I tried to make cookies tonight. 

I actually produced cookies, but I say “tried” because they really didn’t turn out very well.  I write this with some cookie still on my face and only milk to drown away my sorrows.  (At least the milk was good!) 

I tried a new recipe.  My sister told me how her husband really, really liked the cookies she made.  They were a little different than the normal cookies that you bake from the recipe your Mom always uses (or Dad…can’t forget that Dad could be the one to make cookies!) .  No egg white.  Just egg yolk and extra brown sugar and some extra baking soda. 

At least that’s what I remember.  How many and how much?  Don’t remember too well.  “Just double it” she said.

Well, my cookies will never see the light of day or another living soul, but I did learn something;  winging it doesn’t usually work. 

I wish I had the correct recipe.  I did try to call my sister.  Voicemail; so I forged on. 

I don’t want to just “wing it” in business.  There will probably be times when I’ll have to in order to get through something urgent, but I’m going to try and do most everything with some sort of knowledge gained from somewhere else or have someone else do what I need to have done. 

Be humble.  That could be my maxim.

Now, when is my sister going to call back with the recipe?

This is my new goal:  10 People

I am going to focus on finding and then exciting 10 people about my ties and what I’m about.

I get my inspiration from here.

I like the fact that 10 people is a nice, concise, low number.  Ten is something that I can grab at and really reach; over and over again.  If I can find 10 people who are excited by my ties and then I give them extra attention and tools to spread the word, I can exceed.

Any volunteers to join my 10 Club?

Source:  www.diffen.com

The above table does a really good job of breaking down the difference between empathy and sympathy.  Both of these things I’m learning about and both of these things I’m not very good at, yet. 

There are so many things I’m learning about.

I think that many people can do a decent job of sympathizing.  I think that I can do this in an okay manner from time to time.  (Very dependent upon time!)  Empathizing, though, when it really counts (ie. someone hates life or it’s PMS time or maybe even both together ) is something I don’t do very well. 

At all. 

I wish I did. 

I want to change.

Being more empathetic and compassionate are important goals for me in my life.  How do I get there?  I guess I can ”keep trying” or whatever else people say.  

I don’t know.

I don’t have a good answer right now.  I do know that each situation I’m faced with will allow me to get better if I choose to.  Even if I don’t have a personal experience that relates to what the other person is going through I can sure try to be understanding.  Then, down the road, I can hopefully draw on the previous experience with the other person to hopefully understand and relate and partially “co-experience” with the current person.

I think this is a place I can start from….

Food for thought for me today.

Today I spent a good portion of the day looking for an embroidery machine and talking about how I’m going to add the personalization to my ties.

It’s been a good learning experience.  I really would like to embroider and attach the tags myself.  At this point, that’s the way it looks like it’s going.  This is mostly because it’s going to be pretty expensive to have someone else do it.  Though, to buy the machine and all the supplies is going to be expensive too; at least the machine could be used to do other projects for other ventures if need be or sold at some point.

I found a really good deal on a new Singer embroidery machine.  Last years software is on sale, so the whole package might be what I’m going to need.  The biggest problem is: Where do I want to attach the tag?

I could attach it in the traditional spot just under the loop that holds the short end of the tie in place.  I could also embroider on a bigger piece of fabric and then attach it down at the bottom of the tie in that area that looks like a diamond.  There are different ways that I could attach the tags, but each way has its own difficulty.  Where should I put it?  How will it look the best?  I’m not sure.  Any ideas?

I need to think of something quick, because I’ve got to get everything ready for the upcoming holiday season.

There have been so many people helping me out!  It’s so great to have friends and family.  It’s been a simple thing I’ve asked them to do; but at the same time, it’s taken a good 10 minutes or so (I’m guessing) of their time.

I’ve had my some of my tie samples posted and many people have been stopping by to choose their favorites and add some helpful comments.  I’m so grateful for this.  I’ve got to choose the best one and my opinion doesn’t really count; it’s every else’s opinion that does.

So, now comes the hard part….choosing which of the 14 ties I’ve got posted to produce.

Thanks everyone for your help!

At least a couple times a week I speak to my wife and there will be something that she thinks should be done one way and I think should be done another.  Or, her opinion is A and my opinion is B.  Sometimes things are done her way and sometimes they are done my way.  It’s a give-and-take way of doing things that I think is important in any relationship.

I’m glad to see other perspectives sometimes; sometimes I’m not so glad. 

I really like to go to different places and see how people work and live and think.  Sometimes things are better; sometimes they’re not (at least for me). 

I think that opposing views are important in this world.   I am liking more and more the times when I get to see other sides of certain views.  This related to what one of my university professors pointed out during my Senior year; the fact that we wouldn’t remember much of what we learned, but hopefully we had learned how to take an issue and think about it and decide for ourselves what we thought and how we felt.

I found a new blog to read tonight written by Michelle.  From the first post I read to the last I kept thinking how different her point of view was compared to mine. 

Did I agree with everything she wrote?  No.  Did I like reading a different take on subjects I’d already read or heard about?  Yes. 

This is one of the great things about life; being exposed to new ideas, cultures, and ways of doing things. 

I did some good reading tonight.  Thanks, Michelle.

The time spent with you customers is going to be the new currency on-line. 

This is the main message that Gary Vaynerchuk speaks about here.  It totally makes sense to me.  There are tons of free things out there that anybody can use and consume.  What is going to make me different?  It will be time.  (I can’t wait to get my business up and running and really show my customers that I care and am grateful for their business.) 

I will be asking everyone that is willing to give me feedback and I will use that to improve and become better.

I’m going to give more than I get; by means of what they purchase and what they actually receive.  Leave something extra on the table. 

I hope to give everyone great service.  

I got a great idea about business cards tonight and how to make myself more memorable by giving them out.

More to come.

I’ve been trying to find someone who can design my website. 

I’ve had multiple conference calls with people and nothing has been able to work out for me (or them!).  I am really trying to get the most bang for my buck; spend as little money as possible and try to get the best site made.   It seems to me that most people are like this, no?  I’m bootstrapping this whole business with a very small amount of money.  My site will be the face of my business for a long time.  (But, maybe that’s not really true; I’m putting in a lot of effort into making my neckties remarkable, so hopefully the site will be just a means to an end.)  I know that in most cases in, though, you get what you pay for….

Having said that 99designs may just be my answer.  I’ve seen a lot of really good material over there done by many talented people–for very reasonable prices.  Compared to the price of $15,000.00 that I was quoted once, I think the prices (or prizes awarded) are even cheap!

I think if I ask for everything to be very simple, clean, and smooth, many people can design what I’m looking for.  There are still some other options out there right now. . . Does anyone else have suggestions for me?

Let me know.

There are many neckties that I’ve seen in my life, but these congruent neckties are subtely unique.   I think it’s great how a person can get the upper knot to match up with the rest of the tie hanging down.  I don’t think this idea is a purple cow, but I’m sure it’s a cool invention for a small amount of people.

I’m almost ready to get my website designed and launched.  Statesman Ties has been needing a place to call home for a long time now. 

One thing that I’m trying to figure out is how to have everything set up.  I’ve been reading some of Seth’s old posts about this and one of the things that he has said is that it’s best to have multiple landing pages for multiple people rather than just one home page that everyone is directed to.   This is something that I’m really trying to figure out how to do.  I know that I could set up a cookie for each returning customer.  I could have it set up to welcome people back like Amazon or Ebay does.  That’s a pretty big thing, but I need to figure out how to do more than this…I just don’t know what that is, yet. 

I could have the returning customer directed to a landing page that has their previous purchase displayed.  This could be nice, but, would that be really what this person is looking for when they come back? 

I need some help on this question:  What would you want to see when you came back to the Statesman Ties website?