Here’s a quick update on my 30 days towards building a better business:

For Days 1-8 click here

Day 9: Three new students in class today. Not sure if that counts as making 5 new friends. I should definitely revisit this one.

Day 10: Definitely devoted 30 minutes to social media. Though I should have had a polished social media plan. It was more of a random posting and promotion day instead of a deep interaction day. I may have had a social media fight with someone about the government shut down. Does that count?

Day 11: Trying to plan an open house. I think it’s hard to have an open house if there’s no booze but I need to either do it or don’t do it. Hours spent on costumes and props.

Day 12: Absolute transportation nightmare. Needless to say I did not do my video. More hours spent on costumes and props.

Day 13: Yes, more hours spent on costumes and props, but since I was waiting for a show to start that was okay. As I watched my colleagues perform, I did get to thinking about my brand/ image. My costume was okay, but still not finished in my mind. Compared to one of my colleagues I looked like the new kid on the block. Her brand said “glamorous, envious, over the top, gorgeous”. The strange thing is just 1 week before my same costume said glamorous and gorgeous, but that just goes to show, your brand should be consistent no matter what market you are in. So yeah, I need to finish that costume. I want my brand to say, “ beautiful, classy, professional, a must have”.

Day 14: Huge show. Huge budget. I was prepared to invest all of my earning back into this one. I broke even and ended up with some really nice marketing material. Still need to sit down and review how many jobs I didn’t book or parties I turned down. I did turn down a lot this month due to transportation. On the plus side, my phone started ringing again and I brought on 2 new clients.

Day 15: Today I was supposed to ask for Feedback, but I spent most of the day creating feedback. I wanted to give feedback to the participants of that huge show. I reviewed the numbers and found some stuff I was proud of– signs of a success as a producer and business owner… signs of growth.

Day 16: I did not make a referral list. I did ask for marketing recommendation for a new market I’ve been building in slowly.

Day 17: Well given that I didn’t make that referral list, it’s pretty reasonable to say I didn’t share a referral list. I did have to tell a client the deadline for a test we had discussed was not feasible. It hurt to have to say that, but with some major staffing changes, I knew it wouldn’t be possible to deliver my best on time. I may lose that account. I did part ways with one team member, but the plus side is that while preparing for the meeting and in talking to the person, I learned a lot about that person.