Keeping Busy Part 1

The first half of the year is always slow for me - that's just the way my business is set up. I typically pay for it in spades the second half of the year. But I knew going into this year that things were going to be quieter then normal with the way the economy was turning - who would have thought that November '08 was going to look like a good economic month in retrospect!

So I tried to steel myself for what I assumed were going to be quiet days and little or no sales. The funny thing is, even though I knew all that going in, I also knew that I was going to get all frazzled over the fact that things were quiet and I find that I'm inching closer and closer to the frazzled point each day. The problem is that when I get to the frazzled point I typically start to make rash decisions that may be good for revenue today but aren't inline with the long term goals of the company or the positioning of the brand. So I've been trying to find constructive ways to keep myself busy which will hopefully also keep me out of trouble.

Thankfully the nonprofit I'm on the Board of, like most nonprofits, is always looking for unique ways to raise money and I brought an idea to them that I had seen executed very well at another nonprofit. They liked the idea so I did some more research and wrote up a formal business proposal - complete with projected financials - and presented it to the Board. If things go well, and this is based on conservative numbers, this project will bring in 3x as much profit as a similar project that it would replace. That's pretty significant. Course we've got to make it work. So I've now been placed in the lead role on this new project and it's a BIG one. It's going to take a lot of time and a lot of legwork to get it pulled off and pulled off correctly.

But you know what, I'm really really excited about it. Not only is it working on a project and for a cause I'm passionate about, but I also see it as a blessing for my business because it's going to keep my mind and hands busy. Whenever I find myself with not enough to do I can be pretty sure there's something I should be doing on this nonprofit project. Also, the first big project push should pretty much lead up until the end of July/August timeframe which is when I typically start getting signficantly more busy with the business. I really do see this as win-win for all involved. Not to mention that I want to prove to the Board that the fact that I "go dark" (a term one of them used to describe my all-encompassing business focus in Q3&Q4) doesn't mean I can't contribute - and in a very big way - to the nonprofit.