If the world didn’t suck…

Ok, so 3 months have passed since I posted. I can’t seem to find a cadence that works and when I sit down to write, the cursor blinks…nothing. Sigh.

I have to say I’ve had an insane week. The most insane thing is my daughter getting bit by a rabid bat. I won’t go into the details but write this down…

1. Bats should not be out in the day.
2. Normal bats do not land in little girls hair.
3. If you see a bat in broad daylight, call animal control immediately.
4. Take a box of chocolates to all doctor appointments for rabies vaccinations (yes, plan on 5 visits).

Remember these rules and everyone will be happier…even the bats who can then concentrate on only coming out when they are supposed to and helping keep down the mosquito population!

This was a reality check in the middle of a chaotic month of change at the office, business travel, non-profit volunteer demands, and more. My daughter’s well being is my #1 priority and the rest can wait (and pile up… which it did and is).

So yes, I feel like I’m on roller skates… going downhill.

After having a mini-panic attack (sorry, hubby), I reach out to a few girlfriends. Having a support structure of friends is not something that I ever thought I had much need for but as I grow wiser over time (no age jokes, please) I have come to appreciate the friends who will just pick up the phone and listen to the rant while making nonsensical soothing noises.

Result? My sense of humor resurfaced (thank goodness!) and perspective was restored… Even the roller skating seems more thrilling. Just gotta roll with it. The piles will grow and shrink but hey, in the context of everything else, they are just piles. Nothing to stress over… maybe pull up a trashcan and just push one or two of them in. Hmmmmm.

I love this quote and it seems so appropriate this week:

“Just remember, if the world didn't suck, we'd all fall off.”  ~Author Unknown

Heh. That makes me laugh.

~Maven

Do you have a split personality? Embrace it!

A few weeks ago (maybe it was months ago?) someone handed me a clipping of Petula Dvorak’s column with the title “Working moms: Navigating our double lives.” If you haven’t read it, I recommend it as a quick little reality check.

I must say I laughed at the example of the woman on the playground with her blackberry.  I admire women’s general ability to switch gears on a dime and make the best of the time they have.  A few weeks ago, a co-working was mentioning that her daughter’s gymnastics school now has WiFi and she sits in the bleacher with her laptop during class. (Apparently this had an added benefit of helping her avoid having to talk with another particularly annoying parent!) Hooray for technology!

How do we manage it all? Is the famous “work-life balance” an achievable reality? Or do we need to continue to evolve our dual personalities? A senior colleague once put it in terms of “choices”… something along the lines of “there is no such thing as work life balance, it’s all about choices.”

I found this quote that I think sums it up:

“To acquire balance means to achieve that happy medium between the minimum and the maximum that represents your optimum. The minimum is the least you can get by with. The maximum is the most you're capable of. The optimum is the amount or degree of anything that is most favorable toward the ends you desire.” Nido Qubein

Maven’s advice: Embrace your split personality… it’s not really a split personality, you just have many facets of you and you know how to use them. And the more facets a diamond has, the more it shines.

p.s. In fairness, here in California, men seem to be culturally more inclined to put on the daddy hat, take bonding leave, and generally shoulder a portion of the overall “kid-sized” burden.

“Ho, ho, ho. It's magic, you know. Never believe it's not so.” Easily keep your website up to date…it really is Magic-ally possible.

Disclaimer… my thoughts and opinions are my own and do not represent the opinion of anyone other than me…

So, as you know, I don’t normally cover product recommendations but today’s blog is an exception. And only because it allows me to make address a very big Maven pet peeve: Out of date websites. Now, in one of my past lives I was a webmaster and can honestly say I have quite a few websites and web-based applications (now called “cloud apps”) under my belt. But seeing as I have mostly left web development and design to others these days, I can honestly say that as a user of many of today’s business websites I have a much more critical view of the lack of up-to-date information. Oh, of course, large companies have whole departments just to keep the online content flowing. But for the everyday small or medium business, your digital face to the world is the 24 hour a day image and believe me, your potential and existing customers have formed an opinion.

Fortunately, it’s no longer necessary to explain to business owners the importance of a website. Most everyone understands how crucial an online presence is, especially with the current number of smart phone users. It is really just easier to go to a company's website than look up a phone number, dial it, navigate the menu, sit on hold...you get the idea. 

What has not quite gotten through to many business owners, however, is the importance of keeping your website updated, interesting, and relevant. And I don't just mean in terms of design, which is very important, but the content itself. You may have a beautiful site that customers enjoy visiting, but eventually they will tire of it if there is nothing new for them to read.

Now, Maven understands that, updating your site is not always a simple task, especially if you are a very busy business owner (or a very busy marketing manager) with little to no HTML experience. If any of the following scenarios sounds like you, I apologize for giving you one more thing that wakes you up in a panic in the middle of the night:

1) “If it’s not broken, don’t fix it!” My website has all my contact information. I’d love to add new content to my website but I don't know any HTML, don't really have the time or interest to learn, and worry that I’ll mess something up.

2) “I’m saving up!” My web designer charges me per hour and I would rather contact her when I have a lot of major changes. I don't want to spend the money to add three sentences and fix my spelling error!

3) “I have the power but where’s the manual?” My web designer gave me Joomla/Drupal/some other CMS (Content Management System) and showed me how to use it to update my site. My designer said it would be easy except for some reason I have to look up the instructions every time I need to change something. I end up having to call my web designer anyway so how is this easier? (And my web designer is as tired of taking my calls as I am of calling him! He really is a great guy… ) Bleh.

Fortunately ( or should I say “magically,” <snicker>), I have found a better way. There is a cloud service called MagicEdit (www.magicedit.com) that works as advertised; it's the simplest tool that I've seen by far, yet it is quite powerful and can handle much more than just text replacement. MagicEdit was offering a two-week free trial and I had a couple free hours to kill so I decided to try it out on one of my personal, all-but-forgotten, sites.  Being and crusty, ex-web developer myself, I approached my experiment with a good deal of skepticism. The instructions for setting up the text replacement fields are surprisingly straightforward. In fact, once I had my site uploaded to the service, it took me less than two minutes to get MagicEdit working. Seriously, I just installed a basic Content Management System in two minutes. I don't know if anyone out there is aware of how long it takes to configure a site with Wordpress, Joomla, or Drupal, but it's not two minutes. It's probably not two hours either. (Not that I don’t love those capabilities but Maven firmly believes in the right tool for the right problem.)

I quickly added an editable text area (yes, dear readers, I edited “the code”… The code does need to be touched at least once to mark editable areas). It was just a basic home page greeting. "Hello World," or something like that. I went to my site to try it out. The directions for logging in were easy, so I took a look at my home page and there it was. A shiny little red "edit" button. Not quite so direct as the "Eat Me" cake or "Drink Me" bottle from Alice and Wonderland, but equally as tempting. I clicked the edit button, et voila, a text box (dare I say “magic” again?). I typed my new text and clicked submit, et voila again, "Hello, and welcome to my new home page." Not very eloquent, I know, but I was amazed at how easy it was. Three steps: edit, type, submit.

Hmmpf…well, that’s just text. I’m sure in my bad programming old days I coulda come up with that! Accept that I found out that I could also add images, update news pages, create blog entries… double hmmpf… and all for about $15 a month (that includes hosting fee), no repeat calls to my guy. Well, I thought brightly, it’s about darn time!! Too bad I’m not still designing web pages… I’d be the hottest designer around and EVERY one of my clients would be on MagicEdit. Freeeeedom! Who says you can’t have your cake and eat to? Certainly not me. Try it… I dare you. And demand nothing less for your web designer. Be free! Start at http://magicedit.com.

Magically yours,

Maven

“Magic” lyrics in title by Pilot

Exit strategies aren’t just for small business owners; you need one too.

I subscribe to a great e-newslettercalled “little PINK book” from Pink Magazine. The May 24th article is a good one for business owners and emphasizes the need to go really make sure you have an exit strategy in place. This can be really difficult because as the owner/founder; there is always something that seems you are certain is simply going to fail if you aren’t there. There is also the guilt over abandoning something that is your legacy.

Personally, I believe that there are a lot of similarities between business owners and career professionals in the area of exit strategies. Most of us might be more comfortable in thinking of “exit strategy” more in the terms of “plan b” but regardless of what you want to call it, an alternative plan is a must.

Some things to consider when thinking about your own plan:

• What are your current assets and can you write them down (aka Resume)?
• Are there any gaps in your skills (assets) that you should take the time to fill by taking on special projects or attending a training class?
• How healthy is your network and what is your plan to make it healthier?
• What are your financial requirements and do you have a plan in place to achieve “money” goals?
• If you were to do something else, what type of work would you love to do? What job characteristics would appeal to you the most? What would you absolutely hate?

Having a “plan b” doesn’t mean you have to execute it but you’ll be surprised at how much more confident you’ll be in your current job when you know you have other options.

Happy planning!
Maven

ZERO guilt achieved! Days 5 and 6 of the “guilt-free vacation” filled with seahorses and great coastal dining

Days 5 and 6 of my “guilt free vacation” and ZERO guilt achieved! In fact, it was so successful that when we checked out of the hotel this morning I had NO CLUE where my Blackberry was. When I tried to call it, it went straight to voicemail (the battery must be dead… muahahahahaha…. ). Anyway, I did locate it (or at least I saw the corner of it stuffed down inside my bag).

Yesterday (Day 5) we strolled from Old Fisherman’s Wharf down to Cannery Row… grabbed some mediocre breakfast at Austino’s across from the Monterey Bay Aquarium (Cannery Row is sorely lacking in decent dining).

Day 1: Saturday	4
Day 2: Sunday	3
Day 3: Monday	6
Day 4: Tuesday	1
Day 5: Wednesday	0
Day 6: Thursday	0
Day 7: Friday
Day 8: Saturday
Day 9: Sunday

Scale: 0 = no guilt, no work thoughts
10 = high guilt, significant work thoughts

The Aquarium has an amazing seahorse exhibit! I had no idea they came in so many different types.

Later in the evening we snuck out for drinks at Lallapalooza. Then it was off to a late night small plates style dinner and an amazing Williams Salyem 2007 Coastlands Pinot Noir at Passionfish.

Day 6 and time to head home. However, we did manage to sneak in one final stop in Carmel-by-the-Sea for a simply fantastic breakfast at Katy’s Place (cash only at this hotspot, folks) before making it back home in record time.

Now I’m off to a retirement party for one of my favorite non-work people!

Signed,  “Vacationing” Maven

p.s. I think I could get good at this vacationing stuff if I practiced a bit longer!

Day 4 and we are down to a 1 on the guilt-free vacation scale

Day 4 of my “guilt free vacation” and I only did one guilty thing. I plugged my Blackberry in after noticing that the battery had died to the point of the radio being off. Ok, and a snuck a look at my inbox but I didn’t reply to anything (at least I don’t think I did…so maybe that should earn me a 2 instead of a 1 but since I’m the judge, I get to pick the score!).

We had a fantastic day! Whale watching was a success and we were in the middle of a huge pod of 500-900 pacific white sided dolphins before we headed off to see a couple of grey whales. The grey whales were being harassed by a bunch of dolphins who were trying to get them to start swimming so they could go along for a joy ride. Not something you can see if you are working!

Day 1: Saturday	4
Day 2: Sunday	3
Day 3: Monday	6
Day 4: Tuesday	1
Day 5: Wednesday
Day 6: Thursday
Day 7: Friday
Day 8: Saturday
Day 9: Sunday

Scale: 0 = no guilt, no work thoughts
10 = high guilt, significant work thoughts

After squeezing in lunch, a nap (who gets a nap on a normal day??), shopping and a birthday cake for my other half, we abandoned the kids to the in-laws and had a nice dinner out at Montrio.

One more day to go in lovely Monterey…

Signed,  “Vacationing” Maven

Worked 1/2 day on Guilt-Free vacation Day 3

Day 3 of my “guilt free vacation” and due to a re-org at work and new employees being transferred to my department, it was a semi-work day. I feel that transition management is vital and speaking to these new employees and welcoming them to the team was important to me.

I did a bit of email on my Blackberry on the long drive to Monterey (I was bored), but I did appreciate N’s email response that said “WE GOT IT… RELAX!” Thanks, N!

The day ended with a fantastic walk along the coast to Cannery Row, mediocre Pizza and a walk back that included a lesson on Astronomy from my 6 year old. What we didn’t know, we made up! We certainly decided that despite the prevailing scientific opinion, we think Pluto should still be a planet.

Day 1: Saturday	4
Day 2: Sunday	3
Day 3: Monday	6
Day 4: Tuesday
Day 5: Wednesday
Day 6: Thursday
Day 7: Friday
Day 8: Saturday
Day 9: Sunday

Scale: 0 = no guilt, no work thoughts
10 = high guilt, significant work thoughts

Looking forward to whale watching, wandering, eating and shopping. Blackberry stays in the hotel.

Signed,  “Vacationing” Maven