Micki LeSueur’s Blog

I've come to the conclusion that I'm a spoiled whiner. The value of my house is dropping. Gas is expensive. My 401k is sliding. Wah, wah, wah. Poor me.

I was noodling around on Bankrate.com (I know, I'm a loser) and stumbled across this "7 Steps to Financial Abundance" article written by Wayne Farlow. While I have to say most of the advice is pretty recycled, "spend less than you earn" no-brainers, the opening premise of the article is pretty thought-provoking. Farlow says, "Do you live from a sense of financial abundance? Or does a belief in scarcity cause you to live in fear? I meet many people who do not feel they live in financial abundance, despite the fact that their wealth far exceeds the basic human requirements of food, shelter and clothing."

How many of us, regardless of how tight finances are, have roofs over and heads and food to eat? Read More »

My husband and I were having the ubiquitous “uneven-distribution-of-household-labor” discussion. I laid down an empty ultimatum – either help out more or I’m quitting my job. My husband said, “Okay. Quit.” Um…what? Definitely not the response I was expecting. But it got me thinking...was it feasible? Could we actually afford for me to quit?

We tend to think of our gross salaries as what we need to keep the house running. I was absolutely stunned when I took a look at the actual numbers. I did some math and it was amazing how much less my income actually contributes to the household in terms of real dollars.
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Moving ahead in one’s career is a good thing, right? Not necessarily so. Personally, I don’t want a promotion. I’ve moved up the ladder before only to intentionally bring myself back down.

As an advertising copywriter, the next rung on the advancement ladder is usually to become an associate creative director. When clients offered those positions, I used to laugh – just because I can write, doesn’t mean I know how to direct creative work, which involves art oversight as well as copy direction. Being good with words doesn’t translate into being able to manage people, impose deadlines, and mediate squabbles between writers and designers. When the offers arose, I always declined.

So when a reputable advertising professional approached me to start a new agency, I should have known better. Read More »

Well, if you were the federal government, you would give people around $300 a pop and hope everyone runs out and spends the money to stimulate the economy. And let’s say all goes as planned and we do run out and buy new Wiis, iPhones and handbags. Most consumer goods are produced overseas, so a huge chunk of this money is going to another economy – probably one in Asia . And considering we have a budget deficit, the money to pay for these items (in the form of a stimulus check) probably comes from Asia, as well . So interest payments on the money to buy foreign goods is going back to a foreign country. I personally fail to be stimulated by this stimulus package.

When it comes to our careers, there is a constant stream of opportunities flowing past us. Some we miss because we don’t recognize them as opportunities, like meeting someone at a dinner party in a similar – but slightly different – field. Or we’ll pass one by because it intimidates us; we say to ourselves, “Oh that would be so great – I wish I had that skill/could apply for that job/take that class.” Chances are, most of the time we could if we only let ourselves. Other opportunities present themselves and we’d like to take advantage of them, if only we had the time or energy.

And some opportunities, we recognize and run with.

Like this, my new blog. It all started with an email I got from my friend Meagan Francis a few weeks back. Read More »