Reflecting on the Past – Looking forward to the Future

Whenever a year starts nearing its end, I reflect on the effectiveness of my past efforts, and focus on my goals for the future. As my business evolves, naturally, so do my goals. When I started this blog, I never intended it to be or dreamed it would become –a business. But my blog (and Youtube and the whole social media Influencer thing…) IS a business. At least, this blog is the trunk to my business tree.  Amazingly, I have been blogging for nearly 9 years!  Thank you for following along! 

Looking back at all the projects I’ve worked on over the last couple years, I can clearly see what areas I want to continue to develop, and what things I can eliminate from my “goals for the future” list!

Renovating

A lot of what I blog about is my home renovations. You’ve watched me transform my Illinois House. I’ve shared glimpses of Julie and my flipping adventure on Calderwood Cottage. Lastly, you’ve agonizingly waited to see completed projects as I trudge through the renovation of the 6000 sq/ft TN House which I am currently living in. I still have many projects to complete in this house but I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Continue: Transforming houses from blah or “what in the world” to amazing is what I love doing. I will continue to do that in one way or another for as long as I can.

Teaching

Another part of my business is teaching. I’ve taught classes at conferences, given presentations at clubs, and I’ve mentored clients through projects of their own through Skype. A lot of those projects I shared with you in The Sawdust Diaries. Eventually I stopped sharing those because getting photos of completed projects often requires camera equipment (and sometimes styling skills) that non blogging people generally don’t have or have access to. I visited a couple clients and personally did the reveal photo shoots, but I couldn’t do that for everyone. I am just a one woman show after all. Eventually I stopped taking clients because, while doing the flip house I barely had time to sleep, let alone mentor anyone. That’s also when I let go of my SG Squad (blogger mentoring group).

Revive: I love teaching and want to continue to do more of that, in photos here on the blog, in videos on Youtube, and in person.

Plans and Projects

Youtube is a whole different animal than blogging. It’s a separate platform and in large part, a different audience. Although I often share the same projects on Youtube as I do here on the blog, it’s more difficult to share renovation projects on Youtube. It’s difficult to sort and store video footage from multiple projects that take months (to years) to complete. Through trial and error, I’ve discovered what works best for me on Youtube is complete project builds. My Youtube audience specifically love my Workshop Storage projects.

One and done projects require dedicated space to create and film. This is a problem for me because my little workshop is usually full of multiple renovation projects that are setting, drying, or storing until I’m ready to put them in the house. I am not a person who likes to move things around constantly in order to utilize a single work space. So YouTube hasn’t been getting the attention it needs from me.

Improve: Stop ignoring my Youtube audience. I want to try to post at least two Youtube project videos each month.

TV … TV … TV

If I had a dime for all the times someone said (or wrote), “You should have your own TV show”. Let’s talk about that… Getting/Having/Participating in a TV show is not as simple as having a big personality, being at least semi attractive, or having decent skills. Here’s the reality about getting a TV show.

• The process of producing something to pitch to a network is usually a long road, requiring you to invest your time and effort (without compensation).
• THEN the odds of a having a network green light the production of a pilot are about 1000 to 1. (If that.) 
• THEN only about 1 out of every 250 pilots that get produced — even air.
• THEN only about 1 in every 50 pilots that air — get an order for a full season.

I know all this because I’ve been down this road a few times over the last few years. There are literally thousands of production companies (just in the US), all searching for new faces to pitch to networks.  These production companies have people who’s only job is to hunt for new faces (talent) that they can pitch to networks. If you have any kind of personality and put out videos on youtube or social media (having an existing audience seems to be a plus)… you WILL be contacted by a production company. That first contact can be exciting. Me? A TV show? Heck yeah I could rock that!

And I totally believe I could! However, there are a lot of factors involved and the odds of having even the mere possibility of potential success — are very low. Obviously, you have to try in order to succeed or fail. So if you find yourself on the receiving end of that “First Contact” email and you want to go for it, go for it. But go with realistic expectations.

Maybe but Unlikely: Unless a TV show falls from the sky and lands in my lap, it probably won’t happen. But who knows?

Flipping Houses

I flipped a house with my sister. That was a LOT of work and we made a decent profit. What I learned from that: I do not want to be doing that much manual labor, ever again. Also learned from my “flipping experience” is that I can’t capture the renovation process to share on the blog when the renovation has to be done in a ridiculously hurried timeline. When I’m the person doing the labor(with Julie of course) and  we’re “just get it done as quickly as possible”, it’s nearly impossible to also be the person capturing the process on video and then editing that footage and producing content. So, “flipping houses” proved not to be something I could record and share – here on the blog.  One renovation at a time, slowly, as I live in the house — that’s what works for me. At least that’s the only kind of renovation I can do, film and blog/Youtube about when I’m the one doing everything.

House Flipping: I’m pretty sure I’m done with that. Most likely.

 

The Powell Residence

Crossing something off my “goals” list isn’t disappointing. It simply allows me to move on to the next adventure.  Wes and I recently decided we’re ready to tackle an especially big adventure.

We love the East TN area and we really like this house. I had to completely reconfigured almost the whole thing, but it’s now a pretty great house. I like SO MUCH about it.  But it isn’t perfect for us, for two reasons.

1. This house sits on 1 acre and we want more space.
2. With my business goals, my single car garage workshop — just doesn’t cut it.

Wes and I have talked a lot this year about how to create a bigger workshop for me.  Most of our acre is a hill so it would take some work but we COULD build another, separate garage. Also, there is currently an empty lot beside us that we could purchase. It’s full of trees and ground cover and makes our home feel more remote and private. If we bought it that would ensure no house is ever built there. We could do all that.

But it doesn’t really make sense to do that to this house. After all, we bought this house specifically so Madison could attend the Maryville city schools. She is in college now so our house wants have changed.

A few months ago we finally decided our best option would be to start looking for something else — and sell this house.  Once it’s finished, of course.  There are still a few unfinished rooms and a couple I haven’t even started on yet.

So, it could take a minute, but that’s the plan.