My former co-worker Tricia Butler has reduced her hours at her job and started her new catering business Sassafras Catering. I’m so happy for her.
I remember a couple of years ago during one of her performance reviews, Tricia felt like she had to break bad news to me. She talked about her love of her job, her respect for her co-workers, and her thankfulness at being given the opportunity and responsibility of her position.
BUT, she had to let me know that she was eventually going to start a catering business. Owning a catering business was a life-long dream of hers. She was sorry that her path and the company’s path might not be the same in the long term.
To which I replied, “Where is the bad news?”
Too many people spend their lives in fear of their own aspirations. For all of our talk about people in America having the freedom to chase their dreams, most people are afraid to really do so.
So from that day forward I’ve known Tricia as a caterer who happens to work in technology instead of a technologist who happens to love cooking. That’s why I’m so pleased to see her make the jump and get her business going.
I’m also pleased because I can unequivocally vouch for both her ability to cater events and the food that she has provided. Since that meeting, I’ve both attended and helped organize events that she has catered. Combine that with her business’s commitment to sustainability, and you have an amazing combination for the Portland market.
So congratulations to Tricia for following through on her dreams. If you are in the Portland area, I highly recommend hiring Sassafras Catering for your next event.
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Just a quick reminder that Mobile Portland is tomorrow at 6 pm. Visit upcoming for more details and to RSVP.
April 15, 2008 – 10:51 pm
Want to the find the first post you wrote or that someone else wrote? It’s easy.
That’s it. Enjoy!
April 15, 2008 – 10:41 pm
I’ve been introducing a lot of people to Twitter lately. The conversation when I introduce it to someone has a very familiar pattern:
- Me:
- Do you use twitter?
- Them:
- No, but I’ve thought about it. But I don’t think I would get much out of it.
- Me:
- I had the same thoughts when I started, but I’ve gotten a few business leads, connections to the community, and speaking engagements through Twitter. So I get tremendous value out of it, and it’s fun.
This reminded me of the way that Scott Kveton talked about Twitter during his intro at Ignite Portland. He said:
By the way, when I tell you about this, you are going to think this is the dumbest thing you’ve ever heard of—because everyone who Twitters thought it was stupid too.
That’s absolutely true. Many of the most prolific people on Twitter had the same thoughts as people who look at Twitter now and think it won’t work for them. I thought it might be interesting to go back in time and see if they tweeted about their impressions.
This sparked a series of re-tweeting people’s early tweets. Some of my favorites:
@marshallk “now if I can just figure this service out quickly :)”
@davewiner “eat ideas flying around”
@betsywhim “figuring out how to use this thing”
1st tweet from @jowyang: “Surfing the web” 2nd tweet: “sitting at home”
@ravenzachary “Is this more than a fad?”
@kveton “I’m sitting here trying to figure out why I’m using this … haha … :-)”
There are a lot of funny early tweets to look at. But the main reason I wanted to expose this was to say to people who are new that you’re not alone in wondering whether or not Twitter will be worth it to you. The most experienced Twitter users started out with the same questions, wondering if they had anything worthwhile to say, and if anyone would bother to follow them.
So give Twitter a shot and be sure to stick with it for awhile until you find your voice. Sometimes things that are valuable aren’t apparent until you give them a try.