MediaJoltz

I was out to lunch with my mom and sister over the holiday and we got to talking about how I am able to work from home.

Granted I do feel a little like my mother sees it as lounging around-and while my office chair is my couch, I am up and doing and filling my day with worthwhile work-but she said what she envies the most is that if I am hungry, I can go to the pantry and get some food.  If I want to take a day off, I do extra work the day before or the day after so I can take time off.

She then said that she feels like she would want to start a business of her own someday so she can be her own boss.  I told her to be careful though, that most businesses started because they wanted to be able to take time off or just “be their own boss” don’t have a very high chance of making it.  The best reason to start your own company is to fill a niche that no one else is.  I asked her if she had a niche.

“Yes, a very strong niche.  I feel like I can do something on my own and I have this very strong urge to explore that feeling.”

My sister and I tried to hide our giggles as we explained that we weren’t talking about an itch, but a niche-when you see a hole that you can fill, where you see someone doing something and you see a better way to do it.

“Oh. Well I’ll have to think about that,” my mom said.  “But I do still have this urge to do something more fulfilling in life.”

“Thats great, Mom.  That is at least a start.”

Now go find your niche and scratch it!

So, we ran into some trouble with the Podcamp SLC venue.  Here is how the process went down:

-You have to send in an application to reserve a room.  But for any dates past Jan 1st you have to wait until November 15th to send the application in.

-I called on November 10th to find out if the rooms I wanted to reserve were taken anyway, and how likely it would be that if I got my application in first, would they be taken.  I was reassured that at that time all the rooms were available and Sat. is not a very high requested day-it was just a matter of jumping through the hoops and submitting the application.

-I got up early on the 15th to fax the application in and then waited.  I just got off the phone today with someone saying that while applications are taken first come first serve, internal employees to the venue are actually really first, and someone had reserved all the rooms for that day.

And here is the kicker.  The phone call was to see if I wanted to change the dates, I asked them if I did change the dates what the details would be.

-I was asked exactly what group this was that wanted to reserve the rooms.  I told them there were initially 4 of us who want to gather people who were interested in podcasting.  It was open to the public and there would be no charge.

“Well, I am familiar with podcasting,” I was told “and I have to say that it just isn’t a broad enough topic to extend to the general public, so while you aren’t charging to attend, since its for a niche group of people our venue would have to charge you the regular rental rates on everything.”

Um, not for the general public?  Name me one demographic that CAN’T podcast and I’ll find you someone in that demographic who is.  There have been other “camps” similar to this one that has drawn in a crowd of as much as 1,000 plus people.

So apparently I have been misinformed for these past few years!

Anyway, while this is an obstacle that we need to overcome, it will make Jan 26th, when we do have a kick a** event that much sweeter cause we conquered and overcame.  So plan on still attending and having an awesome time learning, sharing and networking.  Just don’t expect to network with anyone from the “general public” there.

The reason I have been slacking in my writing has been because of a recent shift in job positions. I am still consulting under mediajoltz and I still work with my husband at CopperRain Productions, but I have also been blessed with the opportunity of a lifetime.

This job is going to take a lot of my time-but I am sure I will love every minute of it. I will try to write at least once a week-but you can still reach my through email and I can answer any of your questions-any day of the week.

According to some who also hold this job title, I may become a bit overwhelmed with the job duties and tasks required of me, but I will learn by leaps and bounds and become an overall better person because of it.

My new job title I now hold is: Mother.

I am very excited. I had my third doctor’s visit and he said that I am out of the miscarriage stage. We officially heard the heartbeat yesterday at a strong 159.

I hope that all of my American readers enjoy a wonderful Thanksgiving coming up. I know there is plenty for me to be thankful for!!

Someone thinks CowPies might actually be a selling point.

Thumbing through the pre-Thanksgiving get your Christmas gifts now ads for toys and electronic gadgets, I came across the weekly ad brochure for a local grocery store, Macey’s Food Market. I do have to say that there is some marketing genius behind this because it did catch my eye and stopped me dead in my tracks.

Yes, thats right, cowpies. Natural Juice, Forget the Fork bring the shovel pies, with cows as the characters. Okay, is it me, or what is the first thing that comes to your mind when you hear “American Original CowPie.” Then you hear “natural juice pies” and your nose crumples up even further. By the time I got to “forget the fork” my husband looked like he was going to toss his cookies! Of course you’ve got the apple and cherry and walnut kind of pies, but even the font type for that is smaller than the rest of the ad.

I just wanted your opinion on what this ad might make you think of and if you would jump at the chance to purchase this at the store?