Trina Hoefling Untethered

Happy New Year!

What an interesting ride we are all having together. I have been doing so much private writing and creating that I have been neglecting my blog and networks a bit, but much is coalescing and I am confident the best is yet to come….

Many of you have asked about my 2-day course for the University of Wisconsin, interested but unable to make the class. It is available as a custom inhouse offer, and will also be offered again May 19-20, 2009 in Milwaukee.

In the meantime, I wanted to extend an invitation to an extraordinary evening! This is a unique event because yours truly is featured in the book! If you conduct a series of 50 interviews with experts in a specific field, will it change your life? Brian Schwartz believes it will.

After going through this process himself, he is so convinced about its effectiveness that he wrote a book about it and is now building a business around it. Brian Schwartz, the author of 50 Interviews: Entrepreneurs has interviewed 50 entrepreneurs about their challenges as well as their rewards. He got advice from people who stood in his shoes, felt the same fears, and went through the same challenges.

On January 19, 2009, Brian Schwartz will be demonstrating the process used to create 50 Interviews: Entrepreneurs by interviewing a panel of entrepreneurs unscripted & LIVE during Startup Junkie Underground, a monthly series hosted by The DaVinci Institute in the Denver area (Westminster, for us Colorado folks). https:www.davinciinstitute.com

Brian will also share the truths and insights he uncovered upon interviewing over 50 entrepreneurs. The intent of 50 interviews is NOT to simply offer another book of useful advice (although it is full of useful real-world wisdom). There’s already an ample supply of books that provide all the self-help tidbits you will ever need (in fact, you will get a list of recommendations from the interviewees themselves). Rather 50 Interviews serves as a catalyst for the reader to discover his or her own answers, as we often learn the most about ourselves through observing others. The compilation of over 50 interviews offers the reader endless opportunities to observe skilled, successful, and fulfilled individuals to discover something new about their own life. The framework is one that anyone can apply immediately to immerse themselves in practically any passion.

Every interview was conducted in 2008, and many of the names will be familiar to you, so the content will be highly relevant and applicable. The cost of the event is $25 if you are not already a member of the DaVinci Institute, and will include a $10 credit for all attendees towards the purchase of the book. In the meantime, if you’re not in Colorado or can’t attend, but are intrigued…. you can join the 50 Interviews community on: Facebook Linked In Twitter Happy new year! Let’s make 2009 the best one yet.

I’ve been trying to post about the financial hell and how I’ve never seen anything quite like this, but haven’t quite hit the right way to approach the blog. I have seen big dips over the last 25 years of working with businesses. Without handing out consultant speak and giving a mini-lesson on systems theory and Peter Senge,  big corporate swings – over corrections that bleed the lifeblood of the company – resemble corporate anorexia. I won’t bother to tell the stories I’ve seen, and been brought in to help fix later.

This current reality is unprecedented, and I’m in fear sometimes, too. Would love to say I’m not, and most of the time I am more positive than hopeless, but this is real. ALL my newer clients have put holds or dropped projects from the budgets. (So I have time on my calendar, folks! Take advantage of it and contact me! lol). Kind of hard to stay in denial when it hits my work. My best asset is a long history of doing good work and seeing many ups and downs. But back to Corporate America.

Wanting to cut, and cut hard, is understandable but still dangerous. Get on a budget, yes. Delay optional new initiatives, maybe so.   Historically, though, a couple years after these big swings, the cuts usually end up costing more than if the company used the time to improve and get more lean but NOT go into big sweeping layoffs. These “swing” businesses spend more money to recoup the lost talent and, averaged, have saved nothing. And this behavior doesn’t factor in the cost to the people impacted, either. My friend and colleague Lisa Jackson has said it as well as it could be said, so I will relinquish the blog mike to her, and ask that you read Lisa’s posting.

Find her at http://blog.jacksonandschmidt.com.  I’m sure she would welcome comments as much as I would.