“Holiday creep” gets me every year.

I’ve gotten better at planning for and around it, agreeing up front to far fewer obligations to make room for the inevitable stuff that pops up. And fortunately for me, I have zero travel to deal with (the people I spend holidays with are all here in Los Angeles) and very little shopping, mostly for hostess gifts, which mostly take the form of adult beverages, which are ridiculously easy to shop for.

Still, there end up being more parties than I have energy for, and if I’m not very protective of my time, the last few definitely feel more like obligations than fun.

I think the holiday situation is analogous to the marketing one. If you set goals and plan carefully, marketing can be demanding, but it’s still interesting and even fun. If you don’t, and either put stuff off until the last minute or try to cram too much into a small space, it becomes painful and overwhelming. (And, to continue the analogy, you can certainly opt out of either, but a life without friends is about as viable as a business without customers.)

I made one huge error this week, and I actually made it a couple of weeks ago: I agreed to give the commencement address at a local technical college, down in Orange County. I was really excited to be asked, and I’d left enough room in my schedule (for those roomy, relaxing holidays) that there was time available to take the gig. But I did not allot adequate time to prepare: I felt increasingly uneasy as the date approached, and went into full-on panic mode when I stepped into ginormous banquet hall that evening. What I’d envisioned as a smallish crowd of kids was 200+ graduates, many the first in their families to get an advanced degree, hence the 4 – 8 people each of these kids had to witness their triumph. A bigger crowd, then, than Ignite, and I was far less prepared.

Fortunately, I know my material well enough to adjust on the fly. And boy, did I, because from the moment I took the mic and turned out to face the audience, it was clear to me that the sooner this strange lady said what she had to say and was done with it, the happier they were going to be. I dramatically condensed what I was going to say, simplified my delivery and language, and tried to keep it general and light while still useful. (I was asked to talk about personal branding, based on the talk I gave earlier this year to the OC Ad Federation.)

I just started reading Scott Berkun’s excellent new book, Confessions of a Public Speaker, which is chock full of great information and support around the stuff that drives speakers crazy: the unexpected, the technical SNAFUs, the sudden sweats. (I ordered it right after watching his terrifically helpful Ignite speech about giving Ignite speeches, and it really helped with my Ignite speech.) In it, he invokes Dale Carnegie’s quote about the four versions of every speech:

“…the one they delivered, the one they prepared, the one the newspapers say was delivered, and the one on the way home they wish they’d delivered.”

While I got good feedback both from audience members and some of the college staff, in my heart, the speech I delivered was nowhere near as good as that one in the car I wish I’d delivered; next time, I’ll be better prepared.

Next week: A review of 2009 and the Marketing Mix Calendar Project

“Marketing” round-up for this week:

• 6 blog posts (five at the main blog, one here)
• Monthly Biznik networking event I co-host
• Spoke at commencement ceremony for Westwood College in Anaheim
• email! email! email!
• morning and afternoon checkins with Facebook and Twitter

While I’m (hopefully) moving in the direction of speaking about topics like I did at last month’s Ignite event—addressing fear, hanging with change, and other “big” stuff—I still enjoy talking about social media and other communications-oriented topics to the right people. (If you like hearing about the underlying principles to good communicating, online or off, in the “teach a man to fish” spirit, you’re probably one of the right people. If you want a tutorial on Facebook, I’m not your gal.)

I like talking about social media because I’m a big consumer of it and a huge believer in it, and I want to share that excitement and love even as I keep people from “peeing in the well the rest of us are drinking from,” to paraphrase my friend, Merlin, in an excellent talk he gave about social media at last month’s WordCamp Phoenix. Since I quit acting, I’ve met most of the people I know in real life via social media to start with.

This week’s marketing round-up (below) is a perfect illustration of that.

The Biznik event I attended was hosted by my friend (and co-hostess of the monthly Biznik event I started on the West Side of L.A. in January), Heather Parlato. We originally met via Spencer Cross’s mailing list for designers, KERNSPIRACY; I originally met Spencer when we were both blogging for Metblogs L.A. (And I got that gig via—you guessed it—reading and commenting on blogs, as well as starting my own.)

The podcast I recorded was with Alaia Williams, a business acquaintance whom I met at a real-life networking event here in L.A. But I met her because of an online hookup to Colleen Rice Nelson via Ilise Benun, my old marketing coach, and—yes—Biznik, again. (As an aside, I met Ilise via a real-life workshop given by her partner in Marketing Mentor, Peleg Top, whom I found via Spencer on the KERNSPIRACY list.)

The one-on-one meeting I had was with a new friend, Dave Waite, whom I also originally met via the KERNSPIRACY list. We finally met one-on-one after sharing a great deal of online communication via email, Twitter, Facebook (and by reading each others’ posts on KERNSPIRACY), and meeting a few times socially at the monthly Biznik meetups I host with Heather on the West Side.

I’ll throw in one more, only because it helps illustrate the blurring of the lines between “work” and “play.” Last Friday, I made a funny little video with my friend, Adam, whom I met via Twitter, then in real life at SXSW. Adam lives approximately two miles from my boyfriend here in L.A., yet we met online via social media and again in person at an official event 2000 miles away before really becoming friends here in town and making something together (which, of course, we put online).

I’m building a head of steam with this because this email, I got a very frustrating (and to be fair, probably frustrated) email from a reader of my latest newsletter, on creating handles being the best method for connecting in this overtaxed, over-busy world we live in today. My thesis is that rather than badgering people to look at your stuff, to pay attention to you, to come to your thing, you make it easy for them to pull themselves closer to you by creating a handle they can grab onto when they’re ready, to pull themselves closer. This means making sure your product or service—which is herself, in the case of the actor who emailed—is exceptional, then taking equal care to craft ways of making it exquisitely easy and joyful for people to come closer.

As you can probably guess by this wind-up, the email was all about how she could get casting directors to pay attention to her. Because her picture/resume and postcards weren’t working. (Surprise, huh?)

I’ll leave off the railing and wailing and just refer to Beverly Sills’ words of wisdom on the topic: “There are no shortcuts to any place worth going.” Which I always understood to mean just that there’s no quick way, but the truth is, there’s also no mapped way. You make your way toward every opportunity, but it’s not like there are lines painted on the ground. Part of the joy of purposeful guesstimating is the serendipity involved: you’ll meet people and discover great connections, but maybe not all the exact ones you set out to find.

I know it’s been one of the more gratifying aspects to my journey. And if you have any, I’d love to hear of some of your circuitous connections.

“Marketing” round-up for this week:

• 6 blog posts (five at the main blog, one here)
• Biznik networking event (originally met via online networking)
• Interview for podcast on entrepreneurial business (originally met via online networking)
• One-on-one meetup with colleague (originally met via online networking)
• email! email! email!
• morning and afternoon checkins with Facebook and Twitter

This is not so much a week at it as a week off.

And yet, here on my Big Couple of Weeks Off I’m feeling On in a few places. Most of the people I’m meeting up with here on my two-week stay in the PacNW, for example, are people I’ve met via online networking sites—Facebook, Twitter, blogs, etc. At a rehearsal for Ignite: Portland, I met a bunch of other new friends (contacts, whatever) whom I’d never have met were it not for finding out about the event through my friend, Jean MacDonald, of SmileOnMyMac. That’s right—a random happy comment I wrote about a fantastic product I happened to really and truly like led to me speaking on stage in front of (gulp) 800 people, not to mention a fun evening at a ladies-only party in the Pearl District and who knows what else from here.

Plus there was a lovely dinner and meetup with my friend, Chris Guillebeau, whom I also met via social media, and his lovely wife, Jolie (who cooks a mean black bean soup and cornbread, boy howdy). And a great collaborative-planning call with another new friend, Brooks Palmer, declutter to the stars, as well. And three or four meetups over the next week.

This is my point: for so long, when I was in the Big Boy Business World, I looked at things in a very rigid fashion. You had your fun, and you had your business. Now, they bleed over into one another, and instead of it making life weird, it makes it great. And it makes doing business infinitely better. This is one of the great joys of thinking like a self-employed person, whether or not you actually are. (Although, as someone who has basically been fending for herself since 1992, I think I have to say I am one by now.)

Just as my favorite kind of selling is Not-Selling, my favorite kind of marketing is Not-Marketing. More and more, I’m becoming an adherent of the “marketing is the truth of you, translated into the language of them” school of marketing. And that’s just talking to people—about what they do, and need, and where you might be able to help them with that.

Marketing round-up for this week:

• 6 blog posts (five at the main blog, one here)
• rehearsed my presentation for Ignite: Portland
• went to after-party for rehearsal
• went to fab lady-party in downtown Portland
• chatted up various local merchants about their businesses (in person! so friendly!)
• wrote/sent my latest newsletter
• email! email! email!
• morning and afternoon checkins with Facebook and Twitter

Once again, I was shown the benefits of doing regular marketing during a week where I didn’t manage to do much marketing at all.

The things that most occupied my time—prepping my presentation for the upcoming Ignite: Portland event, presenting at Pam Slim’s Escape from Cubicle Nation tour, and getting ready for my upcoming sabbatical-ette in the PacNW—are all indirectly related to marketing efforts I’ve made in the months (and sometimes years) before.

Pam and I met by reading each others’ blogs—obsessively, as it turns out, although I beat her to it.

Everyone I know in Portland save one (my former apartment manager, of all things) I’ve met through social networking, for example. One of them—my friend, Jean MacDonald—I met after writing a glowing testimonial for one of her company’s products, TextExpander (I’ve since written a lengthy and equally glowing review on my main blog). It was through Jean that I found out my visit would coincide with the next Ignite.

I’ll also be attending my friend and client Sam Carpenter’s Work the System Boot Camp in Bend, OR the week after next (still a couple of spaces available, if you’re interested). Where did we meet? Via social media, and Pam Slim!

And I picked up another couple of gigs for 2010 over the past couple of weeks: one via the networking I did with my alumni group, and the other via the work I did both with my former marketing coach, Ilise, and the ridonculous number of hours I’ve spent online, futzing around with social media.

My point in all this is only partly to make myself feel better for not getting as much done (and having as many billable hours) as I’d have liked. It’s also to say that the “wins” are the direct result of a long, sometimes slow, occasionally arduous, but always rewarding process. Having a regular marketing system (or “machine,” as Peleg and Ilise like to call it) in place keeps me moving forward, even when my attention is occasionally drawn elsewhere, as it was this week.

The other thing I’d like to offer up—again, to remind myself as much as anything—is that the real benefit of all of this marketing stuff is the building of relationships. It’s relationships that bring opportunity, loyalty, reliability and their attendant rewards. Hopefully, the relationships you build are their own reward, too, of course. But they really are an integral part in getting here from there.

xxx
c

Marketing round-up for this week:

• 8 blog posts (seven at the main blog, one here)
• wrote/designed my presentation for Ignite: Portland
• partnered with Pam Slim to do my “branding” preso dropped into her “Escape from Cubicle Nation” workshop
• attended launch party for my friend Adam and his friend Jesse’s new web show, Put This On! (which you should totally subscribe to!) Bonus? Met Huell Howser! (Sorry about that egregious sentence construction, Mignon.)
• met up with my new friend, Lisa Sonora Beam, to touch base and talk shop one last time before we’re both in different cities
• did some more writing for my upcoming newsletter (which will be one week late—didja notice?)
• email! email! email!
• morning and afternoon checkins with Facebook and Twitter

Try as I may to make sure I’m doing one networking event per week, it doesn’t always work out that way.

Some weeks—like this past one—there’s either nothing going on that really floats my boat or no time to squeeze even one more thing in, even if I wanted to. (And trust me, after a couple of the freakouts and setbacks I’ve had this year from overscheduling, I most decidedly do not want to anymore!)

That’s okay, because really what we’re after with this marketing calendar thing is consistent, ongoing marketing: avoiding feast or famine syndrome, not breaking our backs, blowing opportunities or otherwise screwing up our lives and businesses by adhering rigidly to some kind of absolute set schedule. Yes, I need to market myself regularly; no, it does not have to be the way the law was laid down in print by someone else or even in the beginning of the week by me. I am the boss of me, but I am more than that: I am the capo di tutti capi, the boss of bosses, too.

This past week, I had the opportunity to have several one-on-one meetings with people: one with a brand new friend (we’ve been Facebook friends for a year), one with a former client (who resurfaced with a new opportunity because—wait for it—we had stayed in touch via marketing) and a couple that were sort of hybrid business meetings/stay-in-your-face meetings. (There’s a lot of bleed in business.) Between these meetings, a full workload of consulting and an uncharacteristically full workload of writing (downside to a 21-Day Salute™)—oh, and a personal life, which I’ve been working hard to reinstate—there was no time for a standard networking event.

That’s okay by me. I had a super-intense network-y month in September, and just came back from a solid couple of days of networking at BlogWorld Expo (sans flu, which some of the unluckier attendees—possibly overnetworkers?—got). There will be other times that are similarly lush with multiple-human contact—March, with its anchor, South by Southwest Interactive, always seems to be one of those.

The way I’ve come to look at it is the way I’ve come to look at eating a balanced diet: rather than feel obligated to have x portions of y and z in one day, I try to aim for balance over the course of the week. Similarly, I’ve heard people talking about having more success with flossing once they moved flossing time to the morning, upon arising, when they had the energy. I get that it may still be ideal to floss at night, but a thorough job in the morning is better than nothing. (We’re assuming we’re still brushing at night, or…well, ew.)

Finally, I get how easy it is to beat yourself up over any of this. May I suggest that it’s fine if you want to do that (because it goes without saying that it’s not the most productive, nor nicest thing in the world), AND that if you do, you do it quickly and get back on the horse. One thing. One call. One email. One “thumbs up” or “Happy ding-dong birthday!” on Facebook. One “@” reply on Twitter.

No one is keeping score except you. No one wins or loses except you.

xxx
c

Marketing round-up for this week:

• 8 blog posts (seven at the main blog, one here)
• recorded last week’s GYBWM podcast (2 in a row?!? Holy crap—I’m gonna spoil you guys!)
• two one-on-one meetings, plus two hybrid biz/networking one-on-one meetings
• some writing for my upcoming newsletter
• email! email! email!
• morning and afternoon checkins with Facebook and Twitter

A big trip involving lots of networking tends to wipe me out, and my trip to BlogWorld Expo mopped the floor with me.

It was all good, long car ride there and back included. (I hate driving generally, but enjoy distance driving on highways, which tends to jog loose all kinds of weird ideas from my brain.) But it was a lot, especially on top of the Biznik meetup I co-host the night before. On the phone the morning I was to leave for Vegas, I whined a bit to my accountability partner about how tired I was, and how many people were getting sick, and how maybe it was a better idea to just stay home and rest.

Fortunately, he talked me out of it, by throwing my own methodology back in my face: “Go,” he said, “and just do your SXSW thing, where you dip into activities as you feel like it, and spend the rest of the time relaxing by the pool.”

I didn’t do any pool time, but neither did I push myself. I got to sleep early both nights, and didn’t schedule any early breakfasts the next day. I barely partied, much less drank. (I did have one forbidden—and DELICIOUS—Coca-Cola off the gun at the Las Vegas Hilton. Yum yum yum.) I got a good, daily walk in. And I left more rested than I came. This never happens! I think I may have turned a corner, maturity-wise.

On the other hand, when I got back to L.A., I decided to opt out of Le Web—even though it’s in Paris, even though I was one of a special cadre of bloggers given a free pass to live-blog the event. (I guess my entry about writing marketing poetry piqued their curiosity.) I’d be coming off of a three-week trip to Portland and Seattle, and I have two huge projects I need to put to bed by the end of this year, so something had to give. Fortunately, they were lovely enough to assure me that this wouldn’t be some big, black mark against me should I decide to go for it in the future.

I will, on the other hand, be presenting at my very first Ignite event in Portland this November! I was selected as one of 20 lucky people to give a little talk in the strict 20-slides-in-five-minutes format required (plus 15 seconds to hustle your ass onstage and grab the mic from the last guy). I’m wildly excited and terrified and pleased; if you’re in the PDX area, I hope you’ll come to the event on November 19th to hear me talk about the intersection between bloody poop and happiness. Yes, really.

Finally, the decluttering continues at full force. It finally occurred to me (on the road, no less) that maybe it was time to start applying some of these fine principles to my own website. So I did—just a little (tweaks are good, so you can track what kind of difference they make.) I wonder if you can even tell what I’ve changed on the home page. I can’t believe how I agonized over it: now that it’s done, I have to remind myself of what I took out!

xxx
c

Marketing round-up for this week:

• 8 blog posts (seven at the main blog, one here)
• wrote actor marketing column
• recorded last week’s GYBWM podcast
• more work dreaming up promotion ideas for upcoming Pam Slim seminar
• major hang-out time at BlogWorld Expo
• did an interview for a very interesting project (although I’m not sure if it’s marketing, exactly)
• minor blog page tweaks (see if you can see what they are!)
• email! email! email!
• morning and afternoon checkins with Facebook and Twitter

The good news is that the Biznik meetups I initiated and have been working steadily to promote, now in partnership with my amazing friend and uber-talented designer, Heather Parlato, have taken off.

We have a solid core of people who show up each month, so that new people get folded in and taken care of by the regulars, who are all quite comfortable. The circle keeps growing, with new, interesting people joining us each time, adding to the flavor of the group, and becoming inspired to start their own Biznik events in other parts of the city.

The bad news is that we’ve gotten so comfortable, I forgot one of the cardinal rules of networking: business and politics do NOT mix, especially when you’re just meeting for the first time. Everyone who knows me at all (and most people who just spot me from a distance) know that I’m a big, fruity, crunchy, kumbaya liberal. And a vast majority of the people I come in contact are as well.

So—you can see this coming, right?—I was not even thinking when I brought a batch of equal marriage rights stickers to the meetup to hand out. I’d made a donation, wound up with a giant stack of stickers, and thought, “Great! I’ll hand them out as presents!” Most people were excited to see them—we had a big discussion in a small group about the NoH8! campaign, and how well done it was, at the last meetup; a couple people were neutral (and I now realize that they may have just been acting polite, which is more than I can say for myself).

One man, however, looked a little uncomfortable when I started handing them out. To his eternal credit, as he gave it back to me, he did not say anything nasty or sharp, just, “Here—why don’t you save this for someone who’ll use it?” I apologized (I think) and didn’t make a big deal out of it, but inside, I was dying: the last thing in the world I want to do is make uncomfortable someone who’s just showed up to mix and mingle for business. The conversation ground to a halt; it was obvious we were all uncomfortable now. Somehow, someone started it up again and things blew over without a big fuss. But I never got a chance to pull the man aside and apologize for my rudeness and presumption. I’ll try to locate him from the sign-in sheet, but if for some reason he’s reading this now, I hope he accept my sincerest regrets.

I’m at BlogWorld Expo now, through Saturday afternoon. If you’re here, too, come up and say “hi” if you see me, or @-reply me on Twitter (I’m @communicatrix.)

And whether you’re here or not, if you have any other words of wisdom to get me through the weekend without stepping in it again, do let me know!

xxx
c

Marketing round-up for this week:

• 6 blog posts (five at the main blog, one here)
• more emails about upcoming Pam Slim seminar
• attended wildly successful Biznik meetup (except for my unfortunate faux pas!)
• met up with some people early here at BlogWorld Expo
• one-on-one catchup confab with a colleague-peer (mm…ketchup…)
• email, eternally
• morning and afternoon checkins with Facebook and Twitter

I’m currently reading a very slim but quite curious and decidedly interesting (to me) volume on becoming a better salesperson. Frankly, a lot of the stuff in there is just foreign to me: I’m not a big salesperson, and I’ve never been a natural one. This is probably a combination of training (very inside-the-lines, where the lines are dictated by nuns and other Persons of Authority), wiring (introvert) and experience (9-to-5 world of advertising, followed by the surprisingly 9-to-5 world of commercial acting, where, while you are technically self-employed, you still have Big Daddy Corporate Producer cutting your checks and Mr. Agent Man brokering your deals).

One thing I wish I’d learned earlier is the fine art of shutting the hell up. I can’t count the times I’ve lowballed myself into a corner or extra work or taking stuff on I shouldn’t at all because I don’t know how to keep my trap shut. I am that person who, when handed the rope, could do the cartoon-quick fashioning of it into a noose, hurl it over a rafter and hoist myself with the grace of an aerial acrobat.

This week, I noted two very different occasions where shutting the hell up was warranted.

The fine art of shutting the hell up, learned

The first was at a networking event I attend semi-regularly, and always enjoy, even if it hasn’t netted me work (yet). At this point, I’m outrageously relaxed at events in general (another benefit of regular attendance) and at this one in particular, so I’m perfectly happy to go into question mode and let other people run on at the mouth. Which, amazingly, some do to an extent that goes from amusing to surprising to jaw-dropping and on to amusing again. Some people can talk and talk and have it be fascinating, but most people’s favorite subject is themselves, which—PARADOX ALERT—means that most people who like to run on are usually running on about the wrong thing.

In this case, at least two people talked themselves right out of any referral I would ever, EVER consider throwing their way. And I’m not concerned about currying favor and getting the referral in return because—PARADOX ALERT—when someone is that bad at listening, there’s a non-zero chance they’re also going to be bad at sending my Right People to me.

And when I thought about it, this happens more often than not: people talk themselves out of more jobs they could ever possibly talk themselves into, because 90% of good communication (which is a foundational element of any sane and sound marketing plan) is listening.

The fine art of shutting the hell up, applied

Believe it or not, I don’t spend all of my time marketing, although I realize that sometimes, it seems that way. Sometimes, I have actual presentations to build or paid stuff to write or even (gasp) clients.

I’m relatively new to consulting, and even newer to coaching, so I don’t profess to know it even close to what looks like all with either. Coaching, especially, has always seemed sort of mysterious to me, so when I took on my first couple of clients, it was with the explicit proviso that they were getting me on the relative-cheap as part of a grand experiment I not only wasn’t sure would work out, but wasn’t sure I wanted to have worked out. Because I’m squirrely and private and the like.

The first several sessions, I talked…a lot. (Because hey, I’m the communicatrix, not the listenatrix.) And I’m sure I delivered some bang-up information. But at one point in the process, it occurred to me that maybe, just maybe, part of my job as coach was this teach-a-man-to-fish thing, and part of that might just be shutting the hell up and letting them do a little casting. Or whatever it is those fisherman types do.

Amazingly (or not), my very smart client got everything just as quickly, if not more so, than listening to my big song and dance. Listening is as awesome in day-to-day business as it is  in selling—surprise, surprise.

Bonus-extra for tired marketeers (not a misspelling!): more listening significantly lessens drag on you, the marketeer. So there you go.

Marketing round-up for this week:

• 6 blog posts (five at the main blog, one here)
• September newsletter (you subscribe, right?)
• interviewed a supercool dude for next month’s actor-marketing column
• revised some marketing pages on my website
• networking event
• met with my genius friend, Jodi Womack, about various business plans we each have (and made a bonus-extra impromptu visit to the birthday party of a smart WordPress marketing type)
• met with my genius friend, Karen Kohlhaas, whose audition seminar I’m teaching today
• teaching that seminar for actors today!
• bazillion emails (still my main and preferred mode of communication)
• bazillion birthday greetings on Facebook/etc (what is UP with all the Virgos!)

And yes, Sunday is my birthday, so feel free to wish me a happy one!

xxx
c

The calendar is a living document.

Which is to say, it’s meant to be adapted to yours need rather than you blindly following it.

Since, as I mentioned last week, I’m rejiggering the posting schedule to somewhat lighten the burden that having multiple deadlines on a Monday creates, I thought I’d take this piece to do some adapting of my own. (Show, don’t tell, as Mrs. Kent used to say.)

So to break things up—and maybe put something out there to reflect upon as we here in the U.S. get ready to call summer quits for the year and gear up for the “back-to-school” stretch of work before the holidays kick in and dump eggnog all over us—I thought I’d do a bit of reflecting on what’s happened over the course of the year, and how it’s going to affect the way I move forward for the rest of the year: which big projects will I be tackling, where will I be focusing my attention, etc.

And because I’m a creative type, I’m doing the damned thing as a Q&A—where I both ask the questions and supply the answers. Self-involved? Maybe. Efficient? YOU BETCHA.

Q: Looking back over the year, what’s the biggest lesson you’ve learned?

A: Without question, the value of incremental work done methodically and, for the most part, executed against some kind of a plan. (Is that one thing?)

Q. Close enough. What exactly do you mean by “incremental” and “done methodically”?

A: Ah. Well. I’ve always been sort of a workaholic-type, willing to spend any amount of energy on a project I’m enthused about. But I wasn’t so good at the drudgery (see how I look at it?) of mundane, daily tasks. I like to say I’m a starter, not a finisher, and the overflowing plate of commitments still requiring my attention for that last 10% of work attests to that. Although I have managed to knock a few things off of it.

The big work spurts are fun for those of us who dig that stuff, but it’s the daily wax-on/wax-off that strengthens the muscles that move you forward.

Q: Do you think that the overflowing plate you speak of might also have to do with an inability to say “no” often enough?

A: It’s like you know me!

Yeah, definitely. I have a problem with disappointing people, plus a dash of God Complex. And it’s taken me a looong time to gain any sort of realistic grasp of how long things actually take.

Q: Sounds familiar. So how have you gone about getting a grasp? Has the calendar helped at all?

Definitely, the calendar helped. At the most basic level, the idea of “one networking event per week” and x amount of time with social networking, etc., was useful. I started to see just how much those things took, plus a sense of what they took out of me.

Q: The energy drain was bigger for certain things?

A: Oh, yeah. I’m an introvert. Cold calling and in-person networking and speaking all take cave time afterward. I’ve learned the hard way not to schedule things too tightly around them.

Also, I’ve gotten a much better grasp of how my brain and constitution work in general. Now I schedule client work for certain days and times, writing everyday for a certain time, marketing and paperwork-y stuff for other times. It all makes more sense now, which I think is a combination of both doing it a lot and turning my attention toward it.

Q: Interesting. Have any other patterns emerged as a result of the work that you can share?

A: Tons. Well, some, anyway.

I’ve learned that I need to chunk up some of my tasks better. Like adding little bits to the newsletter as I find them, so I don’t have a knock-down-drag-out once monthly. (There were a couple of close calls, but I’ve only gone off the schedule once.)

I’ve also learned that I need to schedule downtime: for rest, play, reading, etc. Lame, maybe, but it’s the way I’m wired. Why fight it?

And I’ve started adding features to the blog, both to spice it up and reduce the load on me. It’s pretty hard cranking out a good, 1,000-word essay four or five times per week. Writing reviews and (ulp) poetry gives my brain a break, while it also trains me to write different kinds of things in my own voice. I’m the communicatrix—why shouldn’t I be able to write a Referral Friday review of a great t-shirt shop as well as a diatribe about change?

Q: Why, indeed?

A: Exactly!

Q. So with two-thirds of the year behind you, how do you see this final third shaping up? And how has the calendar work gotten you there?

A. Great question!

The rest of this year is going to be about prepping some huge projects: a book proposal, a secret publishing project for the holidays, an under-the-hood overhaul of my website.

Doing all this marketing work is directly responsible for my vision of what the future holds, as well as for my having gotten to this new point of doing so much more consulting and speaking. I want to keep doing the consulting and speaking, but at a higher and higher level, and that means I can’t put off the book any longer.

Q: How did the calendar affect things, exactly?

A: The more I wrote and spoke and put the word out there about my writing/speaking/consulting, the more feedback I got from people. And it was the feedback that was so directly responsible for showing me the next steps: what do people want? What is resonating with them? What problems do they have that I could help them wrassle to the ground?

I got a little feedback before I got so serious about putting myself out there, but it really increased as I did more of the marketing and networking.

Plus, my network just kept expanding in exciting, unexpected new ways that opened up other avenues of opportunity. I’ve got a collaborative project for actors that’s started to take shape; my increased networking and visibility is what made that possible. And I have so many more resources to draw from, things just feel more possible than they did a year ago.

Q: Wow—that’s fantastic. Anything you’d like to leave people with?

A: Yes. Get the support you need. A group, a buddy, a coach, a mentor—whatever. And be prepared to provide it for someone else. Support and accountability are the final keys to making this work. Having my accountability group—not to mention the commitment to posting my progress here every week—really made the difference between wanting to get things done and actually doing them.

Q: Thanks for your time, Colleen. I’m really looking forward to seeing what you do next.

A: Me, too. Including this week’s podcast—that oughta be interesting…

While the entire thing was pretty much magnificent from stem to glorious stern, arguably the best thing that bubbled up from last week’s Creative Freelancer Conference was a quote from one of last year’s attendees during a panel on what had happened between this year and last: “You learn from your mistakes; your successes just give you a big head.” (I’m paraphrasing, but I think Tim Read, the very smart and nice illustrator behind the quote, will find it in his heart to forgive me.)

To that end, I’m going to list what worked for me this time (i.e., mistakes I learned from in the past) and what will work for me better in the future (i.e., mistakes I made this time around).

Stuff that Worked at this Conference!

Constant improvement to my presentation. Honestly, I’ve never been one to rest on my laurels; I have a different set of default problems. But I’ve learned from having faulty title cards and gluey transitions to always be improving my presentations. They’re never done. Never. As in, I grabbed some screenshots of Twitter during the lunch break between the morning program and my own, and totally changed the beginning of my show to help address some big-time Twitter doubting that had surfaced around the conference over the previous 24 hours. Chris Brogan is the master of this. At a conference last fall, I watched him swap out “pods” of a preso mere moments before he went on. It made it fresh, and probably kept him fresh.

More resting and solo recharge time. I learned this the hard way: at SXSW, last year’s CFC and many other conferences. They are always-on; I’m not, nor can I be (at least, not effectively). I came early enough to have some walking-around time, I (regretfully) declined to host breakfast round tables and a lunch on the day I was speaking, and I went to bed when I was tired. Or pretty soon after I was tired. While I was still exhausted by the end of the three days, I was much better by the following morning.

Scheduling posts to run in advance. Okay—the jig is up! I front-loaded an entire week’s worth of blog posts last weekend, so that I wouldn’t have to worry about writing on the road. While I’m not crazy about taking days off from writing (writers write, no matter what), I also have finally started to realize there are only so many hours in the day, and, as I’m constantly advising my consulting clients, one has to focus one’s energy to be effective.

Stuff that Didn’t Work at this Conference!

Not checking my reservations carefully. Somehow, I’d shifted the dates I’d be staying over in San Diego by one. Fortunately, the hotel was able to accommodate me, but it will not always be so easy. This is a triple-check, two-sets-of-eyes thing from now on. As they say re: SXSW, hold up your airline reservation. Hold up your hotel reservation. Make sure they match. ‘Nuff said. I’m going to get together a system for subsequent trips, maybe hitting up my friend and road warrior extraordinaire, Jason Womack, for some tips.

Not enough resting and solo recharge time before. I’m probably at the outside edge of what I can get away with at an event, but there’s no reason that (once again) I can’t set up a better system that has me prepping trips further in advance, so I’m not scrambling. This means getting a better handle on how long things take. I’m consistent in underestimating here.

Inadequate tools. I love my sweet little 12″ traveling companion more than you can know. But computer technology marches on, even if not in the form factor you’d like, and it’s time to retire my PowerBook from active duty and get an Intel Mac replacement. It’s one thing to be frugal; it’s another to tie yourself to equipment that slows you down. Sorry, baby—we’ll find you life in some other form.

And finally, a small note of the administrative variety

In order to better manage my time and energy, I’m going to shift my Calendar posts to Friday, starting this week. That’s right: a double-header, as we head into Labor Day weekend. It’s only fitting, right?

REGULAR MARKETING ACTIVITIES for the week of August 17, 2009:

• WEB: six blog posts (one here, five at the main blog)
• NETWORKING: in the halls, at meals, in the jacuzzi, on a morning walk—you name it, I did it
• …and the (abbreviated version) of various and sundry daily tasks: Facebook, Twitter, email, etc.