Wednesday, November 30, 2011

A Week In The Life of A Community Entrepreneur (taken from an actual week in T. Semakula’s Life)


Monday- Thank God not only for what you have received, but for what you have escaped..KWCosby


8:00 am- Wake up on my mama’s couch (my new bed until I finally find that house that’s perfect for me)- I am being very picky about buying a house. I am adamant about residing in a place and or community that will nourish my, body, mind, spirit, and personality. I want what I want (No comprises). It has taken me a minute to figure out how I want to live. I feel that if I am paying for it, I should have more say, right?


8:15 am- I read and meditate on the three separate devotionals I subscribe to on my Blackberry. Two come via email (Today’s Word with Joel and Victoria, Rev Run’s Wisdom) and the other is an app that I downloaded to my phone (The You Version Bible App)- it’s the only way I am able to read the Bible daily, it works for me because my Blackberry is always in my hand. I usually share these devotionals on my Facebook and Twitter pages. I feel that someone else, besides Semakula, can be inspired.


8:40 am-Loligag, check my Facebook, check and answer emails, make phone calls, watch Good Morning America (gotta see what’s going on in the world). I also like to catch up on who I call my online mentors group, this consists of reading various posts and tweets by Freelance Folder, Barbara Winters, Rev Kevin Cosby,and Sandi Krawkowski. I wrote a blog post about how in order to properly cultivate your hustle, you need to be a constant learner, no doubt.
I make a decision about how I am going to spend my day (this is done daily, as my schedule fluctuates). Today, there are no meetings-so I decide on carting Lil Mama to the public library for some needed homeschooling (Mondays are the best days to create her assignments for the week, which I send to her via Gmail), and I decide to catch up on revising a letter that I completed for the City of West Buechel’s Economic Development Commission.


10:00 am- Check the bus schedule (since I am a former New Yorker who has no drivers’ license) and wake up Lil mama so that we can get ready for our day. I decide to catch the 11:17 am bus to downtown Louisville so that Lil mama and I can cop some lunch @ Ermins Cafe before we get started with our day. I realize that I have skipped breakfast again and make a note to try harder next time.


11:00 am- Make sure we had everything before we both get on the bus- For me, this consists of my purse, bus fare, my laptop, my Blackberry and my headphones. I don’t carry much paperwork, because frankly, I don’t believe in it. I keep a lot of files in my email, or inside a document storage social network like Scribd or Docstoc. I also created a portfolio on my website, just in case I meet a new client throughout the week. When I traipse around the city, I am usually tuned into my Slacker Radio app on my phone and zone out on 90’s Hip Hop, Gospel, and Jill Scott Radio.


11:17 am-Hop on the bus with Lil Mama, lock on the headphones and zone out on my Slacker Radio until the bus gets to Fourth street. Since I didn’t eat breakfast, I am starved and Lil mama and I order the lunch special at Ermins, and sit down and grub.


12:30 pm-Finally, we walk over to the Louisville Public Library, say hello to our new friends (the library security guards, librarians, and the other regular patrons). While I sit down to finish the letter for the commission and polish off Lil Mama’s assignments for the week, she starts reading the book “Remember Me”, that she has to compose her biweekly book journal on. When I am done, she takes over the laptop and starts working on the assignments that I have sent to her Gmail. I locate the racks that house the interior design books and spend time flipping through the books, looking at how I will design my house in the future.


6:30 pm- Leave the library and head over to the Brewery Pub on Fourth Street to eat dinner. Lil Mama orders the Make Your Own Pizza Special and I settle on a bowl of chili. While we wait, we suck down some appetizers, which are some buffalo wings that I have no business eating.


8:00 pm-Check the bus schedule and decide to catch the 8:45 bus to the Nia Center, this gets us to our connecting bus, which will get us back home.


8:45 pm- As usual , the downtown bus is packed and we are able to squeeze into a seat, and I lock on my headphones, and zone out on A Tribe Called Quest.


9:10 pm- We arrive at the Nia Center and wait in the public lobby for the connecting bus.


9:30 pm-Our bus arrives and shuttles us home.


9:40 pm- Home Sweet Home- Check some more emails, Check my Facebook, Check my Twitter.


10:00-pm- Nightly prayers and off to sleep….

Tuesday- Sooner or later, those who win are those who think they can…Richard Bach


8:00 am- wake up and realize that mama’s couch is more comfortable then some beds that I have slept in, go figure.


8:15 am- Review and mediate on my three devotionals.


8:40 am- Loligag, check my Facebook, check and answer emails, make phone calls, watch Good Morning America (gotta see what’s going on in the world). Will plan to do a brief mini check on my new office in West Buechel, with my business partner. Will do the usual homeschooling and plan for Lil mama’s evening VOP choir rehearsal at St. Stephens, as well as plan for an evening meeting with a new client who needs assistance creating a website for her women’s ministry.


9:00 am- Receive a call from my business partner, to verify our morning meeting at our new office. Wake up Lil mama and we prepare for the day.


10:30 am My business partner arrives and we drop off Lil mama (who is a Senior in high school) at the library and head out to West Buechel.


11:00 am- Arrive at the office and check on the progress of the office set-up and things are looking good. We make plans to return the following week. I am really excited about the new office because our new company will assist in building the capacity of small cities, which ultimately, will improve the quality of life for the residents of these communities.


1:00 pm-Get dropped off at the library and check on Lil mama’s progress. She’s been working on a play and I am excited to see her final product- I make a mental note to make sure she works on writing dialogue properly. Of course she and I both are starving at this point and we make plans to head over to Quiznos and grab a salad and a sandwich.


1:30 pm- Lunch at Quiznos-Lil mama and I like to get the two for 5.50 special and I am becoming a fan of their Mediterranean Salad with the hot peppers.


2:30 pm- Back to the library. Lil mama continues to draft up her play and I cop me some more design books to sift through.


5:30 pm- Lil mama gets picked up to head out to her VOP Choir rehearsal at St. Stephens. I call my client and tell her that she can pick me up so that we can work on her new website.


5:45 pm- It’s a pleasure to work with Cathy Crenshaw, the founder of Sisters Inspiring Sisters-KY. She is really dedicated to helping women improve their lives via her ministry. Plus, I think she is learning a new skill, website creation and design.


10:00 pm- Get dropped off at home, per my client.


10:30 pm- Nightly prayers and off to sleep.

Wednesday-Not getting all the luv, congrats & honor u need? don’t worry: Mediocrity never congratulates excellence…Rev Run


8:00 am- Wake up excited about a new day above ground.


8:15 am- Review and mediate on my three devotionals.


8:40 am- Loligag, check my Facebook, check and answer emails, make phone calls, watch Good Morning America (gotta see what’s going on in the world). Made plans for my Wednesday meeting with the Garrett Advocacy Project. We are in the middle of a grant writing campaign and it is going well. Plus, I plan to look at a house in the Clifton neighborhood and I am excited about it. Lil mama and I are also having lunch with a former client and friend, Mr. McDaniel Bluitt, the founder and director of the West Louisville Performing Arts Academy.


9:30 am- Received a text from Alma asking to reschedule today’s meeting with the Garrett Advocacy Project. I say that this is fine and that we could get the work that we need to get done, next Wednesday.


9:40 am- I check the bus schedule and decide to catch the 11:17 bus to downtown Louisville. We cut it a little close for our lunch date with Mr. Bluitt.


9:45 am- I wake up Lil mama


10:00 am- Lil mama and I prepare for our day.


11:17 am- Hop on the bus with headphones, laptop, and Blackberry in tow.


12:00 pm- Catch the connecting Fourth Street trolley to arrive at the Galt House to have lunch with Mr. Bluitt.


12:15 pm- Lunch with Mr. Bluitt at the Galt House- Lil mama picks the buffet, I settle on the salmon, and both of us eye Mr. Bluitt’s fruit plate (smile). It was a pleasure to sit and talk with him. I am glad that he is doing well and that the academy is progressing. He invited me to their annual Hope Awards Program in which sculptor Ed Hamilton, will be honored.


2:50 pm- Mr. Bluitt drops off Lil mama and I at the St Matthews Mall because I am determined to get her a coat before the winter sets in. We wander around in the mall without any luck and I decide that I would probably have more luck rummaging around in the DAV.


5:00 pm- We arrive at the house I am considering renting. I like the house, just not the paint job on the inside walls. We’ll see what happens. Plus, I am not too fond of renting at this point. However, it is in the neighborhood that I would like to live in and it’s close to the café that I like to work out of sometimes.


5:30 pm- We walk over to a nearby café and Lil mama is picked up to go to her weekly bible study class at church. She hits me up for some money to buy dinner at the church before she leaves out and I decide to stay at the cafe and polish off some work. A client has sent me a letter to revise, so I get to it and finally finish up my final draft. Plus, I critique a draft of a micro-business plan that one of my subcontractors has composed for a client that has a theater company. I send my critique via email with added suggestions and comments. I know that we will meet with this client on Friday, and I want to make sure that we had developed a sufficient draft before the meeting.

6:30 pm- I buy me a strawberry coconut Italian soda topped with whip cream and a bagel. This is my dinner. I am happy to have something in my stomach. I check the bus schedule and decide to bounce out of the café around 9:30 so that I could get an evening bus home. I continue to polish off some work until the bus arrives.

9:30 pm- On the bus with laptop, headphones, and Blackberry in tow. I keep Badu’s “Gone Baby, Don’t Be Long” on repeat on my phone and make it home at 10:30.
11:00 pm- Nightly prayers and off to sleep.

Thursday-Speak with your own voice, think with your own mind, and act according to your own vision…Ralph Marston

8:00 am- Wake up fresh from a good night’s sleep

8:15 am- Review and mediate on my three devotionals.


8:30 am- Loligag, check my Facebook,Twitter, check and answer emails, make phone calls, watch Good Morning America (gotta see what’s going on in the world). Make plans for working with Cathy Crenshaw later on in the day to tie up some loose ends on her ministry website, also plan for an afternoon conference call with a local entrepreneur who wants to check up on a letter I have been shopping for him. In addition, I make sure that I put on some decent clothes today, due to a late afternoon meeting I have at City Hall.


9 am- I wake up Lil mama and Lil mama and I prepare for our day.


9:45 am- Call for a cab, can’t miss a 10:30 appt to check up on my health. Don’t have time to wait for a bus today.


10 am- Hop in the cab with headphones, laptop, and Blackberry in tow. Ohh and don’t forget, Lil Mama.


10:30 am- appt- Health is good and Lil mama is fine completing her schoolwork on the laptop in the clinic waiting room.


11 am-Lil mama and I head to the clinic cafeteria. We joke about how they must think that we are birds because there is very little food on our lunch plates. I am relieved when I get a call from Jazzy J, my oldest daughter. She reminds me that we have a lunch date today. Opps, I had forgotten. But that’sokay,I look forward to eating some more and Lil mama’s not complaining.


12:30 pm- Jazzy picks us up from the clinic and we head over to Panera Bread. All of us are starving and we file into Panera, ready and willing to sample some of their good soup, salad, and bread. It’s nice to be able to hang out with my daughters during the middle of the day. I make a note of this and vow to do it more often.


1:00 pm- Still eating, and I decide that instead of a conference call, I’ll send an email with the questions that I had for a local entrepreneur who as hired me to shop a letter for him. I place a quick call to him, he agrees, and I continue to enjoy an extended lunch with my two lovely daughters.


1:45 pm- Lunch is over and Jazzy drops me off at City Hall for my meeting with Charles Booker, Councilman David Tandy’s legislative aide. Jazzy and Lil mama head over to her house. She will drop Lil mama off at the house later on in the day.
Booker and I have been discussing a proposal that I submitted on behalf of Greenhouse Ministries and their HOPE Program. I take notes during the meeting and listen to the suggestions that he provides in regards to the proposal.


3:00 pm- Get a call from Cathy and she sweeps me up from City Hall. We head out to her house to finish up what I call my web design workshop.

6:00 pm- Get dropped off home earlier than usual. I hit the couch, check my emails again, check my Facebook and Twitter and place a call to Aquilla, one of the subcontractors who I have assisted with the development of a micro-business plan. We go over the plan and prepare for the Friday meeting with the client.

8:00 pm- Nightly prayers. Hit the bed early, yes…that happens sometimes



Friday- Today make your work your prayer. (Moving meditation) Be so engaged that u let go of the imaginary weight you carry…Uncle Rush


8:00 am- Wake up excited about going to sleep @ 8pm-I need to do that more often.


8:15 am- Review and mediate on my three devotionals.


8:40 am- Loligag, check my Facebook, check and answer emails, make phone calls, watch Good Morning America (gotta see what’s going on in the world). Made plans for Friday meeting with the Sheila Richardson, a talented playwright who runs a theater company called Louisville Entertainment Theater. I will go over a micro business plan that she hired Buttafly to compose for her. I also enjoyed providing marketing consultation for her latest play “A Satisfied Woman.” It turned out to be a success.


9:40 am- I check the bus schedule and decide to catch the 11:17 bus to downtown Louisville, again.


9:45 am- I wake up Lil mama. I receive a call from my good friend Bishop Sharon Polk. She has been ill and has been resting in a hospital room. I edited a book for her early on in the year. We have become good friends and I make a note to visit with her.


10:00 am- Lil mama and I prepare for our day.


11:17 am- Hop on the bus with headphones, laptop, and Blackberry in tow. Get off the bus and head to Ermins Café for lunch, as we have missed breakfast, yet again.


12:30 pm- Head over to the public library and Lil mama gets to her homeschooling. I do my usual doodling with my interior design books.


3:30 pm- Lil mama passes the laptop to me. She’s burnt out on homeschooling and commences to resting and flipping through magazines. I get busy with reviewing the micro business plan rough draft one more time and have settled on the questions that I need to ask during my dinner meeting with Aquilla and Sheila.


6:00 pm- Lil mama and I head to a dinner meeting at Panera Bread with Aquilla and Sheila. We go over the draft for the microbusiness plan and I make plans to complete the final draft early next week.


8:30 pm-Aquilla drops me off home and I am glad to be there. I pass out on the couch and dream about the weekend…no doubt.
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