Do You Need a Pre-Holiday Pep Talk?

Do you need a pep talk? I know I do so please bear with me while I give myself a pep talk here. Then, give yourself one when you’re done if you need one! We need to learn to be our own life coach sometimes!

I’ve been doing a bit of the “chicken with its head cut off “dance lately. My writing business is booming but I’m running a tad ragged. It’s exhilarating and frustrating at the same time because I’m limited by technology constraints in my home and trying to balance my job, house and be an attentive Mother. Throw into the mix the fact that it’s a hectic time of year and you have someone frazzled, admittedly bitchy and teary- eyed almost daily. I’m changing that behaviour here and now.

A new client and newly made friend wants me to work as co-author on his life coaching book with him. I’m really excited about this but the task of getting started has been a bit daunting because I’m in multi-task holiday mode and finding it hard to talk the talk because I’m not walking the walk.

Once I find my focus, I find my voice and I know at that point, working on his book for a few hours a day will definitely HELP me with my focus. What better way to get stoked other than talking about the power of positive thinking?

New prospects are knocking on my door due to my advertising efforts in the last month and due to the release of my new writing website. It’s like I’m reaping some harvests for sowed seeds but it’s been bittersweet because my existing clients are extremely busy.

Amid the mayhem, something great happened yesterday. A client of mine gave me a new project and I earned $77 in an hour by writing. I felt very accomplished and it helped me see the direction I want to take my career in. It’s a nice leap from the $4-$5 articles I started out with almost 2 years ago.

I need to remind myself that I have already overcome some pretty serious obstacles in life in the last few years and I should pat myself on the back for it. When I feel overwhelmed, I need to remind myself of what I’ve recently accomplished and I know that will help me muster the energy to keep truckin’.

A new friend and team member, Holli commented today on the fact that she was surprised at how new my business was and said I had the air of an old pro. I told her I started my little business less than two years ago on a dial up internet connection with an old clunker PC. The chat with her inspired this post because I realised how much I have accomplished in a short time and how proud of myself I should be. I’ve worked very hard to get where I am and I’m only planning to continue to do better.

Today, I’m still on dial up (grr. It's the area I moved into two years ago) and my pc is a few years younger but still a clunker by today’s standards. When I look at the fact that I’m working full time and increasing my income each month PLUS providing work for up to eight writers at a time I think I should be pretty proud of myself. Have you got any idea how slow it is to work online when you’re on dialup? Here’s an example. Tonight I did what some would find simple and paid about 12 invoices on PayPal. This seemingly simple task took me fifty minutes!

Despite the obstacles I’ve overcome and the obstacles still in front of me, I’m happy with how my career is going and I’m proud of my accomplishments. I did a great thing…I achieved my dream of being a writer for a living and found a way to do it while staying home with my younger son. I’ve even found a way to help other writers. I have up to eight writers getting a good chunk of their monthly income from my efforts! Maybe it wasn’t such a crazy thing after all to give up my old high paying, high profile job because I wanted more…

I might not be at my old income level (yet) but my happiness level sure is pretty high most of the time and I feel accomplished and proud when I tell people what I do for a living. I'm often at the computer working in the morning before the coffee is finished brewing and that's a pretty huge indicator.

I’m going to take my own advice and look positively at my goals and my accomplishments instead of letting myself feel overwhelmed and dragged down. I’m going to start by setting goals for next year and I will find a way to meet those goals.

How will I do this? I will practice what I preach and I will have some new freedom next year as my little one goes into kindergarten (although I’m thinking of walking the pregnancy plank one more time :s) and my husband will soon be out of school and embarking on a new career so that will open up several hours of more productive work time each day and reduce my need to work every spare moment due to being the sole earner right now.

This time of year can be frustrating for various reasons. If you’re feeling like I was feeling... full of apprehension and panic it’ll hurt your productivity and more. It’s time to stop and take stock. Do a review of this past year and all you’ve accomplished (no matter how small it seems) and make your own goal list. Having your goals and feeling pride in your achievements can change your frame of mind and increase your productivity.

October: The Good, The Bad, The Love...

October was an interesting month. I got quite busy with a new team of people that I'm giving work to and I'm learning a lot about managing other people's deadlines as well as my own. I'll write about this interesting experience in the coming blog posts this month. As my October wrap up, Here's the good, the bad, & some link love.

The Good:
I had a good month overall. I wrote my first ghostwritten e-book from scratch (I'd done rewrites and compilations in the past) and I enjoyed the process. Better still, the customer gave me a rave review so I think I'll be doing more of these. I have a few half written e-books that are my own instead of ghostwritten so maybe I'll delve back into those and actually finish them. It was a busy month with some chaos but I feel like I've progressed in some areas and that's my goal on a monthly basis.

The Bad:
I had some disappointments and some victories in October and my biggest lesson of the month is in setting deadlines with other writers. Not everyone has the same writing personality as myself and I've figured out that I need to have team members with the same mentality in order for me to be able to sleep at night. I also need to put people on trial run when they first join and not put myself in a position where someone can let me down before they've initially proved themselves. I had a writer who joined the team and ask for work come back and ask for as much work as I could give because of a financial bind and then she disappeared leaving me with three assignments and scrambling because one was suddenly past due. I can only hope she's actually ok in life and hasn't had some horrible thing happen but I need to be a little more wary with new people until I get to know them because it is MY reputation on the line. And, I need to remember that I am a freelancer and do not work for my clients. I have to stop feeling horrible guilt if I turn down a job. I also need to learn to take more breaks. I am working on that one.


The Love:

Thanks to all who commented here in October. Here’s some love right back atcha:

Sharon Hurley Hall
Brenda Emmett
Michele Tune
Courtney Ramirez
Lorna Doone
1luckeemom
Sue Jeffels
Margie
Oswegan
Holli Jo
Lillie Ammann
MLH, Marcie

Have a great November!