In Memory of Emerson; August 15th 2002- April 29th, 2010

The Power of the Dog

by

Rudyard Kipling

There is sorrow enough in the natural way

From men and women to fill our day;

And when we are certain of sorrow in store,

Why do we always arrange for more?

Brothers and sisters, I bid you beware

Of giving your heart to a dog to tear.

Buy a pup and your money will buy

Love unflinching that cannot lie--

Perfect passsion and worship fed

By a kick in the ribs or a pat on the head.

Nevertheless it is hardly fair

To risk your heart to a dog to tear.

When the fourteen years which Nature permits

Are closing in asthma, or tumour, or fits,

And the vet's unspoken prescription runs

To lethal chambers or loaded guns,

Then you will find--it's your own affair--

But ... you've given your heart to a dog to tear.

When the body that lived at your single will,

With its whimper of welcome, is stilled (how still!)

When the spirit that answered your every mood

Is gone--wherever it goes--for good,

You will discover how much you care,

And will give your heart to a dog to tear.

We've sorrow enough in the natural way,

When it comes to burying Christian clay.

Our loves are not given, but only lent,

At compound interest of cent per cent.

Though it is not always the case, I believe,

That the longer we've kept 'em, the more do we grieve:

For, when debts are payable, right or wrong,

A short-term loan is as bad as a long--

So why in--Heaven (before we are there)

Should we give our hearts to a dog to tear?

And THAT kid's an Entrepreneur!

There's a child in our family, who we will call Isaac. Isaac's mother lost her cell phone last week. She looked high, she looked low- no phone.

"I'll give you two dollars to find your mother's phone", Tony volunteered.

"Two dollars?!" said Isaac with indignation. "Five."

 This eight year old apparently knows the cost of a Happy Meal.

It was then that I knew what I had to do.

"I'll give you ten."

"Ten? I can find it for ten."

"I thought so."

No stone was left unturned. No bed unchecked. No couch cushions not flipped.

When those efforts didn't produce, he left the house- I mistakenly thought he'd given up.

"It was in the car!"

"Here's your ten spot."

"THANKS! Hey- can someone take me to the mall?"

"No."

"How about Dollar General?"

"No."

The thing about Isaac is, though I love him to death, he's a difficult child.

He's always taking issue with nearly everything you say, doesn't follow rules much, unless there's a very stiff form of punishment- "Don't make me call your father", gets bored easily, and has his own ideas about how life should flow.

I used to tell him a few years ago, "My, my. For someone who was pooping on themselves not that long ago, you sure are opinionated, kid."

Also, the public school which he attends (Entrepreneur Chick has the dimmest view of pubic schools imaginable) tested him recently, and Isaac was found to be incredibly intelligent, so much so, that they immediately called his mother to report the findings.

Perhaps you would surmise from this story that Isaac is merely motivated by sheer greed.

I do not think so.

Isaac is motivated by "value" and putting a price on what he brings to the table.

As our good entrepreneurial and highly successful friend, Mike, said to us last month;

"You're entrepreneurs. If you just want to make a living, get a job."

Isaac is going to last about ten minutes in a job, and I sincerely hope he figures out that he, like me, is entirely unemployable.

Let's just save all the future bosses out there a lot of trouble.

Actually, he had much more than ten dollars to spend in that he made a deal with the neighbor boy next door.

I know this because our earlier conversation went like this-

"Can you activate my credit card?"

"Credit card?"

"Yeah."

"Let me see what you've got."

Isaac proudly hands me a twenty dollar gift card from the credit card section of his wallet.

"You don't have to activate this. You just go in there and make a purchase and hand them this card."

"Oooooh."

"How'd you get this?"

"I told William he could ride my bike anytime he wanted."

"Ah. Okay. But did you put an expiration date on that?"

"Oh. I didn't think of that! Thanks!"

Now I feel a bit bad for not taking him to the mall.

Look Ma, Another Award!

Postman started his acceptance speech with what he called, "The Straight Dope",  but I decided, in the same spirit, it would be good if I gave you some straight dope of my own as well, so-

One of the reasons I love writing- slash- blogging, is mostly because I have something to say and no real place where it's appropriate to direct those innermost thoughts.

Why's that, Entrepreneur Chick?

Because most of the time, I am way too blunt, pushy, opinionated, and basically crass for humans I actually know in real life- my clients, my potential clients, my employees, and people who seem to think they're my friends- so therefore, I let it all out- like unzipping your fly after a big spaghetti dinner followed by chocolate cake and icecream.

Aaaaaah, that's better.

When someone responds to me being the real me and not the this is how I act at Chamber of Commerce events and church functions where there's no freakin' beer me, I truly do appreciate that.

Besides, I already told someone what I really thought of them last month, and look how dandy that turned out. Freakin' HA.

In summation, Entrepreneur Chick is the real me.

So in celebration or suppression of the real me, ( I leave that to you, my readers, to decide) I accept this award.

And for the person who gave me this award- Postie- as I've come to call him, let me tell you, he and the others I am going to mention are honestly and truly the unexpected three carrot diamond ring dropped in Mc Donald's parking lot.

Who would think to find such treasure there?
:::whispering::: McDonald's is the blogosphere, get it?::::

In another altered state kind of way, I've had the great pleasure to develop friendships with three of these people I'm mentioning,

and the odd thing is,

when I speak to them over the phone, there's this strange sensation I experience like- I don't know who YOU are but I deeply know Pollinatrix, Chloe and Postman.

When you read someone over and over-  an automatic, organtic sort of intimacy occurs.

A word about Postman. Something I've never said.

I have a rule. I do. This rule has reliably worked for me in the ten years I've been married, which may appear highly controversial to some but- I do not have male friends. As in, at all.

We have friends that we know as a couple, but so far as having a male friend, no.

I would never call up a guy to talk to him about anything, unless he's my client, and then, well, I kind of have to.

Postman has been my one exeption in ten years- though I can't say I've talked to him extensively. He gives me advice, and is my go to person for all types of things. He'll even be sweet to me about my bugging him to play Face Book games- and giving in, when he's actually incredibly busy. I'm just running a few businesses. That guy is busy!

That said, the five bloggers I'd like to pass this award, based on the fact that they too, are the authentic replicas of themselves, the real deals, or very good liars are:

The Pollinatrix, (The Whole Blooming World)

Chloe, (Fortune Cookies and Men)

Postman, (you didn't say I couldn't!) (The Sententious Vaunter)

Duta, (Places with Character)

Mimi and Tilly, (Mimi and Tilly)

Thank you all for enriching my life in ways you'll never know.

My One Big Fat Non-negotiable!

Someone telling me what to do is never up for debate. I alone, decide what that will be.

I call my own shots.

If ever I am in a postition that does not allow me to exercise my free will at all times,  predictably, that situation is going to end badly.

In somewhat of a heated exchange a few weeks ago, a women said to me, "I don't own this. I'm not free to do what I want."

Well, that's the difference between you and me.

I do own.

I am free to do what I want.

Should I have spoken all my mind, it would have gone like this- I honestly think you're a worker drone ass kisser who has every minute of every day dictated for you by someone else.

There is nothing about your life that I admire, nor would aspire.

I find you uninteresting, room temperature at best, and immediately bland. No spark. No creativity. A big bunch of bleh on a plate.

Everything you do is with the herd. No individuality. And furthermore, if I had it to do over again, I would have played it the same way.

This coming week, Entrepreneur Chick is being interviewed on a radio show- people ask me all the time, "Can anyone be an entrepreneur?"

My answer? No.

If you find that someone telling you what to do is the most distasteful and detestable thing you could possibly imagine- if you've been fired from several jobs for not getting your way, than I'd say you're probably an entrepreneur.  With the right type of hard work, vision and grit, big money could be just around the corner in about ten years.

Yes, ten years.

Nothing is easy and nothing is quick.

Here are fifteen other signs that you might access as to how well matched you are at being a true, dyed in the wool, ain't nobody gonna boss you around entrepreneur:

1.Your business is your life and your passion

2.You take action then think about it

3.You don’t like people telling you what to do

4.You dream about your business

5.You always find new ways to do everything

6.You hate small talk

7.You don’t actually read fine print or long contracts

8.You expect things to happen instantly

9.You hate waiting in line

10.You don’t like meetings

11.You look forward to your workday

12.You have a ten minute attention span

13.You don’t read long emails

14.You write short emails and people think you’re blunt

15.You hate hearing that you’re wrong

P.S. I actually enjoy meetings because I always learn something new and more often than not, someone ends up handing me a check at the end.
I expect things to happen quicky, but have learned, alas, that they do not. Slow and steady really does win the race.