Note about the style of this post: I have done this type of winding, long-winded, self-absorbed post before, see: https://womenslegacyproject.com/finding-my-core/, and I highly recommend the occasional “detailed review” for bloggers and writers so they remember the how and why of events, and longer slices of time, and not just the what of recording brief descriptions in a date-book.
As perhaps you have noticed, I have a severe problem with completing tasks. I have always been afraid of judgment. Completion means I might be judged. I underachieved, procrastinated, and missed deadlines. This is the core impediment to my success, not ADHD, as I have been tempted to self-diagnose. I have a lot of ideas, constantly, and I do become distracted, but I know that with some structure, consistency, and plowing on through my fears, I can succeed.
So this time I am carrying through. I have promised, and promised myself to have my course on Legacy Blogging out by three different dates this year. Dammit. I am very close. I am doing a test run with a wonderful supportive friend of mine.
But, I am no longer lying to myself. I put a huge plan together and I am chipping away at and checking off bits by accomplishing parts of the plan. To finish and put the plan into action took far more energy and effort than I initially thought it would. Today, I am spelling it out for myself, and for you, if you are interested.
Large-scale Plan Stuff
- First, I set up a framework, an LLC, years and years ago.
- Then I decided to write my memoir. But I kept stumbling over which memoir to write. I have had a very interesting, multifaceted life. Memoirs need to be focused on one story, so I think I have at least 3 and as many as 5 books where I reminisce about different topics.
- To do this I had to learn how to sell, and create some buzz about what I was doing. I spent the Covid Years taking courses from a woman who a friend referred me to per the business of writing and selling online. I learned about how to craft for the persona to whom I was selling. I learned about funnels, testing my products, lead magnets, trip wires, upselling, and really just selling in general. It is not something that comes naturally to me. I worked information and reference desks for many years. Charging for information was alien and kind of “icky” in my book.
- I parted ways with that instructor after she essentially told me that
- only fools write books
- making money was where it was at
- I would never make money writing books
- I learned a bunch from her, but I soon realized I also needed to know about self-publishing as the Women’s Legacy Project was likely to need to self-publish several small books.
- I found the Write Publish Sell community, school, and summit. I just signed up for my third year of attending the summit. I now feel confident that I have all the necessary parts in my kit bag to start putting my business together in earnest.
- I also managed to tame some big, distracting monsters that nagged at me and occasionally jumped out and bit me. This was a big deal.
- My husband has been starting a business. He is an organic chemist (read: very smart. and distracted person), working in academia ( i.e. non-supportive, non-financially rewarding) and doing seminal work in neuro-chemistry developing glycopeptide drugs. He is finally closing in on seeing some rewards in this area. This takes some of his frustration away which takes some of my frustration away.
- I am also closing in on finally solving a family estate problem that has been eating away at me and denying me access to my inheritance for 15+ years. I had to file for a legal partition action against some of my family and joint land owners, and it has taken much time, money, and immense frustration to follow through on all the stages of this issue, including a great deal of psychic pain, bruising, and healing, and/or emotional wear-and tear on me. It is coming to a close and I can now look toward a time in the not too distant future when all that is behind me and I can let much old pain slip into the past.
- I am gaining so much peace from this resolution. It frees me in so many ways.
- SKILLS
- I already talked about learning necessary skills: selling online, and about the world of self-publishing.
- SUPPORT (non-financial)
- I have learned how to support myself, build a support network, in the last few years. I now ask for what I need, and set myself up to succeed as much as possible by building a supportive community around me, I continue to consciously create and maintain friendships.
- Group support. I have three small groups of which I am a part. One is a weekly co-working group, another is very small a writing group, and I try to attend two or three publishing-focused events a month (networking, skill building seminar, and inspirational presentation).
- Family support. I also talk to my daughter once a week for at least an hour. She lives just under a thousand miles from me; she inspires me.
- I also engage in Self support by giving myself what I can. This usually means significant down-time such as a slow transition into the day, a gym membership, a good, variable height desk (I am still assembling it), and getting the the computer tech and programs I need.
Nitty Gritty Smaller-scale Web Plan Stuff
I think of this level of task as the rabbit hole in the weeds. The less high-level a task is, the more likely I am to stumble over it, fall and get mired down in sticky, recursive gunk-filled rabbit-hole. I can never move on until I figure out the why of something, but sometimes there is no why. Sometimes two choices are equal. Sometimes I just have to make a decision because, as a friend from decades ago told me when I was dithering over something-or-other, “Not to make a decision is to make a decision.”
Below are all the things requiring attention per my website.
Which method for Website re-Design
I wandered around in circles for over a month trying to decide on a how to get a new look and structure for my website.
- use Divi or Elementor as the WordPress structure/framework for my website redesign?
- hire someone to just do it for me because I didn’t want to learn the ins and outs of a different framework?
- or upgrade to Genesis Pro with a child theme I liked the looks of and just do it myself as I have been using Genesis on my website for 10 years?
This proved to be an excruciatingly painful decision for me. I was anxious to point of being half-nauseous until I just decided to make a decision.
I decided to fork over the money for Genesis Pro and just go with what I know. I had decided several years ago to not learn about Divi for a potential client so why would I want to now? Same with Elementor, although I purchased several themes I liked from the guy who developed Elementor before it launched, and liked them. It also would be much cheaper to do it myself than to hire a designer who would want to , or would just go ahead and put in – without explicit permission – CSS or hand-coded HTML, so I would have to hire that person/company again to fix any problem that might develop in the future.
The decision was made – I am using Genesis Pro with a child theme from Studio Press. I had purchased lifetime access to all Studio Press themes when they were with Rainmaker before it crashed and burned. Studio Press was already associated with my web-hosting company, WP Engine, and I get great service with them because I know enough to ask semi-intelligent questions as well as because I am grandmothered in to having a bunch of sites for the price of just a few sites. Early adoption can be a good thing.
The child theme I have decided upon is Essence Pro Child. I love its ability (has been pre-coded) to use a featured image defined on a page or a post as a header background) and its simplicity which translates as clarity for the reader.
Balances costs and Savings
Spending more money on the Genesis Pro framework meant I should cut costs somewhere else. I decided to start using Constant Contact rather than Convert Kit for my email list and sign up forms and and to use elements of Constant Contact on landing pages I build myself rather than use Lead Pages. I unsubscribed or removed my renewal option for Convert Kit and Lead Pages. This will save me about $150 a year.
Of course doing the work myself means I will keep at least $1500 in my pocket. But I will have less time for other tasks.
Pages and Posts For The new site
One of the biggest projects for the new site is remaking landing pages for my course, lead magnet, and linkage to a tripwire. I have the new signup form linked and working. But geesh-oh-pete, I know there are a things I’ve missed. I want to spiff up the sales landing pages and make them look more professional.
All the posts have to be gone through with a fine-toothed comb and determine which posts go where.
It is a huge task to pare down and coherently update my categories, also have to optimize all my images for posts I intend to keep to free up storage space and load time, and I have three or four blogs’ worth of posts from the last 20 years that I need to winnow down, and just download and archive them. Of course all the old and new category labels and urls, storage places, titles of images, and the actual images associated with posts, and all this needs to be listed on a spreadsheet. I’m not very good with spreadsheets. But I will be after this is all over.
Scheduling Organization
Then there is the need to craft a scheduling page for social media accounts that will link blog posts, calls to action, and events, so I can figure out what I’ve done, and what remains to be done for each day, week, and month. And then there is the regular planning for and scheduling of posts well in advance that is absolutely necessary.
new and returning Features
I also have some new features I want to add and some old features I would like to resurrect. I want to start creating reels, and short youtube videos under the Legacy Lady moniker, I also want to bring back “This Month in Women’s Legacy,” and of course I need to determine my A to Z topic and construct the entries for the April 2024 Challenge. There is also a real need to present and explain what auto-ethnography is and why it is important for our society and culture.
Website functioning
Doing many of these things should increase page load and search speed. This revamp will reduce the size of my website, and reduce storage cost increases that will soon happen if I don’t address my blog bloat.
Video functionality for social media, and webinars and courses, per website linkage, also needs to be integrated into the website.
Other Stuff
And of course there is the life- beyond the website stuff that must be done.
- I need to plan a remodel connected to revamping heating and cooling in my home.
- I have to go through everything I own and downsize big-time.
- Then there are those books I need to write..
You are moving forward! Whew.
And it feels so good.
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