2 Conversations: clarity of vision

Thursday, January 7, 2010

clarity of vision

Today I realized that my approach to conversations needs more focus. Is my goal just to have 2 conversations? What will we talk about? This pondering was confirmed by an email from Today’s TQ:

How Do You Know If Your Vision Is Clear Or Not?

A good reality check on your vision is to explain it to others. If they can't visualize it as well as you can, fill in the necessary details.

The details of your vision supply the needed specifications for its implementation.

Today's Quest...

Answer Honestly:

Have you shared your vision with anyone lately?

___This is the point of the 2 Conversations blog: keeping me on track with connecting about my business/ministry/art._____

What details need to be added to your vision to make it clearer?

___I need to know why I’m approaching certain conversations. Some will be serendipitous, but others must be intentional. I don’t want to manipulate EVERY conversation to make it fit this blog. I just need to have 2 such conversations. Anything more is bonus. _________

Who could share your vision with you today? When?

___Below are some people with whom my interactions related to my vision and goals. ____________

Email & phone: S., who is learning about the value of brokenness. We also talked about the invitation I’ve received to speak at a spiritual emphasis retreat for her school; there’s a meeting at the end of this week, so I should know soon if I’m officially invited and when to make plans.
Email/Facebook interactions with several people about my song, “My Grandmother’s House.” The song rose from #43 to #26 in one day on IndieHeaven’s Fan Faves chart through the votes of so many friends. It will be on the chart for a couple more weeks, so please listen and vote.
Email with Kathleen & Grant McMillan about publishing and the direction of Open Eyes Books.
Heard from a former student, Laura, who’s developing a line of baby carriers. Was able to pass along info about a baby store from my research related Open Eyes Books.
Twitter direct messages:

@gvmcmillan: Shorty Awards nominations.
@Power_of_M: Shorty Awards nomination and my song

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The Rules 2

1. Average two conversations five days a week about what I'm doing and/or why I'm doing it.

2. Email counts, though phone is better and in-person is best.

3. Enjoy building a business through being a Connector (as per Malcolm Gladwell).

4. Report some of those conversations here. Try to report weekly or more—e.g. by Thursday or Friday as the business week is winding down, or Monday/Tuesday after a weekend of touring or conferencing.

5. Reflect on the significance of these conversations.

6. As appropriate, provide names, links, contact info, pictures, etc.

The Background

Near the end of 2009 I moved to Calgary with the goal of establishing Siretona Creative, a publishing and production company that empowers women in the arts to build community among generations and nations. Siretona women are using our voices to make a difference in the world.

I like to read widely about business and to network intentionally and extensively through in-person events and social media. Still, the business side of things wasn't "clicking." Everything felt like a stab, an attempt, a bit of a guess. Now there's nothing wrong with following intuition, and in the past year I have been involved with three great projects largely due to intuition: BlueBeary, Notes from Over the Hill, and the Minus 40 Tour. At the same time, I have puzzled over how to bring it all together in a cohesive way, besides an inspiring mission statement.

Puzzled until I read a tweet from someone I don't even know:

"If you have to have a success formula here it is: Have 2 conversations every day about your vision and goals" (@douglass231).

Ah-ha!!! A day or two before that I had read a challenge to talk to 10 people in one day about my products. TEN! It's really a small number, as this blog will hopefully discover, but at the time it felt overwhelming. Douglass231 freed me. Two is manageable. Two is easy to track. Two can be quick.

Now every day except Sunday, I have a target: two conversations about what I'm doing and/or why I'm doing it and/or how I'm doing it.

First of all, I want to track my own progress as a networker, strategist, marketer. Who am I talking to? How am I finding them? What do we talk about?

Second, I want to tell the world about these conversation partners. Sometimes I'll need to guard identities, but I suspect most of the time it will be appropriate and even important to promote their businesses with descriptions, links and even pictures.

From time to time I'll invite guest bloggers to track their own conversations. We'll see where this all leads!