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Welcome to Columnist Ilise Benun -- More Columnists to Come If you have traded in your monthly commuter pass for a short walk to your own office in the neighborhood or -- as in our case -- a short flight of stairs to a home office, you are one of many who are striking out on your own, perhaps for the first time. Whether you are a consultant, a freelance writer or graphics designer, or whether you've turned your skill with skillet into a new catering enterprise, chances are you are largely dependent on yourself to bring in the business. You will need to spread the word to prospective clients, letting them know who you are, what you have to offer, and why you deserve their serious consideration. Unless billboards fit your style and budget, public relations may be your best option (it's worked for us!). So how do you go about it? To answer that question, we are proud to introduce our first columnist, Ilise Benun, author of Self Promotion Online: Marketing Your Creative Services Using Email, Web Sites and Digital Portfolios (North Light Books 2001). Ilise is also a national speaker and does consulting on new business development with small businesses. Her first column is a primer on public relations for the beginner -- and who isn't in this brave new world of instant communications and information overload? Here's an excerpt from the column: "You may think you've got it bad when it comes to information overload. But the media is a group of people suffering from intense information overload. They are barraged every day with stacks of snail mail and faxes, plus email messages from anyone who can get their hands on their email address. Be a resource. You must invest time cultivating relationships with editors and other media contacts, positioning yourself as a resource for them and letting them know they can count on you to fill their pages or airtime. They need that from you. The media aren't simply doing you a favor by giving you publicity. And they won't do it because they like you. You must have a newsworthy story for them, something that their readers will appreciate and find useful."
Ilise Benun can be reached at (800) 737-0783. Great information, including a download of a chapter from her book and a sample of her quarterly newsletter, is available at her websites: www.artofselfpromotion.com and www.selfpromotiononline.com In the weeks ahead, we will be introducing other columnists, including Allan Hershfield, former president of the Fashion Institute of Technology, on options in adult education including distance learning; Dr. Herbert Goldberg on men's health issues; the 2young2retire Traveler by Diana Katz, creator of country directories for travel agents; and personal coach Susan Nurse on relationships. And that's just a start. (If you have a particular expertise and would like to be a 2young2retire columnist, email marika@2young2retire.com for the guidelines.) Transition Teams Update Thanks to the more than 100 folks who responded to the Transition Team Pilot invitation. It's not too late to get involved in this exciting program (no charge for the pilot). All you have to do it go to http://www.2young2retire.com/transitionteam.htm or email Nancy Fox, nancy@personal-power.com for more information. New True Stories Her Mentor Center founders: Phyllis Goldberg, Rosemary Lichtman and Adina Paritzky at www.2young2retire.com/hermentorcenter.htm Ed Tokarchik, a high school teacher for 34 years, was born to be his own boss. www.2young2retire.com/edtokarchik.htm
Random Readings
A story told in India concerns an argument among the gods as to where to hide the secret of life so that men and women cannot find it.
Bury it under a mouintain, one god suggested, they'll never find it there.
No, the others countered, one day they will find a way to dig up the mountain and uncover the secret of life.
Put it in the depths of the deepest ocean, another suggested, it will be safe there.
No, said the others, some day humankind will find a way to travel to the depths of the ocean and will find it.
Put it inside them, another god said, they'll never think of looking for it there.
All the gods agreed, and so it is said the gods hid the secret of life within us.
(Retold in Awakening at Midlife: Realizing Your Potential For Growth and Change (Riverhead books, 1996) Kathleen A. Brehony. Woulda-Coulda-Shoulda
by Shel Silverstein All the Wouda-Coulda-Shoudas
Layin' in the sun,
Talkin' 'bout the things
They woulda-coulda-shoulda done...
But those Woulda-Coulda-Shouldas
All ran away and hid
From one little did. (Thanks to Carolyn Mark for the suggestion.) BOOK SITE "Some people want to be astronauts or ballet dancers or plumbers. Milo Crinkley wanted to be perfect. It all began in the library. Milo was minding his own business, looking for a good scary monster story, when a book tumbled down from the top shelf and hit him on the head. First he felt his aching skull to make sure it was still in one piece. Then he picked up the book. The front cover screamed 'Be a Perfect Person in Just Three Days!' It didn't look like any monster story Milo had ever read." The book, sitting innocently enough on a shelf in the children's section at the local Barnes & Noble, caught my eye. Actually, I was trying to catch my breath after a brisk chase through the stacks and around the cafe, following my grandson, age 2.5. It's a children's book, but I became riveted, intrigued. I laughed out loud. I couldn't help sitting down in the aisle and reading all 73 pages. Luckily, Shaw was busy playing hide and seek with a very cute girl his own age, while Marika and the girl's nanny looked on. If I told you the secret of this book's charm and wisdom, I'd ruin it for you. What I can tell you is I bought every copy on the shelf, for our grown children, for friends. Trust me. Read Be a Perfect Person in Just Three Days! (Yearling Books 1996) Stephen Manes.
Never did like long reviews. Enjoy.
Howard Stone * Thanks to Carole Berger for bringing to our attention The Los Angeles Volunteer's Hand Book and The Bay Area Volunteer Hand Book, from the creators of 50 Simple Things You Can Do to Save the Earth. Every city could use such a resource. MEDIA WATCH * The Washington Post recently published a contest for readers in which they were asked to supply alternate meanings for various words. Here were some of the winners: Abdicate (v.), to give up all hope of ever having a flat stomach.
Esplanade (v.), to attempt an explanation while drunk.
Flabbergasted (adj.), appalled over how much weight you have gained.
Negligent (adj.), describes a condition in which you absentmindedly answer the door in your nightie.Coffee (n.), a person who is coughed upon.
Balderdash (n.), a rapidly receding hairline.
Circumvent (n.), the opening in the front of boxer shorts.
Sarchasm (n.) The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the reader who doesn't get it. (Thanks to Nancy Fox for passing this along) * Here's an easy way to make online donations to causes you care about. Go to www.giveforchange.com/cgi-bin/GiveForChange.storefront and get access to more than 250 groups in one location, organized into11 categories. * Storage of our excess stuff is a growth industry. But if you prefer not to pay a monthly rental fee to stash your vintage 45 rpm collection or the wedding gifts you never got around to opening, there is another way. Check out www.excessaccess.com/ to make a non-cash charitable donation for stuff you don't need. They'll even pick it up! * Got a yen to set your personal history down for posterity? Check out this site:
http://www.ancestry.lycos.com/library/view/columns/compass/928.asp * Websites for women are proliferating, second only to those for, you guessed it, people like us. Mary Wilkins' www.middle-age-spread.com is for women 40 and older. For you craft enthusiasts, Mary also has one called www.sew-whats-new.com. Congratulations to Tam Gray for the new, very navigable design of www.seniorwomen.com. * Now from the nonprofits partners of Volunteer Match, comes Virtual Volunteering. Access at www.volunteermatch.org/virtual/. All you need is a computer, Internet connection, time and a skill to serve as a Virtual Grant Writer; Virtual Public Relations Journalist; Virtual Researcher, to name a few opportunities currently posted on the site.
* Smart shopper that you are, you wouldn't make a purchase without consulting Consumer Guide, right? But how about getting the skinny on who made that pair of designer jeans or the new carpet you have your heart set on? Or under what conditions? Well, now you can get behind the labels with Co-op America's website, www.responsibleshopper.org/, a clearinghouse for information on the social and environmental performance of hundreds of companies. POTPOURRI
* Reported in the Sunday New Jersey section of The New York Times: Bob Oliff, 72, a retired Fort Lee, N.J. jeweler, is now a stand up comedian. He is very successful telling stories about getting older in front of audiences of all ages. Two favorites: "My wife wants me to be buried at sea. This way she gets to go on a cruise." And, "Did you know that 16,000 Jewish men died in their sleep at the ballet?" We tried to interview Bob, but he was on tour when we called. * In praise of napping...Einstein, Napoleon, Edison and three recent Presidents were all nappers. A new NASA study reports that 24-minute naps significantly improve a pilot's alertness and performance. (Hopefully there is a copilot handy just in case.) Napping is so popular in Japan that a business called the Napping Shop visits companies, erects tents and provides earplugs and eye masks so workers can snooze on breaks. * Talk about decluttering! Michael Landy, a British conceptual artist, is making his purge an art form: "My goal is to destroy all my possessions. I have been making an inventory of everything I own, and it comes to 7,006 items, from televisions to reading material to records to old love letters to my Saab 900. These are the things I have accumulated in the 37 years of my life. Some of them are hard to part with, like my father's sheepskin coat, which he gave me many years ago. But I have made a conceptual decision as an artist to shred and granulate everything...after my possessions are turned into granules, (a two week event on Oxford Street, London) I want to bury them underground in a shopping center. I like to think that there will be a kind of burial service, but it won't be morbid. This is a joyous thing. We all have consumer choices. This is mine." (New York Times, March 19, 2001) Our visitors write:
Thank you for the great website. You are the answer to my prayers and dreams. I have always maintained that retirement was not for me. I want to stay productive, keep learning and working. I read about 2 Young 2 Retire in the Minneapolis newspaper. I immediately went to your web site and I was impressed. I am too young, 60 years, to sit back and do nothing. I have a need and desire to keep growing and learning each day. Thanks for putting together your web site, you are bookmarked as a favorite site.
Thanks for having a website that makes you feel good about yourself when you are not as young as yesterday, and not as good as you can be tomorrow. Keep up the good work. From Dr. A.M.R. age: 76
When I was 70, I completed a study asking 1,500 boys and girls a series of questions including "Have you ever thought of becoming President of the U. S. when you grew up?" I discovered that more girls than boys said "yes" they had thought about it. I went ahead and published a little booklet called "How I Grew Up Feeling Some Day I Could be President of the United States" and began to read it to children in the first grade. Four months later, a Dennis the Menace cartoon featured Margaret proclaiming "Someday a woman will be PRESIDENT" I paid King Features to get a license to produce the Margaret T-shirts and formed my own company called Women Are Wonderful. The T-shirt became infamous when WAL-MART initially banned it from their stores. After WONDERFUL WOMEN marched in protest all over this country, WAL-MART changed their position and ended up buying 50,000 Margaret T-shirts. They don't buy them anymore but that's okay. I'm proud that I never capitulated to the bribe they offered me to shut up and I have gone on to change Women Are Wonderful into a non-profit corporation. The corporation continues to sell the T-shirts to women's organizations and for the past two years has produced a Margaret doll wearing the famous T-shirt.
Happy spring!
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