I am frequently reminded one of the most important and successful things I need to do for any project is to have a plan. A plan going in, a plan of execution, and a plan for when the plan changes.
For the past two weeks I’ve spent a significant amount of time exploring social networks and related media services. Tonight I had a conversation on Twitter and a bit of meta about it:
@A_K_Anderson I also have to think what do I want to write / post and who do I want to see it and why? An important set of decisions. 🙂
— Kate Kligman ☃ (@KateKligman) March 17, 2013
This can also be summarized as: “What am I trying to accomplish?” which I’ve found to be a significantly harder question to answer than: “How do I get there?”
Step one is setting a time-limited goal. My current goal is “grow an audience and find like-minded people” – so for Twitter it’s about making new friends. For my blog, it’s about getting a regular number of return readers. Later, I might have goals about marketing or sales, but not right now. By making it a time-limited goal (and knowing that you can shift focus in the future) it’s a little less daunting.
I can never answer the “where I’ll be in 5 years” question, but I can always answer where I’ll be next year….