What I'm Working On

Since I started this 100 day countdown to the end of the year just over a week ago, I've managed to keep pretty darn busy.

Some of it I can talk readily about. Some things, though, I, sadly, can't really talk about yet (but hopefully before the year is up). The good news is, most of the former are business related and very few of the latter concern anyone other than me and one or two other people.

Getting down to the brass taks of it all... by the end of the year I will:

• Have launched at least three new websites
  
  • The 100 Day Century Countdown Challenge site is already up, but sorely in need of some meat on its bones
  • I've got at least one website for a friend/client of mine that I'm currently putting some finishing touches on
  • Other possible sites are still in very early planning phases right now, but at least one of them should get fast-tracked shortly
• Refurbish and get back on track with all of my other existing sites
  • Durosia.com needs some style and layout tweaks so it behaves better in some browsers
  • WithoutBeingCrushed.com will come roaring back to life in October with all new content and some neat surprises (which may also bring in some money)
  • ToobTalk.com is in a sad state of repair, with a half-finished theme hanging loosely on its atrophied content... it's going to get at least some new words flowing through it and a semi-decent stock theme that the logo works with
  • SearchJournal.com will return from its lengthy silence with a bunch of new content and, perhaps, a product or two
• Acquire at least two more freelance jobs that can be done and billed by the end of the year (these should be web-site setup and information architecture/content related)
• Get at least three web-based product revenue streams up and running (more on them in a bit)
• Move into a new apartment (should be happening in mid-October)
• Complete at least one short fiction story, be it a new one or finally getting to the end of one that's been gathering digital dust for years.
• Inspire others to join me on a mad dash toward success and fulfillment in the next 90 or so days.

Now, each of those has many little steps that have to go on, and some may end up being excised from the list in favor of others that become more important, but that's the short list of things (that I can talk about) that I'm shooting for by the end of the year. Some are just wants, others are needs, but all of them will bring me closer to being who I want to be and where I want to be in life.

Information

I mention getting at least three web-based product revenue streams up and running. Many of you are probably wondering what the heck I mean by that.

Have you ever been bouncing around on the web and seen an ad on a site for an e-book? Usually some sort of educational or helpful business flavored collection of articles, systems, secrets, or somesuch. Maybe the copy read a bit like an infomercial pitch, maybe it was something you could get for free if you just hand over your e-mail address...

Those are the kind of things I'm talking about. More or less. Except I plan on whatever I'm selling to be my own (not just an affiliate shilling for someone else's time and effort... even though there is good money to be made there).

A while back, I started reading a blog by Yanik Silver, one of those online marketing gurus (who also happens to be local to the DC area--he's in Bethesda). His work came relatively highly recommended by a few of the professional blogging blogs I read and I can get behind a lot of what he talks about. Yes, there's the typical sales hype to cut through sometimes, but that's to be expected anywhere where someone's making their living via words.

In July, he had a special sale on one of his programs, the Public Domain Goldmine. The idea behind it--that you'd purchase a disk that comes with a bunch of public domain content (basically old books), the legal documents ensuring that they are, indeed, public domain, some basic market analysis, and tools you can use in a "fill-in-the-blank" style to crank out some marketing sites--appealed to me.You all know I'm all about content, but I'm ultra critical of my own stuff, so every time I've gone to put together my own full program or e-book, I get stuck in the editing phase, never quite satisfied with my own work. Getting my hands on stuff from this program would let me step back at least a little and just work with someone else's content, giving me more of a chance to successfully finish putting something together.

But I waited too long to respond and missed my chance to get the stuff at a price point that I could afford.

Then, as I was away at Dragon*Con, he reinstated the sale price on that and a few other programs. I got home just before the sale was over and, this time, purchased what I could semi-sensibly afford. It showed up at the end of last week.

I now have 20 public domain books ranging in content from art to self-actualization, astrology to pets, and some other nicely random subjects to work with. Of those 20, a handful match up well with content I already have over at The Searcher Journal or How to Crush Without Being Crushed. A few others have really piqued my creativity and I've got some other ideas of what I can do with them.

The biggest hurdle that I'll have to overcome is my general disdain for marketing speak. The fact that it's so easy to get people wrapped up in a boilerplate spiel, using well-known templates and constructs, just does not do great things for my general opinion of the public.

But, the simple fact of the matter is, this stuff works. And as long as I'm actually presenting what I advertise (which I will be), I should be able to get past that hang-up of mine and actually make some money while giving people something the can actually use to better their lives.

The next week or so will be spent polishing some of these public domain works and setting the groundwork for a kind of marketing blitz to get them in front of people who can and will use them.

All y'all may not quite be my target audience for these products--I know most of you wouldn't be swayed by any fancy advertising "tricks"--but you'll probably know someone who could make use of one or two of them. I'm going to kidn of count on you, my friends, to spread the word when things go live.

I also know I can count on you to take me to task if I cross the line from honest dude trying to at least break even in the world into skeevey salesman territory.

So, for now, this is what's going on. Reality has already begun to conspire against me--I've picked up a bit of a cold and the power went out the other night just as I was hitting my work-stride (and... other things have come and gone, too)--but that will make victory all the sweeter when it comes.

If you want to join me on this 100 day odyssey, pop on over the 100 Day Century Countdown challenge website, Facebook page, or twitter account (or leave a comment here) and let me know what you've got planned.

I can't thank all of you enough for sticking with me here--both in the virtual world and in real life--and for all the support I get on a regular basis. Each and every one of you has enriched my life in some way, and I can only hope to return at least some of that through what I do and what I write and release into the world.