentee is quite blurred sometimes, and that we all step back and forth over that line often in a good mentoring relationship.

 

http://mentorguru.info/getting-the-most-out-of-mentoring/

The young college student is a new mentee.  I've met with her once so far, but she is the one who, at the moment, wants to pursue entrepreneurship.  She wants to learn about how to succeed and how to fail and how to start your first business and how that is different from your fifth business.  She wants to flexibility and freedom that she thinks entrepreneurship offers, and she knows she can change the world.  And I believe that she's right.

The non-traditional student is about 5 years younger than I.  She hasn't started her career, and realized that she doesn't want to pursue a job in her field of study.  She's the level of creative that I only have in my dreams.  In our second meeting, we talked for hours about passions and where she sees herself.  Like me, she's a more recent transplant in the area and is looking for opportunities to integrate into the community.  She has a level of excitement that is contagious and breathes new life into my sometimes jaded personality.

And last, but not least, my most  recent meeting happened this morning with a friend who reached out to me for training in a specific area: social media.  She recently had some career transition and thought that I could teach her things that could apply in business as well as her personal life.  We've been friends for over a year and recently became each others plus one to community events.  I was more than happy to help her with what she wanted to learn.  6 hours later, we covered so much more than social media.

Last year, I wouldn't have thought I could mentor others.  I spoke at the local college once last year and that was the extent of my teaching moments.  This year, I lead a 3rd grade Destination Imagination team to state competition.  I spoke to 2 classes.  I was asked to be a keynote speaker at the state DECA conference.   I received my first intern.  I sought out opportunities to share my knowledge - not because I thought I knew everything, but because I knew that in teaching, I would learn.  If I needed to know something, I would research it until I was comfortable with the content.  If I was presenting a new topic, I prepared my presentation.  I re-read Dale Carnegie books.  I brushed up on my PowerPoint skills.

Every day, I'm honing my skills.  Every day, I'm looking for ways reach more audiences and help more people, help more businesses.  These skills that I work on in my free time with my mentees help me to boost my abilities with my clients.  Mentoring has given me the confidence to write and develop seminars and workshops.  It has given me the confidence to speak to more classes and do more training.

Phil Collins was right - I am both teaching and learning.  I am always on the look out for new opportunities to do both.  And I believe that everyone should look for these opportunities because I still have a lot to learn from them.

Nicole
The Restless Entrepreneur

Welcome to The Restless Entrepreneur

"You have the power to change everything that's to come.  And you can do that by asking yourself: 'Why not be great?'"

-Seth Godin

In 2014, I have started a new journey in my business and personal life; a challenge to myself. This year, I decided to say "yes" to more opportunities and focus my work on my passion project. My journey last year took me from a recluse freelancer to a networking, community-involved professional, and I knew that I could expand on that this year.
My goals with this blog are to recap my progress of self-growth, as well as provide business and personal tips, tricks, mentoring, humor, and whatever other information I feel may benefit you, the reader, client, colleague, or friend, who may stumble upon this. I also plan to do Google Hangouts, podcasts, seminars, workshops, e-books, and other resources that benefit you and your growing business.

Stick around and be sure to follow along!


Nicole
The Restless Entrepreneur