Almost every day I hear someone say, “I want to be my own boss.”
To start a dance company, open a chain of pastry shops, create a web business, make art and sell it.
After I watched this video by Fred Wilson on this very topic, I would like to offer the following thoughts for anyone who is considering striking out on their own and being their own boss.
Ask yourself:
What kind of place would you like to spend the next ten years of your life working in?
Who would you like spending time with – you, a partner, a small group, large company?
What kind of money do you need to make?
What lifestyle do you want to have?
He advises people to think carefully about these questions, then work backwards and plan accordingly. He describes ten examples of being your own boss so that you can compare notes with yourself to see which of those suits your particular set of goals.
I would add another question to the list above:
How can you create a better world?
It seems to me that any endeavor with that question running through its DNA is destined to rally community, and customers.
Enjoy the video.
Get more Wow!
If you want style notes and more for people who change the world, please check out:
It is up to me to look out for dolphins and whales and, to document their frolicking on my camera phone. And all this at 5:30 am.
When I tell people about this, it is not the animals that seizes their imaginations. It is that I am up at 5:30 am.
I do things. I run on the beach at this hour because it is that magical time when you are suspended between a morning moon and a rising sun. Simple.
I read a post by Chris Brogan about doing things that sums up how I feel about my morning run. Here’s the part I like:
“We are either doing, or we’re talking about it.
Three Phases of Doing
There are probably a gazillion ways to skin how one considers the steps of execution, but I’m going to give you a rather simplistic one that Julien Smith and I talked about the other day, in preparation for the new book we’re writing together. In our model, we think there are three stages to doing:
Experimenting – which is often done in private.
Executing – which is the doing part.
Extending – building a community around the effort.
Companies do this. They have R&D departments. They then bring a product to market. If the product takes off, a community of sorts forms (if they’re lucky). That last step isn’t a guarantee, but it’s a lovely thing when it happens.
When you experiment, do it privately, if that helps. I’ve helped some companies get started with blogging, but suggesting they blog way off topic, without any name brands, so that they can get the feel for what blogging really is and isn’t. That’s experimenting for them, so that they can get comfortable. We all experiment around our kitchen tables, don’t we?
When you execute, that’s how you know it works or not. I’ve talked about this in the difference between recipe and restaurant. If you’re just collecting ideas but not testing them out, all you have are recipes.”
I like executing, doing stuff, running. It makes me feel good. And I want to extend and build a community around my efforts. You may be a creative entrepreneur with a desire to launch a business, an emerging leader who wants to start a nonprofit to make the world a better place, a baker who wants to market a new line of pastries. In this particular moment, my community is my friend Andrea who runs with me, a school of dolphins and a whale, and all of you.
Why does the sight of these creatures inspire me?
In a way, I am in awe of the bigness of it all. The ocean that is there every morning, eternal yet ever changing. My toeprints in the sand that I leave running towards Breezy Point that greet me on my return remind me that what we do in a day is washed away with the tides. That I should run with every sunrise towards the best day of my life which will be waiting for me on the beach under a fading moon.
Are you talking about something that you should be doing? Just do it.
Here’s a sunrise for you.
Get more Wow!
If you want style notes and more for people who change the world, please check out:
If you want to see a snapshot of a world in a particular moment, I have the perfect camera.
This camera reveals the good, the bad and the fundable of all it captures for people like me who like to grasp a sense of a community through raw data as well as reputation. What is my camera? It isn’t a camera but actually a lens on a specific group. This particular group is the literary nonprofit world in New York State. Why am I so interested in it?
I work in a field populated by artists of diverse backgrounds and disciplines. The scope and range of artistic activities in Queens is astounding. Yet, the one discipline that does not meet the eye as often as it should is the literary arts. There are many reasons why: writers tend to work alone, there are also many writers in this borough who create work in languages other than English and depend on translation to make their work accessible.
In planning to address this, I began looking at the literary universe more closely and talking to writers about how I could be helpful in supporting their creative efforts. When Laurie Torrell of Just Buffalo, an upstate writing center, asked me to serve as a panelist for the LitTap strategic technology grants, I immediately said yes.
This is my lens.
I read thirty applications requesting technology support for a wide range of projects. This gave me a rare birds eye view of the literary scene across New York State and more importantly, a better idea of what resources, existing programs and unexpected areas of need are out there.
Here are some of my thoughts after the panel review:
1. All unsuccessful applicants should be invited to sit as panelists so they understand how a fundable application “reads” on the other side of the table.
2. Basic grantwriting is a skill every organization needs.
3. Technology is a one legged runner if it is used in programs but not in marketing.
4. Everyone is all over the place on the tech trajectory. Any initiative that is worth funding is worth sharing as a pilot.
The panel review process is a fascinating one. Not perfect, but democratic and somehow it just seems to work.
Get more Wow!
If you want style notes and more for people who change the world, please check out:
In my field, I work with artists who are driven to create things that are beautiful. Some of them have turned their worlds upside down to live the life of an artist, not always an easy path. My job is to make it possible for them to make life beautiful for all of us.
What does an artist need? How can I help them grow as creative professionals?
Over the past ten years, I have met many really smart people who do research, white papers and surveys to try to answer these questions an according to study done by Leveraging Investments in Creativity a few years ago, all of that stuff boiled down to four basic things:
1. Validation
2. Material support
3. Health Insurance
4. Live/work space
I spend a lot of time thinking about these things and how to move the needle forward to provide them in ways that are sustainable and self generating. The artist community is an elusive, challenging and unwieldy population. Fragile in individual survival and resilient in the passion to create. Caring for artists is a perpetual challenge.
This time of year I put together a report for my board that gives a picture of what we did to support artists. My board is small yet very involved and they attend many of our events throughout the year. The report I presented served only as reaffirmation for what they already knew and our conversation revolved about how to do what we do only better and more profitably.
Profitably? Do nonprofits do profitable work?
Yes and no. You can understand profit as a benefit to artists but the profit I am laser focused on is cash. The profit I am working to build is cash. Cash that I can put to work for me. You have no idea how hard it is to compete with children and puppy dogs in fundraising.
I can use all the help I can get.
OK, did you know that taking care of a Phalaenopsis is almost the same for this Executive Director? Here are some tips:
1. Think fresh.
Fresh air, fresh ideas. Orchids need gentle air circulation and air movement.
Me too. I need to move around and take in what is going on around me.
2. Think light.
The right balance, direct sun is too much and with insufficient light the orchid will fail to bloom.
I am a visionary and as long as I wear shades I’m good.
3. Think water.
Here’s a tip on how to give your orchid just the right amount of water: Place two ice cubes in the plant twice a week. The ice will melt slowly and give your orchid spaced out watering.
I prefer my ice cubes in a drink.
Get more Wow!
If you want style notes and more for people who change the world, please check out:
I write for love and money. It is my everyday passion. What's yours? 
