Jennifer's comments

I'm thrilled to have all this disparate (and similar) information all in one place. Thanks.

Now, off to the typewriter! They all receive faxes, right?

Jennifer

See you all at 4pm today!

Once again, you lead the pack away from following the histrionic herd. Thanks so much, Molly. I've imported so much good that you have to share and now people think I'm great at what I do. Who knew I just needed a little skillful unleashing?

Until next time,

Jenn

This is my favorite Biznik offering. I love seeing all of us thrive and hope to get to know each and everyone of you to see that happen for you!

I want to come, too! December 1 is perfect! See my webpage: Favorite Links if you want my take on Enneagram: http://authorizeu.com

I wouldn't miss it for the world. This time I'll be bringing copies of my latest book, Get Into Print: The Art and Practice of Self-Publishing. I hope I can encourage other writers to get their ideas out there!

Wow, Kirk, what great information! Thanks for taking us through the nitty gritty details to get our websites out in to the light. It's dark in our bat caves (home offices) and many writers find that to be their preferred venue. My sense is that if more of us knew your tricks to get visible, we'd see that we can have our cake and eat it too.

Thanks so much. For those who want to be visible experts as authors, please see my latest book, GET INTO PRINT.

As Sophia Loren says, "To be famous you have to be willing to give up anonymity."

Hey y'all, how did you hear about the Author-Publisher Roundtable? I heard about it from one of my students at a workshop I gave on Getting Into Print: The Art and Practice of Self-Publishing at Antioch University. Because of the high demand for a book from this workshop, I published a workbook called Get Into Print. Order it now.

This was such a great time, Howard and the Author-Publisher's Roundtable attendees! Thanks for being there and teaching me what you know and what you want to know. I loved hearing about your book ideas and your eagerness to be of help. Hey, if you don't have time to read helpful books, checkout my blog: http://helpfulbooks.wordpress.com

p.s. follow me on twitter==> https://twitter.com/Jmanlowe

Andrew, thanks so much for this thoughtful article. I very much appreciate your approach. I hear the work you've done in your life shine right through your framework. Way to go and thanks for sharing it with us.

I have total agreement with you and am excited for you to speak on these issues with your trenchant analysis of the source of our current misery...our thinking that is based in small self which always asks, "Why me?" and lives life through a lens of measuring.

I love Miguel Ruiz's, The Four Agreements when it comes to a very basic value checkin:

1. Be impeccable with your word.
2. Don't take anything personally.
3. Don't make assumptions.
4. Do your best.

I also love "the work" by Byron Katie -- she offers free help on scrutinizing the source (distressed beliefs and disowned projections) of our misery. She uses this insight as a window toward transformation.

I also love the orientation toward ego that one can "re-think" with the help of the Eckhart Tolle interviews with Oprah.

Bless you, bless you for your always provocative approach to getting honest with ourselves!

"We are what we repeatedly do." ~ Aristotle

As I reread some of these posts, including my own, I notice something arise in me that is at once hopeful and, at the same time, a little cynical.

I'm sure I'm not alone when I say that the variety of Bizniker's "out there" in the ether may have only a few things that are in common to us all and not one of them is all that revolutionary in and of itself (besides being human, I mean). We all have:

1) a computer or access to a computer; 2) access to the web via our computers; 3) a desire to network in a way that doesn't suck (as the name Biznik makes explicit).

What's funny is that "what doesn't suck" for one person sucks for another. For instance, person "X" might think it sucks to network for business in vivo while person "Y" would love to meet people in a face-to-face way.

So, quite frankly, while the folks that responded to Tara's post may have quite a bit in common, philosophically and in practice, perhaps, I'm not sure the thousands of Biznikers "out there" are on board with the notion of "movement," let alone one called Cultural Creatives. Some of us eschew the language of revolution, finding it threatening, totalizing, or worse, a grandiose projection (of sameness onto difference). Others love the idea and feel less cynical and alone when they read about a collective sense of hope based on an allegiance to values in common.

I say, "Yeah and hurray to all the Biznikers! And to those of you who won't ever meet anyone else in person, not to worry. No need to unite, we are united by our humanity, by numbers 1-3 (above), and by the philosophical/scientific premise that we are not fundamentally separate."

Just remember Aristotle's maxim: "We are What We Do" .... now that's a movement that might have a ton of interpretations. Hey, wait a minute, there is actually a "movement" called WAWWD that advocates simple, hands-on actions, ranging from "practice good manners" to "recycle a printer cartridge." They are also the publishers of the bestselling "Change The World for a Fiver."

What does it mean to "change the world?"

Michael, your question is important but I'm not sure it relates to Tara's missive. Perhaps you'll want to write to me "off line" at jlmanlowe@earthlink.net

I'd love to carry on the conversation about a very important topic.

And, if you can't wait for my response, know that I think it is impossible to bust out of interdependency. That's like standing apart from the universe (a dualistic, perhaps egoic fantasy). Suicidal feelings often emerge when one FEELS painfully outside the whole, utterly apart from (not a part of) an enlivening community.

I love Biznik and facilitating & enjoying well-being through connection!

Though I'm not down on virtual assistants, especially if they get honored for their awesome skills (the ones I don't have) and compensated in fair ways that help offset their health/benefit/profit ratio needs.

But, my sense is people who outsource, show no loyalty to employees, pay no employee tax, offer no benefits to employees and follow no employee government regulations are the very opposite of respectable.

Solopreneurs affiliated with Biznik are often people who don't mimic the greed and exploitation of the good old boy network that capitalizes on the MANpower of others and takes home 99% of the profit (as if it were earned by their work alone). As you can see, that ME FIRST model is blowing up as we speak...

I went into business for myself to transform this old model that you seem to be pitching here.

Wonderful writing, Tara! Great conversation starter(s).

One aspect of a lot of Eastern philosophy (especially Daoism and Buddhism) that I love, and sometimes hear about from mod-inspired-entrepreneurs, is the notion of interdependence. Nothing is excluded, we are all interdependent jewels of an unlimited net.

For more on this particular metaphor--called The Net of Indra--look at what Alan Watts said, "Imagine a multidimensional spider's web in the early morning covered with dew drops. And every dew drop contains the reflection of all the other dew drops. And, in each reflected dew drop, the reflections of all the other dew drops in that reflection. And so ad infinitum. That is the Buddhist conception of the universe in an image."

I guess I believe the most revolutionary thing I can do each day and in all my relationships is "be the change I want to see," i.e., let transformation begin with me -- as Gandhi says.

Buddhism is not a philosophy about converting others to MY way, the RIGHT way. It's about recognizing that the core mistake that individuals can make (seeing self-centeredly and as if we were totally separate, as if our actions don't affect each other) can be corrected with practice of seeing a much more interdependent world. "The world includes me but is not all about me," is what I like to say. The collective is the whole world, all beings, and this invitation to really see these connections and acting with radical responsibly, as if we shared this home called the planet, is quite revolutionary, don't you think?

Thich Nhan Hanh likes to say, "If all humans are my siblings, there's no way I would kill another in war." Peace-seeking might be inevitable. These ideas, for me, seem way more revolutionary than being on "the right team," the ones who want to change or enlighten the wrong team.

Believe me, practice seeing interdependently is only something I aspire to do/create (when I remember to do so), but I see it as a model that feels truly responsible to values that you seem to intimate when you speak about "cultural creatives."

This has been fun to articulate -- hopefully in a way that people can comprehend (not too academic).

Jenn

I'll be there and I'll be bringing copies of my latest book, GET INTO PRINT: Creating Expert Status in the Public Domain

If anyone wants me to reserve a copy for them, I know these will be selling like hot cakes!

Until then,

Jenn http://LDUpublishing.com

I wish I could be there with you and the gang, Howard. Instead I'll be speaking on Guerilla Book Marketing: How to Use News Releases, Blogs, Radio/Podcasting, Viral Marketing and Online Media to Reach Your Niche Directly in Maine. I'm marking my calendar for next time. I plan to bring my new book: GETTING INTO PRINT.

I hope to keep supporting authors and would-be authors in taking their ideas public.

Best,

Jennifer http://LDUpublishing.com

You need not be sheepish -- you're so inventive!

So sorry to miss this event, Andrew. I'm sure it will be awesome? Is "inpiration" a new kind of word in neuroscience or is that a typo in your invitation?

Blessings,

Jenn