Wednesday Wisdom: Business Lessons From a Hermit Crab

Standing shoulder to shoulder alongside my young, blonde friend, who was wearing a pink sweater under her jacket to support the cause as a first time rally-goer, we weaved in and out of line until we ended up unexpectedly, and by fate, in the very front of line behind the most energetic 30 piece drum group.

“Yahoo! Let’s go! Do you feel the energy when so many women gather for the women’s causes?” I shouted at my 24-year-old companion over the drumbeat. As we marched from 72nd to 54th Street, winding around Columbus Circle, where we were only going to stand to watch but decided to be bold which led us to the front of the pack leading the way. Loving how fate plays a part in event planning, we marched, bounced, yelled, held up our signs, and walked in peaceful unison with our sisters down the typically bustling streets of New York City with my favorite feminine piece flowing in the wind. It has been with me on every feminist march to date.

Although I could paint you an even longer and deeper vision of what it felt like to take my son’s girlfriend with me to her first Women’s March, I am stopping at the second paragraph to point out something new I learned as a woman entrepreneur. It is a new way of creative writing called a “Hermit Crab Essay” taught by Linda Lowen of Always Wanted to Write. This type of writing takes a simple item like a report card, pill directions, a hermit crab shell or even a pink scarf (my example), and turns into the subject of a creative writing piece without naming it. This style of writing allows the writer to use expression and perspective in a different way.

So today’s blog post is not to relive one more Women’s March through my eyes but to remind you no one ever perfects a craft like writing, painting, singing, and leading, without education along the way. Just like the drum beats that led the marchers forward down the streets to Times Square, where two different Women’s March groups became one, developing new skills helps women entrepreneurs advance down their own road of expertise and knowledge. Could your business be better if you were a student again tuning your skills like a drummer might?