by Nicole Ouellette | Apr 16, 2010 | This Week In Business
It’s been an interesting week here at Breaking Even Communications and in my life in general.
I’ve had a hard time sleeping, which is uncharacteristic of me. Most of what’s on my mind was thoughts of my grandfather. It was confirmed yesterday that he has liver cancer. He is one of my favorite people in the world, and one of my role models as far as being a good person.
I used to think that there would be times in my life that would be easier and times that would be harder. The older I get though, the more I realize that most times in life will be sort of mixed, and there is importance and even satisfaction in just moving forward. So onward for Pepere, and myself…
Here’s what’s been going on businesswise this week:
Matt and my workshop went really well…and we’re already planning another.
Besides running out of time and not having a good system to answer people’s questions, things went smoothly last Saturday. We have been asked about follow-up workshops, not only by people who came but by people who heard about it.
We decided to use our common website to post information about upcoming workshops and how-tos about the topics we didn’t get to. If you want to check it out: http://www.downeastlearning.com. We’re planning one in May about making websites search engine friendly. Stay tuned!
I gave a talk about blogging at my local library.
Last night, I gave a talk with a fellow local blogger at the Jessup Memorial Library. Four people showed up, which was a lower turnout than I was hoping.
by Nicole Ouellette | Apr 9, 2010 | This Week In Business
It’s finally spring in this corner of the world, I hope you’ve been enjoying nature equally where you are at!
Matt and I are finally giving our workshop Saturday and in regards to that, it’s been a week of learning software here at Breaking Even Communications. Here’s what’s been going on:
I am trying ManyMoon project management software.
I use Google Applications a lot for my business. (Full disclosure: I own one share of Google one thing I was looking for was integration of project management software with my Google Calendar. It was in looking around that I stumbled on the Google Apps marketplace. This is kind of misleading, as I assumed all these programs would cost money. Au contraire!
I looked for the highest rated project management apps and found Manymoon. There are both paid and non-paid versions of the software (I’m clearly trying out the free one) but it allows me to schedule tasks that I can associate with individual projects and that will be imported into my Google Calendar. Also, I can collaborate with multiple people on the same project, though I think we all need Google accounts to sign in.
by Nicole Ouellette | Mar 26, 2010 | This Week In Business
This week’s biggest news has nothing to do with my business bottom line but will effect things from here on out. Last night at about 11 pm, I got a dog.
Gidget is a 30 pound Corgi mix that’ll keep me company while I work, force me to take exercise breaks, and otherwise up my overall quality of life.
Besides getting a dog and probably paying way too much attention to her, here’s what’s been going on this week:
I talked someone out of spending a lot of with me.
I usually get a few website inquiries a week and I’m lucky if 10% of them turn into actual sales.
When a woman I volunteered with a few years ago contacted me about a website this past week, I would have really loved to have done the work, especially when she said she definitely wanted to hire me (Awww).
by Nicole Ouellette | Mar 18, 2010 | This Week In Business
This week was all about helping friends (and having them help me out) in both my personal and professional life. Here’s how things went.
I attended my friend Ogy’s first webinar, and he did a heck of a job.
I love attending webinars but I’ve never given one myself. Giving one must feel an awful lot like being on the radio. You are talking to yourself and not sure about what your audience is thinking because you can’t see their faces or get any other feedback from them. Meanwhile, you are trying to get through your slides and read everyone’s questions all while being an interesting and engaging presenter. In short, I’m sure it’s way harder than it looks, which is why no matter what, I was going to attend my web designer friend Ogy’s first webinar.
Turns out Ogy did a great job, and the good news is he has more coming up. (Did I mention they are also free?) Seeing Ogy do this actually encouraged me to go public with a few projects of my own I’ve been a bit nervous about.
Matt came over and we set up the screen and projector.
My friends know that while I love the internet, I am completely nervous about setting up anything physically. Everything from operating a dog crate to a sewing machine for the first time, I usually try to get a friend to help me by offering to cook them food. I have a profound fear of breaking things and get easily frustrated.
by Nicole Ouellette | Mar 12, 2010 | This Week In Business
Sometimes, I catch myself thinking in terms of black and white. I’m sure this comes from making my own decisions (most of the time rather quickly) as a business owner. “I don’t buy that.” or “I always do this.” The truth is, of course, a little less simple than that but it’s easy to convince yourself one way or the other when you are the only person there is to convince.
I’ve spent this week beginning to really work with other people as peers. And while this is a sign things are growing, it also means this is no longer all about me, and my snap judgements are no longer going to work. Here’s what I’ve been up to this week, besides realizing I’m not the center of my own universe:
The workshop organizing continued.
I apologize to those of you who are probably sick of hearing about Matt and my upcoming workshop. I keep telling myself that the first one is taking so much planning because, well, it’s the first one. We fielded questions over email (and put them in an FAQ on the website, work once use twice I say!); got a few more registrants; and put up a website at
www.onedayworkshop.net. I also created and sent out a press release and
Matt made a Facebook page for the event.
Since three people have registered and a few more have said they’ll come, I think we might actually have enough people to *gasp* break even!
I began life as a paid blog contributor at Almost Frugal.
When my friend Kelly posted that she was thinking of selling her blog, I sent my condolences. Thinking about ending a blog seems (at least a bit) like ending a long term relationship. It takes more time than you’d expect and you care way more about it than you’ll publicly admit as your ego gets pretty tied in. (Full disclosure: I won’t even date a guy who doesn’t read my blog.) And while I haven’t dated Kelly (she’s married and in France), I have been reading Almost Frugal since the very beginning so I was a bit sad about the end of an era.
A few days later, I got an email from her.
by Nicole Ouellette | Mar 5, 2010 | This Week In Business
This week was busy at Breaking Even Communications but since I was waiting on a few different stages of some ongoing projects, I found myself with a little time for some professional development then usual. That’s right, I schooled myself!
Here’s what happened:
I attended a webinar, and actually paid attention.
Most of the time, I am quite the slacker webinar attendee. I am usually filing papers or making lunch while I listen to a presentation. When I listened to a webinar sponsored by Verizon and given by John Jantsch of Duct Tape Marketing. I made myself get out my notebook and actively listen for the next 45 minutes.
You know, paying attention really does help you get more out of things! Being a good student paid off in some new ideas for improving my product. Partnerships with complementary organizations and video testimonials anyone?
I got a couple iBooks from a school sale for a song.
Those of you who live outside the state of Maine may not be familiar with the fact that
Maine has a laptop program, which gives students 6th grade and older access to their own laptop. Beginning in grade 7 or 8, students can take it home after signing a sort of “I will be responsible and so will my parent/guardian” agreement. Every few years, the schools replace the machines, which are all Apple iBooks. To make a bit of cash (but probably more accurately, save themselves from disposal fees), the schools sell them off on the cheap, in my local case $25 a pop.
