Weekend Entrepreneur: Conrad’s Six Key Questions Are Good Advice For All
I adore children and often work with them when I’m out and about on the job. I adore dogs too but I’ve work with them far less. Though I never said it out loud, I always wondered what we could learn from them if we paid more attention. I recently found an entrepreneur who has paid some attention — more than I ever have — and found lessons useful for business and careers.
When I interviewed twenty-year veteran entrepreneur Catherine Conrad of Banana Productions she shared with me six challenging questions that she believes have been important to shaping her approach to life and work success. Her inspiration for these six questions sounded unorthodox to me at first; she frames the six questions as lessons we can learn from kids and dogs! After hearing the questions I instantly felt she was on to something.
As Catherine shared each of the questions with me I revisited my own childhood in a vivid wash of memory and melancholy. The carefree life is a good one.
- Are you 100% in the moment and totally committed to everything you do?
When I left the sandbox I was done, that was it, and I’d forget about it until the next day. I couldn’t be distracted by the sandcastle estate while riding my bike for ice creme at the park. In our multi-segmented lives how often do we spread ourselves too thing and find it difficult if not impossible to be truly dedicated to the few things that matter the most? A career is liable to fall off track if we don’t carefully inventory and remind ourselves what is most important and to what we are really 100% committed. - Are you naturally enthusiastic and excited about life?
I remember waking up one day when I was very young and at breakfast my dad asked if I was ready for school? What! I thought it was the middle of summer vacation but school was only four days away. All sense of time was lost on me. I hardly knew what month it was. Getting outside to play the whole day was far too important to worry about the time of the year. So maybe the lesson is to forget about the clock and calendar or other aspects of our life that detract from our ability to be authentically enthusiastic every day. Do you find yourself waiting for the bell to sound so you can go home? Or do you find yourself so enthusiastic about your work, life, and family that you are more likely to wonder where the day went? - Do you approach life with the magic, vulnerability, and curiosity of a child?
Magic, vulnerability, and curiosity. Not sure what magic is but it sounds nice. Vulnerability comes with being honest: see number 4. Curiosity might lead to distraction but when leveraged it might also produce more passion and 100% commitment for everything we do: see number 1. - Are you as honest as a child is?
That bully who lived down the street might undercut the premise that children are angelic enough to be honest all the time. I confess to having shoved snow in every mailbox on my way home from school one day — took a police officer’s visit to my house before I came clean. Color me flummoxed if man’s best friend ever demonstrated the capacity to be dishonest. Thinking this one through its the most challenging for me. As honest as a child? As a child I didn’t hold back if I was upset, disappointed, sad, lonely, tired, hungry, angry, or really excited. Adult manners and temperaments get in the way of being that honest so we can save someone’s feelings. It might not be appropriate to express yourself fully at your workplace? Adult prudence also gets in the way to spare our own vulnerability. - Do you love unconditionally?
Here is a good one. Strikes a personal chord don’t you think? Worth a ponder on your own though. - If you fall down do you get right back up?
For all the times I stubbed my toe or skinned half my leg after wiping out on the bike. One summer I had a scab inches in width and length on my leg for half a month. Didn’t slow me down any. Last spring I stepped on my foot funny while playing basket ball. As an adult I let it interrupt my gym schedule for weeks! So yes, getting right back up seems like advice to consider and follow more often. A client of mine told me a story about starting her business and going to the bank to set up checking. It didn’t go so well. The banker explained the various options and she didn’t know what she wanted and hadn’t really thought it through. Six MONTHS passed before she went back and got it sorted out. Six months of business lost for not getting right back up.
Special thanks to Catherine for sharing her six questions with me. Children and dogs are a creative source of inspiration. Any Queercents readers out there have other reactions to these questions? Any other creative or innovative sources of motivation and inspiration? Being from Wisconsin I’d love to hear what business or career insights a block of cheese could conjure.
Adam: Those are thoughtful insights. Thanks for speaking with her and putting it down in a post. One question though: How does a twentysomething gay man meet the Banana Lady? Is there a story there?
Regarding your cheese question: Jeanine and I have had this fantasy for years of opening a cheese shop in Newport Beach – similar to The Cheese Store of Beverly Hills. I emphasize fantasy, because a cupcake shop was also on our list before Sprinkles stole our idea 🙂
Another time, we spent a Saturday morning working on an original concoction dubbed the Waffle Cow. At the end of this kitchen experiment, we decided we shouldn’t go into the Waffle making business.
Anyway, we laugh at all the ideas we’ve considered over the years including my obsession with buying a Quiznos franchise. We eventually want to be entrepreneurs but for now, a steady paycheck is what’s needed at this stage in life.
I’m always impressed with small business owners. It’s great that the Banana Lady has carved out a living for herself doing something she enjoys!
I really admire babies’ willingness to experiment and get things wrong and keep trying. We can’t understand their babbling, but they keep right at it until they communicate. Or they keep trying to roll over even if they can’t figure it out. Before you know it, they’re tottering about on two feet and then running (and then the exercise begins!). It’s inspiring in a really cute way.
Nina: I love Quiznos. I hope you’ll invite me to the grand opening!
Mrs. Micah: There is a lesson in communication too. Good insight. How often do we attempt to communicate something we really want (a vacation) at work but fail to really convey how important it is to us or settle for a shorter break in the end? A raise might be a good example. Communicating openly, honestly, and directly at work takes practice too, at first we’ll probably babble, but hopefully we’ll get it right eventually.