Did that get your attention? That was the recent conclusion of one contributor to The Atlantic. To get everyone up to speed, Mayer’s is the CEO of struggling Yahoo that recently caused uproar in Silicon Valley by putting the kibosh on telecommuting for all employees.
That’s easy for her to do, since she built a nursery for her baby next to her plush CEO office. Wonder how management would react if all Yahoo’ers started bringing their children to work?
Part of her rationale is that there is a lot of time wasted by their employees working at home and working on their own start-ups. While that may be true for some, that seems to me a lack of management and clear deliverables.
I understand her need to shake things up at Yahoo – but what I suspect will happen, is that the best people will be pissed off and will find work elsewhere, leaving Yahoo with the very slackers that is causing this shift in policy.
However, this is not going to be a serious article on the benefits of telecommuting – I’m sure I had our regular readers worried! Although, I could dust off my 100 page dissertation on “Parenting and Workplace Performance” and publish that – but wouldn’t want to lose half our followers.
What I do love about our venture, is precisely the ability to work from home. From time to time, Spinner and I are asked about offices – but have discovered there is no need for the overhead. We’re either out at clients, supplier, contractors, etc., offices when needed. We’ve been known to conduct radio interviews from the car and we make very good use of the local coffee shop for breakfast meetings and for lunch meetings at the Lucky Monk (if we’re not trying to impress you and/or I have a craving for their truffle fries) or Shaw’s (if we are trying to impress you and/or Spinner needs a seafood salad.)
That pretty much leaves solo work and having an office would be counter-productive and an expense that isn’t required.
Now I will admit to a few downsides to working from home – chatty people who believe that you’re not really working. I have a handyman who does good work, but I must pretend that I’m on a 6 hour conference call the entire time he is here, by wearing my headset and making some comment into them whenever he’s in earshot.
Just this morning, I had an 8am Skype meeting, and as Spinner will attest, I’m not beyond putting on a nice top and leaving my PJ bottoms on out of camera view.
However, midway through this particular call, I needed to get something that was just out of reach – how was I going to slither away and not be caught in my PJ’s? The only bright side was that I wasn’t wearing my leopard print bottoms. I’m not sure whether the person on the other end of my video noticed, but I think from now on I’ll at least switch to yoga pants on the bottom.
But the upside is great – I’m here when the boys get home from school and able to spend that time with them before dinner and the start of their homework – why is there so much homework these days? Even when they’re cranky and don’t want to talk to me – I know it’s still usually good for us to be cranky together.
It’s also much easier to take a nap when you work from home. Companies usually frown upon sleeping at your desk in the corporate world. But it’s been proven that a little 20-minute cat-nap is a great productivity booster (and so much more comfy when you work in your PJ bottoms!)
I’ve also was one of the many this season to come down with the multitude of viruses were circulating. As a business owner, work doesn’t stop when you’re sick, but I was able to keep working without infecting the masses during my moments of lucidity. Although, I will advise against sending out 1099′s when sick and hallucinating from cough syrup – sending them out right the first time is so much easier than the hoops the IRS makes you jump through to fix the 1 that needs to be corrected.
So for the sake of all my fellow PJ wearing, working mom’s, let’s hope the edict at Yahoo is not the start of a trend.
Have a Smashing Day!
PS We’re looking to hire Independent Sales Rep – Contact us if you’re interested at kelly@smashingonline.com. We might even throw in a set of leopard PJ bottoms.
How Oscar Fashion is Influencing Smashing’s Summer Collection
The Oscar’s are many women’s Superbowl, and especially women that love fashion. While the leading ladies of Hollywood walked the carpet in Dior and Versace and sipped champagne last night, I was hanging out with my girlfriends in Gap sweats chowing on Cheetos.
From the fashion “dos” to the fashion “don’ts”, here are 8 things we noticed that will help to shape our upcoming collection.
1. We will no longer be offering a ragged, feathery ostrich boa for the Piano Bar Collection (sorry Bradley Cooper’s mom).
2. When we hire Renee Zellweger to model our collection, we will make sure she can actually open her eyes and we will not ask her to read anything. Renee was a little “Bridget Jones” last night — don’t you think?
3. We will introduce the Silver Collection (launching April) as the color looked stunning here on Amy Adams. Look for it as we pair with pinks and blues. Very stunning.
4. We will also make sure a makeup artist is available as apparently the one that was hired for the Oscars to prep the announcers was hanging out with Renee too long. (Everyone was so shiny last night, was there a gym backstage?!?)
5. After having some sushi for lunch, we will not, no matter how big the temptation, allow our models to put chopsticks in their hair.
6. When prepping for our next fashion show, we will make sure that all men have either short hair or borrow Hugh Jackman’s wife’s scrunchie for the runway
7. We will make sure that there is a hairstylist, or at the very least a comb, on set for our photo shoot so we don’t have a “De Niro moment”
8. We will continue to add to our White/Black collection. Charlize stole the show last night dressed in head to toe white. Simple, classic and stunning.
Look for our upcoming collections at SmashingOnline. You can currently pre-order our Spring Pink and Black/White collections now. Use code PREVIEW30 and take 30% off.
Hand Model, Smiling Eyes and Punja
Last week was quite a busy week for Smashing Golf & Tennis.
HAND MODEL!
First we had a photo shoot of some of our new samples that arrived in from our Spring Line. We were uber-excited to shoot these styles and get them up on our website to begin our Spring pre-order and so quickly asked our good model friend , Frances, to take a few pics.
Now we made sure to put pockets on ALL of our skorts and dresses. Apparently there are some golfers that can’t golf without them. So I wanted to make sure we got photos of each item’s pocket so we could assure pocket obsessed golfers, we have you covered.
So I asked Frances to do a few poses with her hand in her pocket. At that moment, her smile turned to fear, the music stopped and our photographer, Meg, almost fell off the ladder. Apparently Frances does not like to have her hands photographed. I guess it’s in her contract.
I tried to convince her that her hands are beautiful, but she was not having it. So we then started comparing hands in the room. My hands were voted closest to Palmolive.
Had I known I was going to be the hand model, I would have worn oven mitts all week, or at the very least moisturized, but when I heard the call, “HAND MODEL”, it was time to spring into action. Now the fun begins. How does one make it look like my arm is actually Frances? And how do you account for the fact that I’m about one shade from albino and she has a beautiful sun-kissed glow?
You can be the judge of our retouching ability next week when the new styles launch at SmashingOnline.
SMILING EYES
A day later, we were at a magazine cover shoot with a group of friends. 9 am call and champagne is flowing. You know this is going to produce some good blog fodder. They wanted to shoot a cover where Boss and I were in the front and 6 ladies were fanning out behind us (think bowling pins). They wanted to try different looks, serious, fun, energetic, etc. The first one they wanted was serious. Having been named “Class Comedian” in high school, this took a lot of concentration on my part.
“Spinner, try to look more like Boss,” the photographer would direct.
Ok, that doesn’t help me since we are standing back to back.
“Spinner, don’t smile. Just smile with your eyes.” He tried to direct next
I have NO IDEA what that means.
“Spinner, close your mouth. No smiling! Just use your eyes.” He’d say with growing frustration.
Close my mouth?! When was the last time I kept my mouth shut?!
The pose to the left is my “smiling eyes” shot. Notice I still can’t keep my mouth shut. Apparently it was not a keeper, as I did not see it on the short list this week.
PUNJA
We need to do a big THANK YOU to all our friends that helped make our photo shoot happen, especially Punja that put up with a lot of jeers. Our photographer had a hard time with Pooja’s name and so just decided to call her Punja. Maybe it was the champagne, maybe it was the bright lights, but the entire group of ladies at the shoot found this hysterical.
It was even funnier, when he would direct ‘Punja” multiple times.
“Punja move to the left, more, Punja keep moving to the left,” he would say, “Don’t worry I’m going to crop some of you out.” LOL
Can’t wait to see the cover and if Punja made the cut.
Our new Spring line will be online this Monday at SmashingOnline. Be sure to sign up at our website for our email offers; you don’t want to be cut!
What the Superbowl Taught Me About Fashion
While many of you were cheering on your football teams, I was rooting for some hot fashion from the performers.
1. Color Stands Out
Boss loves to tell the story about how our first season we didn’t make any black solid pieces because I insisted that no one wears all black in the summer. After fielding multiple requests and multiple “I told you so” looks from Boss, we quickly had the factory make us some.
I’m always shocked at how many people only wear neutrals. Color is a great way to show your personality and inject some life into a wardrobe. Just look at Alicia Keys. Her deep red, racerback gown was simply stunning. After watching a boring Jennifer Hudson in a skin-tight black top and 2 inches too long white skirt, it was great to see some color on stage.
Alicia Keys won the fashion look of the night.
2. Knee Highs & Short Skirts vs Capris
As many of you know, I am against the capri movement. Capris travel down your leg and stop at the most unflattering point making your hips look WIDER and your legs SHORTER. Even though women know this, we still get flooded with requests for Smashing to create a capri. Boss keeps telling me that we need to give the people what they want and I may need to get off my capri soapbox, but I think there are other options.
I personally love the skirt and knee-high look. And while many golf clubs have a collar rule, I’m pretty sure they don’t have a sock rule. I’m all for sporting a short skirt and some high socks next time on the course. Take inspiration from Beyonce’s look, but then adapt for golf.
3. Classics Are Always in Style
It was great to see Destiny’s Child last night and sing through some old hits with friends. It goes to show that some classics never go out of style. We love classic styles too. That is why we are bringing back our popular houndstooth this Spring with an updated flair. Stay tuned to see what we have in store.
Make sure to sign up for our email list to be the first to order our new collection. New collection to launch end of February. Sign up at SmashingOnline
A Smashing Career Day
Before/After
Last Friday I participated in the local middle school Career Day designed to inspire and inform 8th graders with their career decisions and more immediately, with their course selections in high school. I was signed up to give 2 45 minutes presentations to about 40 students. Since I also was one of the Career Day co-chairs, I figured it would be a breeze, since I had the insider’s information about the day.
I also recalled that Spinner had recently done a Career Day for a bunch of 5th graders at her daughter’s school, so I asked for some insight into what worked and what didn’t work. She said that she asked a lot of questions and really took the conversation from there, i.e. she winged it!
Now I’m all for winging it – so this sounded like a good idea to me. I did bring a few slides, just to set the scene and give a bit of background. (Spinner will be thrilled to know that 8th graders were impressed with the disappearance of her muffin top!)
Since many thought that I was speaking primarily about fashion, my group was mostly girls. However, there were a few boys that were initially not too happy to be in the fashion group, but hopefully I put their mind at ease when I told them this was going to be a schpeel more about the business of fashion and entrepreneurship.
So I did start by asking a few questions and asking if they had any. Not a sound! Well, it was 8am – so it might take us a few minutes to warm up. So went through my 10 minute schpeel and then asked them again a few questions. Nada!
I had forgotten what a tough crowd 8th graders are…..Where are a bunch of inquisitive 5th graders when you need them?
Fortunately, I had more schpeel and slides, because who doesn’t love a Powerpoint presentation? Actually, was able to take them online and show them the business benefits of our blog, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, etc., and talk about Social Media and how it benefits business. So that killed a few more minutes and they were starting to liven up after we looked at all the pictures of Spinner on our Pinterest page – they especially loved her groovy ’70′s look! And a group of them were thrilled to be one of the first pictures on our Instagram. But I’m a bit scared after I explained how social media advertising worked and that we were charged when people clicked on the ad only, one guy thought it would be hysterical to find our ads and click on them!
Even after we all updated our Facebook pages, I still had about 15 minutes to kill. Fortunately, I had something in my back pocket just in case. Who doesn’t love a group project? So divided the room into 3 groups and asked them to come up with a fashion problem and their business solution. After the initial groans of having to break into smaller groups, I was very impressed with their ideas. I think our detour into checking our Facebook pages did the trick, and I will need to remember that when I scold my own son with his study break checking his Twitter account.
Thanks again for a fun Career Day – And next year I’ll remember that I’ll just bring all of our social media updates for the week and assign them to the group. Maybe I can even get someone to write the blog!
Presenting their Fashion idea.
Have a Smashing week.
Smashing© and http://www.smashingonline.wordpress.com©, 2013.
Jason Wu Inauguration Dress
Yesterday was a big day for all in Washington DC. The media was abuzz with the event – Michelle Obama got new bangs and wore another Jason Wu dress to the Inaugural balls. He became an overnight sensation after she wore a white gown designed by him for the first inauguration.
The ruby-colored chiffon and velvet dress was stunning and I loved the style of the gown. My only thought, is that I would have preferred a bit less fabric at the hips and think it would have been a bit more flattering. But that seems to be just me, us girls with a bit of curves tend to zero in on the hips.
Being a Chicagoland company that designs and manufactures in the USA, we’re wondering how Smashing Golf & Tennis might benefit from Michelle Obama sporting our fashions. I know she plays tennis – anyone out there with any connections that can help us get her a Smashing outfit?
We are also considering a similar shade of red for our 2014 line and would love for people to weigh-in on the color for the course and court.
By the way, I know they got mixed reviews, but I love her bangs. I just hope that in a few years she doesn’t look back and have a “what was I thinking moment”.
During the late 90′s/early 2000′s, I sported bangs and at the time I LOVED them and thought I looked so chic. Now that I look back at pictures, I definitely wonder why no one took me aside and told me to grow them out. I need to now hide these pictures, along with all of my bad asymmetrical, permed hair-do photos from the ’80′s. (Again, what was I thinking?) I’m hoping that I will not need to hide my pictures from this decade, because again I think I have a flattering hair-style. But then again, come 2020, will I be hiding these ones?
If you’re willing to post your 80′s hairstyle and/or your banged photos on our Facebook page, I’ll post mine, and we can compare.
Who’s game?
Have a Smashing Day!
The Bank Stole Our Money
Let me start by saying that every time I enter the bank with business related to Smashing Golf & Tennis there is some kind of episode. Yesterday was no exception.
It began when I received the afternoon mail. I love the mail. I am always so hopeful that our clients have sent their payments on time and that I will be able to spend the rest of the afternoon rolling around in all the checks that we have received. Today however, I was handed a bunch of bills and what looked like junk mail.
I noticed a bunch of letters from American Express (don’t leave home without it). Normally I would just toss these letters as they had the look and texture of junk mail, but since my afternoon was now going to be filled with reminder calls to my clients to pay their bills, I needed to procrastinate a little.
I open the first letter. What’s inside? A big fat check made out to Smashing Golf & Tennis. While my first reaction was sheer joy, my second was fear. How many other checks have they been sending us that I tossed out because it looked like junk mail?! I decided to not dwell on this minor point and open the second letter which is thicker, and so it can only mean a fatter check.
I open the second letter and here is where my blood pressure rises. It says that American Express tried to deposit money into our bank account (from our online sales), but was unable to since our bank account has been closed.
Ok, now I’m mad and they better have something stronger for me at the teller counter than a lime flavored sucker!
It seems that when our bank merged over the December holidays, they took the liberty of changing a few things. First there were our corporate cards that they decided to un-authorize because we needed new ones. (Boss has already written about that escapade so I won’t rehash) The second seems to be that we have some new account numbers and new checks. Again, this MAY HAVE BEEN IMPORTANT INFORMATION TO SHARE WITH US!
The bank has assured me that all of our money is still there, they just moved it to a new account.
“So basically you stole our money, ” I said, as I’m a very black and white sort of person.
“No,” she says all super sugary , “We just put it in this new account. See we merged and everyone gets new accounts!” During this last sentence her voice has actually risen to an octave level that I’m sure only dogs can hear.
“Yea!” I say in my fake, you are totally annoying me voice, “See if you told me you put our money somewhere else, then it would be ok. But since you just did it and didn’t tell me, it’s actually called stealing.”
“Let me see if I can get someone to help you,” she says dropping her voice an octave to actual human levels.
“I don’t want a representative,” I say “I want my new checks and my current balance sheet”
After some whispering with other members of the new merged bank, they return with the items I need. All of our money is still there, although in a “new awesome account!”
Now that my blood pressure has returned to normal, I thank them for their time, give the teller my evil stink eye, and make my final point by grabbing a handful of lollipops.
