Here they are again, and thank goodness. The spring bulbs’ green blades poking up persistently through the ground. The tiny beginnings of a lilac cluster ready to burst forth with added warmth. Small, delicate leaves—against the odds of Michigan’s cold spring nights—have unfurled their hopeful selves as well. There are many lessons to find in […]
February is undisputedly the month where love takes center stage, at least commercially. Yes, Valentine’s Day may be what some call a “Hallmark holiday,” while single people may actually revel in their solitary status on a day devoted to showing outward expressions of love through cards, flowers, and gifts. Yet the largeness of love can […]
Swimming in a world of uncertainties like never before, the bedrock of business and life has never been more important. If asked to identify your core business values and principles and how they’ve sustained you, particularly in the past few years…what would you say? If ever there was a time to cling to small business verities, […]
It’s a venerable adage as applicable today as the first time you probably heard it… “Sometimes, you do what you have to do to get by.” It may not sound appealing, but today this sentiment is a reminder that what needs to be done isn’t always what we want to do. However, the underlying message is […]
The great thing about the start of the summer season is the sense of optimism and excitement that comes with it. Though the calendar states the official start of summer is June 20, it’s Memorial Day weekend that kicks off the fun. We all know it was a trying year+, yet recently I saw several […]
What is worse than remembering your passwords? Answer: Changing your passwords.
Covid brain and a resurgence of kindness are two of the irrefutable outcomes of life the past 12 months has brought, as we pass the one year mark of various stages of confinement. The ‘brain’ syndrome has been occasionally referenced by friends to describe everything from forgetting wallets or mobile phones, to turning the house inside […]
The past year has wreaked more havoc than a 100-year storm on the world economy, to say nothing of what it has meant to small business owners, the hardest hit. And though some familiar NW Michigan names and faces will no longer be around when we do emerge from the viral pandemic, it’s not all […]
Along with “our prayers and thoughts are with the family” and other expressions of sympathy at a time of loss, “making a difference” has become a staple of the grief lexicon. Upon reading the death notice this week in the Traverse City Record-Eagle of George Kuhn, ‘making a difference’ was what immediately came to mind. We first […]