Happy Holidays

Well it’s almost the big day and then Santa can relax knowing he did a job well done. Bravo!

So how about you? When you look back on 2009 did you do what you wanted to do?

I know I didn’t. I’ve let my fears and confusions keep me from staying the course. Yes I know that starting a new venture is tough and time consuming and it takes a while to get rolling. The web site is up with all the meta words in a nice neat package with the hopes that the search engine will find you and put you up where people can find you. But in the mean time what do you do?

It’s hard starting a business out of your home, alone. You’d think it would be great to be in control, run your own show, where the only boss you have to answer to is you. But when you start out, it’s not. Not until you have that first couple of clients and you’ve learned the ropes.

I wish I knew more about marketing my business. Don’t you? Oh I’ve taken the marketing classes, the PR classes, the sales management classes but to no avail. I’m not a marketing minded kind of person. I could sure stand to learn more.

Anyway, my goal for next year is to try to figure it out with less frustrations and tears and try to stay positive. What’s yours?

Let’s hope that 2010 is a better year for us all and the people in power finally realize that they need to pay attention to our needs instead of their own. Well we can wish can’t we?

Fits and starts

I can't believe it's been this long since I last posted. But there hasn't been much to report. It's amazing how the weather can affect my productivity and enthusiasm. But when there is a big shift from hot to cool, or the other way around, I tend to loose momentum and focus. But this is a lesson well learned. When you're running your own business you have to recognize your personal rhythms and work with them productively.

I’m still trying to figure out how to target and market my services. I sometimes feel that I’m just stalling by continuing to research and read my reference books instead of taking direct action, but I need to know more. I think I read somewhere that moving ahead slowly and cautiously is better for longevity. I know I keep referencing the book How to Make a Living without a Job, but the more I read it the more confident I feel because I see my fears and failings in its pages and it gives me hope to keep going.

It’s difficult to start a business in a vacuum, with no support from people who have experience doing what you’re trying to do. I turn to books, but that may not be the best choice, at least for me. I get energy from people, and having another person available to bounce ideas off and get insight from works for me. But when I sit in my office alone, feeling cut off from the real world, it’s hard to believe that what you dream is viable. My mind tells me “Other people can do this, but not you. What do you know? Look at the competition, look how professional they are, how successful they are, you’ll never get there because you don’t know what you’re doing.” It doesn’t seem to matter to my mind that I have years of experience, good skills and abilities. It’s one of those battles with the “inner child”, with the “parent’s voice from the past” that tells you you’ll never be good enough. You’d think that when you reach a certain age that you’d be past all that, but apparently not. And quite frankly I’m sick of it. I want what I want and I want to have a chance to succeed or fail. As they say “you only fail if you don’t try.” And I believe that’s true. So I have no choice but to plug along, trip and pick myself up, dust myself off and keep going until I get there.

Here’s to perseverance and hope.

Inspiration and knowledge

I've been doing more research on how to get a business off the ground. I'm rereading a book called Making a Living Without a Job by Barbara Winter. It' been around since 1993 but the information is as relevant now as it was then. I highly recommend it. The first half the book is basically inspirational sharing, and I'm not much for rah rah stuff, but it does inspire and gives you hope. The second half the book gives information you can use and it's proving to trigger thoughts that can help make getting rolling easier on the mind. Because I've found that's the biggest stumbling block...for me at least. Getting out of my own way.

You see, we were brought up to be wage slaves working to make someone else rich at our own expense. We've been conditioned to believe that we can't make it unless someone else pulls the strings. Well that thinking has only been around since the early 1900's and boy have we been indoctrinated by the rich for their own benefit. We let fear and intimidation rule us. We let money lead us around by the nose, I know I have. But we're no longer secure in that little bubble and we have to take control of our own lives before the corporations, and those that run them, turn this country into a third world nation. Ok, sorry. I'll get off my soap box now.

As much as I have never liked nor put much stock in self help books (most are just fluff and no substance) occationally you find one that's worth the time. Do yourself a favor and check out a few, you might just be pleasantly surprised. And you might find one that helps you take charge and make the changes that you want for your life.

Good luck.

Stay tuned for the next shaky step in our journey.

Ways and means of getting off the ground

Since we are a small and brand new business we are trying to work our way through the ways and means of getting off the ground. It’s not easy and the “is it really worth it” factor easily creeps to mind. I know it happens to me frequently. But the best I can do is square my shoulders and refuse to let the thoughts sabotage me. After all no one is secure in their jobs now a days. I have to constantly remind myself of that fact. And I’ve realized (in case I haven’t already said it) that being an entrepreneur is a mindset. You have got to change your focus from thinking like an employee to thinking like a business…your business. Instead of keeping your mind focused on what They want you to do and what your're supposed to be doing for Them, you have to keep your mind focused on what you can do for You.

To that end, I started digging around on the Internet trying to find marketing tips and you’d be surprised at what’s out there. It’s very encouraging. Type Marketing, Freelance or Ecommerce Marketing into the search engine of your choice and see what you get. There’s an interesting Web site called Suite101.com that has all kinds of information that you might find useful. I sure did.

I also find that it’s helpful to get away from the computer if I want to focus on reading information. I don’t like reading long documents on the screen so I print them out, go to a coffee shop and curl up with what I’ve found. That way I can really absorb it, make notes, and jot down ideas that the information triggers. For some reason I can’t do that in front of the computer, there’s too much to distract me.

Oh, I saw a piece on the news this morning about the Small Business Association offering financial help and advice. I’d forgotten about them but I think I’m going to go check it out. Many years ago I went to talk to someone there about starting a web design business but no one had any expertise and couldn’t help me…that’s how long ago that was. Today I doubt that I’d have a problem. Maybe. But I suggest it…I mean any information is better than none. Right?

This is proving to be a slow process of discovery. It takes strength of will and much determination. But the feeling of freedom and satisfaction is inspiring. So keep watching and reading to see how this all unfolds.

To find customers...AWK!

You know, the hardest part of any new venture is figuring out how to find your customers. Oh, I’ve got lots of books on how to start this or that business, how to market, how to do sales and promotion…but books just don’t do it for me. They’re comforting, in a way, at least they give you some information that you have at your fingertips but they usually don’t go far enough. If you know what I mean.

How do you really find your customers? The books have all kinds of ideas but they all seem so nebulous and geared toward attracting the attention of the big companies. Which is great if you want to get in line with every other freelancer out there. But what if you’re sick and tired of the big companies? What if you want to work with little ones that you can develop an actual relationship with? How do you find them? That’s my dilemma and yours too no doubt.

They say to determine your market. Ok, yah that makes sense. But what’s your market? Do you focus on things that you like to do? Places that you like to go? Do you go stick a business card on a bulletin board in several places and hope someone sees it? Do you send out scads of emails to small companies who have never heard of you and, like me, delete it as junk mail the minute in comes in? Sigh! Email has become like the excess junk you get by snail mail and it’s just as annoying. I don’t want to be one of those.

But then what? Lot’s of questions and at this point few answers. Well, I guess I’ll just have to do some more hard research and get back to you on that.

Stay tuned.

Welcome

Well, we finally decided to listen to ourselves and start the business. I can hardly believe it. We've been thinking about this for years and now seemed like the right time.

We've been doing technical writing and creative work for what seems like a lifetime and decided that we wanted to call the shots. We wanted to be able to do all kinds of work that we weren't getting to sink our teeth into. And with the shaky economy and strangle-hold mentality of the huge corporation, we thought we needed to do something for ourselves.

And this is the start...we hope. Oh sure, we know it'll take a little while to get off the ground but it feels so freeing to think that we're actually taking our destiny in our own hands. It's so empowering to actually act and not just think.

So...hoooooooray for us.

And stay tuned.

Thanks for joining in our journey with us.