This is Week 15 of a 52-week project/experiment in DIY marketing. Armed with nothing but a copy of the 2009 Grow Your Business Marketing Plan + Calendar and my bare wits, I’m applying the skills you need to grow a business in real time, day by day, and reporting on them week by week. I write a topline summary of the week’s theme, as I see it, for The Marketing Mix blog, and the full article here. You can follow along here every Monday.
Without getting too much into the nitty and the gritty, this week wasn’t pretty from a marketing perspective (although it brought with it quite a bit of internal rhyming—go figger).
Life will happen from time to time, and some of those times, it happens with a vengeance. I had my Tuesday and my Friday stolen out from under me because of regular, old, garden-variety surprises that required dealing with, and the rest of the week was minimally productive from a marketing perspective (although I did quite a bit of marketing, with two formal events, a one-on-one meetup with a regular breakfast partner and some informal socializing (which, I have to say, I’m learning is all business-related, the more my professional and personal lives merge.)
Rather than beat myself up over things, these days, I prefer to take an analytical approach: what went awry, was there a way of predicting it, and is there a better way to recover from it next time? The good news is that in most cases, the answer is a resounding “yes,” and if I pay attention to the lessons this past week has taught me, I may not be forced to repeat them.
What Went Wrong, Part 1: Dental Trauma!
I hate to sound like a big, fat, baby, but dental work has always flipped me out a little. Last fall, things came to a head when I discovered that my dentist of over 10 years had gone off the rails, and the shoddy work he’d done on an upper molar necessessitated an emergency root canal and a whole new porcelain crown (to replace the less-than-year-old one that had to be destroyed because of the emergency root canal).
In addition to causing a great deal of pain, time suckage and expense last fall, I’ve also been dealing with some really intense deep cleanings since to try to save what’s left of my poor teeth. This week’s lesson was that ALL future non-emergency dental appointments need to be scheduled for the end of the day at the end of the week, because I’m worthless for a full day after a cleaning. Slightly embarrassing, but a physical reality, especially since the trauma tends to heighten my stress levels, which can trigger Crohn’s symptoms for me.
I know—more information than you probably want from a marketing blog, but when you’re a sole proprietor, you need to take health stuff into consideration because it intersects with everything else.
What Went Wrong, Part 2: Emergency duties!
The other thing that came out of the blue this week was having to help out a friend who needed outpatient surgery. Theoretically, there was an hour within the seven I was on duty where I could read and do work, but the earlier-than-usual rising meant my brain wasn’t functioning at full capacity. In fact, that was my biggest lesson of that day: when you are pressed into service and shorted on sleep, don’t try to soldier on through the day; TAKE A NAP!
It’s stupid, I know, but I felt guilty about napping in the middle of the day, so instead, I tried working through the sleepiness. Result? I got about a third of what I could have done with some rest in me.
What Went Wrong, Part 3: Putting off until tomorrow, etc.
Careful readers will note that the bulk of my “research” calls (what we used to call cold calls) I handle during off-hours, namely, the weekend! I get to leave my cheery message so prospects will hear my voice, but I know they won’t pick up (although sometimes, they do, and it’s always pleasant—that should teach me something.)
I pushed it until Sunday this week and then realized I’d be calling on Easter Sunday—no big deal for me, but sending a weird and possibly offensive message to the person on the other end, especially since a lot of the schools I’m calling are religious-based. My lesson? Hit it early! Which, this week, means Monday and Tuesday, before I head out of town for a conference I’m attending Thursday and Friday. Wish me luck, and tune in next time to see how it went.
The good news? I did do some stuff…and you probably did, too!
Once again, I wasn’t a total slacker, even with outside pressures coming to bear on me. This week, I…
- …posted to the blog every day
- …recorded the podcast for the Calendar Project
- …recorded a series of audio cupcakes with Ilise to promote our upcoming workshop for Freelancers Union, “Cold Calling is the Brussels Sprouts of Marketing” (you can sign up for it here, and listen to the first audio tidbit here)
- …attended two networking events
- …kept up with my email replies, Facebook and Twitter postings
Not the greatest week in terms of accomplishments, but as Ilise always says, a huge part of this is showing up and doing something every day (or every day that you can.)
Comments? Questions? Want to rail at me for being a slacker? Have at it, either via email (colleen ::AT:: communicatrix ::DOT:: com) or in the comments, below!
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Morning!
Well done on learning those lessons and for reminding us that especially solopreneurs cannot neglect their health if they wanna stay in business, aaand that lines between private and professional get way blurred for the same. If you’re used to keeping your work and private persona separate, rethink going into business for yourself – everyone you meet is a contact and therefore potential client or conduit; faking it 24/7 is not an option if you want to stay sane!!
Have a great week everyone, Dee xx