Elizabeth, Author at Yellow Dog Consulting

November Pop Culture Roundup

11.30.2016 by Elizabeth // Leave a Comment

november pop culture round up November is such a great season for Pop Culture. Books and albums are coming out in time for the holidays and thanks to Netflix, there are always new and great binge worthy shows to get you through those long holiday weekends! November’s been a great month around here, and with a road trip for Thanksgiving, I caught up on a few podcasts that had been lingering…

Listening

WTF with Marc Maron – I really like WTF when he has someone on that I’m interested in. Billy Crystal was on a few months back and we finally listened on the drive to Eastern Washington. It was a great interview with someone who’s been in show business almost his whole life. I had no idea what a cool musical upbringing he had! The recent Ron Howard interview was also worth listening too. A great guy who has been in show business his whole life.

Fresh Air – Similar to WTF, if there’s someone interesting on, I love Terry Gross’ interview style. She did a great job with Anthony Bourdain (who’s book I really want for Christmas, hint, hint). I always enjoy Stephen Colbert and I can’t wait to read Anna Kendrick’s* new book.

Hannibal Buress: Handsome Rambler – I really like Hannibal Buress, my brother and I went to see him in Portland last month. If you’re a fan of his comedy, or enjoy him on Broad City, then the podcast is worth checking out!

Reading

I have been in pre and post election fatigue so a lot of what I’m reading lately is rants on the state of the country and our future president. And I had a stack of magazines that was out of control (pro tip – Real Simple has fantastic crockpot recipes), so while I picked up a few more books this month, nothing has been read.

I did however clean up the comic books a bit and am caught up on Clean Room, which continues to be a favorite if you like crazy cult stuff. Which we all know I do.

Watching

Holy crap those final 4 words! I tried to watch all of Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life on Friday when it came out but with crappy wifi at the in-laws (this isn’t news to them so I don’t feel bad about the shaming) I only made it through Winter and binged Spring/Summer/Fall upon our return on Saturday night. It was PERFECT. It was just what I wanted and exactly the warm fuzzy feeling I needed to launch the holiday season. But wow those final 4 words – that was NOT what I expected!

I also watched The Crown on Netflix this month. I’m a big fan of the Royal family and loved The King’s Speech a few years back. It’s a story I knew nothing about till I watched the movie, so I was eager to watch this show on Queen Elizabeth II. It’s a little slow, but great history and John Lithgow was fabulous as Churchill.

Parts Unknown has been extra great this season (although my husband hated Buenos Aries), and I’m still in love with Jane the Virgin. I’ve decided Crazy Ex Girlfriend is best binged, so will hold on to that. I have the whole season of the Walking Dead on my DVR still and am trying to decide if I watch it, drop it or skip the first episode and continue from there. Thoughts?

SNL had a fantastic month of hosts. Benedict Cumberbatch and the Koehler toilet sketch was awesome. I never got into Dave Chapelle but he certainly was the host we needed the week of the election. And Kristin Wiig was great at being Kristin Wiig. My favorite sketch from these 3 was actually cut for time, and the perfect amount of holiday weird…

*My family actually reads this blog post each month, so I have a better chance of these gifts showing up by writing about them than adding to my Amazon Wish List!

Your Time, Your Talent and Your Treasure

11.22.2016 by Elizabeth // Leave a Comment

imgres Years ago I heard someone at a nonprofit say there’s three ways to give back: with your time, your talents or your treasure. That’s stuck with me over the years when I connect with a nonprofit. November 2016 has been one of the weirder months on record. And as John Oliver talked about last week, 2016 overall hasn’t been amazing. So what do we do? We can take all our toys and go home, or, we can help keep America great. How?

Your Time

Volunteering is a fantastic idea. And it’s really easy to be busy and not do it. But if you can, find a couple of hours a month. Get off the couch and stop watching TV. Don’t meet your friend for happy hour or lunch, meet them at the soup kitchen or at a food bank. Don’t do this alone, you can pair up with your friends, your spouse, your family, a networking group you’re involved with. But the very least you can do is give of your TIME.

Your Talents

There are a variety of nonprofits in your community who could probably use your services. They may need help with their bookkeeping, or someone to review and edit the content on their website or their marketing materials. Or help building a newsletter or designing a logo. When I look at joining the board of an organization or getting involved, I first look to see what can I bring to the table to help. I build the monthly newsletter for an organization I’m involved with. It’s a weight off their shoulders and I think we all know it’s in my wheelhouse. Find an organization that you may already be involved with and see if you can donate a service, or at least let them know you’re available if they need help.

Your Treasure

Cold hard cash baby. Not everyone can give financially and that’s OK. And if one more person tells me that for the cost of a latte a week I could save albino narwhals…BUT if you have the means to financially support an organization that lines up with your values then by all means please do so.

As we head into Thanksgiving this week, it’s always a good time to be mindful of all that we have to be Thankful for. And it might be the right time to find one more way you can give back and show your appreciation to others.

Seek Help More Often

11.16.2016 by Elizabeth // Leave a Comment

I was at a luncheon last week and the host was talking about the give and take of networking. It’s a hard line to give too much help and get nothing in return, or to only take and never give. But one point that I really appreciated was:

Seek Help More Often

I’ve spent a lot of time in the past few months becoming very clear that I can’t do it all and I don’t WANT to do it all. I am so eager to help a client out that I don’t realize there’s someone better or more efficient out there than me who should be handling the work.

This doesn’t mean you should go out and hire a VA right away, but it does mean you should take stock of what you need to stop doing yourself in your business. Maybe it’s a piece of business you don’t enjoy (for me, that’s writing for others) that you need to outsource to an accountant or copywriter or designer. Maybe you need to talk with your business partner about the services you’re offering and make sure you’re both doing work you WANT to do.

I’ve been talking with my coach about this over the past few months as well. Changing up services that I don’t really enjoy doing but when I was willing to help anyone with anything I could do. Could doesn’t mean should.

The next time you begrudgingly start a project think through what you’re enjoying about the project and what someone cheaper, faster and more efficient from you might charge to handle it for you.