Christmas is Coming, if the Mayan Apocalypse doesn’t get us first.

What did you do on December 21, the day the Mayan calendar supposedly stopped? I officiated a gothic Victorian wedding – I can’t imagine a better way to celebrate the end of the world!

Although, I don’t really understand why everyone was so worried. I read recently on the Atlantic Wire that archaeologists found new astronomical tables in the city of Xultun. These new tables pre-date the previous codex, which mysteriously stopped on Dec 21, 2012, and span over 7,000 years into the future. So it seems we’re not doomed yet. It’s just that the Mayan writing down the codex got a sore hand and went down to the pub for a drink instead.

What Does The Mayan Apcoalypse Have to Do With MY Business?

Not much, actually, come to think of it. Except for the fact that since it didn’t happen, chances are high you’ll get to enjoy your Christmas turkey, go to the beach (or the ice skating rink) and sip vodka through a straw or whatever it is you get up to on New Years.

You’re out-of-commission. On Holiday. And that means your business is going to have to tick along without you.

Is YOUR business prepared for that responsibility?

Read On…

I am shit with email.

There is no sugar-coating that baby, no making excuses or blaming it on the cat. I am shit with email. I come home from work, all ready to write my little heart out for the evening, and there it is, that seething bulk of communication, and I am grateful for every single item that comes into my inbox - new albums for me to download, guest posting, client enquiries, press releases from strange and weird places, ad requests for Gothic Wedding Planner, replies from editors about pitches, newsletters … – so I, in my excitement, read them all, think “I’ll reply to that later, when I’ve given it some thought,” file it away in a folder, and promptly forget that I need to reply to it.

Sometimes I look at that counter that says “54 new emails” and I go and listen to my husband’s band practice, instead.

I frequently leave people hanging for days – sometimes even weeks. I accidentally delete things. I send emails and forget to attack stuff. I send enormous files without noticing. I am a bad, bad emailler. 

If there were email gods, they would smite me where I stand.

The first thing that I wanted to say was that if you’ve been a victim of my email-suckyness, I apologise. I am so, so, so sorry. It’s not you, it’s me. I’m an unorganised, scatterbrained hazard to myself.

The second thing I want to say is that it’s going to change.

Read On…

There’s a lot of bollocks blowing up in the blogasphere right now, especially surrounding internet marketers, information products, and the old adage: “those that can’t do, teach”. I won’t go into specifics, suffice to say a lot of people are starting to ask questions about what “qualifies” someone as an expert who can teach others – and whether teaching people they can “quit their day job” and run a successful internet business from home is the marker of a scam artist or not.

I wanted to address this today because I’ve been reading what they’re saying and – even as a person who sells info-products – I can see their point. I don’t want to be rude or mean about it, or call anyone out, but yeah – I see their point.

A phrase used by a lot of sites these days goes: “you don’t have to be a 10 in your chosen niche to teach. Even if you’re only a 5, you can teach the 1′s and 2′s”. And a lot of the people telling us this are genuinely nice, kind and caring people. I believe you should always think people have the best of intentions until proven otherwise, and most businesses who earn money around selling info-products and services – coaching, how-to ebooks, affiliate marketing, courses, etc – genuinely want to create something that helps people. They care.

Hell, I write ebooks and I coach people, because I care.

Read On…

Do you know Michelle Nickolaisen? I have a feeling that in a couple of years when I ask you that question, you’ll be saying “of course!” Michelle is one kick ass chick – she’s been a blogger for several years, and her latest effort – Lets Radiate – is a love letter to creative folk who might be struggling with workflow or getting all their amazing projects off the ground.

What does Michelle do better than anyone? She gets stuff done. She says “I have this great idea!” and then she goes out and gets it done. And she helps other creatives to work through blocks and figure out their workflow issues. And, since I’m bloody good at having great ideas, but not so good with the whole workflow things, I’m truly grateful to have her here to talk about running a small business, finding your people, and getting your business running as sweet as mustard.

Read On…

I hope you’ve all had a gander at Monday’s EPIC INTERROGATION with Laura Simms, creative coach and artistic inspiration mistress. Laura has a lot of great tips for anyone interested in getting into coaching and consulting with our kind of people (those are creatively awesome people, by the way).

When I asked her if she was a workaholic, Laura had this to say:

No. I think that word gets bandied around a lot amongst online business people without much regard for what it really means. Do I work a lot? Yeah. Do I enjoy it? Almost all of it. Do I sacrifice other activities in order to work? Yes. Is my allegiance to my work detrimental to my health and relationships? No. I’m not a workaholic.

Laura’s comment about not being a Workaholic inspired today’s post. First, let’s do a little semantics on the word “Workaholic”.

The word consists of a root – work (defined in the noun as “Activity involving mental or physical effort done in order to achieve a purpose or result”), with the -holic suffix. When applied to words, -holic ususally denotes a negative condition, a person having an abnormal desire or dependence on something – an addiction, usually. Holic denotes an inability to stop oneself from indulging in their chosen vice.

Read On…