Nessa's Notes

We're up to number 23 in the 30 days of blogging , and although I have missed some days this has still been the best thing that could ever happen to this journal. Prompt 23 is an especially fun one; make a wish! When I was a teenager and going through some difficulties, my school couselor would often ask me what I would wish for if I had the proverbial three wishes. Back then it all seemed so simple. I would always answer that I only needed one wish: for everybody in the world to have all they needed and be happy. In my mind then, that meant that everybody would have all their wishes granted! I suppose that now I should have a more practical view of real life. And in some ways that earlier wish seems simplistic and unrealistic. There are some people who never have "enough" and some who refuse to be happy. So as I grew older my wishes stayed generally the same became more specific. My wish is that everyone could be well nourished and healthy. That no one would ever...

Day 14 in the 30 days of blogging provides an especially important prompt for me. The "cause" I support most is not a a single charity or organization; I am passionate about the plight of the homeless. A while back, I decided to do a project to contribute to the cause. I wrote about it in this blog here . Even before this current economic crisis that has caused so many families to lose their homes, there were always marginalized people in our society. People who through no fault of their own have less than what is needed to survive. This is not right. It doesn't make any sense to me that in a world of such plenty there are those who have so little. I wish to help as many as possible to find ways to better their situation. I wish to serve both those who are on the edge and those who are in it. This mission is the main reason that my business still exsists. This blog and my project are only two of the ways I try to accomplish that mission. I sincerely hope that others wi...

Post #11 in the 30 days of blogging project is about blogging goals. This is a simple one for me. The goal for Nessa's Notes is to support my main website Vanessa's Desk . My business is all about removing the confusion and frustrations involved in setting up and marketing a small business; letting folks know they don't have to do it all, and they don't have to do it alone. My blog isn't as good as it could be - yet - but it is changing, for the better.

Day 5 of this exercise sounded simple at first: make a list . Of ten things that are important to me. My first thought was if I could narrow it down to only 10. So, I started thinking about what is truly important to me. According to my friend Mr. Webster, important means: marked by or indicative of significant worth or consequence : valuable in content or relationship. Significant worth. Valuable content. Relationship. My next thought was if there were 10 things that were worthy of such a list. 1. God and Them. 2. My children, steps, their friends, my neices, Godchildren, granddaughter, and all those wonderful folks who call me Mama-V or Auntie-V. 3. Books, words, reading, libraries, literacy and books 4. Pictures, letters to and from and special memories of number 2 5. Music 6. Friends. The ones who have fun with and make fun of me. The ones who come and go, and come back again. And especially the ones who love me and show me the way. 7. Grace 8. Beauty I think that's enough. Thi...

They say a picture is worth a thousand words - and photographs can speak especially loud. A photograph captures a moment in time, for all time. And yet, a photo can still be open to interpretation. First, I started to post a few photos of my kids and granddaughter (as they are the subjects of most of my favorite photos). I have several of those posted around the web. And I'm trying to stay in the neighborhood of what this blog is supposed to be about: entrepreneurship and wealth creation. But I believe children and family are the most important reasons for entrepreneurship and wealth creation. I'm not trying to ramble here, but there are times when bouncing thoughts around really is the best way to find your own truth. :) My grandfather was illiterate. He could read and write his name, but that was about it. As one of the oldest of (I think) 15, it had to be that way back then. But he raised 7 children who all graduated high school - and at least two who loved books and readin...

One thing about me - other than my near obsession with helping folks pull themselves out from the bottom of the financial heap - is that I enjoy playing games. Most of my online "biographies" note that fact. Cards, board games, puzzles; it doesn't matter. I just like friendly competition. There's an online game I play from time to time. In this particular game you get points by making the best hand according to a sliding scale. But the only way to make a good hand is by cooperating and trading with other players. Some players will only trade for higher points. It usually takes them a longer time to assemble a good score. Then there are other players who seem to always give away the best pieces they get to other players in order to help them make good scores. You might think this would keep them at the lower scores for themselves. But that's not the case. I've tried it myself, both in the game and in business. When I enter the game giving and helping others, I ...

I recently realized I was doing a ridiculous thing by not publicizing my blog. It's quite silly, but I've been waiting until I got it right. But it'll never be "right" so I may as well quit erasing entries and let someone have a look. Otherwise, what's the point? In my imagination I'm witty and clever. I can always come up with lots of useful and interesting things to write about. And I'm not shy about letting the world read my every word. But in reality, I haven't been writing regularly because I fear no one will read it. Or maybe because I fear someone will read it. There is no place for fear. I already know that my writing is fabulous because my clients tell me so. So, this is my public declaration. I will post. And I will leave the posts posted.

Why is it so difficult to take our own advice, to do for ourselves what we do so often and so easily for others? I have spent much of the past twenty years helping people start and grow their small businesses, yet my own seems to have suffered through an endless cycle of surges and stalls. Both of my sons had moderate physical limitations as they were growing up so taking care of them was often challenging: I spent so much time at the hospital that many of the employees thought I worked there too! In addition to being a therapeutic foster parent for several disabled children, I was also a neighborhood mom, often sheltering and feeding a half dozen or more kids every weekend. Meanwhile, now that the kids are all grown and gone, it seems harder and harder everyday to take good care of myself with proper eating habits, rest and exercise. So, even though I don't do "resolutions" I have made a decision and a commitment to do unto myself more of what I do for others. For 2009 I...

"Networking" is the business buzzword these days. So many folks want and try to do it, even when they aren't quite sure what it is or how to do it. It comes very naturally for some, and others have to work at it dilligently. This should be no surprise - all of life's talents and activities are like that. No one is good at everything. Now I am by no means an expert when it comes to social skills - business networking included. But I am good with my relationships. Few they may be but quality has always been better than quantity. And relationships are the point and purpose of networking. In my personal life, this means I'm fiercely loyal, loving and protective. (I am a Leo after all.) In my business, it means I make an effort to get to know my clients as people and not just as accounts. Of course not every relationship has to turn into a close friendship. (That's just a bonus.) But relationship marketing means just that - FORM RELATIONSHIPS. If you want to kn...

Sometimes a change is necessary. It's ok to change your mind when you find that your original plan isn't working right. It's ok to change when you learn something new. So, I'm changing the focus of this blog. Obviously, it's been a while since I posted because what I thought I wanted to do wasn't really what I needed to do. With that in mind I've decided to give it another shot. I'll talk about what's really important (to me anyway). I'll try to provide helpful and/or entertaining information. And I'll let you get to know me with the hope that I can learn about you. After all, learning is the most important thing any of us ever do. When we stop learning and growing, we begin to die. This will still be about business because that's one of my passions. And it will most definitely still be about wealth creation, because that's something everybody needs. No, I'm not just talking about making loads of money - although of course that is...