Bright colored wool and wool-blend coats are big this year, but honestly, a down coat will keep you warmer. My go-to winter coat is a cashmere-blend pea coat with Thinsulate lining — but I live in Oklahoma and my biggest outdoor adventure is scooting from my car to the front door of the Target. If you’re going to be walking around outside or loading kids in and out of the car, invest in a substantial winter coat for every day.
Five things I learned from Hands on Small Business:
1. No one thinks they need virtual office space until they walk through Office Live. And then they are completely won over, because everything you could possibly need is right there in front of you — no filing cabinet or thumb drive required.
2. Building a web site is daunting for most people; they assume that they will have to use a blogging platform to have a business website, even if they don’t really want a blog. Having all the tools to click and build right in front of them — for free — opens up a whole new world. Throw in free hosting and they’re sold.
3. People love the idea of Twitter, but they don’t love the basic Twitter interface; they find it overwhelming, all those status updates lumped together. Introducing them to clients like Brizzly and TweetDeck changes the way they think about Twitter, and the way they see themselves using Twitter.
4. The same people who don’t love Twitter (see above) love Facebook, because of the way it contains discussion — but they’re not sure how to use it for a business. Getting them to think about Facebook — and Twitter — as communities rather than technologies changes their whole approach.
5. Social bookmarking is baffling to people — until they see Kirtsy in action. Then it all makes sense. The Internet is a big place, after all, and it’s hard to find the best stuff. That’s why you need a community! Especially a really smart, savvy community like the one at Kirtsy.
The bottom line for me was this: I loved the Hands on Small Business workshops because they gave me a chance to evangelize about something I deeply believe in — the power of social media to form viable, authentic communities — and to share tools that entrepreneurs (like you!) can use to do just that.
Was there a downside? Yes — I wish more people had come out for the workshops. There are a lot of businesses in Oklahoma City that could do more with social media, or do social media better, just by making a few small adjustments. I’m hopeful that we’ll be able to do this again, and that more of you will come out and learn something.
And maybe teach me something, too.
Do you have any holiday traditions? Did you ever stop to think about how those things — a certain food, a certain ritual — came to be elevated to the status of Tradition?
Repetition. That’s what makes something a tradition — the sheer fact that you do it over and over.
Last year, I spent Thanksgiving at the Butterball Turkey Talk-Line. It was one of those crazy! things! that was so hard to explain to people — why would I leave my kids on Thanksgiving? Who would cook? How on earth did I wind up getting paid to talk about turkey?!?
Eh, I still can’t really explain that last part. But I can tell you that spending Thanksgiving with the Talk-Line experts was the perfect way to pass the holiday.
I’m back in Chicago again this year, which seems to mean that this is becoming a tradition. On Friday, I’ll be cooking Thanksgiving dinner for my family, and while I’m looking forward to spending the day with them, I’m really excited to be here for the actual holiday, to spend it doing work I love with people I really like.
I think that part — the feeling of joy — is an essential component of tradition. Don’t you?
Tomorrow I’ll be live blogging from the Turkey Talk-Line. So when you’re hiding from the family pretending to baste the turkey looking for helpful tips and hints about how to cook the perfect dinner, come by! I can’t imagine any place I would rather be on Thanksgiving morning.
Especially if there’s cake.
