Award time

Yesterday I received what I call the Carrie Bailey award for my nifty shake it whimsy blog. I think that's great! I am deeply humbled. Make that bumbled. Carrie has traveled the world and has done wondrous things, including living in Chile teaching English, studying Philosophy at Oregon State and is currently revising a YA book that combines the hysteria of information piracy with trials of post-apocalyptic despair. She writes to her heart content!

So what does she do now?
As a new author, Carrie established Peevish Penman to connect with other writers and learn together. Her first publication will be available later this year! If you share her passion for free information and education, don't hesitate to connect with her. (She's not really Peevish)
So yep: she's a very cool gal, her website Peevish Penman is a great platform and excellent read. 


Getting back to this blog award: why did I get this award?
"I simply couldn't miss an opportunity to link to you and tell everyone I believe you're great"


Well what can I say? I couldn't have done it without everyone who surrounds me thus providing me with steamy inspiration and tales, waffly stories and ideas. Kudos to you who know that I mean you. (silent moment here) You who read these words are the true wonders! (Okay moving on, moving on, flick, flick, flick). Now, the cool part is too that I can list 15 blogs I discovered lately to receive this noble One Blog Award award. I went over this carefully ANDDDDD here they are! (drumroll):

1. http://www.thedesignfiles.net/ Lucy she rocks the kazba. Am a big fan.
2. http://joidesign.posterous.com/ Joi is a force of Oodlie Nature, an absolute gem!
3. http://www.bloggingdangerously.com/ : Kit, a wondrous surprise of candor
4. http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/ Allie, a hilarious mega awesome unicorn
5. http://ivancampuzano.com/ is inspiring and surprising in his insights. Special.
6. http://www.auntycookie.com/blog/ Sharon always cracks me up. She's whizz bang fizz hot.
7. http://www.thestylerookie.com/ Tavi is a fashion Icon and she's 13. What can I say?
8. http://divinacucina.blogspot.com/2010/06/more-zucchini.html Italian. Food. Dig in. Now.
9. http://www.moggit.com/ The Moggit girls. Writing about the weirdest home decor and furniture. Ever. They do it with such gusto. And concise. 
10. http://www.paperroom.co.nz/blog Annabel is someone I met recently, she's very sweet. She is also going to stock my new tea towel designs which is cool. Love her blog posts and adore their store!
11. http://theblog.modamuse.com/ Australian and New Zealand designer blog: not to miss.
12. http://www.rawcityhomelounge.com/blog/ My friend Jerod's partner Maite and business partner Daniel from LA boutique store Mortise Tenon's laugh at people who buy furniture from the mall. Their mission is to rid the world of blandness!
13. http://a-very-fine-house.blogspot.com/ Julie-Ann is my twitter home decor buddy. very good before and afters. Excellent forum. Interior decorating advice!
14. http://color-stripes.blogspot.com/ Kristina has this cool ability to turn spotting photos into colour schemes. 
15. http://beachcast.co.nz/blog/page/2/?tag=portraits My friend Reatha's Photography blog. beautiful lighting. Very Dunedin New Zealand. Ace.

The One Blog Award is past on from blogger to blogette to bloggee to blogbagette who are credited for their great blog work. The rules of this award are these: 

1. Accept the award, post it on your blog together with the name of the person who has granted the award and his or her blog link.

2. Pass the award to 15 other blogs that you’ve newly discovered.3. Remember to contact the bloggers to let them know they have been chosen for this award.

(What is it with a blog award? To understand more read this.)

Back to basics

I have tried to narrow down what topics I write about. Truth be told: I like quite a few things which could confuse people as I shift from one field to another.

So... what the heck do I do? Really?

A creative whizz popsicle like me tends to enjoy:

• communicating with others: what makes you tick?
• connecting people (network beastie)
• design: whether it's 2 dimensional or 3 dimensional...
• live the good life (farm)
• writing + learn in whatever capacity

So by implementing all of the above I enjoy doing my interior styling and advice work, chat to clients, network with people both in and out of the industry, design for New Zealand fabric company Hemptech, design my new line of jewellery for Bonvivant, write my blogs and also post on Businessblogs. I enjoy looking after the farm animals, they rock, especially the goats. And I learn, every day, or as my husband says: I have my moments :)

So I'm grateful for all of you for bearing with me, as I am finding my way in building my business and work, how to shape my blog, enjoy being happy at home, and write to you about various things that occupy my whirry brain.

All I can say is: I hope you're enjoying your life as well! Feel free to email me if you fancy a catch up or chat online: I can be found on different social media for your convenience. Have a good one!

dedication

I've noticed recently that some people I know seemed to have the notion that I must have a lot of play time on my hands. Because why, I seem to be able to follow social media and write blogs. Forgive me but I'm baffled. Today someone literally said: "I don't have time for that as I'm too busy."

Writing blogs and following others on Twitter is not because I'm a lady of leisure, it's because I like to know what's happening out there. I've been writing since I set foot in New Zealand in 2002, it's not a recent thing. In order to sell my jewellery it's also helpful that I'm easy to get to know. To sum it up: I like writing, have a passion for designing and I love people.

I get the strong impression that many think sales is about getting to know people so they can sell their products or services. Buzzer! No. I sell both more furniture and jewellery when people trust me, because they like me, and value what I offer them. But the connection comes first, never the product. It's about building a relationship, not to 'score'.

Marc is from Business Blogs twitters (@BusinessTalk). He is on Facebook as well to promote Business Blogs of which he is the Founder, he's director at Mobilize Mail and owner at PropertyTalk.com. He runs these businesses from Wellington. He's a very busy man and has invited me to join Business Blogs. I am grateful that he appreciates my stories and that I'm getting to know him.

Marc says: "If you are not passionate about what you are doing then you will fail. Only do what you are passionate about as the passion will get you up in the morning after working 4 years without a holiday and keep you going when it all seems to get too much."

Is he someone to lounge about? I don't think so. How does business work: we trust someone, we like their services or products, we listen to them and we talk. Online and offline chats both have their value. Word of mouth even works in the twittersphere. What's important is how we think and what we spend energy on, how we represent ourselves and how we do our promotion. Things are changing. As my work dictates I have to stay put during the day, online media is another way of staying in touch. I have found Businessblogs a great read, have inspiring articles and good information.

"Buyers research online before making a purchase decision so if you cannot be found via search, blogs, forums or social media networks then you don’t exist! Businesses also need to gain trust with buyers and continue to deliver value. BusinessBlogs.co.nz increases the awareness of your brand and message." So building your name is groovy, but it starts with your passion. What makes you tick and how is that different from anyone else?

Basically: if you love your work: awesome. If not, you might like to think about why the heck you do what you do, and HOW. (Visit Jonathan Mead's website and download his free ebook on the Zero work week, which is what I'm currently reading.)

Connecting

We are human therefor we desire to connect: we talk, we smooz, we joke, we support, we listen, we are there.

I decided yesterday to dust off my LinkedIn and send invites to connect to people I know. For some reason I ended up sending invites to 88 people but was pleasantly suprised by the amount of them accepting me on their network as yet. One mate send me an email saying, thanks, but I have enough trouble keeping up in the real world. He is right.

Why do we enterain the fact to connect online if we have so much on our plates already? Interesting point. All of us like to belong, in my case, to share, support and help. I like getting to know people and if I can do something for them, I will, as it's in my nature. I like learning from others as I'm quite aware I do not have all the knowledge or experience.

The people I seem drawn to in connecting with have the following attributes:

The Values of Entrepreneurs
Passion
Focus
Insatiable desire to Success
Intelligence
Confidence and Self Belief
Commitment
Loss Averse
Realism

(With thanks to Deborah Meaden)

I will add: alternate way of thinking + sense of humor

The ability to commit (to their vision) is a core character trait. They don’t care what anybody else thinks. Confidence attracts, and most people can sense it. They must be clever in a quick-witted way, with a mind that refuses to accept barriers and that can solve a multitude of problems within seconds. Everyone has their own expertise and strenghts because all of them are talented.

Going over the networks I'm part of:

Facebook, Linkedin, Flokka, Twitter, it's no wonder you get to a point where you think for the love of God, why would I want to join up with ANOTHER one? Good question. I'm waiting for Google WAVE (+ sign up). It's a new product and should make life easier, as it makes emailing a different experience and basically throws together a whole bunch of aspects these networks have. (It's coming out later this year and they're finetuning now to eliminate possible bugs.) Trust me, in this day and age, like my mate said: it's about making life very very simple and back to basics. Family time is the top priority along with our passion for our work, our vision. Time simply goes too quickly and we can't do all, or we'd go bonkers. So that means also being able to say "NO". (Remember that word? I'm using it now. Finally.)

So why the heck bother with networking? If you're interested in people it's a neccesity. Also, I think it's worthwile for me to keep reading up on what's happening out there in the world, the market place, and also locally. One of the topblogs is ofcourse Seth Godin's. Then I visit Hugh McLeod's Gapingvoid, Aunty Cookie, the Style Files, Chris Guillebeau's posts I get by email, DutchCowgirls, and a few more Design blogs to keep up. As I get to work at 8 am and officially start an hour and a half later, this usually works out fine. I don't need to read them to be able to design something, it's more to see what the demands are out there and what products are hot, juicy, working and succesfull. I'm focussing on what's happening here in NZ and Oz, the US and Europe as they are the main players for me.

So as you can see, enough to do. Time to get busy again. I'm excited about my accesory line for women. The pieces need scouting for the appropriate chains before I can do some photoshoots etc. It takes time, but better to get it right then launching it half assed (as they say here).

So what does it keep boiling down to? Be organised and as they say, it's not what you know, but who you know, that is important. Remember the fun aspect. Get that serious frown of your face, you will be nicer to look at and it saves buying expensive facial products.

and we're back!

Life is interesting. Bounds and leaps, turns and twists. Always suprises.

Yes I have decided to come back in English mode. Why? I write better in English now then Dutch (though always with a Dutch accent and grammar problems). The truth is I got blog sick. Readers then started to miss me and expressed their outrage that I would write in Dutch, a language they can't make heads or 'tales' of. The thing is that I had topic challenges which now have been dealt with, signed and approved so to speak. Filed away for future reference. Yessiree I'm back in business and enjoying it. It's nice to be in the writers seat again. I will post every few days for your enjoyment and my own.

Life is good. Smell the sweet roses. Cuddle the Kuddles (new born highland calf, a boy, pics will follow) and enjoy some sun. It's not winter here yet, this morning we woke up to 18 degrees and started work at 24 degrees. And that for autumn.

Like I said, it's a time of pleasant surprises. Long may it last.

Privacy Act

An interesting aspect to blogging is the ‘privacy act’. How do people know, and still trust you, for not spelling their name right out there along with all the private gory details?

Answer: restraint and integrity. I have been politely questioned about some of my blogs. What motivated me to write them and whether they were appropriate. The comments made were fair and funnily enough did not come from the cast involved. I do not see my friends, husband or clients as ‘blogmaterial’ even though some situations may arise that inspire me about a topic. So rest assured: it’s all censored!

With blogging it’s finding the balance between sharing stories readers can relate to but keeping it informative in a self development professional way opposed to turning it into a Tabloid. I may be a very open person and that’s dandy as long as I’m writing about me. Surprise surprise I’ve got ethics. Consider it Mirjam courtesy.

Why do blog? I like writing. Do I do it because I lack friends to talk to? No. For me writing things down help me make sense of what I see and I figured it could help others too. I like to do a bit of entertaining while I’m at it. I promise I will be decent about it, but I won’t make any guarantees on the profoundness of it all neither do I offer a 100% satisfaction rate. If you like what I write then that’s a bonus for me, not a requirement.

How the moment takes me: writing

Several people have asked me lately: how do you write your blogs and WHEN? Well I tend to write most of it before work (early birds catch the worms) or when ever I get the chance, say late afternoon. The last few weeks I haven't written that much as work's been busy. I usually select one of my earlier inspirations out of my word document when I come into work every day and pop them in the blog. Find a cool picture and voila! It's that simple.

I can write hours on end if I have the vibes. (This is in the weekends) It’s funny and scary. I just type what comes into my head. Just like that. Then I read it again and go; gee whiz that’s quite clever. Who wrote that? It wasn’t me I just typed it you know… or was it? Basically I found it doesn't matter as the topic of what I write about is more important then who wrote it. Sometimes I have finished a piece and go: wow that's cool. Did I type that? I can laugh about it. I write for the sake of writing, not because I want to achieve something. That makes it better I think.

I don’t often have to re edit myself. I pre edit while things come into my blond macaroni whizzing ammunition of a contemplating blob of a brain. Gorgeous stuff sometimes.
Also: headings. Hilarious. All sorts pop up like hotwired muffins. Exploding popsicles. Burping Yodas. You get the idea.

What do you think of:
Push biking intercourse
Blotty friend
Poetic mongrels
Bird paint
Squashed sky

Nope, I have NO idea where that came from. I told you I write as I go.
Still, you have to admit, it’s funny. Oh come on. Just a little bit!