posted by Andrew Hartley - Business Consultant & Entrepreneur on Jul 24
Ben Casnocha wrote an interesting post at his blog. It asks a question from a perspective that I have never thought of - Do only Negative Emotions count for Depth?
It’s a good excuse to reflect on your life and your reactions to the events that have shaped it.
Enjoy!
posted by Andrew Hartley - Business Consultant & Entrepreneur on Jul 23
I went up to Michigan (Traverse City, to be exact) this past weekend to attend the wedding of a close friend with whom I have been terrible about keeping in touch since college (and even during our last two years in college, now that I think about it).
We have sporadically kept in touch since graduating from Eastern Michigan University - mostly through another mutual friend who stayed in Michigan for a few years after graduation and only recently moved back to Central Ohio. He comes down and stays once in awhile, and sometimes I’m even able to get out to our mutual friend’s place and visit with everyone - but not always.
So on Thursday night, four of us piled in my car and we drove to Traverse City, Michigan for his wedding. We barely made it. After a couple of stops and several slowdowns due to construction, we made it to the hotel at about 4:15pm on Friday - the wedding was at 5pm - and we hadn’t even changed into our wedding clothes! We made it into some seats just before our friend the groom walked down the aisle to seat his grandmother. Whew.
The location was beautiful (Frog Pond Village), as was the ceremony - non-denominational readings and poems and vow exchange… funny and light, and meaningful, somehow, all at the same time. My favorite (and least favorite - this weekend was full of conundrums, it seems) part was near the end, with a statement along the lines of “we hope that you can reconnect with old friends and kindle relationships with new friends as well…” I wasn’t recording, but it was something like that.
It was my favorite part because it worked - I feel like I reconnected with at least a few of my old friends - the couple we drove up with certainly, as well as the bride and groom (in the short amount of time we could steal from their busy wedding schedule). We also connected (I think) with a new couple that we knew, but not well - we did wine tastings and climbed Sleeping Bear Dunes on Saturday; those six of us spent all day together.
It was my least favorite part because, to me, it felt like a direct chastisement of my inability to keep in touch with people who are not in my direct vicinity. The statement “Out of sight, out of mind” is generally used to comfort people who are reminded of a bad experience by some trinket or item they own - getting rid of it can help them forget. In my case, “out of sight, out of mind” is more accurately a statement of how I correspond with people - or not. I know the newlyweds didn’t mean it that way (it would be the epitome of vanity to think they put that statement in their vows to make ME realize that I haven’t been a good friend), but it did strike a chord with me, and I’m going to use it to get back in touch with people who have been - and still are - important to me. So if you’re reading, newlyweds: I’d like to thank you for that.
And if you’re reading this, old and new friends: don’t be surprised to hear from me! And if I don’t contact you, you better contact me… 
Fair Winds,
Andrew
posted by Andrew Hartley - Business Consultant & Entrepreneur on Jul 18
I was listening to WCBE (90.5 in Columbus, Ohio) early this week. It’s Central Ohio’s NPR station.
While listening, I heard some news about the debate on setting goals to start reducing the U.S. footprint in Iraq. Apparently, the congress is debating (or, more accurately, the Republicans are filibustering) the idea of
The filibustering isn’t the good part… my favorite part of the NPR story was the quotes (and I wish I could remember who said them):
Okay…
So…
What?!?
It could be said about anything that the best way to do something is to do it.
Yeah. Duh. But it’s not that simple.
There HAS to be a plan. There HAS to be something more than a blanket statement of the obvious… HOW do we support our troops? HOW do we defeat Al Qaida? WHY do we need to? WHO is going to do it? WHAT needs to our troops have? WHERE do we focus our limited resources to do so? WHEN do we check to see what kind of progress we have made?
I am sure there are many that nodded and agreed with the statements made by our distinguished representatives from Mt. Obvious. Those people, I’m sure, think that those statements were deep and thoughtful. I think that they were a waste of time and a sad statement about the people running our country. Don’t give me soundbites - especially not inane, stupid ones. Give me substance.
And we all know - the best way to talk about something sustantial is to talk about something sustantial.
Fair Winds,
Andrew
posted by Andrew Hartley - Business Consultant & Entrepreneur on Jul 16
Hooray! My first tag! I must be a real blogger!
Now that that’s over, on to the game:
Rosa Say, from Joyful Jubilant Learning, challenged several bloggers to come up with one song that makes their hearts sing.
Difficult? For me, yes. But not impossible. So I racked my brain and came up with a song that could be used both as one that tugs on my heart AND that expresses some business wisdom in the vein of my earlier post on Finding Business Wisdom Anywhere.
The rules of this tag-game are simple:
1. Post about the one song that makes your heart sing, and uplifts your spirit every time you hear it.
If you can provide a link to lyrics and/or audio that would be fabulous. But it’s not essential, so don’t worry about it if you can’t.2. Include a trackback to this post
3. Tag three others and ask them to include a trackback to your post and this one when they post.
Rosa’s post was brought on by Rich Griffith’s. Rosa chose the song My Front Porch Looking In, by Lonestar. I’ve never heard the song, but the lyrics she posted were beautiful. Rich chose I’m Walking on Sunshine, which, he admits, may not be the world’s “deepest” song. It certainly cannot be argued that it is a downer, though.
I picked a song that many will think is a little odd, I think. Change by Blind Melon (find the lyrics here). This section of the song epitomizes the feeling of it for me:
When you feel your life ain’t worth living, you’ve got to stand up and
take a look around you then a look way up to the sky
And when your deepest thoughts are broken, keep on dreamin boy cause
when you stop dreamin its time to die
And as we all play parts of tomorrow
Some ways we’ll work and other ways we’ll play
But I know we can’t all stay here forever
So I want to write my words on the face of today
While I have not heard a live version of the song I like quite as well as the album version, you can find a YouTube acoustic video of the song here. In every live version of the song I’ve heard, Shannon Hoon changed the lyrics to “’cause when you stop dreamin’ you know you’re gonna die / and I don’t wanna die….” If you know anything about Blind Melon, you know that these lyrics are pretty ironic, since Shannon Hoon died of a drug overdose only a few years after releasing this first album, on which you’ll find the song. Most people remember the “bee girl” from the video of “No Rain,” but I suggest buying this whole album, as every song on it is worth your time.
I love this song because it reminds me that no matter where you are in life, no matter what your circumstances, you have a place in this world - we all “play parts of tomorrow.” And as long as you have dreams and goals, your life is worth living…
The business link is that dreams and goals are absolutely required to build a business, and each business and each person affects the world and the future, for better or worse. And often the only thing standing in the way of building that business and changing the world is a fear of change. This song starts with Shannon Hoon singing that people say “hey look at him; I’ll never live that way / and that’s okay… they’re just afraid to change.” And then it ends with people saying, “hey look at him, and where he is these days / when life is hard, you have to change.”
And that’s exactly how it is with business - people think you’re crazy when you start, but they envy you when you start to reach your goals. They seem to forget all the work in-between… 
Now I’m supposed to tag three other bloggers, so here goes (I picked some of my most admired):
Verna Wilder @ Out of the Cube
David Askaripour @ Mind Petals
and
Tara Hunt @ HorsePigCow
Have fun - I did!
Fair Winds,
Andrew
posted by Andrew Hartley - Business Consultant & Entrepreneur on Jul 12
A long headline for a short request:
One of the online businesses that Jill and I have never yet been able to get off the ground (because of our lack of time/funds and my lack of knowledge) has entered a contest for a free website redesign.
Please click the link below to vote for Third Floor Cards (www.thirdfloorcards.com) as the worst designed website in the contest… the winning site gets a free re-design. If 3rdFC wins the contest, it’ll be a redesign for a site that never quite got designed completely in the first place.
If you comment that you voted (and leave your e-mail) - and 3rdFC wins the contest (please vote every day) - 3rdFC will send you a coupon to buy a card for $1.00 (including shipping - THAT’S 80%+ off!) from the newly designed site!
Fair Winds,
Andrew
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