The Evolution of a Blog

Like my profile says, I have a real Renaissance soul, and am passionate about many things.  While I may have started out wanting this blog to be about my business, I find myself always thinking of things I could be blogging about, but they are not always necessarily about events or event planning.  I think my business may evolve into a business more about "Inspired Living" with branches that deal with parties, style, healthy living, travel, and general lifestyle branding, so why not start with my blog.  At least I'll find it more interesting, too!  So here are some new tags you can expect from me:

Style
 - Obviously dealing with fashions, but could also be hairstyles, shopping tips, makeup finds, random pictures of outfits I love.  This is one that spills out into a lot of places in my life, because I like pretty. 

Healthy Living
 - This is what inspired me write this post.  I was running and thought of the things that I wish I knew when I started running. That made me think I should post that somewhere for people to know, which lead me to this post.  Healthy Living could be healthy recipes, workout tips, inspiration, updates on my training, anything!

Gluten Free
- I could have put this with Healthy Living, but I'm thinking it needs it's own tag.  You see, I have autoimmune disease and it's effected directly with consumption of Gluten.  Since I've been gluten free (January 1, 2012), I have felt better than I have in years.  I'm always learning about new recipes, finding new products (wait till I post about GF beer), and learning tips about managing this lifestyle.

Home Decorating
 - See Style, I like pretty.  I love filling my surrounding with pretty things.  Even though I don't love my house, I do love my home.  I'm constantly making changes to it.  Updating room and collecting inspiration for upcoming projects around my home. 

Cocktails
 - Part of Events, for sure, but I've been on a kick for seasonal cocktails.  I'll post some for you.

Overheard at the Dinner Party
 - Okay, so this is a catch all for all of the things I find interesting in life.  Stuff I would talk about at a dinner party.  It could be politics (though not political), news events, interesting articles I've read, a conversation to start, anything!

Travel
 - This is already a tag, but I'll be able to do more with it now.  We travel a lot and I've already got a blog  devoted to our families bigger vacations but I thought I could elaborate more here, especially when it comes to travel tips, or plans I'm making for upcoming trips.

Entertainment
 - I love art, film, books, music, and great television.  I'll share some of my favorites, including the books I'm currently reading for my book club!  You might get turned onto a movie that you've never heard of, or a killer running playlist of music, or find the next book you have to read!

I hope you enjoy this journey with me!

Love,
Sue
the muse of
a.muse inspired living

A Letter to my Husband: Why I Need an ipad for Work

The newest ipad incarnation goes on sale today. I know, I know, I could just go buy one without permission from my husband.  It's only $499.  I have purchased plenty of less useful items that cost more than that without his permission; but I'm putting so much into the startup of my new business that I just can't do it.....  yet.  

So on to the title of this post:

Dear Jason,

I need to buy an ipad for my new business.  It's a tax write-off, so actually a.muse is going to buy it.   You see, it's actually imperative that I get one.  Let me count the ways....

As an event planner, I need to make presentations to clients, and what better way than to whip out my ipad and flip through beautiful pictures.  It's way less cumbersome to break out than my laptop, much more impressive, and would set me apart from my competitors.  Also, once I've landed the client, I usually bring them a printed full color page or two of my inspiration board, with pictures of examples of what I plan to do for the event.  It would have samples of linens, color themes, decor pieces, etc.  Now I wouldn't have to spend the money printing in color, I could just show them from my ipad.  Then, using printcentral, I could print one out for them at their office, right from the ipad.  In fact, I can print anything out anywhere.  I wouldn't have to carry around files and folders... think of how much we would save in ink and paper!

There is also an app called Bento that is specifically designed for event planners.  It helps with tracking contacts, vendors, tasks, expenses, location details, important files, emails and more, and link them to any of your events. They have templates for meetings, conferences, tradeshows, weddings, parties and fund raising events.  Winning!

I could also get the Square app and reader, which would allow me to accept credit cards.  It costs nothing until I swipe the card.  Right now, I don't have that capability and in order to to that, I would need a merchant account and all the cumbersome stuff that goes with it.  Not to mention I would probably have to write down the account information and come home to process the card, and by then it may not have been written down properly, it may get declined, the paper could get lost.  This way, I run the card right there in front of the client.  Done.  And it will immediately send them a professional receipt.  I can also use this software to track cash or check payments and send receipts for that.  Fab, right?  I could also use this to accept credit cards at fundraising events, saving my clients money and once again, setting me apart from my competitors (unless they read this blog).

For those clients that I charge by the hour, there is Timemaster which helps track time spent on projects and assigns them to different clients.  I would have portable access to the internet so I can get online anywhere, which is helpful because I'm on the go all the time.  I can even use it as an ereader so that I can read my books if I'm tired of surfing the web on trains, etc.  Again saving my back from having to carry books around with me. 

So, Jason, you see this is why I need an ipad for work.  The new one goes on sale today and I think we should take a trip to the apple store and test drive one! 

Your loving wife,
Sue
President
a.muse Events.

Website Launch!

enter the a.muse website

I've been on a bit of radio silence lately because I've been so busy getting my website ready to launch!  I designed it myself so it took up  a very good portion of my nights and days and my patient husband will finally get his wife back.  Please peruse through and send me some feedback.  Any and all suggestions are welcome!

I'm a planner, it's what I do.

I actually didn't choose to be an event planner so much as it chose me.  You see, I came to event planning by way of marketing, publicity, public relations, non-profit development.  Those careers all involved planning events and it was that part of my job that I looked forward to the most, and it was the event planning that came most naturally to me.  It's what came easiest and I did best...  poof, a career was born.

You see, planning is so deeply in my nature, I plan everything in life.  I'm planning a vacation right now,  we just booked our airline tickets to Turkey for two weeks in July.  It's now February and I've got just about everything laid out for it already.  I've got a working itinerary detailing how much sleep we'll get each night, how much driving we'll do, when we'll be at beaches and when we'll be at ruins, where we will stay, how long each drive will be each day, and I've listed reference materials to help understand why choices were made.  I did this in one evening.  I'm a planner, it's what I do.

When I get a new client, I research that client and try to learn everything about them so that when I plan the event, it fits their message.  When I plan an event, I obsess over every little detail, leaving nothing unplanned.  It's at my very core, that's how I know I'm great at what I do, nothing about this work goes against my nature, there is no part of the job I dislike at all.  Seriously.  I love every single inch of it.

How many people can say that?  Do you do what you love?  Is every part of your job aligned with your personality and skills?  I truly hope so!

Launch Party?

There is just so much to do when launching a business.  My do to list includes: write a business plan, pick a name, have a logo designed, buy the domain name, have a website designed, decide if I'm an LLC or s-corp, register my fictitious name, get my EIN number, articles of incorporation, a bank account, quickbooks, memberships with all of the appropriate associations, subscriptions to all of the appropriate publications, get my company insured and licensed, register with the Bureau of Charitable Organizations (that one was news to me), get business cards made, letterhead and brochures, create an office space in my home, get the word out in the industry, take client meetings, buy supplies....  The list goes on and on and whenever I've crossed one off, two more go on!  I'm trying to keep up my blogging in the process, as well as completing events I'm working on and booking new clients, it's just so much.  Good thing my nickname in college was ricochet rabbit! 

  It is exciting, though, seeing my ideas come to fruition in a logo, a meeting that went better than expected, a potential client wanting to hire me, a friend with some solid advice and support, a colleague with an idea to help me do it better or faster.  It all seems like it's going so smoothly...  yes it feels like a lot of work, but nothing I can't handle.  They say if you're on the right path, it will come easily, well I must be on the right path, then.  I feel so blessed through this process and everywhere I turn, I'm getting the support of a friend or the advice of a mentor.  It's really been so humbling, this experience of making my dream a reality.  I always knew that I would work hard on this, but to see others helping me to make it happen has been the real blessing.  

I think that I'm going to have to throw an a.muse launch party when I'm all set and done to say thank you to everyone who has supported and helped me along the way.  If I only knew a good party planner? 

a.muse on tv?

photo courtesy gelbachdesigns.com

Maybe.  I was talking to a very handsome tv producer last night about the possibilities of a television show.  I can't share the details, but in a few years, you may be saying...  "I knew Sue back when she just started blogging, now look at her!"  I promise that I'll remember all the *little* people. ;)  What do you think, can you see me on tv?

Ladies Who Launch

I've been noticing a theme among my friends lately...  entrepreneurship!  Perhaps because we all have children that are growing up, many of my once sushi lunching, yoga practicing, tennis playing, play date having friends have started, or are starting their own businesses.  From my two friends who partnered up to open a yoga studio with a great name, Peace Love Art Yoga (PLAY); to the one who created the coolest product for her teen daughter, high-quality fur boot covers for her old uggs, then went into mass production for worldwide sales; to the friend who is busy launching a website to give moms a social network to share their mogul ideas, to the overachieving friend with the high powered job that decided to write a book about empowering herself and others.  How lucky for me to be embarking on this journey with such brilliant and confident women.  We now can support each other and help one another navigate through the woods of starting a new business by sharing in each others successes and learning from each others mistakes.  Love my ladies!

3... 2... 1....

Counting down to the launch of a new business is exciting, inspiring, energizing and scary all at the same time.  I'm not new to the industry by any stretch, I know I'm good at what I do and I know that I'm in demand.  Before I even chose a name, I was fortunate enough to start getting business.  I have wonderful, supportive friends and a husband and daughter who believe in me more than I believe in myself.  I'm giving myself very realistic and attainable goals for the first few years, and building my core values into my business model by incorporating pro-bono work and specializing in the things I know I do best.  I feel like I have all of my ducks in a row and I couldn't be in a better position to take off...  Why am I a little scared, then? 

It could be the usual: not having a steady paycheck, not having a company matched 401K, not having the security and stability of constant work.  But my husband owns his own business, my parents owned their own business, I'm used to the entrepreneurial world.  Could it be more?  Running my own business is putting it all out there on the line.  Am I good enough to stand on my own?  Am I ready to work harder for myself than I've ever worked for anyone else?  Clearly I believe the answer to these questions is a confident yes or else I wouldn't have considered this leap, and I'm pretty excited to see where this is going to take me.

So what is it?  I'm a planner by my very nature.  I've never liked roller coasters or been much for an adrenaline rush.  I like things to be well-planned and predictable.  That's what I do for a living and it's how I live my life.  I plan for everything.  When we go on vacation, I plan everything down to scheduled free time.  When I plan weddings, I factor in the possibilities of inclement weather, untimely illnesses, rips in dresses, and anything else that others don't think of.  I obsess over things until I've thought about every angle and every possible result.  The word here is obsess.  I wake up in the morning planning and go to sleep making lists, but as much as I plan this business of mine, I just can't be sure that I'll know every possible outcome .  What I'm doing is risky and I know I can't plan for what I don't know is coming with this venture.  It's what makes launching a new business exciting and what scares me.  That's why I need this.  Sometimes you need shake things up.  3... 2... 1...  a.muse!