What happened to July? We are already weeks into August and I am still wondering what happened to last month. I can share with you a few things I have learned over the past month.
RFP Update
I learned that the document you submit is called an SOP (Submission of Proposal). I was hours away from submitting my seven-page SOP when I asked for help from an advisor, who read through everything and said I had overachieved by about 5.5 pages. I know that she has read a lot of these and when they request that the proposals be brief and direct, that means you cut out all of the fluff and get to the point. So we put my SOP on a 24 hour fast and it became a 1.5-page document.
I was contacted for an interview. I learned what it felt like to be on the candidate side of a zoom interview. It’s just as sweaty and nerve-wracking as if you were there in person. One plus is there is no perfume shock to overcome. (I had that once, an allergic reaction to the interviewer’s fragrance, I went down sneezing.)
A week later I was then contacted…..and offered the contract. I am so close to telling you about my new part-time contract work. We are now finishing up the paperwork and getting things started. I was at my first team meeting yesterday and can’t wait to tell you more.
If These Heels Could Talk PARTNERSHIP
I don’t think I have mentioned this yet. Michelle (my amazing podcast host and friend) and I have decided that we want to grow our little project into a partnership business. We are going to be offering a very specific product to new business owners. Before we put our cart before the horse and started selling the new product we thought it would be prudent to add a formal structure to what we started last year. We hired Kent Gustafson, owner of Safe Shield Consulting and just the best person to know when it comes to starting a business, to help us start our LLC. I am really learning that experts are worth every penny because they save you dollars. In this case, the greatest asset he brought was having Michelle and I have some really good conversations (hours and hours of discussion) about all of the ways we end the partnership. He has a patented system and it was painless. It made so much sense and now we both feel confident that we have done our best to have a really viable side business partnership. To date, our LLC docs are done and registered and we are finishing up the fine print on the buy/sell agreement. I am excited and thrilled to be doing this and can’t thank Kent enough for his company and the services they provide. If you need his help, here is how you reach him kent@safeshieldconsulting.com
I can’t wait to tell you more about the partnership, the product, and the award we are working on. If you happen to catch out the podcast this week you will hear more about the award.
Coaching & Websites
In case no one has mentioned recently we are in the middle of a pandemic, which translates into…stay healthy, protect your mental health, take care of your peeps and do your best, it is all changing for everyone all of the time and that can be stressful.
Now that we are going on Day 153 I realized that in the shock of the abrupt shutdown of everything and now lets work from home I had gotten into some painful working habits. I have been officing from the most un-ergonomic locations around the house. The easy chair, the table, the countertop, the passenger’s seat of the Suburban, and the bed. While that is fun to do for a day or two, it is not good for a long period of time, as my right shoulder will tell you right now. It is killing me because it is so out of joint from me using it all wrong. So the past two weeks I took a stand for the fact that I am working at home again. I have done this before, very well I might add, and I just needed to dig out the old location and create a new location for video conferencing. I wanted to gut my at-home office and start over, but there are no bookcases to be bought at this time, so I improvised and just cleared off my desk and space in my peripheral view. That is where I am typing this right now, in the ergonomic office chair at the desk with the large monitor and nice keyboard. Then I found a location I could create a sit/stand video conference spot and got that setup. I went to my office and brought home the official office desk orchard that I have moved from office to office. I am doing PT on my arm and I know from the past this will be months to fix what I have done, but I can fix it.
Right now I want to remind you to do one or two small things each week that take care of yourself. This whole pandemic thing could be going on for a while longer and you need to take care of mind and body. They are not replaceable.
Is your workspace working for you check-in:
- How is your posture?
- How is your neck?
- How are your eyes?
- Do you have anything enjoyable to look at around you?
- What is one little thing you can do today to change your space and make it work better for you?
- I still have the co-working office space, that we podcast from but there is no one else there right now and so it is not the co-working space I love and need. I am creating co-working from a distance, via zoom and that has helped.
It turns out you should not do hours of website building and coaching from your favorite lazy-boy chair. You should instead create a space that nourishes you both mentally and physically in the long run. This is a true point in many places in our lives, not just business. That is what the pandemic shutdown has taught me this last month.
How are you moving forward in business and life? I would love to hear your insights.
Much Love,
JoyGenea