Launched

As many of you know, I love the author, Seth Godin.  His words have helped me think through a lot of different situations over the years and given me moments to really stop and think about what I was doing.  I believe he has helped me to be a better leader in my professional life and now, I think that he may be one of the factors that is helping me to move forward in my personal life.  

One thing Seth talks about time and time again is that you have to "ship."  This means that you have to gather your courage and take whatever it is that you have done and put it out there for the world to see.  Honestly, it has been the encouragement of some of you, and the idea of shipping that got me to write this blog in the first place.  I had thought about it sometimes, even taken a crack or two at writing something, but I had never found the courage to put what I had done out there for the world to see, and honestly, to critique.  And then, on April 7, 2011, I was able to find the courage to actually publish the first of these blogs.  If you go back and look at what I thought this would be early on, we have traveled a great distance from that, but I am still putting myself out there, and you are still reading what I have to write.  Thanks so much for that.

 

Well, again with encouragement from all of you, I am jumping to a completely new level.  I have opened an Etsy store to let people know what is available from Jim's Toybox Woodworking.  So, to use Seth's verbage, I have shipped.  I have told you that I have actually produced something and I am holding it out for public scrutiny.  Just writing the sentence causes me to be just a little queasy.  

In the middle of all of this, I keep thinking about the television commercial talking about big changes later in life.  Well, this is certainly one for me.  I ask that you support me in this venture and if you know of anyone who might be interested in the work that I do at the Toybox, let them know about all of this.  Along the same lines, if you need, or know someone who needs something built to their specifications, remember that I am out here working on the weekends and in the evenings - making sawdust and beautiful finished products.