October is here - the official start of  Q4 (and the holiday shopping season - if you don't believe me, check out any retail store, and sandwiched between the clearance patio furniture and grills, you'll see (gasp!) Christmas trees and ornaments.)  Personally, I have always held the concept that I want the shopping done by Thanksgiving, and the decorating done the weekend after  - but I'm guessing the decorating is there for a reason.  It's a good excuse to get outside in nature and enjoy the beautiful foliage.

October is a busy month here at TPP world headquarters, filled with a lot of  celebrations, activism, planning and preparations  - for me, this seems to be the start of a wild roller coaster ride which ends on January 1. I'm never bored or at a loss for things to do this time of year. But today I want to take a moment to talk about something that you don't hear about - and how I'm taking part this year.

The celebrating is actually for National Women's Small Business Month. The National Women's Business Council reports that women own 7.8 million business in the U.S. and generate 1.2 trillion dollars in revenue in all avenues of commerce.  I'm celebrating by paying it forward and helping out a budding entrepreneur fulfil her dreams.  Said budding entrepreneur is 11, has a product, a business plan, presold orders, and is working on her website and her Facebook page. I'm encouraged to know several young ladies that are similarly inclined (entrepreneurial), and I believe it's my responsibility to nurture such creativity whenever I can.

You can too - by following http://meredithsmarketplace.weebly.com/ and her facebook page, Meredith's Marketplace.  I can't wait to see how this takes off!