Hau‘oli Pō‘akahi kākou, happy Monday!
[We like Mondays :-) another photo and great quote.]
I ended my Friday post with this:
As for Talking Story, I’ll hold off on jumping to another theme: I think we’ll take it slow and easy during the 5 weeks to come so we can all work with the ebook for now. How does that sound?
Not to worry: I’m keeping that promise, for there is much room to wiggle-work with in Ho‘ohana, for sure. Today we’re ‘talking story,’ making connections with Ho‘ohana intentions as they’re currently happening. You’ll see that I keep posting, including some things I pull from Say “Alaka‘i,” so figured I’d explain.
1. My Ho‘ohana intention with Smashwords
Must start the week with a big mahalo: thank you so much for your support of my very first ebook offering, Become an Alaka‘i Manager in 5 Weeks. When I last checked Sunday morning we were well over 100 downloads already!
I’ve written several ebooks before, for we sell them within Writing with Aloha, but those are all customized works sold to businesses for their staff; Become an Alaka‘i Manager in 5 Weeks is a ‘first’ for me as something I have designed for all managers regardless of their company affiliation, and without even knowing what industry a reader may be in. So please, please let me hear any feedback you have as you work through it, so we can continue to improve it as time goes by.
Become an Alaka‘i Manager in 5 Weeks was a ‘first’ in another way: It marks my debut on Smashwords, and was a test of that publishing platform for a few future projects. Well, Mark Cocker and company passed the test with flying colors, for I’ve been very impressed.
I’ve already posted one mahalo in this regard, but I want to pull it out of the comment boxes to give more credit where due for the tremendous help Chris Bailey gave me: Incorporating Chris’s feedback, I’ve already uploaded a new version 1.7 to Smashwords. So word to the wise: Do check that you have the latest version as you work through the 5 week program.
I fully intend to have this ebook continually evolve as a project of our Ho‘ohana Community: I’d be foolish not to take advantage of the opportunity we have to do so, for as you hear me say time and time again: We learn best from other people, and you have much to teach me.
2. My Ho‘ohana intention with Job Creation
Our current value theme has been Ho‘ohana, and our focus has been job creation: The Alaka‘i Manager as Job Maker.
This week you’ll see that I do pull from my Say “Alaka‘i” column with some cross-posting here because I feel it fits. As preview, I’m going to be talking about business models.
Your business model MUST support job creation if you’re in on our Ho‘ohana game-changing for 2010, and job creation is to be one of your strategic initiatives as well.
I’m a good example of someone needing to open up my thinking AND my business model for job creation, for two years ago I made the decision to work my businesses as a solo, meaning that I would no longer have employees. Now I have 4 business entities, and it’s impossible to handle them all on my own. (Say Leadership Coaching, Ho‘ohana Publishing, Teaching with Aloha, and Writing with Aloha: RosaSay.com is a good single-click to take, shortest to type in too!) I don’t have employees, but I do work with several others, those I refer to as my ‘team of business partners.’ I will outsource different work processes, contracting them out in my ‘working with Aloha’ partner-certification process, a critical part of my business model, preaching as I consistently do on value alignment [MWA Key 3]!
This study we are currently in has me brainstorming and further exploring how my business models (all incorporating the MWA ‘Ohana in Business, Key 6, as their bone structure) will now actively create MORE jobs. I don’t have those answers yet, and am working on finding them with you.
Plus I’m still feeling really good about this start we’ve made, and we need to bask in the glow a bit, and work with it: Creating Jobs? Let’s start with the Job Maker.
3. My Ho‘ohana intention with the 9 Key Concepts
You’ll see something else at the tail end of tomorrow’s posting, a formatting I begin to use more often going forward: While the subject matter will be a cross-posting of what’s on Say “Alaka‘i” the two editions will differ.
- The one on Say “Alaka‘i” will spin off into some specific Hawai‘i questions.
- Here on Talking Story we’ll spin off into the 9 Key Concepts.
For those who may not have zipped through a complete skimming of Become an Alaka‘i Managers in 5 weeks, choosing The Overview for now instead, I end the ebook with a single Call to Action, and it’s an invitation to join us here on Talking Story. I make that invitation for the reader’s continual learning, and so they can meet you, the good people of our Ho‘ohana Community, if they haven’t done so already. In other words, the 1-2-3 journey for emerging Alaka‘i Managers should be:
- Read Managing with Aloha and commit to applying it in the workplace
- If you feel you have a calling for management, get started with reconstructing the Role of the Manager with us via the self-coaching program in the how-to ebook: Become an Alaka‘i Managers in 5 weeks!
- Continue to be a lifelong learner with the rest of us, using the learning construct of the 9 Key Concepts on Talking Story.
Hana hou! I am so excited with the progress we are making, and I hope you are too.
There’s more in the works you’ll hear about soon. Meanwhile, we continue with the value of Ho‘ohana shaping our current working together with Aloha intentions.
Thank you so much for reading.
Have you any Hau‘oli Pō‘akahi (happy Monday) updates you’d like to share as well?
[…] A Ho‘ohana Talk Story: April 2010 […]