On the front page of today’s (June 30, 2008) WSJ Marketplace section, there’s an article about the new CEO of Coca-Cola. The photo of Muhtar Kent (new CEO) shows him wearing a plaid suit, striped shirt and a patterned tie (he also seems to sport a yellow Live Strong bracelet…which appears to match the tie).

I’m posting this only because, unlike Hillary and other women in the media, we rarely read about what the men are wearing. So now I feel better!

I’ve been listening to Alanis Morissette’s new album, and the song “Incomplete” is resonating big time. It’s about slowing down and realizing that all the striving you do - all the rushing around trying to be everywoman - is really keeping you from enjoying the moment and celebrating everything you’ve already accomplished.

It was that rushing around like a chicken with my head cut off last Friday that made me goof so much on our group emails. What a flub! I guess I could slink off in embarrassment, but I’d rather look at it as a chance to learn about myself. No big deal, just a reminder to chill out - I don’t have to complete 100 emails an hour.

The bottom line: Take a moment today to just breathe and relax, and enjoy where you are today, professionally AND personally. Think about all you’ve done to get here: all the challenges you’ve faced, the things you’ve learned, the guts it takes to own your own business and do everything it takes to keep it strong, especially in our cruddy economy today. You’re a rock star! Take a breather and soak it in.

Just watched this video with Jim Coudal of Coudal Partners. I find their business really interesting. Sort of a “by the seat of our pants” philosophy. Watch the three things that they use to decide if they’ll take on a new client.

Just in case anyone is going to New York over the weekend, you have to check this out. Bathroom in a new hot spot in NYC.

Courtesy of BL Ochman who’s got a great blog in case you don’t know about it.

I just found this website for potential project work. Firm seems to be Chicago-based. Looks kind of interesting.

For the designers in our group (or who happen to drop by our blog), take a look at CrowdSpring.

I just skimmed it but here’s the premise: a buyer who needs a logo, website, etc. can post the project, list what he’s willing to pay, and then designers submit their designs. The fee is set and from what I saw, you certainly won’t get rich. But if biz is slow, you’ve got the time, you want to build your portfolio, etc., it might be worthwhile. You do get to work with a worldwide audience!

It appears that people can critique your designs and you also get feedback from the buyer (move this, tweak that, I hate that color, this needs to be redone — oh sorry, that was from one of my projects). I’m not sure how the winning design is selected but am sure it explains.

Saturday, March 22nd is International Pillow Fight Day, which brings together large groups of people in public places, taking out their aggression safely with pillows. Chicago’s Pillow Fight is being held in front of the Art Institute (Michigan Ave & Monroe St.) at 2 pm. BYOP!

Ok, perhaps it’s not networking in the traditional sense, but amidst whacking people with pillows, you could pass out a few biz cards…

…. with five pages of (downloadable!) usefulness in this Visual Enforcement Kit. I stumbled across the DesignPolice website and thought their super handy templates were a crack-up. Use responsibly….

I recently ran across the New York Times’ take on the buzz words of 2007. Generally speaking, I loathe those end of year compilations that crop up all over the place as we near the end of December, but this one caught my eye. (It was written by Grant Barrett and illustrated by Rick Valicenti.) Here’s an excerpt, but click thru for the full article.

New words are most happily received when they arrive without fanfare. On the other hand, when we revel in new words it’s often for the little jokes and puns implanted by their coiners. We delight in coining them, too, especially goofy throwaway blends in which two words combine syllables and meanings to make one. A large part of the delight derives from the re-orientation that new words make possible. They are fantastical transportation—portkeys and improbability starships—into other cultures, workplaces, minds.
If you work in fields like politics, soldiering, science or technology, areas that frequently send new words bubbling up into the mainstream, it can seem strange to hear a normal day’s vocabulary talked about as if it were a novelty. The incongruity can bring a sense of deja fatigue, the stage beyond deja vu: you’ve not only seen it before, but it hardly seems worth remarking upon. It’s ordinary.

I have to share something really cool. I’m filing it under Marketing cause it is and Creativity cause it’s that to. But it’s really smart WOM cause that’s the result.

An email in my inbox called to me “open this” (no, that wasn’t the subj line). It did say something about Sale though. So I did a little online sale shopping and after my purchase was completed (and I might add, without any glitches in navigating, etc.), I got an order confirmation that said (in a funky script font in red), “Thank you! now go back to work!”

Cute, clever, kinda “gotcha”… and best of all, I wanted to tell everyone. And that’s the difference between ho-hum and smart marketing!

Lucky I have such a great boss so I can shop during work hours.

This time of year we’re all so darn busy, it’s hard to enjoy the small things that give our day meaning and fun.

So take a moment today to enjoy something simple, small, unusual, or peaceful. A piece of chocolate from your favorite shop, snowflakes, a phone call with a friend, or…as I did… a window washer. That’s right! This girl, who’s never lived in a high-rise, was surprised by a window washer. I was so entertained I snapped a few shots of this brave guy at work.

After all the horrible stuff I’ve been through in the past few months, I’m heartened to realize I can still find things that fill me with wonder and laughter - simple, small things. It’s a gift.

And somewhere in Chicago there is a window washer who thinks I’m a total weirdo, running around the apartment in my PJs snapping pics as he dangles from a rope outside my window.