Court Side

Last night I was at a college basketball game where I sat next to this guy. A short distance to my left was a friend who is working towards an MBA. The seats near us were stuffed with business acumen. A couple thoughts went through my mind:

• Most people wear Jeans. Jeans serve as the great equalizer of America.
• Court side is another golf course--whether on hardwood or turf grass relationships deepen in 110 minutes of hang time and 10 minutes of exchanging business.
• If you're the son of the coach you're a sonofacoach!

-Amy

some real business

The whole business thing got very real today.  I went to a seminar on "Writing a Business Plan" that was hosted by the Seattle chapter of SCORE.  SCORE is an organization that offers free one on one counseling for people starting or owning small businesses.  Retired business professionals offer their services to do the counseling, and teach classes and seminars.  And amazingly enough (I don't know why I find this amazing...maybe because I feel so busy and broke, so I can't imagine offering this much time for free) everyone there, the teachers and the librarian....everyone, seemed truly interested in other people's business success.  Jerry, our main teacher for the day, was telling us a story about one of this clients and he mentioned that he was on the phone with her last night...from his home!  and then emailed this same client at 5am this morning, because he was thinking about her situation and thought of another way to help her.  Wow.  Jerry and our other teachers shared many stories of people like us, with dreams of owning a business or those that has succeeded and then had some pitfall.  Every time Jerry told a story, he used the pronoun "we"; he saw himself as a part of that budding business and has even become long time friends with some of his clients.  I loved the personal stories.

The day started off a little stressful.  Jamie had to work at 7am (thankfully, he is working again right now.) and I had to catch a bus at 7:40am.  The kids need to be to school by 9am.  Thankfully Amy offered to walk the kids to school.  But it hit me at around 11pm the night before that even with Amy walking the kids to school, that left a crucial window of one hour with no one to be with the kids.  With Lily being nearly 11, usually that is not an issue, but in the morning...before school, the variables for meltdowns are too great to leave her with that responsibility.  So again, thankfully, Amy said she would come down at 8am and assist in the getting ready for school thing.  Whew.  I ran out the door and two blocks (uphill) at 7:40 and caught by bus by seconds.  I got all checked in on time at the seminar, and was enjoying the desk to myself, the crappy coffee with powdered creamer, and listening to the small talk about weather when Jerry finally started the day.  I felt fresh and engaged.  Then my phone buzzed.  It was Amy calling.  fuck.  I discreetly texted her to find out that Tallulah was refusing to go to school.  fuck again.

 I left the class and called her from the hallway, and she put TJ (Tallulah June) on the phone.  TJ was whining, loudly.  Crying about hating school, and why can't they go back to Bright Water (the private school we decided we did not want to pay for anymore..plus she cried and held on for dear life when I left her there last year too)  Anyway, after I talked her down off the ledge, I went back into class.  (I later found out it was probably more Lily that helped "the brat" as she fondly refers to her walking to school)  I was way less fresh and engaged, more like cracked out from bad coffee and frazzled from the satellite parenting.  Not to mention feeling horrible about causing Amy duress.  The best part was that Amy texted me to say..."now I feel like I understand more what Louis CK is talking about with the whole parenting thing."

knowns and unknowns

blog at sunrise.

Melissa and I have been meeting early in the morning and late at night, talking about our business plan. We listed out what we want to do and why. And we're in the middle of number crunching (which has more variables than I had thought about). We have a lot of research ahead of us.  

KNOWN: some of the questions we need answered.

UNKNOWN: potential return of invesment.

KNOWN: we're working well together.

On that note, I'm going to hit publish and get ready to walk the kids to school today as Melissa gets prepped for an all-day business seminar downtown.  - Amy

P.S. It goes without saying that this is the most boring blog post I've ever read/written in my life.

You're Hired!

This month, Melissa and I are talking business, doing business, culminating in writing a business plan. It's our own version of The Apprentice, except no one gets fired! We just might go broke.

I've been part of a start-up business, a non-profit business, a corporate business, and I've even owned my own business. A number of my friends are M.B.A.s, one even from Wharton (yes you are detecting an obsession with the Trump family). I've known people who've: acquired venture capitol; invested their trust funds into business; and or scrimped and saved their earnings to invest in their own enterprise.

Who among us hasn't had that million-dollar idea, if not fleeting,during a late night session with friends and a good bottle of wine?

What speaks to me most about entrepreneurship is the potential for world-changing creative output from hard work and collaboration that can lead to sustainable and equitable living...

Speaking of business I have to head out to help scout new locations for this year's hives for the Urban Bee Company (my husband's endeavor). More thoughts on all of the above soon!

As always,
Amy