Change update

So I have committed myself to drastically changing my life this year - 1 month down, 11 to go. The main objective is to increase and diversify my income, while filling my life with much more meaningful and fulfilling endeavors. The progress is not bad so far, if I do say so myself! Here's the details:

- Began a month-long business forum along with 149 other enterprising entrepreneurs. By the end of February, we should all be armed to the teeth with the tools to unleash our businesses on the world. I've been doing daily assignments as well as additional reading, research, planning, and meeting-setting-up on my own. I (very naively) am aiming to have this business in action 3 months after the workshop ends, so that gives me a deadline of June 1. Eek!

- Along with the 5 other girls on the board of my local indie business networking group, we have decided to take it up a notch, becoming a for-profit venture. That means more structure, more value for members, and more awesomeness. We have a good plan for the first half of the year's meetings and events, and have started planning a day-long workshop for May/June that participants will pay $100 to attend. A yearly membership fee is still on the table as well.

- Dog Collars - ah, dog collars. I basically took about a year-long hiatus on the dog collars, and have now decided to take another shot at making it happen. Essentially I really wanted to keep the production domestic, but in doing so, I couldn't get the manufacturing to the quality I wanted, and the price point was way too high. So I said screw it, and am now giving the factory-in-China angle a go. If this doesn't work, I think it may be time to just give up on this one.

- Decided that even though my Daily Candy writing days have come to an and (thank you, Comcast - ech!), I still want to write occasionally. And be compensated for it. So just this morning I sent a story pitch to ReadyMade Magazine, and we will see what they say.

- Enrolled in an 8-week letterpress class starting in March. I hope to get a good grasp on the process and technique, so that I can design some products to take to market. Or etsy anyway.

- Much smaller victory, but something that's been in the back of my head for a while - this weekend, I put together a Facebook page aimed at cataloging any number of Atlanta DOT signage blunders that I come across. My aim is to have other people contribute the ones they find as well, gain a following, and hopefully bring all this insight to the DOT so maybe someone can finally do something about it. This is also an exercise in not planning too much. I have no back log of images and locations to keep a steady stream of posts going - I'm just putting it out there and seeing what happens. Not a bad way to do things these days.