I was off work on Friday so I ended up making arrangements to meet with Tony for dinner. I hadn’t seen him in perhaps six weeks or so, and in the meantime, he and Jen went to Las Vegas, so we had plenty to catch up on.
The fun thing about the evening — apart from a delicious Tex-Mex feast at Cantina that was followed by dessert at Barnes and Noble Cafe — was that we zeroed in on business development as the core subject of discussion. His law practice has been underwhelmed with clients lately, mostly because he’s slacked a bit in recruiting new ones. My own business has been slow, as well: I’ve got the infrastructure laid but haven’t had the fire in the belly to take off.
That changed Thursday afternoon, after a particularly unpleasant meeting at my day job. It reinforced my desire to chart a new course, so I’ve done more in the last 72 hours to grow Gillikin Consulting Group than I had done in the prior 18 months combined:
- I opened a commercial checking account.
- I revised my toll-free voice mail greetings and sorted through my email server.
- I completely revised GCG’s Web site and added three additional (backdated) blog posts.
- I verified the status of my LLC paperwork with Michigan’s Department of Labor and Economic Growth.
- Applied to be a (paid) guide for About.com and a volunteer editor for Red County.
- Sent a query email to do freelance writing for China Daily USA (the only decent freelancer assignment on journalismjobs.com).
- Developed a to-do list for what needs to happen next.
There is plenty to keep moving on. My next goal, for today and tomorrow, is to sit down at Starbucks and completely revise my marketing materials, including my trifolds and my rate card. I also want to start sending query letters using my trust copy of the 2009 Writer’s Market.
I haven’t been this motivated to get the job done since the March-to-May period last spring, after I had opened my Logan Street office.
Time to roll up my sleeves and get serious.
