(last edited on January 9, 2021 at 9:28 pm)
SUMMARY: Progress is being made on my 2010 Groundhog’s Day Resolutions, and in today’s review I lay out what’s been working. Plus, you’re invited to an April 8 pow-wow in Concord, NH if you are in the area. Details in the main article.[biznik]:http://biznik.com/articles/you-in-a-compelling-nutshell It’s April 4th, the second Groundhog Day Review Day of 2010, and for once I seem to be on track. I attribute this to having a much larger support community than last year. Almost everyone I know seems to be working on something, and the sense of being part of a wave of enterprise has helped me maintain momentum. Let’s see what happened!
The Review
In my March 3rd review, I made a few tweaks to my “master resolution”, which is now to make a good living working with people I like and respect. I also made some more concrete plans to push through the difficult task of building the assets that will help me fulfill the master resolution.
For the month of March, I picked three things to do:
- Make the “hire me” part of my website.
- Build that simplified “Printable CEO” download area.
- Promote, Everywhere
The hire me part of the website has been difficult to complete, and I’m still working on it. Part of the challenge has been the pain of defining what it is that I do, and it’s taken far longer than I thought it would. I’ve been assured that this is natural through The Google Wave with Colleen™ has been particularly helpful, and Colleen’s approachable and humane marketing insights have been wonderful inspirations. For the nuts and bolts, I found her condensed [marketing yourself article on Biznik][biznik] very useful in breaking through my most recent mental block, and I think I finally get it. I liked this article so much that I printed it out and stuck it in my portable management shrine, and have been showing it to all my friends.
Promote, Everywhere was more of a reminder that I needed to be talking to more people about what it is I do. The way this directive was expressed, however, was more like be seen in more places followed by be helpful. A big part of this strategy has been attending the weekly Jelly Co-working in Nashua, which have been amazing in helping me feel connected with my local community. I don’t get a lot of work done, but I get a lot of ideas of what work I could do. Through my weekly interaction, I’m getting a better sense of how I can help with people. For example, last weekend I helped a few people out with their HTML projects, and they both said I should consider teaching. From that I considered a workshop format, similar to what my friend Sid Ceaser is doing with his Portable Portrait workshops, renting the Jelly space for a trial run. I’ve also been interviewed three or four times by local reporters doing stories on the Jelly space, met some local politicians, and other area people who are DOING things. As it turns out, promotion is easy…just be nice and helpful, and keep making things you can show and share with your peers.
As for the simplified Printable CEO Download Site, I did put up a skeleton page, where it is currently gathering dust. However, the project is not dead; I’m merely focusing my attention on the design website and the promotion. I’ve touched base with the ever-mindful Mary Wiseman, who’s on point helping me create more documentation for the various PCEO tools. I’ve been preoccupied with finding work and the website, but after I get the design site up I’ll start paying more attention to the PCEO side of things.
Upcoming Effort
The focus for April is to finish what I’ve been doing with the design website, which then will help anchor my “Dave For Hire” campaign in late April. I’ll then move on to building passive income structures: the new Printable CEO website plus Mary Wiseman‘s assistance in putting together documentation. There is quite a bit of potential here; now that I have an idea of how to separate commercial potential from my art and not feel like I’m compromising my ideals.
I’m also going to be meeting a few people on April 8th up in Concord, for another Knowledge Exchange with blogger Stephen P. Smith. With luck, I’ll also be meeting some other people I’ve been intending to meet in the area for a good old-fashioned pow-wow working session. If you can be in the Concord, New Hampshire area on April 8 and would like to get together for the day to discuss your business journey with fellow entrepreneurs, give me a holler via my Contact Form and tell me a bit about yourself. I’ll send you directions to the event. It’s capped to 8 attendees, and we’ve got a few spaces left.
So, the next big push is this:
- Finish the Design Website
- Promote design business, book work as it comes in
- Build the Printable CEO Website
- Create Commerce Opportunities from the Printable CEO Materials
The next Groundhog Day Resolution Day is May 5th, 2010. Past reviews:
1 Comment
Great post! I found it interesting that you’re constantly re-updating your resolutions. Most set it and try and achieve it but sometime it’s not good enough to such. As we constantly grow we find that our ambitions change too. Thanks for sharing!!