But lately I’ve been intrigued, even obsessed with the idea of business and entrepreneurship.  Perhaps it’s been my recent brushes with affiliate marketing and the knowledge that I can make money by connecting people to products (in a non sleazy way of course).  That concept makes sense to me and actually inspires me where previously anything business related flew straight over my head.  Or maybe it’s just the fact that I’ve learned Icould create my own job through creating a business, even if just to say I did it.

Either way, I’m enjoying learning more about how businesses get started and how the successful ones operate.  I’m extremely interested in the beginnings of businesses – the time when they move from concept to operating business and beyond.  That’s part of the reason why over the weekend I went to see the business demos from businesses created over the weekend at 48 Hour Launch in Memphis.

48 Hour Launch is a weekend event by Launch Memphis where people come together to take an idea and form a business in two days.

They have done three weekends like this in the past (called Startup Weekends, I think).  This time they had eight teams launch businesses within 48 hours.  The businesses they started over the weekend (some with websites, some are coming soon):

• Tipp Jar
• The List of Bands
• One Song Concerts
• One Day Professional Services
• Tourney Caddy
• Romance Playbook
• My Representatives
• Chrono Comics

Some of these ideas are really cool and I will end up using and recommending them in the future.  (Probably starting with Tipp Jar, because I’m a starving writer trying to move to a new continent and could use the tips.)

Don’t they all look like happy entrepreneurs after two days of work creating new businesses?

I’m excited to watch the businesses all grow and see which ones succeed as they moved forward.  It’s interesting to watch the process before (eventually) going through it.  Seeing how they basically created a brand new business in two days inspired me.  I may not be launching in two days, but I’m definitely inspired and encouraged by this event.

Writing

My favorite posts this month included my BIG decisions: starting a business and moving to New Zealand.

On my healthy weight loss blog I wrote about emotional eating and compulsive eating.  Being very honest and open about things like that online are scary, but the response was amazing.  I’ve learned that blogging about personal matters invites a lot of criticism that can cut deeply, but it also allows people to connect with you on a whole different level.

Guest posting in February was non existent since I started working on some (super small) freelance projects and writing an ebook.

Awesomeness

Another couple of items from my life to do list were crossed off – falling in love and completing project 365.

A new project to help make Memphis better, or at least celebrate it – SHOOT MEMPHIS.

Other Stuff

I’ve been doing something I never thought I would be doing – wordpress setups.  Yep.  I’ve written instructions for people to start their own wordpress blog, but I’ve also been setting them up for people that don’t want to follow instructions.   Apparently in the last year or two I’ve picked up some skills thanks to blogging and I’m now using them.  I’m no expert, but I know some things.  It’s nice to know things, yes?

One project that I thought should exist is a site for Memphis photography.  Something that showcases amateur and professional photography for one reason: to show everyone how beautiful and awesome the city of Memphis is.  To my knowledge nothing like this existed already.  But it should.

Long, long ago (sometime during college) I bought the domain name shootmemphis.com with vague ideas about something like this.  I neglected it and forgot about it and would every once in a while throw a photo up there.  I never made it a huge focus of what I did online.  Now I’ve decided to change that and donate a few minute of my day to making a blog celebrating Memphis and its photography a reality.

I know I’m not going to live around here forever.  But while I’m still here I want to celebrate it.  And I want to help others do the same. In the midst of all the discussion about whether Memphis is miserable or whether it’s not, I think more things like this are needed.

So check out the site.  Help me by contributing YOUR photos of Memphis (email me) or send me a message on flickr (I’m here). Let me know if you have photos of Memphis you want to share.  And if you are or know a Memphis photographer, list your services in the Memphis photographers directory.  But more than anything, if you live here… appreciate it.  Look for something GOOD in the place instead of accepting some label a magazine gave you.

I’m moving to New Zealand this year.

I loved New Zealand and the person I love lives there.  Additionally, I’ve always wanted to live there.  Don’t ask me why, but it’s just always been one of the countries on my list of places I wanted to live (also including England, any European country, and Mexico).  And I want to move there by the end of the year, sooner if possible.

I’ve already chosen the path I want to take and now I’m just trying to figure out how to make it happen. Before going I want to finish paying off my credit cards and bank the money needed to go there on a working holiday visa.  Plus I need a plane ticket, insurance, and other miscellaneous expenses.  So now I’m at a place where I’m trying to figure out how to make it happen.

The past few months my online income has been rising dramatically each month.  It’s been encouraging to see more success, but it is still not a full time income.  It is more like pay equivalent to a part time gig.  With living at home it is currently paying all my expenses.   But it’s not getting me to New Zealand anytime fast at this rate.

I suppose one problem is that it’s not a full time job.  I don’t work on it full time.  I could but as of yet I’ve either had other jobs or been traveling.  So now that I’m in one place and settled I have a decision to make: do I go full speed ahead trying to create an income online or do I start searching for a job?

The correct answer is probably both.  But job searches can last months.  In months I’m hoping to be getting ready to move to New Zealand.  So perhaps instead I should look for short term freelance projects once again (anyone need a writer/blogger?) and even contemplate a waitressing job.  Plus, searching for a full time job when I don’t intend on staying longer than a year seems unfair to whoever hires me.

Or maybe I should continue with the online biz action. I’ve got an info product I’m working on that will be released next month and maybe I should focus hardcore on that launch before making a decision.  I know long term that this is what I want to be doing, I’m just not sure if now is the right time to make that jump.

If you want to share your thoughts, feel free.  But keep them positive, since this is a positive thing.

I’m excited to be moving abroad again!  And this time I will understand everyone for the most part!  It’s going to be awesome!

Sort of.

It might be the lamest excuse for one ever.  I used my iphone for more photos than I would like to admit.  And I messed up the dates and skipped at least 4 days, since it ended several days after the date I originally started on.  (Perhaps a bit of that could be blamed on the confusion of going abroad for a while.)  All of the pictures aren’t great.  Maybe only a few are good.

But I did it.

Project 365 is getting crossed off the life list and my camera is going back to being a special use item.  The pressure, not that there was any, is off.

For me it’s less about the pictures and more about all the wonderful things that happened while I was trying to document my life over a year. Sure, a lot of boring “oh no i forgot” pictures are in there. But there are also pictures from trips to Puerto Rico and Washington D.C. and New Zealand and more. There are pictures of friends getting married, blogging conferences, living in Vermont, vacationing with my mom and meeting the love of my life. It’s been an interesting and unpredictable year for me and this project reminds me of that fact.

So here are the 365 photos that managed to make it into the final slideshow of Project 365 greatness.

Congrats Memphis, you are the Third Most Miserable City in America!

Yes, congratulations are in order.  Last year we were second.  So we are moving in the right direction! Or someone is getting worse?  Either way… go Memphis!

I wonder, who actually pays attention to these rankings?  I mean, Miami and Chicago are cities on the list and I find both of those cities to be awesome places.  And I think Memphis is pretty nifty too.  Is it miserable?  Are any of the cities on the list “miserable”?  Only if you want them to be.

You can live in the most beautiful place in the world and be miserable.  You can live in a “miserable” place and be happy.  Much, if not all of this, is up to you.

Personally, I’m choosing to be happy wherever I am. Or at least try.  Isn’t that more fun than being miserable?

Apparently Memphis ranks low for those wanting to find love, or so The Memphis Blog has informed me.

I suppose that’s why I had to fall in love with someone who lived outside of Memphis. Maybe I could have picked someone closer to home, but falling in love with a boy who lives in New Zealand does have its perks.  New Zealand is pretty awesome.

It’s a very strange thing, falling for someone before you’ve technically met them.  But that’s what happened to me in a little weight loss blogging love story that took me across the globe to meet the person I fell for.   In the end it worked out like I imagined and I couldn’t be happier.

I forgot to eat a kiwi while looking at the kiwi birds, which for some strange reason is a goal of mine.  Oh well, I’m just saving something for next time.  We did wander around looking at the animals before the concert and saw many of the normal characters, like birds, rhinos, and hippos.

At 5:30 they closed the zoo and we lined up outside to get back in at 6 for the concert.

Lisa Crawley opened up the show

and the main acts were Anika Moa

and Sola Rosa with some singers whose names I don’t know.

Sola Rosa was the only one I had any previous knowledge of before ZooMusic.  I love this song from them and Iva Lamkum.

The concert turned out to be pretty cool. We grabbed some grass front and center to sit and enjoy the show then danced during Sola Rosa’s performance. Luckily the rain held off until we were leaving! I never thought it would rain, or threaten to rain so much here.

Despite being a lot of fun, the concert was a Concert for Conservation. Part of ticket price and all the additional money raised that night will go toward conservation of the Sumatran tiger. From the Zoo:

“Worldwide, there are fewer than 160 Sumatran tigers in zoos and less than 400 in the wild. Along with captive breeding, zoos are increasingly working together to support conservation projects in the wild. Through our Conservation Fund, the zoo has joined with Australasian and European zoo partners to assist the 21st Century Tiger project’s Kerinci Seblat National Park. A World Heritage Site, Kerinci Seblat’s 14,000km is one of the most important conservation areas in South East Asia, and has tiger protection and conservation units working hard to halt the poaching and trafficking of tigers. Funds raised from Anika Moa and Sola Rosa’s ZooMusic concert will support tiger protection and conservation units in this national park.”

Listening to music and saving the tigers…. good times. ;)

I’m enjoying posting pictures lately, more than blogging, since I’ve got so much other writing to do with my other blog and the ebook I’m working on. Here is one of my favorite places, right in the middle of Auckland.  I love the trees and how they grow out searching for the light wherever they can find it.

Oh yes, the business thing.

It’s on my goal list but now I’m working on it.  For real this time.  I’m not trying to just make money, but I trying to build something.  I’m in the middle of creating a product that I will be launching and selling next month.  I have plans for more and partners to work on them with.  It’s simultaneously exhilarating and frightening because I’m in control of the whole process and therefore responsible for its success or failure.  I’m betting on this being a success, but in the back of my mind there is always a chance of failure.

The thing about it is – you can’t let fear of failure stop you from doing what you want.

I decided I want to work for myself. So I’m trying this new approach to doing it.  I have a ton to learn about creating and launching products and even more to learn about being self employed.  For the last several months I’ve built up an income of several hundred dollars a month through blogging.  I’m not getting rich and I’m not even making a full time income.  But I’ve realized that I can do this.  With some more time and some more hard work I can make myself a full time income on my own terms.

I love how I’ve started this while I’ve been in New Zealand.  Travel and a new business endeavor?  Yeah.  Life is ridiculous and complicated and hard and awesome.

So I’m off on this new endeavor and I want to blog about it.  I’m not sure how it will end up.  I’m sure though it will be a learning experience.  I would love to read more about these kinds of things from anyone who has done it before or about the best ways to go about starting a small business.  If you have any book or blog recommendations I should be reading then let me know in the comments.

And other than that… I don’t know what to write about. ;)