Almost Three Months With WA and Counting...

Well, I've survived the second certification course in one piece.

I'll just let my progress speak for itself: http://theindiedragon.com

Learning to Run Before You Walk

However, I think it's fair to say I've fallen into the trap of foraging ahead without learning the basics first. Once I've understood how to do something, it was like 'WA be damned! I'm diving in head first!'.

You see, I don't like to just sit there and watch videos and listen to lectures. I like to get stuck in with what I'm doing and find my way around Wordpress, experimenting with affiliate links on my own. I've made some correct calls, but others... not so much.

You can imagine how I did at University...

That said, at least the website is out there and I am pleased with how it's all turned out visually. Surprisingly, most of the Deviantart artists I've contacted have been kind enough to let me use their content and the website is all the better for it.

(Incidentally, if you find yourself stopping by my website and see an image that you like, please consider leaving a compliment on the artist's profile which can be accessed by the link underneath each image.)

Success Breeds More Success?

I think my biggest success to date is having a better idea of what I really want to do for a living. It was something that I've thought about for many years, so it's a significant milestone in my search for answers.

That said, there are no guarantees in life. My business might head south and never come back. I could get bored. I could one day decide that being a wage slave in a 9-5 job and making others rich is the only thing that makes sense.

But for now, the path I am currently on feels right and I will continue moving forward with cautious optimism.

Scoring Goals for Fun

I never make New Years resolutions because I end up breaking them in the first week. I don't believe they work because you're forcing yourself to try and get into the habit of doing something when you weren't in the frame of mind to begin with.

By the same token, I'm not sure I believe in looking 3 or 6 months ahead and setting goals within those time frames, given the erratic manner in which I work. I can be fired up for a day and a half and go AWOL for the rest of the week.

What I need is to aim for is consistency in my working schedule. When I wrote down my money goals in the beginning, I said I would work at least 5 hours per day. Well, that hasn't quite happened.

I read somewhere that the trick is simply getting into the habit of taking 'microactions' each day and let it snowball gradually. The ebook was written by Dave Navarro and it's free. I recommend checking it out.

That said, I do have a list of things I want to aim for and it would be a good idea to write them down somewhere so I don't forget. But rather than making 3 or 6 month goals, I'll just throw them all out in no particular order:

1. Log on to my website and do something each and every day no matter how quick or minor the task - audit, proofread, hunt for images, research my niche, discover new albums, etc.
2. Be a bit more disciplined. Try and reign in my desire to churn out blog posts 100 mph and sit down and listen for once (i.e. watch the training course videos).
3. Once my site is truly up and running, consider joining a few online Dungeons & Dragons forums and engage in discussions - while leaving my website link at the bottom....
4. Try out products that I could potentially promote and write honest reviews about the product. If it sucks, I'll say so, even if they're offering $100 per sale.
5. Some of my blog posts are lacking juice - might update a few of them.
6. Go through pages every now and then and make sure they're still relevant today.
7. Consider adding an amazon store widget on a separate page on my website where I can store all my Amazon affiliate links - so all the selling can be shifted to one side and the rest of the website can concentrate on providing interesting content.
8. In the future, consider running my own store selling CDs, D&D books, miniatures, dice, etc.
9. Consider enrolling in a writing course to improve my writing and add a bit of flair to my articles (anyone know of a good one around?).

I'm pretty sure I had a ton of other things that I wanted to throw out, but this'll do for now...

I'll update the list as I go along.

Okay, waffle over.

Sorry about the eyestrain.

Ken out.