2 Conversations: homesteading & camping out

Thursday, March 17, 2011

homesteading & camping out

Since this blog is called 2 conversations, I should tell you about a couple of actual conversations.

Don't you love it when something that's already on your "to do" list suddenly gets accomplished and you didn't actually have to take the initiative? And isn’t it a nice surprise when you usually don’t answer 800 numbers, but sometimes when you do That's what happened this morning: my list told me to call Homestead/Intuit about setting up a storefront ... then THEY called ME!

It was just a routine customer service call to see how things were going and if I like their service. Like it? I love it! I’ve designed quite a few sites with their easy drag-and-drop SiteBuilder technology (see list below).

I had the loveliest chat with Amy. She was most helpful and knowledgeable. We immediately emailed back and forth a bit on some of my questions. I have a feeling we’re going to have a fruitful relationship, possibly both ways, since she was quite interested in my children’s book publishing.

We’re renovating the bachelor pad. We’ve been talking about it for months. I hear it’s really good for a marriage. Not stressful at all, except maybe conversations about what to do with a front entry and whether or not to knock out walls and door frames. :)

I’ve been hovering in “camping out” mode with papers and filing and boxes and projects, waiting for the day when we’ve set up the basic infrastructure (i.e. flooring and desk) before settling in. As a partially self-employed person who works from home, it’s hard to be camping out for so long, especially after five years of nomadic life, with most of my household effects in storage! When we got married on December 30th, I thought we might start by the end of January or mid February. Of course not. Everyone says renos always take at least twice as long as you expect.

But just when I think my husband isn’t thinking about renos, he surprises me by saying he’s called someone: a painter, a carpenter, a plumber, a supplier. He bids on leftovers and demos from his employer: light fixtures, baseboards, a brand new frontloading washer/dryer set. And today I welcomed a flooring expert to measure our house. It’s really happening now! We’ll replacing everything on the main floor with new tile and laminate (and maybe a bit of carpet). It will be so refreshing.

Of course I’m dreaming about window treatments and slipcovers and more!

Websites I’ve built on the Homestead/Intuit platform:

Personal projects:

My main site: www.siretona.com (being renovated, kind of like my house…)
Children’s book publishing: www.openeyes.ca
Humour about going “over the hill”: www.marthamorgan.ca
Music: www.colleenanddara.com

A few other clients:

1 comment:

JaninaMarch 21, 2011 at 9:02 PM
Can I click "like" on the new washer/dryer set? Cool! We have just decided to go home the way we came, ie. AZ, NM, CO, WY and MT, so no Calgary. Sounds like you might be a little busy anyway ; ) We are coming out to Calgary likely for Stampede, so hope you are there then!

Janina
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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!