2 Conversations: sidetracked or tracking?

Monday, April 12, 2010

sidetracked or tracking?

CONVERSATION #1: Kevin

Kevin and I have been talking about how I invest my time and energy and whether the things I do fit my purpose as well as accomplishing my income goals.

CONVERSATION #2: Myself

This afternoon I sat down to ponder some questions that came to my inbox this morning from Think TQ:

Are You Constantly Sidetracked?

Short-term goals are likely to be interrupted by unexpected developments. Staying focused on your destination and flexible with your plans will help you overcome demoralizing sidetracks.
"In the long run men hit only what they aim at." – Thoreau

Today's Quest...
Answer Honestly:

Where are you now, in relation to your destination? _________________________________

What roadblocks loom between where you are right now and your destination? _________________________________

What adjustments can you make in the next 2 weeks to bring you closer to your target? _________________________________

My purpose is empowering women in the arts to build community among generations and nations. I'm starting to get there, but still need to make some adjustments.

CONVERSATION #3: tutoring client & director

I realized that tutoring is something that sidetracks me. When I first arrived in Calgary, it was a gift to have a few tutoring students, but at this point it’s no longer a good exchange of time and money.

With the resulting renewed clarity, I immediately dropped one of my three families, because their daughter is an unmotivated junior high girl who told her mom in front of me that she doesn't need a tutor. Rude? Uh, yeah. It was draining my energy and the money was less than worth it — especially after mileage, travel time, some prep, and frequent cancellations on both sides. She thinks she doesn't need a tutor. I KNOW I don't need a commitment like that.

But the two biggest factors are:

1. Tutoring, especially a student who doesn't really want me there , does NOT feed into my purpose of empowering women in the arts to build community that strengthens intergenerational bonds with international reach.

2. Tutoring is a non-leveraged, nearly static activity. I have so many other things to do and this ties me up too much. There’s an important place for one-on-one, but I’m not the one to fill that gap.

So I called the director of my tutoring program and told her that I’m finished with that family as of today and will carry the other two families just until the end of June.

CONVERSATION #3: preschool director, staff & students

By comparison, today's preschoolers gave me all the positive reinforcement I could want for days to come (they were SO excited!!!). I had such a nice connection with the director and her two staff members, with a strong sense that I was (a) giving them a helpful break and (b) empowering them in their educational mission with the children and their parents. AND for each of four 30-45 minute presentations, this gig pays me double and triple what I get in an hour of tutoring, plus providing exposure to nearly 100 kids & their families, leading to book sales through the website and bookstores in the city, plus more bookings — potentially a monthly gig at this preschool in the new school year.

So I'm grabbing my purpose and getting more firmly on track!

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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!