If you haven’t heard about it yet, check out ifundwomen.com. This website promotes supporting women and their venture and business ideas and offers a pretty penny of free money to do so. I believe the smallest grant amount they offer is $10,000, but visit the site to double check. I don’t want to mislead anyone.
Speaking of, has anyone heard back from the LISC organization? Where you approve for any of the grants they were offering?
If you haven’t applied yet for a small business grant through LISC as a part of the COVID-19 relief package for small businesses in Los Angeles county, you have until Friday September 4th to do so. They’re offering $5,000, $15,000 and $25,000 grants depending on the size of your small business. Yes, that means you too indie contractors and micro- entrepreneurs!
To say that 2020 has been off the rails, is an underestimate. We’ve been off course — at least, here in the States — since January. And our country has never been more blatantly divided in socio-economic relations, since… well… that’s debateable. And I’m sick and tired of carrying on in arguments explaining my point of view with people who obviously don’t see the world the way I do, but can’t even agree to disagree.
I’m done. I’m sooo done. With the conversation, at least. You either believe we need to fix the broken elements in our country or you don’t. And that’s fine whichever side of the fence you fall on. You’re entitled to your opinion as so am I. What’s not fine? Our money, our jobs, our economy…our hustles.
I am BLESSED that I was able to keep my job after the shut down for California/ Los Angeles. Kept my full salary, my full benefits but the only thing’s that changed is my location. Home. I’m now working from home. And I LOVE it. Wouldn’t trade it for nothing in the world. But… it means other people aren’t working because they’ve lost their jobs, their gigs, their clients, their income source. My happy times are someone else’s worries and stress times.
Maybe you didn’t lose your job, but could be in trouble of being one of those people. Maybe your salary has been reduced. Maybe the clients aren’t flowing in the same frequency. Maybe… we need to reset the year and take back our piece of ownership. Our piece that we were so meticulously carving out for ourselves. F*ck the pandemic. We need to get our lives back on track even while we’re under quarantine. We need to plan ourselves out of the global economic disaster and come out on top.
Anyone game to reset with me?
{Photo credit: not mine}
Yep. I said it. If you’re reading this you are among the living. And there are a good number of you that are probably bored or restless out of your mind. And that’s okay with me because you’re AMONG THE LIVING!
All right. Now that we’ve taken care of today’s gratitude element, let’s continue to work on our plans for after COVID-19. There will be an “after”, most of of us will be here despite the sensationalism reporting of the news. Most people will recover. More people have recovered than have died. And knowing that most people will recover and come out on the other side of this, how will you serve them? What are you going to be offer them that you weren’t able to offer before? What need will you be able to fulfill?
Have you thought about that? You should. You should be planning for your after COVID-19 hustle or even your business right now. Get started. Wtite out a business plan outline. Write what you’ve seen that is needed. Brainstorm. Now is the perfect time to get on it!
Today, you are among the living and I’m grateful for that. Now, I want to see you succeed.
One of thr most important things you can do for your hustle right now and for the long term: stay in touch with your clients.
Don’t offer any services, don’t mention anything that sounds like you’re trying to sell them anything. Don’t mention retainers or fees. This isn’t quite the time for all of that and you know it. They definitely know it. But, the least you can do is check in on them. See how they’re coping and dealing with everything going on right now. Send a text, send an email, leave a voicemail. Be genuine. Ask how are they doing. Ask if they need anything you might be able to help with. And let that be the only thing you bring up in the conversation.
Make it a point to be there for you clients so they will always be there as your clients. It doesn’t take anything away from you. It doesn’t cost you anything but your time. And you’ll be thankful in the long run. And so will they.
Good Morning. You’re awake. Awake looks good on you. So does thinking, planning, prepping, strategizing and outlining.
I say that to say this is not the time to sleep in and pick up bad habits. We ain’t got time for that. Recovery will come and when we’re on the other side of this pandemic and our feet hit what was solid ground, we want to be in running condition. Or jogging condition. Or speed walking condition. Whatever the condition we choose, we want to be moving forward. After all, it doesn’t feel like it now, but we’re moving through this pandemic, so we gotta be prepared for the other side of it.
If I could share some ideas to help you come out on the other side ready to really take back this year and make it yours, it’d be:
For my hustlers who are fortunate to still be working, take these actions. Use and spend your time wisely. Now that we have what we always complained about what we lacked, there’s no reason we should be wasting any of it.
I don’t know about you, but I’m ready to take back 2020 and salvage the remaining 9 months of this year. This was supposed to be our year. Our year for greatness, our year for change, our year to get closer to dreams and goals we’ve been busting our asses over. And now we gotta stay home, be under quarantine and see what happens?
Sorry, not sorry. I’ve never been a ‘shit happens’ kind of gal and I don’t plan to be one. I’m a make-shit-happen kind of woman and I enjoy it. And for a short while, I forgot that. I forgot that I naturally thrive in a little bit of chaos. After all, isn’t chaos the mother of invention and the cousin to creativity? Now, a world pandemic is a little much, I’ll agree. And rising death tolls I don’t jive with. But in the midst of this chaos is new birth and new life to had. And not the life we had before all this went down.
There is no going back. Sorry folks. In case someone hasn’t already bursted your bubble, we’re only going forward from here. Back is the past. And although it felt great and looked good, especially compared to now, it needed to be improved and improved it will be. Us included.
I don’t know where everyone stands this morning with job, their business, their finances, their home life, spouse life, parent life, wherever. All this time at home could be stressful for you or it could be the best thing; something you’ve always wanted. I don’t know where you fall on the spectrum. However, I do know it’s a new month and we can tackle April so much better than we fought through March. And I want us to do that together.
Together, we’re gonna look for every opportunity to rise, to shine, to leave it all on the floor knowing we gave our all. Because when we return to the regularly scheduled program under a new network, change and chaos will be the tool we use to strike down opposition and challenges. ‘Cause we would have already done it. Ready?
I’m gonna start off today with some thanks and gratitude statements:
This is how I’m starting off today. How are you staring off this Friday?
Good morning, good morning, good morning!
I’ve been M.I.A. for a while as, I too, have been digesting this weird alternate reality we’re all living in. It’s so strange to be living during a world pandemic and trying to understand what that means. And I’ve meaning to jump on here and share some things with you but didn’t know really what to say.
Definitely didn’t want to be another person sharing false information. No matter how much I read or watched, I will never have all the facts the officials have. So, I figured I’d do my part and stay indoors and hope 30 days comes and goes pretty quickly. I had plans for 2020 and it’s not off to a great start.
I wanted to check in with you as well and see how you’re holding up. I know not everyone relishes the idea of staying home all day long. Not everyone’s home life is pleasant for them to want to stay home so this can be a very stressful time for some. And staying home for a lot of people means lossing out on money.
Now, I’m very fortunate to still have full time employment that also allows me to work from home. I would hate to be commuting back and forth and further expose my health. And in the light of everything, it does seem that having a job right now is better than being a freelancer or an independent contractor. But not really. Many — like thousands – of people have been laid off because their companies were not essential and had to shut down. So even having a job doesn’t protect you from a global event such as the one we’re experiencing.
Being a hustler and a freelancer gives us a chance to be more creative now than ever. We have to look at this horrible situation and think what good can come from it and what good can we do. Definitely think about what good you can do. Too many people already out there price gouging and hording that we don’t need to add to the problem.
So… in this time of uncertainty, I hope we can all lean on one another for support but also look within ourselves and see how we can rise to the occasion. And if you want to talk, let’s talk.
Stay indoors if can and be safe!
Good Morning, ladies and gents.
Strange times we’re living in, wouldn’t you say? 2020 has gotten off to an infamous start. Kind of wish we could press pause, then rewind and try this year all over again. But we can’t. We are together in this together whether we like it or not.
First and foremost, to my ladies out there, I hope you took time this past Sunday to celebrate yourselves in honor of International Women’s Day. And not just because you’re women, but because of your achievements in a society that did not originally include you. That’s called adversity. And you should be damn proud for it.
Secondly, the coronavirus. Oh, my damn. I don’t even know what to think other than wash your hands. I went to the store the other day and there were total of 8 small packs (the ones with the 4 oversize rolls) left on the shelves. Literally. Like, people are going nuts out there when all they really need to do is take better precaution. Which leaves me to believe most people don’t regularly wash their hands. And I don’t know why not. We’ve been telling them since they were 3 years old. It’s not that hard. Preferably with some hot water and adequate soap. But, whatever.
In light of the coronavirus, I do want you all to take care of yourselves out there. And by out there, I mean, in your daily lives. Remember, small child, the elderly and people with compromised respiratory issues are the highest at risk. The rest of us healthy individuals have a lower risk of getting it as long as we’re diligent with taking precaution.
However… this does offer a window of opportunity for those hustlers out there who love a good idea to birth. Think about what’s going on with the stock market, people’s fear of the coronavirus, large events canceling or postponing. Do you see opportunity here? How will you approach it? How will you turn the market decline into your shining moment? Not at the expense of people, but rather at the expense of the market.
Okay my fellow hustlers. Stay on the grind.
