Don't get stuck in today when dreaming and building for tomorrow.

Have you ever had one of those days where no matter what you do, where you put yourself, or who you talk to you can't get away from your own negative thoughts?  I had one this week and I thought I had hit the wall going 150 mph.  My mind had convinced me that my business was going nowhere, I had no friends, I was letting my family down, and worst of all I was being kicked off Team Laffalot.

Okay, so how incredibly insecure does that all sound.  Unfortunately in the moment it felt very real and as though there was nothing in this world that I could do right or even attempt to make a difference.  Then the most miraculous thing happened, I picked up the phone and  reached out to a friend. This was progress for me. I was brought up to not share when things weren't going so well.  I finished the day (faking my way through it) and finally  I went to bed.  When I woke up the feeling was gone. It had disappeared as quickly as it had come on.  I got up, got dressed, and picked up my colleague and headed off to my first business meeting of the day.   Perrin got in the car and immediately said I looked great, I smiled a little smile to say thanks and somewhere inside something major had shifted and I was no longer stuck in the mud of self doubt, fear, and negativity.

I wish I could say that there was something that set me off in thinking that everything I was doing was wrong and heading nowhere but looking back over the week there was nothing.  Just a low moment where my mind was urging me to give up on my dreams of wanting to be more and do more with my life than just the same old same old.  I do know what helped to shift me out of the mud and get back on track in believing in my dream and knowing that it could be done.  It was a call made out of desperation to my very best friend, sharing how incredibly sad I was and that I couldn't be who I wanted to be.  It was in the moment of sharing out loud that my cloud of negativity and doubt began to dissipate.  Oh I still felt the sadness after getting off the phone with her but Sue provided an amazing voice of reason to say "this is just one day, one moment. Life changes in an instant and this will too!"

I remember building our family house on Gerrish Island. My brother cleared the land, poured the foundation,  and raised the walls of the house.  In the beginning there was a lot of mud and it seemed that no matter what we did the mud kept holding back our progress.  Some days it took sheer determination to keep moving forward  to get the house built.  Sure enough month after month the house took shape and before we knew it we were moving in!  Stay on track with your dreams and don't let one day stuck in the mud prevent you from working towards your ultimate goal.

Idea, Communication, and Action

Really big ideas produce really big results.  We often marvel at businesses who seem to be in the right place at the right time and come through with a huge sensation out of nowhere.  "Why didn't I think of that?"  The funny thing is there are a lot of things that we actually do think of but never act on or let go of before we've realized their full potential.

Christopher Columbus had the biggest idea of his day and against popular vote knew in his heart that the Earth was in fact round.  He needed a lot of cash to prove his idea to be true and went to the biggest Venture Capitalist that came to his mind, Queen Isabella.  Can you even imagine the speech he had to give to convince her that against everything she had been taught and believed there was a possibility that the shape of their planet was actually different than always thought?

He did it. We can only imagine the scene and how it played out but the point is that he did it.  Christopher Columbus mustered up the strength, faith, belief, and perseverance to go where no man has gone before.  He had an idea, he communicated it to anyone he could get to listen, and he took action to prove his idea.  It seems simple enough so why is it such a hard premise for most of us to take hold of and put into play?  Maybe it's a little bit of fear from the unknown mixed with some self doubt or maybe its just that we've been told too many times that something is not possible.

Some of my greatest achievements in business came from situations where an idea popped into my head, I picked up the phone to connect with someone, and  just made it happen.  I didn't leave any room for self doubt or questions to flood in and never once let myself believe that it wasn't possible to achieve this new goal I had set.  Looking back over my career I realize that the moment I let something sit too long in the thinking stage before I acted on it - the idea usually became dead in the water and never went anywhere.  The point is  that by nature we are meant to create.  Don't be to attached that your final outcome is exactly what you  envisioned. Creating can get messy and sometimes from our miscalculations or mistakes come the greatest outcomes and achievements. 

The next time an idea pops into your head promise yourself that before you dismiss it you'll share it with a friend and take at least one step in the direction of making it happen.  You never know what it will become.

Remember to Explore

There's a big world out there waiting for you to drop everything and explore.  It's time for you to let go of all your preconceived notions and remember what it is like to be open to new smells, sights, tastes, and ways of thinking.  We've been doing business in our own corner of the world for years without acknowledging that some of the most awe inspiring places exist outside of our borders.  When is the last time you sat in a restaurant and you were the minority, where you hung on every foreign word spoken trying to piece together the conversation? 

A field of yellow daffodils offers the perfect inspiration for a new color scheme for your Spring Line, a spicy serving of fresh fish from Mexico offers a new line of sauces, and the view from Mt. Everest provides you with the courage to launch a new business.  If we forget to leave the place that we feel most comfortable and most at home we risk loosing one of the greatest opportunities for self growth and awareness. If we as individuals become stagnant and closed in our way of thinking and being, then we risk missing out on the possibilities that life has to offer us up each and every day.  Remember to step outside of your comfort zone and purchase a ticket to the place you've always longed to visit.  When you arrive at your new destination try letting yourself go where the wind may take you and not mapping out your entire adventure.   Hop on a bike and fill your back with a baguette and fresh brie.  Drink from the spicket of an old farm that you pass by and stop to ask a stranger for his favorite place to spread a picnic blanket. 

Before you know it you will be engaged in a conversation that will change your perspective on one of your deepest core beliefs, before you know it you will have a new favorite song, and before you know it you will no longer be longing for your favorite brand of ketchup.  You will have opened yourself up to a new way of thinking and that my friend will open you up to new possibilities and a new sense of adventure.  And when you are done exploring and ready to return home, I promise you will be refreshed and renewed.  Your comfortable life and familiar neighborhood will suddenly feel much bigger and more interesting than it did when you left.  You will be looking at all it encompasses with a new set of glasses, one's that are less tinted with your past experience and belief system. Your new set of glasses will be able to see people and places for what they may represent not what they have represented in the past.

Just back from Mexico, I am already trying to plan a trip to Belize for next summer.  Other than that I will wait and see where the wind takes me.

To skype or not to skype....that is the question!

Just loaded the dinner dishes, finished loading backpacks for tomorrow, started the dryer, and sitting down to work on Sharcula, November Night, Get On Board, and finish a proposal for my good friend Tom.  TRG Northeast is underway and growing.  We have signed clients, prospects, events, and life is good.  I love working from home around my kids schedule and most of the time, Tyler and I can connect for quick thoughts or issues via text or mobile.  It works. TRG's headquarters are in Columbia, South Carolina and for now TRG Northeast is successfully working from South Berwick, Maine.

Then every once in a while we come a cross a project or a piece of a campaign that we just can't seem to get on the same page.  Specifically today we are trying to iron out a facebook application and the best positioning that can be achieved for a client. My head is in one place and Tyler's is on a train to Anchorage. (kidding! - don't get your panties in a ruffle.)  From the very beginning of our meeting back on Facebook and our discussing building the Northeast office together for TRG, I have been urged to get SKYPE so that we may communicate more effectively.  For some reason there is something inside of me that screams "no flippin way Tyler".  Actually, let's be honest.  I know what the reason is and wondering if you, any of you might agree with me.

Remember when we were kids and the Jetson's were like one of a handful of shows on Saturday mornings to watch? "Meet George Jetson, Jane, Judy, Elroy, and Rosie etc.."  The one piece of technology that intrigued me the most as a little girl was the talking TV phone where George would picture home and explain why he had to work late or to find out what he needed to grab at the store for his wife.  It has always stuck with and not out of fascination. I have always fell victim to Bedhead.  My hair has enough curl and volume to make it look like the Bride of Frankenstein when I wake up.  The thought of someone calling at any given moment and having to be face to face when not having paid the least amount of attention to what I may look like is not my idea of a good time. 

As I'm putting my thoughts down I'm starting to have questions about my objections of using Skype in business and wondering how valid they are.  There is just something strange about the whole concept to me and where I usually embrace all new technology this one has me stumped.  Tell me what your thoughts are about using Skype for business and please be honest it's for posterity.

Labor Day - Times are Changing.

My dad was a plumber.  I was the last of five children and grew up in a house of older siblings, a home office, vendors, customers, friends, neighbors, and strangers coming in and out of our house constantly.  I have zillions of memories of holiday dinners where the table would be set, we had all just gathered to sit, and the office phone would ring and my dad would have to leave to help someone even before the first bite was taken.

He was a master plumber, a mason, constantly in the local paper, hard worker, and basically a stranger.  He was married to his profession and it was what he did best in life.   He could literally fix, lift, and source anything. We were not allowed to say "can't" growing up and we were told a million times how easy we had it in life and didn't know the true meaning of hard work.

My dad was born in 1929.  His mother died when he was five and was sent to live and work on a Polish farm while times were tough.  The Polish influence trickled into my life through language, food, and music. Oh and did I tell you that it wasn't uncommon to see my dad dance the polka at family weddings?  That's another story.  He had a hard life born from the Great Depression, loosing a parent, and being part of a mixed family with all boys yet he never gave up until the very end.  All of this created a personal belief for my dad that unless you were working physically hard and getting the job done with your hands, you were not working at all.  My brother went to school for engineering and in my dad's eyes it wasn't good enough.  He wanted my brother to follow in his footsteps and takeover the family business.  My brother had his own dreams and they had nothing to do with plumbing.

When I turned 18 and it was my turn to decide what I was going to be when I grew up and my Dad was already 59 years old.  Being the 5th born, and the 4th daughter, he had long given up on the idea that the family business would be taken over and his legacy continued.  My dad had also given up on life and had withdrawn from the world as most of us know it.  I was left as an impressionable 18 year old taking it upon myself to decide whether or not to go to college,  what I should study, and where I wanted to end up in life.  I knew that anything I chose would not fit in with my Dad's way of thinking and his thoughts about what my life should look like. Twenty years later, my Dad has been gone for most of the time and I'm knee deep in a career that my Dad never even knew existed.  It's Labor Day and most of the country has the day off and is celebrating a holiday that most of us don't know the story behind the day.

Times are changing.  There are new industries being created everyday and people's ideas about labor and what it means to work hard are expanding.  People work hard everyday without getting their hands dirty and I applaud them but on this Labor Day my thoughts go out to all the people that work hard everyday like my Dad did.  They work 12 hour plus days, physically grueling, and mentally taxing jobs to make all of our lives run smoothly and without interruptions.   They build our roads, keep our water running, clear our garbage, manufacture our goods, farm our lands, maintain our buildings, and serve our country.  While many of us make our living creating new business and creating new vision, my hat off to so many who like my Dad contribute to society by getting their hands dirty and using a little elbow grease.

Star Fish or Sea Stars?

Libby and Anna woke up late this morning and very hungry.  Anna asked for a cheese omelet and Libby requested her newest favorite "Roasted Toast with Strawberries."

No I haven't reinvented a breakfast dish, I wish I could claim I was that talented. Libby likes to give life her own names and affectionately calls French Toast, "Roasted Toast".  Whole wheat bread soaked in eggs, milk, vanilla, and sugar/cinnamon and then placed on a buttered griddle till its nice and crispy. Good Ole Aunt Jemima from my childhood and fresh strawberries on the side and Libby is happy as a clam.  Plus the combination of the omelet with the roasted toast made my kitchen smell like the Maine Diner on a Sunday Fall morning.  LOVE IT!  What in the world does this have to do with Sea Stars or how can it be remotely connected to business?

Here it is...my good friend Perrin Cothran, Education Director of the Seacoast Science Center brought her little girl over for breakfast, business, and a chance to catch up on girl talk.  The kids played and Perrin and I sat and ate and laughed.  The conversation eventually made its way to Touch Tanks For Kids and the strategic marketing campaign TRG Northeast is putting together on an International Scope.  We began discussing the big vision of how it would all play out in regards to being an educational program to build awareness and help clean up the oceans.  I brought up the story of Star Fish that Mike had told me and the minute I said it I knew I had made the biological blunder of the decade. For those of you who don't know, Star Fish, are now being referred to as "Sea Stars".  I had learned this tasty morsel of a fact at Anna's spring field trip to the Seacoast Science Center.  Our educator had politely asked us to refrain from calling our familiar friends, Star Fish and to refer to them with their new accepted scientific name, Sea Star.

Later on in the day I was poised with the question should someone change their name if a life situation calls for it or should they keep their birth name? Should celebrities keep their birth names or should they adopt a stage name? Why do we as individuals have such a fascination with pet names, pseudonyms, stage names, nicknames, acronyms, and trade names.  As businesses we try to invent and reinvent names so that we may trademark them and somehow claim ownership.  Why? Our creative genius and how we position ourselves, products, and companies has become an industry and for a reason.  People like to stand out as being unique, one step ahead of the curve and when they can make a product, service, or identity their own with a different slant they own it and claim it.  People love to be trend setters and love to plant seeds by nature to see how bigh and far they will grow.  Buisnesses know this and want to cater to the individuals need of standing out and being able to share a compelling story.  By businesses I also mean the entertainment industry - celebrities drop names like Harold Smith to become Jack Black. (not a true statement but you get what I mean) Identity and Labels sell.  Roasted Toast with strawberries sounds much more glamorous to Libby than just plain old French Toast and besides she's the only one in the house currently dining on Roasted Toast.  How eloquent and ahead of her time.

Keep your eye on the prize!

Are you sitting down without any distractions?  Well at least can you sit for a second and zone out of the normal daily chaos?  Allow yourself to sink back into your chair, close your eyes, relax your body, and picture yourself in the life you were meant to live.  Smell the smells, see the scenery, touch the objects, and listen to the sounds that surround you as you are living in your ideal way of life.  Now let me ask you a couple of questions.  Are you happy in your new life? Does it make you smile and feel content?  Can you see yourself living this life and making a go of it?  GREAT!  This is the first step of determining your true destiny and where you are supposed to be.

The trick now is creating this vision in a way that you can hold on to it and commit to it.  If you like to blog or journal, write it down. If you are an artist, make a collage or paint it.  If you are a songwriter put together a melody and sync it to music.  If you spend a lot of time in your mind do what I do, imagine every detail and put together a living breathing scene in your mind and cement it there.  When I coming up with a new event, function, strategy, or even business I work backwards.  I visualize how I want it to end up and then create the scene in my mind.  I imagine the smells, sights, feelings, smallest details, and how people will interact within my vision and I own it.  I "keep my eye on the prize" and commit to the fact that my vision will become reality.  If you can see the end goal first and then take steps towards it the process seems to lay itself out in front of you and becomes less chaotic and cluttered.  It becomes a simple action plan instead of "how in the world am I going to make this happen."

Try it.  You can do this in area of your business or life.  The latest campaigns I am using it for is the SoBo Central, Lantern Walk "A Night of Light" and the marketing strategy for Touch Tanks for Kids, Sharcula educational campaign.  If you know what you want to have happen in the end it makes the first step so much easier to take.  Decide what you want to do, who you want to be, and the results you would like to achieve and then start walking towards your goal until you reach it.  Don't get me wrong, it's easy to get off track and make decisions that lead you away from the goals you've committed to but that is why you surround yourself with good friends and business colleagues. Share your vision with them, tell your story, let them feel your passion and commitment so that they will  help you stay on track and realize your goals.  This is your story and you are the main character don't let someone else decide your plot for you.  Keep your eye on the prize!

P.S. -
When times get tough it becomes even more important to try to regroup and decide what's next.  When The Little Hat Company was ending and the writing was on the wall that we had taken it as far as Sue and I possibly could within the circumstances I sat down at my personal blog and asked myself what I wanted to be next.  I had an overwhelming feeling that I couldn't go back to corporate and I wanted to have flexibility for these last couple years of Libby's little time.  I knew that I loved creating and spinning a good story and had a ton of experience and education in marketing and business development and I knew how to do it well.  I began picturing myself working from home, doing a lot of writing, and creating marketing campaigns for companies in the Northeast. You know where this is all going.  I didn't necessarily know how I was going to reach this end goal but I knew it was what my heart wanted.  Then I received an IM on facebook from someone who I knew more than 20 years ago asking if I would open up the NE for his marketing/communications firm - TylerRyanGroup  Just 2 months later I have signed clients, meeting with prospects, writing a business blog, and have 3 scheduled events in this upcoming calendar year.  It wasn't all fun and games getting here - there have been some rough spots and there will be more but I am committing to this new goal and taking steps towards it everyday to make it my reality.  Call me let's do coffee! Jennifer Houghton 207.450.8441

Keeping it Green and Healthy

You are at a really good place.  You're established in your business and or career, the sun is shining, and everything is coming in green and smelling like roses.  Congratulations! Give yourself a giant pat on the back and tell yourself job well done!  You've made it through the honeymoon stage, past the rocky mountains and finally here you sit in the golden prairies of life.  Now what?

Well you should certainly take off some well deserved time for yourself. Remember what it is like to be you and now that you are not nose to the grind for 80 hours a week seek out some balance in life.  Take 60 minutes at lunch in the gym, travel to the mountains on the weekend, or even book that extended trip to Europe, just remember in the back of your mind that you need to have your plan in place to keep your daily business thriving and well maintained.

Just like your front lawn once you have all the weeds vanished and you are left with a vibrant green carpet spreading out to welcome your neighbors and visitors your stable business is going to take some care and effort to keep performing at the level you want.  By no means is it going to require the blood, sweat, and tears that it took to reach this new plateau but just say lets make sure you are leveraging your knowledge and experience from building it to keep it where it is and actually get it ready for the next round of growth if that is something you desire.

1. Develop a "to do" list to keep your current level maintained
2. Look for ways to keep your business in the eyes of your customers and prospects
3. Create fresh new activities for your business to stay involved in the community
4. Interact with your customers and prospects - reach out to them regularly to say hello and see how they are doing.
5. Use the holidays and anniversaries to say thank you for their business and to recognize the impact they make on your bottom line. - Gratitude!

Stay the course and continue taking care of the foundation you have just built until you are ready to put on an addition and watch your baby grow again!

Jennifer Houghton
TRG Northeast
Tyler Ryan Group
Check us Out!
Become our Fan on Facebook
or pick up the phone and call...207.450.8441