Calling All Entrepreneurs, or Maybe I’m Whistling Dixie

 

For you Entrepreneurs, I am passing on information I got from one of my favorite writing gurus Steven Pressfield. He borrowed it from Dan Sullivan, a Strategic coach.

 

(So, this is he said, he said, she said.) 

 

Sullivan says that every entrepreneur must make this statement: 

 

“I will expect no remuneration until I have created value for someone else.”

 

(That just says you shouldn’t expect to be paid unless you give your precipitant something of value. It’s doesn’t say you shouldn’t create to give value to yourself.)

 

To further quote: “Create value” is a hard-boiled business term. There’s no art to it. No romance. But you and I, as writers and dancers and actors and photographers, live exactly by that dynamic—whether we realize it or not.

 

“We write a book. It’s got to find readers. It’s got to sell. It has to ‘create value’ for the person who lays out hard American greenbacks for the privilege of scanning through its pages. Otherwise, we’re not artists; we’re artistes. (A person with artistic pretensions.) We’re living in a dream world.”

 

 

For a long time, I have written because I liked being in a “Zone.” That is going with the flow, entering into a no-time space. But if being in the zone doesn’t produce anything of value, then I might as well be meditating. At least not expect to be paid for spewing my thoughts onto paper.

 

This is a hard look at the facts.

 

“Nobody Wants to Read Your Sh*t” (The title of one of Pressfield’s books.) Not that you shouldn’t write; you should keep doing it until your work isn’t sh*t. That’s his point.

 

 

 

I’ve followed blogs, only to have them drift away, or I got tired of them and just stopped reading. 

 

I know those writers have put time and effort into writing their posts. They are sharing their lives, but readers, of which I am one, have so much time, and where we use it becomes of primary importance. 

 

I’m sure that applies to you as well.

 

I wonder, as a blogger, if I have added value. 

 

Yes, at times.

 

Some say blogs are passe’. I don’t know. Seth Godin, a primer blogger, blogs every day and says that everyone ought to. It’s a process. It teaches us to observe, to think of something every day that we haven’t thought of a million times before. But that’s for our own edification.

 

I do believe that expressing oneself creatively has value to oneself whether anyone sees it or not. Most creatives who are are expressing themselves in some manner, are not out in the streets raising a ruckus. They just love doing whatever they are doing—writing video games, making videos, painting, sewing, knitting, painting, you know, whatever.

 

As a blogger, I’ve been learning, and I am grateful to all the readers who have traveled with me. 

 

I’m at a crossroads. Should I keep blogging, or is it time to move on?

Believe in Miracles

In searching for quotes for my notebooks/journals, I found this one—one of my favorites, although I did not include it in any of the books:

 

"Changing the toilet paper spindle does not cause brain damage."

 

I told my husband this morning that I didn't have a blog this week. I had nothing to say. He said, “Well, I guess that's it."

 

I said, "That's not an excuse—you begin and see what happens." 

 

That's the writer in me, and that's what I tell creatives. Just do your work, and see what happens. Sometimes we hit, sometimes we miss. Sometimes the wastepaper basket gets all the info, but we keep on keeping on.

 

So here I am…beginning.

 

Perhaps I've gotten caught up in the at-homeness, the covid19-ness, the debate, the confusion. I want to say something positive yet feel helpless to do that.

 

I hear that people are suffering. One couple said that locked up at home, they yell at each other all the time, and that's not good for the kids. Another friend said that this Covid19 has sucked all the joy out of her life. Now she doesn't want to host any gatherings at her house while she used to have many during a year.

 

What should we do with this information?

 

It appears that the power structure is trying—they have come up with a vaccine and now are encouraging, virtually forcing people to take it. Some believe it's a savior; others think it's the devil incarnate.

 

It could be that sinister forces are at work, for when profit is forthcoming, people become suspicious. We encourage profit. We admire people who get rich—but not too rich. Without profit, companies would not exist, but outrageously high profit really is greed.

 

It could be that the power structure—let's start with the doctors, they were at a loss on how to treat this disease. Some wanted to try methods outside the Hospital’s protocol and were stymied.

 

The medicine (I-word) has been shown to heal Covid19 better than any other treatments, yet it wasn’t allowed to be administered in hospitals, even at doctor’s orders. If it is mentioned on YouTube that channel soon goes Bye bye.  The I-word has also been shown to be a preventative, is cheap to produce, and has been FDA approved for 40 years

 

 Research scientists are scrambling to find answers. Politicians were trying, some with an agenda, some with an honest desire to help. The populace was depending on those in the know to have answers. 

 

This scenario was like Hawaii trying to solve their rat problem. Scientists brought in mongoose to eradicate the rats. The problem was, the rats were nocturnal. The mongoose is diurnal, so one sleeps during the day, the other at night, and they both exist happily together.

 

We have science to help us, but mother nature is complex, and we are babies in our efforts. 

 

In 1859 Thomas Austin, a wealthy settler who lived in Victoria, Australia, had 13 European wild rabbits sent to him from across the world (So he could hunt them, wow.) He let the bunnies roam free on his estate. 

 

From this one backyard sanctuary, it took only around 50 years for these imported rabbits to spread across the entire continent.

Australia was fertile ground for bunnies; literally, its ground is excellent for burrowing. The climate is warm, grasses were available for food, and rabbits had no natural predators. If times get tough food-wise, rabbits will eat about anything—and everything. Soon they invaded crops and land, leading to soil erosion and the loss of native plants and animals. Farmers were leaving their decimated land.

 

Fencing, killing, poisoning. gassing their warrens (where a group of rabbits live, and raise their young.) didn't do the job. Birth control would only affect one rabbit at a time. Once, the government offered 3 million dollars to someone who could come up with an effective bio-control. None worked efficiently enough. Rabbits soon developed immunity. 

Scientists created a rabbit-specific virus, and that works somewhat.

However, in January 2020, it was estimated that approximately 200 million feral rabbits inhabit Australia.

 

This is what we are dealing with now with the virus. Evolutionists Heather and Brett Weinstein have a podcast where they have been talking about Covid19. (Yes, Evolutionists, that dreaded word that simply means biologists who study how organisms change) offered a description of how variants appear. 

 Let's say, Heather said, that we want to kill jaguars. We create a device that finds spots. Soon, we have detected and killed all the spotted jaguars. However, a few have non-issued spots, and they slipped past the detection device. With the regularly spotted jaguars gone, what is left is the irregularly spotted jaguars, and they take over.

 

Mother Nature knows how to balance, but we, the people, do not want to be casualties, so we try to intervene.

 

So where does that leave us? 

I want to add something positive, so here are some ideas:

 

• That we weigh consequences. That we do not rush to a conclusion without trying in every way we can conjure to consider the consequences. Scientists aren't gods, and sometime they hit, sometimes they they miss. (Ever see a rocket go up in flames?)  In our desperation to have answers, we should not give companies Carte Blanche with no consequences.

•  When we stopped driving so much during the lock down, we found the air got better. A few of us wondered if our past two glorious springs was nature having a breather. What if we did that regularly without being forced?

•  We found that pure water was precious, and we ought to make sure it stays that way. 

•  We found that if we up our immune system with supplements and healthy food and take care during flu season—like washing our hands, not touching our faces when we are out, and avoiding crowds, we have fewer colds. 

• We found that we don't need to consume as much, for it wasn't fun to shop during the pandemic. We discovered that we can get by with less. 

•  As we are getting fatter while perceiving that we are eating about the same, we wonder if something besides calories is at work, perhaps interfering with our chemistry.

 

We know stress interferes with biochemistry. We know that chemicals in our houses ought to be replaced with natural substances. We figure that genetically altered foods is suspect. What about the excessive use of plastic?

 

Grandma's food tasted great, and nothing was genetically modified. The organic farmers have a point. They can produce beautiful, healthy fruits and vegetables without chemicals. (The marijuana growers have perfected this craft.)

 

What about chemicals to make the cows produce more milk? Come on, stop it with the cows. Stop throwing chemicals on the ground and into animals. Now people injured with the herbicide, Round-up-- that has been used extensively in Oregon, are getting compensation. What does that say about its use? 

 

• We want a cell phone that works great, but we don't need a new one every year because it's a fun toy.

•  We found that working 9 to 5 in  crowded buildings isn't the most efficient way to accomplish business. 

•  We found that we value our friends and miss them when it becomes impossible to see them.

•  We found that being outside is not only healthy but healing and safer as far as contracting diseases.

 

Nature takes her time. We don't have the time. I guess that's the battle.

 

We love our Momma (earth). So, let's not make it hard for her.

 

Here I am talking about world conditions, while on the other had I’m walking in the forest and talking about creating our own reality. Perhaps they will mesh eventually.

 

 

"Why should we use our creative power…? Because there is nothing that makes people so generous, joyful, lively, bold, and compassionate, so indifferent to fighting, and the accumulation of objects and money."

--Brenda Ueland 

(This did make its way into "Breathe.")

 

And I thought I didn't have anything to say.

A virtual hug,

Jo

P.S. the I-word is I-ver-mect-in.

My notebooks, or journals, by jewell d are for your exquisite thoughts, or stuff you can't remember but need to. They have lined pages, and quotes scattered throughout for fun and inspiration.

Chirp is live, Believe is alive, Breathe is in review.

On the back cover of Believe:

"I believe in pink. I believe that laughing is the best calorie burner. I believe in kissing, kissing a lot. I believe in being strong when everything seems to be going wrong. I believe that happy girls are the prettiest girls. I believe that tomorrow is another day and I believe in miracles. " --Audrey Hepburn