Sunday, May 20, 2007

SaveKaryn.com : My Review

Since I use Netflix and have to wait for "Baby Boom" to arrive, I thought I would introduce you all to a woman that is, quite frankly, my hero. Okay perhaps hero is a little strong, but seriously, this chick had all of us thinking, "WHY? Why didn’t I think of it first?" And just so ya know, I always give props when they are due.

If you’ve never heard of Karyn Bosnack, well then, you’ve been deprived.

Karyn was over $20,000 in credit card debt, living the high life in New York City. After getting tired of debt collectors and living above her means, she was laying in bed one night and thought "humph, if only I could get 20,000 people to each give me a dollar". And the rest, as they say, is herstory. She created a website that you can check out here http://www.savekaryn-originalsite.com/ and would basically Blog every day or so, she is the grand-mama of Cyber-Begging. She asked people to donate to her "cause" by paypal and pretty quickly became a cyber celeb. I totally voted for her this year on VH1 for whatever the category was for Cyber Celebrities. Her original site was so cheesy, it was awesome, she had a "Grand Debt Tally which let you track how much she had paid down every week on her debt with donations and her own money, check it:

These were the first 2 weeks
"Watch my debt shrink with every donation!(updated weekly)

$20,221.40 TOTAL DEBT June 23, 2002

- $90.35 my money
- $5.22 your money
- $68.47 eBay sales
$20,057.36 TOTAL DEBT June 30, 2002 - WEEK 1

- $113.45 my money
- $124.55 your money
- $0.00 eBay sales
$19,819.36 TOTAL DEBT July 7, 2002 - WEEK 2

And the last 2 weeks
-$100.00 my money
-$220.82 your money
-$19.65 eBay sales
$389.56 TOTAL DEBT November 3, 2002 - WEEK 19

-$114.16 my money
-$136.60 your money
-$138.80 eBay sales
$0.00 TOTAL DEBT November 10, 2002 - WEEK 20

TOTAL MONEY RECEIVED FROM NICE PEOPLE: $13,323.08"

Now tell me this girl is not a genius? She made my hit list for review because she essentially now works for herself. She is now a thrice-published author thanks to a late night idea to cyber-beg her way out of debt. I read her book, and highly recommend it; it’s hilarious to say the least. You can check her new site out at http://savekaryn.com/ , there is a link to her blog as well as to her book "Save Karyn". Until next time all.

Toodles Everyone,

Friday, May 18, 2007

Hey There - Keeping you in the loop!

So I was scanning the channels the other day and Oprah Winfrey's channel was giving "Baby Boom" starring Ms. Diane Keaton. I love her, she's so classy. Anywho, I decided that this was going to be my next review. Yes, I know it's set in the 80's but still, she had such gumption in the movie that it became a must have for my blog :) I will try and catch it this weekend and if I can't, then rent it I will! Because seriously, there is nothing greater than watching a woman build a business from scratch and all the funny stuff that happens along the way. Ahh, I love my work, toodles.

Until next time my friends, and remember to leave a comment of any movies you think I should review.

Monday, May 14, 2007

"Sliding Doors" Starring Gwyneth Paltrow

Okay, so I dug through my boxes last night (just moved) and found my well worn copy of Sliding Doors, hunkered down and had my one person viewing.

Short Version:

The movie follows Helen Quilley (Gwyneth Paltrow), during two courses her life could take. She gets fired, leaves her boyfriend, meets a new guy, who in turn whispers in her ear about starting her own business, she takes his advice and without spoiling the end, there are twist and turns and ups and downs. Every one worth watching.

Long Version (spoiler alert):

Sliding Doors is a chronicle of Helen Quilley's (Gwyneth Paltrow) life in alternate sequences. The first, if she catches the "tube" (train) and the second if she misses it. Helen is in P.R. and gets fired (why you ask, watch the movie, I say...lol), she leaves her former work place and goes to catch the tube. Helen misses the tube in one instance because of a little girl on the stairs, then the station announces that everyone should find alternate transportation because they are having mechanical problems. She goes to find a taxi and gets mugged in the meantime. She spends a few hours in the E.R. and gets home just as her boyfriend, Gerry, (John Lynch) jumps in the shower after sleeping with his ex-girlfriend Lydia (Jeanne Tripplehorn).

The other instance is where she does catch the train and meets a yummy guy, James, (John Hannah), actually that's what I'll call him from here on out "Yummy Guy", anyway, she gets home on time and catches her man "in the act". She then moves in with her best friend and get a fantabulous (It's a real word, seriously, ask my sister) makeover. Though she looks great both ways, I mean Hello!! it's Gwyneth. She then starts hanging out with Yummy Guy to keep her mind off of cheater guy.

In the first instance she can't seem to find another job in P.R. and takes a waitressing as well as a delivery person position to make ends meet, because her boyfriend is a novelist who leeches off of her (there is a line he says to his best friend that makes you realize this). In the second, Yummy Guy, encourages her to start her own P.R. firm.

The Starting a Business part of the movie goes rather quickly and they do make it seem quite easy, however it does show the appropriate steps and leaves you feeling inspired. What basically goes down is that she:

Gets the suggestion to start her own public relations company
Fills out a business loan application
Gets approved for said loan
Finds a rental space
Hires an assistant
Then BAM! she is in business :)

They show her and her assistant taking calls and handling other "office duties" but you never see any clients, save for her first big client. Who is, yep, you guessed it, Yummy Guys friend, who happens to be opening a restaurant

I feel I must mention that our miss Paltrow does a brilliant English accent and that Yummy Guy does throw her a wallop of a curve ball about half way through.

I won't detail the ending bits, but I will say that you should see this movie if you already haven't.

All in all, for me anyway, feel good, inspirational movies are a must see. And this is one of them. You root for her all the way through and it makes you feel good to know that something (getting fired) that could have turned into part time waitressing gigs she never really wanted to take instead leads her to a more fulfilling life.

Until next time all. And please leave me a comment if you have any movies you think I should review, always looking for new inspirations. Have a great day all.

Friday, May 11, 2007

Keeping you in the loop...

I've decided to use the movie "Sliding Doors" with Gwyneth Paltrow for my first review. I will be watching it again this weekend to refresh my memory, but I must say I liked this movie so much that I bought it. And though most of the story focuses on her relationships, she does start her own business after getting fired from her Good Old Boys Club P.R. firm. Those boys, I tell ya!

Anyhow, like I said, I will watch it and post my review over the weekend.

And again, feel free to leave me a comment.

Have a fabulously great weekend!!

Wednesday, May 9, 2007

Hello, Hello, Hello!

So, Welcome to Blogging My Own Business. I am an avid chick lit reader ( seriously I devour 1-3 books a week when things are slow at home). Not as much lately because #1 it's baseball season for my son and #2 I am in the throws of opening my own business all whilst raising my gorgeous children and holding down a glamorous full time television job, NOT! Okay, the Television job part is true but the "glamorous", not so much.

This Blog will be dedicated to my passion, my love, my obsession really, with any and all "underdog comes out on top" books and movies. Especially ones where the heroine is starting her own business, a la ME!

I will review and share my thoughts and opinions on these types of books and movies as well as some on fabulous physical and emotional transformations. I am what my mom lovingly refers to as "pleasantly plump" and what I refer to as, bigger than I should be! (I'm working on it - geesh! LOL) And so when I read about some woman that was mistreated or slighted because of her weight, whether she loses weight or just learns to love herself, I get very excited :) And when a woman gets through all the obstacles that I am now coming to realize are very frustrating, and overcomes them to not only start, but become a success in her own business, well, I jump for joy!

Unfortunately there aren't as many of these books and movies as I would like to see (and read). So I decided to stop complaining and do something about it. Hence my new business, Boutique Publications, we will be be going live soon, I hope. I will post a link eventually and if you or anyone you know is a writer, they can click on and submit any fiction and non-fiction they believe will fit our criteria (the list of what we are looking for will be on our submissions page). More details at a later date.


I will be posting again soon and hope to hear from you, leave me a comment on any books or movies you think I should review. Or on your own pursuit of a small or home based business.

Ciao my bellas...

Here Ye Here Ye!

I have changed my business focus which actually suits my blogs name to a tee. I will be building a business around myself, literally. I am shifting away from trying to start my ebook publishing business with other peoples work and instead I will be writing and publishing my own ebooks on sites like Amazon and Barnes and Nobles etc. While I've been published on Yahoo's Associated Content, I am a newbie through and through when it comes to the new frontier of ebooks. I am so scared I wanna pee my pants, but I am going for it anyway!