Lately, a lot of my energy is going into the background work of the big picture & other bits of biz planning – basically, that means staring at the walls, consulting with cohorts & staying plonked down in front of creativeLIVE workshops for days.  I’ve added bucketloads of ideas into the plan, and edited even more of them out of the picture.

You know the picture I’m talking about, right? The really big, Big, BIG picture-window view of a project or business?  The business visualization (also obnoxiously reffered to here as ‘biz viz’ ) that encompasses an organization’s goals, values and mission? A future-proofed projection of where the project & its leadership are going, and why they’re going there?  The picture that’s supposed to guide my choices as a leader, and keep me inspired & motivated as I build this thing?

Yeah.

I suddenly realized I didn’t have one.

Wondering what this is about? <—click here

While sorting through the archives of Alien Monster comics, this one leapt out at me – probably because I’m having a blanket-fort-kind-of-week around here.

And seriously, who doesn’t want to hide away from the world in their own way from time to time? How many of us might choose to stay in that fortress-of-solitude, if other needs didn’t force us back into the world?

Sometimes? Things go wrong. The popcorn won’t pop. The flying trapeze won’t fly.  The elephants are arguing politics with the tigers, the star poodle is in the dressing room crying over a bad haircut, and the clown’s nose keeps falling into his breakfast cereal.

Last Week? Yeah.
All of That Happened.

Ok, maybe not ALL of it, and not exactly those things… but stuff did go frustratingly not-right.   I thought I’d give you a glimpse of what happens behind the scenes around here, so you don’t feel so alone next time you feel like crying over the clown nose in your soup.

As some of you know, I feel a special connection to chronic depression and bipolar disorder.  Multiple members of my family,  my husband’s family, and several of our close friends and have struggled to get diagnosed, find and maintain treatment.

Each persons path and experience has been different – but one theme seems consistent:  the level of frustration sufferers feel when no one (not loved ones, not doctors, sometimes not even themselves) seems to quite understand what’s going on in your head.

One of those friends recently found an outlet for that frustration:  simple line drawings and text, penciled on sheet of copy paper. One at a time, scans of the comics found their way to my inbox, always with the disclaimer that “I’m no artist”.

I beg to differ.

If you’re un-accustomed to my ramblings, the first part of this post may not seem relevant to you, but I get there eventually — I always do. You can skip to the point by clicking —> here, but all the fun bits and Easter Eggs are along the way.  Also? I didn’t write this for Geek Week.  That’s just a happy coincidence – a coincidence that I’ll take it as a sign of approval from the Net Gawds. Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?

A few weeks ago, I spotted this video:

It made me smile. A lot.  A WHOLE whole lot.  See, I’m all about encouraging people to boldly be themselves, and refusing to being put into (or kicked out of!) boxes. It’s sorta one of my things.

So I dutifully shared the link on both Twitter & GooglePlus. I started to tag a few especially geeky friends, to bring it to their attention, and then it hit me… If I tagged my “especially geeky friends”  I’d have to tag pretty much, well, EVERYBODY I KNOW!

Here’s what my social media following looks like:

Huh. That’s weird.

Dear Email Marketers,

I wanted to share my experience from the last few days
with you. It went something like this:

“Oh look,” sez me, “Gmail has changed it up again; there are tabs on my inbox! Let’s see, here’s my main inbox tab, and here’s a ‘social updates’ tab for notifications of new Social Media stalkers — I think I like that!

“And what’s this one… Promotions? Oh, here’s a coupon from the craft store, great. A sales flyer, a newsletter, and, wait, what’s this?”

That’s when I saw it: a baker’s dozen of emails from various Marketers. Combined, they looked something like this:

Seriously? I mean… SERIOUSLY?

For the love of MailChimp, take a deep breath and count to ten!  Remember who you are, remember the lessons you’ve been drilling into your audience for however long you’ve had an audience.

Part of the Bring Your Business To The Beach project

So, you love the idea of taking your business to the beach this summer, but you’re landlocked, tied to your desk and you’re worried your budget won’t cover more than a few grains of sand? No worries, we’ve got you covered with a flip-flop….   instead of taking your business to the beach, we’re gonna bring the beach to your business!

Skip to the Gift:
Free! ($0! No Sign Up!) Beachify-Your-Biz-Kit

Please note that this is a beta version, because I over-achieved and ran out of time. But that means there’s even MORE coming soon. What kind of more? I’m glad you asked!