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Editor’s Note: Don’t be a reactionary troll from my title, read the article. According to a lot of men, the idea of a suitcase carrying woman in a pantsuit does not vibe well with the happy housewife image that is the conservative ideal. This accounts to many of the issues women with strong careers have with finding a peer (in business) to date and marry. Men aren’t necessarily looking for a “lesser” woman to marry but they are looking for a woman who fits into the mold of what is shown as the ideal. Donald Draper looks for Betty Draper not a Peggy Olson aka the career driven go-hard that’s pretty but focused on the prize. Sure this doesn’t account for every male who shies away from single professional women but it describes a healthy chunk of us that run for the hills when we know a woman is an earner. Men who seek a… [Read more]

Being that I have gotten this question a number of times from people who see me tap tapping away on the Berry, I thought it would be useful to detail my favorite apps and what I use them for. The primary use of my Blackberry besides ignoring calls is to text, blog and do accounting. As a small business owner I do find myself bouncing around quite a bit and I need my Blackberry to look at websites, expedite orders and check my accounts for any funny business. I have found my job to be easy with this phone and the following apps have been an enormous help in my day to day activity. 1. Bank of America (Free) – This is my bank (boo and hiss all you want) but for all their sucking, their app is actually pretty damn good. Not only does it use a smooth sliding interface that is very intuitive… [Read more]

Are you the broke friend? It’s a simple question but it may not mean what you think it means. The broke friend oft times will annoy his other friends due to his belief that life sucks for him and him alone. The broke friend will listen to your advice but will rarely take it – despite how easy it is to get out of his financial hole. What we’re saying is that the broke friend title is earned through attitude more than it’s earn from your financial position. A cheap person that has money can be just as much the “broke friend” as can the guy that can barely pay his bills. It’s not an elitist title, it’s a “stop using money as your excuse to being a loser” title. Here’s the anatomy of the broke friend: Wants in on everything but can never afford it. Cries broke whenever it seems convenient – as if… [Read more]

More than likely as your business grows you will run into a client who claims that their last contractor ripped them off or didn’t finish the job. Something along those lines where they squarely put the blame on their last contractor. This is a huge red flag to me in business based on experience. While they may claim that their last contractor was terrible, they themselves turn out to be bad clients. What they don’t tell you about their last contractor is whether they (the client) paid what they were supposed to pay, whether or not they were clear with their instructions or whether or not their check bounced and they took their sweet time making it right. These are major things that would slow or stop any contractor in their work but you are never told that side of the story. All they want you to know is that the last person sucked and… [Read more]

Editor’s Note: This is the first article in an ongoing series I will be doing called – Music and Life (M&L) which is based on lyrics in songs that have influenced my thinking or reinforce a philosophy that I live by. Many of us live our lives through song without realizing it and I hope to enlighten you on some of the best lyrics from various genres that have helped me in one way or another. It’s philosophy but it’s fun philosophy that sounds oh so good. This was my redemption song, it was a song that made me go “you know X is right, if you’re holding me back for too long I have every right to lash out and do something about it”. Granted the lyrics in their literal sense is about robbing to eat (slang for make money). “Y’all been eating long enough now stop being greedy! Just keep it real partner,… [Read more]

My first “smart phone” was a Blackberry. I came into the game late bypassing the large, full qwerty pad monstrosities (that business people carried like a badge of honor) and started my fellowship with a smaller phone that lumped the letters together. Today, I own the newest brand of T-Mobile’s family of Blackberries, it’s small, has a full qwerty keyboard and a touch pad for all the sliding that I need on apps. The phone is great for my needs; I answer my client’s emails, write hundreds of articles and tweet nonsense whenever I have a break. Little did I know that loving this phone had put me on the uncool team of a popularity contest. The iPhone craze of yesteryear ushered in a cult following to Apple that has caused the geeks of the world to look down on the company. To them IPhones are now dumb, useless toys, meant to cull the ignorant… [Read more]

Day 105 of the NBA lockout came and went as many of the previous 104 before it had: without any meetings between the NBA and NBPA. But also like many of those previous 104 days, the most significant news was a loose statement made by one of the chief particulars. This time it was the Commish stepping to the mic to offer an outlook thinly veiled in disappointment: if no deal is reached by this upcoming Tuesday, games through Christmas Day could very well be cancelled. That just happens to coincide with a planned meeting of the owners and the players face-to-face. (The one change to previous meeting is that there will be mediation involved in this round of banter, though that guarantees nothing as far as an agreement is concerned.) This of course follows the pattern laid out by the Commish last week that if no deal was reached by this past Monday, the… [Read more]

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In the past I’ve talked about a person’s aura having a lot to do with intimidation. Well beyond walking, your presence has to be one of bravado, I like to call it the Panther presence. When I find myself walking into a building or plaza, I mentally assume ownership of everything there. It becomes my metropolis and it’s people become my people. This allows me to take it all in at a glance and it leads me to walk briskly as if I own the place. A good example of this stride can be seen through Bill “The Butcher” Cutting on Gangs of New York or Ari Gold from HBO’s Entourage. Both these men don’t stroll, they walk like business is meant to be handled! When you walk this way people want to get out of your way and on observation they tend to assume that you’re a big deal. Put a little smile on… [Read more]