Like many women entrepreneurs, I work out of my home and love it. I\’ve done some of my best writing sitting in the “comfy chair” in my “jammies.” (That\’s the best part.) Unfortunately, the comfy chair is in the garden room in front of the TV. It\’s also next to the kitchen, so I have basically hogged all of the communal living space as my office. I was constantly interrupted by the rest of the family (what nerve!) and began to feel like I was anchored to that chair. Something had to change! OK, someone had to change…. ME! I confess that I actually had a home office.... Read More

…or One that Will Put Food on your Table? You\’re not Alone. As a career coach, I have noticed an uptick of women who are re-evaluating their career focus and paths due to a scarcity of job opportunities or feeling unfulfilled in their current occupations. They are experiencing a conflict between pursuing their career dreams or accepting jobs that match their strengths and experience but are personally unfulfilling. Perhaps you can relate to this experience. I am currently working with a client who has 20 years of experience in administrative support. Her passions, however, are all... Read More

Seated in the courtyard of a sports bar during a playoff game in the home city of one of the teams, it was an energetic crowd that Sunday. While we\’d come for a quick bite to eat, we caught a glimpse of a play now and then as home-team enthusiasts roared their approval during the first half. When a man sat down next to us with two friends, ordered a pitcher of beer and maneuvered around to glimpse the game, we barely noticed. But when he hassled the waitress every few minutes trying to intimidate her into getting him a table closer to the TV where none existed, his rudeness and her apparent... Read More

“You ain\’t going nowhere, son. You ought to go back to drivin\’ a truck.” What if Elvis believed this Grand Ole Opry manager\’s critique after his l954 performance? Or the Beatles listened in 1962 when Decca Recording Company responded, “We don\’t like their sound. Groups of guitars are on the way out.” What if Rudyard Kipling quit writing when the San Francisco Examiner told him, “I\’m sorry, but you just don\’t know how to use the English language.” Or as a struggling artist, Walt Disney took seriously the words of a prospective... Read More

Thanks to frequent-flyer points and a vacation club exchange, we spent a week in Hawaii for the cost of a rental car and food. While a fun and relaxing vacation, it was strange to be at an ocean-front Maui resort during peak tourist season, without the tourists. Several restaurants on this forty-acre property were even closed. The bellman who showed us around told us he\’d been working at the resort for eleven years and hadn\’t seen anything like it. “I used to work full-time,” he told us. “Now I\’m on a rotation with sixteen others and lucky to get one day a... Read More

Thirteen percent. That number should make you pause if you manage staff, lead a group, or own a business. It\’s a number recently released from an on-line survey reported by Reuters. According to Right Management, a subsidiary of Manpower Inc, only thirteen percent of employees surveyed said they “planned to stay in their current positions.” Two-thirds reported they\’re looking to change jobs in 2010, and another twenty-one percent indicated they\’re networking now, just in case. Pent-up frustrations and workplace treatment during the economic downturn were the primary... Read More

From the iron age to nearly the industrial age, blacksmiths prospered. Villagers needed plows, shovels, iron tires for wagons, nails and tools to build their homes, all of which the blacksmiths forged. They needed their horses and oxen shod and their tools repaired. Being a blacksmith was a sound professional choice. Yet despite flourishing for centuries, this vital profession was all but eliminated in a few generations. Who could envision affordable mass-produced items lining the shelves of big box stores, or anticipate societal changes incomprehensible at the time? How many current professions... Read More

When young children misbehave, many parents, teachers and caregivers insist on a time-out. Think how much better your workplace would be if you initiated the same approach. No, not for your boss or coworkers, but for yourself. It\’s hard to be amenable to reason or hear a contrary point of view when we\’re stubbornly clinging to our position. It\’s hard to hear a new idea when the change that\’s being suggested will negatively impact us. And it\’s hard to offer constructive input when we\’re approaching the edge of unreasonableness, backed into a corner or seething... Read More

The room was lovely, the bed inviting, the architecture interesting, and the philosophy appealing. That was my impression as we checked into a newly minted green-hotel in a resort town where we were eager to spend time relaxing. But when we checked out, lovely wasn\’t on my mind. Protective glass on the combined soaking tub/shower looked terrific, but giving a child a bath was impossible; oversized ultra-modern faucets made face-washing without watering the floor an Olympic challenge; and shin-high pointy edges on a platform bed covered by a flowing duvet made room navigation perilous. There... Read More

Do you feel overwhelmed with your career, family, finances or day to day tasks? Is your time limited, do you need more hours in a day? If you find yourself taking care of your children, husband, pets, and miscellaneous chores before you leave for work; you are not alone. When you come home from work do you cringe as you open the overstuffed mailbox before you go into the house to start the final phase of your day? It is extremely difficult to find time these days; hopefully we can help get you started. Let’s address your incoming mail. How long does it take for you to sort through the mail before... Read More