Archive for July, 2009

Think You Need a Business Degree to Start a Business? Think Again

Posted on July 30th, 2009 by by Barbara

Note: This is the final post in my Fellow Travelers series. It seemed appropriate to visit a few fellow travelers from my own neighborhood.
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As I was going through some articles I had clipped, one in particular caught my eye because at first glance I wasn’t entirely sure why I’d kept it. It was an article [...]

Would Winning the Lottery Make a Difference?

Posted on July 28th, 2009 by by Barbara

On the morning of August 25, 1997, the big story on the morning news shows was the Powerball lottery drawing happening that evening. For the first time ever, a lottery jackpot had reached the $300,000,000 mark. Lines were forming outside convenience stores, people were planning a lavish future. A mathematician assured the Today Show interviewer [...]

Good Business is About Philosophy, Not Geography

Posted on July 26th, 2009 by by Barbara

In June 2005, I spent a week with my three sisters, brother and brother-in-law in England’s gorgeous Cotwolds. We rented a charming house from the enterprising Berrisfords, who own several guest cottages on an old farmstead. They were just the first entrepreneurs we were to meet during our stay.
About three miles from the house we [...]

The Secret of Magnetism

Posted on July 24th, 2009 by by Barbara

Enthusiasm is a cultivated emotion, it seems to me. It also seems that many people haven’t experienced that emotion for a long time and have no idea how magnetic enthusiasm can be. When you’re passionate about something and not afraid to show it, opportunities have a way of appearing when you least expect them.
I was [...]

The Courage of Leaving Early

Posted on July 22nd, 2009 by by Barbara

 
When I left my job as a high school English and speech teacher after five years in the classroom, I was barraged with questions. These were not the questions of encouraging creative thinkers, but ran more along the line of, “How can you throw away your education?” “How can you throw away your security?” “How [...]

Have You Found Your Feather?

Posted on July 20th, 2009 by by Barbara

Today my sister Margaret is headed to the garment district in Los Angeles on a field trip for her business. I know she’ll return with all sorts of treasures that will take on a new life in one of her hair ornaments.
Yesterday she participated in a bridal show, introducing brides to her Over the Top [...]

More Fellow Travelers To Meet

Posted on July 17th, 2009 by by Barbara

Haven’t I been telling you that self-employment is the best personal growth seminar ever invented? Pamela Rutledge has written a terrific piece that is on the Psychology Today’s Web site called  The Positive Psychology of Entrepreneurship which affirms what I’ve been saying. If you need another reason to be joyfully jobless, see what she has to say. [...]

An Eclectic Entrepreneur

Posted on July 16th, 2009 by by Barbara

In earlier times—the Renaissance, for example—it was assumed that people were capable of mastering many things. No one was accused of being a dilettante if they wrote poetry, ran a business, composed music, spoke several languages and fought a war or two. It was truly a self-fulfilling assumption since many people developed and enjoyed multiple [...]

Explore More

Posted on July 13th, 2009 by by Barbara

Nearly all of us who arrived on this planet after World War II grew up in the Culture of the Single Lifetime Career. From early on, we were encouraged to pick a path and follow it. Once we had made the choice, we discovered that getting off that path was not only difficult—it incurred scorn [...]

Making It Better

Posted on July 10th, 2009 by by Barbara

In the small town where I grew up, the local businessowners were also the community activists. If something needed to be set right, funds raised, or a park furnished, they were the corps that got things rolling. Entrepreneurial volunteers are still shaking things up. Here are some ways to get involved.
° Need inspiration? Visit CNN online [...]