|
About This Author
|
La Bene Vita
I am a professional musician  , worship leader , small business owner , songwriter , aspiring author and freelance nonfiction writer with a chemical engineering degree .
But that's just my resume.
My profile of qualifications is only one of the ways in which I am unique. Here I chronicle my personal and professional goals and my efforts to achieve them. Occasionally I fail. Mostly, I take daily baby steps toward all my long-term goals. Much like the stories I pen, the songs I compose, and the businesses I run, I am always a work in progress.
| |
As a New Year's Resolution, I committed to BALANCE this year. I've done very well at allocating more time to family and less to work, especially in the last two months, since we bought a camper and rented a seasonal spot at a campground. But this morning, I ran across this, which, of course, I Pinned:
Patient: Doctor, I don't feel well and I'm not sure why.
Doctor: I want to you meditate for 20 minutes, twice a day, exercise for at least 30 minutes a day, avoid processed foods, eat plenty of organic fruit and veg, spend more time in nature and less indoors, stop worrying about things you can't control and ditch your T.V. Come back in 3 weeks.
...I didn't miss the irony as I read that online, on my laptop, from the comfort and laziness of my indoor couch.
Tomorrow, I start Weight Loss for Hunger. I have devised a new daily schedule which includes exercise and scheduled feedingsmeals eight times a day, because my obsession with food causes me to constantly think about food.
Meanwhile, I've spent approximately ZERO time on writing.
I created a schedule again. The color-coding shows a fair amount of balance, and I've managed to schedule in everything from eating to exercise, reading to writing, work to leisure, family to church, practice to performance. The trick will be sticking to the schedule. So on the agenda today: figure out how to use my calendars to send phone alerts that actually work.
PS: please consider sponsoring me at http://weightlossforhunger.com. I'm going to meet my goal this summer. |
| |
A topic near and dear to my heart, as anyone who scrolls through the last year or two of this blog will see: Goals. I haven't set any good ones in awhile, but Chase and LivingSocial forced my hand. Now I'm re-evaluating the rest of my goals.
1. Chase/LivingSocial Grant.
We reached our goal of 250 votes, which is the intermediate milestone. Thanks to your support, we are now eligible candidates for twelve $250,000 small business grants. Whether we win one of the grants is in the hands of unknown decision-makers who must read through hundreds of applications, including ours, to pick the most deserving. Here's hoping our business plan and amazing employees sell themselves. GOAL: MET.
2. Student Count.
...is at 253 and WAY under budget. June withdrawals are still trickling in and will continue to do so for another week or two. After that, it should be uphill. But we have a lot of catching up to do. I hoped to be at 300 by August, in order to meet our rent hike. We will keep running our sampler sale all summer long, which brings in beginners. The sampler promotion is doing very well. Most samplers are full, and we even accidentally overbooked one of them. Unlike United Airways, we were able to find a seat for our extra body. GOAL: 300 STUDENTS BY 8/1/2012.
3. Summer Camps.
Eh. Lukewarm, at least compared with our hopes. We have our Grand Prize drawing on Friday, in which one student will win a free camp. After that, we have some last-minute promotion ideas to boost enrollments. By next Monday, we should know for sure whether it worked and whether we need to cancel any camps. GOAL: DECIDE CAMP STATUS FOR ALL PENDING CAMPS BY MONDAY, 6/4/12.
4. Weight Loss for Hunger.
Amid pleas for votes and summer camp drawings, this has almost fallen by the wayside. I plan to continue allowing people to sign up through the month of June, just to allow us to pick up more momentum. If you don't know, some church friends and I brainstormed this idea to collect money for the hungry if we met our summer weight loss goals. I created a website at http://weightlossforhunger.com, but have barely done anything to promote it besides post something in the church bulletin and mention it maybe twice on Facebook. GOAL: PERSONALLY LOSE 30 POUNDS BY 8/31/2012. COLLECTIVELY RAISE $??? IN PLEDGES BY 6/30/2012. I obviously need this intermediate goal: DETERMINE PLEDGE GOAL BY 6/4/12.
5. Performance Evaluations.
This is getting ridiculous. I need to finish them by Friday (because that's June) and hand them out, then also talk about updated expectations for this year. I'm tired of some things the teachers are doing, and I don't have much of a leg to stand on, if I don't set expectations and communicate them. GOAL: COMPLETE AND DELIVER EVALUATIONS BY 6/1/2012.
6. Website Updates.
I'm trying to get the MTMS and church websites to a place in which others besides me can update them. I'm on a serious roll, but have a ways to go. It will benefit me to finish this project, (1) because both sites will look better and have mobile versions, and (2) because I won't always be the go-to person for every little update. GOAL: COMPLETE WEBSITE UPDATES BY 6/30/12.
7. Writing.
No comment.
I feel like there's something else, but I suppose this is a good start. |
| |
If you don't know, MTMS applied for a grant from Chase and LivingSocial. . We have 213 votes out of 250 need for grant eligibility with Chase. I'm starting to think we may actually get there, though it's been an uphill battle. I've literally had to privately message almost every one of my 600+ Facebook friends, send emails to friends, and walk customers through the steps (sometimes on my own laptop) in the school lobby. Everyone is delighted to do it, including customers in the lobby, which amazes me - first, because customers care about our success, but second, because I can't believe they haven't somehow already seen the plea. We've been talking about almost nothing else for a week.
But then I think, I only really posted the plea for votes on Facebook and a few private emails. I realize that communicating with people is hard work. And isn't that what we're always talking about as writers? How to reach an audience? I'm here to tell ya that as more and more methods of communication appear, each one is less and less effective, because they're washed out in the flood. I used to complain that I couldn't reach our teenage employees by email and had to rely on Facebook; but now they rarely even get on Facebook. Text is the communication method of choice.
Just to prove the point: I created a fake Facebook account awhile back. I listed a WDC connection in my profile and friended a few WDC'ers. It took less than a dozen friends before the list of "suggested" friends - all authors, only a small percentage of whom have WDC accounts - started to grow. I friended writers like friending was going out of style. (Actually, it IS going out of style, as my teenage employee communication dilemma demonstrates, but I digress.) In a couple months, my fake Facebook account had more friends than my real Facebook account, which has been accumulating friends for years. I legitimately know every single one of my real-account friends. I know almost zero of my fake-account friends.
So in this fake account, I see all kinds of activity. The typical forwarded visuals like captioned photos and funny or thoughtful quotes. The complaints about boredom and lack of sleep and illness. The photos of babies and grandbabies and graduates. But I also see articles about the publishing industry. Book launches. Trailers. Author and book pages to "Like" (which, I do, every single time someone asks, just to build trust among my "friends.")
I have not read - let alone purchased - a single book from this network. Not one.
So what good is a huge network of authors to an author? I'm not sure, except that the graders like marketinggrader.com and klout.com like the huge number of friends and interactions. I created a Twitter account, of course, and use it to follow agents and publishers, so I suppose I at least keep up with the industry. But if I posted a plea on that Facebook account asking my "friends" to vote for my business grant application, would I get a single vote? I'm pretty sure I'd get as many votes as books I've read from this network.
But I might get someone to vote if I sent a personal message. "Hey - I saw your book just launched, that's great! Congratulations. By the way, will you vote for my business?" Personal interaction goes a long way. When I ask someone in the school lobby to help me out, they are delighted to do so. They sincerely tell me they hope we win, and they ask me to let them know whether we do. I'm talking about customers I've barely met, customers who are brand new, customers whom I never see because their lesson time conflicts with my work schedule. Here are the steps I take to garner lobby votes: (1) Make eye contact. (2) Smile and ask, have you voted for us yet? (3) They smile and shake their head, so I ask, "Would you like to?" (4) They say, "Sure, what's it for?" So I explain that we could win $250,000 to open new locations and employ more staff. And they practically hand me their phones and say, "Show me what to do."
Of course, you can't sell thousands - or tens of thousands - or hundreds of thousands - of books using personal interaction. In my business, we have repeat customers who come back every week, so it's easy to develop relationships with these people, and we do so liberally. But we've been tracking the success of our marketing tactics, and you want to know our top three sources for new customers? In this order:
1. Our thirty-foot sign facing a major road.
2. Word-of-mouth referrals.
3. Google.
I'm working on bumping Google up the ladder, but notice that paid advertising didn't make the top three. We pay hundreds of dollars for a single ad placement in a newspaper, coupon book, or postcard-style mailer. Each. And. Every. Single. Time. Advertising is very expensive. And it doesn't even make the top three, whereas #1 cost a one-time up-front investment that has long since paid for itself, #2 is free, and #3 costs nothing but the cost of maintaining a good website (we pay more, but it could be as little as $20 per year.)
Word-of-mouth referrals are free, and I bet they work for books, too. I haven't studied the publishing market as extensively as I've studied my market, but I can tell you this: I have rarely ever read a book that someone didn't recommend to me. When I was a teen, I read A LOT, and I volunteered in a library. I did bring home books by the bagful every week, and those I selected by the cover art and back-cover synopsis, so those are important, too. But overwhelmingly, throughout my life, my book choices have been driven by word-of mouth referrals.
Now, let's say you work your tail off referring your book to everyone you know - not your network of writer "friends," but people you actually KNOW. Let's say they love your book and talk about it to their friends. Let's say said friends buy the book and talk about it to their friends. Next thing you know, you're struggling to meet buyer demand, and wouldn't THAT be a sweet problem to have?
So, who do I KNOW? The majority of friends on my "real" Facebook account are people I actually know, people whom I felt comfortable enough begging for votes in private messages and believing they would actually vote. And you know what? Out of 600+ friends, 200+ have actually voted. Considering I've sent the messages in the last few days, it's possible some of my friends haven't been online or on FB, so let's be generous and say another 50 come back and vote later (which would ROCK, by the way.) That's still less than 50% of the people I asked. And it took HOURS to private message all those people. I'm not exaggerating. And that's not counting the time it's taken to grow and cultivate a list of friends who sincerely care about me, not just my association with their network. Meaning, my fake account "friends" only care that I'm a writer, I may be of some use, I may be a potential audience, and I boost their friends number. Those "friends" don't care about ME any more than I care about THEM. My real friends, conversely, care about me because I care about them in return. It takes a lot of time and effort to care about 600+ people - routine, everyday effort.
Reaching an audience is hard work, and it should be an integral part of any book marketing strategy. Set aside time for it. Maintain real friendships with people. Support their efforts and dreams and goals. They will be happy to return the favor when you're ready to launch your book. If the book is good, they'll read it and love it, because it's good and because it's you. Your network will grow as word-of-mouth referrals grow, and it will be even bigger when you're ready to launch the second book.
Just remember to pick your niche and stick to it at that point, so you don't let down the audience you've worked so hard to grow. But that's a topic for another day. Happy networking! |
| |
The official count is 255 students. I believe we've bottomed out, and that the number will start to climb again. First of all, the majority of students who planned to stop for spring sports or summer have already done so. Second, we have a slew of samplers and preschool classes overflowing with students right now, all priming to dive into private lessons, once they choose their instrument(s). Third, last June was our biggest new enrollment month EVER, and that was without a sampler promotion. So I'm confident we'll get our numbers back.
I wish I could be so confident about our summer camps. They're so darn fun, though. The ones with students in them may not have a lot of students, but they have enough. These kids will talk about how freaking much fun they had. I'm hoping it just takes a few years to get a summer camp program off the ground, which would be the preferred explanation for why we aren't bursting at the seams with camp enrollments. Instead of, you know, my complete ineptness when it comes to camp marketing.
The summer is shaping up to be a busy one for me. I'll be judging at Ohio Idol and performing at Pearl Market (a downtown summer-long farmer's market) in addition to my regular gigs leading praise band, playing at the Mexican restaurant, and overseeing the summer camps. I'm also looking into a second lunch gig, hopefully somewhere closer to the music school. And now I'm campaigning for a small business grant, which, if we got it, would mean some fast-paced business expansion planning.
On that note, have you voted?? We're at 150, we need 250, we have 38 days left (they're ticking away!): missionsmallbusiness.com - open the site, scroll down, log in with Facebook, scroll down, search "Michelle Tuesday" (leave city and state blank), and click "Vote" - easy breezy. Thanks to everyone who's done this already. 
I'm aching for time to write. I'm on a novel kick again. I'm just so long-winded, I need tens of thousands of words to get the story out. To get the first part of the story out. And I haven't even edited the two I've already written. *shrug* I guess we're all motivated by different things. Looking at my summer schedule, squeezing in novel writing time could be tight. 
Peace. |
| |
No, our students are not bleeding. We are bleeding students from our roster. Don't you love literary ambiguity? 
We are currently at 251 private lesson students. That's not pretty. But, luckily, we are in the midst of two major marketing campaigns, neither of which is designed to directly bring us more private students. Because we're marketing geniuses like that.
On the bright side, our new "hold your spot" policy seems to be working (or that number would be pathetically lower.) People who tell us they're stopping for June or for the summer are offered the chance to hold their spot on the teacher's schedule (day and time as well as teacher) if they prepay their return month (e.g., pay for September now.) Customers seem to like this option, because they're used to their time. We like the option, because even though it's logistically tricky to keep those spots open, we know the student will return. Students who stop for the summer tend to have amnesia about music lessons come August, when it's time to call us up and get back on the schedule. It's bad enough that students go three months with no practice and want to pick up where they left off, but even worse when they never come back! So the pre-pay is motivation to overcome that amnesia.  Just call us Dr. MTMS.
Meanwhile, we have a great opportunity to win a $250k grant from Chase and Living Social. It requires us to get 250 votes before they'll even read our application, so please check it out if you haven't already seen a message from me on Facebook. Go to this website: http://missionsmallbusiness.com , scroll down and log in on the right, then scroll down and search for Michelle Tuesday Music School, then click to vote. If you have multiple Facebook accounts, please vote using all of them, because we're a long way from 250. </spammyjunk>
Is it November yet? I need an excuse to write something. #nanowrimo |
| |
= 261.5. Not good. Invoices went out today, so I expect to see a few more withdrawals. Very not good.
This business is seasonal, so the drop is not wholly unexpected - though it's much more pronounced than this time last year, which means either (1) last year was still the honeymoon period, or (2) we've hit a plateau. (!)
I'm thinking (and crossing my fingers) that #1 is more likely, but that doesn't help our sagging cash flow situation. Mom gave a good pep talk. She said this is why companies - all companies - maintain lines of credit. I have one, of course, but hate to use it because I hate debt. But she said her company has like a $60 million line of credit and a budget line item (around $1 million) for loan interest, because that's just what companies do to maintain cash flow. Cash flow does not define a company's success - profit does. And we're profitable.
So, I feel a little better, as usual. Last year, June was a banner month for new enrollments, and we've got several full samplers and summer camp enrollments. Hope is not lost. |
| |
We're down to 265 as of today. That SUCKS... and I wanted to document the dip, even though it's mid-month. It does partly explain some cash flow issues we're having.
In the meantime, we're holding recitals all weekend. The adult-only recital was fun tonight. We cheered each other on over wine, pizza and cookies, and then we jammed to "Baby" by Justin Bieber. Oh, yeah.  That's just how awesome we are at Michelle Tuesday Music School.
So our volume is less than awesome at the moment. Recitals are keeping me too busy to think about that problem. I'll look at it Monday.
Peace,
M |
| |
...takes work. Time. Effort. Or possibly, stupidity, if "notoriety" is an acceptable form of fame for you (I'm thinking of Lindsay Lohan, here.)
If you want to stand out - as a business, as a brand, as an author - you have to work at it constantly. You're forgettable, unless you make yourself unforgettable. "Forgettable" sounds like an insult - but why should it be? It only means that you're equal to the thousands of people living around you. So it's not an insult, but it certainly won't sell you any books (or records, or music lessons, etc.)
I used to look at farms and think, wow, those dudes (sexist, I know, and my apologies to any female farmer readers) must be so disciplined. If they miss any of their deadlines - plow, plant, cultivate, harvest - their whole entire year tanks. But after two years of self-employment, I realize that applies to any business. It hit me on Friday, when I sang at Senor Patron thinking, I hope they advertised the hell out of Cinco de Mayo, because it's the biggest business day of the year for a Mexican restaurant. If they miss it, they don't get to do it again until next year. It's the same with my business. We're seasonal, so we only have so much time to advertise for back-to-school, Christmas, summer camps, parties, events. If we don't start early enough, we miss opportunities, and business tanks.
But here's the thing - the school won't go completely under if we miss a deadline or two. It just doesn't grow as fast as it could. Mexican restaurants sell food and beer and margaritas the other 364 days of the year. Farmers successfully plow/plant/cultivate/harvest the other nine fields if they didn't quite get to the tenth. And we all make it to another year and try again.
So it's not as black and white as I used to think, and neither is author success. Some authors might make millions on a book, then disappear for years (anyone know what Harper Lee or JD Salinger are doing these days?) Some authors might "just" make a thousand. Some might lose money and gain only experience. Popularity yields sales, and it takes effort to maintain popularity. Not just effort - constant effort. I recently saw Bobcat Goldwaith (the Police Academy comedian with the weird voice) do a stand-up routine and joke that he was doing it because he ran out of money.
It's constant effort, and it's all relative. To whom do you compare yourself? I looked up Stephanie Meyer's Klout score (because I'm so fascinated by my own popularity) and discovered that I have more Klout than she (that's Klout with a "K," just to clarify.) Do I believe I'm more popular than Stephanie Meyer? Well, that depends on whom you ask. Sammy, my yorkie, definitely likes me better than Meyer. Keith, my boyfriend, also likes me better - he's not into books, let alone vampire books. Many young music students in my studio love the Twilight series, but when asked if they liked me better or Meyer, they might have a hard time deciding, because they know me personally and look up to me. Some random person in Wyoming who has no idea who I am probably likes Meyer better, even if they don't read or like vampires. To the vast population of tweens and teens across America, I'm just "Michelle who?"
Meanwhile, I started an experiment on Facebook with a false account (shh, don't tell anyone.) I discovered a HUGE network of authors obviously looking to stand out via superior friend counts, because they all accepted me without question. My false account friend count shot past that of my legit account, which I've had for years, in about a month. Among all these author friends, all of whom have huge friend counts, pretty much none of them stand out. They all seem like a bunch of authors to me. I can say that the ones who post most often are the ones I would probably recognize in a lineup (of names, not faces.)
The point of all this: Sales are better when you stand out from the crowd. Standing out is temporary, unless you apply constant effort to maintain your popularity. In most businesses, not the least of which is writing, popularity is branding and branding yields sales. Work hard, and you will be rewarded. |
| |
In the words of Ursula the Sea Witch: Life's full of tough choices, isn't it??
I want to do all these things! I love them all. But branding is all about association. And time is all about the number of minutes in a day. The more I can focus, the better I can be at the limited things I try to do. Damn it.
I seem to have backed off of writing, except for blogging, and that's probably good. I can't focus on it right now, so it won't be good. I'll save all my ideas for later, after I retire from the music business. I can keep the writing skills up by continuing to blog about the brand I'm working on now, which is all about music and a music school.
I'm not very good at blogging. I'm thinking I should work on that. |
| |
Sometimes I don't have any.
See, I've been paying close attention to Klout, as of late. At first, I was like, check it out, I have a number. Some people have lower numbers, some have higher numbers. Most of those people weren't real people in my mind; they were just avatars. So it didn't bother me to compare myself to mostly-anonymous competitors. The few people I did know had fairly comparable scores, +/- a point or two.
However, my score has been climbing. Klout lately compares me to people I actually know, clarifying whom I influence and who influences me, and by how much. Most are local people like customers and church family, and some of the comparisons are big. That feels weird, like a popularity contest... a popularity contest I got hungry to win.
Today, Keith and I rode on the motorcycle for awhile. Riding with Keith is always pleasant: beautiful, sunshiny day, nice boy in my arms, dreaming about one day owning some wooded land with a babbling brook and a big, pretty house. We talk a little, but most of the time we just enjoy it. In the quiet of the countryside, I got to thinking about that stupid Klout score, and how some random website somewhere in the world wide web decided that I'm better than Jane Doe, and that Joe Blow is better than I, primarily based on the number of Facebook friends and retweets I can claim. It bugged me.
Humility is a rare emotion for me. But, lately... something's changed. Don't get me wrong; I don't mind comparing my business with other businesses. I live in a capitalist country, after all. But Klout compares people, not businesses. I'm not sure why that is such a problem with me. Who wouldn't want to strive to be quantitatively better than everyone else they know??
WTH? I think I just got philosophical. My most humble apologies. |
| |
Chris and I always worry. And then, later, we wonder why we worried. Things always seem to work out.
Student count = 275.5
This is good, that we're back up to 275, because we've already moved up to that budget level. If we hover below the number (say, at 270), we'll slowly drop in cash flow (in layman's terms, that means our bank account gets lower and lower every month.) Since we took a couple of high-dollar risks (specifically, we purchased two pianos and invested in a huge summer camp marketing campaign), we're already running on the low side. I don't like being there.
On the other hand, if we exceed the budget target, our cash flow steadily increases. So as we climb above our target student count of 275, our bank account will likewise climb. That's a good thing.
We do have a whopper of a budget change coming in August in the form of a permanent rent hike. That costs 300 students, so keep your fingers crossed that we make the goal. Also keep your fingers crossed that we meet and exceed our summer camp minimum enrollments, because if we do, we'll refund that expensive marketing campaign in our bank account, plus make a profit. We had our first Summer Camp Giveaway drawing last night, and a 13-year-old boy won a prize package worth $50. Meanwhile, we've had somewhere between 15-20 sign up for the drawings, which shows that even though these people aren't enrolling in the camps, they're interested in winning a free one. Another interesting side effect - it will show us which camps are the most popular, because we required the registrants to list their first, second, and third choices. Whee! Business can be so uncertain.
I've had "create mobile website" and "clean up blog consolidation" on my list for awhile now. I started working on the website yesterday, and it turned into the scope creep I expected it would. I hope to keep working this weekend while the momentum is high, but I'm camping tonight, and sadly, have no access to WiFi on my laptop. I can get on with my phone, but reception is spotty, and there's no way I can do web design on my phone.
...and that's all. With the exception of this blog, I haven't done much to earn my "writer" title. |
| |
I don't think I'll ever be happy with my accomplishments.
I could be a five-time New York Times Bestselling Author (which, apparently, is a mark of success), and I would lament my failure to devise a student database for my (side-, at that point) business. MTMS could be gross higher than WalMart, and I'd beat myself up over not earning better margins. I could (and do) employ twenty-five central Ohio workers, and regret my inability to help out three good friends who have lost their jobs and can't seem to find replacements.
It's starting to bug me that I can't do it all. I'm one of those people who will never "retire" in the traditional sense, though I may pull a pension or two. Time is stupid. Theoretically, I could drop everything else for a year, and focus on nothing but my database / fiction career / margins / business growth. But, in my opinion, I should get four years all at the same time, so I can do all those things. Add in one more year for exercise and weight loss, and another year for web development, plus a year for family time, and a year for social networking and beating arbitrary web grading scores like Klout and MarketingGrader. Where am I? Ten years?
I'll take ten years, please. All at the same time.
Student count = 273.5, but don't get excited. It's withdrawal week. |
© Copyright 2025 Brandiwyn🎶Prep starts 10/1! (UN: tuozzo at Writing.Com). All rights reserved.
Brandiwyn🎶Prep starts 10/1! has granted InkSpot.Com, its affiliates and its syndicates non-exclusive rights to display this work.
|
Thanks for sharing!
Even better if she can whistle to the tune of Mozart or something. 
Comment 
, also known as Michelle Tuesday, is a musician, educator and writer hailing from Columbus, Ohio.![Merit Badge in Music
[Click For More Info]
To a dear friend whose talent for writing music is sensational. May you have a fabulous New Year, (((Brandi)))!!! *^*Kiss*^*
Big hugs,
Sherri *^*Heart*^*](https://images.Writing.Com/imgs/writing.com/writers/badges/genre-Music-1050.gif)
![Merit Badge in Organization
[Click For More Info]
I don't know how you do it, but I assume there's magic involved *^*Bigsmile*^* I have really enjoyed this month of planning and preparation for NaNoWriMo and I love how organized it all is. Thank you for hosting a great challenge and for your dedication to helping so many of us prepare with confidence and trepidation for National Novel Writing Month (known to sane folks as 'November' *^*Laugh*^*) at your [Link To Item #1474311]](https://images.Writing.Com/imgs/writing.com/writers/badges/general-Organization-1150.gif)
![Merit Badge in Leadership
[Click For More Info]
For your hard work, commitment, talent and innovation in running the October NaNoWriMo Preparation each year, which helps many of us get our scattered thoughts together for November's novel-writing. And also because this badge has ducks on it.](https://images.Writing.Com/imgs/writing.com/writers/badges/general-Leadership.gif)
