When It’s Over Before It Starts & Other Life Lessons KDS: 004

So… it’s taken me a little bit of time to process this and figure out how I wanted to go about sharing the news. I knew in my gut that I would probably end up doing a post, but I wasn’t sure as to whether or not I would do a podcast.

The more I sat with this the more I realized that a podcast episode was the way to go. SO… here I am.

I’ll warn you that this might get a little personal, but I figure you guys are with me for the long haul, right? I’m also a firm believer in self-awareness and I knew that if I was going to share this, it needed to be done once I was on the other side of things.

So, all build-up and drama aside, what is this news?

LeadSurveys is done. Over. Shut down. No more.

We made the decision to shut it down, only two months after it had finally been released to the world.

There are a lot of reasons for this, but some I’ll never know. I’ll explain this a little more in the podcast itself (so yea, you gotta listen), but this is more about what I’ve learned, how I’ve handled this, and where I’m heading now.

There is also a lot I can’t share with you simply because I don’t have answers.

I don’t know that much more discussion was needed between my partner and myself, but the whole ‘ghosting’ or ‘going dark’ thing is pretty much beyond my control (and while it’s also a huge pet peeve of mine, I truly don’t know that anything else needed to be said).

I have my own ideas and best guesses about things with him, but the bottom line is that it doesn’t matter. I’m at a point in my life now where I really don’t rehash things over and over, it’s a complete waste of energy. It also keeps me from moving on, which is what I need to do.

Fortunately, I had my parents 50th Wedding Anniversary Party right after I received the news (I had a feeling things were headed in that direction, it just took a few days to get a response). I was grateful for the distraction of such a joyous occasion and to put my energy on them (it truly was an amazing evening, even if it went to fast).

I’m also not interested in saying anything negative about him or wishing him ill will. It was an interesting experience and I learned a lot.

[click_to_tweet tweet=”I’m also not interested in saying anything negative about him or wishing him ill will. It was an interesting experience and I learned a lot.” quote=”I’m also not interested in saying anything negative about him or wishing him ill will. It was an interesting experience and I learned a lot.” theme=”style6″]

Speaking of learning…

Here are some of the lessons in this for me:

• It’s time for me to fly solo. No more partnerships. I may do collaborations, but partnering with people in business is done (no, I’m not saying ‘never again’, but for the foreseeable future, it’s time for this girl to stand up and own it)
  
• Always have deadlines and milestones when working with someone else (even if on a collaboration). It’s quite possible this project would have fallen apart last year had we set concrete dates or had things broken into phases of completion.
  
• Don’t partner (or collaborate) on something you know nothing about. As much as I love software, I can hardly look at it and make any sort of intelligent assessment.
  
• ALWAYS keep your ‘own thing’ moving forward. There was something in me that had the wherewithal to start Content Creators last year. Which has lead to everything good that has happened to me this year. It’s also given me a crystal clear direction for my personal brand.
  
• If it is to be, it is up to me (you knew I would throw a quote in here, right?). That isn’t a dig at my former partner, it means that whatever I want it my life I’m better off creating it myself. That doesn’t mean ‘alone’ or without a team and support. It means being more conscious of the things I do and who I do them with.

The other big a-ha for me?

Which is really more like validation…

…I don’t want to do anything that involves tech-support for people (in terms of my business, I’ll help my friends and family all day long. I also don’t mind doing free tutorials or tips for content. But for paid activity? No thanks).

This is exactly why I got out of website work last year.

I didn’t want to spend my evenings in project management programs, posting tasks for developers and designers, emailing clients in the evening, or stressing about needing to get back to people.

I have this massive resistance to when I feel like I “have to do” something. I’ve finally accepted that about myself and as much as I’m working on it, it might simply be something I conquer in the next life. I could “choose” to do the exact same thing and it wouldn’t bother me in the slightest.

Maybe it’s having spent too many years in retail, who knows.

Either way, I’m so very conscious of what I want to do and what I don’t want to do.

[click_to_tweet tweet=”Fortunately, the things I do want to do are my strengths and it’s where I shine. It’s where I’m most happy.” quote=”Fortunately, the things I do want to do are my strengths and it’s where I shine. It’s where I’m most happy.” theme=”style6″]

Fortunately, the things I do want to do are my strengths and it’s where I shine. It’s where I’m most happy.

Of course being on the other side of this now I can see some big Life Lessons as well.

Let’s jump into those, shall we?

Life Lessons

What’s Next

ALL the things ‘content marketing’ related.

I’m going all in with the personal brand (I’ll be forwarding WPChick in the next couple of weeks).

This past year has been an amazing journey. As I focused on growing the Content Creators Community I fell more in love with content marketing. The creation process, the methods, strategies, the ability to connect and create relationships, the tools… all of it. I feel like I’ve truly found my ‘sweet spot’ on the web and I’m ready to own it.

Some of the things I’m working on:

• Bringing coaching back: this will be one-off clarity sessions or 3-month programs
• A mastermind/elite program (6 weeks only)
• Membership on content marketing: one new training a month, one expert a month, and a private audio
• Another content summit in the fall (probably focusing on traffic and promotion)
• Weekend retreats: small, private weekend (10-12 people), a little mastermind while producing (recording videos, audios, creating images, mapping things out). You leave with tangible content you can start publishing
• Growing Content Creators and continuing to provide as much value as I can

I’m about to wrap up an in-depth free course called ‘Content Traffic Kickstarter’, which will be my primary lead magnet moving forward. This is six modules with 5 lessons in each section.

I’ve also been diving heavily into ManyChat and Messenger Marketing. I won’t be teaching classes on that anytime soon, but I will be doing some training in the Facebook Group of what I’m doing and how it’s working, so you can join us there if you want to see behind the scenes. I might publish those as posts, but I haven’t decided.

I’ve accepted the fact that there will always be people who know more (and do more) and there will always be people who know (and do) less.

[click_to_tweet tweet=”I’ve accepted the fact that there will always be people who know more (and do more) and there will always be people who know (and do) less.” quote=”I’ve accepted the fact that there will always be people who know more (and do more) and there will always be people who know (and do) less.” theme=”style6″]

I also know that I will always be willing to #JustShowUp. My goal is to get as many people to #showup as I can.

We’ve got this.