Comments on: The Home Business Happiness Scale: Where Are You? http://ittybiz.com/the-small-business-happiness-scale-where-are-you/ Marketing for Businesses Without Marketing Departments Thu, 11 Mar 2010 14:44:12 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Writersbloc.co.uk » Blog Archive » Friday Links http://ittybiz.com/the-small-business-happiness-scale-where-are-you/#comment-5349 Writersbloc.co.uk » Blog Archive » Friday Links Fri, 23 May 2008 12:23:44 +0000 http://ittybiz.com/the-small-business-happiness-scale-where-are-you/#comment-5349 [...] about running a small business, that aren’t really about running a small business at all.  This is one of my favourite posts that I’ve seen on the site, and it’s a really good way of talking about expectations, [...] [...] about running a small business, that aren’t really about running a small business at all.  This is one of my favourite posts that I’ve seen on the site, and it’s a really good way of talking about expectations, [...]

]]> By: Link Travelogue (Vol. 2) | Productive Flourishing http://ittybiz.com/the-small-business-happiness-scale-where-are-you/#comment-4423 Link Travelogue (Vol. 2) | Productive Flourishing Mon, 28 Apr 2008 22:21:05 +0000 http://ittybiz.com/the-small-business-happiness-scale-where-are-you/#comment-4423 [...] The Small Business Happiness Scale: Where Are You? - IttyBiz [...] [...] The Small Business Happiness Scale: Where Are You? – IttyBiz [...]

]]> By: Your Mother-in-Law http://ittybiz.com/the-small-business-happiness-scale-where-are-you/#comment-4236 Your Mother-in-Law Tue, 22 Apr 2008 19:17:47 +0000 http://ittybiz.com/the-small-business-happiness-scale-where-are-you/#comment-4236 Dear Jamie, I have just read your fantastic article and realize - once again - why my daughter adores you, and how proud I am that you are in our family. Thank you for looking after the most important people in my life. With much love, forever and always... Maman xxx Dear Jamie,

I have just read your fantastic article and realize – once again – why my daughter adores you, and how proud I am that you are in our family.

Thank you for looking after the most important people in my life.

With much love, forever and always… Maman xxx

]]> By: Taking Your Website Seriously http://ittybiz.com/the-small-business-happiness-scale-where-are-you/#comment-4214 Taking Your Website Seriously Mon, 21 Apr 2008 18:44:11 +0000 http://ittybiz.com/the-small-business-happiness-scale-where-are-you/#comment-4214 [...] Which is why, I think that self hosted Wordpress blogs ROCK as a primary web presence for the average small business owner are the KEY to increasing your small business happiness factor! [...] [...] Which is why, I think that self hosted Wordpress blogs ROCK as a primary web presence for the average small business owner are the KEY to increasing your small business happiness factor! [...]

]]> By: Kelly http://ittybiz.com/the-small-business-happiness-scale-where-are-you/#comment-4213 Kelly Mon, 21 Apr 2008 18:38:18 +0000 http://ittybiz.com/the-small-business-happiness-scale-where-are-you/#comment-4213 Oh! Michael, I saw them last year when I was visiting my parents. They are wonderful. That's a pretty great thought, too. Just letting go of the term "happy" as such a critical measure. Oh! Michael, I saw them last year when I was visiting my parents. They are wonderful. That’s a pretty great thought, too. Just letting go of the term “happy” as such a critical measure.

]]> By: Michael Martine, Blog Consultant http://ittybiz.com/the-small-business-happiness-scale-where-are-you/#comment-4212 Michael Martine, Blog Consultant Mon, 21 Apr 2008 18:32:53 +0000 http://ittybiz.com/the-small-business-happiness-scale-where-are-you/#comment-4212 Great article, Jamie (Yay for Jamie!). It reminds me of a story told by someone who worked in the Bread & Puppet troupe based in Vermont (where I live). These guys go around putting on these giant shows with gigantic puppets to make political statements (it's way cooler than it sounds). Anyway, they were all tired and rained on and dispirited one day, and everyone was complaining. The troupe's leader quietly said: "Happiness is not important." I still think about that, a lot, because there are many days when I feel unhappy. I know how relative it all is, and hearing your story helped a lot. Thanks! Great article, Jamie (Yay for Jamie!). It reminds me of a story told by someone who worked in the Bread & Puppet troupe based in Vermont (where I live). These guys go around putting on these giant shows with gigantic puppets to make political statements (it’s way cooler than it sounds).

Anyway, they were all tired and rained on and dispirited one day, and everyone was complaining. The troupe’s leader quietly said: “Happiness is not important.”

I still think about that, a lot, because there are many days when I feel unhappy. I know how relative it all is, and hearing your story helped a lot.

Thanks!

]]> By: melanie http://ittybiz.com/the-small-business-happiness-scale-where-are-you/#comment-4197 melanie Sun, 20 Apr 2008 13:31:27 +0000 http://ittybiz.com/the-small-business-happiness-scale-where-are-you/#comment-4197 Thank - you Jamie for your great thoughts. I too have been having -10 kind of days. You helped put things in perspective. I wasn't questioning my employment or perhaps starting my own business, that's not for me. But the daily struggle of helping someone so ill is kinda tough and I was wondering if I could handle it. But you're right some days are going to be -10 and some +10. I'm just hoping the +10 is coming soon. So keep up the good thoughts we all need a little kick in the perspective butt. Thank – you Jamie for your great thoughts. I too have been having -10 kind of days. You helped put things in perspective. I wasn’t questioning my employment or perhaps starting my own business, that’s not for me. But the daily struggle of helping someone so ill is kinda tough and I was wondering if I could handle it. But you’re right some days are going to be -10 and some +10. I’m just hoping the +10 is coming soon. So keep up the good thoughts we all need a little kick in the perspective butt.

]]> By: Kathy http://ittybiz.com/the-small-business-happiness-scale-where-are-you/#comment-4192 Kathy Sat, 19 Apr 2008 19:14:42 +0000 http://ittybiz.com/the-small-business-happiness-scale-where-are-you/#comment-4192 Launching a business is HARD!!! Really, really HARD!!! And sometimes, it's hard to be happy when things are so HARD!!! The reason for the high “failure” rate of new businesses is NOT because the business didn’t make enough money. The number of business “failures” in the sense of the business was too far in debt and unable to cover its expenses are actually much less common than you might imagine. Many, many small business owners throw in the towel because they lose sight of the long term happiness goal. Today was hard, yesterday was hard but not quite as hard as today. OMG! If this trend continues, I'll be suicidal in less than a week! As a “boot strapping entrepreneur” you get to wear ALL the hats… even the ones you hate. You get to wear the sales hat… the bookkeeper hat… THE WEB MASTER HAT (I hear you Rob!) even the janitor’s hat. Oh, and even when your business “grows” to a point where you can hire other humans to wear these hats for you… the buck still stops with you. If the bookkeeper you hired doesn’t do his/her job… the buck still stops with you. If the sales superstar you hired doesn’t deliver, the buck still stops with you. (Which is why I finally settled down into my comfortable "micro-biz" and quit trying to hire staff to take twice as long to do half as much as I could do myself.) You are fortunate in the fact that you have a supportive spouse to help remind you of WHY you left your red-tape job. Because happiness is relative. My sister's spouse wasn't nearly so supportive... and after pushing for her to go back into her "red tape" job....then filed for divorce because he couldn't deal with how MISERABLE she was living 2/3 of her waking hours in a job she hated. You two are VERY lucky to have each other. Launching a business is HARD!!! Really, really HARD!!! And sometimes, it’s hard to be happy when things are so HARD!!!

The reason for the high “failure” rate of new businesses is NOT because the business didn’t make enough money. The number of business “failures” in the sense of the business was too far in debt and unable to cover its expenses are actually much less common than you might imagine. Many, many small business owners throw in the towel because they lose sight of the long term happiness goal. Today was hard, yesterday was hard but not quite as hard as today. OMG! If this trend continues, I’ll be suicidal in less than a week!

As a “boot strapping entrepreneur” you get to wear ALL the hats… even the ones you hate. You get to wear the sales hat… the bookkeeper hat… THE WEB MASTER HAT (I hear you Rob!) even the janitor’s hat.

Oh, and even when your business “grows” to a point where you can hire other humans to wear these hats for you… the buck still stops with you. If the bookkeeper you hired doesn’t do his/her job… the buck still stops with you. If the sales superstar you hired doesn’t deliver, the buck still stops with you. (Which is why I finally settled down into my comfortable “micro-biz” and quit trying to hire staff to take twice as long to do half as much as I could do myself.)

You are fortunate in the fact that you have a supportive spouse to help remind you of WHY you left your red-tape job. Because happiness is relative.

My sister’s spouse wasn’t nearly so supportive… and after pushing for her to go back into her “red tape” job….then filed for divorce because he couldn’t deal with how MISERABLE she was living 2/3 of her waking hours in a job she hated. You two are VERY lucky to have each other.

]]> By: C2 Survive » Blog Archive » testing http://ittybiz.com/the-small-business-happiness-scale-where-are-you/#comment-4191 C2 Survive » Blog Archive » testing Sat, 19 Apr 2008 18:43:04 +0000 http://ittybiz.com/the-small-business-happiness-scale-where-are-you/#comment-4191 [...] Which is why, I think that self hosted Wordpress blogs ROCK as a primary web presence for the average small business owner are the KEY to increasing your small business happiness factor! [...] [...] Which is why, I think that self hosted Wordpress blogs ROCK as a primary web presence for the average small business owner are the KEY to increasing your small business happiness factor! [...]

]]> By: UltraRob http://ittybiz.com/the-small-business-happiness-scale-where-are-you/#comment-4114 UltraRob Sat, 19 Apr 2008 04:04:50 +0000 http://ittybiz.com/the-small-business-happiness-scale-where-are-you/#comment-4114 I've been trying to not let the last month get me down. The thing is for the last 12 months my traffic and income from my website have increased all but a couple months. This month my hosting performance went totally south. They say nothing is wrong. Pages never load. DB queries that should take under a second are sometimes taking a minute which means that's how long it takes the page to load. My traffic has dropped to less than half of what it was a month ago. It looks like from Google's webmaster tools they've pretty much quit crawling my site. So why didn't I change hosting sooner. The hard drive on my 4 month old computer totally failed and I had forgotten to back up a critical file needed to update my site. Fortunately with a lot of effort I was able to recreate it. Now my site is almost ready to go live on a new host. Hopefully this is just a bump in the road. The thing is I would have been happy 6 months ago if I had the traffic I have after my big drop. I’ve been trying to not let the last month get me down. The thing is for the last 12 months my traffic and income from my website have increased all but a couple months. This month my hosting performance went totally south. They say nothing is wrong.

Pages never load. DB queries that should take under a second are sometimes taking a minute which means that’s how long it takes the page to load. My traffic has dropped to less than half of what it was a month ago. It looks like from Google’s webmaster tools they’ve pretty much quit crawling my site.

So why didn’t I change hosting sooner. The hard drive on my 4 month old computer totally failed and I had forgotten to back up a critical file needed to update my site. Fortunately with a lot of effort I was able to recreate it. Now my site is almost ready to go live on a new host. Hopefully this is just a bump in the road. The thing is I would have been happy 6 months ago if I had the traffic I have after my big drop.

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