Jan 12, 2009 | blog
So it’s the end of another year. As such, I wanted to take a minute and put my plans & goals for 2008 out there. I’ve not done this one before, but thought I give it a go this year. Much has changed and I have some directions that I want to follow in 2009 that I neglected in years past.
Writing – Blogging
I’m planning on making a return to a regular blogging schedule after a bit more than a year of a more random approach. The reason for this was partially work related, but also from a lack of direction in the Fall/Winter of 2007/2008. This will include the review of a couple other blogs I have – see if I still have the passion & interest to continue those, or if I should end up selling them off.
Writing – eBooks, Newsletters
Ah… yes, there were two aspects to the writing bug this time around. I also am planning to move forward with some eBook projects and a possible Newsletter in 2009. I’m not sure when exactly this will take place, but will be working on the planning in January. The eBook topics will relate to personal branding, the social web, information technology (& social media), and probably how many of these relate to the enterprise. I’m thinking hard on these lately.
Events
Social Media Breakfast – Twin Cities (@SMBMSP on Twitter) has been a great success here in the Minneapolis & St. Paul area, and I plan to continue evolving our local version. It will remain a low or no-cost event. In addition to this fun monthly event, I’m planning on working some one-off special events and possibly an annual event. Whether those are a summit, retreat, or un-conference style I’m not sure yet, but I do have a few concept ideas that I want to expand on. I’ve found that I really enjoy helping people connect, and thereby connecting their business or career needs with resources in the local community.
Online Income
2009 is the year I get serious about increasing online income. By focusing energies on new ideas and business models for my consulting services I plan to make the transition this year from a senior technologist role to a business & customer communications role. The end result will probably be something different, but that’s the fun of a dynamic, fast-paced industry… it’s constantly changing.
Direction
The next few weeks of this year is also the time I’m going to be taking to reassess my career direction. Am I really pursuing the dream, or have allowed myself to get sidetracked and mired in the mechanics of the mundane, again? This is a crucial piece of the puzzle, as it feeds into everything else. Without direction, none of has have a clue as to where we’re going.
So what’s your plan for this year?
Photo credit: tochris
Dec 29, 2008 | blog
I’m catching up on feeds and have run across a number of posts and articles on personal plans, goals, or predictions for 2009. It’s a good exercise, and one that I’m working on for this week as well.
However, I’m amazed (nay, dismayed) at the number of people who either do not understand what a goal should be or at the goal that they’re fixated on. Especially in relation to blogging. There are a number of great posts around outlining what people are planning to do, but I’d like to see folks really focus their energies when writing them.
For example, I’ve seen a number of people taking about increasing their blog posting schedule, or about getting 100, 200, 300 RSS readers, or hitting 1,000,000 page-views. This doesn’t tell me what they’re purpose is, however. It doesn’t tell me why I should come back tomorrow to read a post. It doesn’t tell new readers why they should spend time reading their blogs. This is simply a lack of understanding of what makes a good blog – in short, numbers don’t count. It’s about the quality of information rather than the numbers of clicks you can run through Google AdSense.
Another theme I’ve seen in some of these planning post for the new year are more lower-level task specific items rather than broad visionary goals for an individual. New or casual bloggers who are interested in growing their blog should look at things that bring value to themselves and their readers. An example of this would be something like "Revise and rejuvenate my blog’s theme to reflect it’s focus, and for easier reading" would be better than simply wanting to "get a new blog logo".
These more far-reaching goals help us stretch outside our comfort zones for the year. It gives us something to strive for, something to attain… hence "goals". I hope more folks take the time and really go through a good personal growth exercise for 2009. It doesn’t have to take long, and if a person allows themselves an hour or two to really think about what they want to accomplish in one year – and what just may be possible in one years time, they may surprise themselves and really accomplish more than they think they can.
So good luck to you on your goal quest for 2009! Watch for my 2009 goals post in the next day or so.
May 15, 2008 | happiness
Afternoon’s on a sunny day inspire me to keep reaching for the sky.
Feb 27, 2008 | blog
Here’s a question that many people don’t often think about as they begin developing their personal brand.
What is your personal brand?
I wonder how many people have actually sat down and defined what their strengths and skills are before diving in. Realizing that you’re as marketable as your favorite soda, not to mention more valuable to employers or clients, is a very powerful revelation. Making the best use of this concept for your career and family shouldn’t be taken too lightly.
Personal brand has been described as “Reputation 2.0”, and it is to a certain extent. However, it’s also much more than just what people remember about you. As you start online social networking, blogging, using social media tools and techniques to build an awareness, you are also building an easily indexed and searchable history.
At the same time, don’t put too much work into a personal branding plan. When it starts seeming like a flashy PR campaign by some high-end New York firm, you know you’ve missed the point. Just like you should put some thought and define goals for your career and life, your personal brand should have just enough structure and focus to help identify a direction and/or methods to work on.
Just like your life and career, things will come along that will change the course of your branding strategy. Keep it loose and follow the opportunities that arise, think about them a bit to make sure you’re not making a rash decision… but make the decision and move on.
I am curious though, have you defined your personal brand? What is the message (mission statement?) that you are working to present?
Technorati Tags: Personal Branding, Personal Improvement
May 2, 2007 | blog
That is the makeup of my tasks this week. While I’m pretty much caught up on my email, I do have a large backlog of feeds that I need to parse through and read. Luckily Google Reader makes that easy.
As for the rest of the week, I’ve got a lot of work in the research and planning phases that will help me find and meet with new clients. I’ve got a number of ideas and will pursue them along with some good old-fashioned in-person networking.
A few things that are tripping me up this week are my phone and those little config details on my new laptop. My phone has been kind of goofy every since I got back from Florida last month, but it really is acting strange in the past week. I can’t seem to get everything to sync in Vista yet (though I have had it work in the past) and the alarms do not go off when they are supposed to. A little later today I’ll try re-flashing the firmware to see if I can weed out the bad apples on the darn thing.
Also, even though a person gets all the major applications, utilities, plugins, bookmarks and other such items set up on a new computer, there always seems to be some last little things. I seem to find that I’m missing little bits of productivity every 30 minutes or so, just because of a forgotten config, tool, bookmark and so on.
Other than that, it’s been a productive 1st half of the week, can’t wait to meet with a few other people that I want to connect with and see what happens from there.
