Last year as we were planning for Pete’s departure from his job, we set some travel objectives: we wanted to visit all 7 continents and all 50 states together. Where we had each individually been previously didn’t count. So when Pete resigned in June of 2011, we had a fairly comprehensive travel plan for our first six months of location independence mapped out.

Location independence to us means keeping a home base. Perhaps a purist would take issue with that, but we weren’t ready to go completely nomad. The rental townhouse we moved into last February required even more downsizing than we had done when combining two households, as the intervening five years had seen a bit of “clutter creep.” So we simplified our lifestyle by removing unused belongings even more, and now are on a mission to keep the clutter to a minimum. We’re loving this move! No yard work, snow removal or exterior maintenance – yeah! The main convenience is being able to go when we want; we just lock the door. Location independence also should mean few worries about what’s going on at home base when you’re traveling, whether it’s a road trip or an overseas excursion.

We’ve spent about 40% of our time away from home in these past six months. We headed up to the Wuebker cabin in northern Minnesota for the remainder of June, and then used a family wedding in Iowa as a springboard for a road trip (Close Encounters of the Western Kind) through South Dakota (Why Did My Teacher Make Me Read Giants in the Earth), Wyoming, Montana (Reclaiming Love in Your Business) and North Dakota, returning here the latter part of July.

Using PassingThru Travel for all the arrangements couldn’t have been easier – reservations were convenient to make and Preferred Customer pricing levels (are you signed up? it’s free and easy!) were great on the budget. One little logistical issue was easily attended to and resolved by a friendly, live representative while we waited over drinks in a cowboy bar. The rest of our experience has been smooth and reliable.

This road trip was remarkably hassle-free. We discovered how much we enjoyed location independence as a lifestyle. We also realized that flexibility in our travel arrangements and timing led to more meaningful experiences wherever we were. You can’t get to know a place overnight. Taking an extended road trip is a great way to get your travel buzz on during a recession when you might not be able to afford a more expensive alternative. Even a visit to a neighboring state – Minnesota to Michigan, for example – can be a great way to get out of your box and gain a different perspective.

In early August, I headed up to Lake Superior for a fun girls’ weekend with a friend. Later that month, Pete and I drove up the North Shore, through Ontario and around the top half of the Big Lake, re-entering the U.S. through Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. Then it was across the Mackinac Bridge into the Lower Peninsula for Michigan family visiting and my high school reunion. We headed back to Minnesota by way of Galena, Illinois and enjoyed a delightful evening with my uncle and his partner in a French bistro. We enjoyed more cabin time through September, and then Pete returned to Michigan to meet up with my brother for an annual fishing trip out of Drummond Island, in northern Lake Huron.

In October, we were supposed to be in Romania, but some unexpectedly disappointing changes to the itinerary in the trip we had booked spurred us to cancel. Again, this was easy with PassingThru Travel’s DreamTrips – a full refund was credited to our bank account within 48 hours. This cancellation turned out to be more of a blessing – details and tasks pertaining to the estate of Pete’s parents added up into a time-consuming, and unexpectedly complicated personal commitment. It may not have been possible to pay such close attention to filings and deadlines from Eastern Europe.

We spent October and November at home, and then coordinated another road trip to Memphis (At the Crossroads of Blues and Rock’n'Roll) with a visit to Branson, MO in December, where Pete’s sisters had arranged for a condo rental. We hightailed it home just ahead of our six months anniversary of location independence with time to jump into holiday festivities with friends and family.

Throughout our first six months of location independence, we’ve managed to work almost every day we’ve been on the road, sometimes in interesting conditions. We learned quickly to look for the following amenities in a hotel room setup upon arrival:

• Strong, free wi-fi connection
• Workspace area sufficient for two – a larger conference-size table winds up being more versatile than a single desk for our purposes
• Electrics: microwave, coffee-maker, hairdryer, iron, etc.
• Extra pillows, towels and blankets

We’ve supplemented our laptops – a MacBook Air for me and a MacBook Pro for Pete – on the go by using our iPhones, and occasionally our NookColor e-readers, to remain connected. We picked up a well-priced, travel-sized printer, and a surge-protector power strip. (Some hotel rooms are sadly deficient in electrical outlets, or the interior furnishings are poorly planned around them.) All office equipment and files travel in a gusseted, rolling suitcase. We can easily duplicate almost any home office function on a road trip with this simple setup.

Six months into location independence and we’ve realized that we can fund this lifestyle in reasonable ways without compromising comfort (important to old people!) and safety. We’ve made good use of the Travel Hacking Cartel: in ten months we have accumulated about 70,000 points between various hotel rewards programs – enough for several free stays, all courtesy of the frequent notifications on new deals to earn free miles from the Cartel in my email inbox.

We’re putting those benefits to good use on our next trip in two weeks: Hawaii. This, obviously, won’t be another road trip, but it’s a significant milestone in our states goal. Neither Pete nor I have ever visited the Aloha State, and we thought the end of January/early February would be the perfect time for Minnesotans to do it! Plus, our airline mileage accounts “need” a trip of this length in order to jumpstart some redemptions I’ve planned to fund additional travel.

In late February, it’s back to Michigan for a visit with my brother and his family. A new grandnephew (another son for Buttercup Baby!) is expected to join his cousin, our grandniece who was born in July. A road trip to Michigan in winter isn’t necessarily a good cup of tea, so we’re exploring the possibility of taking the train, and renting a car for the few days we’ll be there.

While in Michigan, we’ll be sharing what we know about how to make location independence (Declaring Economic Independence) a practical reality with entrepreneurial relatives whose support and encouragement has been so wonderful.

Throughout this six months of location independence, we have solidified our work habits and strengthened our product offerings. In another post for the near future (certainly before we go to Michigan), we’ll be taking a look at how we’ve done with our strategy of revenue diversity to fund a lifestyle with location independence. We’ll be sharing how our income sources break down, and the progress we’ve made with our various business units.

Pete wants to return to Memphis for more in depth blues and music experience. From there we could branch off in any direction and tick off more states from our list. We would love if the Michigan relatives might be tempted to meet up with us somewhere (hint, hint), so perhaps that’s a topic of discussion we’ll take with us when we return to the cold!

All in all, this has been a fabulous decision. We talked yesterday about how it already seems so long ago that Pete had to commute to his employer. We love our current commute of just several steps into the next room! And we’re confident that the building momentum with our businesses is going to accomplish what we hope for down the road: an active lifestyle with residual income from various sources. Until then, check out Clues You Can Use in Our Services Page and Travel Resources.

Thanks for sharing this wonderful ride, and we’ll look forward to sharing more in additional posts!

Related articles

• My Three Words for 2012 (passingthru.com)
• Work and Travel – Making the Leap (businesstravellogue.com)
• Making Money Online: Be the Tortoise, Not the Hare (passingthru.com)
• What Our Move to Location Independence is Not (passingthru.com)

Location Independence: Road Trip Version is a post from: Passing Thru

It wouldn’t have been fair to publish this post before Christmas, with many in the spending frenzy that takes hold despite countless good intentions. “Just an extra little something,” I’ve said to myself, “it’s Christmas.” Getting caught up in the moment can add up rapidly, and you wind up spending more. But emotional triggers that govern consumer behavior occur throughout the year. A reality check about your consumer spending can lead to more intentional decision-making with enjoyment and true peace of mind the result.

As modern consumers, the biggest thing most of us have bought is a bill of goods. Spending isn’t going to make you feel better in the long run. Throughout post-war history, generations have been brought up defining success on rather superficial terms. Keeping up with the Joneses. “He who dies with the most toys, wins.” Clique-based envy and peer pressure in school. We learn to sort things out, and then we assign characteristics to create a sense of order, and then we ascertain our place within the mix.

We can get in trouble making these comparisons, though. Inevitably, we find ourselves coming up short in some way, and we begin a compensating behavior. For some, this can be the beginning of a spiral into serious disorder, but for many more who find themselves lacking, consumer spending is the remedy. Remember pre-recession levels of retail therapy? For every recession frugalista, there’s a “shame shopper” using luxury as a kind of porn, in desperate need of a reality check.

Our culture is dominated by careerism and consumerism. Careerism ensures that everyone works towards making as much money as possible. Consumerism is the idea you spend all the money you earn. Combine the two and you get a linear relation between resources and spending which most consider an unquestionable fact. – Early Retirement Extreme

Most of us put stuff right next to status when we’re mentally sorting. A reality check about our purchasing decisions will reveal associated factors: we thought a new pair of shoes would make us feel better about something else, or we wanted to impress someone with a fancy dinner out or luxurious car. Consumer behavior, as studied by Loretta Graziano Breuning, in I, Mammal: Why Your Brain Links Status and Happiness, is hard-wired in our physical chemistry: “Your brain longs for status the way it longs for rich food, attractive mates and the safety of the herd. . . Your mammal brain cares about status as if your life depended on it because from the perspective of your DNA, it does.”

The limbic system in the brain releases “feel good chemicals” as a reward for behaviors that meet perceived needs. This is a throwback to the simplest survival mechanisms in early mammals, but as our cortex grew in size and its function evolved to deal with concepts in the abstract, the limbic system remained linked. So, when we get the sale at work, or see the envious neighbor coveting our fancy new car, we’ll get a temporary high courtesy of a chemical cocktail of endorphins, seratonin, oxytocin and dopamine emitted by signals sent by the cortex’s limbic partner. Likewise, when our perception of social dominance is affected by failure, lack of recognition, or someone else’s expensive jewelry, the brain will release other chemicals in an echo of those ancient survival strategies.

Status, in our primate’s brain, is related to reproductive success. In modern life, this often translates into leaving a legacy of some other sort: creation in the form of a thriving company, a large bank account, art or writing. The brain will keep score and reward or respond according to its interpretation of how successful these efforts are. This is why “retail therapy” or other status-seeking behaviors only have temporary effect. Graziano Breuning says “We were not designed to gush happy chemicals all the time.” Instead, in order to get that rush, we have to once again do something that our brain interprets as advancing our personal survival prospects.

Marketers use what are called “susceptibility scales” to quantify predictive consumer behaviors and their causes. Normative social influence is that which leads an individual to engage in conforming behavior, such as consumer spending, due to a desire to be associated with a group and its social norms. In everyday life, normative social influence is prominent in everything from trends in fashion to behaviors in the workplace, with media promoting it.

In “Predicting Happiness: How Normative Feeling Rules Influence (and Even Reverse) Durability Bias,” Stacy L. Wood of the University of South Carolina and James R. Bettman of Duke University discuss how marketers influence consumers’ estimate of how long an anticipated purchase will make them happy :

“…research in social psychology shows that people are poor affective forecasters; they systematically overestimate how long they will feel good after a future positive event (e.g., winning the lottery or getting tenure) and how long they will feel bad after a negative event (e.g., a romantic break-up or a sports team loss). This tendency to overestimate affective expectations is called durability bias…”

A reality check would reveal our flawed thinking in overestimating how good spending money on something is going to make us feel, and how long that good feeling is going to last. In order to maintain a “feel good” consumer spending-induced state, we must frequently repeat the behavior. In The Pathway to Happiness, Gary van Warmerdam concurs: “Emotional reactions usually stem from your assumptions about how life “ought to be” not from actual events. You create assumptions about people, relationships, business deals, and stocks you invest in. Your false assumptions (beliefs) become the set up to future emotional reactions.” 

Our reality check has to continue on to address the impact of what market researchers call “Maximum Use Imperative.” This is a fancy name for the impulse or incentive to purchase something that is rarely used or not needed. It’s why I’m so taken with the idea of spending money I don’t need to on a tropical wardrobe for our trip to Hawaii in a few weeks. Reality check: Minnesota summers don’t last long enough to provide a suitable return on a large investment I might make.

On Moneybold.com, April Dykman advises consumer spending should be focused on things you do every day: “Who knows how much I spent over the years, buying new apparel every time a new hobby interested me or picking up a little black dress without so much as an event on my calendar?” Dykman goes on to cite decisions such as keeping a big house so you can entertain the family once a year at Thanksgiving (a subject Pete and I discussed during our downsizing process – we had everyone at the new townhouse and things worked out just fine).

Consumer spending can also be affected by our tendency to identify present circumstances as a norm. This is called Hedonic adaptation – if we and everyone we know drives an expensive foreign car and lives in a swanky neighborhood, this becomes our norm. Hedonic adaptation creates a consumer baseline, and purchases have to meet or exceed it in order to get the limbic status reaction we crave. As our stuff and our status rise in value, our expectations and wants increase, so we gain no permanent increase in happiness.

To a certain degree, a reality check can bring awareness of what’s driving our consumer decisions. Fisker warns against their baggage:

“When you identify with an object, you’re defined by the object, then controlled by it, and ultimately owned by it. If you relate to your possessions, you’re owned by your stuff, and it will make many of your decisions for you. This trap is not only mental, but also physical.When you identify with an object, you’re defined by the object, then controlled by it, and ultimately owned by it. If you relate to your possessions, you’re owned by your stuff, and it will make many of your decisions for you. This trap is not only mental, but also physical.”

Knowing that it’s detrimental to make foolish comparisons, and also knowing that we’re hard-wired to make them all the time, means a host of associated problems: we’re comparing our worst with someone else’s best, we’re choosing the wrong value system for the comparisons, and we’re focusing on what others are doing, not what we can do. In Stop Comparing Your Life. Start Living It, Joshua Becker advises intentional, quiet moments spent reflecting on who we are and who we want to become. From this reality check, our spending can become less reactive and more in line with our core values. The result is a happier, more focused contentment.

Andy Kessler, writing in the Wall Street Journal on The Rise of Consumption Equality, thinks this is a huge opportunity to break through convention:

To me, being rich means covering the basic necessities, and then having a challenging career, fun and fulfilling leisure time, and the love of family and friends. Compared to 20 years ago, or even five years ago, chances are that you’re richer. Try to enjoy it.

Performing your own reality check and making more intentional spending decisions without linking emotional expectations with them can lead to greater fulfillment. Using Andy’s definition, how rich are you?

Related articles

• John Tropea: The story of the cortex and the limbic (johntropea.tumblr.com)
• A Reality Check Delivers Career Solutions (passingthru.com)
• Getting Real: How an Honest Reality Check will Improve Your Life (passingthru.com)

Reality Check: Spending Doesn’t Make You Feel Better is a post from: Passing Thru

Image Credit: sethneal.com

Continuing with a tradition that is now several years old, in 2012 I’ll again focus on my three words. The value of mindful focus into a narrow niche has been powerful, more so than any goal setting theory I’ve tried throughout my life. Here’s why: smart goals are specific destinations, and smart goal setting requires focus to weed out attractive distractions that might detour progress.

Chris Brogan is a prominent blogger who keeps this annual tradition of selecting three words; in this post he shares the choices of others in his community who follow along. Other bloggers that I read, like Ali Edwards, are devotees of “One Little Word.” Ali explains the value this process has for bringing focus to your activities:

Can you identify a single word that sums up what you want for yourself in 2012? It can be something tangible or intangible. It could be a thought, or a feeling, or an emotion. It can be singular or plural. The key is to find something that has personal meaning for you. . . One little word can have big meaning in your life if you allow yourself to be open to the possibilities. And here’s one thing that is totally interesting: sometimes a word will pop into your brain and it will not make any sense to you right now. Give it some time. Let it percolate a bit. I have often found that our hearts speak to us in very unique ways. Maybe this is a word you need to hear but just aren’t ready for it yet.

Most of those using the three-words concept are choosing three separate words. My three words have presented themselves to me in phrase form, which is a little different. Just as Ali described, my three words have shown up in serendipitous or even random fashion. “Drink more champagne” came about while reflecting on a happy family holiday and listening to an inspiring story of a real achiever. “Only what matters” was the realization that more meaningful things would happen if we simplified our focus, approach, and expectations.

Whether its talismans are three words or one, a phrase or separate words, smart goal setting contains a combination of setting career goals and personal goals that balance meaningful purpose with business success. My three words have become somewhat of a value statement throughout the course of the focus year. “Only what matters” became a policy to which I could point when presented with an opportunity or someone else’s expectation. To whom did this matter? How long would this matter? How much attention did this situation deserve?

Likewise, “drink more champagne” allowed us to celebrate more. Instead of saving up enjoyment and special feelings for rare occasions, we live more in the moment. One of my dear friends recently said, “Betsy is the kind of friend who reminds you to drink champagne more often.” What a compliment! Finding something to celebrate every day has led my normal optimistic nature into a different value statement altogether. I continue to work very hard, harder in many ways than I’ve ever worked, but I am enjoying life more, too, and it’s infectious!

This year’s three words presented themselves several weeks ago, about the time we sent out our November “Attitude of Gratitude” newsletter. Inspired by Joshua Becker, who delineates gratitude as a discipline, rather than an emotion, I resolved at Thanksgiving to be more fully aware of the thankfulness in my heart. In the background while I was writing and editing that newsletter, I kept hearing my three words.

In just over six months of location independence, we’ve been able to redefine success more along the lines of Thoreau‘s definition: “Wealth is the ability to fully experience life.” Pete and I have created this kind of wealth by simplifying. We no longer worry about many of the things that consumed us in the past. With fewer responsibilities, come fewer distractions from the present moment. While the process of simplifying may have exacted its own price, we have gained much more clarity and purpose.

There is a Zen quality to simplification, and our personal goal setting is geared toward keeping things as simple as possible. We’re rich, in that we have fewer worries and cares. A steady flow of opportunities presents itself from which we  choose from based upon our value statement of simplicity and freedom in work and life. Because we remain aware of these opportunities, we’ll continue to enrich ourselves, financially, spiritually, and intellectually.

Along with this richness, an optimistic outlook fuels our ability to look beyond to new horizons. Smart goal setting incorporates present reality, but also contains a motivational component. What would happen if we reached beyond to a new benchmark? Keeping things simple makes further progress attractive and attainable. We can literally look beyond to a new horizon and set forth.

Finally, smart goal setting establishes a benchmark from which we can gauge our progress. Typical goal setting theory identifies these benchmarks as quantifiable. In our experience, this has been true – we’ve achieved significant revenue records, we can point to a hefty increase in number of products available for sale, the client roster has increased, etc. – but, any dashboard must also address the non-quantifiable aspects of smart goal setting. There are many. From the general feeling of well-being, to accessing creative work-flow, to smooth transitioning between the various activities and demands of the day, measure takes on a layered meaning. It’s not sufficient to measure numerically, you must measure using a general awareness of overall well-being. “All’s right with the world” is something that can’t be priced.

Our life now is comprised of awareness of how we are enriched, not only by our own actions, but with our interactions with others. This sense of well-being and flow has exceeded anything we ever expected. While we are still using smart goals and objectives in our planning, we realize that measurability isn’t always quantifiable, but instead can be established within an overall happiness and contentment spectrum. Even though we’ve weathered a tempest of personal challenge, together we’ve emerged and are forging ahead. We are:

“Rich. Beyond. Measure.”

Related articles

• Three Words for 2012: Focus, Heath, Celebrate (kommein.com)
• In Three Words: 2011 (passingthru.com)
• My Three Words for 2010 (passingthru.com)
• Change Doesn’t Come from the Top (passingthru.com)

My Three Words for 2012 is a post from: Passing Thru

I’m not sure if Pete fully realized what he was getting himself into when he agreed to a sideways route that would incorporate Memphis ahead of a trip we’d planned to meet his sisters in Branson for music of a different sort. The 15-hour drive from Minnesota began with a defensive move, outflanking a winter snow squall barreling across Iowa by heading east. It turned to driving rain around Springfield, Illinois, and shortened daylight made for a miserably dark and unfamiliar arrival at our hotel just across the state line in Southaven, Mississippi.

The next morning, Sunday, Pete accompanied me the short way to Graceland, and indulged my time with the memorabilia and kitsch. We both agree the most remarkable thing about Elvis’ dream home is its physical modesty. Elvis comes across as a simple Southern boy who loved his family, his country, and his music. It’s the early Elvis we like much more than we ever expected, not the pathetic caricature we had remembered prior.

The rain continued as we took Highway 61 up from Graceland, headed toward the crossroads with Beale Street. This is the same highway 61 that Bob Dylan claims and revisits in our neck of the woods, and then follows the Mississippi here to the Delta. In Memphis, U.S. 61 is designated B.B. King’s Highway. South of town, heading toward Clarksville, Mississippi, there’s a stretch where Bessie Smith, the Empress of the Blues, met her demise in 1937. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame designated Bessie’s “Downhearted Blues” as one of the 500 songs that shaped rock n roll.

Bessie Smith Downhearted Blues

Our wiper blades kept a constant backbeat to Elvis, Jerry Lee, Johnny and Carl; their ad hoc time capsule a coveted score, The Million Dollar Quartet:

Jerry Lee Lewis The End of the Road

The raw authenticity of this recording was a perfect audio match as we traveled north from Graceland through grim, soggy, recession-decimated South Memphis. Al Green’s Full Gospel Tabernacle is just a few blocks east. Modest shotgun houses (like the one in which Elvis was born in Tupelo, southeast of Memphis) line both sides of Highway 61 (3rd Street in Memphis) heading downtown. Interspersed are Memphis barbeque places like the Interstate and Don Don’s Hot Wings. The New Allen AME Baptist Church’s parking lot is guaranteed to be full on the Sabbath.  But our religion was blues music on this particular Sunday and we pressed on toward the crossroads of 3rd and Beale.

Beale Street has long been a Bucket List destination for me. Most of my music idols cut their teeth on Delta blues, and Beale Street, the figurative crossroads between rock and roll and the blues, is a performance epicenter since the early 20th century, when W. C. Handy broke ground by performing black ethnic music set to a southern rag beat. Noting its effect - “The dancers seemed electrified. Something within them came suddenly to life. An instinct that wanted so much to live, to fling its arms to spread joy, took them by the heels.” – Handy went on to a prolific career in music publishing and representing artists of the day.

According to Wikipedia, “’Delta blues’ is also a style as much as a geographical appellation,” with musicological differentiation primarily derived from the use of the “bottleneck slide” guitar. The influence is pervasive, with regional variations in the Midwest (Chicago and Detroit) and derivative riffs showing up not only in early rock and roll, but rockabilly, pop, and later in electrification.

Key to the Highway Little Walter:

Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones talks about his lifelong love affair with the blues:

“I loved rock’n'roll but there’s got to be something behind the rock’n'roll. There had to be. We found, of course, that it was the blues. And, therefore, if you really want to learn the basics, then you’ve got to do some homework. We all felt there was a certain gap in our education, so we all scrambled back to the 20s and 30s…You have no choice. I mean, we had other things to do and everything, but once you got bitten by the bug, you had to find out how it’s done, and every three minutes of soundbite would be like an education. We did learn our stuff, though and, quite honestly, the blues ain’t just necessarily black. We found that out eventually.”

Key to the Highway Rolling Stones

Robert Plant, of Led Zeppelin, indulged a developing passion for the blues about the time he left grammar school, citing the influence of Willie Dixon, Robert Johnson, and other early blues artists, “When I was a kid I used to hide behind the curtains at home at Christmas and I used to try and be Elvis… I left home at 16″, he said “and I started my real education musically, moving from group to group, furthering my knowledge of the blues and of other music which had weight and was worth listening to.” Plant’s partner, guitarist Jimmy Page, points to rockabilly influences, most notably on “Baby, Let’s Play House” which inspired him to take up the guitar.

Baby Let’s Play House – Elvis Presley, 1955

Memphis Minnie When the Levee Breaks

When The Levee Breaks – Jimmy Page and Robert Plant – New Orleans – March 11, 1995

Page’s bandmate in The Yardbirds, Eric Clapton, synthesized Chicago blues by riffing on B.B. King and Buddy Guy, citing Robert Johnson as his most profound influence:

“…the most important blues musician who ever lived. He was true, absolutely, to his own vision, and as deep as I have gotten into the music over the last 30 years, I have never found anything more deeply soulful than Robert Johnson. His music remains the most powerful cry that I think you can find in the human voice, really. … it seemed to echo something I had always felt.”

Clapton paid tribute to the ageless aspects of the blues in his album, “From the Cradle.”

Robert Johnson Crossroads

Eric Clapton Crossroads

I think of Blues as man-on-the-street music, humble and unprepossessing. The 12 bar musical progression takes you around and predictably brings you home again. In people, predictability and modesty are often misinterpreted as nondescript, unworthy of note. Nobody, after all knows you when you’re down and out.

Bessie Smith Nobody Knows You

But underneath the surface, everyone feels. The collective soul aches and yearns, hopes and attempts, spends time in cold, dark places, dwelling on wrongs, dreaming of bliss, celebrating it upon arrival.

Eric Clapton Nobody Knows You

At the crossroads of 3rd and Beale Streets, the nondescript person you pass or sits on the next barstool is likely to simply get up and make his way to the stage for a set. You can’t help but be moved.

Blind Mississippi Morris – B.B. King’s, Memphis Dec 4, 2011

Further down Beale, at its crossroads with 4th Street, you could run into another man on the street with incomparable talent at presenting the message:

Brandon Santini – Rum Boogie Café, Memphis Dec 5, 2011

After a two-year stint in the Army, Elvis famously answered a question from a local reporter: what did he miss the most about Memphis? “Everything,” was the one-word response. At the conclusion of our short visit, Pete wanted Memphis added back on the Bucket List, too. We’d begun our relationship with multiple dates to Minneapolis, Chicago, and even Vegas blues joints, and now we’d gone closer to the music’s roots.

If you’re headed to Memphis and Beale Street, you may want to avoid the crowded summer months, and plan to go instead when we did, in early winter. The seasonal backdrop added the right amount of atmospheric element to our pilgrimage to the crossroads of blues and rock‘n’roll. With relatively few people out and about, a front row seat was easy to get, and there was more time for chitchat with everyone we encountered.

Next we headed to Branson, Missouri, to meet up with Pete’s sisters. The original plan had been to see Andy Williams’ Christmas Show, on Pete’s Bucket List. But alas, Andy is sick this year. We decided we’d see rock’n'roll great Chubby Checker instead.

Born in 1941 in South Carolina, Chubby started his musical career right at the crossroads of rock’n’roll and the blues by doing impressions of Fats Domino, Elvis, and Jerry Lee Lewis, and received his first break from Dick Clark. Billboard Magazine declared Chubby’s 1960 version of “The Twist” as the biggest chart hit of all time.

Keith Richards, Chubby Checker, Jerry Lee Lewis Twist with John Fogerty, Julian Lennon, Billy Joel, Sean Lennon, Steve Winwood, Paul Schaffer, Will Lee, David Sanborn, Sid McGinnis, Steve Jordan:

Our decision proved to be fortuitous. There were less than 100 people in the theater and Chubby put on a very personal show, as evidenced by this photo of us together on stage after he called me up to dance! This was a Bucket List item I didn’t know I had!

Classic rock’n'roll and the Blues are here to stay. The enthusiastic response from the clearly older crowd at Chubby’s show in Branson is proof, but even better proof is the interest and enthusiasm younger people have for this music. Performers such as Brandon Santini above, and other young blues musicians, such as Shemekia Copeland, as well as young retro rockers, are keeping them alive. There’s so much more that could be said about the relationship between the Blues and rock’n'roll, as well as the many artists who have been influenced and promoted these related genres. This all bodes well for continued longevity, and many more performances at the crossroads of rock’n’roll and the Blues.

Related articles

• Catch the Boogie on Beale Street, Memphis (orbitz.com)
• Food from the South before the Backbeat of Memphis (hankerinroundusa.wordpress.com)
• All shook up: Faithful flock to Graceland to mourn anniversary of Elvis’ death (knoxnews.com)
• Memphis has a heartbeat like no other (leannehenderson.wordpress.com)

At the Crossroads of Blues and Rock’n’Roll is a post from: Passing Thru

Creative people are always up to something

Tauron and I go back a long way before that fateful day. She was literally the first person I met after moving to Minneapolis, inviting me over to her home where we chatted while her firstborn, Renick, who was profiled here a while ago, cooed in his infant seat. Tauron and I have so many things in common: our fashion merchandising backgrounds, love of sewing, Gemini astrological sign, advocacy for people with disabilities, and gift of gab.

Tauron’s sewing and organizational skills were in full form when she spearheaded a volunteer group to raise funds for our local Children’s Hospital. Riding herd over our group, she ensured a steady flow of handcrafted items, and often sewed far into the night to complete the inventory needed for a special event. Tauron’s extraordinary facility with color and texture served our gift basket business so well – her designs were beautiful and meticulously assembled for a flawless presentation. It is not surprising she would again turn to entrepreneurship as an outlet for her creativity.

Fast forward to the present day, and Tauron is using her creativity and boundless energy in what Pamela Slim (Escape from Cubicle Nation) calls a side hustle. A sideline business is a great way to incorporate entrepreneurship while keeping your day job. Even though she is busy in her current career as a kindergarten paraprofessional, Tauron has launched a new endeavor: Whimsy Fashions! Whimsy’s products are just so “Tauron” – vibrant, happy colors, dancing patterns, soft textures, and fun details.

“I have always enjoyed creative projects incorporating color, textures, and fabrics,” she relates, recounting how as an entrepreneur, she learned perseverance and commitment along with me as our gift basket business weathered the economic aftermath of 9-11. With Whimsy, Tauron is using her training in fashion merchandising, her affinity for patterning and lifelong sewing skills to indulge her creativity. Any entrepreneur will tell you it’s important to assess your strengths when you are contemplating opening a business. But entrepreneurship can also be an outlet or a counterpoint to other aspects in life as well. Such work life integration is becoming more common as people seek personal fulfillment.

For many people, the urge to create is best manifested with a tangible product. Suggesting a sideline or main entrepreneurial venture that is more abstract, such as content creation or a more hands-off online store, which is how Pete and I have built our business activities, doesn’t work. Instead, be it in fiber arts such as our story on Buttercup Baby illustrates, woodworking, paper creations, or something else with a product that the creator touches and feels, handcrafting an item for sale may be a better choice for certain creative types.

Whimsy’s product line is diverse, consisting of hats, mufflers and scarves, and even products for pets, as demonstrated by the inimitable Dudley Ferguson here, who has his own career as a companion dog. (Tauron gets to drive him to his various gigs, but he is the main attraction!) The pet toys and blankets are fashioned from leftover materials, ensuring nothing goes to waste. This is a smart business move, too, opening up another line of distribution to diversify appeal.

Entrepreneurship runs in the family: husband Richard helps with photography and social media, and step-mom Pat is working on a new website that will launch in January. Proving Whimsy is definitely a family affair are the real-life models for Whimsy Fashions: Tauron’s nieces, Hailey and Brittany.

With all of the options to market creative products by integrating online promotions such as Etsy and social media, with networking events, craft shows, and boutiques, it is easier than ever for a budding entrepreneur to access creativity and skills to supplement or even replace traditional income sources.

Whimsy is the perfect example of work life integration – blending talents and crafts you enjoy into product creation and sales for revenue that is fun and rewarding. There is so much joy and satisfaction that an entrepreneur can derive from building a business using skills and creativity. We hope that you are inspired to evaluate your own talents and tap into your own creativity by this and the other examples we feature. Please visit Tauron’s Etsy store and like Whimsy Fashions’ Facebook page for more!

Related articles

• Reclaiming Love in Your Business (passingthru.com)
• Get to Know Buttercup Baby (passingthru.com)
• Declaring Economic Independence (passingthru.com)

Business Creativity and Inspiration in Whimsy is a post from: Passing Thru

If you aren’t feeling authentic at work, not being completely honest with yourself could sacrifice your biggest chances for a better career. You may well believe that if you honestly presented who you truly are at your job, there could be negative repercussions: people wouldn’t like you, you might be less effective at your responsibilities, your true talents and strengths wouldn’t be a good fit. In any demanding career, you will reach burnout more quickly if your purpose is out of alignment; a high degree of excellence will seem hollow, and achievements will not be fulfilling. Your morale and motivation will be low, and career solutions will be difficult to make.

Jon Snodgrass, the author of Follow Your Career Star: A Career Quest Based on Inner Values,  stresses that work which is not personally satisfying “reflects a basic conflict you have with yourself.” Many people function for lengthy periods of time in this condition. But why? What is keeping people from having a better career, and a better life?

Sociological experts (harkening back to Miller and Form’s Industrial Sociology, ) note that Google era ideas about work are still rooted in a belief structure that developed out of Puritanism. The Puritans valued and believed God bestowed favor via success (money and property) from hard work. The way to God’s favor, therefore, was through industrious labor and thrift with financial assets. The worker acted, in the Puritanical mind, as a fiduciary of God’s grace through deeds, secondary to strong faith.

There was very little room for self-actualization in the Puritans’ duty-based value system. Instead, disciplined conformance was exacted with public, criminal punishments when these expectations were not met. If you were a vagrant, or a shirker, or disregarded the ethical standard in some other way, you could expect swift consequences, including dunking, placement in stocks, whipping, and banishment. Such strict edicts would have a lasting effect on society, creating entire communities of individuals who outwardly conformed, and repressed their personal feelings in favor of those that were more acceptable.

From Balancing Your Life – Executive Lessons for Work, Family and Self, we learn that the main repercussion a repressive environment can have on an individual’s autonomy is a sense of guilt when expectations are not met. If left unresolved, this conflict between “what I am, who I want to be, can leave one well into adulthood with a sense of guilt over having inclinations that differ” which pervades in every milieu. Self-censorship then becomes the fallback position. We present a false façade in order to minimize the disapproval (punishment) we anticipate because of the differences we perceive in ourselves when compared with expectations.

The author of Balancing Your Life points out the differences between living inside-out, where a person can confidently express who they are, and outside-in, where a person hesitates to do so:

In my experience, people vastly underestimate the degree to which they live outside-in. This is good in part, since we need a willingness to conform to create a viable society. But if we live too much outside-in, we lose our individuality and our capacity not only to lead but to live our own lives and to manage our careers. If you began life with a basic distrust or were unable to develop a sense of initiative, you are probably living largely outside-in — and living with large doses of guilt and self-absorption. If you can resolve those issues and realize that only you can really take control of your life, perhaps you can increase the degree to which you live inside-out and learn to live less in the shadow of issues unsatisfactorily resolved when you were younger.

When seeking career solutions, this hesitation and repression manifests into more longer term indecision. Dependency upon others to decide for us, whether it be other persons or the expectations of a society as a whole such as the one the Puritans developed, can inflate anxiety and low self-confidence. This perfect storm can so repetitively derail one’s career that it may seem safer to leave it permanently in the station.

In Indecisiveness and High School Students’ Career Decision-Making Process: Longitudinal Associations and the Mediational Role of Anxiety (Journal of Counseling Psychology Copyright 2006 by the American Psychological Association 2006, Vol. 53, No. 4, 397– 410), the authors found that the inability to make a decision is a risk factor for future coping. Even when indecisive people make a choice, they are less committed to it. This, the authors believe, is because they are “overly concerned with making mistakes.” Instead, indecisives doubt they have enough information, and will delay a decision while they explore and seek more. Career progress past a certain point is doomed: transition into a leadership role may occur, but performance will be sub-par. You cannot lead if you cannot decide.

Seth Godin elaborates on this need to be mistake-free in a post entitled Self-Truth and the Best Violinist in the World :

The quest for technical best is a form of hiding. You can hide from the marketplace because you’re still practicing your technique. And you can hide from the hard work of real art and real connection because you decide that success lies in being the best technically, at getting a 99 instead of a 98 on an exam. . . Until we’re honest with ourselves about what we’re going to master, there’s no chance we’ll accomplish it.

Michelle Phillips, in the Beauty Blueprint, as quoted in Eliza Fayle’s review, defines being honest with yourself as “an invitation to be authentic,” as opposed to being overly critical. Indeed, beating yourself up over past mistakes or character flaws does nothing to begin the process of applying career solutions. Instead, the more practical approach is to evaluate the current circumstances by getting real with an assessment of how they align with one’s true self. Other observers have characterized the mid-life crisis as inevitable. It’s the culmination of the disparity between the authentic self and the conventional pathway followed since youth.

This disparity doesn’t need to exist, much less continue. A reality check is the first step.

A simple process by which you might focus on the things which mean the most to you is recommended by Marelisa Fabrega of the Abundance Blog: “Identify those five things which will allow you to say on your deathbed, ‘I’ve lived a successful life.’ ” Matching up those values with creative enthusiasm will lead you to the most meaningful characteristic people who find their true vocations have in common: “Fit.”

When work fits with interests and temperament, as well as values, work product reaches a higher quality, and a better career ensues. We access more dedication and commitment when things feel right at work. We’re more enthusiastic and tenacious, and, generally, the paycheck’s importance wanes in the face of these more intangible compensations. Marrying an ethic of service to the ability to transform a creative thought into an enterprise creates a magical sweet spot for successful entrepreneurs and higher level employees.

Tuning into a value structure is the first key element in getting real. Your values will provide the inspiration to begin a new venture and stick with it for more meaningful growth and career solutions. All of this requires an honest reality check:

Who are you? What is important to you? What are your strengths and personal challenges? How would changing what you do impact your life and your career growth? Is there room for greater business focus? At the end of your life, would you regret not being able to make that change?

Where do you see yourself on the need for money spectrum? Can you get by on less? Would you be able to exchange emotional gratification for financial compensation? J.D. Roth of Get Rich Slowly recommends you “set goals that help you reach your dreams, use methods that draw on your strengths, and define success in a way that reflects your values.”

What commercial form does your passion take? Can you turn it into paying work? Will this require you to seek employment, or are you compelled to start your own business?

Have you shared these thoughts with those who are important to you? If not, why not?

These can be tough questions for anyone to answer. But they’re imperative if you’re going to be getting real by defining your true avocation and matching it to career solutions. Choosing to include your strengths and personal passions into forming a meaningful, better career will be one of the most rewarding decisions you will make. If you’re not on this path, you can take the first step now to bridging the distance between your current work and a transformative decision that will reap higher rewards.

Related articles

• Getting Real: How an Honest Reality Check will Improve Your Life (passingthru.com)
• History too kind to Puritans’ brutal intolerance (alwaysquestionauthority.wordpress.com)
• Through a Glass, Grimly Part 5 (passingthru.com)

A Reality Check Delivers Career Solutions is a post from: Passing Thru

When Eliza Fayle, of Silver and Grace, asked me to contribute a guest post on one of her community’s four guiding principles, I didn’t hesitate to select “real” as my topic. The process of writing for Silver and Grace was illuminating, as it helped me grapple with an ongoing personal challenge. The post that resulted, What is Real, harkens back to a post written almost exactly three years ago in this space: REAL, and they both served as a catalyst to this one.

Philosophers have ruminated on “What is Real?” for centuries. Thinkers throughout the history of our world have held forth on the relationship between knowing oneself and one’s ability to accomplish, thereby leading a meaningful life. With such abundant attention to this universal topic, you might think as individuals we’d find ourselves in a constant state of reality check. But more often than not, we aren’t getting real, and this is affecting not only what we say and do, but what we literally and figuratively hang onto, how we physically feel, and who we are in the deep recesses of our soul.

Often, we dare not share our true reality with anyone, even ourselves. Why?

The human spirit is vulnerable. Its strength and resilience can be adversely affected by rejection, repetitive anxiety, feeling unworthy or unnoticed, and other emotional or physical deprivation. At the root of all of these adverse conditions affecting the human spirit is the absence of love. When we feel unloved, we sense our vulnerability and employ protective behaviors, such as false bravado or stoicism. These are attempts at invincibility.  We’ll retreat behind barriers that we hope are impenetrable, and defend our fragile psyche with whatever arsenal we can summon.

Blaise Pascal

Eventually and inevitably, most of us must go out into the world, and we do so without getting real with ourselves. Knowing oneself can be uncomfortable. In the 17th century, Blaise Pascal wrote, “We are not satisfied with real life; we want to live some imaginary life in the eyes of other people and to seem different from what we actually are.” A half-hearted reality check will reveal those things we especially dislike about ourselves. We can’t begin to imagine that others would find us interesting or valuable just as we are, so we reinvent.

Two centuries after Pascal, Kierkegaard observed [emphasis mine],

“In every man there is something which to a certain degree prevents him from becoming perfectly transparent to himself; and this may be the case in so high a degree, he may be so inexplicably woven into relationships of life which extend far beyond himself that he almost cannot reveal himself. But he who cannot reveal himself cannot love, and he who cannot love is the most unhappy man of all.”

 When Lori Hoeck and I wrote The Narcissist: A User’s Guide, we described a personality type so invested in a false self that pathological behavior results. While malignant narcissism is popularly understood as loving oneself to an extreme, an honest reality check (something this individual is probably not capable of) would reveal the narcissist is actually fighting feelings of insignificance and trying to re-establish eroded self esteem. (For more on this, see: Personality Disorders in Modern Life, by Theodore Millon, 2004)

Fortunately, most of us appear to be significantly less unhappy with ourselves, but getting real can still be difficult. Sydney J. Harris writes, “Ninety percent of the world’s woe comes from people not knowing themselves, their abilities, their frailties, and even their real virtues. Most of us go almost all the way through life as complete strangers to ourselves.”

This contemporary observation echoes those by Oscar Wilde (“One’s real life is often the life that one does not lead.” – L’Envoi to Rose-leaf and Apple-leaf, 1882, and “Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else’s opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation.” – De Profundis, 1905) and the 17th century nobleman François Duc de La Rochefoucauld (“We are so accustomed to disguise ourselves to others that in the end we become disguised to ourselves.”), whose maxims Frederick Nietzsche cited as profound influences.

Okay, so we get that we’re not getting real with ourselves, and we haven’t been throughout history. But before we leap into a reality check, is not knowing oneself honestly all that bad? On a variety of fronts ranging from physical health to career progress, in addition to the more obvious emotional aspects, there is ample evidence to support the premise that knowing oneself and getting real with the knowledge is more beneficial to the human spirit than not. An authentic life is a healthy life.

Image from Wikipedia

The legendary Boris Pasternak, writing in the context of political oppression and disillusionment, lamented, “The great majority of us are required to live a life of constant duplicity. Your health is bound to be affected if, day after day, you say the opposite of what you feel, if you grovel before what you dislike, and rejoice at what brings you nothing but misfortune.” What happens when we repeatedly tell ourselves the opposite of what we feel is true or if we submit to those whose interests are not our best? A lack of honesty not only diminishes the human spirit, but has measurable adverse effects on our physical well-being.

It is exhausting to suppress sincerity. If you’re plagued by an unreliable memory or other circumstances that render you unable to keep your falsehoods consistent, you’ll soon be exposed as someone who cannot be trusted. Those who choose to reframe a situation out of a misplaced sense of kindness (“She can’t handle the truth, so we’ll keep it from her”) are in reality condescending or patronizing. Downplaying the potential for conflict (“Can’t we just all get along?”) because we’re fearful or uncomfortable with confrontation can actually inflame what we’re desperately trying to suppress.

If we resort to more passive aggressive communication tactics, we reduce the level of honesty in our dealings by signaling rather than stating resistance to the situation. The ambiguity inherent in passive aggressive behavior is actually an attempt to create a similar feeling of insecurity in the other person, leveling the emotional playing field. Because in past experience (usually from early childhood) it wasn’t safe to express frustration or anger, a passive aggressive person chooses to continue the learned pattern of denial.

The authors of Overcoming Passive-Aggression: How to Stop Hidden Anger from Spoiling Your Relationships, Career and Happiness write that the driving force behind passive aggressive behavior is hidden anger. If anger is unacceptable or unsafe, the compulsion to conceal true beliefs and emotions will overtake one into behaving in ways that don’t match up with what one thinks. Paradoxically, the passive aggressive person truly does have a desire to emotionally connect, but the reality is that repression of this sort morphs into a form of covert abuse of the other.  When the passive aggressive tactic is recognized by the one it is being used against, trust is broken, which makes true intimacy (knowing oneself and the other) impossible.

Hateful to me as the gates of Hades is that man who hides one thing in his heart and speaks another. ~Homer

On the flip side, many of us signal we’re not prepared to accept the truth when it comes calling. We may find ourselves in circumstances we didn’t select, and rather than taking action, we choose inaction, choosing instead to pine for what was or might have been, instead of what is. A reality check would expose our fear of what we imagine might happen as opposed to a more probable outcome, should we actually do something.

Imaginary obstacles are insurmountable. Real ones aren’t. But you can’t tell the difference when you have no real information. Fear can create even more imaginary obstacles than ignorance can. That’s why the smallest step away from speculation and into reality can be an amazing relief.  - Barbara Sher

For the fearful, it feels safer to choose wishful thinking, even at the expense of real progress, and ultimately, true happiness. Christine Kane, in 5 Tips for How to Reinvent Yourself, knows a reality check is imperative:  “I’ve been through two major reinventions.  And I’m telling you from personal experience, it’s not only possible – it’s imperative to your happiness. . . Usually, reinvention starts when someone looks around at her life and says, ‘Wow. This is NOT working. I am not happy.’ ” 

Napoleon Hill regularly examined the power of personal beliefs and their relationship to success. He tells us, “Action is the real measure of intelligence.” Progress in our careers and relationships depends upon performing a regular reality check and taking action based upon an honest assessment. Tony Robbins writes, “A real decision is measured by the fact that you’ve taken a new action. If there’s no action, you haven’t truly decided.” Recently, we explored The Consequences of Perpetual Indecision and Uncertainty and how fear keeps us from conquering our inertia by taking action in more depth, as well. Without fear, there is no opportunity to strengthen our character with courageous action. Why not look upon fear as a motivator, instead of letting it stop us in our tracks?

It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are. ~e.e. cummings

 Years ago, a dear friend gave me a framed inspirational quote which reminded that courage is most often just getting up in the morning to try again. The kind of everyday bravery we access with only ourselves in ordinary circumstances can be the hardest to summon, but getting real and knowing oneself requires it. As Gretchen Rubin of The Happiness Project advises, choosing a path without pretense will result in greater fulfillment.

There’s more to this. In our next installment, we’re going to take a look at the relationship self-knowledge has with consumer behavior and career choices, both timely topics as the holiday season arrives and New Year’s resolutions loom.

Have you ever performed a reality check in the face of a decision or pending change? How do you define getting real? To what degree do you think knowing oneself honestly is associated with happiness? We’d love it if you’d share in the comments.

Related articles

• What is Real (silverandgrace.com)
• Women Who Make a Difference (passingthru.com)
• Rose Colored Reality (mindbodyspiritacademy.org)
• Play Offense with Your Life’s Work (passingthru.com)
• Being Honest… (h3artfeltwordz.wordpress.com)
• Love & Intimacy: Some Basic Definitions (realtruelove.wordpress.com)

Getting Real: How an Honest Reality Check will Improve Your Life is a post from: Passing Thru

We were lucky enough place the winning bid on a guided Muskie fishing trip for two at a fundraiser last spring for Pete’s former employer. When the day finally came, we met our guide, Brian Blaeser, close to Lake Shamineau in Central Minnesota in the wee hours of a very cold morning. Lake Shamineau is home to many species of freshwater fish, including northern pike, bluegill, largemouth bass, and walleye.

Image via Wikipedia

Pete was excited about this trip because Brian utilizes a relatively new method called “live bait rigging.” Muskies are enormous ambush predators who will eat anything up to about 30% of their own length which will fit in their long mouths, including frogs, mice, ducklings, small mammals, and bait fish. Their preferred method of eating is one big gulp, although they have many sharp teeth, much like a northern pike. Live bait rigging (video) utilizes a harness around a large (often 12 inches in length) sucker minnow. Brian’s rig wraps around the sucker’s body, making it look like a suicide bomber with multiple hooks. These bait fish are very active in the water, making them more attractive to their prey.

We put in on the east end of Shamineau, as the west public access was iced over and Brian understandably didn’t want to use his expensive rig as an ice cutter that morning. After backing the boat down the ramp, we discovered Brian’s boat was actually frozen to the trailer, and the boys had to resort to brute strength to get it into the water.

This is definitely cold. We all were dressed in multiple layers, with rain suits to cut the wind. I still managed to convey quite the glamorous image in my designer sunglasses, as you can see. The air temperature at around 28 degrees was actually colder than the water, so steam was rising in mysterious wisps and clouds as we got underway. We were thankful when the sun fully emerged, as there was a noticeable difference in warmth. Brian actually became too warm and began peeling some of his layers off. Pete and me? Not so much!

Brian started things out on the lee side of the big island in the eastern portion of the lake, and fortunately, this decision sheltered us from the raw westerly wind. Shamineau’s water is extremely clear, and Brian told us when live bait rigging, it is not uncommon to see the Muskie trail the bait several feet down, take the bait and swim off with it. The best Muskie fishing technique is to wait until the reel starts to sing, and then yank back to hopefully set one of the bait fish rig’s hooks deep within the fish, then reel it in. A Muskie might shake its head violently in an attempt to rid itself of the hook, and they can be quite acrobatic fighters, leaping from the water and twisting, too.

It didn’t take long to get the first bite. The reel started singing and we all three sprang into action: Brian assisting Pete in playing the line, Pete yanking it back to set the hook, and then reeling the fish in, Brian grabbing the net, and me in charge of staying out the way and getting the photos. This Muskie didn’t put up too much of a fight, although it didn’t particularly care for being held up straight after coming out of the net.

What a thrill!

At 42 inches long, this Muskie was impressive! But even though it was a personal best for us, regulations posted indicated the minimum legal size for Muskellunge is 48 inches. I couldn’t help but notice the many cabins and sandy beach areas along the shore where swimmers play in warmer weather. Knowing what lurks below the surface gave me pause, and the unmistakable strains of the “Jaws” theme entered my head. Normally, when I think of freshwater fish, I think of non-threatening pan fish like little sunfish, bluegills and perch. Since Pete’s Muskie was emphatically not a keeper, back into the drink it needed to go. Most anglers will tell you the sport isn’t about keeping the fish, it’s about catching it, and muskie fishing is no exception.

“Catch and release” is the norm with northern pike and other freshwater fish similar in bony structure to the Muskies. Although they can be de-boned and eaten, these species aren’t generally fished for food in North America, and the Muskies’ low population makes conservation imperative.

Fishing is a lot about waiting. We continued throughout the rest of the cold day, trolling slowly in different areas of the lake, changing our hand warmers back and forth, observing a family of Trumpeter Swans, and a bald eagle. Brian pointed out what he thought might be a freshly dug black bear’s den a few feet above the shoreline not that far from where we put in. The live bait rigging method seemed to allow the bait fish to behave more naturally, rising and diving as they wished, and the two we started with stayed alive the entire day. At $5 each, this appealed to frugal aspects in our nature. It’s nice to be out away from everything, although with technology and social media, we were able to share our success in real time and our friends on Facebook got in on the fun.

There were a couple of additional bites, and Pete pulled in an impressive northern pike:

As we did earlier, we released this northern pike to swim another day.

But no more Muskie. Such is the luck of the draw. We really enjoyed our very cold day fishing with Brian, a consummate outdoorsman who has great stories of fishing in more exotic locations like Costa Rica and the Amazon. I will say I was quite relieved to get on dry land and start up the Jeep with the heater full blast, though! This will be the last of fishing in Minnesota for us until things ice over.

Related articles

• Muskie Fishing (larrysmailart.com)
• Musky Fishing Essentials (bleacherreport.com)

Muskie Fishing with Live Bait Rigging is a post from: Passing Thru

After leaving traditional employment five months ago, Pete’s primary attention has been to grow our online stores. We’re proud of the fact that he’s achieved “Pro Seller” status on Zazzle, where we have our main retail presence: YourShopofShops.com. Recently, Pete won a Design Award in the political category for a bumpersticker, and his products are pretty regularly pulled out and featured by the company. Over the summer and early fall, Pete increased the number of products in our stores to just over 13,000, and sales for October were at 161% of the same month last year, and up 20% year to date. Additionally, at the end of October, we’d exceeded all of last year’s sales, with the lucrative months of November and December yet to occur, and 22 products sold for the very first time. If we were traditional retailers with a brick and mortar store (and thank God we’re not!), we’d be dancing in the aisles.

It is time, we agreed, for a Christmas Catalog. As is usually the case with small businesses, a great idea comes and needs almost immediate priority. This is one of the reasons I love working in an organization of two: you can pivot easily and punt a new objective into play by reassigning importance to tasks. Pete set out last week to make the catalog happen and put in 10 and 12 hour days to finish it. We think it’s beautiful, and we hope you like it, too! Click the image for an easy PDF download for yourself.
Forward Our Catalog via email to a friend or colleague.

Right in the middle of all the work for the Christmas Catalog, Zazzle rolled out some new products. We’d long awaited the opportunity to provide these items and Pete was just waiting to access his design skills in a new context. Here are some of our favorites. Check out the ornament, coaster and calendar categories in the store for more.

And, just because we love ya, here’s an early Christmas present: a $10 discount on your Zazzle order of $35 or more! Click this link to get it.

But wait, there’s more!

One of the less prominent aspects of what we do is ongoing work for clients. Our longterm client, THE original basket boutique (OBB Gifts), is a global company (North America, Persian Gulf and Australia), whose franchisees provide gourmet gifts for business clients and individual customers. Betsy has designed an award-winning email newsletter subscription program resource for the company, and provides ongoing services as their Director of Communications and Global Development.

Recently, we’ve been involved with the rest of the OBB Executive Team in a re-vamping of the OBB franchise structure. This is a marvelous opportunity for would-be entrepreneurs – you literally deliver good taste and happiness! We’re proud to have contributed to these improvements by designing a series of free informational resources folks who are contemplating a career in the gourmet gift industry can receive by email. If you, or anyone you know, is intrigued by the prospect of business ownership with a more traditional model, check THE original basket boutique’s franchise information website out. Or order a yummy gift basket for someone special!

We’re continuing with additional projects for other clients, and we’re beginning our strategic plan for 2012 for additional aspects of our travel business, the online stores, and our valued clients.

But before the holiday season really heated up, we decided we’d share a bit of what we know by offering our first Local Workshop for new “Zazzlers.” This will occur here in the Minneapolis area on the Sunday after Thanksgiving (November 27) from noon to 3 pm. We’re very limited on space and as of this writing, we’ve got 3 openings left. If you’d like to start or continue down this particular avenue to residual income, email me: betsywuebker AT gmail DOT com: for details.

Thanks for reading. We’re grateful beyond measure for all these wonderful opportunities, thankful for each of you, and wish you the best as we begin the happiest of holiday seasons.

Related articles from Passing Thru

• Making Money Online: Be the Tortoise, Not the Hare
• RELIANCE
• Looking Ahead
• PLAY OFFENSE WITH YOUR LIFE’S WORK
• FINDING VALUE IN UNCERTAINTY
• TRAVEL IS NOT JUST FUN, NOW IT’S OUR BUSINESS
• Laying the Keel
• You Never Know What Someone is Going to Buy
• What the Heck is Going On Here?

An Update with a Couple of Firsts is a post from: Passing Thru

My initial reaction to Eliza’s request was transparent and authentic. I procrastinated. In the back of my mind was the still, small voice that visits almost everyone, planting seeds of doubt. How could what I do be as relevant or interesting in comparison with the others enlisted for the project? Surely it would be pretentious and overly self-promoting for me to participate, the voice suggested. Seriously, who did I think I was?

Fortunately, Eliza sent a reminder email that my contribution was due, and the dual horror of not meeting a deadline and disappointing her forced my hand. I cleared my desk and my mind, and just began my submission. What happened next? An episode of pure creative flow, with words dancing and tumbling out, arranging themselves as if by magic in an autobiographical and surprisingly declarative mini-manifesto. You’ll find it, along with similar declarations from other contributors, in the e-book, Women Who Make a Difference.

If you are questioning or attempting to define what you’re all about or where you’re going to go next, the simple format in this e-book may help you take a vital next step in the process. Thank you, Eliza, for initiating this inspiring project. It tied up all the loose ends of review and definition in a pretty little bow on top of the gift of joyful clarity.

Related articles

• Poem by Taylor Mali (a teacher) (thedisorderedcompilation.com)
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Women Who Make a Difference is a post from: Passing Thru