I was told today that I should take the next two weeks off work to recover from the removal of my gall bladder. Laughing hysterically I informed the nice discharge nurse that I would be returning to my home, and hence my office, and hence my computer by 2 pm this afternoon...and look, I'm early!!
As most of you self employed types will attest, being seriously ill can be a catastrophe when you have a business to run. Just like the rest of the working adult world we get sick with colds, flu, a pulled muscle, a broken arm etc. Unlike those with a paid job and a generous employer (i.e my husband), we do not get paid when we are ill. It's bad enough if you don't get sick pay from your job, but at least there's long term disability in most cases or even SSI if its serious such as cancer. I know that's not much money or much comfort but when the only income you have is from the daily activity you produce....well its scary.
Last year I had breast cancer. They told me I would be unable to work at all for 6 - 8 weeks and then back on light duty for 4 more. I was in despair. My magazine is published monthly. At best I have a 5 day window near the end of each month when I can relax enough to get housework done and weed the garden! If I am really careful and manage my time, I can squeeze in a week with my daughter in San Francisco, or even a road trip with my man. (Of course I pay dearly for that when I get back and have to cram billing and accounting into 2 days instead of 5, and designing the next months edition into 3 days rather than 7.) The prospect of being sick for months with chemo etc was a daunting prospect and I seriously wondered if I could continue to work. Then I wondered how I would survive if I didn't continue to work!
Cancer made me really get my act together. I delegated, I organized, I managed the processes of my magazine carefully. I figured out how to do as much as I could with a dropbox, logmein and cloud computing. My iPhone was absolutely my best friend. When the iPad came out I bought version 2 and love it. I can work anywhere! I paired down my busy work and concentrated on the key things that I needed to personally manage each month that were bottom line issues. Somehow it worked and I put out my magazine 5 days after a double mastectomy. I was in pain, I was tired, but I was determined...and self employed.
This time it was my gall bladder and my first mistake was checking into a local doctors office rather than driving to Vanderbilt in Nashville. (I keep telling myself I have to give the local physicians a chance, and then I do ...and I tell myself it will be the last time LOL) The doctors here are generally fine. They care, they're personable and their staff have the ubiquitous southern charm. But they over test, over operate and over book! Of course that's just my opinion, but this is my blog!
I went to the emergency room over 10 days ago with a bad gall bladder - Start the $ signs rolling because these docs are self employed! During the first 10 days I have had an endoscopy, CT scan, 6 sets of blood work and saw four doctors. (And they wanted to do a Colonoscopy as well!) Each billed me for an office visit, hospital visit, and tests. After three days I went home. By Monday I am writhing in agony...simply unable to eat, drink or sleep. back to the hospital for another day and a half. It took 10 days to get my gall bladder taken out! 10 days of being too sick and on too many pain meds to really work.
Being self employed is great. I love it. AND, being sick and self employed can be catastrophic. I guess figuring what to do about that and how to head off a disaster is a whole new blog! For now I just want to keep healthy...and I'm waiting for that horrendous bill from the hospital and those 4 doctors. I'm sorry but taking two weeks off from work is just not an option for the self employed.
OK, I just had to write it!!
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Thursday, June 16, 2011
She Works Hard For her Money.....
Grrrrr.....
Why is the concept "I publish a magazine as a business venture" so hard for some of my customers to understand? Do they really think I do this for some egotistical hobby? (Yeah, that right...I just love to work this hard just to see my name in print each month.)
As the Editor-in-Chief I get to choose what goes into the publication. That all too important content which holds the ads together and pays the printers is my decision. I have to source it, either write it or have it written, and then edit it...all of it! 76 + pages every month. To help give the magazine varied and interesting content we accept advertorials and 'informational articles' from advertisers, in fact we offer space on a regular basis: You buy a six month ad, we'll try and get you some article space to talk about buying a new home, or flea and tick medicine for dogs...whatever it is you are trying to promote. This is a complimentary extra to the advertising you have already purchased and its a great way to promote your product and to brand you as the local "expert".
Some business owners like to write, and have the educational background and training to produce quite good magazine material. Counselors, medical personnel and educators in particular often submit copy that finds its way into PP & F. Their customers and patients see it, compliment them and their business grows. "My doctor writes a column in that parenting magazine," their customers tell each other.
All is well until I have a month where I have more copy than space...a last minute event comes up that I think is worthy of printing than an article on Thumbsucking for instance. Their monthly contribution to our glorious publication is a few days after copy deadline. So, I bump the complimentary promotions article and run what I think is better content for the magazine. An article on the MDA walk-a-thon coming up in three weeks.Then the abusive emails begin...
Apparently, I don't know how to run my business! I should giveaway valuable page space because everybody wants to read about 'manipulative personality disorder" (or something like that). The section title they have been given is theirs! Howe dare I use it for anyone else? They forget that it was my suggestion to write for the magazine and that it's free. Other publications see their articles and call them about advertising and articles. I do not appreciate them enough. I have disappointed their clients. I have inconvenienced them...they are never writing for me again!
But they have forgotten a couple of important things. I have the largest circulation in a 200 mile radius of any publication except the newspaper (and they won't get their rantings published in there.) My readership is their exact target audience. I edit their sometimes overly wordy and confusing drivel so that their content is interesting and readable. And the most important thing...the articles they have published are possibly the best branding and marketing they can get.
So, by all means take your sand box toys and move on. I will be fine. I have many more businesses asking for space and they are only too eager to get free publicity. People, I need an income just like you do.I don't have a rich grandma, or the luxury of being financially supported by an aging millionaire. If I wish to live like a princess (and I do, I do...) it will have to come from the sweat of my own brow!
OK, I just had to write it!
Why is the concept "I publish a magazine as a business venture" so hard for some of my customers to understand? Do they really think I do this for some egotistical hobby? (Yeah, that right...I just love to work this hard just to see my name in print each month.)
As the Editor-in-Chief I get to choose what goes into the publication. That all too important content which holds the ads together and pays the printers is my decision. I have to source it, either write it or have it written, and then edit it...all of it! 76 + pages every month. To help give the magazine varied and interesting content we accept advertorials and 'informational articles' from advertisers, in fact we offer space on a regular basis: You buy a six month ad, we'll try and get you some article space to talk about buying a new home, or flea and tick medicine for dogs...whatever it is you are trying to promote. This is a complimentary extra to the advertising you have already purchased and its a great way to promote your product and to brand you as the local "expert".
Some business owners like to write, and have the educational background and training to produce quite good magazine material. Counselors, medical personnel and educators in particular often submit copy that finds its way into PP & F. Their customers and patients see it, compliment them and their business grows. "My doctor writes a column in that parenting magazine," their customers tell each other.
All is well until I have a month where I have more copy than space...a last minute event comes up that I think is worthy of printing than an article on Thumbsucking for instance. Their monthly contribution to our glorious publication is a few days after copy deadline. So, I bump the complimentary promotions article and run what I think is better content for the magazine. An article on the MDA walk-a-thon coming up in three weeks.Then the abusive emails begin...
Apparently, I don't know how to run my business! I should giveaway valuable page space because everybody wants to read about 'manipulative personality disorder" (or something like that). The section title they have been given is theirs! Howe dare I use it for anyone else? They forget that it was my suggestion to write for the magazine and that it's free. Other publications see their articles and call them about advertising and articles. I do not appreciate them enough. I have disappointed their clients. I have inconvenienced them...they are never writing for me again!
But they have forgotten a couple of important things. I have the largest circulation in a 200 mile radius of any publication except the newspaper (and they won't get their rantings published in there.) My readership is their exact target audience. I edit their sometimes overly wordy and confusing drivel so that their content is interesting and readable. And the most important thing...the articles they have published are possibly the best branding and marketing they can get.
So, by all means take your sand box toys and move on. I will be fine. I have many more businesses asking for space and they are only too eager to get free publicity. People, I need an income just like you do.I don't have a rich grandma, or the luxury of being financially supported by an aging millionaire. If I wish to live like a princess (and I do, I do...) it will have to come from the sweat of my own brow!
OK, I just had to write it!
Friday, June 10, 2011
It's better to ask forgiveness....
I think it was one of my first employers who taught me this lesson:
It's better to ask for forgiveness than permission...
I like to pull that thought out of my hat whenever I am motivated to accomplish something that I know will be questioned by a third party. It's not that I can't usually persuade people to see my point of view, or the value of my idea, but sometimes I just don't want to go through the motions. The information I need is available, just from the usual channels I am supposed to get it from. The thing I want or need is in the store room, I just don't have a requisition for it. I'm not supposed to be involved in that decision, but if I make a discrete phone call I can probably influence it. The truth is I would rather ask forgiveness after the fact than ask permission to act.
Sometimes, I get away with murder! Sometimes, this philosophy comes back to bite me in the ass.
Today I was bitten. I knew the minute I opened the email that I had been caught being slightly disrespectful to someone else's opinion, and their expended time and energy. It wasn't that I was altogether wrong but I had not explained my thought prossess appropriately and in the course of acting expediently (and, if I am being honest, on my own agenda) I had been rude. Which leads me to another one of those little sayings I live by...
If you're wrong, say so...
A swift apology was in order. The person I offended has been diligently trying to do her job and I was not making it any easier by going around her. So I told her I was very sorry and acknowledged my evil intentions.
The grown-ups I like to deal with are the ones who can tell you when you're full of it and accept an apology if its swift, forthright and thorough. (Not, "I'm sorry if I have offended you" when you know damn well they couldn't give hoot.) It's something I tried to instill in my kids when they were younger. You won't get punished for saying you are sorry. As an adult I can forgive and get over it. There is something cathartic about cleaning up a little mess, apologizing and moving on.
But I doubt I will ever give up acting without permission sometimes because, more often than not, I get away with it and that's a huge payoff!
It's better to ask for forgiveness than permission...
I like to pull that thought out of my hat whenever I am motivated to accomplish something that I know will be questioned by a third party. It's not that I can't usually persuade people to see my point of view, or the value of my idea, but sometimes I just don't want to go through the motions. The information I need is available, just from the usual channels I am supposed to get it from. The thing I want or need is in the store room, I just don't have a requisition for it. I'm not supposed to be involved in that decision, but if I make a discrete phone call I can probably influence it. The truth is I would rather ask forgiveness after the fact than ask permission to act.
Sometimes, I get away with murder! Sometimes, this philosophy comes back to bite me in the ass.
Today I was bitten. I knew the minute I opened the email that I had been caught being slightly disrespectful to someone else's opinion, and their expended time and energy. It wasn't that I was altogether wrong but I had not explained my thought prossess appropriately and in the course of acting expediently (and, if I am being honest, on my own agenda) I had been rude. Which leads me to another one of those little sayings I live by...
If you're wrong, say so...
A swift apology was in order. The person I offended has been diligently trying to do her job and I was not making it any easier by going around her. So I told her I was very sorry and acknowledged my evil intentions.
The grown-ups I like to deal with are the ones who can tell you when you're full of it and accept an apology if its swift, forthright and thorough. (Not, "I'm sorry if I have offended you" when you know damn well they couldn't give hoot.) It's something I tried to instill in my kids when they were younger. You won't get punished for saying you are sorry. As an adult I can forgive and get over it. There is something cathartic about cleaning up a little mess, apologizing and moving on.
But I doubt I will ever give up acting without permission sometimes because, more often than not, I get away with it and that's a huge payoff!
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Blank Pages
Oh yes, this is intimidating!
My first blog will set the tone for future masterpieces (I hope.) My mother didn't start writing seriously until she was my age and I can see why. I always have a lot of ideas in my head and a desire to write them for all the world to read. But a blog? The pressure is building...
Ah well, lets take another leaf out of Mum's notebook and just do it! Here's what motivated me:
Life is a series of collisions with the future; it is not the sum of what we have been, but what we yearn to be.
Jose Ortega y Gasset
Every month I have space for an editorial in my magazine. It started as a page, but as the magazine grew and matured my editorial space often disappears to a 1/4 page or less. I plan that this blog gives me the opportunity to express myself: To tell the world what I really want to say, unconstrained by the magazine. It will be a more accurate reflection of my values and beliefs. I guess my readers will be the judge.
My first blog will set the tone for future masterpieces (I hope.) My mother didn't start writing seriously until she was my age and I can see why. I always have a lot of ideas in my head and a desire to write them for all the world to read. But a blog? The pressure is building...
Ah well, lets take another leaf out of Mum's notebook and just do it! Here's what motivated me:
Life is a series of collisions with the future; it is not the sum of what we have been, but what we yearn to be.
Jose Ortega y Gasset
Every month I have space for an editorial in my magazine. It started as a page, but as the magazine grew and matured my editorial space often disappears to a 1/4 page or less. I plan that this blog gives me the opportunity to express myself: To tell the world what I really want to say, unconstrained by the magazine. It will be a more accurate reflection of my values and beliefs. I guess my readers will be the judge.
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