Sorry to hear of your hard year. It seems to have been really intense for you. I mean, you really didn’t even know if your mother was going to live, for a while; and there were other things to deal with on the other side of it, including your grandmother’s death. So sorry.

Sometimes I wonder why it has to be so hard for people at the ends of their lives. If more of us thought about these people who have nobody there in the hospitals… and maybe if a bunch of those of us who have flexible time were to come up with a plan… Say, for volunteers to “adopt” patients like that and make a commitment to stay with them all the way through their difficult times… It could make so much difference for so many, couldn’t it?

I myself wouldn’t fear going through old age as much. It’s the people who care who make the difference at the end, is it not? At least, it seems so to me.

I trust your mother’s doing better now, right?

Now that our sphere of influence is actually the whole wide world, I expect we might find that a LOT of people have ideas like ours, even if they’re not precisely the same. And because of that, it’s impossible to trace who actually had any idea first? (You’re right.) We all might have been first, even if we say or do things a slightly different way.

I don’t know about you, but while I am in the process of learning things, I find I almost automatically look to people I admire in that sphere of influence and copy what they do. (It’s called having a hero–or maybe a mentor, if it’s planned.) And I may do that several times before I find myself starting to branch off on my own…

(And no, it’s not about trying to pirate anything. The thing I copy can be something as simple as the way someone does their hair or the way they walk…)

That’s part of life. As I approach older age, I’m starting to see my role in life as different than before, creatively speaking: I want to be a role model more than I want to be one who has to keep everything I do to myself.

As they say, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. It’s a sign to me that what I do matters to others.

I would say it’s an essential purchase if you’re looking to start or grow your business.

As entrepreneurs if all we have as our purpose is to make money or have influence, when we become ‘successful’ it will be a hollow success indeed. There should be something more driving us; a deeper motivation.

I think Carrie Wilkerson calls it knowing your WHY.

I was nodding my head as I read your post – even to the part where I read the 8 year old’s comment. I guess it’s just human nature.

Anyway, I see some comments about you needing another developer. I know of a couple of pretty good MVC .net guys in Brisbane who may be interested. Let me know if you’re still looking.

Thanks
Zac Sky

I have to believe that the work I’m doing will pay off because very few people seem to. The world of online businesses is strange to those around me, especially my parents and they seem to think I’m wasting away on the computer night after night. Of course if I had put all that energy to building a brick and mortar business, like a law firm, it would have made more sense to them.

However, my husband believes in me and more importantly, I believe in me. I have to. There are few ‘entrepreneurs’ I listen to, but I tend to pay attention to those that write for EJ. Thanks for the post.

I feel like society tries to go for the short cuts and avoids quality. I definitely think work progresses much faster when you invest time in to creating a quality piece of work.

I never saw
“Write Headlines Like This”
as active and
“Writing Headlines Like This”
as passive. I thought that’s more like using verbs rather than gerunds (present participle form). Am I missing something? (English is my second language)