Lots of Yesterdays
We put a lot of power in names, and most of the time your name, title, etc sets you up for how people perceive you. Naming my children was an adventure (ask me about it, I love telling their stories); the ramifications/freedoms of not getting legally married and not taking my partner’s last name, and even unique titles for my mundane to-do lists such as "Get 'er done," and "Chores no Mores" are the types of things I think about (probably too much). I love names and what they signify, but when it came time to naming my budding consultancy business, I got really anxious because I didn't know which direction to go in. What could sum up what I am trying to do here? What is something that is intriguing, yet something that totally and utterly screams ME? What is something that encompasses what I am passionate about: helping small businesses and entrepreneurs thrive and impact the lives around them?
I keep a small notepad on me for whenever somebody suggests I try something or if there is a title of a book, a song, or anything else that is interesting at the time that I want to look further into (this is where "The Tinderbox," for example, came from). I also journal regularly to my kiddos-mostly snippets of their daily quips and my thoughts trying to digest intense political and social unrest that will irreversible affect them. These notebooks have been the inspiration for many past blog and social media posts (feels like a much different era) and my 2nd daughter's name-jotted down after a walk through New York City before she was born. It is a practice I started long ago to stay more mindful, and connected to the world around me.
Since I have begun what I am calling my "pivot period," I started flipping through some of these old notebooks to see if something stood out that sparked some creativity. When I owned a small boutique store and launched a retail incubator, I started blogging about my experience and about all of the small businesses I encountered along the way; many whom I still keep in touch with today who are thriving and/or whose founders have pivoted to other amazing things. The name of that blog was "Lots of Yesterdays." An entry in one of those notebooks is a story about my oldest daughter saying I told her I would do something, "Lots of yesterdays” ago. That hit pretty hard.
I remember being so driven to open my business and talking with so many entrepreneurs who shared in the same sense of "if not me, then who?" I, like most people, tend to leave some things undone; I didn’t follow-up with the high school classmate I saw randomly at the supermarket while visiting my mother, never fully commit to a sewing project I started last Spring, and sometimes shrug off a suggestion from my daughter with the rebuttal, “maybe tomorrow.” I am not always going to get it right, but I am committed to living more in the moment, and helping others that are also driven to action to create solutions that better the lives of people.
So that's my new focus and the obvious name of my small but mighty consultancy practice. To remind me that I should commit plenty of presents to get important things done, and work with the dreamers and doers that share in the urgency of shaping a better tomorrow.
