SIDE NOTES

Welcome to Side Notes, a collection of essays, excerpts, and reflections shaped by two decades of building things from the ground up. These entries pull from the margins of business, creativity, reinvention, and everyday life. The parts we often overlook but always learn from.

Side Notes has been a great way for me to keep my mind active and grounded in writing while I work on my first book, Unfinished Business: The Art of Reinvention. A collection of humor-tinged lessons from life, twenty years in business, and what reinvention in my forties has actually looked like in real time.

You’ll find moments of humor, clarity, nostalgia, and insight. The hope is that somewhere in the pages, you find a moment of recognition, a shift in perspective, or simply a reminder that you’re not alone in the humor and complexity of it all.

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Why Is Picking Up a Bobby Pin Harder Than Running a Business?
Humor & Satire RaeAnne Conat Humor & Satire RaeAnne Conat

Why Is Picking Up a Bobby Pin Harder Than Running a Business?

Why is picking up bobby pins off the floor harder than running a business? Science says friction and surface area. I say there’s a small village of bobby pins living in my hair with a personal vendetta, and I am their pawn. But avoiding small, frustrating tasks, like picking up bobby pins, only makes them multiply. Business, life, or hair accessories… tackle them now, or risk a full Gremlin situation. And I think we all remember how that turned out.

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Work Ethic: The Skill That Builds Everything (And Why It Matters)

Work Ethic: The Skill That Builds Everything (And Why It Matters)

The universe told me to take a break. My work ethic? She laughed, crossed her arms, and said, ‘That’s adorable, now get to work.’ This is what happens when you try to slow down after two decades of hustle, and why learning to balance ambition with rest is crucial.

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