The last two weeks of the year I spend reflecting on the previous year and how I want the new year to go. I think about goals, desires, intentions, and new business ideas. This year is no different. Here’s an analysis of what happened in 2011 and what’s planned for 2012.
The Readings
Last year I tried a new way of doing readings. I put all my readings into one week so I could have 3 weeks of each month to work on other projects. This worked really well for the first half of the year. Then in August I added the 15-minute reading option, which really took off, and suddenly the demand for readings tripled. I thought the 15-minute option would cannibalize my 30-minute reading option, but it didn’t. I was getting the same number of 30-mins and twice that in 15-mins. By the end of the year I was back to doing readings every week to keep up with the demand.
This is a pace I can’t afford to continue. It leaves me no time to work on products, trainings, workshops, teleseminars, and books, which are things that benefit more than just one person at a time. So this year I’m going back to being stalwart in setting aside time for non-reading projects. I’d rather not increase the prices on readings, so the wait times are likely to be a little longer. If you’ve been thinking about getting a reading, book sooner rather than later because if the demand is the same as it’s been, there’s a price increase in our future.
Blogging
Last year I tried a new way of blogging. I spent one day a month writing four articles. That was awesome! I had articles queued up for a month and it only took me a day to do it. By the end of the year, I had lost that rhythm and started to get behind.
I prefer to blog when inspiration strikes me, but I like to have one or two articles posted each week. I’m going to try doing them in advance again and see if I can maintain that pace.
Ask Erin
In the beginning of the year I started creating a YouTube series of Ask Erin questions which was fun for me to do. People really enjoyed being able to see me instead of just read me, and it generated a lot of new traffic. But the videos were a little more work than I thought they’d be, and my camera died midway through the year. I went back to writing my Q&As and have yet to replace my camera.
At the end of 2011 I started an Ask Erin series of questions where I posted a short Q&A article every Monday through Friday. That was fun! But I couldn’t sustain that either. I’m still collecting questions, and I’ll turn some of those into articles and some into Q&A.
Professional Intuitive Trainings
Last year I had a blast training students to become professional intuitives. One request I’ve been getting all year has been to find a way to train people remotely so they don’t have to fly into Vegas to do the 4-day training.
It took me a bit of thinking, but I believe I’ve come up with a way to do the trainings remotely. This will save everyone a lot of time and money, and I can still do it in a way that feels ethical and robust to me. The part of the program that is the most important is being able to hear my students give several readings to practice clients so I can make sure they’ve learned the method successfully. In order to graduate my course and receive certification, all students must be able to demonstrate their ability to give accurate readings. Once I figured out how to do this remotely, the rest was easy. It’s going to be awesome!
If you’ve been interested in doing the training, please sign up for my newsletter as I will announce it there when it’s ready.
Products, Teleseminars, and Workshops
My goal this year is to release a product on intuition development. I’m also wanting to do some classes via teleseminar so look for those on the horizon as well. If I can get my act together, there will also be a live intuition development workshop. I’d like to write a book too.
These goals are a little more vague because I haven’t committed to them as fully as I’ve committed to creating the remote intuitive trainings and getting the readings back in line. Once I’ve succeeded with that, I’ll pick another project and run with it.
No More Forums
Steve removed our forums over at his site. If you want to discuss an article or connect with me, then right now the best way is through Facebook. Please never send me a message on Facebook. Those messages get super low priority and it can take a month or longer to get a response, if ever. Please use my contact form instead.
New Website
One big project last year was getting a new website designed and launched. I started that process in August but hit a bunch of snags. I’m back on track and we should see a new website in the first quarter of 2012. Woo hoo!
My Challenges
Besides running my own business, I’m a full time single mom as well (that comes with its own challenges!). Recently I took a look at my schedule and realized that I have just 6.5 hours per day when my kids are in school. That’s 32.5 hours per week where I can work in peace. That disturbed me a little because I’m sure I’ve got more than 32.5 hours worth of work each week. No wonder I’m running behind and getting frazzled and frustrated that I can’t get more done.
Trying to balance my work and family life has been a big challenge for me, but one I intend to work on more this year. I’m not sure if that means cutting out some of my work-time, working more on weekends and evenings, or hiring someone to help me with the kids or the errands. I’ll experiment and figure it out. But triaging my time has become super important to me.
I’m still working on some health challenges, and have been experimenting with diet a little. I’m not 100% vegan anymore, but still very vegetarian. I’m working on finding a diet that works better with my personal health situation, and am willing to continue to experiment until I find something that works for me.
Steve and I still have not filed for divorce, but we’re getting closer to working out the terms of our divorce. I expect this will happen before mid-year.
I’m devoting a fair bit of time to two of my passions: the Red Cross, and paranormal investigations. I’m taking more classes with the Red Cross so that I can begin making presentations to families to help them prepare for disasters. I may even become an instructor at some point. And I am continuing to serve as a disaster action team member at least twice a month.
And I’ve begun doing more paranormal investigations which is a hobby of mine. My team and I do not charge anything to do an investigation. If people are plagued by entities, demons, or poltergeists, I want to help. If you’re in the Vegas area, or within a 4 hour drive, and you need help, contact me.
People often ask if I’m dating or if I’m seeing someone. I’ve done some online dating, but nothing major has come of it. And I’ve spent some quality time with some gentlemen that I hold dear, but I would say officially I’m not currently dating anyone. If I can find some time to date, I’m definitely going to get on that. 😉 I’ve become very discerning, so for a man to capture my attention he has to be pretty stellar. I’d rather get it right than get it often. 😉
Here’s to a fabulous 2012. Rest assured, the world is not going to end on the 21st.