This is going to be a really scattered post. I blame the cold medication.

Since I’m pretty into New Years’ Resolutions, especially the wildly unrealistic kind, I am resolving to lose some weight. I am resolving to get off my ass and learn to cook something other than hash browns. I am resolving to go swimming regularly. I am resolving to burn my confectional. I am resolving to lose the FIFTEEN POUNDS I’ve gained since starting a full time home business in September.

As IttyBiz is not a weight loss blog (and thank God for that – if it was, it’d be pretty damned unsuccessful so far) I will not bore you with updates. Thinking of New Years’ Resolutions, though, gets me to thinking about business.

Your business. Read More

As promised, here’s the first product link for the IttyBiz charity drive. Don’t have a clue what I’m talking about? Click here. Remember, even if you don’t buy this product, anything you buy through Amazon from this link helps the cause. Click the bag, buy a banana hanger, doesn’t matter.

Anyway, about this item. The awesomeness of this bag cannot be overstated. The title of this post is taken verbatim from one of the many, many five star ratings on this product.

Here’s the deal. You buy a bag that looks highly funky. The World Food Programme feeds a kid for a year. A YEAR! This is a perfect gift for the conscious person – whether they’re fashion conscious or socially conscious, it doesn’t matter.

(Oh, and yes, I’m well aware that the celebrity spokesperson for this product is Lauren Bush. I know it’s hard, but try to get past it. Don’t take it out on the kids.) Read More

This post has nothing whatsoever to do with Tiger Woods. It has to do with follow-through, something I hear Tiger Woods is very good at.

My apartment is painted beige. The actual name of the color is “Surrey Beige”, arguably the most boring name in the history of the interior paint industry. My mother would love it. I would prefer to call it something like “Mushroom” or “Mochaccino”, but I am not in charge of naming paint colors, although I probably should be. (Does anybody out there run a paint company? If so, can I have a job?)

Moving on. The other day, I was reading a boring home decorating magazine, one of those ones that exists for the sole purpose of procuring advertising dollars. (Kind of like some blogs I know.) I run across an ad for Beauti-Tone paint. Beauti-Tone is a Canadian brand that’s been hit pretty hard by the emergence of the Martha Stewart, Debbie Travis, Disney, and NFL paint lines. Beauti-Tone is not sexy. Read More

We are the shoppers, and we’ve had enough.

This season, our dollars will make a difference.

We’ve had enough of hearing that your cologne will make her have sex with us, when someone dies of AIDS-related illness every 12 seconds.

We’ve had enough of watching you spend millions of dollars to persuade us that your lip gloss will make us more beautiful, while millions of people in this country eat less than one meal a day.

We’ve had enough of feeling the environment collapse while you cover your useless and disposable products with 7 layers of non-biodegradable packaging.

We’ve had enough of listening to you try to convince our children that the holiday season is about who got the best officially-licensed gifts.

This season, we will teach our children to think about what really matters.

This season, we will do our part to keep John Lennon’s dream of peace alive. Read More

Since there is no decent shopping to do in Canada today, I’m catching up on reading blogs instead. Today I ran across a wonderful piece by Christine over at Self-Made Chick chronicling the first part of starting her own business. It’s very good, you should read it. When you’re done reading it, you should read my response.

I feel I would be remiss if I didn’t post the other side of the coin – what sometimes happens when what happened to Christine doesn’t. This was what happened to me, and it was probably just as hard, although many wouldn’t think it this way.

When I started my business, I was way too successful.

Let’s back up a little bit, shall we? When I was growing up, both of my parents were home business owners. My father started out in software, moved into custom furniture, then on to high-end mustard (!). Since school wasn’t exactly the biggest priority in our house, I spent a lot of time going to sales calls and trade shows. I watched him sell very expensive stuff to people who didn’t know they needed it. I was probably about four when this whole game started.