The Business- Clutterbomb

Last year I had such a load of small business administration fall on my shoulders I felt like it was going to kill me. Fortunately it did not, and by now I've got it pretty well sorted and things are humming along smoothly.

Getting through the mess I was able to amass some important tools and a metric ton of useful experience. I had to look the mountain of problems in the face and decide it wasn't as big as I was. I learned to organize the load in order to chip away at it most effectively. It was stressful and difficult and I vowed I would take the lessons I learned and put them to use.

To that end, I've started consulting with my first client over the past two weeks- a small business, busy with work, just a few years old, and buried under administrative problems. I'm helping them to get their taxes on track (it's bewildering if you haven't kept up) and accelerate their Accounts Receivable. Once that mountain is mowed down we'll work together on ways to offer new services to existing customers and streamline their inventory and business model.

In two weeks I've already made a difference for this business and it's an amazing feeling. The relief on the face of my client is an encouragement to me that I can get these folks on track- and I can do it for others too. There are so many people out on their own doing great work in their field but struggling in the office. Clutterbomb is my tool to get them running the administration of their businesses smoothly, with eyes open and stress-free. Well, with a lot less stress anyway.

Over the next month or so my goal is to add two or three new clients who need a little push (or a mess of help) getting their business on track or out of trouble. It's an exciting idea, and I hope a fruitful one.

Sarmust

So I've been tracking drums for and rehearsing with Sarmust, brainchild of Omar Waqar. It's a kind of Indie Rock with a subcontinental influence. I saw Omar's ad back in July 2011and thought this project might just be weird enough to get myself involved. I've long had an infatuation with the native music of India and Pakistan, dating back to my high school days when I'd watch Bollywood music videos on saturday mornings, utterly flabbergasted but unable to look away. That led to a discovery of the classical music of the area and artists like Zakir Hussein, Ravi Shankar, Trilok Gurtu and John McLaughlin's Shakti project.

So I got in touch with Omar and we traded some tunes. We decided it was a good match and made plans to get started. Then life intervened and I wasn't able to get started on the project until November 2011 but it's been fun since. Omar's got a slew of tunes written and it's been fun hashing them out, writing drum parts and recording them in my basement studio.

So look for updates here on the progress of the album- I have high hopes that it'll be strange and beautiful. Check out Omar's other projects at suchrecords.com.

new track up. basement reggae

QUEEN PROTOTYPE <--- Click the link to listen...

needs layers of female vocals. this was a lot of fun to record. no edits.

Posting at Foodie Parent- look out y'all

My first post at Foodie Parent Dot Com is live:

http://www.foodieparent.com/2012/01/two-year-molars-and-the-morning-cup/

Hoping people find my insights on feeding a family vaguely interesting and/or entertaining. I'll post links here along with my other creative efforts.

Foodie Parent is run by my former employee and current good buddy Charlie, who blogs @ theeverymanskitchen.com. He write good.

Other things Imma populate this place with: Music and related projects I'm working on, musings of a recovering restauranteur, and updates on Clutterbomb. What is Clutterbomb? I guess we'll all find out as it develops...

Another Year, Another Projects.

2011 was a year of destruction. 2012 I'm going to build. wish me luck.