Is it the end of the world as we know it? Probably. What's happened in the United States (not to mention, the world) over the last 7 days is, as the news anchors incessantly say, "unprecedented." Mainly because the last time there was a pandemic (well, I'm …
Maybe It’s Me
I was sitting on the airplane banging my head against the window. The pilot had just come on the loudspeaker and said, "Well, we have to take a different flight path, so we need more fuel. Problem is, it's lightning. So the fuel trucks can't be out. BE NICE TO THE FLIGHT ATTENDANTS. THIS ISN'T …
The Ad Blocker & Modern Marketing
I've been legitimately obsessed with Seth Godin's Akimbo podcast. Seth is the real deal. He has been around forever. Written tons of books. Created and sold companies. He is amazingly perceptive about culture, media, and marketing, and he's capitalized on it. He is also amazingly …
How I Conserve Energy
At home during the day, I leave the dishes in the sink, the laundry in the dryer, mail on the counter, etc. and so forth. I clean up NOTHING. I leave a mess in my wake. (I clean it up at the end of the workday.) I used to feel bad about it. Then, today, while I was eating lunch and reading a …
You Say TomAYto, I say TomAHto
If there's one thing every self-employed person has to be constantly doing, it's selling. Our selling is often one-to-one, singular proposals to different people with different (though possibly related or in-the-same-industry) businesses. We might be pitching SIMILAR services to different …
VACATION! (6 Days No Email)
Hi y'all! Well, I made it through my half marathon. There was a lot of mind over matter happening. More importantly, I took a VACATION (VACATION requires all caps!) with my husband and I got to ENJOY it because I wasn't looking at email and potentially getting stressed or worried or …
Building a Bench + Being the Bench
Let’s talk about benches. Not garden benches, though I’m super pumped I can finally use this squirrel picture I took at Newfields in 2014. We’re talking about a bench of people to help you and back you up. Like a sports team bench! A basketball team doesn’t only have the players on the court …
When It’s Time to Quit Something
Sometimes you just have to quit something. Give it the heave ho. Say uncle. Cut your losses. Ignore sunk costs. Move on. Today I'm quitting my website. Specifically my Garden of Words website. It was only 2 years old but it DID. NOT. WORK. the way I needed it to. "Oh but it was pretty." Yeah, …
Time for some Time Off!
Hey there fellow freelancer! A quick note to say that I'm about three hours from shutting it down for an entire luxurious end-of-year week off and I'm pumped! I have six books I want to read. Prolly not gonna happen. I'm with my family and getting ready to just spend some time with …
Freelancing and Identity
PART 1: TURNING YOUR HOBBY INTO YOUR CAREER I’ve done it twice. I won’t do it again. First with gardening and with paddleboarding. I always loved plants. Have gardened since I could walk. At each of my parents’ houses I had a flowerbed that I could call my own. I dug up half the yard at one …
