Whenever I get down I have this strong sense of guilt that comes over me, that if I quit these people will think I am a failure. I don’t want to be seen as a failure to them. They are helping and giving me a stage to stand on without me asking. I don’t want to let them down at any cost. Now they probably won’t think that I am a failure because you know sometimes you just having a bad day or a bad month, year and they’ve been were you are. They’ve worked through this and continues to succeeded, so I can too.

Bottom line, I realize that I needed to get out of my own head and get out of my own way. If these people who don’t know you from a can of paint and see something special in you, then you need to wake up and start seeing that special thing too. So for every time I felt I want to throw in the towel, something keep pulling me back in. Being a business owner wasn’t in my life’s plan but now that I have gotten a taste it of it, I don’t want to let it go. I’m going to ride this thing to the wheel falls off. What about you?

This post was motivated by one of my favorite motivators……

Watch the Video | Are you motivate yet? If not press play again.

Have you ever want to close up shop? What do you do to stay motivated to run your business through the hard times?

If you know of a blog post, article, podcast, video, etc. that I should feature, please let me know. In the meantime, don’t forget to check out the Motivational Mondays blog series.

Photo Credit: niels-kjeldsen.dk

Now if you are very new to blogging and do not have any other post other than the default/welcome post, creating an editorial calendar may seem difficult but here’s what you can do. First you need to decided what you blog is all about. Secondly you need to decide realistically how many posts you can put out per week. Let’s assume your a Solopreneuers (team of one) and your run a Public Relations Business. Since you are waring all hats in your business you probably can only post something once or twice a month to start. Don’t worry about recommend posting minimums, lets just focus on what you can handle with also juggling your business.

Here’s are two topics you can put in your calendar – 1) all about what is going in the your industry and 2) a Q&A post where you are answering your most asked questions that your get from clients/potential clients. The last thing you have to do is pick a day of the week and put an reminder in your calendar tool of choice. So there’s you go very simple and easy. If you want to post more often you can do or or you can hire either an intern or myself as your Virtual WordPress Assistant.

So what if you are not a newbie. Then in this case you can use what you have already written to produce a calender. Pour over your posts and see which topics/categories you have written the most or are more popular with your readers. I’m going to use my self as the example here. When my traffic was at an all time high it was because of posts related to blogging and technology. In the post past I create post series such as Motivational Mondays to create some stability to my postings. I wanted to make sure I had something to post every Monday. Then there were things that I just love to write and those are supper easy to bang out. Base on those factors I create my first editorial calendar. For example this week Monday post satisfy my blogging tip post with next week being an Motivational Mondays post.

My last tip is to let you know that what you decided today as your calendar is not set in stone. Yes, it will help your reader in knowing what to expected when they come to your blog. I do recommend revisiting it maybe 3- months to see if your reader like what you are doing. Well I hope this weeks blogging tip was helpful to you.

Once you have created to your editorial calendar or if you already have one, please share it below so we can help each other with example to follow.

After two weeks I felt that it needed a little more work. I noticed that some of the topics I enjoy writing were missing. Soon after that it was brought to my attention I was missing a key component. The reason why I started this blog was to show off my work with the hope to get clients. That eventually happen but at some point along the way I stop sharing with you guys. All of that will change as well. So without further ado…..

My Editorial Calendar

Photo Credit: niels-kjeldsen.dk

My goal is to post at least 3-4 times per week. Since there are quite a few topics I regularly blog about, I alternate them every other week. Below is the current blogging schedule. I plan on revising this again in July at the 6 month mark to see if I need to make an adjustments base on readership.

Mondays
Motivational Mondays or Blogging Tips

Tuesdays
Client Work

Wednesdays
Q&A Wednesday

Thursdays
Living Within Your Means

Fridays
Link Love or Tech Fridays

Do you use an Editorial Calendar for your blog?

“You ain’t got no job man!”

I am not the female version of the character Tommy from Martin. Yes, I know I no longer work a traditional 9-to-5 job. Yes, I know I not longer get up in the morning and head into the city to work in my gray cubicle. This is something I am well aware of. I am EMPLOYED; self-employed, meaning I work for myself. I still have to pay taxes, people. I do the same thing I was doing that doing at my former traditional 9-to-5 job. The difference now is, instead of solely working for one company, I work with several different individuals/entrepreneurs/small businesses. I once had steady pay and I will have it again. Please stop counting me out.

I don’t sleep all day.

I wish I could. I don’t even like taking naps. If you do find me lying down or read a tweet/status of me taking a nap it either because of one or two things. One I could be really tired. There are nights where I’m up way pass midnight doing work/research whether it for clients or myself. If I do more than one of these late nights back to back, I will eventually burn out and either go to bed early or lay down during the day. This usually triggers a Pepsi and/or candy binge, since I don’t drink coffee or those energy drinks. The other reason is that I am sick. I hate being sick, hate taking medication. When I do get sick, I get really sick – fevers, headaches, body aches, congestion, sore throat, and sometimes pinkeye. In my line of work, I have learned that there are people who don’t care of you get sick. It’s not their problem. I work off a machine. I’m not one. If I push my body to the limit, it will break down, I can’t buy another one of me at the Apple Store.

I don’t work in my PJs.

I could, would love to but I don’t. Just because I work from home does not mean I don’t get up and wash my body. I wake up, watch the morning news, eat/shower/dress/log on to my computer (sometimes in different order). Now I don’t always do my hair. I am not doing any video chats (although I would love to start doing them) so I have no need to be all dolled up. If the case arises where I need to be on camera, then hair will be done, the sweatshirt will be replaced with a regular nice shirt, and I will be presentable.

All you do is sit in front your computer.

Well duh! I am a web designer and it’s how I make a living. What I am suppose to design and launch a site by using my Staples Easy button. Ohh, I wish it were that simple. Yes I admit I was addicted to Café World on Facebook and to break the habit I decided to leave Facebook because despite removing it I was still getting request to play. That’s been well over two years ago. My Facebook Page for this blog and the one for my business have suffered. However, I have found more success for my business on twitter. Yes, I wish my local clientele was equal to my online cliente and this is something I am working on. Yes, a tree grows in Brooklyn but that sh*t didn’t get tall and strong overnight and I don’t expect my ideas too. You shouldn’t either.

It’s quite okay to not fully understand what I do.

I didn’t always want to be a web designer. I think a few people still haven’t gotten over the shock of my “career change”. It’s been ten years since I decided to start following my dreams instead of that “dream I once had” so many people fell in love with. Sorry I dimmed the lights on the dollar signs in your eyes. I guess I truly never gotten over that statement that I deem hurtful so many years ago because recent chain of events has trigger it back into my memory. You know what I am not going to let it draw me back to that dark place but use it as my motivator to prove them wrong. I wish they will learn that they need to cut the cord and let me make my own mistakes, how else will I learn what to not do and what works. Let me walk my journey and I will try my best to be more patience and open with you.

The life of a perfectionist is unrealistic. Sorry I am not prefect.

My year wasn’t totally bad…

I found the holes in my business and plugged them. Now it was time to focus on what is currently working for me and there were a few things that I did right this year. I was always attending webinars and taking tons of notes and the cycle just continued. I decided to stop learning (well more like cut back on taking part in so many) and start putting what I was learning into action. Basically that’s what we all should be doing – learn the knowledge and then apply it.

As I mention yesterday I started setting and tracking my monthly goals more closely. I also required a down payment for jobs before any work began. I put in place new polices and I plan on sticking to them. Since leads for new work came mostly from Twitter, I set up autotweets to promote my services. At some point I felt like I was getting too spammy and stopped (NEVER stop Marketing!). I am still working out the kinks on this one. Plus the service I was using started to suck.

I found the power in not saying yes all the time and it feels good. Trusting my instincts about which requests I should or shouldn’t take on and spotting the red flags is coming in handy. Eliminating as much stress as possible makes me happier. I got into email marketing to help me stay in touch with my clients. I learned its a must to stay in the minds of your clients so they continue to some back (SistaSense Circle again.). As the Johnnie Taylor’s song goes it’s cheaper to keep her (current client) then to find a new one. I know which client(s) bring in the most work and can identify the months I kick major butt (Thanks to Outright).

The key is to do something with all of this data. I used it when I revamp my services and reworked my marketing strategy. By knowing what’s working, you can then duplicate it to continue to see growth in your business. I know we all want to see our freelance/side hustles grow into so much more. However, standing in the same spot, doing the same thing over and over again is not going to get us anywhere fast. The successful people slow down just enough to see the holes and repair them so they can move on.

Every new side hustle venture you think of and start will have its highs and lows. Don’t let the lows keep you down and don’t let the highs distract you. This is why every freelancer who been doing this for a long time still stress to beginners to keep their day jobs and then in your spare time start a side hustle so you can work the hurdles before going full-time. Make a plan, put it into play and continue to make tweaks when needed.

Here’s to success in the New Year!

One of the biggest lessons I learned in the SistaSense Circle is that I needed to identify the problems and find a solution, then look at what’s working and figure out how to duplicate it. This is exactly what I did the other day. I am going to start with the things I did wrong in my business and how I started to correct them.

At the beginning of the year I didn’t have a clear focus of my target market. I was just open to work with anyone. At some point I settled on a target but it was the wrong one for me. So I had go back and look at every client I had and see who I have been work with. The majority of my work came from Bloggers and Soloprenurs (97% women). I got one problem down, now on to the next one – being Jane of all Trades.

I was offering every service I knew how to do, even though I didn’t enjoy doing some of them. Every time I did one of those things, I kept telling myself I am not doing it again but I still continued. Not any more. I recently revamp the services I provide giving focus on more of the kind of work I love to do. Also knowing that I have the power to say no and being okay with it is a great feeling.

Next up is Marketing. You must always be marketing, never ever stop. You may become busy at some point. When that time come just start a waiting list. If someone doesn’t want to wait, know that is okay, just move on and focus on the work you do have. This is a good reason why you need some policies in place. Another hole I had to plug in my business. Not only are my policies now visible on the site but it will also be include on my invoices.

Speaking of invoices, now let’s talk about money. I had three holes to plug here – setting monthly goals, depending on one client for my main source of income, and prices. Setting & track your monthly goals will help you see your progress and pinpoint when and if you aren’t doing so good. Then when tax time comes part of the work will be done. Outright ( a bookkeeping service I use) send me a weekly email about how much money I made. I take that number and plug it into a spreadsheet to see if I am hitting my mark (Thank you LaShanda for teaching about money markers). I also decided to seek different sources of income for my design business, especially since I recently lost client that provided a bulk of my income. Ouch! That was a big wake up call. Last but not least I set up a new pricing structure. I came wait to start rolling all of my new things out before the New Year.

My year wasn’t totally bad….

Stay tune tomorrow for part two – the good stuff.

I think I been dealing with a bout of growing pains. I thought I got over feeling guilty when I need to take time off, but I haven’t. It takes about half a day to run errands and most of that is traveling. I love my city but public transportation has got uber slow and expensive. Finding time to get out to do anything gets tougher. Especially when interest in your services peaks. Then you have to balance doing the work you have and tending to those inquires.

Just the other day I tweeted about wishing I had a clone or an intern so I could be in more than one place at the same time. I am not in the position to turn down work or hire help, but when the time comes I already know who I want bring on my team. Even considered eliminating certain services or outsourcing. Outsourcing means partnerships and that all whole different ball game.

Or how about when I am working on something and I hit a dead end. Working solo means I can no longer turn to my right or left and ask my coworker for assistance. Yeah I can reach out to my social media friends but would my message ever reach them through all of the noise.

I have so many things running through my mind.

Can freelancers take a day off? Week? Heck why no a whole month? I know it possible but you better have something else working in the background so you have money coming in to pay your bills.

I feel my busines growing and there still so much I want to do….

but I’m afraid.