For the first time since I launched Clockpunk Studios in 2009 ( my web design company that specializes in author and publishing websites) I’m pretty busy at the end of the year. Normally, business drops off in December quite harshly as many clients spend time with their own families. It usually gives me some time to wrap up the year and work on internal schemes, but not now.
This is not me complaining. Quite the contrary. I’m as excited to work on client projects as much now as I was when I started the business. But it’s causing me to delay some things, like getting back to this blog regularly.
I intend to spend some time in the next couple of weeks redesigning this blog a bit, to make it more mobile friendly and cleaner, easier to read. I also want to go over my personal goals for 2011 and check my success and talk about the things I failed to do and why. It helps keep me honest about them. And I’ll also be working on my goals for 2012.
I can’t say that I feel like I’ve changed a lot in 2011, except in the sense that I’ve realized I can’t do all the things I want to do in the time I have. I’ve started to realize that my dreams of being a professional writer/web designer/photographer are pretty much conflicting with one another, and at best I might manage two of them, but not three. But more on that later.
Mostly, 2011 has been like 2010, only better. Business has been better, growing slightly! My life feels more in balance. But I do feel a bit tired, coming up on the end of it. I’ve been working hard for the last few months, and I never took a real vacation this year, in the sense of not just traveling for business or family. I believe I need to make time to travel to recharge my batteries, and more importantly, disconnect. I had this week scheduled for that, but I’m frankly inundated with client email and calls on a daily basis regardless. It’s getting harder to see how I can sustain things the way they are and go on a vacation in the future, especially one where I wouldn’t have web access.
About the closest thing I have to a competitive advantage is that I try my damnedest to offer the best support possible, responding to emails any time, anywhere so long as I’m awake. But I think this policy may be starting to burn me out, to be constantly worried about clients needing something. The constant iPhone dinging and checking. It’s a bit much. I’m not sure what to do about it yet. It’ll be something I have to address in the coming year. If anyone has any advice on the subject, I’d love to hear it.
But as far as problems go, it’s a minor one. My biggest problem is deciding what risks to take next. What ways to stretch myself and grow. There’s food in the fridge, money in the bank, and the rent is paid. And as far as I know, I’m not suffering from anything uniquely terminal. I’m very grateful for what I have this year.
I hope your year is wrapping up nicely as well, and I hope you’re thinking ahead to all the great things to come. Let’s all kick butt in 2012.
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