It is the 31st and I do hesitate to say aloha to August 2005! I’m hard-pressed to imagine how we could have enjoyed a better anniversary Ho‘olaule‘a than we did this month, outside of wishing that hurricane Katrina had kept her wrath to herself in these past few days, and saying a prayer for the lives she has so drastically affected. I am somewhat cheered by the thought that as human beings we are resilient, tenacious, compassionate and generous with those in need, and intelligent beyond even our own imaginings; I know that in the days and months to come we will pull together to make things right again for our Gulf Coast neighbors. I ask you to consider what you can do, and how you can help.
Mahalo nui to Paul Chaney for pointing out this Hurricane Relief effort on The Truth Laid Bear:
Hurricane Katrina: Blog for Relief Day September 1, 2005
Sign up to participate here.
The Truth Laid Bear Topic Page
Our Talking Story Recap: An August Anniversary Ho‘olaule‘a
A huge mahalo to Tom Ehrenfeld for being my co-conspirator this month, so that everyone in our Ho‘ohana Community could take away a Ho‘olaule‘a celebration gift; their own entrepreneurial mindset. Tom’s coaching this month, on how we can grow as we grow our business, has been extremely generous, and now we need to practice our mahalo, living in thankfulness for the gift we have been given. It is time to tend your garden.
If you have not yet purchased your own copy of The Startup Garden, what are you waiting for? Every garden needs a gardener, and you are yours. Now that you have your anniversary gift, jump into the pages of Tom’s book and allow it to work its magic for you, just as it did for me.
Here’s the monthend Recap of the Top 5 Posts this past month, as tracked by your click-ins:
Be right or do right?
Stories of customer service gone astray really seem to light your fire! The response to this surprised me a bit, and I must say thank you to those who felt compelled to rally to my defense. Then again, this is not the first time that my reactive/ observation blogging brought visits far atop my deliberately planned posts ” this one from my first visit to Prescott back in June is still bringing new visitors to Talking Story daily.
Can you read value signs?
I’m eating some humble pie with this one, for Eric and Adrian put me in my should-be-more-positive place with their comments, and rightfully so — thanks guys. Yet I’ll ask all of you to help me get to the optimistic side of this one with even more consistency: Make sure that my assumptions stated in this article are NOT the picture where you recruit and hire, lead and manage.
Tom Ehrenfeld and The Startup Garden
All of Tom’s articles this month were extremely popular in comparison to my non-Tom postings. This one may have risen to the top simply because it was the first and had more time in its favor! —or maybe because it had the links to his free book excerpts? :-) I’ll take some liberties with my own recap here, and recommend THIS post as your best find-all of everything Tom this month, and the category link where everything will be on one page for you when you visit again.
Why the Startup Garden?
In this post I wrote of my belief that everyone working today must reconsider what the word “retirement” may and may not mean for them personally one day. I urge you to think about these things now and not later; now when you can actively create your future, not be a victim of it.
Office perfection; ah! — bliss.
Second month running for this post, more evidence to the fact that we are not yet done with our quest for better personal productivity! In September I’ll return to blogging about the results of MWA3P (remember GTD + 7 Habits + MWA = MWA3P?) so if this was one of your interests, stay tuned.
Just a few more ”
May I give you a few more anniversary month markers? Many of you in the Ho‘ohana Community who are not yet RSS enthusiasts and webpage taggers have told me that these monthend Talking Story Recaps do help you find highlights much quicker than your searches through my archives. So based on comment conversations, trackbacks and your private emails, I’d offer you this additional August Index:
8/30 A First Year in Review: Happy Birthday Talking Story!
8/29 Your entrepreneurial point of view: a gift for growth. This one reached the spot of Top Post #6 in only 2 days time.
8/21 What does ‘financial literacy’ mean to you?
8/17 Saying “thank you” cannot wait. 2nd MWA printing and Feedster Top 500!
8/13 Identify the strengths of those you manage.
8/10 The Rule of Synergy.
8/06 Black Beauty. Posted my Volcano Photo Album.
8/02 Not where we expected to be; The Waikoloa fire.
8/01 Our August Ho‘ohana is Ho‘olaule‘a; Celebration!
A brand new Ho‘ohana theme tomorrow for September 1st: What do you suppose it will be? Until then, Aloha!
From the East Coast of Boston, Rosa, I want to post thousands of miles back to you before the month’s end to say thanks so very much for the honor of letting me be part of your blog this month! I’ve loved it. On the most shallow level, thanks for your huge generosity towards my book The Startup Garden. It’s been touching to me to have someone pay such close attention and to really think about some core ideas that are important to me.
More importantly, I want to thank you for teaching me by example how to blend one’s beliefs and actions in an entrepreneurial manner online. This blog, your posts, your electric presence are dynamic. I see how you reach out to people, how individuals feel comfortable talking about how to blend belief an business, passion and purpose and work. It’s always wonderful to be given a chance to learn, so I thank you for that.
And now, not to be trite, but a prayer to everyone affected by Katrina. I am donating every penny I can, and tomorrow I’m going down to give a pint of blood. I’m stunned by events, and wish we could all do more to ease the misery.
Thank you once more–
Tom