I can’t remember the last time I was so energized to work on my business! It’s such a great feeling and I love all the great info and goals I have now because of the conference!
The opening and closing keynotes by Marsha Petrie Sue were great and really brought the conference full circle by getting me excited about my business! One of the quotes that I will be printing out and taping to my wall is “Is this the best use of my time right now?” I love this and really need to start thinking about that as I inadvertently spend an hour tweaking a blog post or getting sucked into Facebook!
Yvonne Weld had a great session on how to start attracting more clients by working on your systems and your follow through. There was a lot of information in that session that I’m still sifting through but it was a great reminder that just because I build it, doesn’t necessarily mean they will come! I need to do a better job of preparing before a meeting and then following up after a meeting. I tend to only worry about how scatterbrained I look during the meeting so preparing beforehand will really help me not be as nervous!
Karen Gridley led a session on embracing your rights and creating an excuse free life. The one point I liked was kind of a Duh moment, “Quit Taking It Personally.” I know that I have a big problem with this and will really be working hard at being ok with who I know I am and not taking it personally when Joe Sixpack doesn’t want to work with me.
Beth Caldwell did a session on success strategies that basically walked you through how to envision and go forward with your ideal business. One point I took away from the session was the idea to look at what my existing clients thank me for and use that to build and grow my business. It’s hard for me to say I’m an expert at X,Y and Z but by looking to my clients to basically tell me what I’m good at breaks me from feeling like I’m bragging; I’m simply building on how I’ve helped my clients in the past!
Sally Kuhlman and Yvonne Weld did an excellent joint session on whether your business is thriving or just surviving. They talked about a number of ways to jump start your business when you’ve gotten to the point where your don’t even want to talk to your clients because you’re so burnt out. Thankfully I haven’t gotten to that point yet but I did really appreciate the section on how to set good goals and to follow through with them. Goals are a hard thing for me to narrow down so getting that conversation started in my head has really gotten the creative juices moving for me and I have some great goals now that I’ll share with you in just a moment!
Alyssa Gregory did a fun session on work/life balance and even though her PowerPoint slides didn’t want to cooperate it was a great time! It turned into a brainstorming session on how to separate your work and family time and space. I definitely realized that I need to start getting more organized because that seems like the key to getting peace when working from how with a 17 month old! I got another great quote to add to wall as well, “Do What You Can and Can the Rest!” LOVE that!
Coming back from the conference I had a lot to think about and a lot of things I wanted to get done in the coming year. Here are a few of my goals for the rest of this year. Some are easier than others but hopefully by putting them out there I’ll be more inclined to work on them!
- Create worksheets and walkthroughs to help Creatives organize their thoughts
- Create and FAQ for my website
- Create a referral program
- Create a personal database of agents, publishers and other necessary posse members for authors
- Start writing articles and submitting them to online magazine
- Create a new focus towards social media and internet marketing assessments. I want to be more of a partner for my clients going forward!
I am so excited to see how much I can grow this year and to see where I am next year at the IVAA summit in Portland, Oregon!
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Oo I like this point! I was coming at this from the idea that I have a hard time staying motivated throughout the day but by keeping that quote in mind it keeps me on track to get things done as opposed to just “playing all day.
That being said I think you really have a point that a little bit of play is a good thing, not only for the sanity reasons (when I start talking to my printer I know I need some socialization…) but for the networking reasons as well. I know that if someone was watching me all day they would probably think that I play on Facebook and Twitter all day but most of the time I'm RTing stuff and replying to people to build up a network and to give people the “know, like and trust” factor which I like to build my business around.
You are too smart for your own good sometimes. ; )
We were so fortunate to have you! You are so full of energy and that really got me excited about my business! : )
I really like that first quote – “Is this the best use of my time right now?” I think, though, that there is a potential pitfall inherent there, specifically, that when we think about the “best” use of our time, we tend to think about the most profitable or task-oriented use of our time, and almost always about the best business use of our time.
I think that can lead to pushing aside integral parts of running a business, because they don't fit the traditional mold of what is the “best” use of our time. For example, taking an hour to go goof off wouldn't fit the definition of “best use” for most of us, and yet, it's essential to not ending up burned out.
Likewise, that hour on Facebook may not fit the traditional definition of “best use,” but *is* a good use of time nonetheless. For one, those of us who work from home often don't get the social interaction that those who work outside do – there isn't anybody at the coffee machine when we go fill up. The time spent on social networking is often our equivalent of workplace socializing, and that's essential to staying sane, as well as staying up on our industry. It also may fall into the same category as the hour goofing off, namely, having some personal time off from business, which is absolutely vital.
That isn't to forget that the hour spent on Facebook may yield more than an hour spent on something “productive” ever would. It's speculation, of course, but what if during that hour on Facebook, you leave a comment that someone else sees – someone well placed to send you business. Suddenly, that wasted hour, which obviously wasn't the best use of your time, has added new people to your client list and more zeros to your bank account.
I definitely think it's a question we all should be asking ourselves, but I think first we need to ask ourselves “What *is* the best use of my time?”
Thank you for the mention and the wonderful comment. IVAA was an amazing group. Wishing you maximized success! Marsha