Monday morning my first lesson went live! I had to get up and publish the lesson (I haven't found a way to have it automatically happen at a certain time/date) and send out the email saying it was ready, but there were no problems with either event.
We went for a hike with friends and it was a beautiful day for it.
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| she's smiling with her tongue out in these pictures because she's so happy she got to run again! |
I ran with Max Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, then walked with her on the bike path on Saturday. Overall, the running is going well. There's a touch of pain in my hip still, but nothing like what it was before, and it doesn't seem to have been aggravated by running. Good progress!
All week I worked on lesson presentations (a good use of a little extra time during spring break). The outlines are done (and have been for awhile), but they need to be reformatted for printing and increased legibility, then turned into the powerpoint presentations I then turn into videos. While I'm doing that, I decide on which photos I want to use where and what videos I want where within the powerpoint presentations. I then make the videos and take the pics.
Some pics and videos still end up having to be re-done, but I'm finding my groove. This week was a bit more hectic than last week, though. Lesson 1 only had one presentation/video, Lesson 2 (and all the others) have 3 video presentations. I was trying to do do Lesson 2 and Lesson 3 materials at the same time, batching the work, which is a good use of time, but it also slowed me down when it came to finishing the Lesson 2 materials on time. I need to pay closer attention to my time management.
Jeremy had drill Thursday through Sunday, but at least it was still virtual. There's no drill in May, but then they want June drill to be in person. Yay. There are definitely some things that I will miss when everything goes back to "normal". Like more time to do stuff since I'm not driving everywhere and Jeremy being home the majority of the time, which has really been helpful with me increasing my work hours. We take turns keeping an eye on the kids, making dinner, putting the boys to bed, etc, based on who has less work to do/no deadline for something that day.
I also worked on my marketing plan. I realized that if I do an early bird registration period shortly after the homeschool conventions I'm advertising at, I can take advantage of those who plan their curriculum at the beginning of summer. This will have the added benefit of bringing in a chunk of money, potentially enough to cover all my materials costs up front. This would be much more preferred over the alternative of putting it all on my credit card, paying interest, then paying off the credit card in September after regular registration closes. I'll be setting aside money from that registration period to cover materials for the next session (March 2022), so I won't have to worry about this in the future, once I have a good, positive cash flow.
I also realized I can do the same thing in the winter- have an early bird registration period for the March class hit the Black Friday/Cyber weekend sales into the first two weeks of December and target parents/grandparents looking for a unique gift for the teen in their life. I tried to figure out how to make it work this past winter but I couldn't since I wasn't far enough into the whole process. However, as things have solidified, I've found ways to overcome the things I thought were obstacles. I do still need to come up with something that I can send my early bird registrants as an acknowledgment of their early commitment and/or for gift-giving purposes (if I was a teen, I'd be at least a little disappointed to receive just a certificate saying I was registered for a class.) It needs to be smallish and quick and easy for me to make (or to hire out to a teenager) while still being nice enough for them to feel like they're getting added value for it. I have thoughts, but still need to think about my options a bit more.
It's super exciting to see things coming together after all the time and effort I've put into this. It's also helpful/encouraging to hear the nice things said by those who've already received their materials and tools. Several of my students are local to me and received their boxes the day after I shipped them. I could have saved money by delivering them myself, but the shipping process has its own learning curve that I didn't want to skimp on.
Totally off topic, and part of why I struggled with time management this week, I found (and bought) a program that helps authors track their plots, characters, locations, all the background details, to make it easier to write an actual book. (plottr for those wondering)
I started a novel 13 or so years ago, but had a hard time keeping track of everything and figuring out where I wanted the plot to go. I've worked on it a bit here and there in the years since, and now have the skeleton of a trilogy, but I like to plan things out. I can't just start writing and see what comes out. so I've never gotten farther than jotting down ideas about characters and plots, and trying to keep track of them.
I've recently come up with another, completely unrelated, series I want to write, and have started jotting down ideas for that one. Putting everything into this program I bought will allow me to keep everything better organized and it will be easier to move plot points around, check for consistency, etc. I don't anticipate having time to really work on either series anytime soon, but I like to have them in the back of my head, noodling around. As I read other books, ideas are often triggered either for characters or plot points, and now I'll be able to keep a better hold on all this. The more I get on paper computer screen now, the easier it will be to sit down and actually write my books when I have a bit more time. First things first though, I need to find, and transfer, all my old notes into the program. Which I will do when I have time...
Weekly Mileage
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