Live Blogging: A Day in the Life of a Serial Entrepreneur
Ever wonder what a day in my life looks like? Here is a typical day… fully documented. This was inspired by Andrea Tomkins (who did a live blogging post on her blog) but also inspired from this question on Twitter from Rebecca S:
So, I figured rather than try to come up with brilliant tips on time management, I would just show you how I organize my day / time.
9:30AM – Alarm went off. I woke up a bit later than normal today because I was up late last night. I don’t function well on little sleep these days (baby needs some of that energy now too) so I take this opportunity to sleep! I hopped out of bed, threw a t-shirt and leggings on (normal work attire), put my hair in a ponytail and shook the mouse on my office computer (an iMac) before heading downstairs. Why? It lets the computer wake up, log me into Skype and load messages I might have missed overnight or in the early morning.
9:40AM – I fed the dogs and then let them out into the backyard for some morning playtime. While the dogs are in the backyard doing their thing, I made a bagel (Everything bagel with light cream cheese mmmmmm) and poured myself a glass of grapefruit juice (also mmmm) and let the dogs back in. Then, I came upstairs to my home office.
9:55AM – I open my Skype and click into “Team Awesome” chat (where my team and I spend the day chatting and notifying each other of important things) to say good morning and tell them about this crazy dream I had. (In case you’re wondering, this morning I dreamed that baby was kicking me a lot but when it was happening, I was rehearsing lines for my role as Deanna Troy in Star Trek. Yep, I’m serious.) After telling them about the dream, I logged into Gmail for the first quick sweep of my e-mail. I start by deleting all of the junk mail and the things I don’t need. Then, I went through the e-mails that are generated from Basecamp (our project management tool) to see if any required my response or action. Those that didn’t, I archived away from my inbox. Did a little happy dance over the orders that came in overnight – yahoo! Then, I went through the random, miscellaneous e-mail and quickly scanned and labeled those for content (ie: event / speaking requests, Business S&M Telesummit, etc.) I also forwarded e-mails that need to go to my team to the appropriate people. I did not answer any e-mails at this stage. Still haven’t touched my bagel.
10:00AM – I open Threadsy and check my Twitter feed for anything that may need response quickly. I archive away junk / spammy DMs and I star any Tweets that might be favorites (good feedback for example). I see a Tweet from Rebecca S about time management so I decide to do this blog post. I open up WordPress, start a new post and take some screenshots and begin writing.
10:16AM – Finished everything from the beginning to now. Going to eat my bagel and answer my e-mails now. While I answer my e-mails, I also add any to-dos to my notepad so that I don’t miss them later.
10:20AM – Perfected this blog post and scanned for grammar (lightly) so now I really will go eat my bagel and answer my e-mails.
10:24AM – Tweetly Updater broke when I tried to hit publish so I fixed that, added an image to the blog post and will now REALLY post this. Have eaten half of my bagel.
11:11AM – I just spent the last little while creating the marketing funnel for Business S&M. Now, when people opt-in to receive the free e-book on that site, they will also be taken through a series of e-mails pointing them to other things we do that may be of interest. I started updating all of my autoresponder sequences yesterday as I finalize my move from 1ShoppingCart to MailChimp. This is so important for me to do now because once #blaskiebaby comes, I won’t have the same time luxury. During this, Steve also woke up (he works nights) and came in to say hello. We chatted for a bit and now he’s gone to the gym and to do other manly things.
11:42AM – Answered 65% of my e-mails including sending a speaker’s packet out, sending audio links to speakers in our telesummit and providing a time report to one of our clients. Exported old lists from 1ShoppingCart to import into MailChimp now that the autoresponder series is ready to go. Yahoo! Fixed the opt-in form code on Business S&M (it was still pointing to 1SC). It’s now a lovely shade of pink but I’ll fix that later (I’m a move quick and edit later kind of gal). Now getting ready for the Business S&M Telesummit call with me as the speaker. Am speaking on Passive Revenue Models for Online Entrepreneurs. 
11:48AM – Imported lists to MailChimp while my PowerPoint preso opened. Filed lists away in my Dropbox folder where I keep many of my backup files. Deleted screenshots from desktop that I used earlier this morning and responded to a Basecamp question / message. Refreshed Threadsy to see if I missed any good Tweets.
11:56AM – Wrote out funnel on a blank sheet of paper for Business S&M including the items I still need to add. 90% complete the entire funnel. Will create some e-mail responses for these later so my team can handle any inquiries that result from the autoresponders. Pulling on headset and getting ready to dial in for Business S&M call!
1:00PM – Just finished the telesummit call on passive revenue. I talked for the last hour on the different models and how to implement them. Now, to have lunch with Stevie before he has to get ready to leave for work!
1:49PM – Lunch is now done! Stevie had made us chicken burgers (mmmm) and we watched a bit of Michael Jackson’s last concert documentary, “This Is It.” When Steve works nights, I always try to spend a bit of time with him during the day as we don’t get our evenings together. We also did my daily injection of blood thinner and no tears today! Woohoo! Maybe knowing that I’m live blogging my day made me tougher… 
Now, I have 11 minutes before a call with one of my clients so I will check e-mail, check Twitter and action anything I can before our call together!
1:57PM – Subscribed back to all new subscribers on my baby vlog YouTube channel and left messages on each channel thanking them for their subscription. I like to do this daily and batch it so that my mind is on that one task for a certain amount of time. Thanking new subscribers for joining helps build relationships with the viewers! Time for headset and client call!
2:02PM – Left voice mail for client. Moved audio from Business S&M Telesummit into appropriate folder and sent out link for audio and PowerPoint to registrants.
2:06PM – Updated autoresponder with audio recording. Skype chat with a colleague about providing his clients with my strategy / consultation work. Skype chat with team member about the completion of two blog sites and the total hours billed for those projects. Woohoo!
2:14PM – Answered 5-10 more e-mails. Client called in for our 2pm call a bit late but I love her so that’s okay!
3:07PM – Finished client call, delegated tasks to team members and am now on a call with a prospective client discussing changes she’d like done to her website!
3:25PM – Finished prospective client call – going to do a backend assessment of their website and wait for a list of website changes. Love WP / wishlist work! Skyped my team to let them know of the new incoming work. Sent an invoice to a new client who approved their estimate. Going to check e-mail in the 3 minutes I have before my next call with a virtual assistant whom I am doing some coaching work with!
4:01PM – Finished coaching call. Am now going to finish answering the 7 e-mails in my inbox, will check Twitter and reply to unanswered Tweets and will do my open to-dos and milestones in Basecamp.
4:20PM – Answered e-mails, tested 1ShoppingCart product links for a team member only to find that every one of their websites is down. Sent a Tweet to 1SC about the issue. Received Tweet back and notified my followers.
5:08PM – Pre-loaded blog posts onto http://www.bsetc.com/ for the rest of July. Added in a milestone for August 1 to remind me to pre-load another 1/2 month or month of posts. Responded to some Tweets. Answered a few more e-mails.
5:50PM – Wrote some “Lunch Time Recommended Resource” Tweets and sent them to my assistant to pre-load onto my Twitter account. Great way for me to point people to tools, people and services I love. Updated my affiliate spreadsheet with links and created Bit.ly links out of the longer ones. Chat with my team re: some client work as well as sushi. Got hungry. Asked Trina (sister) if she wanted to go for sushi tonight. She’s going to text me. Patiently waiting. Starving.
6:02PM – Sent a PayPal invoice to a client who was having trouble with credit card payment. Wrote out marketing funnel for my teleseminar junkies with some survey components built in. Read Twitter and replied to a few Tweets. Still mega starving. Where’s Trina’s text?!
6:19PM – Created schedules for our BSETC newsletter and our VA Coach newsletter through to December 2010. Will create all of these newsletters later today or tomorrow so that we are good to go until the end of the year (I can always tweak them as I go and add in content where necessary). Setup milestones in Basecamp so that our project management system can notify me of when these need to be locked and loaded. Going to shower now.
6:30PM – Still haven’t showered but it’s cool because Trina came back on Skype and we made sushi plans!! Yummy!! Yes, I know all about what sushi not to eat during pregnancy Don’t worry! Was also able to discuss a client’s ezine milestones with a team member so we got that straightened out too. Now I must shower because she’s coming to pick me up!
6:49PM – Showered, dogs are fed, makeup is on, clothes are on… I am ready for sushi dinner with my sister!! Cleaning up office desk so that I can move to laptop downstairs. Less efficient when not in my office but I won’t have to wait much longer before leaving for dinner… YUM!
8:33PM – Back home from sushi and taking the dogs for a nice, long walk. Before I left, I took the time spent waiting to fill in my pregnancy journal so that I could be up to date with where I am at in weeks. Now that I am home, I am going to check my e-mail, check Twitter and then play a bit of World of Warcraft. Yep, you read that correctly. I’m a bit of a gaming nerd and do videos for my YouTube channel – Erin Games.
8:38PM – Decided instead to make a video for Erin Games introducing Bar Star! The video game I am in
8:58PM – Finished shooting and editing the video for Bar Star. Exporting it now to upload to my Erin Games YouTube channel as well as my eThusiasm YouTube channel!
9:12PM – Export done and now uploading to YouTube. Team member needed help finding a navigation plug-in for WordPress so I Tweeted out the question to get some help from my fellow geeks. Chatted on Skype with the team a bit. Just waiting for the video to finish uploading and then it’s World of Warcraft time!! I sort of feel like playing some Call of Duty though…. Hmm….
10:09PM – Decided on WoW Levelling up my fishing in hopes to get my Grand Master Fishing Achievement! I bet to you non-gamers, this sounds lame huh?
12:05AM – Finished playing WoW – got five achievements! Woohoo! Checked e-mail and Twitter while playing. Now to go have a snack and watch some TV while I wait for Stevie to come home. Good day folks, good day.
Read MoreWant to Be in Our Pilot Episode?
Okay, so lots and lots and lots has happened since I’ve last blogged an update and while I can’t tell you everything, I can give you the brief overview.
This past Monday, January 25, I flew to Toronto to meet with a production company. There, I auditioned for a pre-existing show that I was going to take over. After some discussion over lunch, we’ve decided to actually take it in a different direction and by doing so, I’ll have my very own show that I get to lead in terms of creativity, etc. The show will be business focused but I’m keeping all other details under wraps until I have the pilot done, contract signed and the okay to talk to about it
However… I need your help. I want to be able to have material to work into our pilot episode and I want to be able to give YOU some exposure on the show. I want to be able to have the option to answer business related questions but since the show isn’t live, I need to have them ahead of time. What I’m looking for are questions around business, marketing, social media, entrepreneurship, etc. Anything that would be great for an audience to hear the answer to.
If you want to be considered for the pilot episode, here’s what I’ll need:
- A 2-minute or less video of yourself asking a question
- You can introduce yourself by name and say your company name but remember, keep it brief so we don’t need to edit the important parts out
- You can upload these videos to Vimeo, YouTube, etc. and send me a link but please keep the originally shot video in case the editors of the show want the raw footage
- Once the videos have been shot and uploaded, you can send the link / URL / location information to erin@erinblaskie.com
Important: I need these videos in the next two weeks!!
Not all videos will make the pilot episode but don’t worry… We’re going to have a weekly spot to feature your questions so it is definitely not a waste to turn on those webcams and record your question! Remember… good marketing is all about exposure and this will get you in front of a lot of people.
I’ll be posting more details on the show as I have permission to release them so stay tuned!
E.
Read More1, 2, 3… Stepping Into Dreams
If you know me, even in the slightest, you know that I combine dreaming with fearless action and sometimes it’s really scary and other times, it feels really, really amazing.
Today marked the culmination of many different dreams for me. The dream of having a creative career, the dream of sharing a message, the dream of showcasing other amazing people, the dream of connecting with like-minded individuals in a powerful way… so many dreams and they were all realized today.
How?
Well, it was all in the launch of my first episode of eThusiasm.
To some, this won’t seem like a big deal… Six minute video podcast… who cares? To me, this is the first six minutes of the rest of my life. The first six minutes of a series where I share with you information about amazing entrepreneurs, gadgets you need to know about / have and the ability to connect you with other people who are just like you.
It’s exciting and I want to say thank you for sharing in this crazy, entrepreneurial journey with me… Through good and bad, we’re all in it together.
Read MoreThere's No Good Time to Vacation
I’m sitting in the Freeport, Bahamas airport – on my way home from visiting my friend who lives here. She’s “stationed” here while her husband finishes medical school at a university based in the Caribbean. They spent their time on an island called Dominica before transferring to Bahamas and needless to say, I was really missing her!
As much as I enjoyed the trip and wouldn’t trade it for a single thing in the world, it makes me realize that being an entrepreneur also means that there is no good time to vacation. Owning a business makes certain things in life harder. Regardless of your choices, you end up feeling guilty somewhere.
Visiting my friend was something I really, really wanted to do and after canceling my trip to see her in Dominica, I knew I had to get out to see her here. Most of the clients and customers I have now are understanding and patient which is awesome but there are always the few who put extra pressure on you when you want to take some time away from your office and your regular routine.
It’s tough and frankly, it sucks.
I can’t remember the last time in five years of owning my business that I took a completely unplugged, work-free vacation. I can’t. The type of business I have and the structure I have doesn’t make it possible — yet. Someday, I’ll have figured it out enough to a point where I can vacation guilt-free. For now, I do it but spend a week catching up.
However… it won’t stop me from doing it anyway.
There’s never a good time to get away and the thing is, if you become a slave to your business and your work, you’ll miss out on once in a lifetime opportunities and experiences. It’s not always the most convenient and I pay for the time I’m away with all nighters and loads of coffee but it’s okay. I wouldn’t trade it for the world.
Here are a few pictures from the trip (more to come!):
My bestie Tricia & I at a restaurant in Freeport
Tricia & I snuck into the Radisson to enjoy the infinity pool & ocean!
Coral Beach... a lazy day in the sun & with good company!
How about yourself? When’s the last time you took a guilt-free, completely unplugged vacation and came home unstressed and underwhelmed? If you do this often… what’s the secret?
Read More
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