Floating by

I DO feel a little bit like I'm just floating on a raging river lately.

While work has been stable, I certainly don't feel like the level of phone calls I've been getting lately is to my comfort. I know as a self-employed owner, no matter how many projects I'm working on now, I should always dedicate a portion of my time on getting new work 2, maybe 3 months, in advance. So I must say that's a concern.

I have my phone book ads coming up with I paid for almost a year ago and they'll finally be showing up soon when this year's books are distributed. I don't predict that will suddenly ramp up my business, but if my calculations served me right to begin with, landing just 1 or 2 jobs out of those books this year will help that pay for itself.

Meanwhile I've been putting regular time into meeting with my BNI group each week. But I must say that I've been putting more time into that then I've been getting back. Not because that group doesn't work, but because we have to recruit enough members into our group in order to be a real working chapter. That's been the frustrating part because until then, the practice of giving and getting referrals for business hasn't really begun. So so far that's just been a time & money sink. At this rate, I may not get anything out of BNI until perhaps next year. But I have benefitted from being able to routinely talk about my business to other people though, so it's not a total wash.

I have 3 projects in queue right now. Yeah, fantastic. But I'm in limbo with each of them because I don't have their materials. So right now, they're just "floating" projects for another week or so. That can be frustrating because I want to get these things going.

So I've been looking for other things to pre-occupy my time now. I've been studying a typography book I had bought on my last HK trip, checking out locations for my wedding, working on a mailer postcard for my 1st year anniversary.

All my routines are out of wack. My normal exercise and gym schedule has been totally screwed up these past few weeks. I've been either sick or I have a client meeting each morning. Which is in part my fault for not making better schedules, but it's hard to say "No" to a good client when gym time is really just personal time. I think I SHOULD say no sometimes though...keeping fit & healthy should be a reasonable priority.

I'm debating on whether to join a cooking class some evenings. I think they offer these at night once in a while at the culinary school. I think it will be helpful when I settle down into domestic life next year huh? I doubt microwave food will DO it anymore once I'm no longer a bachelor. I think cooking looks fun..... perhaps I will!

I must say, life is never "boring" anymore. I got some strong currents pushing me this way and that lately...am I going the direction I want to? I think I need to try paddling more...