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