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- EPnews -- from The Entrepreneurial
Parent
a work-family resource for home-based entrepreneurs
@ www.en-parent.com
October 20, 1999
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The Family Corner.com
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Been looking for a good parenting website?
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~____~_~____~_~____~_~____~_~____~_~_____~
_______________CONTENTS_______________
The Funny Things EP Kids Say
& Do!
EP Times -- An Editorial
ka-Ching Spotlight
What's It Worth?
Making Money Matters
EP Expert Q&As
NAEP News -- EP Profile
We Recommend
What's Happening at EP
More Funny Things EP Kids Say!
__________________________
Editorial Note: EP has moved
from a weekly to a monthly update to make room
in our schedules for the National Association of Entrepreneurial
Parents
(NAEP). EPnews is now published and distributed on the 2nd or
3rd Wednesday
of every month, year-round, and The Entrepreneurial Parent at
http://www.en-parent.com
will be updated (with new content, member info,
Expert Q&As, book reviews, etc.) on an ongoing basis throughout
each month.
____________________________________
THE FUNNY THINGS EP KIDS SAY & DO!
Submitted by EPnews Subscriber
Mary Waggoner (mailto:[email protected]),
President of Elderly Care Konnection "Creating a road map
into care giving"
<http://www.elderlycarekonnection.com>,
:
=====
Our family was on vacation for
the first time this past August. We'd gone
to CT to visit my parents as we had never been there since our
marriage
three years ago. Friday night, we went out to pizza and actually
ate in the
restaurant. My 14 month old daughter, Lizzie, was bored and done
eating,
so her Poppy took her for a walk. Of course, her 7 year old half-brother,
Zach, HAD to go with them, so off he went too. While they were
walking, it
began pouring down rain. They came running in just as we were
about to
leave. As we walked to the car, I began to remind Zach that he
had to hop
in the tub when we got back, but before I could say "when"
Zach replied:
"But I'm as clean as a pig!"
He thought that's how pigs get
clean!
=====
Another one was when we went to an ice cream place a few months
ago. It
was really slow and Zach popped out: "Wow! This place is
really deserted!"
=====
Share with the EP Community something
your child said or did recently that
made you smirk, giggle, or LOL. Send your submission via e-mail
to:
[email protected]
with the subject heading "A Funny Thing My EP Kid
Said (or Did)". And if you need a stockpile of smiles to
get you through
your EP day, pick up your own heartwarming copy of Grace Housholder's
"The
Funny Things Kids Say" @ http://en-parent.com/familybooks.htm.
On those
stressed-out EP days, you'll be glad you did!
____________________________________
EP TIMES
-- AN EDITORIAL
"Stomp If You Can Feel It"
© 1999, Lisa M. Roberts
This weekend some friends and
I treated ourselves to a NYC performance that
was a surprising delight. The show, located in Greenwich Village,
was
called "Stomp" and at first impression looked like
it would pale in
comparison to the sensational theatre productions on competitive
Broadway.
Imagine this. The stage of Stomp was littered with pieces of
rubbish
straight from a junkyard, the "costumes" were wripped
jeans, overalls and
tee's, and, as the title implies, the music was exceptionally
LOUD.
Doesn't sound too delightful, does it? Yet using Resourcefulness
with a
capital "R," this 8-member cast won over their entire
audience with their
boundless energy, uncanny rhythm, self-efacing humour and corporeal
dance.
In short, they wiped from memory every Broadway play I've seen
in the past
five years!
Since Sunday afternoon I've been
contemplating how this low-budget,
off-the-beaten-track performance could pull off such an artful
feat. But
peel that layer of thoughts away and what I've *really* been
wondering is
what we -- as a collective community of low-budget, off-the-beaten-track
home businesses (OK, I'll just speak for myself here!) -- could
learn from
these ingenious folks? What ideas could we borrow from their
success and
apply in our own EP world?
I'd say the first lesson is in
the word that sums up the entire production
-- Resourcefulness. What Stomp is all about literally is taking
nothing
(i.e. junk) and making something (i.e. music). With everyday
objects such
as brooms (sweep, sweep, clunk, clunk), match boxes (swish, swish,
tap,
tap), rubber tubes, toilet plungers and the like, the cast worked
off each
other's inventive beat and turned this small theatre into a rocking
spectacle. Squeezing crowd-pleasing music from paper and plastic
bags
reminds me of the creative ways EPs can and have made use of
_their_
limited resources. And how EPs can re-invent a service or product
by
applying their special skill and talent -- turning the "same-ol'/same
ol'"
into something undeniably awesome.
But invention alone didn't deliver
the performance of Stomp into the hearts
of my friends and I Sunday afternoon. Added to the mix was the
charming
rapport among the members of the cast, and especially with the
audience.
Time and again they needled each other like siblings on a restless
afternoon, pulling us in on the joke at each instance. But they
won us over
completely when they turned their full attention on us directly.
Throughout
the production they tapped into our desire to be part of the
fun, inviting
us to clap and stomp in rhythm to their beat. And just dare to
stand up to
go to the restroom -- the actors on stage would stop everything
and
wait...with a playful glare...until your untimely deed was done.
(Talk
about full attention!) To me this indicates an exquisite understanding
of
"customer service": a highly personable approach; the
welcome invitation
to be part of the project at hand; and self-respect as a professional
when
a project endures untimely interruptions -- even if the interruptions
come
from the folks financing it all (!).
Finally, the producers of this
show also seemed to understand the
importance of offering a gift that keeps on giving. Instead of
spending
their encore in typical self-congratulatory mode, they used their
encore to
send us away with a small but memorable gift -- a bit of long-lasting
rhythm of our own. Patiently (and playfully!) they taught us
how to
experiment with patterns of music, using raw materials such as
the palms of
our hands and the soles of our feet, and in doing so formed a
bond between
performer and audience that would outlast our brief direct contact.
Never
in the presence of any Broadway musical star have I ever felt
I could even
*scratch* the performer's talent and take a little home with
me. Yet when
my friends and I left this theatre, with the words "Do you
feel it?" from
the lead actor still echoing in our ears, this is precisely what
each of us
had done.
Like the cast, crew and concept
of Stomp, EPs must take control of every
resource we've got, turning challenges into opportunity, whistling
while we
work, and engaging our clients and customers in the process.
In essence, we
need to learn how to squeeze music from a plastic bag -- then
invite the
world to join in on our fun. If we can indeed pull this off,
we may just
wipe the memory of any corporate competitor from the minds of
our patrons.
How could we not?
=====
Lisa Roberts
is the mother of four, Web Producer of The Entrepreneurial
Parent and the author of "How to Raise A Family & A
Career Under One Roof:
A Parent's Guide to Home Business." Copies of her book are
available for purchase at: http://en-parent.com/order.htm
and through Amazon, at:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0943641179/theentrepreneuri
_____________________________________
KA-CHING SPOTLIGHT
Thanks to all who submitted their
"Take 5" quick-break working-at-home tips
for Lisa's home office column, "Homeward Bound." FYI,
the first column is
scheduled to debut on ka-Ching.com next week (launch has been
delayed
slightly). For those new on our list, ka-Ching is the business
and finance
site of Oxygen Media, a new media company by and for women.
Oxygen is presently on a nationwide
"Tank Tour" -- a welcome wagon that has
embarked on a cross-country journey to meet women face-to-face
across
America. The multi-media RV & enthusiastic entourage is in
NYC this week
and next. If you happen to work in Manhattan, stop in on Oct.
28th and
Lisa'll be there to greet you! Anywhere else in the country,
go to the Tank
Tour travel schedule to see when (and if!) they'll be in a city
near you:
http://www.oxygen.com/tanktour/index.html
If you can, stop in, it's really
terrific fun and you'll get to walk away
with smiles, tee-shirts, perhaps a free massage & more!
_____________________________________
WHAT'S
IT WORTH?
"Of the Essence"
© 1999, by deB Sechrist
It's 9:45 on Wednesday morning.
EPnews goes out tonight. I haven't written
my column yet. I have exactly 90 minutes before I have to pick
up my
youngest from preschool and work for the afternoon at my son's
school. Last
opportunity to get this done. Time is of the essence. I'll bet
many of you
have BTDT.
So I turn the answering machine
down low. Burn some sandalwood. Put my
favorite Enya CD on at low volume. Get a fresh cup of coffee.
Read my last
column to refresh my memory, get back on track.
It's been a difficult month.
I learned just how valuable time can be. At
one point I found myself rearranging priorities to accomodate
a challenging
task, and finally had to face the "real" issue, which
required unexpected
financial output. To make a long story short, I realized that
my poor
overloaded computer was the culprit that was robbing my time.
I did save
some money by choosing to upgrade rather than replace my system,
which I'm
told is not always a good option, but I've been fortunate with
this Mac and
it works well so far.
All of this taught me many lessons:
to think out of the box, to listen to a
diverse range of experiences in order to make better informed
decisions, to
face situations as they are and not as I'd like them to be, and
to see
myself as others see me and not as I'd like them to believe.
That mirroring
was the final push needed to help me decide to spend the money
and fix the
problem instead of zapping all my energy in trying to find ways
to work
with what I had and not spend any money.
In response to last month's column,
Sue Szlosek Swingholm,
<[email protected]>
wrote:
"I believe that time (like
everything else) is just a conversation. What I
mean is that "I don't have time or I don't have enough time,
etc." is only
a conversation, something we say. Really, the bottom line is
commitment.
What are we committed to? We will make time for those things
that we are
committed to and we will not make time for those things that
we are not
committed to. It's that simple (although sometimes it doesn't
seem so
simple). We all must make choices; decide on our commitments
and commit
our time to them. The rest is just chaff."
I would add that sometimes commitments
clash and a re-prioritization is in
order. In my case I had decided to put the job first and family
second, by
trying to arrange more time to work instead of finding ways to
work more
productively within our current schedule. When my daughter protested
this
arrangement I had to face the fact that I was approaching the
problem from
the wrong angle, and I had to find a way to still honor both
commitments,
because both are important to me.
This is not to advocate always
throwing money at a situation to solve it.
But if you sense your attitude plunging, or the "chaff"
in your life
beginning to bury you, then don't hesitate to seek help, advice
and diverse
opinions. Reach out to your EP community, your RL (real-life)
community and
your family -- and make it top priority to regain the balance
you need to
function properly.
=====
deB
Sechrist is the mother of three, Webmanager of The Entrepreneurial
Parent and owner of deBweB, a web design business. Find out more
about deB
at http://www.en-parent.com/webdsn.htm.
____________________________________________
MAKING MONEY MATTERS
Being available to your kids
and managing a career under one roof sounds to
many like the best of both worlds, but without pulling in some
kind of
income what's all the effort for? Making Money Matters!
This month EPnews Subscriber
Denise Turney, EP to a 9-yo son, shares her
money-making marketing tips with us. You can contact her at:
Denise Turney
Chistell Publishing
2500 Knights Road
Suite 19-01
Bensalem, PA 19020
Ph: 215-245-6222
Email: [email protected]
Web site: http://www.chistell.com
=====
1. In a 2-3 sentence statement, explain what your home business
is about,
including your target market and "mission statement."
My business is books! The name
of my company is Chistell Publishing. We
write, print, publish and distribute books. Readers our are treasures!
Without them, we would not exist.
2. What are the most popular
products and/or services you sell? How much do
you sell them for (or what's your hourly rate), and how did you
find the
right price/fee schedule for them?
Portia is our main book right
now. It's a best seller. Next year we hope
to have Girlfriendz on the market. Portia cost $8.00. Shipping
and
handling is free. Studying the market is how we found the right
price for
Portia. That and listening to readers. A product that is priced
too low
is seen as being "cheap" by consumers. On the other
hand, if you over
price, consumers think your only concern is money and not quality
or their
best interest. It's crucial to price each product right, otherwise
you
could lose sales or gain a reputation for being "cheap"
or "too expensive."
3. What are *your* favorite products
and/or services? Why do you like to
sell them?
Portia is our favorite. Readers
from around the world have enjoyed Portia
and contacted us to tell us how deeply the book touched and encouraged
them. What better reward is there?
4. Tell us a bit about your marketing
campaign. When did you start noticing
your first sales (after which marketing technique), what marketing
efforts
have you noticed yield the greatest results, and how do you make
your first
contact and subsequent sales (via online, phone, fax, mail, face-to-face)?
We market via phone (leave a
message about your business on your voice
mail); email discussion lists; "targeted" newsgroups;
we have an
"excellent" newsletter that features incredibly successful
writers-publishers around the world, giving out solid, valuable
advice;
press releases -- everyone in business should send press releases
each
month; business cards; t-shirts; and our web site at http://www.chistell.com
5. Any additional comments are
welcome.
Treat your customers right and
they will treat you right. Make people feel
like you are more concerned about providing them a service or
product that
will enrich their lives than you are about making money. Do business
with
integrity and always remember that the greatest value is human
value.
Provide "excellent" customer service! "Connect"
with your customers.
____________________________________
EP EXPERT Q&As
Have a question? Our EP Expert
Panel is available to all EPnews
Subscribers. If your question isn't already answered on our site,
then send
it in to: [email protected].
They'll be glad to help you out if they
can!
This month we've stocked up on
new Q&As that cover topics from job sharing
to idea generating to 3-year old woe-handling and more, all from
the
following members of our Expert Panel:
Pat Katepoo, EP Work-Family Transitions
Expert
Nancy Collamer, EP Part-Time Career Expert
Jeff Zbar, EP Dad Expert
Jodie Lynn, EP Parenting Expert
Silvana Clark, EP Low-Cost Marketing Expert
Jan Zobel, EP Tax/Accounting Expert
Visit them at <http://en-parent.com/experts.com>
(follow the "new" Q&A links).
_____________________________________
NAEP NEWS -- EP PROFILE
The National Association of Entrepreneurial
Parents (NAEP) is a "real-time"
membership organization for parents in the SOHO workforce! NAEP's
mission
of professional connection, recognition and education provides
the support
EPs are looking for in today's evolving work-family homefront.
To learn
more about NAEP membership benefits, go to:
<<http://en-parent.com/membership2.htm>>
------->We are very pleased
to introduce you to a new NAEP member, Saba
Kennedy-Washington, whose Member Profile is currently being featured
at our
EP Showcase. Saba is one of the first members of the EP Community
who sent
in a truly inspirational essay, "On Becoming an EP: One
Woman's Journey"
<<http://en-parent.com/Articles/essay-kennedy.htm>>.
We lost word from her
for a long time (perhaps a year?) when she moved and made some
other
personal/professional adjustments, but she's back and we are
so happy to
have her with us again.
Here are some highlights of Saba's
Profile Page. Please do stop in to view
in full color -- with her daughter's bright & cheery drawing
-- at:
http://en-parent.com/Profiles/Kennedy-Washington.htm
=====
EP Snapshot
Saba Kennedy-Washington, EP to
a 4-yo girl
Jesa Promotions
839 Scaleybark Rd.-2T
Charlotte, NC 28209
Phone: 704-676-0847
Fax: 704-525-7805
Email: [email protected]
=====
Home Career Highlights
Home Business: Jesa Promotions,
a full-service advertising specialty,
marketing & promotions company: specializing in emboidery
and
screen-printing of the corporate logo onto promotional wear,
also offering
writing services for press releases, catalogs, product releases
and
articles.
Mission: I would like to see
my business grow to support my child
financially, emotionally and spiritually. I look at my business
as
something intricately tied into the quality of life I foresee
for my
family. My husband is a co-owner and I decided to name it after
my daughter
Jesa which is a combination of my husband Jerome's name and my
name, Saba.
Top Clients: Reebok, Black Enterprise,
The New York Carib News, PC Magazine
=====
A Voice of Experience
EP Musings:
Working at home allows my daughter to see me as a self-sufficient
and
strong woman. I want her to grow up secure in herself and her
own
potential. I do not want her to be dependent on anyone or any
one source. I
believe that seeing me work will provide her this blue-print
for living.
EP Advice:
Stay focused and believe in your vision. Associate daily with
positive
people who share your dream of living on your own terms. Also:
remain
persistent, frugal, consistent, and hold on to your faith.
_____________________________________
WE RECOMMEND
www.guru.com
Guru.com
Remember we introduced you to
Daniel Pink from Free Agent Nation in our
last issue? We found his expertise at another terrific new site
for solo
entrepreneurs. Don't pass this one up, guys. As home business
sites go,
Guru.com was wonderfully refreshing to come across. They are
supporting the
independent professional community with intelligence, wit and
financial
muscle. Keep your eye out on them -- their site is just a preview
right
now, but we're putting bets down they'll be a formidable presence
on the
Web soon enough. And that will be more power to all of us.
=====
www.jugglezine.com
JuggleZine
A bi-weekly webzine about balancing
work and life. Cool graphics and
design; excellent content. Take a look!
_____________________________________
WHAT'S HAPPENING AT EP
A warm welcome goes to 150 new
members in August and September!
We've made some changes to make
networking easier than ever. It's now a
snap to find an EP with just the right product or service you
need, or to
locate other EP's who are in the same field. We've also taken
steps to
protect our "aspiring" EP's -- that is, members who
are interested in
starting a home business but don't have one set up just yet.
Now listings
for aspiring EP's are by name only, to prevent spammers from
extracting
those email addresses and sending unsolicited email offers.
Navigating the listings is easier
because we've cross-linked the
alphabetical listings (http://www.en-parent.com/Members/memberalpha.htm)
with the business category listings
(http://www.en-parent.com/Members/mbrbiz.htm).
Clicking on the name of the
Business will take you to the business category page where that
member is
listed. In response to your requests, we've added the state and
city (or
country if not USA) for each listing in the business category
page.
Members with websites have 2
direct email links and 2 direct web links from
our member listings. A reciprocal link to EP is required to make
the links
"live": just copy and paste the html code and choose
an EP logo that fits
best for you at http://www.en-parent.com/sticker.htm.
Then drop us an email
<mailto: [email protected]>
to let us know you're linked and we'll add
your email & URL links at the next update.
Finally, help keep our listings
current and correct by using the Member
Update Form (http://www.en-parent.com/Members/mbrupdate.htm)
when you have a change
or addition to your listings. We appreciate your support -- and
as always,
welcome your feedback!
=====
What else is new?
Stress Management Article --
Managing Stress With Aromatherapy
by Anne Ramstetter Wenzel and Jeralynn Burke
http://en-parent.com/EPcenters/stress7.htm
Your Family Article -- Scheduling
My Life
by Amanda Formaro
http://en-parent.com/Articles/art-formaro.htm
EP Links -- Sixteen (16) new
links are up on our resource link page! Browse
through at:
http://en-parent.com/links.htm
=====
Staff News
Lisa will be happily celebrating
her 14th wedding anniversary with her
husband on Monday, Oct. 25th. (Anyone have a good movie to recommend
for the
couple?? There's been mixed reviews re: "The Story About
Us"!)
=====
Some Reader Response from "Rock Solid Love," (EP Times
Editorial, 9/23/99)
From: Pete Silver ([email protected]):
Lisa, what a neat dream...best
thing I've read in a long time.....
From: Cathy Woodside RN, Certified
Childbirth Educator, Childbirth Options
([email protected])
Dear Lisa, I thoroughly enjoyed
your article. The recounting of your dream
brought tears to my eyes. I was moved so much by your writing
that I
copied it and sent it to my "rock," my mother. I hope
that is ok. Thanks
for sharing it with me.
___________________________
CONTACT/SUBSCRIPTION INFO
The Entrepreneurial Parent, LLC
is not engaged in rendering legal or
financial advice. If expert assistance is required, the services
of a
licensed professional should be sought.
This newsletter may be redistributed
freely via the Internet. Re-publishing
of separate articles for your print publication needs approval
first; write
to: [email protected] for permission.
© 2000, The Entrepreneurial
Parent, LLC
Editor: Lisa M. Roberts
EP Webmaster: Deborah Sechrist
POB 320722, Fairfield, CT 06432; http://en-parent.com
Ph:/Fax: (203) 371-6212, Email: [email protected]
Community email addresses:
Subscribe: [email protected]
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List owner: [email protected]
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