hi hi hi!
It’s THAT time of year again! When i tell you about my MISTAKES! OH MY GOSH! SO MANY Beautiful MISTAKES! LET’S TALK ABOUT THEM!
BUSINESS MISTAKES
0. I let contracts slide-this was a huge source of guilt for me- because I do not like to make them! AND NOW I have lovely templates for my contracts! I still need to be getting better about sending out proposals and then contracts directly after! But I am getting better at that. Because I hired someone to make a contract for me! 🙂 And another person to make graphic design templates! 🙂
1. I tried to make a mastermind and nobody bought it. I even reached out to colleagues and asked them if they wanted to be part of it as teachers and they said yes! And then i very shamefacedly told them oops nobody bought! UGH. Speaking of things that nobody bought, I put together a whole outreach plan to reach out to associations, and they just were not going to play with me. Which is a bummer. And I put together documents and landing pages to reach out to foundations to get them to offer my courses to their grantees and then I never reached out to them. HOWEVER. I could still do this next year.
2. I paid for the webinar plan for zoom and mostly did not do webinars this year, so that was a waste of money. Ugh! I kept meaning to schedule them,… and then… just getting busy and not doing it! One thing I think contributed to this is that I used to make sales through webinars, and now… I just have long-term clients, new clients and clients I’m getting from in-person speaking gigs and don’t need to make money through selling on webinars.
I’ve done so many webinars for so long… it seemed like they just naturally happened… and I fell off the stick this year on that one. Maybe it’s ok though, because I am making money with clients instead of products! Maybe people are tired of webinars? Are you? I did webinars for other people- Like DSAIA, and MS Nonprofit Alliance, and Bloomerang, and Nonprofit Leadership Alliance “Leaderosity” also. And I did 2 online board retreats so that was fun, to see if I could do that!
3. I did some in-person board retreats too! One thing I learned is that 2 hours is not enough time!
4. I learned I need to make systems and plans and structures in my business, and that even though i have been doing my business for 10 years, I basically… do not have a system. So working with my coach, Elaine Lou, i started to learn how important this is, and I started to get people to help me make systems.
5. I started a podcast with no business purpose. Was that a mistake? MAYBE? I don’t know. Do people usually start podcasts to make money from them? I thought they did! Well, this podcast did not make money. I sunk a lot of money and time into it. I got tired of spending so much money and time on it, even though it was fun to do. I learned a lot, interviewing people about systems of oppression, patriarchy, white supremacy. It was a business mistake but I think from a learning and social justice perspective, it was a rousing success. I feel like I learned a lot. I feel like our listeners learned a lot. And I feel like I got at the core hypocrisy of the nonprofit sector, which was very useful to bring to light.Â
OTHER MISTAKES!
5.5. I hit my head on the Space needle! UGH. THAT SUCKED! I cried a lot. Please do not do this. It is made of metal, not cotton and felt, as I was led to expect.Â
6. Going on 60 dates in 6 months? When I could have been working on my business? Possibly burning myself out on dating? Hmmmmmmm Glad I did it anyway because I found someone I really love! IT WAS WORTH IT. EVEN IF IT WAS A MISTAKE. I lost my fear of rejection!
7. Letting myself be talked into hanging out longer than I should have with a couple of guys- Oh… necrotic gingivitis! UGH. And also… liars…. UGH UGH UGH
8. I fell off my bike! And didn’t get an x-ray- And it turns out… my arm was broken for 2 weeks and I didn’t know! Luckily it was a non-displaced fracture. So. It’s ok. My arm is better now! But let that be a lesson to me! Get the x-ray! and also a doctor! So I have a doctor now and she is pretty awesome.
9. I started making my poetry chapbook… then I realized that nobody would buy it… so I decided to go in a different direction entirely- and make a memoir, and also, a romance novel! Because WHY NOT?
10. I made lots and lots of art mistakes… because that is how you learn!
So, the theme I am sensing here is that at LEAST I am making NEW MISTAKES! And… some of my mistakes could also be successes, if viewed in another light. I did not waste money on online ads this year, at least! I did not do conferences that left me feeling drained, so that was good! I did not overwork as much as I had been in previous years! I took a LOT of breaks to go back to the east coast! I took a LOT of breaks also to do fun things! Be with my friends! Make art! Make new friends!
Want more of my mistakes? SO glad you asked! HERE YOU GO!
Mistakes from 2010 to NOW!
Failures of 2010-2011
My failures of 2012
My mistakes of 2013
My mistakes of 2014
My mistakes of 2015
My mistakes of 2016
My mistakes of 2017
Thank you for this. It helped me feel better about my own mistakes this year.
Side note: When I was dating a few years back, I had a similar number. Totally worth it because I’m happily committed now. Glad it worked out for you, too. 🙂
Ouch about the Space Needle and arm!