Posts Tagged ‘entrepreneurs’
Recently the New York Times asked “How do you decide to get rid of a book.” The answers from six authors and one book store owner are worth reading if you too are the ‘ I would rather read than have sex, what bestsellers are on sale this week, I want to die in my favorite book store’ kind of person.
Which books we get rid of goes to the root of what type of readers we are. I read fiction and biographies to relax and for the escapism into a different life and someone else’s reality. If I don’t like it I pass it on or take it to the second hand book store. I am not snobbish about my library; hardback, trade paperback or written in the margins from a garage sale if I enjoyed reading it….it stays.
As a business coach business books get rotated quickly as they have to be current. There are of course the classics that all entrepreneurs should read such as: How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie, Guerrilla Marketing by Jay Conrad Levinson, The E-Myth by Michael Gerber or the timeless Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich
The majority of life self-help books are overly clichéd and devoid of any genuine long term life solutions, unless it is exceptionally thorough I don’t buy much of the self-improvement genre. This criterion makes it easy to maintain a manageable selection.
While I have a minimalist attitude when to clutter in general, obviously this doesn’t seen to apply when it comes to books.There are piles in the living room and dining room, my office shelves are full and what does the top of my beautiful antique bedside table look like any way? I’ll just put a basket underneath to catch the spill off and stop it from groaning.
I can definitely relate to Joshua Ferris sentiments in his last line of the NY Times piece “………..I leave and come back, and the books I find there tell me I’m home.”
I must also confess that while I will not read about what famous people are wearing, eating or where they vacation; I am curious about what books they are reading. So Lesley Jane Seymour , Al Gore, Rahm Emanuel, Jeff Bezos, Steve Jobs, Michaëlle Jean, Angela Merkel what are you taking to bed?
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1. Buy really smelly cheese.
2. Replace your laptop on the dining table with a place setting for a person
3. Attempt to write something dazzling in cards to clients but end up with ‘best wishes’
4. Slip into your office to catch up on work and don’t answer the phone
5. Wonder why you keep buying boxes of crackers
6. Go to farmers markets and expensive bakeries for your ‘homemade’ baking
7. Curl up at 2pm with a book, hot cocoa and no guilt
8. Carry on whole conversations without any interruption
9. Feel like a kid again and actually enjoy the snow
10. Stop planning everything with military precision
…………. remember that the best moments are spontaneous.
My new website is up and running, when you arrive at the main portal or home page you will see that we are now:
- Jill Crossland Coaching
- TimeFinders Magazine
- Create Your Team
- Fabulously Over 40
There will be more new & exciting things to come in 2009.
In TimeFinders Magazine, I want to attract advertisers who are compatible with the content. I am looking for wine, chocolate or luxuary food companies, magazines such as More Magazine, travel agencies that book great trips for women, and beauty products for women over 35. I would like to include more women’s stories plus writers from the US and over seas. The area that is Fabulously Over 40, will be expanded to include other social media outlets such as FaceBook. There will be podcasting in the coaching area.
So many plans, so little time!
- Your comments or suggestions
- About advertising in TimeFinders Magazine
- If you would like to write for us
- To inquire about joining the group of professional women on Create Your Team
Dear New, Out of Touch Head of Microsoft
I could look up your name but Microsoft has never bothered to get to know me, in fact I feel like the forgotten computer user so let me introduce myself.
1. I am the solo-entrepreneur
2. I need to be able to run programs without your annoying ‘This program is not responding’. When that happens you cost me time.
3. I would like you to realize that the forgotten computer user is a reasonably intelligent person. I don’t know as much as my computer geek people, I am not a twenty something gamer but I know more than the housewife in Podunk.
4. I long ago gave up on asking you for help with a problem because after making my way through your frustrating online forms the answer reflected one of the stereotypes mentioned above. That is when and if you do reply.
5. As a coach I use my computer mainly for business – I have a website, blog and a presence on web 2.0. The majority of my business is done by phone sessions and I want to expand to web conferencing. All this means that I will spend money to keep my computer, virtual presence and company running efficiently.
In closing I want you to know that I have over the years sorted my through the maze of useless/unnecessary programs that you have shoved at me. I now use a mixture of what works for me………the solo entrepreneur. In case you are still confused this also means that I don’t have ‘people’ and your Small Business promotions are usually worthless to me.
As I start to research my next computer purchase (to meet my growing needs) I am so glad to hear the Vista is proving to be the same time consuming frustration that Windows XP was. But then I don’t exist. Well, maybe you won’t either in 2008, I think I will look into Macs. Of course my research will be done through Google as MSN search results are as always inadequate.
Thank you for your time.
Jill Crossland, Business & Life Coach