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One of the greatest freedoms/challenges of self-employment.  I get to choose my customers.     Seth Godin posted some great thoughts about this today in his post, Choosing Your Customers. He’s absolutely right.  Here’s another thought.  Choosing the right customers isn’t just choosing a target market, it’s choosing a target purpose, and even creating the quality of business life we have.   Selling vegetables may be what we do, but we can choose to focus on customers or restaurants who buy local; donate extra food to the poor; cater to a specific industry.  Every day, we’re drawing the kind of people we want in our lives, and in our business.   With a little care, we may find our store is full of people we actually like and wanted to help in the first place.  That’s fulfilling purpose, not just selling a product and at the end of the day, that little bit of purpose makes us feel a little better in the world.

I can use my merchant services programs to help any business, but I choose to look for the businesses that still remember what customer service is all about, that still care for people, take pride in what they do, artisans at their craft, restaurants and technology and people I enjoy working with, talking to and supporting.  Then every day I stop in, drive by or tell someone about them, it just feels good.

The Volkswagen Touareg has always been a favorite car of mine and they recently got an upgrade in body, powerplant and transmission.  We like that.  They’re sportier, sexier and it’s even more fuel efficient…unless of course you live in the United States and then we’re stuck with the stupid hybrid version instead of the diesel version which is actually more planet friendly.  Oh how I love/hate that we have such a hard time just moving ahead quickly in this vast country. 

Ahh well.  It’s still a great car done better:

Ever have one of those days that just needs a little spicing up?  I’m having one of those.   It’s raining in LA with more thunder than I’ve ever heard…which is cool…but my afternoon outdoor jaunt is also not happening because of it.  So… Here’s a replacement, something cool I found on the net, somewhere else.  NYC.

Printed Matter -  Bookstore in New York

http://printedmatter.org/

Printed Matter is the world’’s largest non-profit organization dedicated to the promotion of publications made by artists.

Looking for something sexy and new for Valentines?  It’s not too late to order up a Love and Lust Card!

Google Map

Yelp It!

We take pride in our jobs, in the product we put out, the service we provide. Right? But why? For some, it’s service, it’s built in to us. Or pride, perhaps. It feels good to have someone recommend us or point us out because we went the extra mile for them.
It’s good to take care in the things we do. Reliability, thoughtfulness, competence are high value and it shows, even in the little details.

This post is a thank you to every person out there who pays attention to the little things that create systems and keep things clean and simple and reliable. Thank you!

I’ve watched people come and go from a few companies in the last few weeks and discovered the tiniest things can make a huge difference. Things like dating a weekly file that goes to a distribution list become a major customer service boost. If you don’t know what that means, try finding a podcast where the company doesn’t use consistent standards for delivery or file naming. It’s a nightmare! Files go everywhere and good luck putting them in sequence easily.

The smallest of details is where we see your signature. The things you think about that no one else would that make things work right. Thank you to everyone out there who takes that kind of pride in your work, whether it’s where you punch a staple, the way you name a document in our computers or the brush stroke you use in your painting. It’s your art. You rock.

E

A millionaire sales trainer once said the key to success is to “fail forward”.  I completely agree.

We don’t like failure, but the truth is, we learn the most from “failing”.  Failure isn’t failure at all, it’s redirection.  It’s a bumper that teaches us something so the next time we try we’re smarter; a greater master of our skill.  A black belt isn’t a black belt right off the bat, they have to place  thousands of kicks wrong before they get it right.  Scientists and inventors try hundreds of times before they find the thing that works and I’m thankful for them.  If they gave up after the first try we wouldn’t have any of the cool things we have.   Trust me, the iPhone did NOT work perfectly when they first tried it.  The faster we “fail” the faster we adjust, the faster we reach the successful conclusion.

I grew up with the concept that failure was bad, a reflection of my own value as a person, but that’s not a valid truth at all.   Our personal worth is completely separate from whether something we set our hand to is successful.   We will always be the good or bad person we are who tried X.   It’s just like money.  Money doesn’t make us good or bad, it just makes it more obvious.

Here’s what Seth Godin has to say about that big “failure” Tim Burton.

After a night of birthday craziness, lemon drops and dancing on tables (other people were…I had vodka, NOT tequila last night, thank you very much) I’m spending the day doing some social media training with a good friend.   If you’re a voice over actor trying to “immigrate” your talent to the states, you probably should know, Everett.   Check him  out here, mate!

I had to repost this because it just reminded me of the days and days I wasted trying to get through all the marketing hoops and sneaky default settings and built in spam in my PC…years ago.   I love that the “added value” in my mac is the hundreds of hours I’ve not had to spend gritting my teeth and pounding on the desk because of some inane software conflict.

Ahhh but Seth Godin puts it so well….

The best Sunday mornings are like little adventures of discovery, and favorites!

Today’s adventure was hitting the Hollywood Farmer’s Market and it was a tasty morning!

Carmela’s – Salted Caramel and Brown Sugar Vanilla Ice Creams!

I usually come in from the west Selma entrance so the dining is in order but an entrance on the east side of the market brings you first to the ice creams, breads, cakes and cobblers. So I had a taste of dessert before the main course when I stopped to try Carmela’s awesome home made ice cream! So good. My favorite is the salted caramel. They make the caramel themselves and top off the whole food goodness with a touch of sea salt for a great top note when the sweet is gone. The Brown Sugar Vanilla is also rather tasty and while I didn’t try them, I did note they have ice cream sandwiches, and if you’ve been following my food posts, you’ll know I do love a good home made ice cream sandwich.

Chili Addiction – http://www.chiliaddiction.com/
The next stop was a bee line right for Chili Addiction. Home made chili in one of 47 different varieties, I prefer the chili dogs! Today was jalapeno, cheddar bratwurst with a chicken chili verde chili. I also had a bite of the chicken chorizo with chorizo chili, and wow! I’m not a traditional fan of chorizo, but I’d cross the street for this. For you vegans out there, yes, they have several vegan chilis and so far, not a flavor I didn’t like! The restaurant opens soon on La Cienega in West Hollywood, so make sure to get on their Facebook fan page and be there. Johnny and Rick are great guys!  They also make their own hot sauce, and condiments like black truffle mustard.   ahhhhhhhhh.

Sabrina’s Body Products  -  Hollywood Farmer’s Market -  Selma and Cahuenga entrance.

Sabrina is a goddess of herbal, vegan, soul inspired body products.   Raw coconut oils, frankincense, home made soaps fresh cut from the big block in ever changing scents that always reflect the energy of what people need that week.  Coconut, sea salt, hemp, relaxation, black sea soap.  Sabrina has her finger on the pulse of what people are feeling and every week there’s something new at her booth.  This week was blue chamomile body butter, vegan and awesome.   Get some good on your body at Sabrina’s farmer’s market booth.  I send this stuff to my sisters all the time.

1600 Vine – the new mixed use apartment complex attached to the W.

The mornings adventure finished off with a spin through the new 1600 Vine complex and meeting Nelson the property manager.    This place is pretty cool.  It just opened and they’re giving some discounts to the first people in the building.  Big spaces, solid construction, thick

6th Floor Lobby

walls, and nice layouts in the units.   Good open areas and a gym that’s more than just a shallow pretense of a fitness room.  They have real Ivanko weights.  The place is an interesting sort of edgy modern take I found myself calling “sexy Seussian modern”.    Here’s a glimpse.   I know, I should have snapped a bunch more pics today. I’m sorry.  I was camera shy today.

I’m not sure where it went, but it’s truly a pleasure to experience when someone handles an unsavory situation with that extra measure of class, when they hold the door open for us or just lend a helping hand. Well for those of us who weren’t raised in the studio system; aren’t children of diplomats; have yet to have lunch with Maggie Smith, there are some handy little guides, like The Gentleman’s Deck.  A deck of cards with little behavioral tips to add that something special to our game.

Or for those who prefer , there’s a guide for them too. Take your pick.

Thank you Senator Diane Savino. Let faith discriminate as it will. We all deserve the legal right to marry the cabby if we want. No questions asked. It’s intelligent thought like this that inspires me in our government after all.