Category Archives: friends

Must be Quick

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I’m heading out the door in a few minutes. Yes, you’re eyes are NOT deceiving you, it is indeed merely 8:00Am here in the hot San Fernando Valley.  My widget tells me to expect 102 today. Yikes!

Well lucky for me, I’ll be out wine tasting in Temecula.  Mmmmm….wine.  It’s a shuttled trip with a friend from LWL.  So basically, we can drink more than we might otherwise and know that we have at least a two hour commute (no traffic) until we get back in front of our cars.  Should be fun.

I’m bringing my camera, so hopefully I can get some fun shots. Funny thing, I’ll be up in Sonoma in a few days for still more wine.  Yum!  You better believe that NO bottles of wine will be coming home with me (today).

And speaking of cameras…I went to the Crowded House show last night at the Orpheum.  The Orpheum is one of LA’s art deco style theaters.   Absolutely gorgeous.  We actually hung out afterwards looking around and taking pictures.  So woohoo, looks like I’ll have some fresh Wordless Wednesday material…finally.

The show was quite good as well.  The guys were in great form playing off of each other and the audience.  I did realize though, Crowded House is much like Toad the Wet Sprocket for me.  I love them, and will always recognize their songs, but…I can rarely sing along since I like to listen to them while doing other things.  They have great background noise and perfect for driving (not necessarily singing).

Okay, time to head out.  Hope you guys have a great Saturday and those of you here in SoCal, stay cool!

It’s All Business Baby

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I was having a recent twitchat with some of my fellow biz friends and mentioned that I had a few book suggestions. I figured it would be easier to just write up a blog post about it, so here we go.

These are the books that have really grabbed me in one way or another:

The Boss of You by Lauren Bacon & Emira Mears – I just did a Skype interview with these two the other day.  I’m about 2/3 of the way through the book and I have to say, I love it.  They’ve got a lot of info about things we should consider about our business before getting started.  They cover all the bases from your business plan, who your clients/customers are and how to reach them, networking, marketing, you name it.  Good stuff and easy to read; just like chatting with friends.  I’ll post the link to my interview once I edit it.

The E-Myth by Michael Gerber – This book came highly recommended by damn near everyone at SXSW the year I went.  I actually drove out that night and picked it up.  Heck, even with our partying and the conference, I think I finished it that weekend.  Easy read and tons of good information about why many small businesses fail or just become overwhelming.

Awakening the Entrepreneur Within by Michael Gerber – I’m currently reading this one.  I was part of a teleconference where Michael was talking about this new book and venture and it was very powerful.  I’ve been dying to read it, but I keep telling myself that I’ll get more from it reading it straight through instead of bit by bit so I keep putting it off.

The Savvy Gal’s Guide to Online Networking by Diana K. Danielson – I stumbled upon this book somehow and thought it sounded like a fun topic.  I was pleasantly surprised by how much I actually learned from it.  It’s a super easy read, great to toss in the purse on the way to waiting somewhere.  I really think you’ll learn a tip or too.

Small Time Operator: How to Start  Your Own Business, Keep Your Books, Pay Your Taxes and Stay Out of Trouble by Bernard B. Kamoroff – This book was recommended to Lauren & Emira through the genius behind Sublime Stitching, Jenny Hart (heard her speak at SXSW in ’07 and I was blown away by what she and the other biz ladies had to say about being the boss and growing your business your way – here’s a link from that Boss Lady panel discussion).  It’s rumored to be one helluva handbook and really touches upon the “what now” sort of issues around growth.

The Innovator’s Dilemma: The Revolutionary Book that Will Change the Way You Do Business by Clayton M. Christensen – This book also came highly recommended (and I’ve yet to read it) from a business workshop I went to a month or so ago.  Our “expert” took the time to bring it with him to show us so that we’d all take the time to read it.  I hear there are some fascinating stories from many startups.

I’m also interested in checking out Real You Incorporated: 8 Essentials for Women Entrepreneurs by Kaira Sturdivant Rouda.  She’s got a real estate background and that’s certainly not me, but it still sounds interesting and useful when it comes to working on that branding thing.

I’ve also started poking around some twitter folks profiles and have found some interesting women in biz blogs and communities that I thought I’d share with y’all. Enjoy.

Divapreneur – this is a Ning community of women in business. First and foremost, what a fun name! They seem to have some fun women signed up and some interesting sub-communities. Might just be worth checking out.

Her Big Idea – these gals also have a podcast that might be worth checking out.

Ms. Biz – I had a lot of hope for this site, but I can’t exactly get past the cartoonish banner. It also seems very momprenuer friendly and they do have a blogroll if you want to find other biz bloggers (or twittergals)

Woman Tribune – this site seems more women-centric than biz women-centric, but it seems to be a pretty good community and gives me some ideas for my own community.

Women Bloggers – another blog ring sort of place where you can possibly find other women bloggers – some biz ladies, some moms, some a bit of everything mixed in.

It’s all a start and just some suggestions.  Hope it helps you out as much as it’s helped me out.

Friends

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I’ve been thinking about friendships a lot over the past few days.  I’ve decided that honestly, I’ve got the best group of friends that a gal could ask for.  That includes my old friends, my new friends, my online friends and my biz related friends.  Each and every one of them are just wonderful.

In the past six or so months, I’ve really had some awesome support from my friends.  When I went through that crazy stalking shit, they were right by my side.  When I started my own biz, they were there to support me.  And now that my friends are going through some things of their own (separation pending divorce, new business jitters, being up for an entreprenurial award) you better believe that I’m right there for them!

I think my favorite part of friendship is when we can get together (or over the phone or blog or email or whatever) and just share ideas.  To just talk about what’s going great or might not be working in our lives or our business, and share those out-of-the-box ideas…awesome. Nothing can pump this gal up more than chatting with her friends.

A week or so ago I reached out to a newish, biz-related friend (a fellow LWLer).  I had a question about being an expert (Millie) at our upcoming LIVE event.  When she replied to my email, she not only addressed my particular question, but she also said that I should give her a call because she had some ideas about my business.  She had unsolicited ideas to help me make my business a success…Come on, how great is that?!?

I think it’s a great thing when we can all stop thinking about others as our competition and just show support when we can.   There’s more than plenty to go around.  I like to tell folks all the time that if they like me, they’ll like my friends.  Expanding on that, if you like the way I do business and help you, then you’ll also like how my friends do business and help those they know.

There are so many little things in life to be grateful for.  At the top of my list…my friends!

It’s Official…It’s May

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It’s amazing to me how much of the year has gone by already. I mean, really, it’s May! For us, May pretty much starts the summer season. Concert season begins and vacations happens. Our anniversary starts it all off on May 1st and in my husband’s family, it’s officially the start of the birthday season (mine is in mere days)!

But there’s still so much more May madness…A few weeks ago I posted about my friend’s YouTube video trailer for their Fun With War Crimes series. Well, it’s officially launched and ready for your viewing. Enjoy!

And now, now I must go find some allergy medicine as I seem to feel like my nose is about to explode off my face from the damn tickling. And the eyes, the burning, the watering. Man, allergy season sucks. I guess it’s May afterall.

We’re pretty booked with concerts and dinners this weekend, so I probably won’t be around much. Wishing you all a Happy Weekend!

F*ck a Duck!

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My girlfriend just sent me a series of emails while I was out regarding an October women’s retreat that we wanted to do. It’s in Ashville, NC and absolutely beautiful out there any time of the year.  We were so excited.  And I’d actually, finally, get to visit the Biltmore!

First we wanted March, but realized it was too soon for us to make the arrangements.  Then we settled on June until I remembered my friend’s wedding and realized it was the same weekend.  So lastly, October was our target.  It took some work on her part to talk her husband into watching the boys – especially with it being so close to their anniversary.

She decided that we should pay for it now to secure our spot (and so she wouldn’t spend her bonus money on something else).  So we agreed to get online and do just that.  Then I headed out to Trader Joe’s…and come home to six emails from her.  The last one…”well damn!”

Turns out the October retreat is booked.  Mind you, there are still spots in the June session (of course!).  So now we’re both bummed that we don’t get to do the whole female bonding in the woods with massage, meditation and song thing.  Needless to say, we will be following Ms. Christine Kane very, very closely for her posting of the ’09 retreat schedule (thanks to my handy, dandy Reader!)

And now, I must finally start working on tomorrow’s workshop presentation!  Back to work for me!

Bring On The Clients!

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I just got back from a beauty, southern Californian outdoor cafe kind of lunch.  I was meeting with Lisa Steadman, of the BreakUp Chronicles (and author of It’s A Break Up, Not a Break Down).  She’s a fellow LWLer and I wanted to catch up with her so that I could interview her for my site later.

Overall, it was a wonderful lunch (well, my salad was a little lame, but the company more than made up for it).  We covered everything from women in business just starting out, the upcoming LWL Live event, service menus, coaching.  You name it.  I have to say, she really gave me the motivation I needed to get focused about turning my free workshops into making some real income.

I’m really pumped to get moving on this business thing.  In fact, I had already schedule my May off from leading the free LWL workshops (though I am still considering doing Santa Barbara ones).  I figured I would take the time to 1) celebrate my birthday ALL.MONTH.LONG of course and 2) focus on learning how to line up some paid workshops.  So this was all perfect timing.

Also, for anyone in the LA area interested in getting some help getting a business going, the good folks at PerfectBusiness.com will be leading a free workshop Saturday the 19th in downtown LA.  I’ll be there as well hoping to get some insight.  With luck, I might even be able to swing a speaking engagement out of it.  It could happen.

Okay, enough procrastinating.  I still my article on blogging to finish up.  I just need my closing paragraph and it’s ready to go to the boss lady.  I have to say though, writing a 700ish word article on blogging basics…not so easy when it all depends on certain basic knowledge.  Hopefully it will go over okay.

PS – I really need to purge and merge my categories.  Since merging the two blogs I have far too many duplicate categories and it bugs me.

Are You Near a William Sonoma Outlet?

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Do any of my bloggie friends live near a William Sonoma outlet? I love their soaps and lotions. In fact, I fell so in love with their winter berry products while at a friend’s house that this past Christmas they bought me the three-pack (lotion, soap & dish soap) for Christmas. Of course, I fell in love with it the year before and had already purchased it as soon as I had gotten home that year.

Since then, I’ve purchased their jasmine-scented soap and lotion for my non-winter seasons. I’ve fallen so in love with with this line that I’ve purchased it for others for gifts. Wouldn’t you know it, they discontinued this original product line, changed up the scents and redesigned the bottles.

Now I can’t seem to find the jasmine dish soap anywhere. It’s not on clearance in their catalog or in the stores. In fact, I can’t even find the jasmine one on ebay. Being the desperate (and some might say a bit OCD) I stopped by the store today to ask about it. Turns out all the merchandise has been sent to the outlet stores.

Thing is, we don’t have an outlet near us (though I do know there’s one on the way to Vegas at State Line) and I don’t have any plans of traveling near one any time soon. So I’m wondering, if any of my bloggie friends live near a William Sonoma Outlet, I’d be more than willing to compensate you for your troubles if you wouldn’t mind picking me up a couple of the dishsoaps (or one dish soap and one refill).

Could I be so lucky? Anyone?

Okay, I’m on the Twitter – Now What?

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I did an email search and added a couple of my bloggie friends (hi Siz & Geggie!!).  I also added a couple of my Ladies Who Launch gals.  I even figured out how to text in a tweet and added a sidebar widget (sweet!).

But really now what?  Do I just start searching for people that I admire or like: Seth Godin? Robert Kiyosaki? Andy Wibble? Michael Gerber?  Or do I just pimp myself out to my other bloggie friends (see below)?

I’m actually surprised at how many people have their accounts but haven’t bothered to update in months.  Is that all it is for some people, just another account that they’ve let lie fallow?  I want to network baby!  I want to have fun!  I want to be cooler than cool!

Anyone else care to cave to the peer pressure and join me?  You can find me at kat_taf.

Lookee Lookee What I Got!!!

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excellent

The faire Ivanhoe handed this to me today! How cool is that?!? Of course I’d like to thank my darling husband, my adorable and feckless two boys, my many bloggie friends, both new and old and of course, life itself for making me the person that I am and giving me the willingness to tell anyone that will listen what’s on my mind. And thank you readers for following right along – feel free to comment from time to time if the mood strikes you 😉

And don’t forget to check out Ivanhoe’s blog. She’s from Prague and now living here in the states. How neat is that??

The Rules: By accepting this Excellent Blog Award, you agree to award it to 10 more people whose blogs you find Excellent Award worthy. You can give it to as many people as you want but please award at least 10. You deserve this! Feel free to award people who have already been awarded.

I humbly and graciously pass along this E for Excellence to the following:

  • Ampersander Bound – she’s a fellow LWLer, a great photographer and is currently keeping me enthralled with her NaBloPoMo March lists.
  • Beyond the Map – her writing will touch your heart its that potent and insightful.
  • Geggie over at So…What Else, What Else, What Else? – hang round this chick long enough and you too will fall head over heels in love with Burts Bees.  And man, her cooking and the way she experiences dining out makes me want to buy her dinner!
  • Sizzle Says – she’s got a great outlook on life and well, let’s face it, who wouldn’t want her as their landlord?
  • Tears in My Coffee – she’s moving on in her life and nearly ready to leave point A for point B.  She’s got some exciting times ahead of her.

I’m going to stop at five (yeah, yeah, I know it says 10).  Most of the blogs I read lately are more business focused, so I don’t want to pass out this award to all of the non-biz blogs I read at once.  I’d like to savor it and share the wealth a bit at a time.  Plus, I’d actually like you guys to stop by and visit with these gals a bit.  They really are some cool chicks.  So I’ll add my next five sometime down the road…when you least expect it! 😉