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I've had a string of recent wins in the past few weeks and I've been so busy and working intensely that I haven't had time to celebrate them until this week.
My successful presentation and completion of Phase III; the completion and delivery of my "Final" business plan; a successful completion of Legacy Discovery weekend as Training Team Manager; the sale of one of my rental properties. These are all some big wins that I've had lately.
Last week was an intense week for me. My business plan was due on Monday and I knew I was going to not have time on the weekend to work on it, so I was scrambling to finish as much of it as possible last week. I handed it in yesterday and went to Booster Juice to treat myself to a smoothie as a celebration.
Today I was in decompression mode. I felt the need to feed my creative side. I spent some time doing the layout for a photobook in Scribus, and in the evening went to High Park with my digital camera to shoot some more pictures. I only took a few before the battery in my camera ran down.
Batteries running down seems to be a theme this week. The battery in my Palm Pilot won't hold a charge for very long anymore, so I may need to look for a replacement soon.
I need to charge up my Palm Pilot, I need to charge up the batteries for my digital camera, and I need to recharge me.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Allergic reaction?
I think I am allergic to Touched By An Angel.
There is a book in the house, it's called In the Words of Angels. It contains “twenty inspiring stories from Touched By An Angel"; it belongs to one of my house mates. I like to read when I'm eating and I often pick up this book and read a couple of stories while I'm having my breakfast or dinner.
With every story that I've read in this book, I've experienced an allergic reaction. My throat constricts, my eyes water, and I feel a peculiar sensation in my heart. Are those not symptoms of an allergy? So far I haven't needed an epinephrine.
There is a book in the house, it's called In the Words of Angels. It contains “twenty inspiring stories from Touched By An Angel"; it belongs to one of my house mates. I like to read when I'm eating and I often pick up this book and read a couple of stories while I'm having my breakfast or dinner.
With every story that I've read in this book, I've experienced an allergic reaction. My throat constricts, my eyes water, and I feel a peculiar sensation in my heart. Are those not symptoms of an allergy? So far I haven't needed an epinephrine.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Presentation Day
I had my Presentation Day yesterday. What that means is that I handed in the first draft version of my business plan and gave a ten minute presentation to a panel of business people.
I got up early because I still needed to finish printing my business plan. I have it structured as a separate document for each section so I needed to open each document, print it, and put all the sections together. And get it stapled - my stapler won't punch through it because there are too many pages. For my next version I am going to structure it as a master document with sub-documents.
I had set my alarm to go off at 4am so I'd have enough time to do all my last minute preparations in the morning before going off to my 9am presentation.
My alarm went off promptly at 4am and woke me. Anguish! Cruel cruel universe! I did not want to do this - I just went to bed four hours before that!
I finally hauled myself out of bed. Threw the dress shirt I wanted to wear into the dryer with a sheet of Bounce. Bachelor-style dry-cleaning. Went off to take my shower.
It was sooooo nice to be in the shower. Warm. Wet. Comforting. I felt like standing under the falling water for, like, half an hour. I didn't.
I knew I needed to be thinking about my presentation, getting mentally prepared, but I was still processing my thoughts and feelings from the previous day. No time for that! I have a job to do and I need to prepare for it!
By 7:30 I was done printing my business plan and finished collating my handouts. The Executive Summary needs more work but that was all the time I had for it.
I took a moment to update my Facebook status to wish everyone in my OSEB class well with their presentations. My morning magic chuckle - watching the Muppets "Manna manna" video that one of my classmates had linked on her Facebook. Then off to McDonalds for breakfast.
McDonalds - the breakfast of champions. And of busy entrepreneurs.
By 10:47 I was done, presentation, question and answer, feedback and all. Done! It went by quickly; it went well. One of the panelists complemented my presentation skills and said that with the right tools I would have no trouble selling. My three times at Twenty First Century Leadership and my experience on the core team in MDI have paid off; this is where I have practiced my presentation style.
After it was over I went to Booster Juice and treated myself to a celebratory smoothie.
The last ten weeks have gone by quickly. Tomorrow is my last day in Phase III. I have a workshop in the morning, Introduction to Phase IV, and in the afternoon we have our class graduation party. Yipee!
I got up early because I still needed to finish printing my business plan. I have it structured as a separate document for each section so I needed to open each document, print it, and put all the sections together. And get it stapled - my stapler won't punch through it because there are too many pages. For my next version I am going to structure it as a master document with sub-documents.
I had set my alarm to go off at 4am so I'd have enough time to do all my last minute preparations in the morning before going off to my 9am presentation.
My alarm went off promptly at 4am and woke me. Anguish! Cruel cruel universe! I did not want to do this - I just went to bed four hours before that!
I finally hauled myself out of bed. Threw the dress shirt I wanted to wear into the dryer with a sheet of Bounce. Bachelor-style dry-cleaning. Went off to take my shower.
It was sooooo nice to be in the shower. Warm. Wet. Comforting. I felt like standing under the falling water for, like, half an hour. I didn't.
I knew I needed to be thinking about my presentation, getting mentally prepared, but I was still processing my thoughts and feelings from the previous day. No time for that! I have a job to do and I need to prepare for it!
By 7:30 I was done printing my business plan and finished collating my handouts. The Executive Summary needs more work but that was all the time I had for it.
I took a moment to update my Facebook status to wish everyone in my OSEB class well with their presentations. My morning magic chuckle - watching the Muppets "Manna manna" video that one of my classmates had linked on her Facebook. Then off to McDonalds for breakfast.
McDonalds - the breakfast of champions. And of busy entrepreneurs.
By 10:47 I was done, presentation, question and answer, feedback and all. Done! It went by quickly; it went well. One of the panelists complemented my presentation skills and said that with the right tools I would have no trouble selling. My three times at Twenty First Century Leadership and my experience on the core team in MDI have paid off; this is where I have practiced my presentation style.
After it was over I went to Booster Juice and treated myself to a celebratory smoothie.
The last ten weeks have gone by quickly. Tomorrow is my last day in Phase III. I have a workshop in the morning, Introduction to Phase IV, and in the afternoon we have our class graduation party. Yipee!
Tuesday, April 07, 2009
A Grand new journey
Tonight I have completed in my role as member of the core team in my Men's Division. It's been a long journey, of about three and a half years, and it is a journey that I am proud to have taken.
I don't think of it as something that I have completed, so much as something that I have exchanged for a new journey. My new journey is as Captain of a new team in the Division - team Grand Central.
When I joined the Men's Division (MDI), I joined a team called South Central. Team South Central has changed quite a bit since then. It has become a more powerful team, a team of leaders. It has also grown in numbers, to the point where men started talking about splitting the team.
Some men were in favour of splitting the team and some were opposed, but I think that all agreed that an eventual split was inevitable. Thus was born the Intentional Growth strategy - a vision and a plan for South Central to manage its own growth and evolution rather than split in anticipation of becoming too large to be effective.
Out of the Intentional Growth strategy came the idea of operating as two teams that were "separate but connected". This is a unique mode of operation within the Division, but then South Central has developed a team culture of innovating and pioneering.
Grand Central is one of the two "separate" teams that has born out of the growth of South Central, and I am looking forward to my new journey and my new role as Captain of this team.
I don't think of it as something that I have completed, so much as something that I have exchanged for a new journey. My new journey is as Captain of a new team in the Division - team Grand Central.
When I joined the Men's Division (MDI), I joined a team called South Central. Team South Central has changed quite a bit since then. It has become a more powerful team, a team of leaders. It has also grown in numbers, to the point where men started talking about splitting the team.
Some men were in favour of splitting the team and some were opposed, but I think that all agreed that an eventual split was inevitable. Thus was born the Intentional Growth strategy - a vision and a plan for South Central to manage its own growth and evolution rather than split in anticipation of becoming too large to be effective.
Out of the Intentional Growth strategy came the idea of operating as two teams that were "separate but connected". This is a unique mode of operation within the Division, but then South Central has developed a team culture of innovating and pioneering.
Grand Central is one of the two "separate" teams that has born out of the growth of South Central, and I am looking forward to my new journey and my new role as Captain of this team.
Monday, April 06, 2009
Business cards ordered
I ordered my Stage 1 business cards on Friday. I'm justa movin', movin', movin', forward.
Decided not to wait to get my business name registered.
I call it Stage 1 - this stage is about the start-up activities that I will take that can be completed quickly and at a low cost. The purpose of this stage is to demonstrate that my business really exists. It's not just a figment of my imagination any more! It's purpose is also to support my initial networking and prospecting activities; in essence, to begin building momentum.
I've set up my business email account too. So far I've completed the first three activities on my Getting started list.
Decided not to wait to get my business name registered.
I call it Stage 1 - this stage is about the start-up activities that I will take that can be completed quickly and at a low cost. The purpose of this stage is to demonstrate that my business really exists. It's not just a figment of my imagination any more! It's purpose is also to support my initial networking and prospecting activities; in essence, to begin building momentum.
I've set up my business email account too. So far I've completed the first three activities on my Getting started list.
Thursday, April 02, 2009
Domain name registered
I had planned to get my first batch of business cards done this week but decided to hold off. Reason being that I found that someone is already using the business name I want to use and the domain name I want to use.
I selected another domain name that I will use instead, and got it registered. I'm thinking about whether I should get my business name registered or not before getting my first batch of business cards done. I learned in class today that registering a business name does not actually protect my business name, it merely identifies me as being the person associated with that name.
So should I register my business name or not? I'll have to register it eventually anyway, so the question really is, how important is it that I register the name before I start printing and handing out my business cards?
I selected another domain name that I will use instead, and got it registered. I'm thinking about whether I should get my business name registered or not before getting my first batch of business cards done. I learned in class today that registering a business name does not actually protect my business name, it merely identifies me as being the person associated with that name.
So should I register my business name or not? I'll have to register it eventually anyway, so the question really is, how important is it that I register the name before I start printing and handing out my business cards?
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