Happy 2009, moonlighting entrepreneurs!
Recently we’ve been talking about the five-year plan. Many of you have Tweeted or commented to me that you have been working on your business plans. Good for you! Today, though, we’re going to focus solely on 2009. That’s right. It’s time to narrow it down to what you are going to accomplish in the next twelve months.
1. Take your five-year plan and if you haven’t divided up your goals into five parts, do so now. This is your 2009 portion. This is what you’re going to do this year.
For instance, I plan to be a published novelist as well as a published author of gift books, so I have a five-year plan in place to do that. For 2009, my goal is to finish a first draft of the current WIP, revise another WIP that needs a complete overhaul, and to get one project in good enough shape to query fiction agents.
2. Divide up your 2009 goals into twelve parts for each month. So, for me, I need to have a first draft completed by sometime in March/April. Then revision this summer, and then agent querying next fall.
January — 1500-2000 words a day on WIP
February — 1500-2000 words a day on WIP
March — 1500-2000 words a day on WIP
April — cooling off period; pick up other WIP and begin to formulate revision plan
May — Begin to rewrite WIP #2 (1500-2000 words a day)
June — 1500-2000 words a day on WIP
July — 1500-2000 words a day on WIP
August — 1500-2000 words a day on WIP
September — cooling off period for WIP #2; look at first WIP and begin to formulate a revision plan (this is much more simplified than my actual plans, so bear that in mind)
October — third revise on WIP #2 or begin prepping lists of agents to query; 1500-2000 words a day on WIP #1
November — 1500-2000 words a day on WIP #1
December — 1500-2000 words a day on WIP #1
My approach is a bit more nuanced than this quick and dirty list, but you get the idea.
3. Remember, most days working toward your goals will be really dull and pretty much same old, same old. Did you see the months I’ll spend just writing my daily word count? That’s what I want it to be. I can’t live on a mountain-top of goal-making all year long (which is what a lot of us like to do, right?). I actually have to get off the mountain and DO IT. So I’ve set it up that way.
4. There will be other opportunities to plug in this year that you won’t expect. In 2008, I had my goals completely lined out and was getting close to accomplishing them all, when a change in focus brought other opportunities, which were much bigger. I accomplished those, but some smaller goals got wiped out. Stay flexible to take advantage of opportunities, but be careful you aren’t just chasing new opportunities down. The fun of the chase is alluring, I know.
5. Keep a 2009 goal journal. One of the most enjoyable moments of 2008 was last week when I dug out my 2008 goal list and then typed up a 2008 reality list (what actually got done). Wow. I could fly on that for a while. I have my 2008 reality list right by my computer now to remind me to think big in 2009. I’ve also decided to keep track of every success this year in a notebook (Moleskine makes plenty of notebooks perfect for that task). It may seem a bit over the top, but when faced with the doldrums of actually having to WRITE for most of this upcoming year (every stinking day!), I need all the help I can get!
I will share my 2009 goals for another moonlighting entrepreneur business I’m running in 2009 next week. The monthly list includes a marketing task list, a contact database management task list, a paperwork and accounting task list, and an organizational task list that will more applicable to many of you who read this blog. Stay tuned!
