Is it really the 20th? REALLY? Five days ‘til Christmas? Yikes!

Did Someone Say…

“Hoppings”?

We’re going to have to really hop to it to get things done.  Of course, the froggie socks I was going to list  to make the rhyme work are all sold out, but Delisa Carnegie comes to our rescue with her curiously silky beer based soaps.  Because beer contains hops, don’t ya know!

Yes, yes, I know. Rampant consumerism. Launch overload.  Mega ads and high pressure sales and I should be encouraging you not to spend money and focus on the meaning of the season but but but…

It’s SHOPPING!!!

And I can’t help it – I lurve stuff.  And shopping. Most of all I love shopping for STUFF!

So pick up your stuff-baskets (but leave your credit cards behind so you aren’t tempted to go overboard) and let’s see what’s available out there today that’s more awesome-than-a-possum:

It’s all Hallow’s Eve (Boo!)
And we have new Totems!

This totem set belongs to Birdy Diamond’s An Encouraging Bird,
Kimiko Alexander’s Gifted-Reader, Eileen Valazza’s Love & Greens
and Birdy & Mike’s TwOOwls Art.

This started as a comment on a previous post, but it turned into something more.  Not a lot more, mind you, but it’s certainly more than a comment – It’s about my process, so it may not make a lot of sense at first. Also, there are questions for you at the end of each section, so you can dive in and not-make-a-lot-of-sense right along with me, if you like.

I was really
struggling last night.

Doubting everything.
Doubting everyone.
Doubting myself.

This recent anti-online-business bruhaha shook me, what with all of the talk about “online businesses aren’t real/can’t make money” and “people who don’t have degrees and haven’t successfully run brick and mortar businesses can’t coach/teach/write about business.”  It undercut my confidence in what I’m trying to do here.

So I curled up with a particular book that serves as my creative touch stone, and slowly? I remembered why I’d set up this weird and ill-defined circus caravan in the first place:

To do something fun, experimental, unpredictable,
something that incorporates a variety of skills into
a package that, hopefully, can help others and add
consistently to our household income.

Something that inspired me. Something that was inventive. Something that took risks.

I’m not asking you to set aside secure or boring or every day lives, and take those risks with me.  But if you  are already taking risks (or wanting to take those risks), I’m asking if you’ll consider joining me and others in some small or large way,  so we can have support and comfort as we forge new ground and take these risks together.

My questions for you: What is the original concept that drove you to decide developing your own venture-business-thing was the way to go? What are you risking with that?

But then? I realized
I’m not exactly clueless.

I’ve been surrounded by small business and innovation all of my life.

Fleece me like you MEAN it, Baby!!

And that’s all that needs to be said, right?

Unless of course you’d like to leave a comment.
Which would be  just awesome-possum.

Fox Mulder Lives!

Coming soon to a Zazzle Shop near you.

(I decided the illustrations I’ve been working on are simply too cool to bury in a blog post. )

Check it out… four more Totems for your viewing pleasure, and four more incredible, quirky businesses to explore!

These lovely, cuddly, clever beasties were drawn for:

• RoundAbout
• Intuitive Bridge
• OneBlueBerry
• VictoriaBrouhard

How awesome are these folks?
(Pretty darn awesome, I’m tellin’ ya)

The latest totems are up, and like all the rest, they’re my very most favorites ever!  Click on them to see the full menagerie and their stories.

These loverly beasties belong to Open Roads Coaching, Stitch Circus, and The Social Caterpillar.

I’d hoped to have the last few totems done before I posted the announcement, but alas, alark and woe,  a summer cold and a very sickly grumpy spouse have conspired against that plan.  But if you’re among the final few, never fear… they’re coming soon!

Since I didn’t ketchup over the weekend, you get your ketchup on Monday, this week.  And it’s a limited, brief ketchup, just dealing with Totems!

After a wee struggle with some tech issues, we’ve got a brand new way of displaying the totems & poles, and four new totems in the menagerie. Click on them to go to the pole, and read their messages:

The Ketchups are my newly revived, mostly-weekly ritual, a fret-free way to assure that I post once a week, even if it’s not pure awesome-sauce. If you’d like to play along, just add your ketchup (or a link to it) in the condiment section below.

Whoa. This week? I got stuff DONE! Go me!

We have a new About page! I’m still scared to go and re-read it just yet, but I thought it was pretty rockin’ when I wrote it.

And writing about myself? I hate it so much that I avoided it by logged into LinkedIn and updated my contacts there – something I’d not done in 2 years. And I seriously hate LinkedIn, because it’s so formal and there are so many blanks in my resume and and and…. well. You get the picture. But my About-Page avoidance wasn’t quite severe enough to make me update Facebook.