Check this out and see if you agree with me. Chances are if you're female, you will. Yes, I hired her! How could I not?! New site coming ... well let's just say late May. Fault, delays, etc., all mine.
Oddly, I heard about Gina via John Verba, an old friend who is not only not female but also doesn't (to my knowledge) have his own Web site. However, he is one of the best direct response copywriters I've ever met in my entire life, and that takes some saying both because I've met plenty and because very, very few are any damn good.
I'd also like to use this moment to thank publicly Barbara Weckstein Kaplowitz, another fabulous freelance copywriter who told me back in 1999, "Anne, whenever you do something good with your business -- win an account, launch a new product, hit a milestone, whatever, buy yourself a new pair of shoes. You'll stay in business much longer that way."
Barbara, you're right, and I consider hiring Gina almost like getting a new pair of heels, only much more comfortable!
Friday, May 8, 2009
Sunday, May 3, 2009
Bronchitis & Blessings in Disguise
Monday morning April 20th, the day I was supposed to start working full-time on my new exciting projects, came and went in a haze of illness. In fact I'm still coughing. But at least able to stay upright for the entire day now. Wahoo! A day out of bed! Major accomplishment. Cough, cough.
I am paranoid, so I immediately worried, "What is my body trying to tell me?" Months of glowing health, I start work, and slam!
Last night I found this wonderful passage in a book I'm reading, 'Mediterranean Summer' by David Shalleck & Erol Munz. It's the story of David's summer as a personal chef aboard an Italian owned yacht in the Riviera. On pages 203-4, he reflects on the differences between American and European work-styles, "In Italy, much more so than at home, a good day was about balancing work with life's other needs -- family, friends, home, community. The the [Italian] restaurants where I had worked, the rule was a busy but steady pace, centered on keeping the guests relaxed and happy. During the meal breaks, restaurant owners wanted the staff to sit and eat. If they had a question when they saw you eating, they waited until you were finished. And you didn't have to create a way to busy yourself at the stove or risk being criticized if you weren't."
David also figured out why he, an American chef, had been able to land his cool job on an Italian yacht. It was because the Italian owners would never dream of keeping another Italian from his or her traditional August holiday month off. If you hire Americans (or Brits) who are a race stupid enough to work throughout the summer willingly, then you need be guilt-free.
In my working past, I don't think I ever used up my entire two weeks vacation even once. At most, maybe I used a week. Probably at Christmas. And, you know, I was proud of that. It meant I was a good worker. Until I sold my last company and had to lie down and sleep for three months straight.
Now I'm wondering if my body is trying to tell me that I need to be more like an Italian worker. Just because I'm starting a new company doesn't mean I should be regressing completely into the old way of life that had burned me out so badly.
I'm lucky because I'm married to a European so I have an "in" on their whole cultural thing. My husband thinks it's normal to take off three hours in the middle of the working day for a family lunch and nap. In my working life, lunch was something you slam in the office microwave around noon so when you have a spare moment to return for it around 3pm, it's nicely chilled and congealed. Annies' brand black bean enchiladas or any type of pizza-related object work very well for this type of cooking.
So I guess being sick has been a blessing in disguise. A "stop here buddy!" from my body to get my work/life balance thing in order.
You can tell how much progress I'm making already because I'm writing this on a Sunday. Yeah, gonna be a straight A student on this life lesson! Well, I'll keep hacking away at it. May be the hardest part of this coming year. Business is fun. Business is relatively easy. Life, that's the challenge.
I am paranoid, so I immediately worried, "What is my body trying to tell me?" Months of glowing health, I start work, and slam!
Last night I found this wonderful passage in a book I'm reading, 'Mediterranean Summer' by David Shalleck & Erol Munz. It's the story of David's summer as a personal chef aboard an Italian owned yacht in the Riviera. On pages 203-4, he reflects on the differences between American and European work-styles, "In Italy, much more so than at home, a good day was about balancing work with life's other needs -- family, friends, home, community. The the [Italian] restaurants where I had worked, the rule was a busy but steady pace, centered on keeping the guests relaxed and happy. During the meal breaks, restaurant owners wanted the staff to sit and eat. If they had a question when they saw you eating, they waited until you were finished. And you didn't have to create a way to busy yourself at the stove or risk being criticized if you weren't."
David also figured out why he, an American chef, had been able to land his cool job on an Italian yacht. It was because the Italian owners would never dream of keeping another Italian from his or her traditional August holiday month off. If you hire Americans (or Brits) who are a race stupid enough to work throughout the summer willingly, then you need be guilt-free.
In my working past, I don't think I ever used up my entire two weeks vacation even once. At most, maybe I used a week. Probably at Christmas. And, you know, I was proud of that. It meant I was a good worker. Until I sold my last company and had to lie down and sleep for three months straight.
Now I'm wondering if my body is trying to tell me that I need to be more like an Italian worker. Just because I'm starting a new company doesn't mean I should be regressing completely into the old way of life that had burned me out so badly.
I'm lucky because I'm married to a European so I have an "in" on their whole cultural thing. My husband thinks it's normal to take off three hours in the middle of the working day for a family lunch and nap. In my working life, lunch was something you slam in the office microwave around noon so when you have a spare moment to return for it around 3pm, it's nicely chilled and congealed. Annies' brand black bean enchiladas or any type of pizza-related object work very well for this type of cooking.
So I guess being sick has been a blessing in disguise. A "stop here buddy!" from my body to get my work/life balance thing in order.
You can tell how much progress I'm making already because I'm writing this on a Sunday. Yeah, gonna be a straight A student on this life lesson! Well, I'll keep hacking away at it. May be the hardest part of this coming year. Business is fun. Business is relatively easy. Life, that's the challenge.
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