LI Entrepreneur Ferries Supplies To Haiti

There have been so many heartwarming examples of the Long Island community extending a helping hand to the Haitian people in the wake of the tragic earthquake earlier this month. But I stumbled across this travel journal by LI Pulse publisher Nada Marjanovich and it blew me away.

My wife ran supplies to a local church. I donated $10 online. But Marjanovich personally took a plane load of supplies to the devastated island nation. Amazing! Click on each photo for details: http://www.lipulse.com/nadas-travel-journal

Full disclosure: Yes, I write for LI Pulse. But this is a great example of a local entrepreneur going above and beyond.

Blog originally posted at LI Entrepreneurs.com

Reinventing Yourself

Thinking back on Halloweens past, there was a thrilling aspect to transforming yourself into something you were not. It was easy to throw all your child-like energy into the change. Pirate, zombie or soldier; didn’t matter. You pulled it off spectacularly — if only for one night.

Reinventing yourself in real life? Not so easy. At least for me.

The bulk of my professional life has been spent as a journalist. In fact, I started writing for my high school newspaper at 16 and landed a part-time job at a daily one year later. So one year removed from my reporting job at Newsday, my instincts are still grounded in the craft.

But I’m finally letting go of that persona and embracing my new identity as an entrepreneur and small business owner. In a way, the new approach is being forced upon me. You either think and act like a businessman or you risk seeing your business become irrelevant.

I have an added hurdle. I didn’t go the franchise route, where the blueprint for success is handed to you. No, I’m trying to meld my life-long passion for publishing with business. My business plan doesn’t make sense to everybody. Even my wife — at times — has a hard time grasping what I’m trying to do.

I see the value in what I’m doing. The people I serve understand it. Monetizing the product is where the business man within needs to find his way. The dog days of August — a dead period for my venture — only serves to exacerbate the issue. I’m getting close. But I’m not there yet.

Blog originally posted at LI Entrepreneurs.com