E106: What's My Excuse?

Happy New Year! 2020… Crazy, how time flies by. 

The holiday season just flew by, one minute I was preparing for it, next it was over. I do love the holiday season. Stay tuned for the end of the podcast episode, because I have a little gift for you. It should help you orient yourself for 2020. 

There is something magical about the holiday season. I always end up crying in commercials/ movies, you name it, my heart literally skips a beat.  

I was thinking about the holidays and why is it the time of year that get people choked up. The spirit of generosity, kindness, love, family, compassion, triumph and magic - and then it dawned on me the magic word "INNOCENCE". Seeing things through children's eyes. It brings out the inner giant in everyone of us. The age of Innocence where good always beats the bad. Santa is real. Elf on the shelf are really Santa's helpers, the joys of wishes and the idea that wishes could come true. With a simple letter to the North Pole. Human Connection, it truly is something gives us hope. Belief… That's it… 

The holiday season reminds us to believe in all the things that we normally forget. To make time for those that we love (let's be honest, we are all so busy these days & we hope everyone understands), to help the less fortunate. How is it that we are more giving during this time of the year? 

Does anyone remember Charles Dickens timeless classic, A Christmas Carol? I found this incredible article where Time describes Charles Dickens as the "Inventor of Christmas". The story is from 1843. Can you believe that? The story is 176 years old. 

I'll be honest, I was always a fan of Bill Murray's Scrooged. It cracked me up and still makes me giggle. What I loved most about these stories, is how he visits the Christmas Past, Christmas Future and then goes back to the Present to change things! There is always time for reflection, in order to move forward. So, definitely take a moment to reflect, before you start planning out your goals. I've enclosed a gift for you, so that you can also take a moment to reflect back into 2019.  

So, in keeping with the holiday spirit, a look back to my 2019. I'm pretty excited. 2019 has been another incredible year, that I'm extremely proud of and have learned a lot.

1. I launched my 1st book - Connect the Dots - how to turn strangers into meaningful relationships. I nearly fell out of my chair, when it hit the Amazon Bestseller List! I'm still stoked! I'm already planning my next book. There were so many learnings from this entire experience. Getting the book formatted for ePub version has different formats based on online reader - Kindle/Kobo/tablet etc…  I tried to use Fiverr to get the book interior designed, which just became a nightmare. There was extra spaces and new dashes everywhere. Every time, one person would fix the mistakes that I found, 5 more new errors would just show up. Then I finally just did the interior formatting myself, took over two full days but it was just easier than outsourcing. Lesson learned, If I'm going to outsource any activities, it might be better for me to send to 4-5 in parallel. Hedge my bets, instead of sending to 1 person & then it being a disaster and then wasting more time to find someone else. I think this task, took nearly 6-8 weeks longer for me to complete things and I was just getting more and more frustrated each time! Ugh… So, outsource to 4 or 5 people at the same time or just do it myself. 
2. As per my goals, I also launched and held a few different webinars. I did a sales webinar on how to optimize your sales proposals. I still see so many poorly written sales proposals. It really astonishes me, that people don't see that this is the first touch point that that a client receives from you. Need to make sure it provides an ideal experience.  I'll make sure the link is available. Remember, that this is the first official deliverable that your client is to get fr