I don’t know about you, but every time I buy a table to an event or buy tickets to a golf outing, I always feel like it’s nearly impossible to get people to join me.  Is it me?  Or is it that there are way to many events and outings?

There have been times, when I fill up a table for an event and then the day before, someone drops out.  At that point, I find myself going crazy trying to get someone to go with me.

The other day, I had an extra ticket to a golf outing.  Kristie Galvani, HJMT’s Senior VP, was unable to make the outing and I started to call up and email everyone I knew to try to get them to join me.  I had no luck.  So, I decided to post it up on Facebook and Twitter.  And you know what?  No one answered me on Twitter and two people answered me on Facebook but were also unable to attend.

Sometimes, I even feel that way when I run a small contest to give away something from my office.  And still, hardly anyone responds.

What do you think is going on here?  Do people know longer want freebies?  (I for one LOVE freebies — Free it’s for me!) Is it that there are way too many distractions?  What do you think?

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The coaches at the NY Road Runner’s club told our group that we should run at least four times a week.

“Don’t run for distance,” she said, “run for time.”

My daughter and I figured out a game plan. We are scheduling to run on Saturdays, Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. Thursdays being the day that we run with our running club and the other days we would either do it alone or try to do it together.

On Saturday, I put on a pair of Nike shorts and tank and my daughter wore a similar outfit and we walked to the Long Beach Middle School, where there is a brand new track. She was wearing her Asics and I wore my Brooks running shoes.

We got to the track and saw a man and woman also training. The woman was fast. We were both intimidated. But, we decided to just go for it and forget that anyone else was there.

We ran around the track once and both looked at each other and grinned. I knew how she felt because the backs of my legs were burning. I was barely able to go a mile. She did a little more than me, but not much more.

I explained to her that this happens. “There are days when you just can’t do it and you just can’t get down on yourself. We tried today and we did what we could do. At least we got out,” I said.

She was still feeling a little blue, but we went back to my house, took showers and felt a lot better.

When Sunday came, we were both eager to get going. This time, I wore my Brooks running outfit along with my Brooks shoes. She continued to wear Nike and her Asics and we walked to the Long Beach Boardwalk.

The boardwalk is 4.2 miles (2.1 each way). “Okay, let’s set our clocks for 20 minutes and then at that point, let’s see where we are at,” I said.

We both put on our headphones using the Nike app with the GPS and then took off. We didn’t run fast, but ran at a comfortable pace so that neither one of us were breathing heavy.

As we ran, we saw other runners, some with strollers, and lots of people on bicycles. The beach wasn’t that crowded, which surprised me since it was Father’s Day and I thought that would be a perfect place to go to with your dad.

The sky was blue with wisps of clouds. It was hot, but we tried not to think about the heat. We knew we needed to run 20 minutes because of the day before where we could barely run 12 minutes.

We ran steady and kept going. We passed the new Allegria Hotel, the Hoffman Manor and the second bathroom on the boardwalk. We knew we were almost at the end and kept running.

“You’re almost there,” my Nike GPS app said to me as it interrupted my running song.

A couple of minutes later, it said, “Congratulations, you have reached your goal of 20 minutes.”

Since we were not at the end of the boardwalk, my daughter and I decided to keep on going. When we passed St. Ignatius Church, we knew we were almost at the end. We saw the big Vito’s sign and knew this was it and we could keep going.

We got to the end and gave each other a high five. We were proud of ourselves for being able to run 2.1 miles straight without walking or taking a break. Both of us knew it was a big accomplishment and felt really good about ourselves.

I think we will do great this Thursday at the Runner’s Club…

Article first published as A Runner’s Diary: My First Two Miles In a Long Time on Blogcritics.

Image by nozomiiqel via Flickr

I love all types of accessories — shoes, scarves, jewelry, bags and headbands. I think the right shoes with the right jewelry can make an outfit complete.

Out of all of those things that I love, I’m totally obsessed with shoes.  I walk into Nordstrom’s shoe department and I am in a panic.  My heart races and my adrenaline kicks in.  I can spend hours looking at the shoes and trying on different shoes.  I’m not one of those who try on a million pairs of shoes and then walk away.  I’m the other extreme.  I try on a million pairs of shoes and walk away with four or five boxes of shoes!

Sale time is my favorite time. I just got an email from Stuart Weitzman saying that their shoes are 40% off the original price.  Although the shoes are still very expensive, it’s 40% off!  And when I get the postcard for Jildor every year just saying SALE, I feel like I need to run over to Woodbury and see what they have.

Just recently I was asked to join another social networking site for those of us who love shoes.  It’s called, Sole Society.  You basically register for the site and you answer a series of questions. After that, you are given at least six pairs of shoes to choose from.  This becomes your closet.  If you don’t like anything in your closet, the web site will reselect items until you do like something. Almost every day, they have a featured grouping of items as well.  The best part is, it’s only $49.95 per pair of shoes.

There’s one catch.  Each month you will be billed $49.95 unless you click on a link that says, not this month.  If you don’t click on the link and don’t buy anything, you will be charged the $49.95 but you will receive a credit on your next purchase.

I just got the email and I already bought two pairs of shoes.  Hopefully, this doesn’t get too out of hand but in the meantime, I’m loving every moment of it.  I can’t wait to try on the shoes when they come in the mail!

If you are interested in checking it out, click on this link: http://www.solesociety.com/invite/htopper769

There are some people who keep their business life very separate from their personal life. They may have a separate Facebook page for their “actual” friends and a page for their business acquaintances.

I know many professionals who are corporate and conservative by day and at night they perform in a punk rock band! They certainly have separate lives.

But for me, I keep my personal and professional life in one bucket. I find that many things that happen to me personally, I can use in my business life and visa versa.

I’ve been in business for a long time. I started my business in the early 90’s out of my one bedroom apartment. Nearly twenty years later, I have a staff and three offices in New York State.

My daughter was just a baby when I started the business. I would answer the phones, talk with media and clients and she would cry in the background. No one really minded and eventually she grew out of her colic stage and went on to day care. At client events, I would take her with me in the stroller and even when I had my son, I did the same thing. I always thought it was important to let my clients and potential clients know the real me behind the suit.

I guess I attribute having a family to building a business because they both started at the same time. My daughter was born in December 1991 and my business was born March 1992.  I always thought of the two as twins.

Coincidentally, when my daughter complained about something, a client would complain. When my daughter was in her happiest moment, my clients would be in their happiest moments.

Starting a family was one of the hardest things for me. I didn’t know anything. I took home a beautiful, colicky baby and no one gave me instructions. When I brought her home, I looked at her and thought, “now what?” I knew nothing about feeding her, nothing about changing her diaper and certainly nothing about how to calm her when she was colicky.  I had no plan. I just did what I thought I needed to do.

When she was colicky, I would hold her for hours. I would take her into the bathroom and sit with her while the water ran to try to calm her down. I would walk with her on the beach and listen to the waves breaking on the shore and I would put on “white noise” music in the house all the time.

As for the feeding and the diapers, well, I got better at those things as time passed.

It’s funny because when I started my business I knew nothing about business. I knew how to be a publicist and I was a great one at that. But I knew nothing about developing business, bookkeeping or insurance.  I had to learn these by doing them, just as I did as a new mom.

The bookkeeping part was the thorn in my side. The one thing I had going for me is that I knew how to save money and reinvest in my business. I learned that through playing a lot of poker and blackjack growing up in the small town in which I was born.  Every time I would win at blackjack, I would pocket the money. I would only use what I made to try to make more money.  And, oftentimes, I would walk away ahead. I never was behind. (Well, actually, I was a few times but I’m not going to talk about it here!)

I did the same thing with my business. My first client was the Coalition for Mainstream Employment Services.  It was a group of 50+ non-profit organizations that needed training for their rehabilitation counselors to work with people with disabilities.  I would set up monthly seminars and quarterly symposiums. I also worked for a bunch of smaller clients.  All the money that I made, I put in an account and only used it for my business.  I kept reinvesting in my business.

I remember one time when my grandmother passed away and I had an extra $3,000 that she left to me, I took that money and reinvested it into my business by buying new computers and software. Although, I’m sure she’s looking down and thinking that I did the right thing, I can still kick myself in the butt for not taking that money and buying Apple when it was at $7 a share!

So what tips did I learn from all of this when starting a business?

• Just do it – don’t let anyone talk you out of a dream and don’t get caught up in trying to develop business plans.

• Wing it – Most business owners learn from experience. If you want to be an entrepreneur you have to have the passion within yourself.

• Start out Slow – If you can start your business from a home office, that’s okay. Don’t worry about not having a “real” office.  You will get there. I did and now I have three offices.

• Reinvest Your Money – Don’t start taking money out immediately.  Know that you won’t make real money for many years.  Take the money that you make and reinvest it in your business.  You may want to use it for new computers or for marketing purposes.  Whatever you decide, it’s important to keep reinvesting in yourself!

• Show Your Personality — Try to relate to others as much as possible. Make sure that your personality stands out, whether it is on social media, through networking or even through your written correspondence. People want to do business with people they like.

It’s funny, how starting a business and starting a family is one in the same for me. Overtime, I became pretty good at both.

Image via Wikipedia

When I was growing up, we had one television set in my parent’s bedroom. It was a black and white television and my brother, sister and I would sit on their bed watching television. We didn’t talk to each other. Whether it was “I Love Lucy” or “The Little Rascals,” we just focused on the show of the moment.

Today, things have changed a little.  We no longer sit on my parent’s bed watching television.  Now, my children sit on my bed with their laptop computers and either Facebook their friends or Tweet about something trending. Whatever we all do on the computer, we are focused in the moment.

So have times really changed or is it just the technology that changed?