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 |   The Good Life. |
I am a professional musician  , worship leader , small business owner , songwriter , aspiring author and freelance nonfiction writer with a chemical engineering degree . But that's just my resume. My profile of qualifications is only one of the ways in which I am unique. Here I chronicle my personal and professional goals and my efforts to achieve them. Occasionally I fail. Mostly, I take daily baby steps toward all my long-term goals. Much like the stories I pen, the songs I compose, and the businesses I run, I am always a work in progress. ![Merit Badge in Music
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To a dear friend whose talent for writing music is sensational. May you have a fabulous New Year, (((Brandi)))!!! *^*Kiss*^*
Big hugs,
Sherri *^*Heart*^*](https://images.Writing.Com/imgs/writing.com/writers/badges/genre-Music-1050.gif) ![Merit Badge in Organization
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I don't know how you do it, but I assume there's magic involved *^*Bigsmile*^* I have really enjoyed this month of planning and preparation for NaNoWriMo and I love how organized it all is. Thank you for hosting a great challenge and for your dedication to helping so many of us prepare with confidence and trepidation for National Novel Writing Month (known to sane folks as 'November' *^*Laugh*^*) at your [Link To Item #1474311]](https://images.Writing.Com/imgs/writing.com/writers/badges/general-Organization-1150.gif) ![Merit Badge in Leadership
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For your hard work, commitment, talent and innovation in running the October NaNoWriMo Preparation each year, which helps many of us get our scattered thoughts together for November's novel-writing. And also because this badge has ducks on it.](https://images.Writing.Com/imgs/writing.com/writers/badges/general-Leadership.gif) |
| Reach 300 students by 12/31/11: Set intermediate goals. (1) Update business plan and reanalyze advertising budget allocations by 1/9: *type type type* (2) Update website weekly and as needed to make information changes. I'll need a plan at some point, when someone else is doing it. (3) Develop a Q1 promotion & ad plan by 1/7: I hope to meet with our office manager this afternoon. (4) Develop a summer program plan by Spring Break, starting with January staff meeting: Still pending two teacher replies. Customized database by 12/31/11: Design web page interface for potential form.  PENDING.Potbelly: : Add one repertoire song per week  Got good suggestions. Now I just need to look them up and implement them.Messiah: Meet one TBD goal per month: Goal: Sound system work day. Compile Joe's list and order gear.Reading: Goals TBD: Writing: Goals TBD: Set goals. (1)  Blog at WDC daily. DONE.(2) Blog at MT.com weekly. OVERDUE and PENDING (Owe two, soon to be three!)(3) Set fiction writing goals. PENDING. Goal: set goals by 1/9. NO ACTIVITY.(4) Set songwriting goals. PENDING. Goal: set goals by 1/9. NO ACTIVITY.Count points: TOTAL POINTS YESTERDAY: 37 Coffee (2) Bagel with cheese (3) Meatloaf (8) with mashed potatoes (4) and gravy (1) Crackers (3.5) Grande nfnw white mocha (9) Shrimp pasta (2) Half PB&J (4.5) |
| Reach 300 students by 12/31/11: Set intermediate goals. (1) Update business plan and reanalyze advertising budget allocations by 1/9. IN PROGRESS and actually making real progress. (2) Update website weekly and as needed to make information changes. UPDATED. Seems like a daily thing. (3) Develop a Q1 promotion & ad plan by 1/7. REQUESTED MEETING. (4) Develop a summer program plan by Spring Break, starting with January staff meeting. PENDING TWO TEACHER REPLIES. Customized database by 12/31/11: Design web page interface for potential form. PENDING.Potbelly: : Add one repertoire song per week Posted a "taking requests" status on Facebook.Messiah: Meet one TBD goal per month: Goal: Sound system work day. Meeting time confirmed.Reading: Goals TBD: For now, I need to pick my next book and start reading it. I also need to set a goal. I'm tempted to shoot for one book per week. I'm afraid that might be too aggressive, and I don't want to get discouraged when I can't meet it. However, I have discovered the most amazing thing about my  Kindle: It talks to me!!! OMG, I can "read" in the car. I spend a minimum of 60-90 minutes per day in my car, except Sunday, during which I only spend about 40 minutes driving. What a complete and utter waste of time, which could be much better spent "reading." And Keith suggested the most awesome idea: I need to figure out how to plug my Kindle into the stereo system and play it over the speakers.Writing: Goals TBD: Set goals. (1) Blog at WDC daily. DONE.(2) Blog at MT.com weekly. OVERDUE and PENDING (I owe two posts.)(3) Set fiction writing goals. PENDING. Goal: set goals by 1/9. NO ACTIVITY.(4) Set songwriting goals. PENDING. Goal: set goals by 1/9. NO ACTIVITY.I'm a little behind on this one, but (surprise!) business goals must come first.  Count points: TOTAL POINTS YESTERDAY: 26 Coffee (4) Granola bar (2) Oreos (10) Nuts (3) Potbelly sandwich (7) |
| Reach 300 students by 12/31/11: Set intermediate goals. Rough draft: (1) Update business plan and reanalyze advertising budget allocations by 1/9. IN PROGRESS!!!!!!!!! (2) Update website weekly and as needed to make information changes. UPDATED. Seems like a daily thing. (3) Develop a Q1 promotion & ad plan by 1/7. REQUESTED MEETING. (4) Develop a summer program plan by Spring Break, starting with January staff meeting. PENDING TWO TEACHER REPLIES. Customized database by 12/31/11: Set intermediate goals. Create trial online database by 1/9. I created a table and populated it! Now, how do I code it into a web page interface?Potbelly: : Add one repertoire song per week NO ACTIVITY, but the compliments have been  this week.Messiah: Meet one TBD goal per month: Goal: Sound system work day. Meeting time confirmed.Reading: Goals TBD: Goal: Finish Around the World in 80 Days by 1/9/2011. Yay!Writing: Goals TBD: Set goals. (1) Blog at WDC daily. DONE.(2) Blog at MT.com weekly. OVERDUE and PENDING (I owe two posts.)(3) Set fiction writing goals. PENDING. Goal: set goals by 1/9. NO ACTIVITY.(4) Set songwriting goals. PENDING. Goal: set goals by 1/9. NO ACTIVITY.Count points: TOTAL POINTS YESTERDAY: 33.5 Bagel with cheese (3) Coffee (1) Half PB&J (4.5) Potbelly sammich (7) Oreos (6) OMG I'm in creamy mint heaven Candy cane (1) Tortilla chips (5) Taco (4) Guacamole salad (2) |
| Still catching up at work. Reach 300 students by 12/31/11: Set intermediate goals. Rough draft:(1) Update business plan and reanalyze advertising budget allocations by 1/9. NO ACTIVITY. (2) Update website weekly and as needed to make information changes. NEED TO SCHEDULE. (3) Develop a Q1 promotion & ad plan by 1/7. NO ACTIVITY. (4) Develop a summer program plan by Spring Break, starting with January staff meeting. TEACHER REPLIES DUE BY 1/9. Customized database by 12/31/11: Set intermediate goals. Create trial online database by 1/9. NO ACTIVITY. Potbelly: : Add one repertoire song per week NO ACTIVITY, although I did break out some of the older music that hasn't been heard in awhile.Messiah: Meet one TBD goal per month: Goal: Sound system work day. Meeting time confirmed.Reading: Goals TBD: Goal: Finish Around the World in 80 Days by 1/9/2011. NO ACTIVITY.Writing: Goals TBD: Set goals. (1) Blog at WDC daily. DONE.(2) Blog at MT.com weekly. OVERDUE and PENDING (I owe two posts.)(3) Set fiction writing goals. PENDING. Goal: set goals by 1/9. NO ACTIVITY.(4) Set songwriting goals. PENDING. Goal: set goals by 1/9. NO ACTIVITY.Count points: TOTAL POINTS YESTERDAY: 41 (We're establishing a baseline. )Cheeseburger (11) Mint Oreos (6) Potbelly sammich (7) Coffee (2) Peanuts (3) Crackers (4) One large square pizza (4) Celery (0) 3 oz Mexican cheese (9) 10 Crackers (3) Fiber granola bar (2) |
First, we have enrolled 19 new students since we returned to work yesterday. Did I meet all my goals  yesterday? Probably not.Second, a woman of Russian descent walked in to inquire about employment as a piano instructor. She asked a lot of detailed questions, asked to see our computer software, asked how we pay our teachers, and just generally gave me the suspicious heeby-jeebies. Sure enough, when looked her up later, I discovered that she is a colleague of one of my direct competitors, who is also Russian. What are the odds that these two women are not friends? Honestly, have people not heard of anti-trust laws? Snooping into your competitor's operation to gain a competitive advantage is ILLEGAL. Reach 300 students by 12/31/11: Set intermediate goals. Rough draft:(1) Update business plan and reanalyze advertising budget allocations by 1/9. NO ACTIVITY. (2) Update website weekly and as needed to make information changes. NO ACTIVITY. (3) Develop a Q1 promotion & ad plan by 1/7. NO ACTIVITY. (4) Develop a summer program plan by Spring Break, starting with January staff meeting. TEACHER REPLIES DUE BY 1/9. Customized database by 12/31/11: Set intermediate goals. Create trial online database by 1/9. NO ACTIVITY. Potbelly: : Add one repertoire song per week NO ACTIVITY, although I did break out some of the older music that hasn't been heard in awhile.Messiah: Meet one TBD goal per month: Goal: Sound system work day. Meeting time confirmed.Reading: Goals TBD: Goal: Finish Around the World in 80 Days by 1/9/2011. NO ACTIVITY.Writing: Goals TBD: Set goals. (1) Blog at WDC daily. DONE.(2) Blog at MT.com weekly. OVERDUE and PENDING (I owe two posts.)(3) Set fiction writing goals. PENDING. Goal: set goals by 1/9. NO ACTIVITY.(4) Set songwriting goals. PENDING. Goal: set goals by 1/9. NO ACTIVITY.Count points: TOTAL POINTS YESTERDAY: 38.5 Coffee (1.5) Mexican shrimp cocktail (2) and crackers (2) with cheese (3) Christmas cookies (5) (and that was the last of them, whew) Potbelly sandwich (7) Crackers (4) Peanuts (5) Mint Oreos (9) OH! I also lost all of our student data in one of my major software packages because I'm an idiot. Some of them, who have gotten really far in the testing, are going to kill me. |
| Reach 300 students by 12/31/11: Set intermediate goals. Rough draft: (1) Update business plan and reanalyze advertising budget allocations by 1/9. (2) Update website weekly and as needed to make information changes. (3) Develop a Q1 promotion & ad plan by 1/7. (4) Develop a summer program plan by Spring Break, starting with January staff meeting. Customized database by 12/31/11: Set intermediate goals. Create trial online database by 1/9. Weekly family time: Played video games with the 12-year-old after practice last night. Babysat Friday and this afternoon, and we're going out to dinner tonight. I'm already wondering what the point of this resolution is, since I do it anyway. Potbelly: : Add one repertoire song per week No progress.Messiah: Meet one TBD goal per month: Goal: Sound system work day. Waiting for meeting confirmation from volunteers and church secretary.Reading: Goals TBD: Goal: Finish Around the World in 80 Days by 1/9/2011. I read last night. I don't actually know pages in m Kindle, but I'm at 69% and "Locations 1895-1903" of 2712 (whatever that means.)Writing: Goals TBD: Set goals. (1) Blog at WDC daily. DONE. I'll keep track of this goal for 21 days, until it "becomes a habit" according to some university study or famous psychologist or something, and then I'll delete it, because I'll get as bored with the daily "DONE"s as you will.  (2) Blog at MT.com weekly. OVERDUE.(3) Set fiction writing goals. PENDING. Goal: set goals by 1/9.(4) Set songwriting goals. PENDING. Goal: set goals by 1/9.Yes, I make goals to set goals. That way, I'm accomplishing something.  Count points: TOTAL POINTS YESTERDAY 43 8:00 Fellowship goodies (5) and coffee (1) 10:30 More goodies (3) 11:45 Coffee (1) and celery (0) 12:30 Toast with turkey and cheese (3) 2:30 Granola bar (2) 3:00 Leftover Christmas no-bake bars (5) 6:30 1/2 jumbo margarita (10), 13 tortilla chips w/salsa (3), guacamole salad (4), grilled shrimp (1), one beef taco (4), one chip with cheese dip (1) I'm also preparing a new weight and point tracking spreadsheet. |
| "There are some cities, however, that have experienced such severe hardship and decline that their populations have actually decreased significantly." Yahoo, you actually disappoint me significantly with your Adverb Soup. Are you paying your writers by the word? </writingsnob> Happy New Year! I resolve, despite associated commercialism ("Not That There's Anything Wrong With That," says the small business owner), to set the following 2011 goals and stick to them: 1. Count points every single day, regardless of whether I am actually meeting point or weight goals. 2. Reach 300 private-lesson-equivalent students by December 31, 2011. 3. Develop a customized business database by December 31, 2011. 4. Dedicate weekly family time. Frequency TBD and flexible, but will probably conflict with Goals #1 and #7. 5. Potbelly: Add one repertoire song per week. 6. Messiah Lutheran Church: Give some kind of special attention to this job. 7. Read. Frequency TBD and flexible, but this will involve my new Kindle!  8. Write. Frequency TBD and flexible, and will include fiction, nonfiction, and songwriting goals. To be fair, my biggest 2010 goal was to leave my corporate job and start my own business, which I accomplished with a vengeance. 2010 may be hard to beat, since that business blew past growth expectations. 2011 at the music school will include successful summer programs; the additions of lab attendants, receptionists, and a full-time office manager; sufficient profitability to start paying down my business loans by month 18; and the addition of a site manager position sometime in 2012. Goals 7 and 8 are lowest in priority. Only occasionally do I regret my lack of recent attention to these loves, since deep down, I see my future self wildly successful and retired sometime between ages 40-45, earning residual income off of my well-established, profitable, self-managed business, and embarking on a new writing career, taking advantage of the pseudonym that is already gaining local celebrity. For 2011, #7 will be easier than #8, because I only need break my addition to way funmind-numbing, time-wasting video games and reallocate that time to reading. But I will try to schedule a regular writing time, just to keep my skill set up. At a minimum, I would like to keep up with daily entries at this blog and weekly entries at MichelleTuesday.com .So, without further ado, here are my progress against goals for 2011, Day 1 (Saturday): Reach 300 students by 12/31/11: Set intermediate goals. Rough draft:(1) Update business plan and reanalyze advertising budget allocations. Deadline TBD. (2) Set website updating goals. Deadline TBD, except that I am removing 2010 pricing today. (3) Develop a Q1 promotion plan by the end of next week and coordinate with advertising plan. (4) Develop a summer program plan by Spring Break. This will involve a January staff meeting and delegation to those I feel have future management potential. I sent an email seeking available times for the meeting. Customized database by 12/31/11: Set intermediate goals. I had a breakthrough a week or two ago, when I stumbled across how to make MySQL tables. Now, I need to experiment with them. Weekly family time: Hangin' with the fam today. I played with Abby and her new hamster, Smoky, and I promised Blaine I would play Donkey Kong Country Returns with him this afternoon. At a minimum, we usually go out to dinner on Sunday nights.Potbelly: : Add one repertoire song per week No progress.Messiah: Meet one TBD goal per month: Goal: Sound system work day. In progress. I sent an email today inviting everyone.Reading: Goals TBD: Goal: Finish Around the World in 80 Days by 12/9/2011. In progress. It's been easy while on vacation, but I may need to schedule reading time when work starts back up next week.Writing: Goals TBD: Set goals. (1) Blog at WDC daily. DONE(2) Blog at MT.com weekly. PENDING(3) Set fiction writing goals. PENDING(4) Set songwriting goals. PENDINGCount points: I maintained a weight and daily points goal throughout 2010 and failed miserably. In fact, I actually gained weight and rarely ever met my daily points. I obviously need a change. I blew off the points because (1) I often ate out and didn't know what I was eating, and (2) I sort of gave up due to lack of progress. So I am keeping this goal simple for 2011 by just committing to keeping track. SATURDAY: 1:00 Toast with turkey and cheese (3) and coffee (1) 3:00 String cheese (1.5), granola bar (2), and coffee (1) 5:00 Spaghetti (5.5) and coffee (1) 6:30 Varied chocolates (5) 9:00 Ice cream (3) TOTAL POINTS: 23 |
| My wonderful boyfriend gave me a Kindle for Christmas! I am in LOVE (the boyfriend is nice, too.) But I have a serious dilemma: What shall be my first Kindle book purchase? It's sort of a monumental decision. So I decided not to buy anything at all. I downloaded about 20 free classics, and I'm starting with Around the World in 80 Days. So I'll see you in just under three months! Maybe I'll finally kick that computer game addiction. |
| It's the holidays. I'm eating. There will be 2011 Resolutions. *nom nom nom* Writers: Funny story. Maybe you can relate. I Just rewrote the sentence above three times to avoid a potential grammatical  . First, I wrote, "There will be New Year's Resolutions." I stared at it for a moment, then deleted the apostrophe, because I thought, "Those resolutions belong to ME, not the New Year." I stared a few more moments. I entered "New Years Resolution" at Dictionary.com and was rewarded with a redirect to Ask.com, with a search-engine-esque list of possibly-related links, none of which looked remotely reliable. I went back to Dictionary.com and typed, "resolution." I was hoping to find a sample sentence with my sought-after subject. No dice. Screw it. I deleted the whole damn thing and replaced it with "2011 Resolutions." I cheat like that all the time in my writing. |
| MTMS enrolled its 100th private student Thursday. Office Manager Chris finally gets her raise. Post at MichelleTuesday.com at least once per week. DONE. Business priorities for MTMS : Scheduling database: Threw some ideas into Excel. Financial analysis: I've been away for awhile. Fill Samplers: Done for December. Need to advertise for January. Drums and soundproofing: Just one ceiling left to fix. Customer appreciation event or activity: Hire a voice/piano instructor: DONE Advertising: Ongoing. Bought space in a publication. In talks with some others. I really need window signage.Launch one new performance repertoire song per week. I missed two PB days again this week. It's kind of nice to have some free time. One load of laundry per day.  Not so much...Achieve a weight of 150 by 12/31/2010 Weight: ? Meals: Once again, my weight loss target date is unreasonable. And I keep overeating. No control. |
| I want to write original songs. I want to perform them live. I want a band. I want a promoter, and albums. I have a friend from high school who is now a Facebook friend, and she's been recording and touring and has a website full of gorgeous promo shots, and I was hit with a stab of jealousy. (1) Shame on me! I should be promoting her, not envying her; I will start by buying all of her albums. (2) WE MAKE OUR OWN DESTINIES. I saw Christian pop artist Chris Tomlin perform live here in Columbus last weekend, and the concert was great. It was in a big church, not a concert venue, but he still had professional sound and lighting, a talented band, and an amazing backup singer. WinterJam is coming in a month to the Schott, and that *is* a big concert venue. Every year, I go to WinterJam, and I feel like I missed my calling. I knew starting a business would consume all of my time. I've dropped from six days a week at Potbelly to five. I've started to delegate out the wazoo at church, which is probably good, because it makes me a better leader, but still, I miss performing - really performing. And I miss writing original songs. I took on this small business venture, which I knew would occupy me for at least five years. After all, that's my lease commitment. But then I started to think about it. Business is growing at more than double my original plan. When I get to 350 students, I have a budget for a site manager. The sooner I get to 350 students, the sooner I can pay off my small business loan, replace myself with a site manager, and still pay myself a small owner's salary just for being moi. And the sooner I can step away and concentrate on the next thing. It was supposed to be Studio #2 in a nearby town. Maybe it will be a performance career. In either case, it will be different New goal: REACH 350 STUDENTS BY 12/31/2011. |
| Post at MichelleTuesday.com at least once per week. Pending. Business priorities for MTMS : Scheduling database: Pending. Close October/November books and update projections and break-even: In progress. Fill Samplers: Um... what? In strange but related news, we signed up five new students yesterday. In one day. After a several-week lull. My advisors tell me that business will pick up after the holidays, once family lives settle back down into more manageable routines again. I fired my advisors. No, just kidding!!! I love my advisors!!! I believe them.  Drums and soundproofing: Just one ceiling left to fix. Customer appreciation event or activity: Waiting on recital photos. Hire a voice/piano instructor: Interview Wednesday. Advertising: Did the interior signage. Just need window signage!Launch one new performance repertoire song per week. I didn't even play at Potbelly yesterday because of my flat tire.  On the bright side, I spent the whole day with Keith! He took off to help me get the tire taken care of, and it was nice to hang with him for awhile.One load of laundry per day. No. I slept til 9 and came straight to "work".Achieve a weight of 150 by 12/31/2010 Weight: ? Meals: 7:00 Half bagel with cheese (3.5) and coffee (1) TOTAL POINTS: 3.5 (Goal: 25) DAMN IT. Spending the day with Keith was nice, except for the part where I ate like a pig. |
| Pending for this week, but recitals are the obvious topic. I'm waiting for my photographer, who should have pics to me early this week. Business priorities for MTMS : Scheduling and retention databases.The spreadsheet Chris created keeps track of retention, so we can incorporate it directly into the scheduling database. The one I'm going to develop. Someday. Close October/November books and update projections and break-even I have done some analysis, at least. The more I analyze, the more analysis ideas I generate. We have so much good data! It will be very helpful when we open Studio #2. I wonder if our competitors analyze their data? Fill SamplersUm... actually, we have a piano sampler "starting" Wednesday with zero students enrolled. *cancel* We've seen a decline in both private lesson and class enrollments this month, and we're hoping it's the holiday frenzy keeping everyone at bay. They're just too busy to call us and sign up. We hope. Drums and soundproofing.Volunteers mounted the soundproofing and installed the door sweeps! I'm pretty sure they help. Now we need to hang soundproofing in one of the voice lesson rooms, because it has a drywalled ceiling instead of acoustical tile. That was just a cost savings, because the ceiling was already there, but a BIG MISTAKE. The echo in there is terrible. *marks that on the Studio #2 checklist* Customer appreciation event or activity.Once I get those recital photos, we print cute pictures framed with our logo and give them to the parents. Hire a voice/piano instructor.Interview is scheduled Wednesday. Advertising.We did manage to get into the paper this week and next and put some ad copy in the recital programs. Now I need interior signage and window signage for the studio, the former of which I hope to get hung today, but I have a flat tire. Prepare for recitals.YAY! Recitals were AWESOME. The kids did great, energy was high, parents had fun, students who had been too nervous to perform in the past overcame their fears, and they're all asking when the next recital is. February, for the curious - with a theme, of course. (Yes, I'm a marketing sellout. Or a theme nerd. Both of those.)Launch one new performance repertoire song per week. Nope. One load of laundry per day. Keith spent the day catching it all up yesterday. Achieve a weight of 150 by 12/31/2010 Weight: ? Meals: 7:00 Half bagel with cheese (3.5) and coffee (2) TOTAL POINTS: 4.5 (Goal: 25) The last couple days have been BAD. Mexican Thursday night, donuts and other sweets at church yesterday morning, Mexican again last night, and I don't even remember what I ate Saturday. Happy Monday! We start fresh again. |
| OMG, please make it stop. The world revolves around the 9-year-old in this house, and if for a split second she doesn't get her way, I'm the "Mean Girlfriend." Never mind the fact that I'm the only one between Mommy, Daddy, and the "Mean Girlfriend" who thinks it's a *good* idea to get her the phone she wants for Christmas. Never mind the fact that I got the blender out and came up with alternative smoothie recipes when we ran out of milk. Never mind the fact that I'm willing to bring her along with me anywhere she wants to go, from church to praise band practice to music school to Potbelly. Somehow, I'm still always the bad guy and responsible for every time she doesn't get her way. I guess I need to just suck that up, because somebody needs to teach her that you don't always get your way in real life. |
Post at MichelleTuesday.com at least once per week. Done! Ha, ha! All I needed was this reminder. Yep. In order to remember to keep up with my MT.com blog , I just need to keep up with my WDC blog.  Business priorities for MTMS : Scheduling and retention databases.Nada. DAMN, this needs to be online. NOW. Close October/November books and update projections and break-evenNada. I went to see Chris Tomlin perform last night instead of working on business plans and budgets. Fill SamplersUm... actually, I need another student in a piano sampler that starts next Wednesday. Maybe we should call our potential students. Drums and soundproofing.I delegated this to the drum teacher last night, and he had a one-hour break. I wonder how much he got done. I'll find out in about a half hour. Customer appreciation event or activity.Nada. Hire a voice/piano instructor.I have resume, and am planning an interview next week. I also posted an ad on Craigslist (no replies yet) and researched Monster.com pricing. It's reasonable. I'll consider it. Advertising.I tried to use the online do-it-yourself advertising for a local publication, but my uploaded .pdf looks like a black blob, and that made me nervous, and I was afraid to hand over my $$ until I could see the proof properly. So I sent an email, but nobody replied. I also would like to hang some in-studio signage and window signage. Prepare for recitals.Working on programs. I need to include some ad copy for my December promotions. Launch one new performance repertoire song per week. Ha! Did you read my MT.com blog ?One load of laundry per day. Well, I did three yesterday. And I folded one today. (weak!) Achieve a weight of 150 by 12/31/2010 Weight: 161.2. Meals: 7:00 Half bagel with cheese (3.5) and coffee (1) TOTAL POINTS: 3.5 (Goal: 25) |
| My blog has always been about priorities. Ironically, keeping up with my blog has not been at the top of my priority list lately. You may have noticed. But there are long-term goals and short-term goals, and if we fail to keep our long-term goals in front of us, we simply fail to accomplish them. And so, if I truly plan to publish my New York Times Bestseller, "How to Start a Wildly Successful Music School" or "How to Become a Famous Acoustic Folk Rock Star" or "How Michelle Tuesday Took the World By Storm: An Autobiography" (because no other author could write it quite as well as I), then I need to actually *log how I did it*. So, without further ado (okay... maybe with more ado), here are my goals and progress over the last... *scrolling down to the last time I logged my goals* twenty days or so.Post at MichelleTuesday.com at least once per week. I knew I was forgetting something. Maybe I should hire this out.Business priorities for MTMS : Scheduling and retention databases.Gah. Sometimes this is a really big deal. Most of the time, our Excel workbook does the trick. I've been too busy fighting fires to even think about it. Maybe I should hire this out, too! Close October books and update projections and break-evenHmmm... we updated our projections and break-even. I have a fantastic hiring plan for office and computer lab staff. I never did close the books, and now November is done. In fact, I could review my November data and close that month as well. Duh... THAT is why my momCFO sent me an updated business plan with November data. Fill SamplersEh. We have a back-up plan now, and it works great. We have a (insert a completely arbitrary, made-up, but really high number here) percent conversion rate from samplers. We love samplers. We wish all our private lesson students would start with samplers, because (1) they make us more money when they're full, and (2) we have a lower withdrawal rate from sampler-converted students. Drums and soundproofing.Oh, shit. I need to do this today. I should be doing that instead of blogging. I had soundproofing hung in the drum room, but we tore it down over Thanksgiving to hang it up better, and then never got back to it. Poor Drew had to teach in a disaster of a room last week. Although... he could use the band room again. It worked well on Saturday, and I'm pretty sure there are no classes in there while he's teaching tonight. Hmm... I retract the "oh, shit." I should just pay Drew to do it. Customer appreciation event or activity - Delegated to a customer. She came up with the greatest idea: to record a holiday CD of teachers and advanced students performing to mail to all our clients.I completely didn't do this. One of my teachers has a recording studio, and although his quote was reasonable, I thought the budget was too big during my start-up. I have another plan that I might be able to throw together quickly, but damn it, I need a frame thingy! My photographer was supposed to make me a frame (strictly digital) to go around student photos, and I would print them and send them to parents along with a holiday card. Recitals are this weekend, and she'll be there capturing the event, so I'll have photos of almost everyone. I'll have to beat her up about the frame. I fear that this goal may be neglected altogether. NEW GOAL: Hire a voice/piano instructor.Our first voice instructor has officially resigned due to overcommitment and a vocal polyp, and our second voice teacher, who was supposed to help relieve the load the first voice instructor was carrying, got the lead in an opera (YAY! except she had to cut her hours.) So we're in the same boat we were in a month ago, and we're still signing up students. I have stopped taking students of my own and have even been working to give away my students, because (1) OMG, I teach waayyyyy too much with all the subbing, and (2) have you SEEN my goals list??? Sheesh. NEW GOAL: Advertising.We are just under 100 private lesson students (about 130 students including classes), which is fantastic, because we only planned for 40 by 12/1, and we stopped advertising because we weren't sure it was bringing the students in (most found us online or drove by and saw the 30-foot sign). But the honeymoon may be over. The phones have slowed down. So we are considering our advertising strategy for the holidays. We're too late to get into many publications we would have considered, but we're trying a new weekly publication (in progress), and there's always Google advertising (done). NEW GOAL: Prepare for recitals.Our recitals are this weekend. This past spring, my recital was one hour long, and 30 minutes of that was taken up by my studio band, Sapphire Blaze. Our summer recital was 1.5 hours long, and Sapphire Blaze only played a couple songs. This weekend, we have three hours scheduled Saturday and three hours Sunday! Lots of students. I need programs, setup/teardown checklists, and to get the last of the students signed up. Launch one new performance repertoire song per week. Launched the holiday repertoire, and even created a new folder. It's still a bit incomplete, and I probably won't make any more progress on it this season.One load of laundry per day. Catching up.Achieve a weight of 150 by 12/31/2010 Weight: 163. Yes, as in higher than the last time I reported. I've even seen the scale read 64-65 range, but not consistently. Meals: 7:30 Half bagel with cheese (3.5) and coffee (1) 11:00 Granola bar (2) 1:45 Skinny roast beef sandwich (7) 2:00 Coffee (1) 7:00 Half Wendy's double stack with a couple fries (5) TOTAL POINTS: 19.5 (Goal: 25) Total points Monday and Tuesday of this week were both under 30. For now, my "drop-dead" goal is to keep it under 30. This is a lifestyle change, and it's hard to turn on and off. Keeping it reasonable will keep me from bailing. I was so proud of myself yesterday when I sent the waitress away with the bread basket. Go me! UPDATE: 163 was a few days ago. I weighed in today at 161.2. |
| At MTMS, teachers have 20-minute chunks of time in their schedules. For example, Angela has an open spot on Tuesdays at 6:00. For the purposes of databasing, I want to name this 20-minute chunk of time, specifically on Angela's schedule, regardless of whether it's open or she has a student booked in the spot. Sometimes the spot is booked with a private lesson. Sometimes, it's a class (or, more likely, part of a class, since classes are longer than 20 minutes.) "Spot" and "Chunk of Time" seem like stupid words. "Session"? Not perfect, but okay if nobody comes up with a better idea. The floor is open... Writers: Ready, Set, Go! |
| Just to journal our progress, MTMS l now has 87 (88 if you count Keith) students enrolled in private lessons and 33 students enrolled in classes. One day, when I'm writing my memoir, I'll appreciate having these little milestones logged away on a server somewhere in... wherever the heck WDC resides. I feel like our enrollments have slowed a bit. We had a rockin' couple of weeks during October when I thought business was exploding, and now that we've "only" had like 10 new enrollments in the last couple weeks (our original business plan called for 10 per month), I feel a promotion coming on. I'm bouncing between a couple of ideas. I'm thinking of trying advertising just on-site, since we have so many drive-bys and walk-ins. We can hang a $100 sign in the window and get twenty times as much business as we see from the $300-$500 newspaper, magazine, and radio spots. On a semi-related note, I discovered that our Office Manager, Chris, has a degree in English. This explains that growth attached to her right hand that looks suspiciously like a Kindle, but it doesn't give me much clue into her Quickbooks addiction. *shrug* I don't complain. I just go with it. Meanwhile, our business plan looks good, our break-even analysis looks good, and our cash flow pretty much kicks ass. I expect that we will raise Chris to full-time, hire a couple helpers, and (oh, hallelujah!) outsource our supply stocking and janitorial services very soon. I may have to do some minor price tweaking in 2011, but we even have a solid marketing plan for that roll-out. On a completely unrelated note, I need to go to my house and get serving dishes, because we are apparently hosting Thanksgiving Dinner this year. But -snicker- somehow all the actual cooking has been delegated to family members, so Keith and I are basically just providing the oven, chairs, and a table. I did offer to prepare the peas and the olive, pickle, and cheese platter. And y'all thought I was an overachiever! Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!! I would invite you all over, but that might mean more work for me. Alas, I am too lazy. On the other hand, if you'd like to learn an instrument, I can quickly overcome my laziness, because I would be happy to take your $74 per month and teach you (or your child) to rock out like <insert your favorite musician here>. One day soon, I might actually earn an income off of your tuition. You know, after I pay the lease, utilities, Office Manager, teachers, computer lab attendants, receptionists, supply sourcing, and cleaning staff. |
| I have my first employee performance discussion pending this coming week. My teachers are great! ...when they show up. And to be fair, most of the absences were pre-arranged, even to the point that I was warned on hire that they would miss such-and-such dates. It isn't their fault that they all happened in the same week. But the two teachers who bailed with little or no notice (one teacher with three - THREE - no-call-no-show incidents) put me my blood pressure through the top of my head. I literally had an explosion of blood firing from the top of my heading like fucking Mt. St. Helens. It was a bitch to clean up. And I'm still cleaning up. I think we can resolve the dependability issue. We shall see how much the worst offender values his job. Sadly, I thought this employee had management potential. I still do, but he needs to mature professionally first. Meanwhile, Happy Birthday to Storm Machine  , Seisa-sleepingcatbooks.com  , and Crys-not really here ! I may blog more later. I'm starting to love Sunday afternoons. It's my weekly downtime. Last week, I took a four-hour nap. I'm not particularly tired today and would love to read a book, play a computer game, or just hang with Keith. We'll probably do laundry. And by "do laundry" I literally mean do laundry.Well, there may be some euphemism in there, but if so, it's a double meaning, because we will also literally do laundry. Then we'll "do laundry" - you know, after we can see each other over the mountain. |
| Post at MichelleTuesday.com at least once per week. WTF? I forgot this existed. Business priorities for MTMS : Brainstorm list of projects I need help with: I'm just trying to keep our lessons going. I've had a number of teacher absences in the last two weeks due to performances, so I've been subbing constantly. I'm not getting anything else done. Fortunately, their shows are all this week, so by Saturday, my life should settle down. And then next week, we're closed Wed-Sun. Scheduling and retention databases No activity. Close October books and update projections and break-even No, sort of, and yes. The break-even is updated. Projections are tweaked a bit. October books are still in progress. We're not sure where to move things. Fill Samplers Tonight's guitar sampler is full. The next big projects: fill our December piano sampler and preschool class. Drums and soundproofing. The customer who complained has left the studio anyway, and we did not break our backs trying to keep her business, but I did manage to sound"proof" the drum room. It's a little better, but I have more work to do. Next weekend, we're closed, and we have plans to do a bunch of work. Customer appreciation event or activity - Delegated to a customer. She came up with the greatest idea: to record a holiday CD of teachers and advanced students performing to mail to all our clients.Launch one new performance repertoire song per week. The next repertoire change will be moving to my holiday setlist. Meanwhile, I have four hours to fill for an event next Friday, so I'm signing up kids, calling old friends of the musical persuasion, and scheduling rehearsals like they're going out of style. I'll be set for my December Potbelly setlist. On a related note, I am reducing from six to five days a week at Potbelly.One load of laundry per day. NO. But it's Keith's birthday. I should do all the laundry. And wash the dishes, too.  Achieve a weight of 150 by 12/31/2010 Weight: I actually weighed in this morning at 159.4. While I would like to be fifteen pounds lighter, I was pleased because I was sure I'd ballooned up from there, just based on my horrible eating habits. But in retrospect, yes, I've been snacking, but I've also been missing meals. I've been too damn busy to eat anything more than chips, candy, and coffee. Meals: Leftover Jersey Mike's steak sammich, Potbelly sammich, chips, some Twizzlers. I'll start counting again soon. You know, probably next Thursday. TOTAL POINTS:? (Goal: 25) |
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Aw, thanks, 