Quirkiprenuers are people who approach their businessy projects a little differently than the rest of the businessy world, and if you need more background, you might want to read this:  Are you a Quirkipreneur?

And as you’ve probably guessed by this post’s title, I’ve been thinking lately that we quirky business folks can be divided into two main types:

The Quirky by Nature.

There’s something about the quirky by nature that forces us out of the ordinary mold, forces us to find our own shape.

Maybe it’s a rebellious streak that just won’t conform.

Maybe we’re forced off the usual path by limitations of illness (mental or physical), finances, or education.

Perhaps it’s that our personality or creative process just isn’t suited to the button-down, spread-sheeted world. Sales meetings, PowerPoint bullets and conforming navy blue suits don’t encourage the risks involved in creativity, and the tools of the business world? Well, our lives don’t fit into the 8am-9pm schedule of a Daytimer… not when our best work hours may fall in the wee hours of the morning.

Or maybe we’re just inherently a little bit different than the other business people we know.

… or memorize it’s message.

I want you to breathe it into your soul.
http://youtu.be/_Y1j75i6xQ0

Text link: Have A Little Faith

Thank you for this, Jonathan Fields.

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.

Somewhere in last week’s series on Gossip Drama Soup, I promised to explain how the whole internet marketing scandal relates to Circus Serene & the merry band loosely identified as Quirkipreneurs. Since both concepts are still evolving, I’ll start with how I currently define them:

>>> The Circus Serene (this site, yay!) is largely about process – the process of creating a fun, creative, successful business that reflects our identity and ideals.  So a lot of the content here follows thought processes, creative processes, productivity processes, or anything else that develops and evolves. (I just figured this out yesterday, so there’ll need to be a bit of tweaking done)

>>> Quirkipreneurs (still more an idea than a thing) is about business identity & community; an identity & community that supports people like me in our unique, sometimes difficult to define goals. A community that helps us find services geared to our needs, a community that inspires, instructs, troubleshoots, networks, and helps promote.

But this Gossip Drama Soup, everyone-is-a-scammer scandal thing? It’s made me second guess the whole idea of what I’m doing, and brought them up a whole lot of issues worth examining.  I’m going to tackle them one by one, over the next few days.  This first one I already ranted about, but it’s worth revisiting:

Issue #1:
Realistic Business Models & Expectations

Hopefully? None of us will find ourselves front and center in our own editions of Gossip Drama Soup, but it can happen to anyone,  even when the water isn’t ethically or morally murky.

All it takes is one determined, disgruntled customer,  a former employee or ex lover with an axe to grind, a crazy neighbor who doesn’t like the color you painted your house, or a frustrated family member, and voila!  The rumors start, then turn to smears, and pretty soon your reputation is being hammered.

So what do you do when someone takes aim at you and your business?  I thought some resources might come in handy, and give us something  productive to talk about.

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.

Among all of the dirty laundry and accusations that make up what I’m calling Gossip Drama Soup?

There’s an absurd claim being made that there is no such thing as a successful online micro-business.

It’s just a pipe dream, you see, and those of us building our own businesses? We’re chasing a mythical beast, like a unicorn.

And since there’s (supposedly) no such thing as a successful online business, anyone who sells anything to support the online small business market is clearly a scam artist, right? Their customers are defrauded victims and fools. We’ve been lied to. Oh woe iz us!

Or that’s the story that’s being told, anyway.

And that story?
It really, REALLY ticks me off.

Because the last thing most of us need is someone tearing apart our efforts in the name of “protecting” us.

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. )

So, the other day I wrote a post about the Dunford-Droid-NavarroFamily mess, henceforth known as Gossip Drama Soup.  The pot is coming to a boil, and honestly, I’m still not really not certain of all the ingredients that add to its… erm…  distinctive aroma.

Whew, that is one stinky soup.

But among the personal drama about mortal sins and mouthy broads and failed businesses? There’s a whole other topic that isn’t being discussed much yet, and it’s the one that might actually be sort of relevant  here on the Circus:

<cue over-dramatic music>

The Sins!
of Internet Marketing!

Disclaimer:
I love Naomi Dunford.

Why?  Well, she’s one heck of a prototypical Quirkipreneur.  She does business and blogging *her* way, by gawd, and no one is gonna stop her or tell her it’s against the rules.

She’s what my Grandmother would call (in a hushed voice) a “mouthy broad”.

She cusses up a storm on her blog.  She wears tight t-shirts on video, then cusses even more.  She is utterly transparent in the areas of her life she chooses to reveal and the rest of it is none of your gawd-damn business, thank you very much.

Whether you care for her shtick or not? The way she carries herself as herself, with no holds barred and no apology has given a lot of women in business on the web (and off, I imagine) permission to be ourselves… able to follow or break the rules as *we* choose, not as is dictated to us by any established standard.