In true solo entrepreneur style, I've resigned from my full-time job; so I'm focusing on my freelance career at the moment – working on my web design portfolio, networking & generally being really busy!
I'll be back in June 2009 at Inspire With Hope with new articles for you. If you'd like to hear me explore specific freelancing or entrepreneurship topics, do comment.
In the meantime, keep up with my blog about blogging, where I write about writing at Kx tumbles… Plus, there's always twitter – @inspirewithhope – for my random musings & effervescing about life! :)
Posted on 29 April '09 by Kathleen Bright, under About. 4 Comments.
I'm writing this based on my experiences with abandoning my blogs, and my experiences returning to them. I'm writing to help you (and also future me) get on with things when you really don't feel like it. I'm really interested in other people's methods, this is a very real & present issue for me; please leave your tips & recommendations in the comments, useful links very welcome.
I recently read a brilliant article, which stated, "The creative myth leads people to waste time waiting for lightning instead of working hard and relentlessly."
Eureka!
How many times have you heard "Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration" or variations on that theme?
Motivation waxes & wanes, but – as I keep realising – you have to persevere whether you feel motivated or not. Sometimes I'm full of creative energy & sometimes I'm just not; I have to carry on regardless. Well, I say I keep realising it; I'm wondering if this time I've actually learnt the lesson or if it'll be coming round again in my future… I am trying. :)
There are some things I do that help me keep my creative energy, I find them especially useful to implement just as I feel it starting to slip away:
- Making lists of my achievements
- Checking my motivations
- Getting inspiration from other people
- Writing down ideas as soon as I get them
- Logging off
Making lists of my achievements
How I do it: I make a list each month using Ta-da List (it's free & simple). I update it many times each day. I find I forget what I've done if I don't write it down, which leads to despondency. Plus, this way I have a record I can look at when my self-confidence is flagging. Hurrah for Aide-mémoires of My Awesomeness!
Examples of stuff I put on the list
- Solicited feedback from Chiz [on my websites]
- Started using Google Webmaster Tools for [my websites] BP, IWH, KB & MMM
- Decided not to go to Inferno [club night] & cancelled dancing with Helen C – need rest
- KB: Updated [website]: Added quotations from others about me
- Newly created Incompetent Chef [blog] – from Idea to Implementation – wrote about guacamole http://incompetentchef.tumblr.com
Checking my motivations
Sometimes I feel resistance to doing something because I don't really want to do it. I worried that this might be the case with regards to blogging – in which case, it would have been a good idea to stop, there's no point in posting without passion. I did a lot of thinking about it & every time I came to the conclusion that I definitely don't want to give it up. I made a list of my reasons & that was useful. It's helpful because it gives me direction too – if I'm not sure what to do next I can have a look at my reasons & let that guide me to the next action.
Work out why you started blogging, work out why you stopped, work out why you've not started again. Work out if you still want to blog & why / why not; perhaps the reasons you don't want to blog are not inherent to blogging: Maybe a change of platform or someone to help you with site administration would fix things. I find meditating & journalling helpful for working things out. Write stuff down!
Reasons I blog
- I have something to say that I want to share with other people to help them
- I'm vain & full of self-importance; I want people to read stuff I've written
- I want feedback on my thoughts
- I read something & want to respond to it – I start writing a comment & then realise it's ridiculously long (from little comments great articles grow!)
- I want to become (more of) an authority on entrepreneurship; blogging helps me direct my learning
Getting inspiration from other people
Hang out with life-affirming people who have high levels of energy, motivation, positivity, bounce, creativity etc. Socialise with inspirational friends. Read awesome blogs. Listen to inspirational songs.
Awesome blogs: My personal favourites
Writing down ideas as soon as I get them
Carry a little notebook for those snippets of entries that come to you. I have a journal that goes nearly everywhere with me. It applies online too – bookmark & tag when you run across things that inspire or speak to you. I use Delicious & Google Reader; there are so many great tools out there.
In addition, I find it really helpful to write things unrelated to my blog. I write other blogs about feminism, sexuality, vegan cooking for beginners… I have a few personal blogs in which I write the usual self-absorbed rambling & whining. I write poetry, I write short stories & flash fiction, I write complaints to businesses, I write thank you cards, I write lists of so many things… It's all good practice. Even though I write all these things, and have been a writer for longer than I can remember, I still felt trepidation upon returning to Inspire With Hope. I dread to think how much worse it would have been if I hadn't been writing all this time. If you don't write much; start now. (The comment section of this entry would be a good place to begin… :))
Logging off
Eliminate distractions – I like to believe that I'm self-disciplined enough to stop checking email, LiveJournal & Twitter all the time (and I'm working on that!), but I'm not. Log out of IM. Go offline. Remove the temptations – sign out, close the tabs, disconnect.
…And that's how I wrote this post.
Now I'm off to read some comics, because treats, rewards & relaxation are also important aspects of being & staying motivated.
I've had lots of ups and downs (mostly downs!) recently and inspirewithhope.com has suffered from severe neglect as a result, but I'm sorting myself out and that means you get to benefit from my personal development too.
I've been writing some intriguing new articles and re-visiting previous topics too and I'm now making a public commitment to return with new stuff at the start of next month, including more details about what's been happening in my life.
I'm not sure yet what the frequency of updates will be, but I will be writing regularly and to a fixed schedule, so no more random disappearances.
I know I can do it as I was updating every other day for over six months before and I really love inspirewithhope.com. So, good times are coming. Thank you for your patience in the meantime and I look forward to hanging out with you more in the near future.
Posted on 7 October '07 by Kathleen Bright, under About. 2 Comments.
I'm back!
It's always difficult returning to a website after a break, probably more so after an unplanned one.
Life has been introducing me to new iterations of complexity and I've only recently felt ready to start making sense of things. I didn't want to return without resuming my regular schedule (every other day), but I just can't write that frequently any more. I have too much going on in my life to do that, especially as I'm successfully challenging my issues with motivation and procrastination to re-discover my passion for creativty.
Consequently, I'm returning for once-a-week updates until I have more time to say all I have to say. This will allow me to concentrate on my web design projects (get in touch if you're looking for a web designer, or know someone who is) and to improve All Things Bright (let me know what needs changing).
Achievements
It's not as if I haven't been busy; here's a summary of my latest achievements, as well as some information about what I'm working on at the moment.
Graduate Fashion Week
I recently completed work on a project that was on exhibit at Graduate Fashion Week. It's a website called Subcultures: Fashion & Music Trends, a collaboration between myself & Melissa Taylor.
Photographs to follow shortly – look out for them next Wednesday!
Women in Media
In February 2007, Sali from Women in Media interviewed me and the resulting profile is now online. I feel truly blessed to be recognised as a woman in a successful media and technology career, especially as I don't feel that way most of the time. I hope that the fact that I can achieve this will encourage and inspire other people, because if I can do it you surely can!
Here's an excerpt:
Describe your job/role?
I run a blog about personal entrepreneurship. I'm starting my own business and writing about my experiences, focusing on 'personal' aspects – how my business affects the rest of my life, how my friends influence and inspire me, how other people can get started out.
What is the best thing about your job?
I love the fact that by doing something that I enjoy, it inspires other people. It means a lot to me that I can create and share that kind of value. I have to admit that I love playing around with the design and code for my site too.
What attracted you to it?
I've always enjoyed writing and geeky stuff (like making websites) – when I was at school I taught myself web design. Combining the two happened naturally, it feels almost inevitable that writing and web designing would come together.
Read the rest: Kathleen Bright: Women in Media case study interview
Bright Portfolio
I'm actively looking for web design, web development & site administration or web management work, to that end I've been revamping my portfolio. It's by no means complete, but I wanted to let you know about it now.
Check out brightportfolio.com!
Intentions for All Things Bright, 2007
- Images to distinguish particularly noteworthy or unique content
- Join three blogging networks, especially Mind Petals – the community of young entrepreneurs (seems to be offline at the moment)
- Publish excerpts from my philosophy of religion essays, with some exegesis as to why what I'm doing is important and relevant to life more generally
- Be (more) creative: Specifically, start writing poetry again and publish some of it here
- Detox! I've got lots of design changes, as well as tweaks for taglines etc. to implement by end of Feb 2007, starting 29 Jan
- Seamless integration in to my forthcoming self-employment blogfolio (a portfolio in blog format) by end of March 2007
- Continue to a) write every other day, b) reply to comments promptly (within 24 hours where possible) and c) add value to the blogging community and to the world generally via blog comments and forums
- Seek out and respond to more blog challenges
- Start guest blogging at appropriate blogs
- Review my plans every month to ensure I'm on track for my goals
On 29th December 2006, I made some important goals for 2006. I've already modified and developed them. (Update: For details, see 2007 goals reviewed, January, 4 Feb)
I'm doing really well: All Things Bright has a new focus as my Personal Entrepreneurship site. The main thing to do is implement the changes I've decided to make. As for my other blogs and my essays, I have a lot of writing to do. I love writing; just as well!
Challenges: Entrepreneurship, professional blogging & studying
- Time: Making it
- Fear: Facing it
So, how do I create more time and face my fears? I'm exploring that, check back on Tuesday/Thursday for my discoveries.
In response to Lorelle's Top 10 Blog Goals Blogging Challenge.
Posted on 28 January '07 by Kathleen Bright, under About. 5 Comments.
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How to re-think your perspective
Kathleen Bright: Not ‘I need', instead ‘I want' or, How to get things done, changing your perspective. Don't forget to focus on how much you want to do what you need to do. If you're prone to procrastination, get as much help as you can, including changing the way you think about your goals.
- David Seah: Productivity through Discomfort. Stepping outside your comfort zone is a great idea! Plus, the only way to test your limits is to keep going until you fail. This is also the only explanation or justification for the crazy amount of stuff on my to do list. :)
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Failure
Failure is okay!
- Kathleen Bright: Power of three: Goal-setting: Business (3 of 3). Really, failure is good. Failure is proof you tried.
- Kathleen Bright: Power of three: Goal-setting: Studying (2 of 3). Conquering failure is difficult because of fear.
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Fear
Mind Petals: Fear Based Decisions are the Wrong Decisions.
- Yes, it's hard to face your fears, but it's worth it.
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Help
If in doubt, say thank you.
- Keep saying it.
- Watch (or read) The Secret for some inspiration, including why saying thank you helps.
- You can get 'The Secret' free if you hurry, because I think it's that great and I want you to see it.
- Tubetorial: Back Up Your Blog or Risk Losing It All. It happened to me, it could happen to you too…
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Making money with blogging is not a quick fix
In order to make money you need to have a product or service that people want to buy.
- Products can be easier because they're usually tangible.
- Content is an example of something that straddles the product/services divide.
- Yaro Starak: Can professional blogging be a sustainable business model? In order to be successful, (some) people need to love your content.
- Tom Peters: Love Thine "Enemy"! It's Good Business! Love is important in all areas of life, including business.
- Dazzlin' Donna: Becoming an authority. It's important for bloggers to participate in their niche communities. Plus, you should participate out of love for your niche.
- Pamela Slim: Create your media plan for 2007! Planning is important.
- But acting, a.k.a. execution, is even more important.
- Especially if you're prone to procrastination.
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Personal life lessons
Life gets more and more complicated each year. Well, mine has so far!
- Love is sometimes the problem, as well as the solution.
- You can get too much of a good thing, e.g. education and academia: Being a student isn't all it's cracked up to be.
- Entrepreneurship is for me!
- Escape is the best idea I've ever had – i.e. moving out of my parents' house – I just need to implement it.
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Goals
It's easier to refrain from spending than I first thought.
- How to Set Goals for the New Year. Just remember to have clearly defined goals so you can't wriggle out of them (which tends to be a problem with many New Year resolutions).
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Health
Kathleen Bright: Power of three: Goal-setting: Health (1 of 3). Health is important for everyone, including entrepreneurs.
- Mind Petals just emphasised the importance of health too.
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Happiness
Kathleen Bright: How to be happy, or Why you're sad and how to fix it. Happiness is an interesting topic.
- You are the only one who can make you happy.
- Other people and things can help or hinder, as you will it.
- Steve Pavlina: Making Decisions That Stick: "Once you reach a certain level of conscious development, you gradually de-couple your happiness from external events. You loosen your attachment to circumstances and learn to feel good regardless of what happens."
- On Philosophy: The Good Life. Some people think that the pursuit of happiness is a bad idea.
- Needless to say, I disagree.
- I find that music really helps me to change my mood and would love your suggestions for happy music.
- Making myself happy and making others happy are the two aims that define my life.
- Entrepreneurship is my tool to achieve these aims.
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Wealth & money
Steve Pavlina: Making Money Consciously. Being wealthy is not the same as being rich.
- It's hard to remember that when you're poor.
- Being frugal is an excellent way to remind oneself of the unimportance of stuff.
- Being a student helps you to be frugal because there are few other options. :)
- There are lots of useful site out there that can help you be frugal.
- Get Rich Slowly: Debt elimination is possible, even for students.
- Life Coaches Blog: Saving your money can become fun, even addictive!
- Mind Petals: If you want to be rich, make it one of your goals.
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"Energy flows where attention goes"*
John Richardson: Goals: Create The Gallery of Your Life. Don't forget to intend your goals. Visualisation is one powerful method for achieving. *From 'The Secret'.
- Steve Pavlina: Manifesting Intentions Without Resistance. Role-playing is another good way of doing that.
- Lorelle VanFossen: Blog Challenge: What Have You Learned This Year? Blogging challenges are great for writing ideas and for extra traffic. Thanks Lorelle!
Enjoy reading All Things Bright? Then you might be interested in my plans for it this coming new year, especially as you have the power to change things here, just by leaving me feedback.
On 11 December, I asked for your help with considering changes for All Things Bright, what kind of design & content you'd like here and what you think of teasers (i.e. excerpts of entries).
I made the mistake of not publicising the entry, so I've not had many responses. I'm now rectifying that mistake by letting more people know about this entry and asking for feedback.
So, please let me know what you think of the proposed changes in the comments. I invite you to add your own suggestions too, because I listen.
Ian replied to the previous request for feedback and I've implemented the changes he suggested. Since then I've had some emails with further feedback, specifically regarding the images to text ratio here (i.e. why so few images?), so I'll be focusing on that for the next month.
Action list
Executing & following up on ideas from 2006
Advertising: On 13th August, I stated that I'd remove AdSense if it didn't pick up by the end of the year. So that's what I'm doing. When All Things Bright is more established, I may put it back, but currently it's not worth it. I'll review in three months, at the end of March.
Much more important to get the word out about All Things Bright than it is to try monetizing it with something like AdSense. (I have some better ideas for monetizing, mainly affiliate recommendations, but you'll see as next year unfolds).
Marketing: I'll be focusing more on marketing next year, for All Things Bright and other projects. In addition, I'll be generally extending and deepening my knowledge of marketing.
Goals for 2007
Specific goals for All Things Bright, to fulfil my dreams of greatness & growth (via increased popularity), with details of how you can help if you are willing and able to do so.
Me: Extending the Community
- Become part of a suitable, reputable blogging network, which is of personal value and interest to me.
How? Join Mind Petals: Young Entrepreneur Network
If you know of others, please do send suggestions to me(at)inspirewithhope.com. Thanks.
- Reply to my comments much more promptly.
I'll be working out a schedule to allow a specific time slot for replying to all the wonderful comments my lovely readers take time to leave me.
- Read other blogs and leave comments on them; because "good bloggers are a part of the community of blogs".
See Marketing Profs: Daily Fix (and also The Viral Garden) for more discussion.
You: Come, join me!
Readers, here's how to support All Things Bright, should you so desire
- One, tell me what you love, dis/like, loathe about All Things Bright. Send me comments & emails, feedback very welcome. In turn, I always listen and I'm going to be even more responsive.
- Two, tell others about All Things Bright, so they can enjoy it too. Thanks. :)
So, what do you think?
Posted on 31 December '06 by Kathleen Bright, under About, General. 9 Comments.
New design for All Things Bright?
I'm considering changing the design for All Things Bright.
I love the current theme (especially the proliferation of pink!) and I've made some changes recently to make the design simpler and clearer.
Are the changes enough or would you like to see something new?
What do you like to read here?
What kind of content do you want from All Things Bright? What kind of topics do you expect? Should there be more about entrepreneurship? Less? What about ethics, philosophy, studying? Do you like my personal entries?
Please do let me know.
Teasers or full entries?
When you go to the homepage of All Things Bright, at the moment you see five full entries, then excerpts for the next five entries, then a linked list of the next ten entries.
This means that the homepage is really really long and may be intimidating.
Apparently, using excerpts linking to the full entries would improve my front page. But what do you think?
Posted on 11 December '06 by Kathleen Bright, under About. 3 Comments.
Questions from Booking Through Thursday's October meme entries.
26 Oct: Do you make notes in books as you read them? Why or why not? If you do, do you make notes only in certain kinds of books or all of them?
Yes, sometimes. Only in pencil and only in books I own. Usually only if the book is not new though – for this reason I much prefer pre-owned/second-hand books to new ones. Yes, I'm odd like that. I make notes in books for my academic course books.
12 Oct: Do you read in bed? For how long? Do you fall asleep reading? Will a good book keep you up all night? Where do you keep your night time reading? Do you have a special table next to the bed? Are there many books there? Do you keep books there that you aren't reading (finished or unread)?
I do sometimes read in bed, but I tend to fall asleep as soon as I'm tired. (I got in to the habit of talking until I fell asleep and now my body seems to just switch off when it needs to, quite a nifty trick).
I used to read a lot more in bed and would sometimes stay up all night reading. o_O
I keep my night time reading on my bed – I have a double bed, over half of which is covered with stuff. I have tonnes of stuff on my bed, including books I'm not reading.
5 Oct: Do you read short stories? Why or why not? What do you like and dislike about short stories?
I do sometimes read short stories, usually collections. I love stories that are perfectly self-contained. I dislike it when I get to the end of a short story and want to carry on reading. Another thing I like is when the story's bad, but it's over soon or you have no chance to get heavily invested in the book and thus can easily abandon it.
So, what are your reading habits?
Posted on 26 October '06 by Kathleen Bright, under Kathleen, Memes. 1 Comment.
No matter how self-aware, how happy you are with your life, locale, and person, there is always room for improvement. What do you want to change? What, who, where, when, or how do you wish you were…?
I Wish I Were…
Independently wealthy, successful businesswoman (EthicalBeads.com); seamlessly & effortlessly balancing my work, study & social lives, happy & healthy and finally FREE (i.e. no longer living with my parents).
Luckily, this isn't all just wishful thinking or some idle daydream because my business partner has suggested a getting-things-done-esque method, which I think might work well. It's called CVS to BVS (Current View Situation to Better View Situation).
I'm going to work through it tomorrow and share the results of my labour here on Monday. So, look out for it!
I've been really busy lately, so I post today in order to let you know of the new stuff at All Things Bright.
My true story, by me: My life & how it gave rise to All Things Bright
I've been reading a lot (seriously, LOADS) about the importance of storytelling in marketing. So, I decided to write my own story:
My life, told as a fairytale. What is All Things Bright? (My online home & the reflection of my inner thoughts). Why does it exist? (So you can get to know me better). How did it get started? (Everything, from my birth until it launched on 2nd August 2006, was crucial). Read more in: My true story (It's a fascinating read, even if I do say so myself; let me know what you think in the comments or send me an email).
Glossary
Finally, I released the Beginners' blogging glossary today (hurrah! …and the crowd went wild). A concise guide to the basic definitions you need as an aspiring blogger, with links to more information.
Being healthy
You may remember my Detox health kick pledge, which began on Monday. I meant to state that it was a one week trial; I neglected to do so. No matter, however, as I decided to continue with the health kick independently of this oversight. You can look forward to a review of my progress in my next post on Monday. Suffice to say, for now, that it's going pretty well, with some interesting surprises. Stay tuned…!
Posted on 16 September '06 by Kathleen Bright, under About. 1 Comment.
I love institutions: I loved being at school and going to university. I love having worked at one retail store for three years. It's the structure, the security of things not changing, or changing gradually enough to be non-threatening. Having this kind of immutable presence in my life means I feel fully able to explore entrepreneurship, without trying to get anything static from such an unstructured area.
I agree with the sentiment, commonly held by entrepreneurs, that there is so much to learn from living, from doing, from failing (hence my site, Make More Mistakes, of course). However, I do value 'traditional' education too. I am one of the few entrepreneurs I know of with a solid grounding in conventional education and I do not think I'm any the worse for it. As I've said, I loved going to school and education has really helped me.
I was lucky enough to have really good experiences at school. Not perfect, of course, but I emerged well-adjusted, though naive. Life has done much to dispel the naivety and transform my almost-mindless optimism in to a more intelligently persistent positive outlook. For example, my optimism now has a basis in intellectual, reasoned theories, like Steve Pavlina's ideas about the true nature of reality (subjective reality & consciousness manifestation).
I'm getting to the point, honest.
My three years at university, I learned a lot (most of it at the end of my third year…!), due to my excellent tutors and my best friends. At the time, it really seemed like Daniel & James were the only people, aside from myself, going to university in order to, a) learn from tutors, lectures, books etc., b) learn from the experience, and c) learn by freeform discussions outside of the lecture hall.
My one year following university, I've learned a lot more. Not because studying by myself is better than university (not better, just different) but because in that time I've moved around to a lot of different places, with a massive variety of subject material & environments, which has all been compressed in to one year.
21 things I did this year
- I worked for the government
- I was contracted by a temping agency
- I worked for a popular, high-street retail chain
- I worked in the non-profit sector for a small company
- I worked in a start-up with only two other people
- I attended meetings in a prestigious design who-only-knows-what
- I started seriously planning my own real business
- I researched fields of entirely my own choosing, all on my own (still doing)
- I learnt about marketing (still doing)
- I took an online course in Web Entrepreneurship (still doing)
- I managed numerous projects – 10 websites – simultaneously (still doing)
- I worked freelance as a web designer (still doing)
- I contacted strangers and successfully secured free advertising
- I made loads of money and spent it all
- I became frugal and self-disciplined (still doing)
- I learnt to take more risks
- I read even more voraciously than ever before (still doing)
- I discovered my life's purpose: Building empires online & helping people
- I learnt to dream bigger so that my goals really inspire me
- I became active within feminism and now recognise my goal to make feminism mainstream (still doing)
- I increased my focus on my personal development, time-management & other 'lifehacking' skills (still doing)
I can't believe how much I've learnt this year, without doing anything particularly out of the ordinary. I haven't had any near-death experiences, gone on a retreat or had massive successes or failures, yet my whole outlook on life has changed & developed.
Learning by myself
I'd been actively learning by myself well before this year. For example, I taught myself how to design & develop web pages over five years ago. Well before that, to a lesser degree, I was teaching myself how to write creatively. I highly, highly recommend self-teaching. Quite aside from learning about whatever you're teaching yourself, you learn so much about yourself whilst doing it. Knowing yourself is something that will help you in every area of life – look in to personal development for more about that.
In any case, here are some places to start if you want a helping had to learn by yourself. You can always ask me as well, of course. Email me
Oh, in conclusion, as I've alluded to earlier in this post, I don't think university trumps life or visa versa – it all depends on whether you want to get anything out of your experiences and if your eyes & heart are open to learning new things.
Posted on 14 September '06 by Kathleen Bright, under About. 2 Comments.
One of the things I liked about personal blogging was posting my answers to interesting memes (usually quizzes, sometimes something more pointless). Why give that up just because I've switched my old personal blog for something a little more upmarket?
In the spirit of continuing my explorations of different types of blog entries, I present (with my answers in bold):
Tuesday is Chooseday asks…
Would you rather:
- Have five years of pretty severe bad luck knowing you'd have relatively good luck for the rest of your life OR have your bad luck spread throughout your life?
Knowing when it would be over would make it easier to bear, I should think (assuming I survive it…)
- Mix everything you drink with sour cream OR squirt lemon juice on everything you ate?
I'm not a big fan of sour cream, sometimes I have it with nachos or fajitas, but it would just be too weird with anything else and it would ruin desserts completely. Lemon juice wouldn't actually be that bad.
- Cluck like a chicken whenever a phone rang OR lick your lips whenever somebody mentioned food?
At least licking one's lips when talking about food is pretty natural. If you start randomly clucking, people tend to notice and have you committed.
- Only be able to hold your head straight up, as if looking at the sky OR only be able to look down towards your feet?
Originally, I thought I'd prefer to look up. However, I have an almost obsessive habit of looking where I'm going to avoid stepping in things, so it's a bit of a no-brainer really.
Hmm, that was moderately fun. Must try again! What do you reckon?
- Bloginality says I'm an Introverted, iNtuitive, Feeling, Perceiving type…
"As a weblogger, you have wonderful words to express your feelings because of your idealism. Because you don't like conflict, you may be likely to make one list of links and leave it for a long time without updating for fear of offending."
I am very idealistic, it's true and my bookmarks grew so unwieldy I switched to del.icio.us at the first opportunity. :) Team Technology says I'm INFJ (Introverted, iNtuitive, Feeling, Judging).
With thanks to The Daily Meme, for making my meme-locating so painlessly easy.
Posted on 12 September '06 by Kathleen Bright, under Kathleen, Memes. No Comments.
I'm really good at focusing on one thing to the exclusion of all else. Usually I compromise (a little) and focus on one thing to the exclusion of most everything else. However, this isn't the best way to get ahead or stay balanced. It's no good having one area of your life perfect and the rest in ruins. It's not even any good having a few ideal areas, you've got to be making progress on all of them. Yes, it's tough, but it's worth it.
Or so I'm reliably informed… :)
How I'm doing with areas of my life
I've awarded each area some stars out of 5 to indicate how I'm doing with it.
Entrepreneurship & blogging
4 stars
Exceedingly happy with this area! I've been blogging professionally for four months now. Wow, what an achievement! I've heard it said that six months of blogging is the first major milestone – if you can keep going after six months and continue consistently for a year, I think that says something important about your commitment to professional blogging.
I'm maintaining a regular schedule at Make More Mistakes (every other Tuesday) and a regular & frequent schedule at All Things Bright (every other today).
I'm working on Ethical Beads (dotORG & dotCOM), which is my next BIG project. I'm very excited about it; lots of potential there.
So far, my overall main challenge with entrepreneurial blogging is writing for a minimum of an hour each day. I tend to spend hours researching instead, but I need to discipline myself to do both. The negative consequences of not doing this include manic writing frenzies when posts are due. I have most of the information in front of me, but I have to get it ready & weave it all together with some creativity & original content. It makes blogging more stressful doing it that way.
In addition, I need to make as much headway as I can with Ethical Beads before I go back to university. I want to have all the systems in place and a decent variety of excellent quality links in order to pique interest & encourage interaction. My ideal set-up would be one whereby users submit links themselves, I moderate where necessary and everything goes up very quickly and correctly, with lots of viral publicity. I need to make that happen.
Recreation
3 stars
It's been hard to relax and I'm still working long days. However, I have made space to see quite a lot of DVDs, including new films (Snakes on a Plane, Volver), recent classics (Pulp Fiction, Signs, Unbreakable) and the hilarious adult cartoon series, Futurama. I've caught up with a couple of friends recently, which has been great.
Sites – Change Things Now! & Refresh London
2 stars
My enthusiasm for these sites is still present, but it's waning due to lack of contributions & support. With All Things Bright I wholly expect to go it alone (comments are always welcome, of course), but Change Things Now! & Refresh London are social sites and I expected them to be partially community-driven. Never mind, once I've made some moe headway with my entrepreneurial blogging (see above), I will delve in to these projects with renewed vigour, inspiring those around me to contribute too.
Change Things Now!
I need to create the London Feminism Calendar with the little information I have and an easy way for users to add events themselves.
Refresh London
I need to install WordPress, put a basic theme in place, contact Ahmed about creating a theme, mail the group with a suggested date, time & place for meeting… Lots to do, but all of it easy.
Healthy eating
0.5 stars
Er, not so much. It's not that I don't try, it's just that… Actually, what am I talking about, it is that I don't try.
One of my main reasons for not eating healthily is that I hate cooking and healthy fast food is hard to come by. I suppose what I need to do is come up with an easy list of easy, quick, tasty dishes I don't mind preparing.
Hmm, how will I do that?
Well, my Detox health kick pledge is a good start!
MA
1 star
I'm worried about this one for a few reasons, the most easily tackled one is my lack of reading to date, due to my focusing on entrepreneurship & blogging. Later on, my MA & blogging are going to clash big time, unless I do something to change that. Need to start thinking about that now, the main solution seems to be planning, as usual, again.
Posted on 10 September '06 by Kathleen Bright, under Kathleen, Personal. No Comments.
Darren Rowse (ProBlogger) has made me re-evaluate what I hope to achieve here and why I reference him & Steve (Steve Pavlina) so much. Well, I do it because their ideas are amazing, genius, even. (Although, I definitely need to be more actively linking to lesser known sources too). I don't expect that my readers will necessarily start reading their blogs just because I've linked to them: After all, my target audience is people who want to know about me.
Notoriety; Kathleen: Virtual celebrity
I was talking to one of my friends last night and realised I've neglected to share the main aim of All Things Bright, as it has evolved to be: The clue was always in the name – All Things Bright – really. As I told Dave, the purpose of All Things Bright is to make me a virtual celebrity. Some people like to go on 'reality' tv for their five minutes of fame, some like to go on talk shows to tell the world their dirty secrets, some like to go in to acting or music. Not me.
It girl of the IT world
I want to be the 'it' girl of the IT world. Famous for being famous, but in the blogosphere (i.e. the whole network of online journals) and cyberspace, not in 'Real Life'.
I updated Projects today, so have a look to get an overview of my current activities.
Ethics; Kathleen: Social entrepreneur
I want to use my creativity to help people too. Hence the launch of Change Things Now! – my site to make feminism mainstream, building on my involvement with local feminist groups. I started Refresh London, an initiative to rejuvenate web professionalism and help those starting out.
Ethical Beads
My latest product, one which merges vitally important ideals about humanity & social justice with e-commerce is Ethical Beads. Ethical Beads bridges two sites – EthicalBeads.org, directory for info & resources about ethical beads and EthicalBeads.com, store for bead & jewellery shopping.
Ethical Beads is in development, I recently completed the designs for both sites (just tweaking left now) and am focusing on research. I'll keep you posted. In the meantime, now as always, I welcome all links to related news & articles about working practices, environmental effects etc. of beads & jewellery. Thanks!
Change the world
You can change the world by joining me at any of these sites. I am always looking for people to help. Just sending me some related links makes a world of difference, that way I can share your knowledge with others. Please do email me with feedback, links etc. Much appreciated.
Staying healthy
I posted recently about how important it is for entrepreneurs to eat healthily at Make More Mistakes.
Relaxing
So far, I'm not doing great with that. However, I am making a special effort to relax. I do a fair bit of travelling each day and my working day is long (8am – I fall asleep (past midnight), although that's by no means continuous working), so it is important. This week I've managed to watch the entire first series of Futurama, very funny. It's by the same guy who does/did The Simpsons.
