There Must be a Lesson Here- Somewhere

I guess most of us have one of those days, weeks, months - you get the drift - where everything seems to be conspiring against you. This is my week, and I pray and hope not my month where many things are just not going too right.

First off, I’m sick, and then my son got sick. Bad enough, but we’ll survive. Then my husband’s just one year old PC decides to start acting up. Shutting down every few minutes, the PC guru said it’s the monitor acting up…lots of tech talk. Did I mention that my husband is a freelance graphic artist and needs his PC is working order? So for the last few days he has been struggling to get some work done.

Ok, we just a few months ago paid to have an old PC upgraded for our son, Jalen, so we hooked it up. Heard the fan going, but nada – nothing happens. The monitor is blank and nothing is happening. I tried a little tech work – still nothing. So there goes the second PC.

Well, my mother-in-law has a PC that was repaired at the same time my son’s own was. She hasn’t used it since so we borrowed and hooked it up – what is happening here. I got another message, ATAPI INCOMPATIBLE - Nothing happening, but finally a little light at the end of the tunnel – a message to press F1 – so F1 was pressed.

Well, my hope was shattered, as I cannot get online with this PC…tried all the tricks I know – no dice. To top it off, no sound is coming from the PC – a message popped up saying that no sound device installed. I can’t check online for updates or drivers because I can’t get online.

Well, my husband is lamenting that he never had these issues when he used only Macs ---so I see us going back to the ‘he’s a Mac and I’m a PC’ family.

Oh, yeah, husband is sneezing up a storm and sniffling! So no doubt about it – he’s getting sick too.

There is definitely a message to be learned here somewhere, I just don’t know what it is yet.

Yes, Blogging is Good for Business – Thanks Holly Jackson

Over the weekend I had the good fortune to read a blog I subscribe to but rarely read – you got it, due to time constraints. If I must be honest, there is often plenty of time, I just need to use it wisely. Anyway, back to the story. I decided to read the January 8, 2010 edition of Remarkablogger. Maybe it was destiny, but I happened to read Holly Jackson’s story and I felt a spark of hope and renewed determination.

Jackson is the owner of a copywriting company, Cottage Copy (http://www.cottagecopy.com/). Her advice that hit home is that it is important to blog for business growth, but that it’s not just about blogging about your business. As she said, ‘it is important to put the real you out there even if it is scary.’ People connect to real people so when you blog you don’t have to be blogging about what you do such as indexing or records management for me, but about what makes you tick or makes you feel scared. They connect with you when they realize that you have the same fears of failure.

It takes hard work, determination and dedication to start a business and keep it going. It takes courage and the willingness not to be afraid of failure to reap success. The fear of failure is one of the greatest deterrents to success – many successful people will tell you how often they failed but never gave up. So, with renewed zeal I’m stepping out to face the demons of fear, knowing that I can succeed.

Best of all, I wrote Holly to express my thanks and she wrote back almost immediately – wow. She had words of encouragement, but best of all she offered to be a friend whose shoulder I can lean on and someone I can bounce ideas off. Thanks, Holly, you are an angel and I wish you tons of success as you grow your business.

So, here I am once again jumping into the blogging world and hopefully keeping at it.