As 2019 winds to a close and the New Year rings in, I spent time taking a look back, a look forward and a look at the here and now to see what’s worked and what hasn’t. For anyone who follows me, Holy Moly, I’m sorry! I planned to take a few weeks off after I posted that last triggering quote in mid-April about giving yourself permission to slow down. Apparently, I heeded my own advice and chilled out in a big way.

My short break turned into — much to my surprise — a SEVEN month hiatus. What the hell happened? Well, for starters, I’d spent the last eight years as a caregiver in some form or another. Whether it was my parents, my dogs, my house, or my businesses, I’ve been hunkered down, getting through, surviving, growing and care-giving non-stop while learning how to build websites, first for others and then for me.

For everything those critical care-giving years gave me (which was way more than I ever could have imagined), they lacked in freedom and sufficient self-care. Needless to say, those life-altering years were not only a big adjustment for someone like me who was used to a solo life on the run, they were mentally taxing. [...]

As I started my year in review, jotting down my accomplishments or lack thereof this past year, I was shocked. Not because of the time I took off, but how much I actually did accomplish. I thought I'd share my assessment to let you in on what’s completed and what’s in store, what’s worked and what hasn’t, what’s good and what’s not. My biggest competitor has always been myself, so I want this written assessment / blog post to be an annual occurrence that tracks the progress made and refocuses my efforts. 

Mostly, I think it’s helpful to witness the struggles every entrepreneur faces when launching a business. As anyone who's started a business can attest, it's hard as hell, but I wouldn’t want to do it any other way. Despite the long hours and dedication, it’s worth seeing your dream – slowly but surely – come to life.

Here are a few of my highlights from this quick review of the three sites that make up the Resort Lifestyle Network (ResortWorkers.com, ResortLocals.com and ResortEntrepreneurs.com). Hopefully, my review will encourage you to bring your goals into better focus to ring in the New Year right.

To read the full perspective, please go here: https://www.resortentrepreneurs.com/2019-year-in-review/

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@resortentrepreneurs 

@constancehammond

Contact Me:  https://resortentrepreneurs.com/contact-us/

to come.

How are you impacting others?

Today I’m sharing four different stories that I hope will inspire you to consider different ways you can make a positive impact on others as well as encourage you to take a moment right now — not later — to pick up the phone or send a text and thank someone for the positive impact they had on your life. You never know how much one little sentence, one encounter or one act of kindness can change the trajectory of someone's life.

As I returned from my 10 day trip to Texas, all rested and relaxed and so happy and fulfilled, I starting doing the mundane tasks that everyone normally does when they return home. I started to unpack. I plopped the dirty clothes down next to the washer and dryer. I reset the thermostat to a more pleasant temperature. I poured out the spoiled milk and emptied the trash. Then, I mozied on out to the mailbox to get the mail.

What came next shocked the hell out of me. On the front page of the local newspaper, glaring me in the face, was something I wish I had never seen.

Christopher, my new neighbor and son of a long-time friend, was being charged with murder. One count of first degree murder. One count of conspiring to commit murder. Bond was set at $2,000,000. In complete and utter shock, I reread the article three times. But there it was in black and white. I wasn't dreaming.

A few years ago, Christopher was the teenager I called to help me gut my bathroom. When I moved from Minnesota to Mississippi, he and his family helped me unload the truck and move all my furniture into the house. My father was his grandfather's best friend. [...more] 

To read the full perspective, please go here: https://www.resortentrepreneurs.com/impacting-lives/   

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@resortentrepreneurs 

@constancehammond

Contact Me:  https://resortentrepreneurs.com/contact-us/

Have you looked at your definition of success lately? As I look forward to what I've dubbed my 're-entry into life' after being sidelined by choice for seven remote years of devoted care-giving and much needed quiet time, I find myself doing a lot of thinking about success and what that word used to mean to me compared to what it means to me now — especially after so much has changed in my life. I'm settled now in all the good ways. It's so important to take pause every few years to revisit your definition of success or else you run the risk of churning out what actually could be an old, long-forgotten dream. It's a trap that's easy to fall into considering how many people live on auto-pilot. To be totally honest, I never really gave it that much consideration in my life until I was going through a divorce in my mid 30s. Sure, I chose a first college, a first job, a first spouse, but hindsight being 20/20, I should have been much more deliberate in all of those choices. I was living an unconscious, immature life based on gut feeling more than intention. Don't get me wrong — this time of my life was good and fun and happy, but in reality I was just going with the flow like a passenger in a rudderless boat on a sunny day. I may not have known where the hell the boat was going, but I sure as heck knew that I was going to enjoy the ride while I was getting there. My 'wandering aimlessly' mindset started to shift when I took some much needed time after my divorce to really ponder what I wanted to do to make me happy again. Luckily, I'd heard or read some advice somewhere by some guru that really stuck. It was this: "if you really want to change your life, take a 30 day YES challenge." It consists of doing at least one new and different thing a day. Go visit a museum. Eat at a new restaurant. Take a different route to work. Change your hair. Go salsa dancing. Take a singing lesson. Learn a new sport. Volunteer. So, I took that advice to heart and chose to bust the rut by immersing myself in art, jazz and all things fun in the Big Apple. [...] 

To read the full perspective, please go here: https://www.resortentrepreneurs.com/success-redefined/   

Follow Me on Instagram:  

@resortentrepreneurs

@constancehammond 

Contact Me:  https://resortentrepreneurs.com/contact-us/

“What are you doing with your lemons?”

After several years of rotting lemons, I’ve learned that no matter  how much you try to suck it up, a lemon will always be sour when  consumed solo. Instead of digesting those unpalatable fruits thrown your  way all by themselves, try adding a little sweet surrender to the mix.  You may just end up with lemonade.

Lemons appear daily. It could be a middle-of-the-night call that  leads to despair. It could be an article read that impacts you  personally. It could be an uninvited intruder in your home or an  uninvited guest at lunch. Maybe it’s a good deal gone bad. Or, simply an  unimaginable tweet that ruins your day.

When life throws you lemons (which it will — and by the way, expect  them to appear one right after another with little respite to get your  attention and enact change), you may be tempted to gulp them down, sour  face and all, to make them go away quickly. But whatever you do, don’t  ignore them. If you set them aside to avoid confrontation, they’ll just  end up rotting everything they touch.

Expect the unexpected and be prepared with a recipe to make life  sweet again. Reflect on what happened. When you take the time to  observe, you’ll discover the hidden gem or the lesson to be learned —  knowledge that wouldn’t be gleaned otherwise had you let your lemons  rot. Instead, you just might become a lemon lover: someone who actually  grows from the sour messages sent your way.

Trust and Surrender.

Aren't most of the problems we encounter in life geared towards one thing: trust and surrender? They teach us to put our faith in God by reminding us that we don't have any control — contrary to what our ego says. Sure, we may pretend otherwise. Delusions and denial appear as peacekeepers until reality kicks in and you're back in the grip of panic. [...}

To read the full perspective and access any additional resources, please go here: 

https://www.resortentrepreneurs.com/lemonade/

Follow Me on Instagram: 

@resortentrepreneurs

@constancehammond

Contact Me: 

https://resortentrepreneurs.com/contact-us/

Hatching — then batching — saves you time.

It's been a long, draining month for me. For any of you who've followed my posts on Instagram, you know that the month started with the death of my beloved black lab, Lady. That same morning, I found myself stuck in a grand jury, listening to 90 cases of meth and mayhem for the rest of the week instead of bawling my eyes out over the loss of my best friend. (No...they wouldn't release me from jury duty despite my pleas). The following week, the gas line from the propane tank to my Peace Palace had a huge leak and needed to be replaced. By the grace of God, there wasn't an explosion (although my back yard now looks like there was one from all the digging).

And as if that wasn't enough to get me stuck off track, I learned that a sweet friend of mine died in one of the avalanches to hit Colorado this month. Man oh man, sometimes life hits you hard.

Luckily, I've learned that God doesn't give you more than you handle. Life will return to normal and laughter will resume as it always does.

So after many tears and a few days of catching my breath, I'm gearing up to hit the go button again. But, before I do, I've decided to change the scenery and shake things up a bit. If I've learned anything from this month of trials and tribulations, it's life is short, connections matter and work is always going to be there waiting.

So I'm going on a road trip.

But, before I start my 10 day journey of rest and relaxation, I've decided to hatch and batch!

To read more about this TIP, please go here: https://resortentrepreneurs.com/batching/

 "Maybe it's time to burn some bridges."

Everyone thinks that burning bridges is a horrible thing. But when you’re an entrepreneur in the start up phase of a business, burning bridges is not only a good thing – it’s a necessity for success.

As you cross the bridge over the great divide from employee to entrepreneur, you must burn the bridge left behind or else you’ll find yourself constantly distracted, looking back over your shoulder. Burning bridges keeps you from back-stepping into past illusions of safety and grandeur.

When I talk about burning bridges, I’m not advocating that you write off old colleagues or telling an old boss to go jump. What I am talking about is firmly saying 'no' to those nagging options that keep appearing which only serve as tests to your entrepreneurial resolve.

To read the full perspective, go here: https://www.resortentrepreneurs.com/burning-bridges/

 “Is competition a mental illness?”

On my walk tonight, I was listening to an entrepreneurial podcast like I usually do when I heard a Native American quote on competition that stopped me dead in my tracks:

Wow. Think about that quote for a moment, and then consider how much of your time is spent in comparison mode. We must all be nuts.

You see a competitor on social media touting their horn about some great achievement, and your mind immediately goes to...

— pity-party:  'I can't believe how hard I work to be this far behind."

What…no awe? Well, we are human after all.  But, let me challenge you here. If genuine awe and appreciation isn’t one of your first reactions, then you are doing yourself a disservice. That’s because, at least in this scenario, it really is all about you.

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MORE INFO

For more information and resources on Competition and ideas on how you can take action, go to: https://www.resortentrepreneurs.com/competition/

Hi everybody.

I’ve been working hard these past few months trying to get all the nuts and bolts nailed down over on ResortEntreprenuers.com since I relaunched the site at the start of the year. Part of that relaunch entails creating content that translates across all platforms.

So, one of the things I want to do is re-purpose some of the content that shows up in written form on the website and/or via email and put it into this podcast because I know people like to consume content in different ways. Most notably, I plan to create a weekly perspective on entrepreneurship that is equally suited for listening on a relaxing walk around the neighborhood or during a long drive into town.

So, with that said today, today’s perspective is on being a SPEED DEMON – or not. I’m sure it’s something we can all relate to.  I hope you enjoy it. Let’s get started.

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I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the whole speed narrative  that’s dominated startup life for the past two decades and how this  do-it-now-or-die approach needs to be challenged more. You’ve heard the  mantras: “the need for speed” … “move fast and break things” … “iterate,  iterate, iterate.”  Being a speed demon is at the heart of the lean and  mean startup philosophy, and understandable so because you test fast,  learn fast, fail fast and then can change course fast.

But what if, to our own detriment, we’ve allowed these speed mantras  to be etched into our business brains without enough consideration.  Perhaps some of us should embrace a slower, more organic path and  actually enjoy the process of building a business from the ground up.  Honestly, I’m not falling for the speed trap any longer. I want to win  the race at my own pace.

I am the tortoise. Coo-coo-ca-choo.

To read the full blog post, go here: https://www.resortentrepreneurs.com/speed-demon/

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