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.

At the same time, everyone asked really great questions and the smallness of the group lent itself to an overall more relaxed ambiance. I felt like it was more of an opportunity to talk with people, and I hope some of the people who attending will be inspired to start a blog.

I learned a ton from my co-presenter, who has a book blog. I love the idea of a virtual book group, and doing book challenges. It inspired me to read more, blogs and books. And it was nice to get back to my blogging roots again and talk about how and why I started.

I got my second biggest contract, and will get to do a little work en français.

With a name like Nicole Ouellette, I get asked a lot if I speak French.

I do, and I’d like to do more work in my second language. I got a few offers of translation work since I started my business but nothing that’s panned out as paid work.

I’ve been talking with a group associated with but separate from the Franco American Center at the University of Maine Orono for the past three years. The project involves organizing the audio, video, and written archives that have been collected over the years, making them easily searchable and usable by people not on the UMO campus. In short, my first big web project in French and English.

I’m in negotiations for a regular space for the Downeast Learning workshops.

And lastly, now that Matt and I have decided to make our workshops a regular thing, there is talk of finding a regular venue. We had our last workshop at the Maine Grind. Free wireless, availability of food and beverage, central location in Downeast Maine, and nice large private room made it a great choice, but not feasible on a regular basis as far as the regular rental rate on the weekends.

I realized it was both in Leslie (the owner) and our best interest to figure out a deal where Matt and I would rent the space regularly for a better rate. Just one more example in the ‘it never hurts to ask’ category. Leslie is open to it and we’re all going to get something out of it. I love negotiating.

Overall moving forward and now that I know what’s going on with my grandfather, I slept my first full night last night. Moving forward and knowing what you’re dealing with both make for better sleep.

Happy weekend to you and yours!

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