State of Sam: An Update on Goals

May 8

Two months ago I shared a post about the State of all things Me and how I made the conscious choice to stay in my own lane. At the time I was feeling pulled in every which way and needed to re-focus / get centered on what the heck *I* was doing. The post resonated with many. Not only did you comment, but I received the kindest, incredibly supportive e-mails.  And also e-mails in which you confessed feeling the same in your life. Thank you so much! Today I wanted to share a quick update on my goals and encourage you to keep focusing on yours as well.

I’ve decided these will be regular updates because it’s real, feels good to open up and share, gives perspective, and allows an opportunity to pull back the curtain a bit. I struggle everyday in this business, with the blog, in my personal life, as a mother – it’s not always as rosy as it appears. Again, this is life – it’s normal. We can talk about it and support one another.

Writing these updates also provides the opportunity to forward on great tidbits and quotes that either motived or caused me to pause and rethink everything I’m doing. Like the other day while listening to a speaker on the topic of perfectionism. She said, “Perfection is actually very annoying. It doesn’t connect people to you, it disconnects people from you.”.

I know. Let that one sink in for a sec.

As you can imagine, the statement especially hit home given the line of work I’m in.

Soooo, to catch you up on the goals we chatted about in February, they’ve slowed a bit because my client calendar ramped up (a good problem). Regardless, I’ve continued to make progress and that’s all I can ask of myself. These were the specific goals I was sprinting toward…

Here’s the updated version!…

May 2017 Simply Organized Goals

Let me break down what was accomplished (yay!) vs what’s going on now.

THE GOALS ACCOMPLISHED

  • First and most importantly, I hired an AMAZING Virtual Assistant. Long long overdue. It was a process to find her, but worth every moment of searching. Her name is Jamie (yes, I’m putting her on blast) in case her name pops up once in a while. She’s been helping with all sorts of tasks. Together we’ve been digging through a deep pile of topics I’m confused about – like ConvertKit, SEO, clean-up stuff and systems. I’m hoping to one day have her as a full-time member of this team so she can work on the in-person business side as well. She isn’t located in California so I don’t mean hands-on organizing…we’re talking help with client e-mails, etc. She’s incredible and my life is better because she’s in it. Seriously. If you own a business, can’t encourage you enough to take the leap and hire a VA before you find yourself in too deep a hole. Welcome, Jamie!
  • With help from Jamie, I now have an improved looking newsletter template. I send a newsletter 1-2x per month and was struggling to get a format pulled together. I’m not totally skilled with html, so there’s that confession. She helped make that happen. If you aren’t a subscriber, I’d love to have you join me! You can join on the blog sidebar.
  • I’m a new Evernote Community Leader! I mentioned already that I was invited to take the course / test – I did both and passed. So now I’m just learning my way through how to incorporate this new offering into my business. Very fun and am enjoying being a member of the Evernote Community!
  • Have continued to tweak the website by myself with help from Lesley’s awesome book! Can’t tell you how amazing it feels to not pay someone for these little tasks.

THE GOALS STILL IN PROGRESS

The goals remaining on the list aren’t all new. A few were there previously, but continue to be in progress….and alllllmost accomplished.

  • I am continuing to schedule in the time to write an e-book, but time is limited. When client work ramps up, I need to make room in my calendar. Writing at night doesn’t always work well because honestly – I’m exhausted. Little steps on this one. I have a feeling the summer is going to free up a lot of time…but, famous last words, right?
  • The topic of my logo will be a blog post all its own. But it’s in the works and ties in a bit with my next bullet point…
  • Legal stuff! I’m excited to share that I’ve made a lot of progress here. My client contract was finalized last week and now have a pretty contract ready to go for my next new client. My website is now registered and copywritten with the US Copyright Office. Waiting on the actual paperwork, but it certainly feels great to know my content is registered in case someone copies anything (which happens a lot, sadly). The final legal topic we are just getting started on is registering my business name and getting it trademarked. As I said, this will be a blog post all its own as …. guess what …. I’m going to have a new business name. The blog will remain Simply Organized, but my organization business will be different. More details on this soon.
  • On the topic of YouTube, I added a new video last week but my goal is to add at least one new video per month. I’m searching for someone to create an intro/outro for my channel. Know anyone? 🙂
  • I have 2 custom shirts on order right now – can’t wait to see them! Will definitely share some pics when I have them in-hand!
  • In all honesty, the workflow / systems / taxes is such a drag of a topic…and it’s where the least amount of progress has been made. Surprised? Anything not fun generally gets pushed to the bottom of the barrel. Ha! However, still something I am very committed to working on and improving.

MY NEWLY ADDED GOALS

With room for new goals to work toward, I added a few post-it’s to my list…

  • I work quite a bit in my home office and the desk situation has been uninspiring for a while. Over the years you’ve seen my home office quite a bit…

Don’t get me wrong, I love my office furniture and have owned it for nearly 10 years…but the set up in this space isn’t working for what I need. I need less drawer / filing storage and a whole lot more surface space to spread out for designing. When I purchased this collection I didn’t own a business. Now that I do and have a solid idea of what I need, I’m ready to sell and update. And I’m going much brighter and more minimalist. Can’t wait to share my own personal One Room Challenge with you guys!

  • After working with clients for a few years, I’m ready to make the jump from an hourly rate to a flat rate. In the last few weeks I’ve been testing the waters with flat rate options for projects and it’s been going well. I also struggled with a design rate so that has been my biggest challenge to work through. Am working toward nailing down a good pricing structure / rate sheet for all of my service offerings.
  • I need an assistant. Now. On all of my in-person projects I need ONE person who knows it all, knows how I work, knows my style and who can stay on brand with me….while also being kind, non-judgmental, gentle and understanding of the various clients who hire SO. Eventually, this person would be able to go on projects alone. It is SO SO SOOOOOO hard to find the right people in this line of work. It’s an intimate setting. Not to mention, this business is my baby and it’s been hard to let people in. I’ve been burned many times by those I’ve brought in only to have them run and start their own business or behave in a way that is absolutely shocking. Seriously. This happens! There is so much involved in this bullet point…too much to explain. Anyway, I’m on the hunt for an amazing assistant who wants to be a part of this growing business / team!
  • I’ve been a NAPO member for 3 years but am what they call a “provisional member”. To become a “professional member” one needs to finish a few classes. I’ve been putting it off for a while because of the time it takes to sit through the classes (they also cost $$$) and, because NAPO revamped their website, my classes that I did purchase somehow disappeared. I’m working with them to figure out where they went so I can continue the classes…and then hope to wrap it up making me an official professional member.

Beyond all of the above, other exciting accomplishments have occurred that I look forward to sharing soon…Simply Organized was included in Redbook last month, will be in a Better Homes & Gardens publication early next year (yay!)…and I’m going to be the keynote speaker for a conference this Fall. Ack! Can’t wait to share more about that one!

Finally, I share this post as an update – not to toot my own horn. My blog has been a place to keep track of milestones and that’s part of the reason I’m sharing. But the true reason is to encourage you to WRITE DOWN YOUR GOALS and if you haven’t read my post about staying in your own lane – seriously have a read. Too often we get sidetracked by watching other people run their race…when we should focus on running our own, at our own pace. I want to encourage you to chase your goals and dreams  – no matter what they look like or how long it takes you to get there. Look at everything I have yet to accomplish? It takes time…but it won’t ever happen unless you get started.

And it starts by writing them down!

Have a great day guys!

Staying In My Own Lane Goals Update

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