Archive for March, 2009

The Not-so-New Workplace

Posted on March 31st, 2009 by by Barbara

Anyone who’s visited Monticello, Thomas Jefferson’s masterpiece of a home, has a favorite memory. While the gardens are spectacular and the house filled with clever inventions, I’m partial to Jefferson’s office which was situated so he could roll out of bed and get to work. Of course, in Jefferson’s time, homebased businesses were more common [...]

Weekend Excursions

Posted on March 27th, 2009 by by Barbara

Here’s an astonishing roundup of 163 ideas on how to be an entrepreneur. It could take the entire weekend just to ponder them all.

Making Your Journey a Joy

Posted on March 25th, 2009 by by Barbara

As much as I love to travel, there’s one part of the process I don’t much like. That’s the part that occurs between the time I leave home and arrive at my destination. I usually deal with this by saving a book that I especially want to read or by bringing along a needlework project [...]

What Have You Learned Lately?

Posted on March 22nd, 2009 by by Barbara

According to recent media reports, library usage is up all around the country. As more people look for moneysaving activities, they’re rediscovering their local library. Hooray! As an enthusiastic patron of the library, I can’t imagine a week without a trip to my local branch. After all, a library isn’t just a storehouse of information; [...]

Weekend Excursions

Posted on March 21st, 2009 by by Barbara

Didn’t you find it comforting when the evening news included a headline about the White House organic vegetable garden? If that was one of the major happenings on Friday, it was a fine contrast to the other stories of the day that weren’t nearly so positive. If you’re a gardening enthusiast, check out Growing a [...]

Banishing the Money Dragon

Posted on March 20th, 2009 by by Barbara

 Every so often I am asked some variation of the question, “Do you ever worry about money?”  The truthful answer to that is, “Not anymore,” but getting free of the Money Dragon had little to do with earning more money and everything to do with challenging  my belief system about money. Without realizing it, I [...]

Artists of Everyday Life

Posted on March 17th, 2009 by by Barbara

Inc. magazine founder Bernie Goldhirsh used to remind his writers that their entrepreneurial readers were actually artists and business was their canvas.
That’s been on my mind for a couple of reasons. On the one hand, I’m noticing a lot of online marketing gurus who resemble snake oil salesmen more than artists. Happily, on the other [...]

Now is the Time

Posted on March 16th, 2009 by by Barbara

A few weeks ago, I had to make a trip to the brake shop and grabbed a new book I’d received to keep me company. I settled in on a hard chair with a styrofoam cup of bad coffee and resigned myself to a long wait. Half an hour later, I was so enchanted by [...]

Laughing All the Way

Posted on March 13th, 2009 by by Barbara

“The seeds of what we will do are in all of us,” observed Ernest Hemingway, “but it always seemed to me that in those who can laugh in life the seeds are covered with better soil and a higher grade of manure.” Since I believe that you can’t have too much laughter, I was delighted [...]

Twitterphobic? Here’s Help

Posted on March 12th, 2009 by by Barbara

Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos, has this advice:
Remember back when sending SMS text messages on your cell phone was a new thing, and it seemed kind of strange to use your cell phone to do that? And today, you probably wonder how you ever lived without text messaging.
Well, Twitter is the same way. It’s going [...]