Personal Update

Well, Starbucks has forsaken me. I still can’t find my coveted Pick of the Week. It’s not that I’m cheap and don’t want to pay for my music. Quite the contrary. I think musicians should be paid for what they produce. I enjoy the Pick of the Week because it’s a way to force myself to experience music I wouldn’t otherwise seek out. Oh well. Hopefully they just over looked it this week. We’ll see. In other news, I have been plenty busy. I am preparing for my trip to Hawaii (read clouds parting, sun shining and inspirational music playing), and preparing to make an honest launch of my freelance business.

Regarding Hawaii, well, it’s Hawaii. Is it ever bad? My wife and I are going for our friends’ wedding. The couple is from Hilo so the wedding, as well as our lodging, will be in that area. We don’t have much of a budget for the trip, but it’s Hawaii. I could do nothing but attend the wedding and spend the rest of the week sitting on the beach and reading. My only goals for the trip are:

• Read through the books I’m bringing (Cannery Row and Sweet Thursday by John Steinbeck and Slipknot by Linda Greenlaw)
• Attend a beautiful wedding
• Avoid wearing closed toe shoes at all costs

Other than that, I am just looking forward to spending a week in paradise with my wife. I hope to come back rested, tan, tattooed and ultimately, more clear headed.

Which brings me to the other thing that has been keeping me busy. Launching a business is no mean feat. I have been doing this type work for a while now, more as a hobby than anything else. But times have changed. I love writing, in all it’s forms and I might as well make some decent money while I’m at it. So far I have designed my stationary (business cards, letter head and envelopes) and had a ton of ideas. Right now I am in the process of reigning those ideas in and focusing them into a viable business model, which brings my business plan. I’ve never written one before, but it seems straight forward enough. I’ll probably get to work on the actual writing of it tonight. I’ve spent the last couple days researching how to do such things. That, and my marketing plan. I can’t really write my business plan until I have a marketing plan in place. Again, lots of research. Writing is not a problem for me, it’s the business part of things I am need to learn. I am, however, not deterred. There are few things you can’t learn through a combination of book knowledge and old fashioned trial and error. I just hope this trial and error has a more positive outcome than my adolescent experiments with firecrackers. Poor dog.

Anyhow, things around here next week will be spotty to a possible shade of non-existent. Not that I’m neglecting things when I need to be most on top of them, but I’ll be in freekin Hawaii. On Vacation.

See you there.