Welcome to Episode 95 of Praestabilis: Excellence in Marketing

Welcome Aboard for Episode 95 of the podcast! Today I’m sharing my thoughts and strategies around focus, as well as your “to-do” lists and schedules.”

As we near the end of 2022, it’s a time for planning and reflection. What worked during this year, a tumultuous one after coming out of the pandemic and entering a new phase of our global life experience, may not work well as we go forward.

What did you start or take on during 2022? What did you let go of this year? Remaining focused and action-oriented will always be important to success in both a personal and professional way.

When you’re in a job, there is built-in structure and focus. You must be able to stay on task and keep your priorities straight if you are to achieve your dreams and goals in a timely manner.

One thing I began doing just recently as a new marketing strategy is to record myself reading through my always too long email messages, and then providing a link to the most recent recording at the top of the email. This allows me to connect more deeply with my audience and to expound upon what I have written, interjecting more details when necessary and appropriate.

I’ve begun writing for television and film this year. When I begin a new writing project, whether it’s for a television pilot, a screenplay for film, or even one of my non-fiction books, I begin with a series of steps that allow me to outline my idea in great detail before I start the writing process. These steps include:

* The BIG IDEA:  What’s the story about? In this case, my big idea in 2005 was to resign my classroom teaching position, give away my best real estate clients, and to come online.

* The THEME was that I wanted out of the work force and to work for myself from home.

* The SETUP was to examine closely the life I had created for myself to date, and to take full responsibility for everything I had created over time.

* The CATALYST was a series of events, actions, and conversations over a period of about three years that led me to the conclusion that I had to change my life in a major way.

* The DEBATE was around how I would do this. I had no desire to once again return to school to learn new skills or to begin a new career. Instead, I wanted to start my own business that I could run from home, or from wherever in the world I happened to be, with only a laptop computer and an internet connection.

* The “B” Story brought a mentor into the picture. While this person did not work out for me, he led me directly to the people who would become my friends, colleagues, and mentors going forward.

* The FUN and GAMES began when I actually started my business and learned what I needed to do each day in order to earn income and keep my business on track to grow and expand over time.

* The BAD GUYS CLOSE IN occurred when I realized I was not earning enough money to cover my expenses, and that my savings and other assets would not last more than one year.

* The ALL is LOST feeling was that I had to quickly decide what I needed to change immediately in order to achieve the success I wanted as an online entrepreneur.

This is the point where many people give up. They are overwhelmed and beat themselves up over their current predicament. Instead of giving up, I instead recommend a “starting over to begin again” approach, where you retrace your steps and make small changes to your actions and to the habits that are necessary in order to succeed in the way you originally wanted to and definitely deserve.

My latest book is “Essays at the Intersection of Hope and Synchronicity” and it’...