W here did March go? I feel like I’ve been short changed on time this last month. 31 days just seems to disappear in the blink of an eye! Thankfully though, I got a huge amount done, so once again it’s time to take a look back at the things I set out to achieve and whether or not I got there.
The Business
Since last month when I wrote about my progress in February, it feels like I’ve done almost double the amount of work again. I blogged this month about the hours which I’m currently working, well that hasn’t changed much yet – I’m still up early, and in bed very late.
Here’s some of the stuff I managed to get done in March:
- Totally cleaned out my office, hopefully this’ll be a guest post on FreelanceFolder soon
- Got invited to do a guest post on Darren Rowse’s TwiTip (I need to write this up)
- Opened my business bank account (which took a LONG TIME to do)
- Fully reviewed the SitePoint Web Design Business Kit (as pomised)
- Networked with a lot [MORE] really great people!
- Didn’t take on any new projects, but got lots of enquiries. See my post on Dry Patches
- Designed/coded/released the intial version of WPress’d
- Put together some new sets of documents including my new-client needs-assessment form
- Totally coded up and released a brand new Lyrical Media site (big accomplishment!)
- Managed to get Lyrical Media bumped up to PR6 with the latest pagerank update
- Got my credit rating sorted out! Natwest finally came through and fixed their mistake!
Reviewing Goals From March
In my first month review I set myself some goals to achieve for the month of March, let’s have a quick look back and see what I did (and didn’t) manage to get done.
- Grow my twitter account to 700 followers – Sucess! I smashed this one, over 1,000 now!
- Grow my rss subscribers to 60 – Success! Feedburner is currently showing 65!
- Look into an advertising budget with BuySellAds – Fail, simply haven’t got the budget yet
- Set up a monthly newsletter with Campaign Monitor – Half success, opened an account and started using it, but I haven’t actually set a newsletter up yet.
- Complete and release the Neophyte wordpress theme – Total Fail, this one is on the backburner for the time being
- Learn some more PHP, Javascript, and Ruby – Success! I did all three!
Goals For April
I set 6 goals last month, this month I’m bumping that up to 8 – and they’re slightly more ambitious goals too, because what would be the point of succeeding at the same rate?
- Set up Newsletter – back from last month, really want to get this done
- Review the SitePoint Email Marketing Kit on this blog (fits in with the above)
- Review the Rockstar Freelancer Book on this blog
- Win (at least) two new client projects
- Complete the first sample of my top secret Lyrical Media project (watch this space)
- Grow my twitter account to 1,500 followers
- Grow my rss subscribers to 100 people
- Sell EggRage.co.uk (leave a comment if interested)
Other Stuff Coming in April
- An interview with Brendon Sinclaire (author of the Web Design Business Kit)
- Some more free applications for freelancers
- A couple of guest posts by me on other freelance / web design blogs
- More ‘personal’ style posts from me about the trials and tribulations of self employment
- New and improved business cards!
What Are You Up To?
I love hearing from everyone who comments on this blog, so please tell me what you’re up to and if there’s anything that I can do to help out. If you’re doing anything related to web design business, drop me a line and maybe we can get you a guest post slot! This site received 24,000 page views in March compared to 18,000 in February, so it’s on the up!
Busy bee!
Keep this spirit man, you’re doing great!
I really like seeing the goals you set, whether or not you hit them, and what the next ones are etc. It inspires me to go the same.
And who knows, one day, if I have something interesting or relevant to say, I could do a guest post for you ;)
I look forward to that day Japh! You’ll be more than welcome! :)
The setting monthly goals thing is definitely a great idea.
It’s something I don’t do but really need to start doing.
Your drive and determination inspires me everytime I read your blog John.
Keep it up and very soon you’ll be a rich man.
Sounds like you’re going great guns! :-)
My goal? To set up as a freelancer this year. Difficult with the hard times, banks are reluctant to lend but it is very doable.