These Three Weeks In Business: Crashing Edition
These past three weeks, my Mac, my PC, and me have all crashed. Let me explain. Many people think if you happen to be good at internet stuff you are also good at computers. Not so. I am truly terrible at physical computer issues. And in the past three weeks, both of...Marketing Monday: Bar Harbor Bed And Breakfast Association
The whole power of the internet is the idea of collaboration. At first, I was worried that people doing similar work to me would be competition but the more I spend time online, the more time I realized these people were my colleagues. We trade information and ideas, refer each other for work, and are otherwise friendly.
I had a meeting today with Phyllis, the Director for the Ellsworth Area Chamber of Commerce and she told me about theBar Harbor Bed and Breakfast Association. Here’s what’s neat about this group:
They chose a shorter domain name: sleepbarharbor.com.
BarHarborBedAndBreakfastAssociation.com would have been way too long to remember, not to mention print on business cards. Sleepbarharbor.com is much more descriptive and equally memorable.
They refer each other via their website, and word of mouth.
On the top of their website, there are two clearly marked places to check availability. This one location allows an internet user to check all 26 locations at the same time. You can also narrow your search for rooms that include certain amenities, like a television in the room or a water view.
If you call one of the inns and they are full, I am also sure that the person working at the front desk would help the person over the phone book a room at another inn using this website.
This Week In Business: Helping Out Friends Edition
This week was all about helping friends (and having them help me out) in both my personal and professional life. Here’s how things went.
I attended my friend Ogy’s first webinar, and he did a heck of a job.
I love attending webinars but I’ve never given one myself. Giving one must feel an awful lot like being on the radio. You are talking to yourself and not sure about what your audience is thinking because you can’t see their faces or get any other feedback from them. Meanwhile, you are trying to get through your slides and read everyone’s questions all while being an interesting and engaging presenter. In short, I’m sure it’s way harder than it looks, which is why no matter what, I was going to attend my web designer friend Ogy’s first webinar.
Turns out Ogy did a great job, and the good news is he has more coming up. (Did I mention they are also free?) Seeing Ogy do this actually encouraged me to go public with a few projects of my own I’ve been a bit nervous about.
Matt came over and we set up the screen and projector.
My friends know that while I love the internet, I am completely nervous about setting up anything physically. Everything from operating a dog crate to a sewing machine for the first time, I usually try to get a friend to help me by offering to cook them food. I have a profound fear of breaking things and get easily frustrated.
This Week In Business: The Open Minded Edition
Sometimes, I catch myself thinking in terms of black and white. I’m sure this comes from making my own decisions (most of the time rather quickly) as a business owner. “I don’t buy that.” or “I always do this.” The truth is, of course, a little less simple than that but it’s easy to convince yourself one way or the other when you are the only person there is to convince.
I’ve spent this week beginning to really work with other people as peers. And while this is a sign things are growing, it also means this is no longer all about me, and my snap judgements are no longer going to work. Here’s what I’ve been up to this week, besides realizing I’m not the center of my own universe:
The workshop organizing continued.
I apologize to those of you who are probably sick of hearing about Matt and my upcoming workshop. I keep telling myself that the first one is taking so much planning because, well, it’s the first one. We fielded questions over email (and put them in an FAQ on the website, work once use twice I say!); got a few more registrants; and put up a website at www.onedayworkshop.net. I also created and sent out a press release and Matt made a Facebook page for the event.
Since three people have registered and a few more have said they’ll come, I think we might actually have enough people to *gasp* break even!
I began life as a paid blog contributor at Almost Frugal.
When my friend Kelly posted that she was thinking of selling her blog, I sent my condolences. Thinking about ending a blog seems (at least a bit) like ending a long term relationship. It takes more time than you’d expect and you care way more about it than you’ll publicly admit as your ego gets pretty tied in. (Full disclosure: I won’t even date a guy who doesn’t read my blog.) And while I haven’t dated Kelly (she’s married and in France), I have been reading Almost Frugal since the very beginning so I was a bit sad about the end of an era.
When my friend Kelly posted that she was thinking of selling her blog, I sent my condolences. Thinking about ending a blog seems (at least a bit) like ending a long term relationship. It takes more time than you’d expect and you care way more about it than you’ll publicly admit as your ego gets pretty tied in. (Full disclosure: I won’t even date a guy who doesn’t read my blog.) And while I haven’t dated Kelly (she’s married and in France), I have been reading Almost Frugal since the very beginning so I was a bit sad about the end of an era.
A few days later, I got an email from her.