A Note From Home...

Next time you're having one of those days when you need a note from home, here it is, ready and waiting.  Use in good health! ;-)

Falling Headlong Into Another World...

Design by Gitanajava Productions PR, LLC
Find it at http://tiny.cc/JAusten

If I'm a Jane Austen fan, it's as an admiring bystander of the language, customs, and history of the Regency/Napoleonic era more so than as a Janeite or romantic.  So, as I flipped the pages of Cindy Jones' book, My Jane Austen Summer, trying to decide whether or not to add it to my already lofty stack of books, I was braced to bolt and run at the first sign of words like swoon or limpid or cerulean orbs.  I needn't have worried.  I was hijacked and hooked anyway -- how'd that happen?

Buried Treasure, Part 2

5 Steps to Creating a LinkedIn Recommendation
To view full sized, go to http://tiny.cc/Endorse

In the original Buried Treasure article, we discussed the professionals' methods for requesting, shaping, and leveraging effective recommendations from colleagues and clients.  However, in my perfect world, I would have preceded that instruction with tonight's post and asked this crucial question --

Mercenary vs. Missionary....

Don Quixote's Windmill Adventure, by Dominica Alcantara
Find it at Fine Art America

On a Quest or For Sale?


A recent New York Times article recaps the failings of Netflix and CEO Hastings during the hasty and ill-considered move -- now aborted -- to divide the company and its customers into two camps with the creation of Qwikster.  How Netflix Lost 800,000 Customers and Goodwill, does more though, perhaps unintentionally:  it brings to light an interesting phrase delineating two principal entrepreneurial styles, the Missionary versus the Mercenary.

In Pursuit of Defining Yourself...

Senorita La Tinta, a/k/a Miss Inky, taking her photo opp

I was not looking for anything remotely like Ken Robert's essay when I stumbled across it in one of those blessed web serendipity moments.  La, la, la, la-lah, I was skipping along the 'net path, gathering posies, en route to some somber research for a client.

For we RPISH* entrepreneurs and contrarian thinkers wrestling the challenges inherent to re-structuring ourselves and our work, the scant few minutes it will take to read "We’re So Ashamed of Changing (This Is Why We’re Crazy)" at Ken Robert's blog, Mildly Creative, will be minutes well spent In Pursuit of Defining Yourself.

While you're there, check out KR's self-description, too.  If Ken's blog is food for thought, his About page is the whipped cream and cherry on top.  Read and ponder, Unicorns, read and ponder!

Appearing Soon at a Theatre Near You

In a day or two, in consideration of that whole re-structuring topic, we will return with some ponders.  Stay tuned!


*RPISH = Round Peg In A Square Hole

See you on the patio!

Buried Treasure

Not long ago, I wrote a colleague, the former chief exec of a client organisation, asking for his recommendation.  We have a sound, genial professional and personal relationship, and we have communicated regularly by phone and email since parting ways a few months ago.  Although we didn't get the happy ending we strove for throughout our last adventure, I was proud of the exceptional effort and dedication we had given.

I'd spent four years nurturing the growth of his organisation, first on a pro bono basis, and when the small but feisty nonprofit hit a sizable financial and regulatory speed bump in late 2009 and the crisis took on life-or-death dimensions in early 2010, I stepped in as full-time formal consultant to him and the wounded organisation.  I liked these people, I liked their organisation, and I wanted success for them.

Bring Down Your Wall!

Building the Berlin Wall, August 1961

Don't you hate it when you read an article, blogpost, or book you know you shoulda-coulda written (but didn't)?  Yeh, this is one of those times for me.  I hope you'll permit me a short ramble, fellow entrepreneurs.

Today, I came across a nifty CNET article by Dennis O'Reilly, How to Use Powerpoint Effectively.  I started kicking myself.

The Accidental Entrepreneur: Thoughts on Risk, Success, & Failure

Shout out to...

..the rockin' Plan Fund crew:  new-ish Exec Director Jeremy Gregg, Neil Small, Senior Loan Manager, Marisol Montoya, Office Manager, and the rest of the gang.  Plan Fund is a jaw-droppingly amazing MFI (a nonprofit micro-funding institute) built loosely around the Grameen model.  Their motto, "Capitalizing on Character" sums up their ambitions and accomplishments well.

Unlike the venerable and stodgy fleet at the Small Business Administration, with its Small Business Development Centers (SBA spin-offs) and SCORE (Service Corps of Retired Executives), Plan Fund works with a special breed of entrepreneurs some sources refer to as Accidental Entrepreneurs, others call them "under-served."

The Feds are like a fleet of ancient battleships creaking along with the best of intentions, not very fast and they don't easily navigate a sudden change in market direction or technology:  they aren't built to meet the intense, multidimensional needs of any entrepreneurs but those whose future success is fairly obvious, easily attainable, headed for mega-growth, and can be more-or-less traditionally financed.

Plan Fund, however, is a speedy and nimble PT boat, armed with micro-loans based on