Use What You Know to GET What you WANT

 

I have been planning events most of my career. Anything from a small family get together to large scale corporate events. Just recently I completed one of my largest events consisting of 5 full days of training, breakout sessions, evening dinners and one hell of a party to celebrate the week. 

Anyone who plans anything knows that allotting the proper amount of time to plan is key. This year I started planning for this event the beginning of March, allowing myself and my team five full months to cover everything from soup to nuts and it worked.  It was a great success and the best event to date.  This is a picture of my dream team. I couldn't have pulled it off without them. 

So I was sitting at home, getting well needed rest, pumping the breaks from being on the go the past few months and my brain started to race. I started to stress about my upcoming book release. When will my editor get the final copy to me? Who will I find to proofread it in a timely fashion? Which venue will I chose for my book release party? When will my website be ready to show the world? Those were just a few questions with a ton more behind them. My head started to spin and to say I was instantly overwhelmed was an understatement.

Now these are not things that just came to me, I've known all along that writing a book is a business. Just with working full time and at such a high caliber, your brain can only process one big thing at a time, or at least that's how mine works if I want it done correctly.

Then I had an epiphany - plan my book release like I plan my events - DUH! I have been using the same planning process for years and it's always worked. Why not use the same planning system for my own project. Its funny how we can jump in roll up our sleeves, do all the heavy lifting under the umbrella of a position that pays you a salary, but we won't do the same for ourselves. Well that stops today for me.

For the past two years I have been working around the clock to 3am some nights (after) a long day a work to write, edit, etc. And the outcome A FINISHED BOOK. If I could accomplish such a big feat in unfamiliar territory, then I damn sure can plan its release. 

So I pulled out my laptop, opened up my Planning excel spreadsheet, and customized each tab according to my launch needs.  The anxiety I had just moments early when I didn't know what to do first, faded away like smoke in the wind and opening my mind and everything was now clear. Everything that I need to do, or research was now all in one place for me to see and follow with a start and end date (extremely important). Writing down your goals or to-do's is great, but without a timeline they mean nothing. Keep yourself on track and keep yourself honest and you will GET IT DOWN. Writing two - three blogs a month is one of my goals to help drive fans to my pages and this is already post number two. (Done) off my list for August.

We all have our talents and our ways of getting things done. What works for me may not work for you, but find your "thing" and use it like your life depends on it.  And always remember if you can make someone else's company a success then you can do the same for you. Just remember to use what you know to get what you want.

Till next time..

Cher

Hi I'm at Starbucks

Today is my sister's birthday and like a good big sister I ordered her a pretty pink bouquet. My plan was to surprise her and send flowers to her job. 

Problem was I didn't know if she would be at the office on her birthday. We sisters have a tendency not to work on our birthdays. Personally I take the entire week off, just saying.

I called my Mom to see if she knew my sister's plan and naturally she didn't have a clue. There was no way I could call my sissy and ask her, without giving away the surprise, so I just crossed my fingers and sent them to her job.

So today, I call her to wish her a happy birthday, but got her voicemail. Hmm just realized I didn't sing happy birthday as I always do, oh well. 

When we finally connected I find out that SHE TOOK THE DAY OFF, and had a full day planned. Damn! I thought, what about the flowers? The only thing to do was call the online florist and reroute the delivery to her home, with instructions to call her to arrange a delivery time since she would be out. I also pointed out how her home was in a totally different borough (she live's in NY) that her place of work. I REMEMBER HAVING THIS CONVERSATION with the kind lady from customer service who assured me all was well.

So why did I have the following conversation with my sister two to three hours later

Sis: "So you sent me flowers?" Now this is not the "thank you sis for my beautiful flowers"  (Now comment I was expecting. So right off the bat I knew something was askew.)

Me: "ummm, why do you ask?" still doing my best to keep the surprise going. 

Sis: "Oh because someone just called saying "Hi I'm at Starbucks are you home?"

Me: ....what?

Sis: "(laughing) so I asked who are you and why are you at Starbucks?" 

It was the idiot delivery guy at the starbucks near her JOB not her home as per the change. He explained he had a flower delivery, and naturally she asked from whom. 

Now this is where things get really crazy.  He asked her to hold on while he PULLED THE CARD FROM OUT THE ENVELOPE AND READ HER MY MESSAGE WORD FOR WORD......WHO DOES THAT!? 

Surprise blown, shot, a big ass fail! I was beside myself as my sister recited my birthday message to me, ending with the question she lead with "so....you sent me flowers?" she laughs.

Then as if things weren't screwed up enough, the idiot delivery guy rang her doorbell while I was on the phone. And at that point my only concern was if the bouquet was made of all pink flowers like I ordered and asked my sis to send me a pic. 

.....yes the flowers were pink but LOOKED NOTHING LIKE THE FLOWERS IN THE PICTURE I PAID FOR!! Needless to say, I made another call to the online florist.

Only this type of craziness happens to us. Love you sissy and hope you had a happy birthday.