Allison Nazarian Just another WordPress weblog

In Part 1 of this blog post, I talked about my feelings about home offices and the home-office-or-not-to-home-office struggle I had in the earlier days of my business.

When we last left off, I had “moved out” and rented a “real” office. The office was great — a nice building, wonderful neighbors, a reasonable rent and even a pond surrounded by orchids and filled with Koi fish in front of the building (remember, I live in Florida — it’s always warm). The commute was very reasonable (15-20 minutes one way) and for the first time, clients and meetings came to me.

Those of you in the U.S. are probably focused on tomorrow, Thanksgiving — on your plans for the day and on what you’re thankful for on a wider level.

Like you, I started thinking about what I was thankful for. And then I probably got distracted by 18 other things. And then, I started really thinking – I put myself into the future (not in the sci-fi sense) and asked myself what I would like to be thankful for next year at this time.

Many of you who read this blog and follow me are work-from-home solopreneurs/entrepreneurs. And many of you work in a larger, more corporate environment. And many of you are somewhere in-between.

I love you all equally and, now I can also say that I can relate to you all equally.

I really REALLY like this saying.

It’s like: Go for it, give it all you have, do it 110% or don’t even bother. As someone who moves way too fast and is way too excited about quickly crossing items off my To Do list, this is something that speaks to me.

SLOW DOWN and DO IT RIGHT…or just forget about it.

I often wonder where an idea starts and how some then grow while others never take root and die a fast (or slow) death.

Even if you think you have the greatest idea (or greatest product or service for that matter), it means nothing unless its intended audience thinks the same.

In an effort to be my most inspired self for this blog and throughout this non-night-owl evening, I Googled the term “business wisdom.” (If you have followed me for any time, you know that I believe you can find business blog fodder anywhere.) 

Here’ s what struck me: “The future ain’t what it used to be.”  It’s a quote from the great Yogi Berra who seems to be really smart about a whole lot of things in life and in business.

Came across this not-so-recent article that is, nevertheless, as relevant today as it was in February 2007 when it was written.

I’ve seen it time and again and experienced it for myself when I started out in business: The I’m-the-expert-so-I-can’t-be-bothered-with-data-or-number-mumbo-jumbo. But you know what? This approach will not get you far and certainly not closer to where you want to be.

If so, my 2009 Do-It-Yourself Marketing Teleseminar series will be a great opportunity for you.

Once per month through all of 2009, I will be interviewing marketing experts so that they can share their knowledge, experience and expertise with a captive audience of entrepreneurs and professionals of all kinds. The calls will be held on the last Thursday of each month and will feature an expert (like you?) on a one-hour phone call with an audience skewed toward small/medium businesses, entrepreneurs, consultants, coaches and many others concerned with on-line marketing trends.

Read my blog post on the Online Marketing for Marketers blog about copywriting and marketing planning. I discuss three terrible mistakes/approaches we ALL make — and how to avoid them. Leave a comment with  your own experiences — I want to hear from you!

Those of you who have followed me for some time know that I talk a lot about developing, tweaking and closely following your marketing plan. You know the saying, if you fail to plan, you plan to fail? Well, it’s true.

But…(you knew there was a “but” here) sometimes you need to be open to new changes, emerging opportunities and the overall need to “chuck” the plan in favor of something else that may actually work better.