Last year was just crazy. I was attempting to finish writing my book, work some contracts, speak at two conferences, teach my Rails workshop, mentor and teach at a couple of Ladies Learning Code/ChicGeekYYC events, and just for shiggles, my husband and I picked up and moved to a new (old) city - Lethbridge.
In retrospect, it isn’t really surprising that I didn’t actually finish primary writing on the book until Dec 31. Other than finishing the book, and planning to move out of Calgary, I didn’t really have a master plan last year. And you know what they say about planning…
Failing to plan is planning to fail. - Alan Lakein
This year should be a little more sane. I’m laying out some goals, and trying to concentrate on building up my “products” business, finally making progress on my 30x500 learnings.
Before looking forward, however, I need to get an idea of where I currently stand. Taking the cue from some of my fellow 30x500 alumni, I decided I should post my product business results from last year. Got onto Stripe, downloaded my transaction history, and summed everything up:
Ok, that % increase on the book is kind of lame, since I only sold one copy in Dec 2013, but the overall revenue numbers were still a nice uptick, year over year. I guess I’m still in that constant battle with impostor syndrome, and I didn’t keep track regularly, because I didn’t think I was doing that well, considering that I was still pretty much half-assing my way along last year.
Now I have the numbers on which to base my goals for the next year. Drum roll, please…
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Marketing the Core Data in Motion book
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Create new Advanced Rails Workshop
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Schedule/deliver Rails/Advanced Rails/Rails4iOS workshops quarterly
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Finish my damn iOS application - WIMBY
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Establish a Ladies Learning Code Lethbridge Chapter & and host at least one workshop
Marketing the now-finished (just waiting for comments from one more reviewer before pushing the final) book is pretty much a no-brainer.
Creating the new workshop is one of the “brick building” exercises we learn from 30x500, and is also a no-brainer, considering how many requests I have had for it.
Obviously, I can’t make any money from workshops if I don’t get them scheduled. Seems like I get busy, and then forget, and then it’s a bad time of year or whatever. I mean… I scheduled a workshop on Grey Cup weekend one time (#facepalm). So, we’ll get those lined up, with real dates, sooner rather than later this year.
The iOS application is a bit of a soft goal. I need to finish it, because it’s been languishing at the 80% finished level for too long. It’s not really planned as a revenue generator, directly, but it was the spur behind my book, so there’s that. And then I can say I am a published iOS developer, so there’s that, too. iOS and Android developers seem to have a LOT of pains, so that is a fruitful area for future sales safaris.
I also want to continue my volunteer work in conjunction with Ladies Learning Code, to improve the levels of diversity in software development. Lethbridge may be small, but it has both a university and a college, so I fully expect to be able to host workshops here quarterly, as I get the Lethbridge Chapter ramped up. ( Contact me if you are interested in helping out!)
So there we have it. Last year I had a 300% increase in revenue. I don’t think it’s a stretch to go for 500% this year (not a goal, but a good measuring stick of progress), since I am buckling down with these definite goals. Instead of leaving my revenue checkup for the end of the year, this year I’ll be doing that at least quarterly, so I can tell what sort of progress I am making.
If you’d like to keep in touch, you can always contact me directly, or you can sign up for my mailing list, and get advance notice about workshops and special discounts for my products not offered elsewhere.