Friday, January 13, 2012

The Mysterious Traveler catches up

Busy times.

After a tough 2011 for my business (my major client cut back its social media program, and I had extensive time commitments as the president of a nonprofit board), 2012 is already looking much better.

I'm drafting a specialized website for a state agency, writing an ebook for an agency client (which, as you might imagine, pays better than writing for a government entity), and rewriting a website for a high-level consultant in the product development field.

I'm thinking this is the time to launch to my "social media audit" product for mid-size organizations. I sold a few audits last year, and thing I have a good sense for customer expectations and pricing. However, I'd like to develop some add-on services, including social media coaching and a website-redesign process, for people who want move ahead on social media after the audit.

There is also a possibility for a longterm project working on a team studying social media in a healthcare setting. There are so many feeble attempts by start-ups to make money by "gamifying" healthy activities via social media that I'm a little wary. But this is a respected research organization, and if they can make it work it would be a model — and I'd sure like to be involved in that.

Outside of work, I'm finding myself caught up in a lot more volunteer activities than I had anticipated. I like the people, and I'm fascinated with the fundraising and social media aspects of nonprofit work. Tom and I are involved with quite a few of the same groups, which is great fun.

On the home front, I'm wondering how many wet, cold, bleak Seattle winters I can stand. A friend I expressed this to asked me "If global warming happened, and Seattle were 20 degrees warmer, would you want to move?"

"Absolutely NOT," I said. So, there you have it. Love our house, our friends, my work, the neighborhood — really hate the wet, cold winters. Really.

And I know when we move to Santa Cruz, I'll say "Why didn't we do this earlier?"

The cats could go outdoors more, and I wouldn't have to deal with Mabel trying to dominate the household — including us. The vet put her on Prozac, but she made it very clear that she'd rather starve than eat anything that might have Prozac compounded with tuna oil in it. And as far as giving Mabel pills – if you've met Mabel, you wouldn't ask. We already have Feliway diffusers all over the house...who knows if they work?