Yellow Dog Consulting

Sales & Marketing Consulting for solo-preneurs.

June Pop Culture Roundup

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And just like that, June is OVER. Wow that flew right by didn’t it? I know a lot of great pop culture events happened, and I caught a few of them. Here’s what I was reading, watching and listening to this month.

Reading

The MartianMy dad wouldn’t shut up The Martian so I dropped my other book and can’t put this down. I was out of town last week so didn’t have time to finish it, but when I carry a book EVERYWHERE with me that’s a good sign. Hoping for some quiet time in the yard this week to finish reading it! But man it’s addictive from the first line!

I read half of God Forsaken Idaho – a book I’d read about, it a few short stories that take place in Eastern Idaho, where I have some family. I can’t remember why I wanted to read this book, but I didn’t love it and probably won’t finish it.

I was reading The Lord of Opium  which is a sequel to a great book I read years ago called The House of the Scorpion. It’s on hold at the moment while I zip through The Martian, but I’ll be back to finish it soon!Ernest Cline is an awesome author!

Coming in July: Go Set a Watchmen, the anticipated release from the world’s greatest author, Harper Lee. I can’t WAIT for July 14th! And the same day Armada comes out from the guy who wrote Ready Player One, one of my favorite books of all time. I also need to get caught up on my comics, Negan had a get out of jail free card but didn’t use it last time I read The Walking Dead…

Listening

With a few road trips lately I’ve been listening to my fare share of podcasts. The Nerdist had not one but TWO hostful episodes (my favorite!) and an awesome episode with Allison Janney, one of my favorite actresses! Like most podcast listeners I really enjoyed the President Obama interview on WTF – Marc Maron did  a great job of having a conversation with the President, what he said about Michelle not liking him being late showing up was really a great reminder of how lucky so many of us are. The Late Show Podcast is helping me to get ready for Colbert’s show to start in September. It’s a fun behind the scenes each week of what’s going on as they’re creating a new late night talk show. What podcasts have you been enjoying lately?

Watching

I finally finished Bloodline! It was really good. Not amazing and I didn’t know HOW they could set it up for a second season, but boy they sure did in those final few minutes. Coach Taylor and Lindsey Weir FTW.

I have ONE episode of Orange is the New Black left to watch. I blew through the season and am sad to watch it and finish it up…

Orphan Black S3 did not dissapoint!Orphan Black finished an intense season with some interesting developments, I was sure Rachel’s mom was going to show up, and I’m glad she did. But the doctor with the creepy bug coming out of his mouth? Ewww. And a lot of death’s this season, we’ll see how many stick…

Holy Game of Thrones, speaking of people who aren’t really dead. Part of me wants Jon Snow to really be dead because that’s what we were shown, but there’s just NO WAY it’ll stick. He’s too integral to the overall storyline, and crazy smoke monster priestess is there so he’s coming back one way or another. What a fantastic season of TV though, I loved it.

I still need to finish up Nurse Jackie, and I’ve rewatched a few episodes of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt when I was visiting my best friend last week. That earworm theme song…

Masters of Sex Season 3 is coming!July is going to be a great TV month with Masters of Sex returning (did you hear Josh Charles is going to have an arc this season? hooray!). Married is back on FX, which I really enjoyed. Wet Hot American Summer is coming to Netflix and I am SO excited! And I may finally marathon Veep this summer.

What’s on your summer TV list?

Make me an Offer I Can’t Refuse

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make me an offer I can't refuseI’ve been a member of eWomenNetwork for over 8 years now. It’s an amazing organization and has been paramount in my success and even the launch of my business 4 years ago. And every month there’s a speaker at the luncheon. And in 8 years I have never bought the speakers sale pitch offer.

Why?

Because it sucks.

Okay, that’s not really true. Usually it’s that it’s a good message but I don’t need a full workshop on it. Or the offerings aren’t in my budget, or what I want.

Yesterday there was a good speaker at our lunch, and I’d sign up for her newsletter but that WASN’T AN OPTION. I don’t want her eBook, I don’t want a free 30 minute consult, I’m not there yet. I will follow her on Twitter (because that was an option- yay!) and I’m not ready for her package deal.

Give me an easy point of entry please.

If you’re a speaker and you have an offer you want to encourage, that’s great. But make sure that while capturing the low hanging fruit you also think about those leads that are the next level up and will become ripe in time, if you nurture them like you know you should…

Time is Money People!

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time is moneyI met up with a friend the other day who had a lunch meeting earlier in the day. I knew she had a meeting so asked how it went . Short answer: frustrating.

  1. The lunch meeting was 2 and a half hours long! When my friend got into her car she thought maybe it was 1:30, but no, 2:30! So none of her afternoon tasks were going to get accomplished, which COST HER MONEY.
  2. Everyone there was in a direct sales business, and entirely too much time was spent on this piece of the “pitch.” Read the room people, it’s rude!
  3. They dismissed my friend’s business, business model and price/value of her products. WOW. Sure I’ll give you my money and buy your crap now!

If you have a boss in town, or up-line director visiting and you need to impress them, that’s just fine. And by all means, stack the room with your friends. But also make sure that everyone is on the same page: how long will this be, who’s paying, are they hoping to sell products or bring you into the business, etc.

Don’t be disrespectful of people’s time. Often times if a meeting goes long, I’ll just leave. Even if I don’t have to be somewhere, I do have places to be, and a schedule to keep. Every hour I’m not at my desk working or meeting with a client, is time I’m not making money. Sometimes that’s okay, but just because you have no plans the rest of the afternoon, doesn’t mean your guest doesn’t. Be respectful of people’s time.

As we all know, time is money!