March 1st

 I smiled today as I walked in the storm

covered in snow

wind whipping my jacket and hair

was it the beauty of a winter storm that made me smile?

was it the wind pushing me backward on the snowy ice?

or was it the beauty of weather living up to its legendary forms?

maybe, it was peace in Christ?

 To awake in the morning with the arms of my children around

has got to be one of the most tender and sweet things in life

 one more minute Mama, please

the bed is so warm,and I like your voice sinigng

One more minute mama, please

I am surrounded by those that I love

and do not want to leave

One more minute, mama please

I am doing that which I was sent to do

One more minute, Mama, please

these dreams will not dream themselves

Me I am

 A new year

not a new me

but a me who has become more me than I was last year

I look in the mirror and feel 

I have worked my whole life to become who I am now

the confidence that comes from grey hair 

and no longer having eyes tracking every movement of my butt

the power that comes from wisdom 

and learning to rely on my own "Mommy Magic"

feeling the power of "Mommy Magic" fill my being

and burst out of every pore

Learning that management is the balance of working for what is best for each in your circle 

while maintaining the integrity of that circle

Understanding that the physical is only a partial representational of the spiritual

And that life is about loving those you are with

and choosing to be with those you love

that things can exist simultaneously in states of "this is all-important" and "this has no real importance, even if its due tomorrow" and choosing which one you will act on

and no matter how patient you are trying to be, a toddler in your care 24/7 does occasionally need to be yelled at.

Wouldn't it be wonder-full?

 I hate the Soccer mom vibe, the idea that I need to be everything and do everything for my kids, manage all their play dates and get them to sports practice in time.

I hate spending all week in and out of cars, never exchanging more than pleasantries with people.

We do this to enrich our kids, when all they want is to pursue their spark with no time constraints. Drawing for hours, dreaming weird theories while stretched in a hammock, or just chasing after butterflies and fireflies with a puppy on their heel.

Or even sending them to bed when there are falling stars or northern lights to watch.

Bugs to watch, hands to stick into things. Why do we insist that the world is full of human things? Why do we get hung up on schedules and grades? We should let every little excitement sweep away into wonder.

Email saved for postarity

 Hi Joel,

You want me to edit this, rather than drop it in a fire?

It breaks every conceivable rule I have ever learned about technical
writing and looking at it makes me nauseous. The 1,000 superficial
changes of note on each page, don't come close to the deep-seated
problems with that document. Now usually, I consider myself a
descriptive person when it comes to language and uses, but the use of
language and lack of structure in this doc makes my skin crawl in ways
no southern drawl on the vowels of Es and Is ever could. This
document’s passive, yet controlling voice, rekindles my hatred for the
patriarchy and the society wrapped around the fragile male ego. The
lack of graphical determination reminds me of those so lacking in
imagination and knowledge that one must consider the writer's lacked
theory of mind. I shudder to think what a Greek God of Language would
do to those perpetuating such filth, and that's saying a lot because
the Ancient Greek didn't even have spaces between their words.

If I accept this project, I will edit it like God did to Sodom &
Gomorra and utterly wipe it off the face of the earth, but instead of
leaving pillars of salt, I will leave you with an easily printable
version of this: Hugh the Ducky’s Quick Quack Start Guide

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/10f6lU-PBFuDpG8Jp7qiG6GxwtZr3B6xXDlEDIAtrMrs/edit?usp=sharing

I can have a mostly finished document to you in 2 weeks.

Cheers!
Raya



On 2022-05-17 10:26, joleary@hugllc.com wrote:

Hi Raya. Later last week I dropped the Quick Start Guide on your desk.
If I recall correctly, we briefly discussed this document last week. I
marked it up fairly significantly, and Mike also added some edits.
(His edits are in red ink.) Anyway, I believe you are the person to
make edits to the master copy. (With your educational background,
please make whatever changes you feel are necessary/beneficial too.)
Also, please remember the audience is anyone who has purchased a HH1
system, thus fairly broad. Lastly, let me know when you think you will
be able to tackle this project. If you have questions, you know where
to find me.

Thanks so very much for your help with this task.

~ Joel

The next big thing

 Part of me wants to be just a poet and a gardener, weaving words and guiding grapes up trellises. My grapes escaped their trellis and grew high into the branches of the pine trees above my garden, and I realize I must climb to harvest my grapes.

 Yet the only reason I have had time to dabble in such pastoral pursuits, as gardening, is because of the generosity of those of whose knees I sat at as I learned business as a child. Bedtime stories became quests of learning everything my father ate on a business trip. Movies became times to clip leads or fold brochures. Family holidays always became business planning sessions.

At 17, I opened my first business, the only dance studio in the town we had moved to for my parents business to grow. I had 3 students and we put on a full length ballet, with a little recruiting from students at the dance studio where I trained, before I moved to college.

As my parents business made its first million, I eyed the MBA program at my college. Then I got married and started having children, but the maternity clothes were not cutting it. So by my third child I opened a new business, using the infant technologies available to online retailers in the early 2000s. 

After struggling to open clothing production facilities in the USA,  mostly due to my failure to create a functioning team, and being overwhelmed with my own children’s needs at the time. We chose to downsize just to me again, but still hit all of our growth estimates until I had my 5th baby. Then I knew I could either grow my business or my children.

Now we have another business, one that I must climb to harvest. That climbing includes learning how to market the technology that revolutionized in-floor heating, learning how to manage and focus our talented team, and learning how to set up manufacturing and fulfillment. 

Our current marketing and sales team is staffed by engineers, attempting to market to the Heating and Plumbing professionals, which is the lowest value proposition market we have access to. One year ago, I took over the online marketing bringing us to the do-it-yourselfers and small contactor market. Our online sales have triple the closure rate with 10% higher margins than our average sales. 

I want to know enough to bring HUG Hydronics to the world, starting with North America and then Europe.  I need to learn how to manage people, build networks, finance a growing business, add to my abilities to analyze data and see trends, and build sustainable and robust supply chains in our ever-changing economic and physical environments. 

I see the MBA giving me the tools to climb and harvest safely. I see St. Catherine’s MBA as being particularly valuable in helping me navigate a traditionally male centered business and learning how to establish a workplace that values all voices, experiences, and backgrounds.