Week three my new business venture is going well. My energy level is higher, in part because it finally stopped raining in my corner of the world, and my anxiety level is lower, in part because I am in the process of securing regular work with a large client. Besides taking a mental deep breath, here’s what I have been up to:
I’m making myself all up with one “reach” client a week.
It would be easy for me to get in a slightly antisocial rut. Now more than ever, it’s important for me to maintain contacts and increase my network.
I literally have this pile of business cards and flyers on my desk: someone at a conference, a person I talked to at a Business After Hours, a blogger I admire (well, those last ones are bookmarked electronically).
Following up with every single person seems overwhelming but one or two new people a week is very doable. Say no to isolation!
I finished a book that blew my mind: “Satisfied Customers Tell Three Friends, Angry Customers Tell 3,000: Running A Business In Today’s Consumer-Driven World”by Pete Blackshaw.
Sure the title reads like a graduate-level thesis but this book was a relatively fun read. I knew I liked it when I want to photocopy whole chapters before giving it back to the library. He gave me some great ideas about monitoring online CGM (consumer generated media) in terms of brands, products, and topics. (Plus, doesn’t using the acronym CGM make me sound smarter?) Also, this book has some good general information about how and why internet marketing is relevant. You know, for you less internet nerdy types who may be interested.
I’m outsourcing, but not going crazy with it.
So the new business, I need some off-line press to get me off the ground. Though I will say that I do appreciate the internet press I’ve gotten on The Takeaway as well as Blunt Money and an upcoming interview at Budget Are Sexy!
What I need a new business press release and I need it sent to local and regional media. Thing is, it would take me way longer to figure out how to write this release, then actually write the release, then look up contact information, and finally send it out and it would be for me to pay a freelance writer friend (who has actually done this before) to do it for me. And since this is time sensitive, as in I can’t haul myself a new business too much longer, it will payoff for me to pay now and get it done not only well but soon.
Related but unrelated, I am also paying another friend with younger wrists and a good heart to help me move my blog content out of Typepad and onto my new site (if you are seeing sherbet colors, you are on my new site).
In my life, I am picking my battles and wine not outsourcing of my work at the moment, I have found it worth it to pay someone who can do a couple of tasks better and faster than I can.
So sure, the money is coming in and I’m relaxing just a little bit about the viability my company.