Daily Grind

New Year’s Resolutions have always been bogus to me.  People make these resolutions to do something and never really follow through.  Every year when I write this post I say the same thing…blah blah blah.  I just really don’t like New Year’s Resolutions.  In 2011, I tackled the goal of weight loss and improving my lifestyle.  That was a huge under taking for me but I accomplished a lot.  How much you might ask?  I can’t tell you now, because that’s another blog post.  Because I took on such a strong journey of weight loss and lifestyle improvement, I kind of let other goals I had fall by the wayside.  Not because I didn’t want to accomplish them, because my weight loss became my issue of 2011.

So what’s going to be my issue for 2012?  One word: Business.  I really want to improve my skills, take more pictures and really get my graphic design and photography business going.  Now is the time for me to make this happen and now that I’m living healthier and managing my schedule better, I know it’s something that I need to do.  Every year it makes my list and every year it never happens.  But after having the great 2011 I did have, I know that I can do anything if I put my mind to it.

But this is also a time to reflect on my goals for 2011:

1. Eating better to get rid of bad habits. (check)

2. Get my butt to the gym and get the hubby to go along. (check)

3. Make more time for myself to read books and watch television and do things I want to do.  (check)

4. Save more money.  There’s no check for this one.  All the things I said I wasn’t going to buy, I bought.  Where I was more frugal with my money this year, I didn’t manage to save much.

5. Get my business going strong.  I let this go.

Which leads me to my list of goals for 2012:

1. Get my business going strong.

That’s all I want to do.  And I figure if there is just one goal (even if it’s a big one) that’s one thing that I have to accomplish throughtout 2012.  And like I said, I’ve already done so much, this one thing won’t break me.  Plus, if this is the one thing I do in 2012…I’ll be happy. So what does this all entail?  Building my brand (by blogging, crafting, taking pictures), taking pictures for money and honing my skills!

 

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Blogher is teaming up with Create Jobs For USA to bring awareness to getting people back to work here in the USA. This is something near and dear to my heart because I am a small business owner a couple times over. In 1994 my mom was brave enough to embark on a journey of opening her business. It was something new for her but she took the chance and started a business that has now been passed down to me. Owning a small business in this economy really isn’t easy and when the economy is bad small business is the first to feel the effects.

The President always talks about small business being the back bone of our economy because this is where jobs are created. I’m proud to be an American and I’m proud to own a business where I can employ a small amount of people. Small business is great because we’re in touch with the local community, the people we hire are not just employees, they are our friends and family. We get to know these people on a level most big corporations or companies just don’t get to do. That’s why it becomes hard when you have to cut someone’s hours or fire someone because the money isn’t rolling in the way it should be because of a weak economy. It’s hard knowing that someone’s child or wife is sick and they really need to hours to pay for medical expenses but you just can’t do it.

As a business owner it’s my responsibility to make sure people get paid and sometimes that means paying everyone else and leaving me with nothing. Sometimes that means the hours and hard work I put in doesn’t mean much because the people who come to work for me day in and day out, and treat the business like it’s there own, are much more important than anything I will ever do. There have been plenty of months when car notes didn’t get paid, the mortgage was late and the telephone just got cut off because it’s more important to me to have employees paid than have them work for nothing. Plus, I would rather do that than have to fire someone who really needs the job.

I wish these were things that didn’t have to be done, but over the past few years these are sometimes the choices that must be made. Granted over the past two years, things have gotten better and business has started to pick up pace, but we’re still not to where we use to be. We’re forced to compete with people who will work for pennies on the dollar; something Americans can’t live on.

We need to reinvest in the United States of America and not outsource jobs to other countries that don’t have the same pay standards as we do. I could never pay my employees $4/an hour for a job that requires precision and safety like some other countries can do. We can’t live on those standards and it’s not fair to people who are just trying to make it everyday.

The recession has knocked us off our feet, but we’re picking up and moving on…and that’s what makes us so great. Let’s put Americans back to work because that is what we deserve.

Also, today Lisa Stone and Starbucks Chairman and CEO Howard Schultz will be taking place at 11am Pacific/1pm Eastern. We would LOVE it if you were able to listen in to this special 15 minute conversation.

Participant Number: 877-698-0629
Conference Code: 23564006

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I’m not really a party planner, but I do like to design and make things…and I’ve become a baker. My mom had a big birthday coming up and I won’t mention the number because she would totally be upset so I thought she deserved a birthday party. I made the invites and put everything into action. The only sad thing is I didn’t get to take that many pictures because I was doing the photobooth. I only got a few decoration pictures and a few food shots. Kind of makes me mad but in my defense by the time I actually got to the party I was tried (iron issues) and hungry and just tired from party planning. All in all the party turned out great…even though so people who said they were coming didn’t show up! Here’s a look at my creation.

Those tissue poofs and lanterns were the best thing to happen to me. Originally the party was supposed to be outside but we had too much rain and I just couldn’t chance it. Plus, it’s Texas and it was super hot outside. I really just didn’t want to deal. So the menu was a typical backyard BBQ menu: brisket, sausage, chicken, pork and ribs with potato salad and baked beans. I also made queso, spinach dip w/ the veggie tray, apple oatmeal cookies and lemon raspberry cupcakes (which I forgot to photograph–my heart breaks for that)! And of course, we had my mom’s favorite cake flavor: red velvet. Everything was delicious, even though I couldn’t eat half of it. I took what I could eat.

But my mom had a great time and got to spend some great time with her friends. I will post the pictures from the photobooth shortly. It was a big hit!

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