humanity
The real lives of businessmen, professionals, the everyday man, stay at home parent, healthy lifestyle influencers, and general feel good human stories.
Little Black Book
I stared at the note for no more than a half a second then tossed it aside. Whatever the note meant, I was sure it wasn’t me that it was talking to. Or was it? I shook my head ‘no’ and got down to work. I had put together a list of new business prospects and had decided to create an email campaign focussed on my business and how it can help their business. I wanted to come up with a clever, eye catching piece with enough substance to encourage a return email or even a phone call. I was going to follow up in a day or two by phone to the people who expressed a ‘tell me more’ attitude. I went to make myself a coffee. A break for coffee almost always works for me. The act of focussing on something completely opposite the task at hand almost always helps with my problem solving. ‘Almost’ being the operative word. As I made the coffee any bolt of brilliance failed to appear. After making the coffee I took a couple of sips and decided I didn’t really want a cup. I poured the almost full cup of coffee down the sink and decided to go for a walk. I walked rather absent mindedly for about a half hour then headed back. It was no use. Nothing of brilliance was popping into my head. I realized I would have to just work it out by writing down every crappy and not so crappy idea that entered my head. I returned to my desk and pulled out a pad and started writing words, phrases, and went online looking for quotes that applied. Writing things out long hand rather than banging them out on the computer always works for me. Particularly if I haven’t any brilliant ideas. After a couple of hours, I had scribbled ideas and managed to fill several pages with random words and kind of clever phrases. I wasn’t sure any of the ideas were worth pursuing. I shut down for the day. I would take myself out to the local café and have something to eat. Maybe I was trying too hard. I began to think that maybe my new business email should be less clever and more straightforward. I just wasn’t sure. I walked head down back to my office and as I passed a convenience store I looked up. There was a sign in the window that was used to display the current lottery jackpot but instead it read, ‘Your life will change very soon’. I stopped, and stood staring at the sign then closed my eyes for a second and when I opened them the sign had changed to reflect the current jackpot value. I blinked about million times, looked again and the sign displayed the lottery jackpot value and nothing more. Now, you would think that these messages would have had an effect on me. You would think that after seeing three positive messages about the future, my future, that I would feel hopeful, happier, less droopy, I did not. I felt distracted and annoyed. Never a patient person I hated that I was being told via messages the ‘soon everything will get better’. If it was true, then it needed to happen right away. The word ‘soon’ was intolerable to me. I needed something to happen now, as in immediately, not soon as in next week, next month, or next year! When I got back to the office I checked my email messages. Not an offer of a massive contract or even a two-week project. I never give up so rather than fret I got down work writing my new business pitch. It would be moderately clever but more focussed on serious business. I also decided to offer a one-hour consultation for free. It wasn’t a lot but it was a significant testimony to my belief that I could be of service. It was a reasonable but definitely gimmicky pitch. I didn’t like it after I thought about it. I may as well have offered up to fifty percent off. Operative words being up to.
By Margaret Cioffi5 years ago in Journal
Life's Journey
Hi. Whoever you are. My name is Journey, and well life, it has not been an easy one. Have you ever opened your eyes in the morning and wished that you had not? Wishing that somehow, some way this weight on your chest could be lifted. Nothing against God or the beauty in this world, but how torturous it is to walk by beauty every day and feel so disconnected from it. Why did God place me in a world so beautiful only to make me a spectator? Sometimes I wonder if God even knows me. If at some point, there was no point in believing in me. I know that sometimes I would do nothing but lay under the covers for days straight or be incapable of stopping these ridiculous tears that just stream with no history. I could go days without bathing. I would want to be clean, but would be so tired, it would take hours just to get up. Tired from the soul out. I wonder if that is why God may have grown tired of me? I hate to burden you with my endless pool of misery. It is my own and everyone has a story. I am inviting you to mine. How I ended up here writing in this journal that Miss Johnnie gave me. She calls them letters to your future self. Self? I do not even know who I am anymore.
By Kanisha Moye5 years ago in Journal
The Pitch
"Where is my notebook?" I cried. "What notebook?" my husband asked as I frantically raced from room to room, toppling over children's books in my search. "My black notebook for work.” I gritted out, frustrated that he could be so clueless. Of course, it's that one, it's the only one I have that's black that I use everyday. It's like he doesn't even live here. "I dunno" he said noncommittally and walked back down the stairs to continue working at his den room computer.
By Foxxy MomBoss5 years ago in Journal
La Deriva
This is an annotated transcript of the notes I jotted in my moleskin notebook over the course of the last three years. New paragraphs indicate different times throughout the day I was inspired to write my inner monologue. I’ve added nothing to the original text; what you are about to read is what you would’ve encountered had the book slipped out of my pocket on the bus and you decided to amuse yourself with the abstract reality of a stranger.
By Maia Jackson5 years ago in Journal
When the Growing is Easy
Today, my pandemic porch garden finally sprouted. To be fair, it's not so much a garden as it is a thin layer of dirt mixed with rocks mixed with the discarded bottle caps of residents past. Scratch down half an inch and you'll find concrete. It's an unfortunate bald spot on the front porch of my apartment.
By Chelsea Delaney5 years ago in Journal
Starting with Only $27, This Trail-Blazing Entrepreneur has Built a 7-Figure Nonprofit and a 6-Figure Business
Does it ever feel like the world is stacked against you? Entrepreneur Connie Bobo knows exactly how that feels. You wouldn’t know it by looking at her now, but there was a time when Connie had to decide whether she was going to let adversity consume her or if she was going to climb her way up from the bottom.
By Victoria Kennedy5 years ago in Journal
When Natural Disaster Strikes, This Attorney Helps Pick Up The Pieces
Who do you call when life as you know it falls apart? For many property owners in the coastal southeast, the answer is simple: Galen M. Hair. As a property insurance attorney and owner at Insurance Claim HQ, Galen helps his clients through the aftermath of some of the most stressful days of their lives. Galen has helped over 800 families rebuild their homes and businesses after natural disasters destroyed their properties.
By Victoria Kennedy5 years ago in Journal
Denver executive search firms: How it differs from a recruiting agency?
For the past years, employment agencies and executive search firms cater to a wide array of needs of the corporate world. And they often interview and identify candidates who may not be actively seeking new positions.
By Anastasia Isabelle Wallen5 years ago in Journal
