What I Learned This Week

I've talked a lot on this blog about how I left my whole career (the career I went to school for and studied for hours to pass a test to get certified, the career that I worked and worked and commuted and commuted for) to run my own business and have the flexibility of working for myself and being around more for my kids.

What I haven't talked alot on this blog about is how although I love running the website, connecting families, giving parents information and helping small businesses, the one thing I hate is sales. Which really totally sucks because guess what the only way this business makes any money is? Yup, you got it. Advertising sales.

What do I hate about sales? Let me count the ways....

First, I hate calling a business owner and not being able to get through to the right person because the 15 year old kid answering the phone was instructed to not put through any sales calls.

Second, I hate the fact that at that moment, the 15 year old kid answering the phone basically has the power. And not only does he have the power, but he could care less that I am calling to help the business owner get information about his business to people who would actually want to be his customers. Because then that would mean that that kid would have to do things other than answer the phone.

Third, I hate to think that when people see me coming they'll want to turn the other way because they don't want to be "sold".

Fourth, I hate the thought of calling someone and having them be mean or nasty or hang up on me. Especially when more often than not, it's a 15 year old kid.

Do I need to go on? Thanks, I didn't really want to. I'm sure you get the point.

So it pretty much sucks when you hate the one thing that can earn you any money. Yes, it does.

But here's what I learned this week. It's the surprise of all surprises. What is it? It's the fact that I'm good at sales. Maybe I'm not great at the initial cold call, but once I get in front of a person, I am good at sales.

How do I know? Because last week, not only did I get a huge brand new client who is going to run ads in twelve newsletters, but I also got four other businesses who paid to have their businesses listed in our site's directory. And I did it all myself, scheduled meetings, sat with them, walked them through the information and watched them fall in love with this website. One that I created. I've learned that I am good at this very thing that I hate. And now I think I'm going to have to get over all the hate and turn it into love.

Here's a PS for my friends in Philly - I also learned that the Yankees are the Champions. For the 27th time in a row! Hip Hip Jorge!!

For more of What I Learned This Week, head on over to Jo-Lynne's blog at Musings of a Housewife.

The Scents that Linger

Twitter Moms and Downy recently posed the question "If you could define yourself with a scent, what scent would represent you and why?" As a mom, all sorts of answers come to mind, although maybe none of them are appropriate. Or anything I would choose to have as a defining scent. But I did start thinking about the question and came up with an answer. Sort of.

To answer the question, I started thinking about my favorite scent, and although I can't say what it specifically is, I can remember it well, describe it perfectly and smell it in my mind. As a little girl, I would take a trip every year to visit my grandparents in Florida. I would spend a week there swimming, getting sunburned and doing grandparent-ish things. Each night, I would open the sleeper sofa, take the sheets and blankets out of the cabinet and go to sleep. In the cabinet where they kept the blankets and sheets, they also kept am unwrapped bar of soap, I guess as a deodorizer. It wasn't a regular bar of Ivory soap, but instead a mixture of sweet and spice. Like a man's cologne. And cinnamon. And cloves. And medicine, but a good smelling kind.

When I hear the question "If you could define yourself with a scent, what scent would represent you and why?" I feel that the answer is really less about the actual scent and more about the feelings of why, more about the memories that the scent brings to the forefront of my mind. I could answer that I love peppermint because it smells clean or lavender because it smells like spring or vanilla because it smells like cupcakes. Instead, I choose this random soap from long ago that lived in my grandparents cabinet. Because even though my grandparents are both gone, I can still smell the bar of soap in my mind and remember who they were, what they were like and most of all, where I came from. I remember the time I spent with them and how I was lucky to have them for as long as I did. And most of all, sometimes, when I wake up in the middle of the night and catch a whiff of this familiar smell, I know that no matter how much time passes, they are both still here and always with me.

This was posted in response to a contest launched by TwitterMoms and Downy, asking bloggers to write about the scent that defines them. If you want to enter yourself, learn more about the contest here.

Slice of American Pie....

I've always been a huge music fan. I listen to everything from show and movie soundtracks to Billy Joel to Michael Jackson to The Dixie Chicks. I have a bunch of choice music on my iPod and my 6 year old son wanted to be Dave Matthews for Halloween this year. 'Nuf said. When One2One Network reached out and offered me a chance to review the new Five for Fighting album, Slice, I figured that there really was no reason not to even though I wasn't a fan. And I realized that the only reason I considered myself "not a fan" was because I didn't realize that I had even heard them before.

When I first listened to Slice, my immediate thought was "why haven't I ever listened to this group before?" The album was awesome. Low-key and mellow with lyrics that were both inspiring and funny and stayed with you (and not in an awful Wiggles sort of way). Every time I think I have chosen the song on the album that's my favorite, the next song plays and I rethink my decision.

Here's some information about Five for Fighting--

Five For Fighting’s breakthrough came in 2001 with the Grammy Nominated song “Superman”, from the Platinum certified “America Town”. The song was climbing the charts upon release, and when 9/11 happened, it became a song of healing for the nation. FFF performed the song at the post 9/11 fundraiser The Concert for New York which paid tribute to all the firefighters, police officers & paramedics affected by the events of 9/11.

Last month, I also had a chance to see John Ondrasik perform an acoustic concert here on Long Island. The theater was small and intimate and the whole show was awesome. Even more awesome was that I got to meet him after the show and wow, what a nice guy, and more importantly, so real. He chatted about his kids and his family like any other dad I've ever met. He just happened to be one that sings fantastic music instead of sitting behind a desk all day. See that picture? Ya, that's me and John.


Definitely check out Slice. And soon. Click the video below to hear their newest release, Chances.
You can also follow John Ondrasik on Twitter and become a fan of Five for Fighting on Facebook.




Huge thanks to the One2One Network for providing me with the fantastic album to review as well as tickets to the show.

What I Learned This Week

Here we go again...

What did I learn this week? A few things. First and foremost though that I just don't think I'm meant to be a really good blogger. I just don't have the discipline. I started this blog way back after the First Disney Mommy Blogger Mixer when I met so many different and amazing Bloggers and was inspired to start writing like so many of them did. I wrote some good posts like this one and this one and this one, but they were few and far between. Every time I made a commitment to start writing here again, life just got in the way. Work. Kids. Running a business. Running a house. A few weeks ago, I was inspired yet again by my friend Jen to keep a gratitude journal because it seemed as if things just weren't always going my way and I needed to think more on the half full side than on the half empty side. And after a few days, my commitment totally fell off. Understand, it's not that I'm not committed. I am definitely committed. I think I'm just committed to too many things. Like everyone else but I think that I have my limits.

So I did learn this week that I just have to write when I can and keep this as a record for myself of what's going on over here.

Oh, and I will post again next week when I learn that the Yankees are 27 time champions.

For more of What I Learned This Week, head on over to Jo-Lynne's blog at Musings of a Housewife. She is most definitely one of those superwomen that I referred to in the above post :)

Day 7

This is what a nasty sinus infection/cold/hacking cough will do to you. Make you take days and days off from posting to your blog because you are laying in bed and think you are dying. Oky, well, maybe not dying, but in pretty bad shape. Today is the first day in 5 days that I got out of bed and came over to the computer. During those 5 days I truly couldn't think of one thing to be thankful for, and that is no lie.

So today, I am thankful for the full Z-Pack that I had in my cabinet. It has truly saved me from my misery. While looking for Sudafed (which I didn't have), I found a Z-Pack which I must have filled a prescription for a long while ago and never taken. So now, good riddance to the sinus infection, my nose is no longer stuffy or runny and the hacking cough is dissipating. Slowly.

I will be better this week. And more thankful.

Days 4, 5 & 6

I guess I skipped this little project because it was the weekend. So this post will include 3 things I am thankful for.

#1 - The Weekends My how times have changed. As a kid, I loved the weekends because there was no school. After college, I loved the weekends because I was off from work. After I had kids, I loved the weekend because I was home with the kid(s) and not rushing all over the place to work. But now that I'm home with the kids every day, working, taking care of the house, etc. I love the weekends because my husband is home which means at some points, he can take over.

#2 - My Parents I love the town I grew up in. I love it so much that when we were looking to buy our house, I wanted to buy a house in that town. As a matter of fact, most of the people I graduated high school with live in that town. My husband didn't want to live in that town so we compromised. We live in the town next door. Literally next door. Like we could spit on the town we grew up in, that's how close it is. One of the best things about that town is that my parents still live there. Yes, 5 minutes 7 minutes away. Aside from seeing them alot, which of course is great, my kids have their grandparents so close that they can see them almost every day. I never had that - one set of my grandparents lived in Florida and the other grandmother, well, let's just say that she was less than interested. My parents LOVE being with my kids and are fantastic babysitters. This weekend, while we were at a wedding more than two hours away, my parents had the kids. And they went to Target and bought fall clothes and sneakers. And they went to the arts & crafts store and made projects when they came home. And they went to the supermarket and got snacks. And they went out for pizza for dinner. And ice cream for dessert. And slept over. And then they didn't want to come home. Can you blame them?

#3 - Our Friends I love the fact that so many of my/our friends have been our friends for years. And when I say years, I mean like 30 years. I can name probably a dozen people we still talk to and hang out with that I have known since I'm 5 years old. Last night we went to a wedding of a friend we've known since high school. We sat at a table with a 5 other couples and out of the two that we knew, I have known both guys since kindergarten. At another table sat another 4 - 5 guys we know since middle school or high school. It's great to have friends who know you forever. Or to just be able to reconnect with people once in awhile in person, as opposed to on Facebook.

So that was it, I had three things to be thankful for in this post because I slacked this weekend. But while I was slacking, I was absolutely having fun. And starting to come out of this funk....

Day 3

Why is this hard at day 3? Shouldn't it be hard at day 30? I mean, day 3? Really. Technically yesterday was day 3, but it was my birthday so I am allowed one day off from this crazy project. Oh, and from work because I definitely took the day off from work yesterday.

When my son went to nursery school, I had visions of him meeting his best friend for life and whoever the mom was becoming my best friend for life. I had visions of him having a group of boys that he would go through school with and go through life with. And that I would be automatic best friends with the moms forever. And the dads would automatically be best friends forever. And that didn't happen. Oh, that SO didn't happen.

What I found, in the midst of a school that was running itself into the ground, was a few genuine moms but more of the stab-you-in-the-back-talk-about-you-every-time-you-turn-around moms. You know, the kind of moms who think that their kids can't do anything wrong even though you know that are the devil incarnate.

However, out of this school that shouldn't be standing, came a few really super great moms. The kind that although you don't see them that often because the kids all go to different schools, every time you see them feels like you just saw them yesterday. The kind that still invite all the kids to the birthday parties. The kind that take time out of their day to take you out to lunch for your 35th birthday and bring you candy and balloons to celebrate.

So that's what I'm thankful for today. The good moms and true friends that do exist and that I found in the sea of all of the craziness. So big thanks to my girls for having a great birthday celebration, even when it wasn't something I wanted to celebrate.