Just Ruthie

I’ve started my planning for the new year early. On Sunday night I stayed up until 3 a.m. figuring out targets — financial and non-financial — and plugging them into my calendar. Now comes the fun part — setting up the strategies and schedules to make sure that I meet those targets, or exceed them.

One thing I do know for sure is that building a list is going to form a central part of my overall strategy for next year. I didn’t do any list building, or even contacting of my existing lists, in 2007 and the result of that was really hammered home to me yesterday.

I spent the better part of my day yesterday downloading all the goodies from the Santa Deal Time sale. And I was so excited about some of the products in that package, I wanted to tell people about it. That’s when it really sunk in — I don’t have anyone to tell because I don’t have a functional list.

The only way for me to get the word about about cool stuff right now is through my blogs. And while that’s a good way to share info, it’s not the same thing as sending an email out on the spur of the moment to say, “hey, check out this really cool deal!” or “Look what I found!” The level of excitement just isn’t the same.

I also realized how much I miss writing a proper newsletter. That was the first thing that got shelved after my heart attack a few years ago, and I never really found my way back to it. Thinking about where I’ve been and where I want to go over the next few years made me realize that if I had kept it going, it would be celebrating a 10th anniversary in January. Instead, I’m starting over.

They say you can’t really know where you’re going if you don’t know where you’ve been, and I agree with that. It’s easy, though, to get caught up in the what ifs and if onlys, if you let yourself. (That’s a lot of ifs in one sentence. LOL)

The trick, I think, is to use the past as a starting point for a more successful future. Knowing where you’ve been means that you know where you don’t want to go back to. And it also means you know those places you want to revisit, even if it’s only to see how much they — and you — have changed.

That’s enough of a ramble for today. Time to get back to the planning. If you want to subscribe to my new newsletter(s) I’ll have the forms up here in a couple of days. For now feel free to subscribe to the rss feed.

Oh, and do check out the Santa Deal Time special if you’re at all interested in doing business online. It only comes once a year, and it really is a great deal.

Have a great day!

PS… I recorded an audio version of this post. If you’re so inclined, have a listen and let me know what you think of it. It’s my first attempt at any sort of audio post, so it’s a little rough around the edges, and any feedback is appreciated. I’d also like to know if you want more content delivered via audio. Thanks

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