Escape from Cubicle Nation

Update from Pam

Hello everyone!

I know it has been a bit quiet on this front in the last couple of months, so I wanted to give you a quick update about what has been happening, to be followed by much more later!

• First and foremost, I finished the first draft of the book!  It was an amazing, arduous, fantastic, wildly difficult and totally joyful experience.  I don't think I have ever worked so hard on something my whole life.  There were many moments along the way when I truly did not think I could finish it.  But with amazing support from my family, blog readers, Escape from Cubicle Nation Advisory Council, Twitter buddies and my editor, I made it to the finish line.  Thanks to ALL of you for your help, whether or not you realize that you helped.
• My joy at finishing lasted a total of three days, when I heard from my editor that while she appreciated the depth to which I covered the topics, I have to chop a bunch to make it work as a book.  Every author I have spoken to says the same thing:  the editing process is what really shapes a great book, and also drives the writer crazy.  I am so close to my favorite stories and analogies and helpful hints that it will be hard to hack them away.  But hack I will do with gusto, since I know that will make the book easier to read, and ultimately more useful.
• The good thing is that things I hack from the book can be re-purposed as blog posts.  As I was writing, I kept having the desire to share new thoughts and insights with you here on the blog.  But that which is new in the book needs to stay behind the curtain until the book comes out, which is May of 2009.  So this way I get to sneak some content that would have been in the book, which will benefit us all.
• Speaking of blog posts, I can't wait to get back to some juicy content-filled posts that are more than brief updates or book reviews.  The image at the top of this post will be in one of them to come soon, based on a talk I gave at Podcamp AZ, on how to strike a balance between giving away content for free and making a living.  I had a great time with the audience, and can't wait to share my thoughts with you soon.  My son Jeffery drew the images I used in the presentation, and he was excited to get feedback on their impact as well. 
• I have been hopelessly behind on reading a bunch of books that authors have sent hoping for a review.  Hopefully I can chip away this month and next, and share some good resources with you.  First on my list is the very patient Barry Moltz, who wrote a very relevant book for our world economic situation, which is called Bounce:  Failure, Resilency, and the Confidence to Achieve Your Next Great Success, that helps you understand and thrive in the face of failure.  I am hoping he will join me in a podcast, where we can really get into the fascinating topic.
• I will be digging out from unanswered emails, and hope to get back to people soon!  If you have been waiting to hear from me, thanks so much for your patience.  Just a little bit longer and I will be caught up.
• In preparation for the book launch and also just because it is time, I will be overhauling the design of my blog, integrating it with my website and hopefully making it easier to read, more pleasant to look at, and a more useful repository of good information.  That will be quite an endeavor, but I really look forward to it, as it is time for a fresh look.
• I will be planning activities for next year which will include workshops and talks around the topics covered in the book.  I have had a great time teaching the Finding Your Own North Star workshop this year, and just finished up with two groups.   This experience has led me to want to work more closely with groups, since there is a power in numbers that enhances the normal 1:1 coaching sessions I do with clients.  Stay tuned for more to come, and I will definitely ask all of you for input before rolling anything out.
• I can't wait to spend more time with my family.  The last few months have been grueling, and I have worked all weekend for many weeks in a row.  This simply feels awful since I have small children.  I know from this experience that I do NOT want to create a business model that keeps me away from my kids.  Any one of you with children knows the feeling of looking your 3-year old or baby in the eye and saying "Sorry honey, I can't play, I have to go to work."  The crushing look of disappointment is enough to start the tears flowing.  So no working weekends in 2009, no matter the opportunities!

So that's the roundup!  Thanks again for all your patience and support.  I cannot wait to get back in the flow of doing what I love best:  writing blog posts.  As they say, "you can take the girl out of the blog, but you can't take the blog out of the girl." 

Here is to a great new year ahead!

Now stop reading and GO VOTE!  What a historic day for all of us here in the U.S.

Cheers,

-Pam

Testing RSS feed

Hello Escape from Cubicle Nation readers!

I am finally back on line and wondered if a few of you who subscribe to my feed would mind leaving a comment to this post letting me know that the feed is working properly for you.  It has been broken all day, and I think it should be working now.

Thanks for your help, and sorry for the technical difficulties!

It has been a long, frustrating day.  But I am happy that all is well, and look forward to writing a new post tomorrow.

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Update 8/15 mid-morning:  Thanks to the great comments from all of you, looks like the feed (and blog) are back in business.  Now I will find a way to write my frustration up in a way that is (hopefully) useful to everyone! 

Escape from Cubicle Nation layout is experiencing technical difficulties

I apologize to my blog visitors today -- with no provocation or re-design on my part, my blog layout is acting up for some reason.  I have never had problems with this before, so I am working with Typepad technical support to resolve it.

It must be related to the wonderful plug I got from Robert Middleton (and his mailing list of near 50,000 ) today -- isn't it always the case that technical difficulties arrive at the most inconvenient times?

Stay tuned, hopefully things will improve soon.

Thanks!

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Update 8/15 early morning:  We are back!  Long, frustrating story that I am glad has come to an end.  Sweet dreams everyone!

Unhappy with unequal wages? Wear red on Equal Pay Day, Tuesday, April 25

I ranted a few months ago about my displeasure that in this day and age women (and people of color) are still making less than men for equal work.  It seems like the folks at the National Committee on Pay Equity are actually doing something about it by promoting Equal Pay Day.  They describe it this way:

"Each year, the National Committee on Pay Equity (NCPE) organizes the national observance of Equal Pay Day to raise awareness about unfair pay for women and people of color in America. Equal Pay Day is observed in April to indicate how far into each year a woman must work to earn as much as a man earned in the previous year. Tuesday symbolizes the day when women's wages catch up to men's wages from the previous week. Because women on average earn less, they must work longer for the same pay. For women of color, the wage gap is greater, as shown in our fact sheet. "

I know that there are many theories as to why this condition still exists, despite great gains by women in business.  I have my own totally unscientific poll going that says that the vast majority of my female clients, family and friends have a harder time negotiating than their male counterparts.

I think it will take a whole range of solutions to remedy this problem.  I choose to do my small part by helping women come from a place of strong self-worth and value when creating a business and preparing for negotiations.  And although I still get knock-kneed when negotiating about money, I always push myself to do a little better each time. 

If you think unequal pay is a problem and want to do something about it, please wear red on Tuesday, April 25 and support our friends at the National Committee on Pay Equity.

Or if you are a good negotiator yourself, help your neighbor or daughter or mother next time they have to negotiate pay.  Every little bit counts!

Pam unplugged

Happy 2006!  I am back sitting at my desk after 10 glorious days of spending time with my family in California.  I made a conscious choice to NOT check voicemail, email, post blogs, check my webstats or write any articles while on vacation.  It was just what I needed to rejuvenate and get a gust of energy for the huge amount of things I can't wait to get started in 2006!  By not stressing about staying connected, I was able to do the following things:

• Just focus on packing clothes, presents, diapers and toys for our trip.  If I had tried to speed up and write post-dated blog posts, I would have been up till 3 in the morning and a lot more exhausted during the trip.
• Spend focused time with my family.  I think the biggest gift we can give our parents and relatives these days is uninterrupted time and attention.  I feel that both my sets of parents cherished the time we spent talking, cooking and looking at my son Josh play.  We even got to help my Dad totally reorganize his home office for the new year.  I will never forget his beaming face when we were done.
• Set a good example. I think it is a very unhealthy trend that we never totally unplug from our work.  I see it all the time with my corporate clients - they send emails and respond to voicemails while on vacation.  I say let's stop the madness and relish in some PDA-cellphone-email detatchment.  What might just come up is a fresh creative thought!

Thank you my precious readers for giving me a break and letting me take time off.  I appreciate your support and promise to give you lots of juicy, helpful information all year long!

Sharing the pain of a typo

I have been focused on growing my Get a Life ezine subscriber list this month, so I contacted Lorraine Carol of Simply Virtual Works about her Article Submission Service.  All sounded great, so I submitted a couple of articles for her to distribute to various ezine directories.

When I was reviewing the confirmation emails today, I visited a site where Lorraine had submitted an article.  I checked my "bio box" at the bottom of the article and clicked on the link to this blog.  Only I had typed in the wrong URL ... so instead of coming here, it brought me to the highly undesireable "Address not found" page.

Lesson learned:  check and double check your links before submitting your articles.  Once they are submitted and posted, you cannot go back and edit. You can check your blog post links by hitting "Preview" and testing before you publish.

At least I learned this the first time around!

Escape from Cubicle Nation banner winner!

Well, the votes are in, and we have a tie for the top two banners!  Since so many people liked banner #2, I think I will actually incorporate both of them into the brand for this blog.  I am going to alternate months with these banners and see how that works!

Here are the results: Escape from Cubicle Nation blog banner results

Thanks to all of you who placed your votes!  It helps to get some other feedback when making a choice about my brand.  And thank you Gino for your great work!

Building my Brand Journal: One person at a time

The last two weeks have been full of activities to build my brand and get my ideas out to the people I care about the most:  creative, passionate, spiritual and stifled entrepreneurs that are living in corporate jobs across the globe.  I have soon realized that I cannot do any of it alone.  The gals at The Blog Squad have been wonderful, kind and helpful.  After I sent them a note asking how to get a link on their site, they wrote about my blog in their Build a Better Blog.  I was very honored to get a mention from such experts.

I then used their services to list my blog in about 120 directories because frankly I don't have enough time in the evening to do it all individually, and I thought the $95 charge was well worth the cost.

At times, the sheer number of bloggers out there and seemingly endless things to learn can become kind of overwhelming.  When I get in over my head, I stop, take a breath and remember to just build my community one person and one day at a time.  I have already met some kind, thoughtful and interested people that support my desire to share information on this topic.  So I will keep writing, keep connecting, and eventually the numbers of interested people will grow.

Building my Brand Journal: It sure ain't build it and they will come!

I have been working at a feverish pace on my blog.  My brain is filled with things I want to write about and I have to carry a notebook around at all times just so I capture all the ideas.  I have been trying to post new entries at least once a day.  But I realize that I have to put a lot of energy this week into getting my blog out there so that someone besides my most loyal friends and family will read what I have written!  Since I just started this blog two weeks ago, I have a long way to go to get my name out there in the blog world. 

Late at night as I sit in my bathtub (yes, truly the only peaceful time to read when Josh is asleep and I am done writing) I am reading through the section of Get Known Now that is called "Promote Yourself Online."  Man, are there a lot of things to do!  This week I am going to search for other blogs that have a similar audience as mine that I can cross-promote in.

And a note to my Feedblitz subscribers ... I am so sorry that you have been getting a bunch of duplicate entry updates.  I had to go back to my posts and make sure they pinged back to Technorati.  Every time I save and republish a post, Feedblitz interprets it as a new entry.  Sorry to be annoying and I promise to get better as I go along!

Building my Brand Journal: Context

To set a bit of context for this Building my Brand Journal, I started out this process a little backwards.  In June of 2005, I bought Robert Middleton's Website Toolkit.  I had wanted to rewrite my website for a long time since I had the same old stale content on there for almost 7 years.  Then Robert announced a contest for website design that had a deadline of Sept. 1.  I decided to enter the contest and spent two months totally redesigning my site.  I finished in time and ended up placing 2nd in the contest.  It was very cool and brought lots of traffic to my site, Ganas.com

Then in September of 2005, I started a class with Suzanne Falter-Barnes called Platform Push.  In going through the class, I realized that I needed to do a lot more work in defining my target market and understanding what would be the most valuable and helpful to them.  So as I learn more about my market, I will probably be making changes and updates to my website, and may even come out with a whole new product and service set.

As Suzanne shared with the class the other day, the whole process of branding, marketing and growing your business involves lots of experimentation.  Some things work and some things fail miserably.  I will share both with you as I go through the process!