Author’s note –> This post has a fore-story (is that even a word?!) but I promise it gets to a good business lesson a little later on… just bear with me because this is a post I’ve been meaning to write for awhile.

Another author’s note –> If you like the posts that are all frilly, fun and filled with “success tips”, skip this one and wait until I’m inspired to do that kind of post.  This one is more focused on the darker side of business ownership.

—

In the past few months, I’ve been on a maternity hiatus.  Waking up every day and getting to spend the entire day playing with my daughter, teaching her things and getting drooled on has made my life feel complete.

It has also made me begin to look at other things completely differently because once you step back from something long enough, you can really look at it objectively.

Take business ownership, for example.

Seven years ago, I launched my first company at the age of 21.  I was young, eager, excited and inspired to do great things in the world.  I had professional goals and I had revenue goals.  I had a vision of what success looked like.  I had years and years stretched out before me.

My start into this land of business was an amazing one.  I had excellent clients who appreciated my work, I had people searching me out (instead of having to market to them) and the economy, at the time, was booming.  It felt fabulous and I felt like I was on top of the world.

(Even writing this I feel like I am spouting off the beginning of a sales page and really, I want to punch myself in the face.)

The clients I was working with were people I had admired.  People whose sites I had previously stumbled upon or been referred to and I looked at them and thought, “Oh man… I need to work with them some day!”  Their business models were those that I wanted to emulate and setup so I could see how they ticked inside.

Business ownership and being an entrepreneur seemed all too good to be true… until the layers of the entrepreneur onion began to peel off in a way that truly did make my eyes water.

—

I began to have behind the scenes access to these businesses I had so admired in the past.  I began to see that they didn’t walk their talk at all.  A lot of it was smoke and mirrors.

There was the business and marketing coach who couldn’t fill their own programs which therefore led to internal team issues as the blame of failure had to be placed somewhere (and it certainly wasn’t going to fall on their own lap)…

The millionaire coach who was struggling to pay her mortgage on her newly purchased mansion and was in tears about it nearly every day.

There was the business coach for women who had to dip into her children’s education fund to pay for things in the business and who decided to let me go after I told her it wasn’t a good idea…

There were the law of attraction coaches who were super negative behind the scenes… the relationship experts who had rocky marriages and who treated their team poorly… and there were the money coaches who never paid their bills on time.

Not only were some of the entrepreneurs not who they claimed to be, they were also making claims and doing things that caused my jaw to drop…

People who claimed to be earning a certain amount weren’t.

People who said their programs were nearly full or who claimed to have only “x” number of seats left weren’t telling the truth.

People would rack up hours with their virtual assistants (us) and stiff them with the bill claiming that they, “Never really liked the work anyway and doesn’t that justify non-payment of services and if not, I’m going to go and tell all of my friends stories of how shitty your services were because don’t you know how social media works?!”

Sigh.

Now, you might be sitting there thinking, “Well Erin… seriously?!  Did you REALLY think that everyone in marketing was telling the truth?  Did you REALLY think the cobbler’s children had pretty little shoes?”  Well… yeah.  I kind of did.

I thought that people were still human… even when separated by computer screens.  Humans who had compassion, respect, were polite, told the truth and were who they said they were.

Needless to say, seven years in and I find myself a bit jaded about business ownership.

I’m not saying that I’m going to up and close my business tomorrow — that is not the case.  We are lucky to have a handful of really, really amazing clients.  Clients that stand by us through the “new client learning curve” and clients who totally get how to delegate and work with a team and clients who respect our work.

—

But, in a post that might seem just downright depressing, here is the silver lining:

We all have the ability to do better and build businesses doing the most authentic thing(s) we can do for ourselves.

It’s just going to take a bit of creativity and a pair of nice, sturdy blinders.  We are all born with the ability to be successful.  You just need to figure out what success looks like to YOU and use that as the guide to get you where you want to be.

So, I challenge you to the following:

• Ditch the comparison vortex… you know what I’m talking about… the hours you spend looking at everybody else’s business but your own.
• Realize that while you might wish you were so-and-so or have a business like them, YOU are amazing and the other person just might be sugar coating a wee bit to help make that next sale.
• Stop using the methods and tactics and NEXT-BEST-THINGS! that everyone out there is telling you to… if you hate sending spammy e-mails all the time, don’t!  Instead, send messages of value and heartfelt outreach so you can CONNECT instead of SELL.
• Be authentic.  Be authentic.  Be authentic. Yep, I realize you might be sick and tired of the idea and of the word “authentic” but seriously, be your awesome self because no one else can.
• Get really, really clear on who you want to work with so you can find clients that PAY you for what you are worth and for your services, so that you get work that you LOVE to do and so you can stand behind their businesses 100%.
• Don’t buy into everything out there and get sidetracked from reaching YOUR goals. I promise you that the most successful companies out there did not become successful by reading a $47 e-book or buying into a $100,000 coaching program.  I PROMISE.

In the meantime, I’m going to work on becoming un-jaded about business.

I’m going to work really, really hard to attract in only those clients that my team and I are inspired to work alongside.

I’m going to say YES to the things I love to do and want to do and say NO to the things I don’t want to do because my time is valuable and I need to respect that.

I’m also going to search out more business owners who are doing what they love and who are walking their talk both in the public and behind the scenes.  When I meet them, I’m going to connect with them and surround myself with other awesome and inspiring business owners.

—

If you are reading this post and have ideas on how I can turn my jademobile around and be reminded of those early days in business ownership, lemme know in the comments below!

Lastly… if you find yourself also jaded or overwhelmed by what you thought business was and what it really is, make a list of ways you’re going to try to change your outlook on it.  Want to be even braver?  Share the list below.

We’re pleased to announce that we will be hosting a weekly podcast via iTunes!  Each week, we’ll be bringing you a five-minute or less podcast focused on a variety of topics: social media, Internet marketing, entrepreneurship, general business tips and more.

Episode 14: Stacy Karacostas & Erin Blaskie on Choosing the Best Marketing Tactics for Your Business

In this episode of the podcast, I interview Stacy Karacostas on the subject of choosing the best marketing tactics for your business. In the interview, Stacy shares a few of her tips for choosing the best marketing tactics for your business.

These days, especially with the advent of social networking and online marketing, the options for marketing your business are practically endless. It can be really hard to know where you spend your time and money to get the best results. In this interview, Stacy shares a few tips to make marketing easier!

Listen to this episode here in the blog post or download it via iTunes.

Subscribe Via iTunes

Click on the icon to the left and you will be taken to iTunes where you can subscribe and download this episode along with all other episodes.  Once added to iTunes, you can add the podcast to an MP3 player or simply listen to it from your iTunes account.

Subscribe via iTunes now.

Listen from Our Website

You can also listen to the podcast right from this post!  To listen, simply click play on the player below.  You will not be able to stop and come back to the recording so keep that in mind before starting the podcast.  If you have any comments that stem from the podcast, please leave them as a comment here!

We’re pleased to announce that we will be hosting a weekly podcast via iTunes!  Each week, we’ll be bringing you a five-minute or less podcast focused on a variety of topics: social media, Internet marketing, entrepreneurship, general business tips and more.

Episode 6: Stacy Karacostas & Erin Blaskie on Copywriting

In this episode of the podcast, I interview Stacy Karacostas on the subject of copywriting. In the interview, Stacy shares a few of her tips for making all of your marketing WAY more effective!

It seems a lot of entrepreneurs really struggle with communicating not just what they do or sell, but also the value of their products or services. That makes it really hard to land clients. Stacy has spent many years as a professional copywriter, writing marketing materials for large and small businesses. In this podcast, she shares a few tips to make marketing easier.

Listen to this episode here in the blog post or download it via iTunes.

Subscribe Via iTunes

Click on the icon to the left and you will be taken to iTunes where you can subscribe and download this episode along with all other episodes.  Once added to iTunes, you can add the podcast to an MP3 player or simply listen to it from your iTunes account.

Subscribe via iTunes now.

Listen from Our Website

You can also listen to the podcast right from this post!  To listen, simply click play on the player below.  You will not be able to stop and come back to the recording so keep that in mind before starting the podcast.  If you have any comments that stem from the podcast, please leave them as a comment here!

Reactive: adjective; 1. tending to react. 2. pertaining to or characterized by reaction.

Proactive: adjective; serving to prepare for, intervene in, or control an expected occurrence or situation, esp. a negative or difficult one; anticipatory: proactive measures against crime.

Entrepreneur A (Proactive):

• Plans ahead with a marketing calendar, events calendar, etc.
• Has both short term and long term goals clearly defined
• Has systems in place for their business
• Schedules regular calls with their team

Entrepreneur B (Reactive):

• Jumps at new opportunities and advice weekly
• Changes his / her mind often
• Has few systems in place and changes those systems often
• Sends new tasks and projects to their team nearly daily and almost always on a rush basis

In the book, “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People“, Stephen Covey outlines habit #1 as being proactive. He writes, “Taking initiative does not mean being pushy, obnoxious, or aggressive.  It does mean recognizing our responsibility to make things happen.”  Later, he also writes, “Many people wait for something to happen or someone to take care of them.  But people who end up with the good jobs are the proactive ones who are solutions to problems, not problems themselves, who seize the initiative to do whatever is necessary, consistent with correct principles, to get the job done.”

The primary difference between a proactive and a reactive business owner is simply action. Whereas the proactive entrepreneur is going to be grabbing his / her business by the horns and leading it to victory, the reactive one is simply doubting his / her abilities and therefore jumping at each new opportunity as it rolls across his / her desk.

The key to success in a business is to move from being reactive to being proactive. Instead of saying “yes” to every opportunity that comes in that you don’t have systems setup for, say yes to the opportunities that line up with your systems, your short term and your long term goals.  For example, if I receive an invitation to speak on a teleseminar, my first gut reaction might be to say, “Yes!” and have the belief that this is going to definitely land me more clients and thus more revenue.  However, if I stopped to assess the teleseminar and put it past a few of my checks, I may find that the teleseminar really doesn’t line up with my goals.

Being reactive also cascades down to your team as well. When you are operating in change mode all of the time and you are reacting to what comes up around you and your sphere of influence, it makes it nearly impossible for anyone else to follow you and keep up.  When this happens, you might find that your team is not able to perform the way you do and it causes many working relationship breakdowns.  Being proactive mean that you can incorporate your team into your planning so that you are all on the same page.

Stephen Covey also found that there was a huge difference in thinking between reactive and proactive people. Proactive people focus their efforts in the Circle of Influence.  This means (and I quote), “They work on the things they can do something about.  The nature of their energy is positive, enlarging and magnifying, causing their Circle of Influence to increase.”  On the flip side, reactive people, (and I quote), “Focus their efforts in the Circle of Concern.  They focus on the weakness of other people, the problems in the environment, and circumstances over which they have no control.”

To test yourself, use one of the application suggestions from Covey’s book: “For a full day, listen to your language and to the language of people around you.  How often do you use and hear reactive phrases such as ‘If only’, ‘I can’t’ or ‘I have to’?”

Question for you: do you notice the difference between reactive and proactive business ownership in yourself or in others?  How does it affect day-to-day work life?

Ever wonder what a day in my life looks like?  Here is a typical day… fully documented.  This was inspired by Andrea Tomkins (who did a live blogging post on her blog) but also inspired from this question on Twitter from Rebecca S:

So, I figured rather than try to come up with brilliant tips on time management, I would just show you how I organize my day / time.

9:30AM – Alarm went off.  I woke up a bit later than normal today because I was up late last night.  I don’t function well on little sleep these days (baby needs some of that energy now too) so I take this opportunity to sleep!  I hopped out of bed, threw a t-shirt and leggings on (normal work attire), put my hair in a ponytail and shook the mouse on my office computer (an iMac) before heading downstairs.  Why?  It lets the computer wake up, log me into Skype and load messages I might have missed overnight or in the early morning.

9:40AM – I fed the dogs and then let them out into the backyard for some morning playtime.  While the dogs are in the backyard doing their thing, I made a bagel (Everything bagel with light cream cheese mmmmmm) and poured myself a glass of grapefruit juice (also mmmm) and let the dogs back in.  Then, I came upstairs to my home office.

9:55AM – I open my Skype and click into “Team Awesome” chat (where my team and I spend the day chatting and notifying each other of important things) to say good morning and tell them about this crazy dream I had.  (In case you’re wondering, this morning I dreamed that baby was kicking me a lot but when it was happening, I was rehearsing lines for my role as Deanna Troy in Star Trek.  Yep, I’m serious.) After telling them about the dream, I logged into Gmail for the first quick sweep of my e-mail.  I start by deleting all of the junk mail and the things I don’t need.  Then, I went through the e-mails that are generated from Basecamp (our project management tool) to see if any required my response or action.  Those that didn’t, I archived away from my inbox.  Did a little happy dance over the orders that came in overnight – yahoo!  Then, I went through the random, miscellaneous e-mail and quickly scanned and labeled those for content (ie: event / speaking requests, Business S&M Telesummit, etc.) I also forwarded e-mails that need to go to my team to the appropriate people.  I did not answer any e-mails at this stage.  Still haven’t touched my bagel.

10:00AM – I open Threadsy and check my Twitter feed for anything that may need response quickly.  I archive away junk / spammy DMs and I star any Tweets that might be favorites (good feedback for example).  I see a Tweet from Rebecca S about time management so I decide to do this blog post.  I open up WordPress, start a new post and take some screenshots and begin writing.

10:16AM – Finished everything from the beginning to now.  Going to eat my bagel and answer my e-mails now.  While I answer my e-mails, I also add any to-dos to my notepad so that I don’t miss them later.

10:20AM – Perfected this blog post and scanned for grammar (lightly) so now I really will go eat my bagel and answer my e-mails.

10:24AM – Tweetly Updater broke when I tried to hit publish so I fixed that, added an image to the blog post and will now REALLY post this.  Have eaten half of my bagel.

11:11AM – I just spent the last little while creating the marketing funnel for Business S&M.  Now, when people opt-in to receive the free e-book on that site, they will also be taken through a series of e-mails pointing them to other things we do that may be of interest.  I started updating all of my autoresponder sequences yesterday as I finalize my move from 1ShoppingCart to MailChimp.  This is so important for me to do now because once #blaskiebaby comes, I won’t have the same time luxury.  During this, Steve also woke up (he works nights) and came in to say hello.  We chatted for a bit and now he’s gone to the gym and to do other manly things.

11:42AM – Answered 65% of my e-mails including sending a speaker’s packet out, sending audio links to speakers in our telesummit and providing a time report to one of our clients.  Exported old lists from 1ShoppingCart to import into MailChimp now that the autoresponder series is ready to go.  Yahoo!  Fixed the opt-in form code on Business S&M (it was still pointing to 1SC).  It’s now a lovely shade of pink but I’ll fix that later (I’m a move quick and edit later kind of gal).  Now getting ready for the Business S&M Telesummit call with me as the speaker.  Am speaking on Passive Revenue Models for Online Entrepreneurs.

11:48AM – Imported lists to MailChimp while my PowerPoint preso opened.  Filed lists away in my Dropbox folder where I keep many of my backup files.  Deleted screenshots from desktop that I used earlier this morning and responded to a Basecamp question / message.  Refreshed Threadsy to see if I missed any good Tweets.

11:56AM – Wrote out funnel on a blank sheet of paper for Business S&M including the items I still need to add.  90% complete the entire funnel.  Will create some e-mail responses for these later so my team can handle any inquiries that result from the autoresponders.  Pulling on headset and getting ready to dial in for Business S&M call!

1:00PM – Just finished the telesummit call on passive revenue.  I talked for the last hour on the different models and how to implement them.  Now, to have lunch with Stevie before he has to get ready to leave for work!

1:49PM – Lunch is now done! Stevie had made us chicken burgers (mmmm) and we watched a bit of Michael Jackson’s last concert documentary, “This Is It.”  When Steve works nights, I always try to spend a bit of time with him during the day as we don’t get our evenings together.  We also did my daily injection of blood thinner and no tears today!  Woohoo!  Maybe knowing that I’m live blogging my day made me tougher…  Now, I have 11 minutes before a call with one of my clients so I will check e-mail, check Twitter and action anything I can before our call together!

1:57PM – Subscribed back to all new subscribers on my baby vlog YouTube channel and left messages on each channel thanking them for their subscription.  I like to do this daily and batch it so that my mind is on that one task for a certain amount of time.  Thanking new subscribers for joining helps build relationships with the viewers!  Time for headset and client call!

2:02PM – Left voice mail for client.  Moved audio from Business S&M Telesummit into appropriate folder and sent out link for audio and PowerPoint to registrants.

2:06PM – Updated autoresponder with audio recording.  Skype chat with a colleague about providing his clients with my strategy / consultation work.  Skype chat with team member about the completion of two blog sites and the total hours billed for those projects.  Woohoo!

2:14PM – Answered 5-10 more e-mails.  Client called in for our 2pm call a bit late but I love her so that’s okay!

3:07PM – Finished client call, delegated tasks to team members and am now on a call with a prospective client discussing changes she’d like done to her website!

3:25PM – Finished prospective client call – going to do a backend assessment of their website and wait for a list of website changes.  Love WP / wishlist work!  Skyped my team to let them know of the new incoming work.  Sent an invoice to a new client who approved their estimate.  Going to check e-mail in the 3 minutes I have before my next call with a virtual assistant whom I am doing some coaching work with!

4:01PM – Finished coaching call.  Am now going to finish answering the 7 e-mails in my inbox, will check Twitter and reply to unanswered Tweets and will do my open to-dos and milestones in Basecamp.

4:20PM – Answered e-mails, tested 1ShoppingCart product links for a team member only to find that every one of their websites is down.  Sent a Tweet to 1SC about the issue.  Received Tweet back and notified my followers.

5:08PM – Pre-loaded blog posts onto http://www.bsetc.com/ for the rest of July.  Added in a milestone for August 1 to remind me to pre-load another 1/2 month or month of posts.  Responded to some Tweets.  Answered a few more e-mails.

5:50PM – Wrote some “Lunch Time Recommended Resource” Tweets and sent them to my assistant to pre-load onto my Twitter account.  Great way for me to point people to tools, people and services I love.  Updated my affiliate spreadsheet with links and created Bit.ly links out of the longer ones.  Chat with my team re: some client work as well as sushi.  Got hungry.  Asked Trina (sister) if she wanted to go for sushi tonight.  She’s going to text me.  Patiently waiting. Starving.

6:02PM – Sent a PayPal invoice to a client who was having trouble with credit card payment.  Wrote out marketing funnel for my teleseminar junkies with some survey components built in.  Read Twitter and replied to a few Tweets.  Still mega starving.  Where’s Trina’s text?!

6:19PM – Created schedules for our BSETC newsletter and our VA Coach newsletter through to December 2010.  Will create all of these newsletters later today or tomorrow so that we are good to go until the end of the year (I can always tweak them as I go and add in content where necessary).  Setup milestones in Basecamp so that our project management system can notify me of when these need to be locked and loaded.  Going to shower now.

6:30PM – Still haven’t showered but it’s cool because Trina came back on Skype and we made sushi plans!!  Yummy!!  Yes, I know all about what sushi not to eat during pregnancy  Don’t worry!  Was also able to discuss a client’s ezine milestones with a team member so we got that straightened out too.  Now I must shower because she’s coming to pick me up!

6:49PM – Showered, dogs are fed, makeup is on, clothes are on… I am ready for sushi dinner with my sister!!  Cleaning up office desk so that I can move to laptop downstairs.  Less efficient when not in my office but I won’t have to wait much longer before leaving for dinner… YUM!

8:33PM – Back home from sushi and taking the dogs for a nice, long walk.  Before I left, I took the time spent waiting to fill in my pregnancy journal so that I could be up to date with where I am at in weeks.  Now that I am home, I am going to check my e-mail, check Twitter and then play a bit of World of Warcraft.  Yep, you read that correctly.  I’m a bit of a gaming nerd and do videos for my YouTube channel – Erin Games.

8:38PM – Decided instead to make a video for Erin Games introducing Bar Star!  The video game I am in

8:58PM – Finished shooting and editing the video for Bar Star.  Exporting it now to upload to my Erin Games YouTube channel as well as my eThusiasm YouTube channel!

9:12PM – Export done and now uploading to YouTube.  Team member needed help finding a navigation plug-in for WordPress so I Tweeted out the question to get some help from my fellow geeks.  Chatted on Skype with the team a bit.  Just waiting for the video to finish uploading and then it’s World of Warcraft time!!  I sort of feel like playing some Call of Duty though…. Hmm….

10:09PM – Decided on WoW  Levelling up my fishing in hopes to get my Grand Master Fishing Achievement!  I bet to you non-gamers, this sounds lame huh?

12:05AM – Finished playing WoW – got five achievements!  Woohoo!  Checked e-mail and Twitter while playing.  Now to go have a snack and watch some TV while I wait for Stevie to come home.  Good day folks, good day.

Okay, so lots and lots and lots has happened since I’ve last blogged an update and while I can’t tell you everything, I can give you the brief overview.

This past Monday, January 25, I flew to Toronto to meet with a production company.  There, I auditioned for a pre-existing show that I was going to take over.  After some discussion over lunch, we’ve decided to actually take it in a different direction and by doing so, I’ll have my very own show that I get to lead in terms of creativity, etc. The show will be business focused but I’m keeping all other details under wraps until I have the pilot done, contract signed and the okay to talk to about it

However… I need your help. I want to be able to have material to work into our pilot episode and I want to be able to give YOU some exposure on the show.  I want to be able to have the option to answer business related questions but since the show isn’t live, I need to have them ahead of time.  What I’m looking for are questions around business, marketing, social media, entrepreneurship, etc.  Anything that would be great for an audience to hear the answer to.

If you want to be considered for the pilot episode, here’s what I’ll need:

• A 2-minute or less video of yourself asking a question
• You can introduce yourself by name and say your company name but remember, keep it brief so we don’t need to edit the important parts out
• You can upload these videos to Vimeo, YouTube, etc. and send me a link but please keep the originally shot video in case the editors of the show want the raw footage
• Once the videos have been shot and uploaded, you can send the link / URL / location information to erin@erinblaskie.com

Important:  I need these videos in the next two weeks!!

Not all videos will make the pilot episode but don’t worry… We’re going to have a weekly spot to feature your questions so it is definitely not a waste to turn on those webcams and record your question!  Remember… good marketing is all about exposure and this will get you in front of a lot of people.

I’ll be posting more details on the show as I have permission to release them so stay tuned!

E.

If you know me, even in the slightest, you know that I combine dreaming with fearless action and sometimes it’s really scary and other times, it feels really, really amazing.

Today marked the culmination of many different dreams for me. The dream of having a creative career, the dream of sharing a message, the dream of showcasing other amazing people, the dream of connecting with like-minded individuals in a powerful way… so many dreams and they were all realized today.

How?

Well, it was all in the launch of my first episode of eThusiasm.

To some, this won’t seem like a big deal… Six minute video podcast… who cares?  To me, this is the first six minutes of the rest of my life.  The first six minutes of a series where I share with you information about amazing entrepreneurs, gadgets you need to know about / have and the ability to connect you with other people who are just like you.

It’s exciting and I want to say thank you for sharing in this crazy, entrepreneurial journey with me… Through good and bad, we’re all in it together.

I’m sitting in the Freeport, Bahamas airport – on my way home from visiting my friend who lives here.  She’s “stationed” here while her husband finishes medical school at a university based in the Caribbean.  They spent their time on an island called Dominica before transferring to Bahamas and needless to say, I was really missing her!

As much as I enjoyed the trip and wouldn’t trade it for a single thing in the world, it makes me realize that being an entrepreneur also means that there is no good time to vacation. Owning a business makes certain things in life harder.  Regardless of your choices, you end up feeling guilty somewhere.

Visiting my friend was something I really, really wanted to do and after canceling my trip to see her in Dominica, I knew I had to get out to see her here.  Most of the clients and customers I have now are understanding and patient which is awesome but there are always the few who put extra pressure on you when you want to take some time away from your office and your regular routine.

It’s tough and frankly, it sucks.

I can’t remember the last time in five years of owning my business that I took a completely unplugged, work-free vacation.  I can’t.  The type of business I have and the structure I have doesn’t make it possible — yet.  Someday, I’ll have figured it out enough to a point where I can vacation guilt-free.  For now, I do it but spend a week catching up.

However… it won’t stop me from doing it anyway.

There’s never a good time to get away and the thing is, if you become a slave to your business and your work, you’ll miss out on once in a lifetime opportunities and experiences.  It’s not always the most convenient and I pay for the time I’m away with all nighters and loads of coffee but it’s okay.  I wouldn’t trade it for the world.

Here are a few pictures from the trip (more to come!):

My bestie Tricia & I at a restaurant in Freeport

Tricia & I snuck into the Radisson to enjoy the infinity pool & ocean!

Coral Beach... a lazy day in the sun & with good company!

How about yourself?  When’s the last time you took a guilt-free, completely unplugged vacation and came home unstressed and underwhelmed?  If you do this often… what’s the secret?

Emptyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy….

Please don’t fill it   Okay.  Go ahead!