Merry Christmas from Philip & me!
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I’m a public relations maven.
One time, Serena Markstrom of the Register Guard newspaper in Eugene, OR, called me a PR Maven. I thought it was worth adding to my media archive on the blog. Here’s an excerpt, and there’s a link to the full article below…
Editor’s note: this passage refers to many of Leona’s clients. She is a public relations maven for local musicians and businesses trying to get their name out more. While she might really enjoy the day she describes, as might you, there is a certain tone of humor in the piece we hope you can sense as she shamelessly name drops her clients.)
What I would do with my Leap Year Day, if it didn’t fall on the busiest day of my week…
by Leona Laurie, PR GoddessIf I woke up in Eugene one Friday and discovered that it was an extra day that I didn’t have to devote to teaching or clients or cleaning or writing my thesis, it would likely involve a lot of food.
I have been meaning to eat a crepe at The Vintage for some time, and I believe that would be the day. I would like to eat a crepe with Nutella and banana while reading a book and enjoying a cup of lightly spiced coffee. For some reason, I am convinced that The Vintage is the place for this.
Click here for the full article.
Visualization, Intention, Belief: The keys to success?
I’ve been reading and listening to a lot of non-fiction books in the last couple of years from two categories: spirituality and business/marketing. You’d think that these categories would have little overlap, but there are three words that come up in virtually all of them: Visualization, Intention, & Belief.
In the spiritually focused books, the idea is that by visualizing what you want in life, you become comfortable with the idea of receiving those “things”– they become real as potential, which allows them to become real in actuality. Clarifying your intention– knowing what you truly *want* is critical in moving towards it. If you don’t have your desire clearly in your thought, how can you realize that desire? And your belief that you can have the things you’ve asked for is necessary as you move towards it, or else your footsteps will lack conviction, and your path will not be straight.
In the business & marketing books, the language is almost identical, but with a business-specific focus. Visualize your successful business, and you’re far more likely to achieve it than if you’re visualizing your potential failure or not imagining anything at all. Clarify your intention- what are you trying to accomplish in your business endeavor? If you don’t know that, how on earth can you succeed? And believe in your own success. If you meet challenges on the road to getting your business up & running, what will motivate you to move through them if you don’t really believe in your own eventual success?
I believe that Truth comes to us through the channels we’re most receptive to, so I have to guess that these ideas have value in my life. I’ve been working harder to visualize the things I want in life and in business. I’m making huge strides lately in clarifying my intentions in business and in life, and I have become very sensitive to the areas in which I need to shore up my belief in my likely success. § Read the rest of this entry…
I am quoted! “40 Ways Small Business Owners Waste Their Money”
I made it as #3 on a list of 40 ways small businesses waste money on Under30CEO.com. (Dear clients: please note that I’m referencing sites that cost tens of thousands of dollars and have hundreds-to-thousands of dollars in monthly maintenance fees for companies that are just getting started!) Here’s the top three from the list, and you can click through below to see the other 37…
We were curious to see where business owners waste the most money in the early days. So we reached out and asked what small business owners thought was the #1 biggest money waster for small business owners. Some common answers focused on different aspects of office space, marketing and hiring staff. Hopefully this list can help you avoid some of these mistakes and help you better invest your businesses money.
1. Bad Advertising – Most new small business owners get bombarded people trying to sell ad space. Do your research and determine if your customer profile matches that of the publishers audience. And don’t commit to long term anything. If they stand behind their product, they should allow you to test it for your business. Chris Sonjeow of LoveBookOnline.com
2. Space is the biggest and most common money waster I’ve seen for small businesses / entrepreneurs in my 22 years of business experience. I’ve seen supposedly educated business people and naïve newcomers overpay, overbuild and overspend on buildings, lease, rent storefronts, leasehold improvements, fixtures, and signage. Rich Patterson of PattersonBrands.com
3. The place I’ve seen my clients waste the most money is in paying for custom websites they don’t need. There are a lot of great companies offering template-based solutions for all kinds of sites now that will keep a small business’ costs down while they’re learning what they need in a site. Leona Laurie of ohleona.com
Click HERE to read the rest of the article.
Apartment Therapy & The Kitchn
A while ago, the amazing Bethany Nauert came to our LA loft to do spreads for Apartment Therapy and their food site, The Kitchn. Although most of my friends have already seen them, I thought I’d share them here for the sake of giving Bethany a shout out from my new forum. Bethany! You’re awesome!
From the Apartment Therapy shoot:
Click HERE to see the whole article & house tour.
And from The Kitchn shoot:
Click HERE for more amazing photos from this shoot.
New Post on EvelynBrookins.com- Defining Success
I wrote a post for my friend and client Evelyn’s blog on the importance of defining success. Check it out here: http://evelynbrookins.com/2011/11/08/defining-success-the-first-step-towards-success
I’m not where I thought I would be, but this is good.
me with my high school pals earlier this year
One of the themes I want to explore on this blog is how I’m not at all where I thought I would be in life when I was 17. My 17-year-old self would probably be delighted by a lot of my current life, but it isn’t anything like what she was imagining.
I thought it would be interesting to interview my girlfriends to see if they feel the same way, so I’ve asked a lot of them the following five questions, and I’ll publish their answers as they come in. For fairness’ sake, though, I figured I’d better answer them myself first, so here goes:
When you were 17, where did you think you would be by your current age?
When I was 17, I imagined that by 35 I would be married with at least two kids, living in Costa Mesa, and probably staying home with my kids– basically exactly what my mom was doing at 35. It’s odd that despite the fact that I felt so different from my mom when I was a teenager, I thought her life was the perfect model of adulthood, and that that’s what I would do, too.
Where are you in actuality?
I am as-yet unmarried, dating a terrific guy, and living by myself in a posh little apartment near the beach in Newport. I have no children at this time, and am constantly surprised by how firmly my biological clock is on “snooze.” I am a bonafide career gal, working for myself doing something I really like. I am freer and more flexible than I’d expected to be, and it’s good.
What’s great about where you landed instead?
When I was younger, I always wanted to get a master’s degree, but I never knew when it would fit in my imagined life. I thought I might have to wait until I was in my 50s and the kids had gone off to college or their own lives. Because there are no kids, I’ve already got the degree, which is something I remember sometimes with a shock: “Oh! I have a master’s degree! Neat!”
I also used to think of Balboa Island as a place you had to be *very* rich to live– a place that would be unattainable unless I had a husband and maybe some friends to go in on a week-long vacation rental. It turns out that you can just get an apartment here for a normal rent, so I’ve lived here by myself on and off for years. I can walk down the street and put my feet in the bay any time I want to!
There are aspects of being single and an adult that are great. You get to pick your own foods and clothes and TV shows. I drink chocolate milk shakes for breakfast EVERY DAY!!! (They’re Arbonne protein shakes, but they taste like ice cream to me!) Nobody but me is the boss of me, and that can be VERY nice.
I’ve also lived away from Costa Mesa for about half of my adult life, and it’s nice to know what else is out there. I love St. Louis & can imagine living there again someday. I want to see more of the country and the world. I’m glad I didn’t dig in and never look out.
What’s challenging about landing someplace different than you’d imagined?
Being single and in charge is great in some ways, but I really thought I’d have had a partner for years by now. The women’s lib movement gave me a lot of the opportunities I’m benefitting from now, but it didn’t stop this from being a two-income society where getting married is still a major to-do for women. When something breaks on my car or in my home, I have to make the call about what to do and make the payments by myself, and that’s a challenge sometimes– more in that it’s a bummer than in my not being able to do it. Sometimes you just want to be the girl, you know? “Plumbing problem? Fiddle dee dee! I don’t know what to do about that! My big, strong husband will have to make a decision and pay for a repair while I bake a pie!”
Pie is really good, you know?
I think the other big challenge for me is not knowing how long this will go on. If I knew I was definitely going to be married by the time I’m 40, I think it would be easier to relax and enjoy my autonomy while it lasts. (And I know that that’s what I should do anyway, and I’m working on it.) But because I don’t know how long this will go on, it’s hard to be relaxed about it. I’m trying, but it isn’t always easy.
Where do you hope to be 10 years from now?
I hope to be married to a wonderful partner and living a wonderful life we’ve crafted together. Right now, I don’t know if I’ll ever be ready for kids. I know I’d be a good mom, and it seems likely that I will be someday, but it isn’t a high priority for me when I’m daydreaming about the future.
I also have a hard time imagining giving up my career now. I think being a housewife sounds AWESOME, but I’m too good at what I do and I’m enjoying it too much to daydream about letting it go. Again, I guess it could happen, but right now I just hope to be really successful and happy in my work in 10 years– like now, but more.
So that’s me. I know I have some answers on their way from some pretty amazing women, so I’ll get them out to you asap. If you want to answer the questions, too, you can do so in the comment space or email me through the contact page. I think more voices on this topic could only be more interesting.
Our Antonio Treatment Episode is FINALLY Online!
You know who is pretty darling on TV? Me! Here’s some proof:
See? Someone should give me a TV show.
Here I Go Again
I haven’t maintained a blog or site of my own for the last few years because I’ve been so busy writing & maintaining sites for other people. Today, I decided it was time to start doing it for myself again– mostly to put my money where my mouth is.
I spend a lot of time teaching other people how to blog with purpose and intent, and I heard myself extolling the virtues of a daily blog to a friend yesterday & decided that whether or not she takes my advice, I should.
I’ll figure out the theme as I go along, but I hope to do something worthwhile here. To that end, here is a picture of Baxter, my hilarious dog:
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