Smarter and more creative? Sounds to me like evening people have the edge over early risers who are “just” more proactive. But biologist Christoph Randler tells the Harvard Business Review that evening people may still be at a disadvantage in the business world because they are “they’re out of sync with the typical corporate schedule.”

That’s right: You might be smarter and more creative than the woman in the next cubicle, but her career could go further simply because her biorhythms happen to be more in tune with those of the boss. Maybe HR people should just dispense with all the questions about experience and skill set, skipping right to what really matters: “What time do you wake up in the morning?”

I’m exaggerating, of course. But smart, creative people who peak later in the day are bound to chafe at the chronological conformity of the business world. Maybe that’s one reason that 43% of entrepreneurs in our latest SmartBrief poll described themselves as “evening people” — why conform to someone else’s schedule when you can find success on your own time?

Fortunately, as contributing editor for SmartBrief on Entrepreneurs, I had a forum for asking that very question. Last week we polled our 35,000 readers, asking if they thought the Tea Party phenomenon was good or bad for small-business issues.

The results were unambiguous: 57% believe the movement is a good thing, compared to just 23% who see it as a negative. To me, the blowout numbers were shocking. I expected to see a much higher percentage of “not sure” responses, given that the Tea Party is relatively new, amorphous and untested.

Why are so many entrepreneurs drinking from this particular cup of tea? I think it’s largely a loss of faith in the current leadership of both parties, who are falling all over themselves to “help” their core constituencies with lavish, expensive government programs.

Case in point: Washington wants to help stimulate investment in small businesses, so what does Congress do? It passes a $3.5 billion incentive allowing investors a 100% exclusion on capital gains when they purchase stock in entrepreneurial enterprises.

But only if the stock purchase is made between March 15, 2010, and Jan. 1, 2012.

And only if the company is organized as a C corporation.

Oh, and if the business provides a service — think consulting firm, restaurant or inn — it doesn’t qualify.

Entrepreneurs all across the country will respond to this “stimulus” with a weary shrug, just like any number of SBA programs and tax incentives that came before. Who has time to jump through all the hoops required to qualify for the government’s “help”? We have business to run, sales to make, products to ship.

Government is about strings; entrepreneurs are about bootstraps. If they really want to help us, they need cut the strings and get out of the way so we can do our thing.

In its rhetoric, at least, the Tea Party movement seems to get it. Tea Party candidates promise to restore fiscal discipline, and entrepreneurs listen. Washington promises to help us, and entrepreneurs shrug.

Come November, things could get very interesting.

Without Google, thousands of lifestyle businesses wouldn’t exist. Before Google came along, many entrepreneurs simply couldn’t afford to launch a business. Advertising was expensive and inefficient, and media companies did everything in their power to keep it that way. Local businesses and niche businesses might need to reach just 1 person out of 1,000, but advertising rate cards were inevitably based on 1,000 pairs of eyeballs.

Then along comes Google with its search advertising model, and suddenly I can reach my best prospects for just pennies apiece. If I put enough time and effort into my site, I can even reach those people for free by improving my ranking in Google’s “natural” search results.

With the billions it earns on search, Google develops or improves on other technologies that make my business life easier: email, word processing, presentations, navigation, research, chat. Sure, those things existed before, but Google made them cheap — or free — thus making them accessible to bootstrapping startups.

I find it outrageous that Google had to defend its importance to the U.S. economy. This isn’t a case of spewing oil or uncontrolled acceleration. It’s a matter of envy, pure and simple. Google’s competitors want to say that the giant must be cut down to size. But those competitors are giants themselves — in many cases the very giants who made it so expensive to do business in the pre-Google world.

So please spare me the David-vs-Goliath storyline. I am David, and I’m proud to say I’m hooking up with Goliath.

Some bloggers have worried that this rapid growth in self-employment is a sign of economic duress among those who should be enjoying their golden years. “[I]t’s likely that, these days, many of them are choosing this path because they have to,” Anne Field writes. “They’re out of work and no one wants to hire them.”

There are some big assumptions in those two sentences, and Scott Shane of Case Western Reserve University offers some statistics to show that entrepreneurship among older Americans has always been a popular option, no matter what the economic environment.

Statistics are great, but leave it to McPaper to illuminate the issue through anecdotes. Sure, there are reluctant entrepreneurs like Bryan Goodman, who became a full-time eBay merchant after losing his job at age 53. But I’d bet for every Bryan Goodman, there are four or five Patrick Althizers, who loves the lifestyle afforded by his company, Photo Safari Yosemite.

Althizer toiled in finance for three decades before retirement finally gave him the time to pursue photography, a passion he abandoned when he got “diverted” by his career. Now he has a family business, work he actually enjoys doing, and a company that could become “a legacy for my family.”

That sounds a lot healthier than watching soap operas and waiting for the Social Security check — in the case of GenXers like me, a check that will probably never arrive.

That’s certainly true, but I think it misses a larger point: Lifestyle businesses make life better/more enjoyable/more fun for customers too.  Take Maia Josebachvili, for instance.  While studying engineering at Dartmouth, she recruited all her friends and acquaintances to go skydiving — because it was something she really wanted to try, and she couldn’t afford it. Based on that experience, she went on to found Urban Escapes, a weekend adventure company for young urban professionals in four cities.

All week long Josebachvili’s clients slave away in banks, law firms and the like. Then, on the weekend they get out and really enjoy life, thanks to a little lifestyle company and an entrepreneur who pursued her passion.

In the busy summer months, Josebachvili says she serves about 500 clients — not a huge number, and certainly not the kind of business model that would impress venture capitalists or proponents of “high potential” firms. But she’s earning a living, providing jobs and bringing a little bit of joy to her customers.

The point is, it takes someone with passion to provide the sort of product or service that may never “scale.” For a big, soulless corporation or venture-backed company, it’s simply not worth the time.

Well, from here on out, this blog is all about reclaiming the term “lifestyle business.” How did it get to be a pejorative? A business that let’s you live your life in the style that suits you — what could possibly be bad about that?

Prost! Productions is a lifestyle business, I’m proud to say. It lets me be creative and productive and fulfilled without disappearing into some soulless corporate bureaucracy. No venture capitalist will ever invest in us; we’re not “disruptive” enough. But I’m perfectly happy with that, because I wouldn’t give up control, anyway.

I’m not birthing this baby just so I can sell it. I plan to nurture it and care for it and watch it grow.

I know there are millions of other business owners just like me, and from here on out, this blog’s for you: Thoughts and questions and ramblings on life and style and business. I hope you’ll join the conversation.

But the conversation will have to wait. Right now life is calling. Her name is Sydney, and she needs to go to the park.

The Daily Blonde

Sure, I read the major wine bloggers, but that’s more a matter of duty than desire. Wine writing, as a rule, is too self-important for my taste. Wine bloggers are so earnest and reverent, as if every sip and swirl is a matter of holy communion.

The best mommybloggers, on the other hand, are anything but reverent. They’re irreverent, funny, sarcastic, self-deprecating and sharp. If you expect endless stories about breast pumps and “binkies,” then prepare to be pleasantly surprised. These women tackle subjects from sex to politics to psychology, with an attitude that would never make it into print in your local paper.

So if you’re looking for some really good writing with an unexpected point of view, pour yourself a glass of wine and check out these hot mamas:

• The Daily Blonde is a 40-something single mom in Rhode Island who writes about coffee, Kotex and her Tiger Woods fantasy. If that’s not variety enough, she also bestows a dreaded Ass Hat of the Week award on the person who most offends her. (Two-timing John Edwards is a two-time winner.)
• Okay, Fine, Dammit is the creative outlet of a freelance writer/full-time mom in rural Wisconsin. Instead of laugh-out-loud funny, this one is oh-my-god thoughtful and beautifully written, like a long-form poem with no rhyme or meter. Her topics are often heavy — abuse, alcoholism, disillusionment — but the language soars.
• La Jolla Mom is probably the most conventional of my favorite mommybloggers, with regular posts on topics like “Food,” “Household” and “Kids.” But LJM is also a serious wine lover, and her “Wine Wednesday” posts are not to be missed. (Full disclosure: I first discovered LJM when she blogged about our prost!cards a few weeks ago, so I’m not exactly impartial on this one!)

Any other closet mommyblogger fans out there? And any other momblogs I should add to my list?

But when all is said and done, the winner is (drum roll, please): Paso Robles, California!

I can’t wait to check out the low-key charm that voters cited again and again. Unfortunately, it looks like I have to wait a little longer than expected. You may remember that this was supposed to be a Valentine’s/anniversary trip, but now my better half can’t get away from work that weekend.

Really? In a firm with 15 lawyers, they can’t spare just one for a long weekend? This is precisely why I warned against law school in the first place. Romance isn’t dead, but lawyers are standing by with their “Do Not Resuscitate” orders.

Still, I promise not to say “I told you so” … it is Valentine’s after all.

Paso Robles, we’ll see you in the spring!