About

Welcome to the Virgo’s Guide to Marketing, a real-time experiment in DIY Marketing for Solopreneurs, by a Solopreneur: the communicatrix!

How does it work, this DIY-Marketing Experiment Thingy?

For the whole of 2009 (with a wee bit of head start in December of 2008), I’ll be blogging my process and progress as I go about launching v2.0-ish of my business and (ugh) brand, communicatrix. (It’s a moniker! It’s a design business!* It’s—oh, forget it. Moving on…)

I’ll be using the 2009 edition of the Marketing Mentor Grow Your Business calendars (start-up and veteran both, as I’m both starting a “new” business and an old hand at marketing) to help me feed the systems I already have in place (my newsletter, my business column for actors, my newsletter, etc) and establish new ones.

I’m especially looking to create some better habits from a workflow/productivity standpoint, so I’ll be re-implementing GTD (33rd time’s the charm!) and playing with a few new tools (the so-far excellent Things, for example) to keep myself on track. Every Monday, I’ll post about the previous week’s marketing to-do list items both here and at the Marketing Mix blog. If there’s any other interesting stuff that comes up as a result of the project, I’ll post that here. I’ll also keep a list of resources, links and other useful stuff here, updating as necessary.

Where the hell did you get the idea for this cockamamie project, anyway, Colleen?

I didn’t. Or, I didn’t, solo. The idea grew out of my work with the amazing Ilise Benun, who is my coach, my champion and the founder of Marketing Mentor, which has been powering creative solopreneurs since, like, you were knee-high to a grasshopper. She’s watched me walk my talk out loud—very out loud—for the past two years and change (as of this writing).

What’s up with the Virgo thing?

Have you ever read a description of the key Virgo traits? We were born to explicate out loud, we Virgos! We’re all about the order-from-chaos, the meticulous noting of things: we’re, like, the Information Butlers of the world. Stay away from us when we’re tired and/or cranky, and be sure we’re well-fed and watered, but otherwise, a Virgo is a dandy thing to have in your life.

No, really—are you some kind of astrology nutcase?

Well, Mr. Judgey McJudgerson, I use astrology the way I use any other system: as something to meditate on, as a framework to hang my own stuff on, as a thought-starter. And yeah, if I happen to come across a good daily horoscope (or a sweet fortune-cookie fortune), I’m all, “Woo hoo!” So in answer to your question, “Not really!” or “Yes!”, depending on how big of a humorless crank you are.

So what do you hope to achieve with this project?

Business, for starters! (Did you know that Money is AWESOME!?) Thus far in my life, I’ve earned my living writing ads, acting in them and doing graphic design for people. Boil all of that down—and I’ve spent a LOT of time doing just that, ask anyone—and what you get is someone who is…

  • fairly well-versed in the communication arts
  • an old hand at making complex and often hateful information digestible and even enjoyable
  • doomed (albeit happily) to express shit

Might as well put that hard-won learnin’ to use for the Forces of Good, right?

So I am. You can hire me as a consultant. You can hire me to come speak to your group (page to come; some reviews on smaller workshops here). My rates are outrageously reasonable…for now. Call it my penance for being in the employ of the Dark Side all those years.

Thanks for checking this out. Please come back, comment, advise—whatever.

I’m doing this for me, but also for all of us. Or really, what’s the point?

xxx
c

Colleen Wainwright, a.k.a. “the communicatrix”

*Update 8/9/o9: I no longer take on design clients, but can refer you to plenty of awesome people who do!