Image: sxc.hu

Chrysty tells us that if you make her laugh, she’ll do business with you. So perhaps this is a good tip to keep in mind if you’re in a craft (or any other) business.  She also mentions how laughter is good for health, stress relief and your life in general.

I know when my mother had Alzheimer’s, laughter helped my husband, Mother and me get through this difficult time.  When Mother commented, “We don’t laugh enough,” I realized that, even though this was a serious illness, we needed to take time for humor.

How are you incorporating laughter into your life and business?

Let me know if , when you take Chrysty’s advice and laugh with your customers, you have more success.

Post from: Blisstree

Laughter is Good for Your Craft Business

I learned today, according to a key member of my business team that I am a “perfectionist monster”. That phrase took root in my mind more powerfully than if this person had called me a thief. And maybe I am. Because of my, so called, affliction or pre-occupation with details…perhaps I am stealing this person’s time.

My business is about perfection. Every detail has to do with managing customer expectations in the manner that was layed out in my business model–from the get-go.

Everything has to look perfect, sound perfect — the web site has to work perfectly, the packaging has to be brilliant, my phone manner and sales approach have to be warm and geniune, the stamps I choose have to be consistent with the brand…every little thing is my responsibility.

If I am not the overseer of this perfection, than who is?

I do not have an assistant or a group of colleagues who sit with me and help strategize about details that keep the business moving forward. I have to think each and every little piece through myself.

The external partners upon whom I rely, have only to look at one portion of the business and that is the portion that they for which he or she is paid.

If this person walks away from me, it will be a disappointment — but I believe not a catastrophe…perfection is the name of this monsterous game.

I’m just saying.

Post from: Blisstree

Perfectionism. When is enough, enough?

But I became side-tracked. As I was searching on-line for some references, I came across this Newsweek review of three new high-schoolish book titles of which the focus is how undermining, sneaky and downright mean women are to each other at work. (And maybe just in general) — how we’re supposed to navigate through this stuff and look great doing it! These books are really just $16.00 blogs.

Reading the article just made me want to take a big ‘ol nap.

My feeling is — if someone in HR were to calculate all of the working hours lost as a result of the time spent on this crap at work, there would be such shock and horror over the complete waste of resources, that whole employee manuals would be re-written and heads would roll.

I’m not saying you shouldn’t be aware of the politics of women at work; I’m saying we wast too much energy taking it all so seriously.

Everyone get back to work!

And I’m sure glad I work for me…if I want to compete with myself, well that’s between me and Dr. Phil

Post from: Blisstree

Shoes and Rules About Success.

Friends and family wished me congratulations, but also seemed compelled to mention that Rachel “is sooo ambitious.”

Let’s see, she started with the whole 30 minute meals show, then added her travel shows, her new magazine, her upcoming chat show, her glorius new husband, great personality…she seems to have everything. How did she do it all?

There is probably a different post in here about women being jealous of women or about why I can’t be excited for myself…but really this post is about ambition.

When I hear people say, “she’s so ambitious” — and it could be Rachel or it could be my neighbor…I start to ask myself, what is ambition?

Is it competitiveness? Is it drive? Is it how you were brought up? What is it? Are you born with ambition or can you learn it?

You’ve seen women in the office who have this quality, and no matter how hard you think you work, they will always be the ones who get ahead in business. Why is that?

Or am I just making you jealous?

Thanks for the mention Rachel, continued success.

Post from: Blisstree

I Wish I had Rachel Ray’s Ambition.

It’s 6:30am, you’re standing at your train stop, it’s freezing, your monthly ticket is somewhere at the bottom of your purse.

Instead of muttering how much you hate commuting and that you’re going to start looking for a job in your home town, here’s my top ten list of things to love about that chunk of time in the morning:

1. Keep saying to yourself that you are never going to get out of your PJs ever again.
2. Put all of your make-up on.
3. Change your shoes.
4. Read Rachel Ray’s new magazine but cover it with Fortune Magazine.
5. Type up the PowerPoint presentation that you swore you were going to do last night when you got home but Grey’s Anatomy was on.
6. Phone your assistant, and speak loudly enough so fellow passengers know how important you are.
7. Fix the ring tone on your phone by down loading a Coldplay song.
8. See if you can successfully text message your boyfriend or husband.
9. Come up with names/logos of your the business you’ve been fantasizing about, such as your new blog about shoes.
10. Sleep. (mouth closed)

There, your at the train station…didn’t that go fast?

Illustration from: Allposters.com.

Post from: Blisstree

What to love about commuting….

Like the day my boss through me into a lake. Let me elaborate:

Several years ago, I worked at a large international, luxury auto maker in New Jersey. Needless to say, the men:women ratio was enourmously unbalanced, in favor of men. You can imagine the fashion environment in a car company — yep, tons ‘o logo-ed polo shirts. And the politics and bad sexually explicit jokes, were horrendous.

As I reflect on this bit of history, my boss was a remarkably similar to Michael on The Office. He was a people-pleaser, a manipulator (I suspect a misogynist), a self-described “god’s gift to women” and mostly stupid.

This guy’s attempt a bonding with his group was an annual trip to a local lake, complete with beer and boats…and of course a token baseball cap with the company’s logo. BTW, the guys in our department routinely bonded at least twice a week at a local pub — but on these trips “the girls” got to go.

He hated me so much, at least that’s how I felt at the time. My reviews were never great, he made comments about my clothing, he even made a few personal remarks that were hurtful.

I hate lakes; I think their gross. I am more of an ocean/beach girl. Anyway, the day was progressing as planned, the guys are drinking and trying to manuever the boat we were all on,….brilliant, I know. And, doing cannon balls into the lake. And did I mention the drinking?

I hadn’t really been engaging with these guys; I was completely satisfied to sit in a corner of the boat and read magazines. At some point, my boss said to me, why don’t you go in the water, like the rest of the team, you’re not much of a team player are you?

I’m not a great swimmer, I reply. (The big clue).

I looked back down at the magazine, and no sooner said than done, he and his cronie, another moron from our team, lift me by the feet and arms and toss me overboard. They ignored my pleas for them to stop, they ignored the fact that I don’t swim well, and they had absolutely no concern about whether there were rocks in the lake, on which I could have cracked my skull. I was completely humiliated as my co-workers looked on — and laughed!

It’s just too bad a photo wasn’t taken. Later on, an attorney told me that I would not have a good sexual harassment case in court, unless maybe I could get a class-action going. Is that what it takes? Having as many  women as possible scorned or abused before an attorney or judge will take notice.

I resigned later that year, mostly because going into the office everyday was so demoralizing.

But, what I will say to you is…if you ever experience behavior such as mine, do not do what I did and hold it in or quit. Tell someone in HR right away. No one ever, I repeat EVER has the right to treat you with less than respect and diginity.

I don’t care if it was a car company or for the Queen.

Post from: Blisstree

World’s Worst Boss