thefifthri.com

visit site

benjamincateringny.com

WHERE: Crowne Plaza, 801 Greenwich Ave. Warwick, RI 02886

WHEN: Monday, April 25th 2011, 6:30 p.m. – 9:00p.m.

If you’re a food & beverage or hospitality entrepreneur in the New England area, you can get live, personalized consulting from local professionals and Samuel Adams experts who will offer their expertise in areas including:

• Marketing and Public Relations
• Packaging
• Sales and Distribution
• Financing
• Business Planning
• Legal Counseling

I will be one of the coaches, so join us! Food & drinks will be provided.

This event is FREE of charge, but registration is necessary. Get started here.

So why am I cutting out this piece of morning to do anything unrelated to critical work?

Because David Carson’s The End of Print is screaming at me from my library to come pick it up and revel in its rebellion.

From davidcarsondesign.com: "he changed the public face of graphic design" -newsweek & "the art director of the era" -creative review london

This is the struggle of the creative. And I’m taking this 5 minutes now to let my brain scratch the itch. To pull out the plug and let the juicy stuff flow in.

If I don’t express this nagging thought, it would be like a slice of tres leches cake in front of me and I’m holding a fork. But I can’t take a bite until I’ve run a mile.

So I take one bite, and with the discipline that resides in my left brain, I push the plate away.

Duh.

I’m speaking of course about the popularity of late winter skiing in the glacial regions of Vermont and Maine.

Recently I had the chance to try out skiing for the first time at Stratton Mountain in Vermont. Having grown up in Southern California, I was ill-prepared for the mass hysteria of a popular ski mountain, and subsequently, my family and I made every possible mistake that could call us out as Newbs.

So as I lay in the snow, both ego and butt a little bruised after my dozenth wipeout, I realized this: EVERYONE AROUND ME IS FALLING. From the experts to beginners, everyone on a ski mountain is falling. We’re just doing it with varying degrees of control and grace.

Maybe that’s an oversimplification, but seeing it that way helped me to keep getting up. Keep trying again. Many things that are worth doing feel this way. Like starting a business, going to school, auditioning, submitting a proposal, dating.

The skill of control comes with practice. Grace, however, is harder to master – whether you’re a beginner or expert. For example, when you’re flat on your back after the kind of tumble you pray didn’t just go viral on Youtube, do you punch the ground cursing, or do you laugh like you just got off a roller coaster?

If you’re an expert, are you mean to the Newbs because they’re in your way? (This recent designer’s post is an unfortunate example.) Or do you smile and encourage those who are still trying to figure things out?

Even better, do you take the extra time to teach or offer advice? (I’m beaming as I write this, because my awesome husband spent most of his day working with us one-on-one, even though he really wanted to ski the big slopes.) After all, teachers are great at building enthusiasm which always makes the sport healthier.

Entrepreneurs are some of the best “fall artists” around. We know the greatest lessons are learned from mistakes and that each nose-dive is a sign of progress.

The mountain can get pretty crowded. That’s what happens when the conditions are good – call it fresh powder, or open call, minimal initial investment or “low barriers to market entry.” The more bodies, the more we bump into one another. Whether we handle ourselves with grace is what sets us apart and, in the long run, keeps the “sport” alive.