"Magnetism, as you recall from physics class, is a powerful force that causes certain items to be attracted to refrigerators." -Dave Barry

Wouldn't it be nice to be able to defrag your brain? :-D


And while I'm wishing... Wouldn't it be nice to just be able to upload new information into your brain, like in the Matrix?
Although it would be kinda freaky to not remember having learned the information.

I just found a great article on entrepreneur.com - Blurred Vision
Don’t expect your employees to be carbon copies of yourself. It takes an owner to have the dedication of an owner.

This is one of the areas that I've been struggling with in my store. It's hard when it feels like my employees aren't as committed to fabulous customer service as I am. I try to explain to them what I expect of them, but it ends up coming out like criticism.
But the article says that it takes seven years on average for entrepreneurs to realize that their employees have a different agenda than they do - so I'm ahead by 5 years! :-)

So lately I've been reading Steve Pavlina's blog (www.stevepavlina.com). He's got some very interesting things to say about motivation, success, self-displine, polyphasic sleeping, etc.

His current post called "Rules Are No Obstacles For Committed People" sounds a lot like my life as described in one of my previous posts "Everything is Always Impossible Before It Works"

So World, step aside please, I'm coming through! :-D

To repeat a very excellent Chinese proverb...
The person who says it cannot be done should not interrupt the person who is doing it.

-Chinese Proverb

"The degree to which you are willing to commit yourself is the degree to which you will achieve your goals."

I was talking with a friend the other day about how it seems like the work never ends. Back in September, I said that it would be easier after back-to-school was over, but it really hasn't slowed down. My friend was saying the same thing about his business.
But I've realized that it's not that the work never ends - it's that we're not satisfied yet! The store hasn't slowed down because I've chosen to keep trying to make things better (get new POS software, sell online, do expos, sell at dance studios). If I was content to let the store just run the way it has been running, then I would have a ton of time off, but I'm not content to do that.

Life is all a matter of priorities. There is always enough time for the things that are top priority for you - whether that be your business, your friends, working out, TV, playing video games, etc. You choose your priorities by how you spend your time.

LIVE TODAY WHILE WORKING FOR A BETTER TOMORROW!

What are you doing today to be happy today?
What are you doing today to be happy tomorrow?

"When I get a little money I buy books; and if any is left I buy food and clothes." - Erasmus


Such a true statement for me! My credit card charges consist of grocery stores, restaurants, bookstores, and not much else! :-D

The path to our destination is not always a straight one.

We go down the wrong road, we get lost, we turn back.

Maybe it doesn't matter which road we embark on.

Maybe what matters is that we embark.

Barbara Hall, Northern Exposure, Rosebud, 1993

So let's see, what have I been up to lately....

I've been working at Applause 5-6 days a week. Sales have continued to be high! :-D So far November has been wonderful! I still have so many ideas of stuff I want to do with Applause - a benefit dance, an expo, more involvement with the community, etc. And I'm still trying to find a new Point of Sale system that does everything that I want it to do. I'm also doing bookkeeping for a gas station, and tutoring once in a while.

The main interesting thing that happened recently was my apartment flooding, which I still haven't totally recovered from. My carpet had to get torn up, so all of my belongings were moved into my bathroom and my kitchen (the only two rooms without carpet). My carpet is better now, and I've moved everything out of my bathtub so I can actually take a shower now, but I haven't made the time to move all of my books out of my kitchen yet. It's hard when I don't get home until after 9pm most nights and then I just want to go to bed! :-) But sooner or later I'll get to it, and then I'll remember how nice it is to be able to actually have home-cooked food.

Recently someone asked me to describe myself in less than 75 words,
and this is what I came up with about a minute and a half ...


I will make this world a better place with my
actions.  Dance, math, & psychology will always be a
part of my life.  I believe in living a life that
makes you happy while still making conscious, informed
decisions about your future.  I love children,
waterfalls, and an open dance floor.  I am always
learning, always looking for more and new information
& opportunities.  I love to understand!

"Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around."

~ Leo Buscaglia

VISUALIZE THEN ACTUALIZE YOUR SUCCESS

---

Your mind is your mental workshop.
You can build anything you want in it.

Visualize what you want in your mind.
See it. Feel it. Taste it. Believe in it.
Make your mental blueprint and then begin to build.

First, think about what you want out of life.
The beginning always takes place in your imagination.
Then organize your thoughts into definitive plans.
Next, it's time to transform your thoughts into reality
by taking some positive action.

You can live your dreams.

From YOUR DAILY MOTIVATION
©2005 by Max Steingart
Reproduce freely but maintain © notice

The reason so few people are successful is no one has yet found a way for someone to sit down and slide uphill.

-W. Clement Stone

Without ambition, one starts nothing. Without work, one finishes nothing. The prize will not be sent to you. You have to win it yourself!




Here's to starting and finishing - to getting everything done! I'm off to get a ton of stuff done today! :-)

"Everything is always impossible before it works. That’s what entrepreneurs are all about – doing what people have told them is impossible."
– R. Hunt Greene – Venture Capitalist

Here's to doing the impossible! Never tell me I can't do something that I want to do, because I will prove you wrong! :-)

Yes, I am young and female - but I can still ace AP tests without taking the class, graduate early and get accepted at top-rated colleges, start a cheerleading squad and dance troupe at a totally math and science school, move out on my own and support myself doing a job that I love, go to college full-time and run my store at the same time, and who knows what else is yet to come! Maybe multiple businesses, maybe traveling around the world, maybe retiring at 25! We'll just have to wait and see!

"Anything you really want, you can attain, if you really go after it."

But sometimes it's hard to figure out what I really want...

Nothing is a waste of time if you use the experience wisely.

-Auguste Rodin

"Every choice you make ends up being the right one -- simply because it is the one you made. Good or bad, it folds into the fabric of your life and leads you to your next choice and, inevitably, your next day, your next season, your next year. In the end it's not about making the right choice every time (because who does?); it's about making the most of your choices, learning from them, sometimes laughing about them -- and becoming a better person as a result.
So whether you like to mull things over, take a meeting, or just take the plunge, you grow every day because of the choices you make. And what's most important, your life is that much richer because you have a choice in the first place."
-from Women's Health, Sept/Oct 2005

All the choices I've made up to this point have made me the person I am, and I like me! :-)

"Either I will find a way, or I will make one."

"The value of action is that we make mistakes; mistakes show
us what we need to learn."

"The truth will set you free"

As much as the truth can suck sometimes, I always feel better knowing (maybe not right away, but in the long run). I really appreciate people who can just be truthful with me. I hate wondering, so it's really nice when people can just be open and honest about their feelings. Sometimes it doesn't work out the way that you had hoped, but at least you know that the outcome was based on the truth and not on some lie or misunderstanding. Not that I think everyone should go around just telling everyone else their totally honest feelings about that person, but I want to be able to get the truth if I ask someone how they feel.

Part of why I like the truth is because I like to understand - the world, people, why everything happens the way it does. I know that I can't always understand everything, at least not at the time it's happening. I believe that for whatever reason (which may become clear later), things need to happen the way they do, so that we can grow and change into the people that we need to be.

So much to do for back-to-school -
we just got/are getting in a ton of inventory to stock up for our busiest season, and we have to find room for all of it and keep it organized.
Gotta make coupon flyers for all the different studios.
Gotta make the mailers and get them ready to send out to our 1400 person mailing list.
Gotta set up the new Point of Sale software and get the computers all connected.
Gotta find another person or two to hire for temporary help during the next two months.

Gotta remember to breathe and delegate.
Gotta remember to not be overwhelmed by the store, and not work more than 70 hrs a week.
Gotta remember that this is the time that I actually make money :-)

"What we ponder and what we think about sets the course of our life. Any day we wish; we can discipline ourselves to change it all. Any day we wish, we can open the book that will open our mind to new knowledge. Any day we wish, we can start a new activity. Any day we wish, we can start the process of life change. We can do it immediately, or next week, or next month, or next year.

"We can also do nothing. We can pretend rather than perform. And if the idea of having to change ourselves makes us uncomfortable, we can remain as we are. We can choose rest over labor, entertainment over education, delusion over truth, and doubt over confidence. The choices are ours to make. But while we curse the effect, we continue to nourish the cause. As Shakespeare uniquely observed, "The fault is not in the stars, but in ourselves." We created our circumstances by our past choices. We have both the ability and the responsibility to make better choices beginning today."

Last week has been so busy with store stuff, and it's not going to slow down until Halloween probably. But I keep pushing through it, trying to look forward and deal with things before they become very urgent.
My gymnastics workouts have been going well, although I had to miss my dance class on Friday because I had to finish bookkeeping for the gas station (my current side job).
A few things to add to my goals list...
1) Be able to hold a solid L-hang for 10 seconds.
2) Be able to pull myself up to and hold a straddle sit on the rope.
3) Be able to do a pull-up

So my big personal goal for the summer is to get buff! :-) I don't really need to lose any fat, but I want to gain muscle. I've signed up for three gymnastics classes (and a dance class for fun), and I'm already a YMCA member, so I can work out there. So my goals by the end of September (although most of it should happen before then, since September is going be sooo busy!)...
1) Weigh 120lbs. Last time I weighed myself at the Y, I was 108, so I think gaining about a pound a week is reasonable. And I have weighed 115lbs before (muscle, not fat), so I think 120 is possible.
2) Be able to do left & right splits, and be close to doing center.
3) Be able to hit & hold a handstand, and tuck out of it.
4) Be able to hold a bridge for a minute.
5) Be able to do round-offs on both sides.
6) Be able to backbend into and out of a bridge.

I might be adding more or modifying these as I see how I progress. Check back for updates! I have my first gymnastics skills class last night, and then had my first gymnastics workout class tonight - I have a feeling I'm going to be sore tomorrow.
Ok - off to bed since I have to wake up early tomorrow. So much to do tomorrow since our July Anniversary flyers have to be ready to mail by Thursday. Night! :-)

"A good question is worth a thousand pieces of casual
advice. A great question can instantly transform our lives
and launch us in a whole new direction. In almost any area
of life, if you are not getting the results you want, try
asking different, better, questions. You'll like
the results."

I'm generally a very curious person. I like to understand my surroundings and the people around me; I like to know why things happen the way they do. But I still want to be asking more questions - questions about myself, questions about my relationships with the people in my life, questions about the store and where it's going, questions about the world.

The person who says it cannot be done should not interrupt the person who is doing it.

-Chinese Proverb

So I found a new studio! It's in the Bay Ho area between Clairemont and Pacific Beach. If you want my new address (and didn't get the mass email), let me know! I like my new place; it's nice to have a place to call my own. But it can get lonely sometimes.
The store has been doing well the last two weeks. We've done more this May than any previous May, which is good because April wasn't as good as I was hoping. We had a huge promotion at the end of the month with raffles and snacks and Angelina Ballerina story times. We mailed out over 1200 flyers. And we had two people show up! It was fairly depressing, but I think the flyers reminded people about us, even if they didn't come in for the promotion, because so far May has been great!

I'm going to be moving soon. I've been looking at apartments for the past couple days. The San Diego housing market is over-priced, even in rentals. I haven't found anything that I really like yet. Thankfully I don't have to move out of my current place anytime soon, so I have the luxury of looking around and waiting until I find something good. So if you know of any affordable, nice studios or 1 bedrooms anywhere from Clairemont up to Encinitas, let me know!

Some pursue happiness, others create it.

I like not having to be at the store all of its open hours!! It was great to be able to sleep in a bit this morning, and work out, and clean the house, and then drive to work when it's nice and sunny!

"Destiny is not a matter of chance but a matter of choice; it is not something to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved."

I was very productive today! I did my laundry, did the dishes, emailed people back, worked out (a little), put out the garbage, started a bag of clothes to go to the Salvation Army, showered, and played Warcraft! Of course there's always more to do, but for now I'm off to listen to music and read! :-)

It's been forever since I've written. It's the middle of February 2005, and I have now owned the store for over a year! It's hard to believe that it's been that long; it certainly doesn't seem that long. The past year has been great sales-wise. We increased sales 28% over previous years, and I'm hoping that sales will just keep going up!
Lately I've been working far too many hours at the store since my employees have been leaving to do silly things like go to college and teach dance classes. :-) But I just hired two new girls and hopefully they'll work out well and I can actually take some time off.
Other new things in my life... On Saturdays, I'm going to do taxes for low-income folks. Just starting tomorrow, so we'll see how that goes. I'm also playing with tons of other business ideas, such as opening a spa, starting an educational software company, or starting a financial planning firm for young adults. I'm kinda missing school, and I'm thinking about taking a few computer science classes at UCSD in the spring.