For those of you visiting from either Mark Hoback's Virtual Occoquan or Jan Haugland's Secular Blasphemy in re: the existence of the soul, you're probably looking for my response to Jan's original post.

Please feel free to leave comments here or at my 22-OCT response; Jan, Mark and I are sure to review and discuss them further.

By the way, after taking the Political Orientation test (link to which Jan furnished in his blog), I find it remarkable Jan and I are fairly close on the grid yet hold very different perspectives about the existence of the soul.  Jan's a little right of me in terms of Economics, a little more Libertarian than me; however, we're closer than my spouse and I are.  What do you make of that?  Does one's beliefs about the soul have absolutely nothing to do with, no correlation with one's political orientation?

My mother's family is of Finn extraction; perhaps there's some sort of Nordic sensibility, some memetics of the Great White North that remains with me, translating to a similar sensitivity that Jan shares? 

Hmmm...food for thought and conjecture...

10:36:21 PM    comment []

DharmaSurfing: Minority Business Owner…the adventure continues…

Well, Thursday night’s meeting was a bit of a bust, at least for my purposes.

The sponsoring agency is funded by county, state and federal monies; they host a meeting on “how to start a small business” once a month at a local library.  I left half-way through the meeting because there was nothing in this session that I didn’t already know.  Having taken a year-long Certificate of Entrepreneurship program on top of a Bachelor’s in Management, I’ve already learned the fundamentals these folks were offering.  (Heck, I could facilitate this program…)

Pleasantly surprising was the fact that the room was full of enterprising individuals – approximately 50 people present, more than half minority or female.  A good sign, makes me feel my tax dollars are being well-spent in at least one area.  Very good to know that my taxes are helping others create new tax-paying business, helping them try something new, helping them break away from their roles as someone else’s ‘fungible’.  (Don’t you love that word?  I learned that one in HR Management, means labor resources.  Fungible.  Makes me want to break into song, “Just a Fungible” to the tune of “Just a Gigolo”.)

The facilitator didn’t gloss things over for these folks, gave it to them straight up that there are pitfalls to owning one’s business that many newbies ignore or forget. 

Like the guy who thought running his own business meant he’d automatically have more time to spend with his family.  NOT.  Or maybe yes, if they’re working for him, but no, can’t count on it if your kids have a soccer game and you’re in the middle of negotiations for a big sale (which you need desperately to stay afloat).  The truth of running your own business is that one needs have the right temperament and really want to work day and night.  People who like to take orders from others, task workers, will crash and burn if they can’t lead others and themselves.

It would be interesting to get some demographics on the group: how many actually start a business, how many are in business 1, 3, 5 years later.  Starting a business can be merciless.

They were still hashing over the concepts of what kind of a business entity to form and what resources the library could offer when I left.  Unfortunately, I exited at the very end of the presentation by the facilitator – with whom I have a meeting next week since she’s the Minority Business Development guru.  Guess I’ll have to explain to her when I meet her why I cut out.

Didn’t make sense to have the spouse watch the kids when he needed to log in and work late himself.  And I definitely can’t screw with his job performance by cutting into his work schedule until I’m providing a little more security to the family.  Just wasn’t equitable to stay and hear about the library’s fine selection of resources like the Thomas Register…

Everything happens for a reason, I believe.  The universe is self-organizing.  I have to believe there was some positive reason I had to attend this meeting.  Perhaps it’s something buried in all the brochures I was handed as I entered, or the mailing list registration I signed.  Maybe it’s just seeing that there were so many interested individuals from all walks of life, restoring a modicum of my faith.

Perhaps this served as a cosmic reminder that I’m really ready for this, that the minority business certification is really a very small thing.  A reminder that I’m already light years ahead, knowing what kind of entity I want to form, how to structure the corporation, have a good skill set between members, know the products well that we want to offer.

Maybe it was all of the above.  And a cosmic poke in the ribs to tell me to fill out the damned minority certification form NOW.

More after this next Thursday’s meeting.  I won’t be ducking out early on this one.

10:20:13 PM    comment []