It's Crazy and I Love It
I haven’t blogged in a week. It’s not that the blog is in danger of me not blogging. On the contrary. I assure you there are plenty o' things to say. It’s just that I have been so very busy and most of that busyness comes from thinking, but some of it - thankfully - comes from working.
When I started my Savor Circle three weeks ago, I had said I wanted to blog at least twice a week because up until that point I had. But lately it has been a challenge just remembering to do it once a week with all that is going on, but there is no way I’m not going to at least do that much. This blog is not just about documenting my journey for you all in hopes of helping someone else who is trying to make their own way. This is documenting things for me too; keeping track of what I am doing and how. Successes and losses as well. So it’s necessary. It’s helping me to grow my business and myself.
As I mull over this post, I’m feeling scattered in my thoughts which usually means making a list. So here’s what’s going on.
1 – Book clients, that is to say would-be authors, have been engaging with me and I’ve been working on my intake process as I work with them. I want to get as full a picture as possible and I want them to walk away feeling like I want to partner with them in their success, because I do. Also, as I turn this freelancing thing I’ve been doing into something bigger and sustainable, I have to think about who my target market is and devise a marketing strategy. None of this stuff is scary. It just takes time that is at a premium because I do still work full-time right now. But it’s been so much fun talking to people about their book publishing plans. As I do so, my target market becomes a little clearer and I can make strides in multiple areas while helping them take a giant leap into a new area of their own.
2 – I like to edit more than just books, however. I love them, but I love variety more. So when I edited someone’s blog post this month, I enjoyed it immensely. One ongoing freelance job certainly gives me a chance to do something different too. Helping someone else with her website has been a great change of pace and when I got some sleep recently and woke up with a thought about how to fix something that has been bugging me about her site for a week, I got to a much better place with the project and got reinforcement about the importance of sleep too (as if I didn’t already know this). Variety - and sleep - are the spices of my life.
3 – To help find the lovely people who need help with more than just books, I know I have to market much, much more. To do that, I know I have to finally get some prices up on the site to give people at least a starting point for working with me. So I have been working on that and I’ve made some stride on my own site, though none of that is published just yet. It will be soon however. I promised my Savor sisters.
4 – The VA and I are finding our rhythm and I’m starting to fill our Asana calendar as I figure out how she can help me. Let’s hope we do we flow well together!
5 – One day soon I am going to blog on work/life balance. Very soon.
6 - I added the WinStreak app recently to my phone, thanks to a suggestion from a recent EOFire guest, and I have to admit, I like seeing all my wins in one place like this. It's uplifting and it's amazing how many things you'll suddenly recognize as wins in your life.
7 - I am so glad to have had Village Works as my first business. It makes my new venture a lot less scary because there are things I learned years ago that are helping me take the steps I need to now, except I'm taking them faster than the first time around.
There’s more than this list, that's for sure, like my soror who I’ve been trying to call for a month, but she’s a teacher and she’s a morning person, so our schedules make this a challenge. And the story one of my beloved LJ writing partners recently shared with me so I can beta read it for her. Then there’s the summer plans for my daughter that stay top of mind because these things need to be finalized. And will my son stay employed? Sometimes I wonder, but all I can do is talk about it with him. What happens is up to him. We won’t even talk about college plans for him. My brain isn’t on that today so let’s just skip that topic for now.
Do you know what helps take my mind off the life changes of my kids? Editing. Not even writing necessarily because sometimes they inspire what I write. Nope. Editing is a great way to focus on just one thing. So I look forward to this book that’s sitting next to me right now requiring reading and editing and since I love the topic too, it’s gonna be a fun one. Then it’s right back to growing the business. Because even with all my jumble of thoughts, as crazy as things are right now, I do so love this stuff.
