Category: Call That Girl’s Tech Blogs

I need a moment, Feb 24 2009

Many topics of discusssion for today folks! First off, it’s a nice quiet morning in the apt. It hasn’t been quiet for sometime as I have been packing like a mad woman and trying to get some order to my chaos…

Secondly, I am moving next Sunday and am very excited for this move! I got a faboo apt in Uptown and am ready to challenge myself to a new life over there. Currently I live in South Mpls and it’s ok here, just not my cup of tea for neighborly fun.

Business is moving along well…I need to update my current client count here soon. I am at around 200 I would guess, I really should know exactly because I celebrate those moments! 100 clients was a big deal for me but then I did the numbers wrong and couldn’t count in the pro bono work, even though those folks were technicially clients. Owell!

I have a new intern on board, Hassan. He’s a student at St. Thomas and a great idea guy and fast learner. We are working on a few things to market the business. Some old ideas are coming back to life with some new avenues, spring should be an exciting time for Call That Girl. Watch for the  new format of the newsletter…it’s going to rock! I’m so excited for it I really can’t wait. (ok, that is kinda dorky to say, but true!)

This week I also helped form a new LinkedIn group for singles in the Cities, I think it will be a good group to banter with. If you would like to join, search groups for “Twin Cities Singles”.

Alrighty, I’m outtie! Have a good day 🙂

Lisa

I need a moment Feb 14th, 2009

Home day for me. I have Sears coming over at 1:00 to finally fix the hunk of junk I bought from them 2 years ago. All I have to say is thank god I bought that extended warranty! One more visit and I get a replacement.

It’s nice to have a day off though, I haven’t had a Saturday off in many weeks and today I am going to pack up the house. I’m moving in 2 weeks, so I do need to get going.

Last week was a good week for CTG, my new intern and I are working on many new plans. He’s got good vision already, he’s given me many great ideas to add to my ideas. Watch for our creativity to start peeking out this next week!

It’s Valentine’s day, nothing special for me. I will probably take my dog to the park and hang out with the other single women who will no doubt be there LOL.

Happy Valentine’s!

Lisa

I need a moment Feb 7 2009

OMG, where did the last 2 weeks go? Seems I just blogged! I wanted to blog more often than this too, so apologies for those that are nail biting waiting for my next exciting update….haha.

I think I found an apt, not sure…still in the process, but they told me to not worry about it. So…if I don’t have to worry about it, I got it right? It’s super awesome and it’s going to be the first “kick ass” apt I have ever had. If I had to say I loved one thing about this place the most…is probably the tub, the kitchen appliances, the beautiful floors, the courtyard, the deck, the jacuzzi outside my deck, the double decker laundry…owait, that’s more than one thing. I love this place!! It’s nestled in the heart of Uptown and I will for sure be taking advantage of being near everything and the lakes. My dog loves the Lake of the Isles dog park and I do too.

Other updates! I am working on a few projects for work that should all be coming to life shortly. I’m excited to be offering live phone support here soon. I will still be taking appointments, but doing the live support is going to really be something new for my business. And I’m excited to move back to doing help desk again, it’s my true love of my life.

In other business, I have a client this morning that will be about 3 hours. I’m transitioning his office off an old corporate supported model to self supported model. This move took many many hours of consulting, ordering and setting up computers, getting the little requirements done and today, we will be done! I will have done the first office in the state for this type of transition. I should be done with around noon and then I’m free til Monday! WOO!

But I work everyday….so it’s never really time off LOL.

Enjoy your weekend folks! Off to get coffee:)

Lisa

I need a moment Friday, Jan 23 2009

Wow, what an awesome week! I didn’t have a full client load as I wished, but I did a few marketing things that really rocked. I had a booth at the Sharp UpSwing in Golden Valley and also did 2 speaking engagements on Monday to different private networking groups to support Project Link It Forward. I also found out that my piece in the Star Tribune was syndicated nationally and the story is all over the place. I received emails from folks all around the country…and some calls. My mom’s friend told me that the Waterloo paper put it on the front page of their business section, half page! OMG….she is sending me a copy. I couldn’t believe it. Who knows, maybe I will be in Waterloo doing workshops soon LOL. 

This weekend I am heading home to Rochester for a late Christmas. It’s only going to be 25 below….I should be able to handle that. WT? 25 below? Yes, I’m nuts and I’m going. 

Tonight though I am working on a few projects that need some love as I’m ready to push forward with business. It’s time to move it to a new level. Last year I did 260 client visits. This year I’m shooting for 4 times that. I know…big goals, but I plan on having a big business. 

It’s Friday night, watching the Insider. Not much else is going on. I’m pretty excited to do nothing tonight but just relax. 

See you next week! Lisa

I need a moment Jan 16 Saturday

Where did this week go? I know….I was sick all week long, barely had an ounce of energy, but still mustered up enough to work all week. I did take Friday off to relax somewhat, I caught up on emails all day long. With Friday night closing up, I hit the sheets with  coricidan with a Nyquil shooter.

Today I am still sick, but  had some good energy this afternoon so I ran errands, took my dog to the park and decided that Funyons was an acceptable “Lunch”. When I left Rainbow today chowing down on those Funyons, I realized I was one of those people that bought into the “marketing trick” of buying the junk food at the grocery store! I was in line and saw those Funyons just sitting there. How long had it been since I’ve had Funyons? A long time. A very long time. I better have some because it’s been awhile and they are pretty good. They are really good with sour cream. I remember eating them years ago with sour cream. Yum, that sounds really good. So they went in the cart. I ate them all on the way home sans sour cream. Hey I’m sick, I deserve something right? I had enough Funyons to keep me happy until 2010. 

This afternoon I went through a few business plans and am working on some exciting things in the next few weeks. I’m doing many speaking events, many of which came after the Star Tribune article was printed. I’m very proud to be speaking to so many people about what I am really excited about…connecting people. It’s really what I’m good at, I wish I could make money just off doing that! Connecting people (networking) is something I have always been good at. I’m speaking to 2 groups on Monday about LinkedIn. One group is learning how to network into new jobs and opportunities and the other is a general FYI LinkedIn presentation. 

I’m also boothing at the Upswing event on Wed at Golden Valley Country Club this week. it should be a good schmooze event for me, I like doing these types of events, they are fun! I love to get out and see folks. 

I also made the decision to just focus on my core business, computer repair…so goodbye to LinkedIn workshops. As everyone here I hope knows, I’m also the creator of Project Link It Forward (a pro bono project) so I’m very busy and had to let something else go. Relieving myself of the workshops really helped me move ahead with just working on Call That Girl computer repair and services. Sometimes I think entrepreneurs get too ahead of themselves and put too much out there. I’m a one woman shop…I can only handle so many things on my plate. The biz is going well with computer repair so that is my core business and I need to focus on that. LinkedIn is the hot thing now and many other people are training it, so I am passing that along as requests come my way. I will pay it forward. 

To close, I’m excited to “feel better” by tomorrow and have a day for me to do fun things for myself. I am going to wrap xmas presents as I’m finally going to celebrate with my family next weekend, do some cleaning, hit the gym and feel good that my energy is back.

“I need a moment” Sat Jan 10

Wow! What a week I’ve had! I was crazy busy and now I’m just finally able to do something for my personal life hah! Today I slept in and then did some email catch up, decided it was time to get out of the house and run tons of errands I needed to do. 

I started off my day with going to see 2 apartments. The first one was decent, but the bathroom wasn’t up to my liking so it’s off the list. I told the guy that he needed to update the apt and he looked at my like “why” haha! because your bathroom is gross dude! Seriously…the paint was coming off the walls by the shower, how gross! I could not deal with that. And since he gave me that look, it wasn’t worth even asking him to fix it up. Next! 

The next apt had me frightened. Enough about that. 

My next errand was to get my puppy Frankie and doggie treat for tonight so we hit Urban Animal. There was a crazy dog in the store and I had to high tail it out of there. Next visit was the vitamin store. I love that place. I buy my “energy vitamins” Life Force 120 caps for $30. I love that stuff! I was a die hard Red Bull addict until I found these vitamins and I haven’t had a Red Bull since. 

Off to the dog park! wait! I was starving…so I stop at Caribou on 24th and Hennepin for a D’Amico Turkey wrap…it was pretty good, but they should have added a wee bit more of the mayo, kinda dry. Off to the dog park!  I was almost there and got a client call to pick up a computer at the office, so back to Nicollet and Franklin I go! 

Client got the computer, back to the dog park…but I decided to hit Walgreens to drop off my ink cartridge. She ended up being able to fill it while I “waited” or what I call “shopping” time. I ended up spending $56. yikes!

Finally off to dog park with a quick visit first to the TCF in Uptown. 

Dog Park was awesome! No fights for Frankie and he got his dog on…I love good dog park days. 

Left Lake of the Isles and went to Payless, found some winter tennis shoes. Stopped at BBuster and got a flick “burn after reading” and then hit Chi-Lake for some Wine. That was an afternoon of running around I tell ya!

Got home and made some soup, biscuits and then didn’t feel good. Laid down for awhile, now I’m showered and do feel better a bit. I’m still very physically exhausted from this past week and mentally in need of a good day off. But not tomorrow…I have to work in the office all day. 

the life of a struggling entrepreneur.