Archive for the ‘Life’ Category

Who Said Positive Change Would Necessarily Be Quick and Easy?

Who Said Positive Change Would Necessarily Be Quick and Easy?

Hello, peeps!

No, I haven’t fallen off the planet, lol.

I’m still dealing with the transition of moving into my dad’s house temporarily and getting things sorted and running again. Plus, I had to move during a heatwave. Thank gawd that is over! But there is soooo much work to do. Oy.

I’ve been here since August 1. My plan is to spend the next 3-5 months getting it cleaned up and put back in order in the hope that there might be some possibility at some point that he could return home and spend his remaining years in his own house with live-in care.

If you are new here, my dad was diagnosed with Parkinson’s about 10 years ago and Lewy Body dementia about four years ago. His health and ability to care for himself and his house took a nosedive in 2014, and he is currently living in an adult care home.

My lease was up at the end of July, and I was seriously in need of some change in my life. It all worked out perfectly for me to not only do this for my dad, but also take my time in finding my next ideal home. I’m currently checking out houseboats (I might even have a custom one built!) and will be doing a little roadtripping in the meantime.

As I get settled in, I am reflecting on the idea that change — even if it’s a positive change — is often painful.

I am someone who tends to zap tolerations very quickly.

I am all about ease, and whenever and wherever I can make things easy (or at least easier) for myself, for my clients, for others, that is exactly what I do.

I front-load work and get the hard stuff out of the way first because it makes things simpler, faster, smoother and/or less difficult/problematic down the road.

And because I am normally really good at making things easy, I sometimes have to be reminded that not every positive change can be made as easily or quickly as I would prefer. There is going to be some “creative destruction” that can be messy and take longer than I would like.

This moving/dislocation process has been a bit traumatic. While being a very positive step towards some much-needed change in my own life, it’s not easy.

I don’t like being in transition, even though I am moving step by step toward a more ideal situation in my life.

My routines are all disrupted and I feel out of sorts. I don’t like the feeling of being in a “temporary” state. I like being settled and everything in their place.

Going through this made me think of a colleague I’ve been chatting with who also started making steps toward some positive change in her business she was desperately ready for and in need of.

Two thirds of her clients took the new standards she was implementing in her business in stride (this is very common, many colleagues are surprised to find).

One is highly resistant and being difficult about it (also very common, and also indicative of a relationship that might need to be severed in order to make way for a more ideal client to fill that spot on her roster).

The reminder is this:

Positive change can be messy and take time. We might lose some things along the way. But the alternative is inertia and living in a rut. And that’s definitely not ideal.

So have faith that even though the process might be tough, might be daunting, might be painful, it is so well worth taking those steps in a more positive direction so that you can love your life, your business, and your clients.

(PS: Wondering what a standing toilet paper holder has to do with this post? It’s an example of zapping tolerations. The bathroom off my dad’s master bedroom is a full bath, but it’s v-e-r-y small, and the toilet paper holder in the wall next to the toilet is extremely awkward to get to. It’s really annoying to wake up in the middle of the night to use the restroom and have to twist yourself into a pretzel reaching backward and blindly feel around for the toilet paper. Oh, no, this is not a nagging annoyance that should be tolerated for one minute! Barring hiring a contractor to fix the problem, I discovered free-standing toilet paper holders in the meantime. Life-changing, lol! At least that one was a quick and easy fix even if other positive changes aren’t.)

Are you looking to make some positive changes in your life and/or business? What kind of obstacles (mental or otherwise) are keeping you from taking action?

I could sure use some conversation with colleagues. Leave me a comment and we can explore and brainstorm! 🙂

The Real Skinny on Being a Digital Nomad

The Real Skinny on Being a Digital Nomad

This is a REALLY good article on the “digital nomad” BS, that (once again) internet marketers are trying to cash in on in recent years on by preying on the fantasies of those living in La La Land.

And I say that as someone who is about to embark on some roadtripping where I will be a semi digital nomad, and also as someone who lived in Europe while continuing to run my business.

That shit was hard!

That is, since ours is an online business, it was relatively easy technologically, but difficult from a mental, logistical, and practical standpoint.

I work MUCH better running things from my home office in the U.S. where my regular set-up and all my stuff is located and I have a regular routine and things-in-place.

I wouldn’t trade the experience of living and working in Europe for the world, but I also wouldn’t advise anyone that it’s a good idea to try to escape your life under the misguided thinking that it’s going to solve whatever you are running from.

Let me tell you, it is not all it’s cracked up to be (no matter what kind of rainbows and puppy dog tail pictures the internet marketers try to paint).

Yes, there are lots of unique experiences you can have (maybe… depending on how intrepid you are).

But it can be very difficult trying to do ACTUAL WORK FOR REAL, ACTUAL CLIENTS on the road.

A lot of the work I see many of these so-called digital nomads doing is fluff (mixed with a lot of BS).

The article has what I consider to be a very realistic, no-nonsense list of what is needed for those who might be considering the “digital nomad” life (I even detest the term; so stupid).

I’m going to venture to say that most of us fare better in our lives and businesses when we have a home-base.

I will even say that for most people, you will have more chance of success in your business if you aren’t trying to start and grow it while being essentially home-less and without the structure and stability of a steady home-base.

And you don’t have to be a “digital nomad” to travel and have life experiences.

What might be better is to build a financially solvent and successful business with smart policies, procedures, and systems in place so that you CAN pick up and travel when the urge strikes you.

Ask any traveling business or salesperson. Living out of a suitcase and hotel room (no matter how adorable that AirBnB may be) gets real old and real inconvenient fairly quickly.

Instead, think about having the best of both worlds by setting up your business smartly and profitably so that you can live and travel when and where you fancy while always having a home and community to come back to.

Have you ever thought about living and working on the road? What would be the pros and cons for you?

Interview with Danielle Keister, Founder of the Administrative Consultants Association

Interview with Danielle Keister, Founder of the Administrative Consultants Association

Last month a colleague asked for an interview with me, and I thought I would share my answers with you here as well.

Your Name:

Danielle Keister

Name of Your Business:

I am the founder of the Administrative Consultants Association (ACA), a professional organization for those running administrative support businesses. I also run my own administrative support business supporting solo attorneys who practice in the areas of business, intellectual property and entertainment law.

Years in Business:

I’ve been in business since 1997 when I officially took out my business license; longer if you want to include the years I did this work on the side informally. I originally started the organization now known as the Administrative Consultants Association (ACA) in 2005.

Q1. Tell me about starting your business. Why did you start it?

My husband died without warning in 1995, leaving me a young widow with a daughter to raise on my own. An unexpected loss like that really makes you question life and what you want out of it, how you want to live, what you want for yourself and your children, etc.: Are you living life on your own terms? How happy are you in the 9-to-5 grind? Is my child really getting the best of me if I’m tired and working all the time just to make ends meet? What kind of life am I providing for her? Is this really all there is?

I had previous forays into a few side businesses that I never really took anywhere. It was after the loss of my husband that I decided to get serious about taking the skills I had and turning them into a real business I could make a viable income from to create a better quality of life for myself and my daughter. I didn’t want to be a 9-to-5’er the rest of my life.

Q2. What is your role/job? What sort of responsibilities do you have?

I would say “job” is the wrong terminology to be using here since we are business owners, not employees. Some people may think that is pedantic, but consciously understanding the difference between employment and business ownership and having a business (not employee) mindset begins with using correct terminology.

In all my years of mentoring, what I’ve found is that those who never truly get over employee mindset and continue to work with their clients as if they were still employees don’t survive long in this business.

This is why I continue to clarify the distinction and make sure everyone I come across “gets” it. I want people to succeed in this business, which really starts with developing that all-important business sensibility.

As a solo business owner, I wear three hats: 1) I’m the CEO responsible for the development and direction of my business and making important decisions about the business; 2) I’m the manager responsible for managing all the moving parts and taking care of administration of the business; and 3) I’m the service provider — the craftsperson whose skills are the stock and trade of my business services.

Q3. What is your typical day like?

Very generally speaking, on a typical day, I wake up according to my own internal clock (I haven’t used an alarm clock in years).

Once I get up, I do a little yoga and stretching, eat, and then get cleaned up and dressed for the day. I fully admit to working in my bathrobe every once in awhile if I don’t have any plans to go anywhere that day, lol. But most of the time, leggings or long skirt with a comfy but stylish tee is how I roll.

I don’t like to rush into the day and prefer to check emails and get things sorted in my in-box as the first thing I do.

There is a lot of talk in many online places that discourage this, but I prefer the opposite and find this email clearing and organizing step much more conducive to my productivity for the rest of the day.

I then tend to dive into client work around 10 or 11 am (I always joke with people that my brain doesn’t get juiced up fully until around 11 am).

Depending on what’s on my plate for that day, I may work until between 4 and 6 pm. But it really varies, depending on the day’s workload, what priorities are in the queue, and what else I’ve got going on.

If the work in my queue gets done early, I don’t jump into the next day’s pile. I go enjoy life!

It does take discipline, though, not to fill your free time with work, work, work.

I think for most of us, our first instinct is to get as much done as quickly as we can. But that is really counterproductive and keeps you on a hamster wheel. It’s not good for you and ultimately it ends up not being good for clients.

You have to be diligent about respecting your own boundaries (which in turn trains clients to respect them as well) and give yourself lots of breathing room so you don’t burn out in this business.

At some point around noon or 1 pm I’ll knock off for lunch, maybe go somewhere to eat.

I also try to get a good walk/hike on most days (try being the operative word here lately). Depending on the weather, sometimes that’s first thing in the morning, sometimes it’s around midday, sometimes it’s later in the evening.

It really all depends, and this is the beautiful thing that I’ve created in my business: the freedom and flexibility to be able to listen to my own natural rhythms, structure my business around my life, and do what I want, when I want, while still taking great care of my clients. (I never sacrifice their needs; it’s all a matter of setting proper expectations and boundaries.)

I’ve also created what is essentially a 3-day work week (you can get my entire business management system here):

  • Mondays are my Admin Days where I take care of the admin in my own business or working on my business.
  • Tuesdays are my meeting days that I reserve for telephone meetings and appointments with clients and others.
  • Wednesday through Friday is when I do client work.

For the past few years, my life has been extra stressed caring for a sick, elderly dad. In full disclosure, I’ve really let my own self-care down. I’m beyond grateful I’ve built a business that allows me to do this for my dad, but it’s not easy and still comes with a cost that has taken a toll on me. Making my own self-care a priority again is something I wrestle with on a daily basis and am currently working to improve.

(For a more in-depth snapshot of my typical day, check out this post.)

Q4. What is the best thing about owning your own business?

As touched on above, the freedom and flexibility to live a less rushed/forced life; the ability to live according to my own natural rhythms and internal clock; and the ability to structure my business and its policies, procedures, and protocols so that I have plenty of time for life (or whatever is most important at any point in time; for me, right now, that is my dad).

I never ever want a business where I am living to work instead of working to live.

One of the things I’m always saying to my clients and colleagues is that your business should support your life, not suck the life from you. It took a lot of fits and starts, trial and error, and course correction, but I’m very proud of the business and income I’ve created today.

I also love that my daughter was able to see that self-sufficiency and determination modeled and be a part of my business journey.

Q5. What is the hardest thing about owning your own business?

Well, I’ll be frank with you: business ain’t for sissies, that’s fo sho!

I was extremely fortunate to have had some opportunities come up that gave me the financial means to take care of myself and my daughter while I started my business.

And later I was also fortunate to have a significant other to lean on during the rough spots, of which there were many, make no mistake.

It takes an extreme amount of perseverance, determination, self-motivation — and time —to get a business to a point where it’s actually solvent and sustainable and eventually profitable.

And, of course, everyone’s mileage and set of circumstances will vary. You just take advantage of everything you’ve got going for you, figure out the rest, and if you can get past all that, the rewards are amazing!

Q6. What advice do you have for someone wanting to start a business? What do you know now that you wish you had known when you started?

One of the reasons I started the ACA was to provide others with the knowledge and easier path in starting their own administrative support business that I didn’t have way back when. I did it all without knowing there were others doing what I was attempting to do.

One thing that was pivotal in my success was realizing that a secretarial service is not administrative support.

Secretarial services are project-based businesses where the person does something here and there for drive-by clients.

It’s an inherently volume-driven business, one that requires you to always be on the hunt for your next clients and projects, even while you try to complete the work in front of you.

It’s a plodding, exhausting way to try to make a living and extremely difficult to get profitable.

Once I realized that, instead of project work, I could provide administrative support being an ongoing right-hand to a handful of regular clients on a monthly basis instead of a constantly revolving door of one-time or sporadic clients and rinky-dink projects, that’s when I cracked the revenue code.

But it took me a few years to get to that realization and figure out how to structure things properly.

Now, I base all my training and business education products around that basic tenet so that others won’t waste so many months or years.

I show them how they can build a business based on retainer clients (which is where the bread-and-butter is) while still taking advantage of project work that comes along that is of interest to them (which is gravy).

Another bit of advice I have for folks is not to take shortcuts with the business startup process. Every step helps build your business mindset and sensibility.

People get impatient with the process and want to jump ahead of themselves and it’s really to their detriment and that of their clients.

I’ve seen more businesses shutter their doors because the owner didn’t put the proper foundations in place before taking on clients.

Don’t rush things. There is a little bit of back and forth involved as you figure things out, but beyond that, there is a basic step by step process involved in any business start-up. Don’t skip those parts:

  • Do the business plan.
  • Learn how your local, state and federal taxing and licensing works and what your responsibilities/obligations are.
  • Don’t take on clients before you’ve got at least a basic website up and mapped out a rudimentary set of policies, procedures and protocols. Your website is an incredibly important tool in properly educating clients about the nature of the relationship and bridging understanding so that you attract your right, most ideal clients. You will find that having something there to start with is going to be incredibly helpful in building, growing, and honing your business from there.

These are all exercises that help you create the strong foundations you need to be able to get — and keep — clients. The problems with clients and not getting the right ones happen when those things are absent.

If you were interviewing me, what other questions would you have for me? Let me know in the comments!

Do Your Family and Friends Respect Your Business?

Do you ever have trouble getting family and friends to respect your business?

I know I still do sometimes, even after doing this for over 20 years.

I don’t know that it will ever change when it comes to certain people we have to deal with in our lives.

Here’s an example of what I mean…

So one of the reasons I went into business for myself is to have more control over my own life. To have more say about how I spend my time (and on whom), to get more joy and fulfillment out of the work I do and the gratification it brings seeing how it helps my clients in very immediate and impactful ways.

Most of all, I wanted to be able to be present in my own life, to be able to be there for those I love.

My dad was diagnosed with Parkinson’s about 10 years ago. In 2014, his health took a severe nosedive and he ended up in the ER and then assisted living for a year.

My sister lives in the same city as my dad, but doesn’t drive and works a 9-5 job.

I live about an hour away, but since I am the only one who drives, I’m the one who had to pick everyone up and shuttle them around back and forth.

Since that time, because I’m the only one who drives and because I have a business working for myself and have the flexibility, I’m the one who has scheduled all my dad’s various appointments and run him around to all of them: primary care, neurologist, weekly B12 shots, eye appointments, hearing appointments, cognitive testing, blood draws, etc.

I take him to get his hair cut, his toe nails taken care of (he needs a special appointment for this), runs to the grocery store, the pharmacy, and a multitude of other errands.

I also make sure his house stays clean (especially his bathroom) and check the fridge to make sure anything old and expired is thrown out since my sister, who actually lives mere blocks from him, fails to do any of this no matter how many times I ask.

I’m happy to do it; there also isn’t anyone else to do it so it falls on my shoulders. Someone has to take care of him, right?

While I’m grateful to be able to do it, at the same time, it’s no easy task. It eats up a shit ton of time and energy.

Plus, it’s not all happy, happy, joy, joy. My relationship with my dad has been difficult and strained my whole life.

And doing all of this, making the time to do it, has had negative effects on my business, cost me a lot in very real financial ways, and caused me to lose a whole lot of momentum.

Having to take my dad to what may only be a half-hour appointment ends up eating a whole day of my time and energy and actual work hours.

It disrupts my entire life and business. I’m completely spent and it sometimes takes me a day or two to recuperate and get back into the swing of things.

Yes, I am very fortunate I have the freedom and flexibility to be able to do this for my dad. My dad and my sister are very lucky that I’m in the position I am to be able to do it because if I didn’t, there’s no one else to fall back on.

Still, it really sucks that they take it for granted and don’t consider just how much of a toll it takes on my life and my livelihood.

If my sister had to do this while trying to hold down a job, she’d end up in the loony bin, not to mention fired.

But she’s so cavalier about my time and doesn’t seem to grasp the fact that, um, hey, I work for a living, too!

It’s so easy for people to look at your life and think all you’re doing is sitting around at home playing on the computer.

They don’t see that you are doing real work, important work, for real people who are depending on you in very real and important ways.

Your clients have invested their time and money and faith in you, and you have the privilege and duty to not let them down and manage your obligations to them.

So what’s the solution?

Maybe we need to set more boundaries and make sure the people in our lives honor those boundaries.

Maybe we need to be more respectful of own boundaries and not step over them and make concessions all the time.

Because it’s a slippery slope when we do that, and next thing you know, you have no boundaries at all.

Maybe we need to say “no” more often.

It’s honorable to want to help and to be able to make sacrifices when it’s important and necessary to do so. But we can’t neglect our own self-care.

When you say “yes” too often, people tend to take it for granted.

Don’t let them off the hook so easy. Make them shoulder more of the load.

It may not be easy to say “no,” but I think we are all worthy of looking out for our own health and best interests as much as we look out and care for others in our lives.

Maybe we need to dress our businesses up in more formal, tangible, traditional ways.

Have that professional website up. Have those professionally printed business cards. Establish professional hours. Lay down the law with your family and friends so that they know when you’re working in your business, you are AT WORK.

If this is one of the problems you have, don’t let them just drop in and gab any ol’ time they please. Make appointments. If someone drops in unannounced, politely but assertively turn them away. Let them know what your office hours are and that they need to call or email first to make sure if or when you are free (that’s just basic good manners anyway; their lack of consideration is one thing; you accepting it is another).

Dedicate a room in your home for your office. If you don’t have a room, then a space. And make sure everyone knows that that space is sacred and off limits.

If you live with others, perhaps putting on “work” clothes and getting out of the bathrobe once in awhile (lol) will help them see that you take your business as serious as they take their job.

While we sometimes need to have a straight talk with a client now and then about boundaries (and a lot of times, it’s we ourselves who teach them bad habits in the first place), I think a lot of times it’s our family and friends who are the worst at respecting our businesses and boundaries.

Have you experienced this in some way yourself? What are some of the ways you have dealt with it?

When Kids Crash Your Video Call

I can’t stop cracking up at this. Utter comic perfection:

The three-year-old parade-stepping into the room. The escaped baby. The mom flying in like she’s sliding into third base (and then backing out of the room on her knees with the kids as if that makes it all less conspicuous). And him looking like, “Please don’t notice. Please don’t notice. Just kill me now.”

I mean, you couldn’t script it better than this, lololol.

Poor guy. Obviously, we try to prevent these kinds of interruptions when we’re on a professional call, but when they happen, all you can do is take life in stride and laugh.

Have you ever had a similar mishap when talking with a client? How did you handle it and what are your best tips for working when kids, family and pets are determined to get your attention?

How to Come Back from Burnout

How to Come Back from Burnout

A recent article I came across on Lifehacker (What Causes Burnout and How to Avoid It) inspired some thoughts about burnout.

Burnout happens to everyone in our business, to varying degrees, at one time or another.

Some of it is the natural ebb and flow of things, and it’s good to be cognizant of that.

It’s also not necessarily a permanent state. There are some underlying causes for burnout that you have some measure of control over.

For example, burnout can happen if we don’t feel appreciated in our work, if we aren’t getting enough positive (or any) feedback from clients, if we’re being treated like a peon rather than a respected administrative partner:

Burnout can also happen when we over-complicate our business. What are some of the things you can examine there?

  • Can your systems and processes be simplified?
  • Are you making exceptions to your normal processes for certain clients? (Maybe it’s time to stop doing that.)
  • Are you billing by the hour and tracking time for clients and submitting time reports to them? Maybe it’s time to stop doing that as well.  (That was a rhetorical question. Yes, it’s HIGH time everyone stops doing that!).
  • Are you charging different rates for different clients? How about deciding what and how you charge and applying it to ALL of your clients?

Every exception you make, every standard you step over, every policy you bend, is making your business (and life) more difficult. More ease goes a long way in curing burnout.

Maybe you aren’t charging enough and constantly being broke is bringing you down. Well, things are never going to change until you do something different.

What could you differently there? RAISE YOUR FEES, SISTAH!

The alternative is to stay broke and unhappy in your business, which I’m going to guess is not what you went to the trouble of starting it for, now is it?

  • If you’ve never done any kind of proper business planning around fees, be sure to download our free ACA Income & Pricing Calculator. This is going to help you get clear and conscious about the economics of business and what you really need to be charging for a profitable, sustainable business that will earn what you need to thrive.
  • Get off the hourly-billing merry-go-round — because it’s killing your business. Watch this video to learn why.
  • Learn how to implement value-based pricing instead in your administrative support business. This will teach you a whole other simpler, yet more profitable, way to run your business and offer your support.

Have you experienced a bit of burnout at any time in your business? What did you feel was the root cause of the burnout? Were you able to overcome it and get inspired again? What helped you?

Keep On Keeping On (Video)

 

Several weeks ago I got to participate in a collaborative music video produced by a super talented couple I befriended when they used to play at a favorite restaurant in my area.

They’re in Texas now, kicking ass and making their musical career dreams come true! I love watching their journey, and this video is just all kinds of amazing.

It’s a shining, gorgeous example of what America’s REAL values are and how each of us, in our own unique and humble way, plays a part in standing for truth, love and kindness for all!

I absolutely ADORE what they’ve created! What will YOU keep on doing?

(Please share far and wide!)

I’m Back from my Sundance Festival Road Trip!

I'm Back from My Sundance Festival Road Trip!

I’m back from my Sundance Festival road trip and it was amazing!

I had so much fun and packed so much stuff into a short time frame (left on January 26 and got back Feb 2).

I posted pix of my explorations on our ACA Facebook group. Come join us there if you’d like to take a look. (Note: If you request to join and your profile doesn’t provide any info about your administrative support business, be sure you also message me either on Facebook or by email.)

I just LOVE road trips. Travelling by car is my favorite way to travel because you can go at your own pace, stop when you feel like checking something out, and see cities and countryside up close and personal that you haven’t before.

It’s a much more intimate way to travel and see and explore places that would be bypassed in any other mode of travel.

Some of my road trip highlights:

  • Um, attending the SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL!
  • Meeting and talking with all kinds of interesting industry people from actors to a film composer to filmmakers and others who work behind the camera.
  • Having Robert Redford walk past me so close we actually touched. And yes, he is handsome as ever.
  • Also, walking past George Lucas as he was exiting one of the many celebrity Suburbans that began showing up later in the day on Main St.
  • Shopping for souvenirs and gifts.
  • Having an amazing pedicure in Park City.
  • Getting restaurant recommendations from locals and eating at some amazing places including some fantastic greasy spoons. (For anyone not familiar with the term, a greasy spoon is a high honor. It’s the kind of establishment that is usually locally/independently owned where typically fresh/home-cooked type food is served. These are often the BEST places on the planet for amazing down-home breakfast served any time of day.) I highly recommend No Worries Cafe in Park City.
  • Seeing the Great Salt Lake in person for the first time (I’ve only ever seen it by plane other than that).
  • Seeing country in Oregon, Washington and Idaho I’ve never been to before.
  • Oh, and lots of new souvenir travel magnets to commemorate my travels and explorations!

I'm Back from My Sundance Festival Road Trip

And it was scary crazy how everything worked out so perfectly. This was a totally spontaneous decision to go. I hadn’t actually registered for Sundance this year, didn’t know if I’d be able to even see any films (and if I didn’t, I was okay with that; it was enough just to go), and I thought there was no way in hell there would be any hotel rooms left, especially not without any advance reservation (and if there were, they’d cost a million dollars; most rooms start at $500 during festival week and go up into the thousands.).

I just left and trusted that everything would work out the way it was supposed to. And it did!

Everyone I talked to could not believe how lucky I was. When there were still hundreds of people on waiting lists for tickets, for some reason I scored seats. And the first hotel I called actually had a room available. For some inexplicable reason, they put me in a $500 room and only charged me $129/night (I stayed two nights). The only thing I can think is that I really hit it off with the gal I spoke to on the phone. She loved how I had just hopped in the car and took off.

This trip was also one of personal growth as well as it was the first time I’ve traveled such a distance (3 states!) all by myself.

Since I’d never done anything like this before alone, it was scary to me in a lot of ways.

And I aced it! Not one bit of anxiety being that far from home by myself and not one pang of homesickness (other than being ready for my own comfy cozy bed after a week).

I gained a huge sense of accomplishment and empowerment. It was a reminder to me that the world is my oyster and I can do anything I set my mind to do (and have).

And while I do love travelling with a partner, I also enjoy my own company and meeting and talking to new people immensely.

This trip was a precursor to a bigger plan I’ve had brewing for several years, which is to travel the U.S. (first) and some parts of Canada, meeting my members and colleagues, and seeing the country by car.

I’ve sort of kept it on the down-low because I wasn’t quite sure how to go about it. I’m also not one of those people who benefits from putting plans out there as a way to make me accountable to myself. The minute I do that, I get blocked, so I just don’t. And life also simply got in the way.

First, we moved to Europe for a couple years. Then six months after we returned to the U.S. for good, I left my man of 12 years which was a huge, life-changing decision. Then I wasn’t sure how to even undertake something like this all by myself. And then my dad’s health took a turn for the worse and I had to put him first and help care for him.

Once we got dad’s health stabilized in January, I decided to make this trip to do something for me to recharge and renew.

I'm Back from My Sundance Festival Road Trip

I’ve long been a lover and devotee of independent film so it was perfect timing and the festival gave me a great destination focal point.

And besides being a business networking/writing retreat, I had also wanted to try to meet a few colleagues along the way. This trip was pretty much a spur-of-the-moment decision and since I announced it so last minute (like, the day I was leaving, lol), by the time I had heard from three Portland area colleagues, I was already near Idaho.

So, I did learn a lot of things in this first trip which are going to help me in my next member/colleague meeting travels:

  1. After a certain point, you have to stop planning and trying to identify every little detail and JUST DO IT! There’s no way you can figure everything out upfront and too much planning can easily become a procrastination vehicle.
  2. One of the things that was stopping me before was trying to figure out how I was going to accomplish a full cross-country trip. What I realize now is that the best way I’m going to accomplish it is doing it in different legs, not all in one shot. For example, I’m thinking my next trip will be down the Pacific coast and/or I5 corridor through Oregon and California and than maybe over to Nevada with a turn-around for the return leg of the trip in Sedona, NM. I haven’t completely figured out how I’ll work any midwest and east coast and southern legs, but I’m thinking for those trips, it might make sense to fly somewhere once I’ve mapped out that particular travel route, and then rent or lease a vehicle there. Anything west of the midwest states, I can use my own car.
  3. I love to travel and I can and have continued running my business and taking care of clients on the road (even in a different country). However, I do work best from my main command center (my home office, lol) and the luxury of my big main computer. I do not prefer working on a laptop. I can and have, but it’s not how I do my best work. In recognizing this, I can plan accordingly. And all the more reason why I will benefit from doing these trips in mini-stages instead of one long stretch. That way, I can come back to home base, regroup and then go on the next leg of the journey at a time that’s optimal for me.
  4. I need to figure out how to monetize the venture so that besides the expenses being a business write-off, it also funds itself instead of just being an expense. That includes putting more focus and attention on sales from the ACA Success Store. I’m thinking that in addition to just meeting up with my industry mentors and colleagues, I could offer some paid in-person, day or half-day consulting and coaching spots for those who want to take advantage of the opportunity while I’m in their city or town.
  5. There are people who are super smart about getting sponsors and things like that for trips like this. I would love to learn more about that, but currently I’m not one of them and I’m okay with that about myself right now. And the thing is, I don’t really want to make a huge production out of things. Because once that becomes the case, for me, it takes the joy out of it and then I don’t want to do it. I can’t let not having sponsors to make these trips pay for themselves be the thing that stops me from doing it.
  6. I need to find the balance between being spontaneous (which is what “does it” for me) and not having everything turned into a big production, and planning and making announcements with enough advance notice that people CAN have enough time to plan on meeting up when I’m in their city. What I know about myself, bad or good, is that I am commitment phobic, lol. Not about taking care of clients or anything like that. I don’t know where it comes from (though it does seem to be something I developed when my first/late husband passed away nearly 20 years ago). I just know that the minute I have to RVSP to something is the second I absolutely, positively don’t want to go. I know, it’s crazy. But that’s just me. Therefore, I know I wouldn’t do well making a big deal out of planning a meet-up, securing a specific venue or conference room, yada, yada, yada. Yuck! I hate that stuff! I like to keep things casual, informal, personal. What I envision is letting my peeps know (on the blog, via the ACA mailing list, etc.) that I am close to their city and inviting them to contact me to meet up. Then when I hear from someone, asking them where a great spot would be to get together, a fun restaurant or pub or something, and once we decide that, inviting others in the area to join us. Casual, see?

I don’t have it all figured out. I don’t know how it will all work out. And I don’t have any specific time frames right now. But that’s where all the magic, fun and adventure of it is!

If I was to come to your area, would you like to meet up for a meal, do something fun together, or maybe be my tour guide for a day? What do you like to do for fun and/or what would you show me in your city? I’m game for just about anything. (Except skydiving. I have no desire to skydive and I’m okay with that, lol.)

Would you love an opportunity for private, one-on-one, in-person business consulting and guidance if I came to your city? I’m exceptionally gifted at identifying where people need help in their business, but tell me, what areas of your business would YOU like more help with?

Is One of Your Business “Whys” to Care for a Loved One?

Is One of Your Business "Whys" to Care for a Loved One? (free resources)

It is for me, now, and it’s yet another new reason I am so incredibly thankful for my business and my administrative skills.

Some quick background details:

About six years ago, my dad was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease.

Up to now, his symptoms have been relatively mild. So, far, it’s really only been a slight tremor in his right hand and sometimes he says his right leg will “freeze” and not do what he wants. Medication helps alleviate these symptoms immensely.

And while he’s maintained good mental clarity, my sister and I noticed a distinct downturn in his energy this year. He’s slowed down quite a bit and mundane things like operating his cell phone have become increasingly daunting and confusing for him, which is not usual.

We certainly understand that being diagnosed with a serious disease can be very depressing, and it has been for our dad.

He’s a proud guy and always been very independent. He doesn’t want to be a bother to anyone, and he doesn’t want to be treated like an invalid.

So, we’ve all been walking on eggshells around the topic because he gets annoyed with us when we ask how he’s doing, would he like help with anything, etc.

It’s been tough for us as his family because he’s been very close-lipped about sharing medical information with us. Pure stubbornness. We’ve felt helpless and not sure how to support him.

And up until now, he’s abjectively refused to let my sister and I talk with his doctors, ask questions of them and so forth. So we’ve had to rely on whatever my dad chooses to tell us, which is very little.

Well, we all got a wake up call on December 5.

A neighbor, who is also a good friend of 20+ years, became concerned when she realized she hadn’t seen my dad up and about as per his usual habits.

She went over to the house and knocked, but there was no answer. Luckily, the door was unlocked, and she went inside.

She found my dad sitting in the bathtub, fully-clothed, thinking he was in the waiting room at the dentist’s office. He was also having some bizarre hallucinations and my sister later told me that he’s been complaining of nightmares the last month or so as well.

After being taken to the ER, the hospital kept him the whole weekend for observation.

By Sunday, he was much better. Still weak and slow, but back to being himself for the most part.

The conclusion thus far is that a recent increase in his Parkinson’s meds caused some added confusion which then caused him to forget when he had taken his AM and PM doses and he’d end up doubling up on those. So basically he was hopped up on his meds.

On top of that, he hasn’t been eating well, and the hospital found that he is anemic and severely B12 deficient.

Ya, fun stuff.

It is clear that he is entering the realm of not being able to care for himself and manage his own feeding. He used to love his daily French press coffee, but he says it’s all just become too much work.

It’s tough for him to admit, but my dad is realizing now that he needs help and is starting to welcome and warm to the idea of letting us in. We all need the love, help and support of others.

So, I am now entering a new role and chapter of my life: that of being a caretaker for a sick, elderly parent.

It’s times like this that I sing my gratitude over and over to the universe for my business that allows me the flexibility to step in and deal with things in a crisis, and to myself for setting my practice up in a way that gives me breathing room so emergencies are just a blip and don’t turn my business upside down.

When I’m confronted with situations like this, my first instinct is to go into strategizing and mobilization mode: assess the situation, take inventory, organize information and begin to plan. That’s the administrator in me and why I’m so exceptionally good at this business.

These same qualities that make me so well-suited to this business and the processes that I use with clients are now allowing me to be a long-distance caretaker.

So I want to share some of the things I’ve done and tools I’ve used and documents I’ve created in case anyone else in a similar situation or role finds them helpful.

One challenge my family has in caring for my dad is that while my sister lives in Seattle and her home is not far away from my dad’s, she doesn’t drive.

(She’s just always been a nervous driver and used to joke that everyone on the road was safer with her not on it. She realizes that has to change, though, and is taking the necessary steps.)

And while I do drive, I live about 45 minutes away. And let me tell ya, this past week of traveling back and forth every day has been super difficult.

The rest of my dad’s family all live back east in New York so there’s really nothing practical they can do to lighten the load.

He does have many friends and people in his life here who love him and we’re certainly going to accept any and all help that is offered, but obviously, the primary care always falls to family members.

So, technology is a HUGE blessing as we all know! Here’s how I’ve utilized technology to mobilize everyone and keep them up-to-date and in the loop.

Since I’m the one who drives, I have committed to being the primary person to take my dad back and forth to his appointments. (I should mention that his doctors reinforced to my dad what we’ve gently suggested to him: that it’s not safe for him to drive, at least for the time being).

  1. So, the first thing I did was set up an online shared calendar so everyone on my dad’s family and friends care team can stay apprised of his appointments and medical care. There are a ton of free online calendars these days and really it just boils down to whatever one best serves your needs and the level of functionality and features you want. One that we ended up using that was recommended to me is Cozy Calendar. It works on your computer and has a corresponding app for your smartphone. The free version includes calendar, task list and some other goodies, and you can upgrade for a very affordable fee to the ad-free version. Whatever online service you use, look for one that can be shared with everyone on your care team and used across all devices (i.e., computer and smartphone) so communications and information is collaborative and updated in real time.
  2. We were also getting hit with a ton of to-do’s so I immediately downloaded the Workflowy app on my phone and started an account for all of us to share to keep track of everything. With this easy to use technology, we can keep a running list of notes and to-do’s. Everyone knows what needs to be done and you can assign tasks and roles and sort things with simple hashtags. Workflowy uses an outline hierarchy and you can delete things or mark them complete as they are finished. To share a Workflowy account, whoever sets up the account can simply give everyone the login details so everyone who is privy can add to and update the list as well. Again, there are a ton of online to-do list/task management type apps out there to choose from. It’s whatever works for you. I just happen to use Workflowy because it’s super clean and simple and is organized the way my brain works. It’s also free. UPDATE: I used Workflowy initially and it’s still a great free program. However, once I got on the Cozy Calendar, it became easier to keep our to-dos stored there as well instead of in separate programs.
  3. Once I had a minute back at my computer, the next thing I did was put together a master list of important phone numbers and information in Word. The first page/section has the complete names, addresses and phone numbers of all of us (family and friends) involved in caring for our dad. The second page/section has the complete names, addresses and phone numbers of all my dad’s medical service providers (e.g., primary care physician, neurologist, etc.). And the third page/section is a list of all the online services, links and logons we are using to store and share information among our family and friends care team. Please feel free to use the template I whipped up for this.
  4. I also created a medication list in a Word document. Since my sister lives up there and is the one nearest my dad, she is the one who is managing his medications. He has various pills to take three times a day and because she noticed some increasing confusing on his part doing that, she started going over to his house every Saturday and organizing his pill box for that week. So that’s working good, at least until we can get some in-home care since neither one of us is in a position to move in with our dad for the moment. However, I wanted to familiarize myself with my dad’s meds for my own piece of mind, and I feel it’s important that everyone who plays a part in caring for him knows them as well. In the process of educating myself, I ended up creating this document that lists the name of each medication, what it’s taken for, the dosage and instructions and a picture of both sides of the pill (you can take a photo of each med with your camera phone or look for a picture of the med online). Again, please feel free to use my template if it’s helpful to you.
  5. While creating these documents, I also set up a folder in Dropbox and gave access to that folder to our family and friends care team. Along with the other aforementioned documents, I put his will up there, Durable Power of Attorney, Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment document, medical reports and anything else that needs to be kept in one place and is good for everyone to know and have access to quickly and easily. What’s so great about using Dropbox for this is that instead of having to update and send emails to every person any time a document is updated, all you have to do is either add them to the folder or share the file/document link. You have full control over who sees what. Dropbox also has an app that can be downloaded to mobile phones and other portable devices so a document can be opened, viewed and edited from anywhere. Dropbox is free, by the way.
  6. My dad’s medical insurance provider also has a fantastic online service where you can email doctors directly, set up appointments, get lab results as soon as they are done, etc. I have the same insurance and use the online service myself so I know how fantastic is. Since my dad hadn’t done this (technology is difficult for him anymore), I went ahead and got his online account set up. Now, my sister and I can get appointments scheduled and meds ordered faster, email our questions as they arise and communicate directly with my dad’s doctors without having to wait until the next appointment. If your/your family member’s insurance has an online service, I highly recommend you get on it pronto. It will make your life so much easier!
  7. I also had the great idea to start a private Facebook group and added all my dad’s immediate caretakers as members. This has worked out fantastically. We can update, share thoughts and ideas, ask questions, and communicate with each other quickly and easily from any device. One of the reasons I had this idea is because my sister is horrible about answering email and likes to text and while I prefer email and absolutely, positively HATE texting with a passion, lol. With the Facebook group, we can each communicate using our preferred method and it all goes into one central platform, which solves the other problem that all our communications were getting scattered and disorganized across several modes. This centralized everything and we’re communicating with greater ease and efficiency now.

To summarize:

  1. Set up online calendar.
  2. Create Workflowy account.
  3. Establish a Dropbox account (if you don’t have one yet) and create a shared folder for your family member’s care team to access important documents and information.
  4. Start a master phone and info list.
  5. Start a medication list.
  6. Where available, be sure to utilize the insurance company’s online account services.
  7. Set up a private Facebook group.

I hope this is helpful in some way to someone. We’re still in the very beginning stages of this care-taking role ourselves with all this stuff so it’s definitely going to be a journey. If you are traveling this same road, I would sure welcome any tips and pointers you also have to share and thank you kindly!

Grateful to Be a Business Owner

I am unendingly thankful for making the decision so long ago to go into business for myself.

Creating, growing and running a business has expanded my mind and added to my life in so many ways.

Being a business owner has made me a more conscious person, not just in business, but in life.

The experience has taught me so much about relationships, about myself, even what life is about.

It’s allowed me to live and feel and experience life more fully and vibrantly.

Self-determination is the epitome of freedom, and I’m so grateful to live in a country and be in a business that allows me to have that freedom.