I’m working crazy hours
at a contract gig.
This current position is not my dream.
I took it
to refresh my knowledge and skills.
Writing IS my dream, however.
You’d think that
working around the clock
would interfere with that dream.
Nope.
You see…
I get up early every morning
and I write.
I feed my dream FIRST
before I do anything else.
If I can do it,
you can do it too.
Find time before breakfast
to help make your dream come true.
It will change your perspective
on the day.
It is that time of year again.
Time for trends to watch in 2010.
Trendwatching.com has their list
1. Business As Unusual
2. Urbany
3. Real-Time Reviews
4. (F)Luxury
5. Mass Mingling
6. Eco-Easy
7. Tracking & Alerting
8. Embedded Generosity
9. Profile Myning
10. Maturialism
On Thursday, some author buddies and I
were talking about mass mingling.
A decade ago,
authors were very isolated.
Some would hold day jobs,
not only for the money
but for the social aspect.
Now, Twitter mimics the banter
found in an office.
I suspect that is one reason
I could happily retire from business gigs.
I don’t miss the chatting
because I can do that online.
This week,
I announced to the world
that I will write for Harlequin Presents
in 2010.
I don’t have a manuscript ready yet.
I don’t have an editor waiting for a manuscript.
I’m starting from the slush pile.
But the goal is out there
and now I’m hustling to make it happen.
I do this with all my key goals
(that can be public knowledge).
I know that I have
a big enough ego
that I will move heaven and earth
to prevent looking like a jacka$$.
That is what will happen
if I don’t achieve what I set out to do.
Make your goal public.
Let your friends, family, and yes,
even your enemies
help you achieve it.
Innovation is messy
and dealing with failure
(again and again and again)
is a huge part of innovation.
Everyone has their tricks
on how to deal with failure
and restore confidence.
(Forbes has a great list of 12 ways)
My favorite method
is to complete a simple yet significant task
that I know I can excel at.
For example:
I have a travel blog
where I load photos and short travel tips.
I know that the more photos/tips I load,
the more traffic/revenue I earn
and the more value I give back
to other travelers.
Since the tips are basic and the work easy,
after a failure,
I’ll spend a couple hours
loading posts.
I accomplish something
and my confidence is restored.
A friend of mine paints a room
in her house
to restore her confidence.
The fresh color on her walls
is visual proof
that she is not a failure
in, at least, this task.
Make a list of methods
to restore your confidence.
Without confidence and optimism,
innovating is challenging.
I get about 3,000 emails a day.
3,000.
Much is reading only.
About 10% of that that requires a response.
About 1% is time sensitive.
The happy thing about getting
3,000 emails a day
is you HAVE to develop a way
of managing the email.
If you don’t,
that’s all you do.
What I do
is set aside certain times
to respond to email.
I often use it as a treat
for having accomplished something.
I never start the day with email
because I am my most creative in the morning
and reading email kills creative brain cells dead.
I also do as Amber Naslund suggests
and never use my “inbox as a to-do list”
You manage email.
Email does not manage you.
A professional organization
recently kicked out
the industry leader
for breaking the rules.
Dumbness.
Because that is what industry leaders do.
They break the rules.
They CREATE the rules.
The response of the industry leader
re: being kicked out?
Didn’t even warrant a press release.
They are busy creating wealth
and innovating.
Next time you catch yourself
wondering
if you might get kicked out
of your professional organization
for trying something,
remember…
industry leaders are NOT
hobbled by this restriction.
Neither should you.
When a loved one recently got married,
I gave her this piece of advice
‘Assume your husband comes from
a different planet.’
No, not because he is strange
but because
if she believes she knows nothing
about her loved one,
she will ask more questions
and listen more closely.
The more alike we are,
the more we assume
the other person
will make the same decisions.
We stop listening.
We stop asking questions.
That usually leads to disaster.
This is especially true
when working with family.
We believe we know
our mother/brother/cousin/niece.
We forget that people,
even our loved ones,
are complex and often irrational.
Success Magazine has
some more great tips
on running a successful magazine.
I’m currently doing edits on a book
that I’m not happy with.
My publisher likes it.
My editor likes it.
I’m not happy with it.
I don’t think it is good enough.
If I’m not happy with it
by the time
we have to make the publish or not call,
I will pull it.
Why?
Because like many entrepreneurs,
authors are the creators, marketers,
and salesmen
for their products.
If you don’t believe in your product,
it is VERY difficult
to sell it to other people.
As BrainCram states
“How will you persuade them
that what you are offering will meet their need
if you don’t have at least the same level of confidence
in what you are offering?”
(them being the customer)
That’s why Believe in What You are Doing
is one of BrainCram’s
Top 10 Tips For Successful Entrepreneurship
While the center may get all the glory,
the goalie is one of the most important
players on any hockey team.
Every defenceman is taught to
‘protect the goalie.’
However much he is protected,
at the end of the game
the goalie is usually covered in bruises.
He plays the entire game.
He places his body in front of the puck.
Mike Zaya, chief executive of Printrunner,
says entrepreneurs are the goalies
of start ups
“You end up being the goalie of the company,
and the goalie has to sacrifice their body.”
“You have to be the first man in
and last man out on any given day.”
There are benefits to being an entrepreneur
but there are costs also.
I host this blog
with Hostgator.
Hostgator offers
unlimited sites, unlimited space for $7.95/mth.
That is powerful,
especially for a marketer.
Why?
Because the cost of testing
an additional online site
is the cost of a domain name
and the time to set up the test.
Hostgator knows that
we can’t manage infinite an number of sites.
The sites one user can run
is naturally capped.
But we CAN test
many, many different concepts.
THAT is the power of unlimited.
It takes away a restriction completely.