Minds, like parachutes, only work when open.
— Anonymous
Sure we may be set in our ways of doing things, especially the older we get, but sometimes it is good to open your mind to new things. How can you experience life to the fullest if you remain inside your box?
For example, I took a cooking class in college. On our first night there we were asked to try a bite of each sample she put out to see if we could guess what it was. Some of the food did not look like I would like it, but I was open to the idea of trying new things. This girl who sat at my table had to make a negative remark with each sample she tried. I knew she wasn't going to come back to class because she wasn't ready to open her mind to new food experiences. Guess what? She never came back after that class. I, on the other hand, was able to try new foods that we cooked in class and found some things that I now like to eat. If I had been close minded to the experience I would have lost out on new knowledge I learned during the course as well as some new foods that I have added to my pantry.
As someone who has been in the errand and concierge industry for close to a decade, I don't shut my mind to new ideas because of my length of experience. I actually encourage people to share their ideas and experiences with me. I have found many new ideas, tools, and technology that I have implemented over the years because I opened my mind to new ideas on how things are getting done or how to do things differently. This has continued to help my business grow and expand to new avenues for me.
What is the worst thing that can happen if you open your mind? Nothing. You can try a new idea or food or technology and find out that it doesn't work for you, but at least you can say that you tried. That's all that counts. Close your mind to the negative thoughts that want to get in, but keep it open for all of the new and positive things you should let in.
Thursday, July 05, 2007
Pack rat coming through
You can't have everything. Where would you put it?
— Steven Wright
I was at a meeting yesterday and was talking with a fellow industry member and learned that she does a lot of organizing. We were discussing some of the clients she has and learned about one client she has who has things everywhere. She mentioned that when it is time to clear the clutter, the client is hesitant to throw things away.
I subscribe to a couple of newsletters related to organizing to help me with my business and to learn new information. I have picked up several tips over the years to help me with decluttering my own home. I just wish I could implement them at my mother's house. She has things she holds onto with the idea that she might need it in the future, whenever that is.
My husband and I were cleaning out our garage and I took a good look at some things we had and decided that if I hadn't been asking for it for a while that we would get rid of it. We ended up dumping a lot of things and I felt no shame or regrets in doing so. I actually felt lighter because I didn't have this heap of things hanging over my shoulder.
I have seen news reports over the years where the police have had a hard time rescuing people from their homes or retrieving them once they were found dead because there was so much stuff in the house that they couldn't get to them so easily. I guess they were creative in the ways they came up with to find space for all of the items that they brought into their homes, but I couldn't live in a home where I couldn't see out the windows or move around so easily because things were everywhere or I couldn't invite people over because there was no room for them.
When you die, you can't take everything with you, so why build up your treasures now to the point of overflowing?
— Steven Wright
I was at a meeting yesterday and was talking with a fellow industry member and learned that she does a lot of organizing. We were discussing some of the clients she has and learned about one client she has who has things everywhere. She mentioned that when it is time to clear the clutter, the client is hesitant to throw things away.
I subscribe to a couple of newsletters related to organizing to help me with my business and to learn new information. I have picked up several tips over the years to help me with decluttering my own home. I just wish I could implement them at my mother's house. She has things she holds onto with the idea that she might need it in the future, whenever that is.
My husband and I were cleaning out our garage and I took a good look at some things we had and decided that if I hadn't been asking for it for a while that we would get rid of it. We ended up dumping a lot of things and I felt no shame or regrets in doing so. I actually felt lighter because I didn't have this heap of things hanging over my shoulder.
I have seen news reports over the years where the police have had a hard time rescuing people from their homes or retrieving them once they were found dead because there was so much stuff in the house that they couldn't get to them so easily. I guess they were creative in the ways they came up with to find space for all of the items that they brought into their homes, but I couldn't live in a home where I couldn't see out the windows or move around so easily because things were everywhere or I couldn't invite people over because there was no room for them.
When you die, you can't take everything with you, so why build up your treasures now to the point of overflowing?
Have you had your nap today?
No day is so bad it can't be fixed with a nap — Carrie Snow
I have dealt with many bad things that have happened along the way in both my personal and business life. Some of those days you just want to throttle someone or you feel as if any and every thing that can go wrong that day will. How do you deal with it? For me, I don't want to have a mental breakdown or find myself in jail because I took my anger out on the person who deserved it. My next best thing is to take a nap. I have this cool eye mask that I bought myself. When I need a good nap to clear my mind, I turn off the TV, all of the lights, put on my mask, and go to sleep. Once I have tossed and turned for a while, because I am still thinking about what happened that day, I go into my zone and rest comfortably. When my nap is over, I feel refreshed and ready to start anew. It doesn't mean that the incident never occurred earlier in the day or that the problem went away, it just means that I can deal with it better in a right frame of mind.
Naps can not be all that bad. My dog takes them all of the time and my youngest son loves to take them. He even stole my eye mask and I have the pictures to prove it.
I have dealt with many bad things that have happened along the way in both my personal and business life. Some of those days you just want to throttle someone or you feel as if any and every thing that can go wrong that day will. How do you deal with it? For me, I don't want to have a mental breakdown or find myself in jail because I took my anger out on the person who deserved it. My next best thing is to take a nap. I have this cool eye mask that I bought myself. When I need a good nap to clear my mind, I turn off the TV, all of the lights, put on my mask, and go to sleep. Once I have tossed and turned for a while, because I am still thinking about what happened that day, I go into my zone and rest comfortably. When my nap is over, I feel refreshed and ready to start anew. It doesn't mean that the incident never occurred earlier in the day or that the problem went away, it just means that I can deal with it better in a right frame of mind.
Naps can not be all that bad. My dog takes them all of the time and my youngest son loves to take them. He even stole my eye mask and I have the pictures to prove it.
Monday, July 02, 2007
Fact or fiction?
If you tell the truth, you don't have to remember anything. — Mark Twain
My kids have broken things over the years and then tried to blame it on someone else. I question them and they give me their story. I do a little bit of investigating to see if their story would match the circumstance involved. Sometimes they don’t, so I go back to the kid and ask for their story again. This time it changes a little bit because they can’t quite remember what they told me the first time. Once I ask them questions about things that don't match, they then concoct a different version of what happened. At this point I call them out on the fact that they are lying and after I give them those evil “You better tell me the truth or else” eyes, I get the truth.
Why lie in the first place? You’re going to get caught eventually unless you can remember all of the lies you told. I’ve seen it time and time again. Either in the news where someone murders someone and by the time they go down the story has changed a dozen times or when a guy gets caught cheating because he couldn’t remember what he told all of the girls.
If you run a shady business, your lies will catch up to you and you could lose everything. I just dealt with someone whose lies caught up with her yesterday. My ECSU™ business partners and I had hired a woman to create some marketing materials for us. She had asked for the full amount up front, which I felt funny about doing, but because she was friends with one of my partners and I had seen her work before, we went ahead and paid her all of the money that would have been owed.
First, we had asked for three proofs and never received them. Then she gave us one thing to look at and it was not our vision. We kept going back to her for adjustments and corrections. We had given her a deadline to have the items completed by. That deadline came and went with no products ready. We finally gave up and decided to ask for our money back. We filed a claim and waited to hear word on the outcome of the situation. After almost 30 days, I had heard on Saturday that we had lost because the review team had believed that the items were intangible because the lady had stated that the items were a service.
To say I was flabbergasted was an understatement. I couldn’t believe this was happening. I had called my partners to give them the news and had one of them get on the phone with me so that we could ask these people how this could happen. The items were clearly stated in the invoice sent to us as being tangible items. After talking with a supervisor, the situation was finally taken care of in our favor. He had to dig deep to find out that she herself had stated that the items were supposed to be printed in one of her first emails to them.
He had told us that after that email she had tried to get out of it by stating that the items were a service when they asked for a tracking number. She had tried to find some type of loophole or way to work around the system so that the case was found in her favor. In the end her lies caught up to her and she lost, not only the money she had received, which was refunded back to us, but her friendship with my partner and any new business that we would have passed her way if she had done a good job in the first place.
If you are truthful in your actions you don’t have to try and remember what your lies are.
My kids have broken things over the years and then tried to blame it on someone else. I question them and they give me their story. I do a little bit of investigating to see if their story would match the circumstance involved. Sometimes they don’t, so I go back to the kid and ask for their story again. This time it changes a little bit because they can’t quite remember what they told me the first time. Once I ask them questions about things that don't match, they then concoct a different version of what happened. At this point I call them out on the fact that they are lying and after I give them those evil “You better tell me the truth or else” eyes, I get the truth.
Why lie in the first place? You’re going to get caught eventually unless you can remember all of the lies you told. I’ve seen it time and time again. Either in the news where someone murders someone and by the time they go down the story has changed a dozen times or when a guy gets caught cheating because he couldn’t remember what he told all of the girls.
If you run a shady business, your lies will catch up to you and you could lose everything. I just dealt with someone whose lies caught up with her yesterday. My ECSU™ business partners and I had hired a woman to create some marketing materials for us. She had asked for the full amount up front, which I felt funny about doing, but because she was friends with one of my partners and I had seen her work before, we went ahead and paid her all of the money that would have been owed.
First, we had asked for three proofs and never received them. Then she gave us one thing to look at and it was not our vision. We kept going back to her for adjustments and corrections. We had given her a deadline to have the items completed by. That deadline came and went with no products ready. We finally gave up and decided to ask for our money back. We filed a claim and waited to hear word on the outcome of the situation. After almost 30 days, I had heard on Saturday that we had lost because the review team had believed that the items were intangible because the lady had stated that the items were a service.
To say I was flabbergasted was an understatement. I couldn’t believe this was happening. I had called my partners to give them the news and had one of them get on the phone with me so that we could ask these people how this could happen. The items were clearly stated in the invoice sent to us as being tangible items. After talking with a supervisor, the situation was finally taken care of in our favor. He had to dig deep to find out that she herself had stated that the items were supposed to be printed in one of her first emails to them.
He had told us that after that email she had tried to get out of it by stating that the items were a service when they asked for a tracking number. She had tried to find some type of loophole or way to work around the system so that the case was found in her favor. In the end her lies caught up to her and she lost, not only the money she had received, which was refunded back to us, but her friendship with my partner and any new business that we would have passed her way if she had done a good job in the first place.
If you are truthful in your actions you don’t have to try and remember what your lies are.
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