Bamboletta Blog

Totally nothing about dolls ..

I have a hard time ‘shutting off’ at night. My head is always swirling with ideas and lists and doll related dreams. John actually dreds when my ’11 o’clock energy surge’ comes – if I don’t get to bed before then, that’s it – I’m usually up until 1am and get very chatty. Anyhow, to transition to sleepy time I generally read every night .. it helps me relax and it’s one of my most favourite things in the world to do. I read a lot of business-y  books – these are my favourites. I love to read about how other businesses operate, how they ‘made it’, their philosophies – it’s fascinating to me. In the beginning of Bamboletta I also found these books extremely comforting as I found other business owners out there that shared the same philosophy as me – yay to customer service, team culture and exceptional products and nay to business plans, bottom lines and corporate hierarchy! So – here are a few of my fav’s .. books that inspired me and I think are a good read if you are interested in a different way of doing business …

1. ‘The Thank You Economy’ by Gary Vaynerchuck I’ve read this one a few times. Gary just ‘get’s it’ – understands how important (and FUN) great customer service is.

2. ReWork by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hanson A whole chapter dedicated to why you DON’T need a business plan! This book is short and to the point – perfect.

3. Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose by Tony Hsieh A tad ‘cult like’ but a good easy read.

4. Anything – really – by Seth Godin! Seth is my favourite author for this sort of thing. He is a visionary.

5. Malcom Gladwell –  I really enjoyed ‘Outliers’ but ‘Blink’ and ‘The Tipping Point’ are fascinating reads as well.

6. Shop Class as Soulcraft: And Inquiry Into the Value of Work by Matthew Crawford Not a business book but a book on the value of working with your hands and the lessons gained by doing so.

So – those are a few of my favourites. I’ll do another blog post soon on my favourite fictional books – I tend to have a thing for Indian authors .. maybe because I’ve travelled there and really want to go back, I don’t know, but I swoon over a book based in India.

Have a great weekend everyone!
Christina

Posted

in

by

admin

Tags:

Comments

5 responses to “Totally nothing about dolls ..”

  1. Charla Avatar
    Charla

    I have trouble winding down at night as well. It’s the only quiet time my brain has to process anything. Tonight my mind keeps wandering back to my 5 year old son asking if he could cut my Bambo’s hair. Pretty sure I’ll have nightmares about it tonight. I think I’ll try to settle in with some Tony Bennett and “Sew What You Love”. 🙂 Night!

    Reply
  2. Natalie Avatar
    Natalie

    Curious if you came across these books before you started making and selling Bambolettas, Christina. I suspect you did. I have read somewhere recently and it really stuck with me — that if you come across a bit of an obsession in some area of your life (say for instance, all things early childhood, a certain genre of book, TED Talks, simplifying your life as a consumer by purchasing differently, reading blogs, changing the way you eat, becoming enamoured with wool or natural products) that you should give yourself permission to stick with it for awhile, even if it takes up a bit of your mind space or you carve out time for it. Whatever it is probably has something for you to learn from it, or is pointing you in a novel direction. Have you seen the Malcolm Gladwell’s TED Talk on spaghetti sauce? It was a timely watch for me when I was feeling actually quite anxious about making even simple decisions because there seemed to be so many choices — in fact, the TED talks recommended having viewed this one by Barry Schwartz on the paradox of choice was equally or to me, more so thought provoking. I discovered your beautiful dolls after my TED Talk phase which seemed to fall in line with my new philosophy on how I spent my money, what merchandise I bring into my house, consumer choice, simple living, and the kind of play, wonder, and art will have a place in the walls of our home (some great TED talks there, too). Then I came across you and your spirited dolls and I feel so fortunate to have one 🙂 I am returning to work after a year at home with my girls next month, and your dolls and what I have learned from (they connect with what I do in my professional world). I feel like I have secret to why I have been so successful in having all the dolls I need (I hope!) before I went back to work and had my head full of list and “work related dreams” like you described, and it goes back to the TED talks and other nooks and crannies I found myself obsessed with during the course of my year off. Otherwise, I may not have been able to turn off the desire to have a Bamboletta in every shade of skin tone, hair colour and outfit (although I need a few more of those!). By the way, thank you for your blog recommendations — I have been to this site more times than I can count since discovering Bamboletta (I am ashamed to say as a Canadian mama) in December — I am enjoying reading them while my little one sleeps. Sleep well. I know this week is going to be one of those wonderful kind of weeks 🙂

    Reply
  3. Natalie Avatar
    Natalie

    So Seth Godin is all over TED talks! Should I be surprised??? You are right, he is brilliant and I love, love, love listening to a brilliant thinker and speaker on TED. Another wonderful speaker — Sir Ken Robinson (getting to hear him in person in Halifax in April!!!). — oh, and Stuart Brown on play — so, so, so many brilliant talks that can change the way you think and operate in the world. Every parent, teacher, leader should hear these talks. A cup of coffee, a cozy blanket, my macbook, and well now a Bamboletta nearby during nap time (my quiet time) with a few new TED talks tomorrow. Have you considered submitting to present at TED, Christina? I think you have a story to tell, share, and inspire…

    Reply
  4. Tara Avatar
    Tara

    In such a night owl too! I swoon over books set in India as well, I’ve never been but it’s on my list 🙂 can’t wait to hear your fiction list, I’m all about the fiction. Just finished the hunger games and am looking for a good next novel 🙂

    Reply
  5. chrisitan louboutin

    chrisitan louboutin…

    […]bamboletta: natural, handcrafted companions for little ones – » Blog Archive » Totally nothing about dolls ..[…]…

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *