This has been a great month for my business and my personal life. So many Aha! moments have happened. One of my favorite quotes that I have been sharing as of lately is the Steve Jobs one on connecting dots. You really do not know where or what your future holds. Every day is different but if you live long enough you can connect your past dots to your future ones. It’s crazy and at the same time a brilliant thing to experience.
Business Life
I hosted my first workshop with the Austin Public Library system on the 7th of this month. I really didn’t know what to expect. There wasn’t going to be any of my friends in the audience to cheer me on. Before the session began, I talked to a friend who gave me a good peep talk. It went really great and we discussed plans for future workshops. Also, during this month I had an abundance of meetings for future projects. I always say dream bigger dreams and God will let you grow into them. That’s what’s occurring as of right now. As, the deals become more clear and contracts are signed I will share more.
A couple of times this month I fell into comparison traps. Mainly with the direction of the blog. My goal with this site is to provide tools, resources, and personal insight on running a business. There are 2 million blogs posted DAILY. The content I select for my audience is important to me. Especially, when people with “no validity” have become experts and start misguiding folks. I’ve seen women who just started blogging get millions of page views, press, and comments; things I am not per se getting. I may not have the millions of followers or thousands of comments that I would want on the site. Then I reminded myself, I have aligned some major contracts without the comments or being someone with 19K followers. Do I wish more people would comment, sure. It would help me gauge which content is actually helping them and which isn’t. Yes, you can see that looking at the analytics, but I believe sometimes you need more than numbers.
Investments for My Business
This month a good amount of money went to domains, fonts, support team, and other necessities. It’s true, to make money you have to spend money. Growing the team cost money. Having the right graphic designer for projects. Hiring a senior editor and much more. All cost, money, and the investment is totally worth it. When it comes to fonts I want my brand to be even more cohesive, so investing in that really matters to me. These fonts will be something I use on all my projects.
Book Purchases This Month: The Artisan Soul
Another highlight was doing Tamara of Jem of The South radio show this past Sunday. Listen to our chat on her Jem of The South Channel.
Personal Life
The day before my workshop, I was on the phone with a friend when my doctor called. She wanted to inform me of the underlying reason for me being sick non-stop was that I had mono. My blood work had finally came back. Mono can be in your system up to 6 months and its a virus that can’t be treated with antibiotics. Rest and fluids are your prescriptions. So, I have been doing less than usual to help. The other day I had a big meeting. The day before I felt like I could run a 5K, the day of the meeting I woke up feeling like death was upon me. The meeting went great and the next day I felt normal. Isn’t that how it goes?
Hopefully, I will kick all the germs soon because I want to get back to yoga and jogging.
I have done a lot of shopping this month, at the usual spots.
Purchases: Felicia Boots – Just Fab, two sweaters & two pair jeans – Joe Fresh, “Hi” Crystal baseball cap- Jcrew Kid’s, and Ikat Cali Tunic, and Crescent Moon Lariat Necklace – Worldmarket.
The most rewarding thing that happened this month personally was writing my final payment to Chase for my student loan. Paying off debt has become my favorite thing to do. It’s freeing up money for me to live. I am still using the “debt snowball” that Dave Ramsey created. So, the money I was using for that is now going towards my Sallie Mae payment.
Supporting Small Businesses
This is something I harp on all the time. If you want to be successful with your small business you need to support other small businesses. Even if it is $20 a month. That $20 means so much to someone starting out. This month I purchased 31 Prayers For The Dream & Doer, Make It Happen, and Redeem Girl Scripture Cards. I have yet to read the two books, but I have started using the scripture cards. I was gifted, The Writings of Florence Scovel Shinn , from a social media friend.
In addition to that, I have made a personal goal monthly to send someone flowers. Everyone loves to receive flowers and it’s a great way to remind people that they matter to you.
The first two months of the year have been extremely great; both my personal and business life. I am growing in both areas and I really love that. Going into March I am going to reduce content on this site to three days a week with the schedule of MWF. This will help free up my time. I love that I am a content creator and am able to inspire others. This has afforded me some great opportunities, but I want to grow in other areas. So in March I plan to work on those areas. It’s always good to get out my comfort zone.
P.S. The site will be going through some changes next month. As Davon, my web developer, and I alter the site in some amazing ways.
