🌟A Most Unreliable Narrator 💐 #187 You pierce my soul, I am half agony, half hope
This week: business update, peer support training, and Jane Austen
Dear Internet,
First, I got Excessively Diverting on Instagram:
You may be, correctly, wondering why I’ve set up another social media account? I’m taking a class in social media management (which turns out to be a lot harder than previously thought) and I need an account for my classwork. I was using my business Facebook page but I’m still not ready to launch the business hence the new account!
If you are into Jane Austen/Brontes, you can follow Excessively Diverting across a myriad of social media.
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I have done quite well on restraining from watching all of Bridgerton this week. Drinks with Broads is recapping it one episode a week and I want to stay current with the recaps. If I see a hint of Bridgerton anywhere on social media, I scroll on by or I unsubscribe. I read the books ages ago and got the itch to read them again. The first book is only available at one out of my 12 libraries and there is a several month wait to check-out. Boy, will I be pleasantly surprised when it’s available.
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This time next week we’ll be in Northern Michigan and I can almost taste the relief of living this godforsaken state from here. Kentucky is getting more annoying, there is a PGA tournament here this week and locals and visitors are being stupid, and the weather is warming up. It gets into the mid-high 90s most days with high humidity. The first year we were here, I went to the local park to read to get out of the condo. It was 105F. I lasted 15 minutes before hustling back to our climate controlled 70F condo. In N. Michigan, weather tends to stick around the 70s. Here is the weather in N. Michigan for the next 10 days.
I’ve booked our blood donation, my swim lessons, and drawing up lists of things to do. I’m helping out at a local library used book sale, upping my involvement with the Friends’ group, and volunteering as well. I sent out notes of interest on local businesses to help get me out of the house. I also joined several local business groups to meet and network.
The weekends are filling up fast with trips and visits. It’s going to be a busy six months.
Typically, when we drive up to the cabin, I don’t publish an issue that Sunday but we’re leaving during the week and it’s a long weekend so an issue should be forthcoming.
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Now that I have the sections organized for content on the newsletter, and readers can pick and choose what they want to subscribe to, but I am not notified if you unsubscribe form a section. Thus, here is the link to the latest issue of Lisa Write’s Stuff. Tl;dr 13 more days until the Harlequin contest ends and I’m trying to not freak out.
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Mr. Lisa is super adamant that I take classes on learning on how to run a business. I agree with him, but he wants me to go in person but since the pandemic, most of the classes are now online. In addition to the classes, I’ve also booked up free consults with business mentors and a bookkeeper. Every piece of software that I am using offers either free consults, webinars, or tutorials. This is keeping me busy.
The website is coming along. The skeleton website is currently up. I have a staging server I’m using to build the final product since I am a poor and cannot afford a web developer. The business cards have arrived and I really like them.
My business number is my Google number with a N Michigan area code. N. Michiganders are suspicious of non-local numbers so this worked perfectly. (Kentucky is at least open to the idea that not everyone is from the 502 area code.) Call forwarding is set so when someone calls that number, it shows up on my phone as my Google number so I know instantly the call is for the business.
Mr. Lisa ponied up for an upgrade to Google Drive which also gives me the ability to make scheduling appointments so I’m able to offer free 30-minute consultations without having to engate another service. The scheduling calendar syncs with my regular Google calendar so the time available is matches what I actually have available.
I took the lead from another consultant and changed my username on Linkedin to my business so I’m easy to find. The business is also on FB and IG. When I do the official launch, I’ll flash those accounts here. Steph mentioned way back when that people like following a story so I’m going to start a mailing list. I am learning a few mailing list software that businesses like to use (and have free services) but for my needs, I put NGI on Substack. You can read Issue #0 now.
NGI Presents will post weekly on Tuesdays starting May 28th. The posts will be under 500 words (if not shorter) and video will be under a few minutes. (Yes, there may be video. We’re getting on TikTok baby!) Topics will include:
Behind the scenes stories of running a solo business (holy cats!)
Memes
FAQs and common questions
Mindset and motivation (memes)
Lessons learned from failures
Networking (even though I hate it…)
Niche specific topics (WTF is Information Architecture anyway?)
If I’m going to promote and manage newsletters for others, I need to illustrate how I do it and what kind of content to provide and this is why this exists.
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I’m researching how to be a peer-to-peer support person. The major qualification is you must have lived through a mental illness and in recovery which I totally am. DBSA offers peer-to-peer support training but it’s expensive and when you’re done, I believe you’re a volunteer and you don’t get paid. KY offers training and It gets you certified in the state which means I can get a job as a peer-to-peer support person. The training price is a lot cheaper than DBSA. DBSA allegedly takes this certification. A university in Michigan offers credentialed program and that cost is a bit above the KY certification but far cheaper than DBSA. There are a lot of support groups for peer supporters in Michigan, so I emailed a few of them to find out the credentialing options since the state’s website is a hot mess.
There are jobs for credentialed peer-to-peer supporters but the pay is shit. Like really bad but it’s something. If the business fails (god I hope not), this is the backup plan.
Wonderful Thing
Jane Austen
Jane Austen is a Regency (early 19th century) author whose body of work consists of six completed, and celebrated, novels, juvenilia, and several unfinished novels. Jane was born in 1775 and died in 1817. She was 42. Her cause of death has been disputed over the years with the latest research suggests she died from fatal Hodgkin’s disease.
I fell in love with Austen in high school when I read Pride and Prejudice which tends to be the entry book for Austen fans. I loved the sassy heroine, Lizzie, and the brooding anti-hero, Darcy. Lizzie was the anthesis of her time as she believed in marrying for love and not as a contract or to further the family coffers. Pride and Prejudice is also one of the first enemies to love tropes which I adore.
My favorite Austen book is Persuasion about a couple torn apart who come back together again. It’s a story of undying love, hope, and forgiveness.
Austen colors most of my life and in 2017, I started Excessively Diverting (the blog) tracking and promoting Austen (and the Brontes!). I read her all her novels every few years, and curate a list of all the available Austen/Bronte movies and TV series’ available in the US. I’m a proud member of Jane Austen Society of North America and two local chapters (KY and W. Michigan). I even have a Jane Austen Funko Pop.
The only thing I don’t have is an Austen tattoo which I plan to rectify very soon.
Obstinate, headstrong girl
lisa x