Discovery

In these last two weeks winter has set in in Ireland. This year it is accompanied by consistently cold weather, freezing streets, lots of time in front of a fire, and of course very short days. After a bout of low spirits, no internal drive, and loss of belief in self, I needed to rediscover ways to combat winter sluggishness. Several things have helped a lot -- some old, some new. On the list of things I have done before are: Kelly Howells brain sync meditations (I'm going to sleep at night after listening to the Secret Meditation), jumping on the rebounder, standing on it in the kitchen when my hips hurt, taking fish oil, etc. nutrients and vitamins, and rediscovering the importance of regular workouts.

I have also discovered some new wrinkles in vibrational medicine. While this will be a longer story, one that I tell in the journey to optimal health series, for now it is just important to know that there are patches with holograms on them that have proven to me to be successful in raising my energetic levels back to a pre-winter norm. What I like about these new ideas in medicine are that they are in alignment with the concept of the body as energy, and therefore much more malleable to small directional changes within the current Western medical model would allow for. I envision a future where our current medical system seems brutal because we have developed effective and efficient but subtle solution to ill health.

On the business front, I've recently had some great conversations with my friend Patrick, and he is introduced me to a potential new business model. He suggests that over the course of the next period of time I begin to fold my multiple websites into one and use the URL www.AlanaJames.com. He introduced me to www.David McWilliams.ie, the site for an economist in Ireland. It's a good model and one I will consider as I move forward.

Measurable Action
I finished the first iteration of the consulting brochure, with measurements coming in from one of my students and Patrick to help me hone the words. It gets its first test in the real world this coming Thursday as I go into Dublin for a networking meeting. It's Patrick's supposition that I don't want to continue with the Small Firms Association. Therefore, I will be testing out when I think about the Association, and how well it fit with its members, as well.

I did some good printing yesterday, as I not only put together the brochure ware, and the business card for action research consultants but also published two nice-looking brochure packages and sent out the Bahraini proposal in hard copy. It's a nice model, and one I would not hesitate to use again.

I bought the domain www.actionresearchconsultants.com. I put a hold on www.AlanaJames.com. I don't know how the whole hold system works, so unfortunately that adds to my workload. However how are I move forward with websites will not be decided until January when Tracesea, Margie and I do a little retreat and discuss plans for 2011. The 'who will do the work to help' question will be one to sort out, as Tracesea will be a mom by February.

I finally got the first products up on the different websites. I also have made my first €20 through Amazon. Monetizing the sites is a slow process. The funny thing is I can't quite figure out how to I actually got paid at Amazon, so the money have it transferred yet. I will buy myself some lovely something for my Kindle when I do -- a celebration.

Finally, I have started to pull together a new mind movie.  During a Skype conversation I found a new web toy which may allow me to take a picture of myself with money floating down. It's a great visual, and a future measurement is to see how fast I can get this mind movie together. My goal is to have it working prior to the time I leave on the 17th.

The book is also progressing. Chapter 7 was rough drafted and will be sent on to Tracesea for edits today. Chapter 8 has been fleshed out and I will finish drafting it this weekend. The hundred and one articles in the hundred days is also progressing. With Tracesea putting them up after I write them the task became doable. It just goes to show that if the speaker dreams are going to continue I must always make sure that I have the help I need running in the background.

Reflections
It's good to lay out what has been going on by doing this reflective protocol. It helps me see the forest instead of just the trees. It's nice to live up to my own standards, and as I write more and more about action research and the need for reflective practice I must also commit to doing it myself. Along with reflective practice I want to commit to continuing as a writer for an entire year. That would mean 365 articles or solid pieces of writing to be done during 2011. With the house fill-in for Christmas, and the dark evenings and mornings, I settled into a nice routine on getting lots of writing done. The challenge be out of work ahead so that travel doesn't put me behind. And 2011 has quite a bit of travel in it.

Patrick's vision is that at the end of the day it's all about me, and I'm branding myself across the web. I mind that less and less as I get used to the idea and I see others doing it. It's interesting because it takes me back to a place I left behind before the Zappa quilt adventure.  What comes with that brand would be a greater participation in speaking events, which of course I would love. It's just the steps from here to there that are still vague. The interaction in all of these decisions is between business and marketing. Of course websites are one strong marketing tool, if when you can get traffic to them. Handing out brochures is another marketing tool, but then you have to get brochures in the hands of people who need the information. I am also considering direct marketing in some way, but then I have to know who I am marketing to and how to get to them. Each idea brings questions with it.

What do I want to do with my life? What are the legacy I want to me? The greatest woman is that people should follow their dreams. I built up a lot of wisdom about dream following and I want to pass it on and be an inspiration for those who need it at the time they need it most. This is what I want to do with my life. The fact that I have some expertise in action research may get me in the door to talk to people and businesses who in essence just want to follow their dreams. I would love to speak to large audiences, so how do I become a Martha Wielder? Hers is a model we should look at -- whether others?
Yes
I remember networking events as being people without jobs meeting other people without jobs -- or at least those who are not where they want to be meeting those were also not where you want to be. Not that some interesting new contacts Happen, or that they aren't a good place to test out a new idea, I am also looking to pass the word about action research consultants to an audience that may actually have work. I just have to trust that action research consultants is clearly a good solid path and let that path open in front of me. It's time for some synchronicity to set in.

The websites continue to be one of the burdens on my life that crunch my time. Having help has been beneficial. Perhaps I don't use them enough, or perhaps I'm just slow in making certain kinds of progressions, I need to put certain new tasks up on my list of things to do before the end of January. These include e-mail responses to people who sign up for the site -- auto responders. I see now that my actions take me to a vision that has some challenges. These include: my sites will always be relatively small on traffic because mine ideas and directions are not part of the norm. Therefore to make a quick students to business products profitable, do I need to have multiple sites that lead people to the same buying outcomes? This would be a strategy much like having multiple stores but only selling a few things.

The nice thing about websites is that they can come and go relatively easily. One of the questions that I bring to my yearly retreat is how to first and fastest make money on the web? I think, that doctoral net.com can be a moneymaker. But, I need a model in another sector to see how to do it. I don't think reinventing my or futures probably will ever make much money. If Tracesea agrees with me we may bring those down in order to launch something different. These feel like courageous ideas, because it's ditching something I have years in. Perhaps though I have enough courage to cut out the things that are not currently serving my vision.

The new mind movie then becomes a potentially critical component. We'll see how it goes.