This will be a short post, because what I have to say is pretty straightforward.

I have finally come to the conclusion that, although I am really damn good at lots of different things, the time has come to SPECIALIZE. Yes, that dreaded word, the one that means saying ‘no’ to some things and saying ‘yes’ to the Right Things.

(And what this means is that sometimes, you say no for now to things that might be Right Things later.)

My Right Things

So, in the interests of being really awesome at a few things, here are the things I love doing, that I would do for free if it weren’t for the fact that my electric bills can’t be paid in warm fuzzies, and that I would love more than anything to do for you:

Websites, logos, and Twitter backgrounds.

And also, very very soon, coaching for creative rockstars like you. Except it might not be called coaching, I haven’t decided yet.

This doesn’t mean that I won’t ever ever do the other things on my current Services page; I can still do them and do them in an awesome way. And I will still offer them, but one of my lovely Ninjas will do it for you instead.

So. It’s your turn. What are your Right Things? What do you love?

I want to start by saying that it was surprising to me when I realized that the reason I have a unique (and sometimes frustrating) way of organizing and keeping track of my work is because I am both a Creative Artist and a Spock-like Logician.

I have always identified myself as a logical person.

Like Spock, I love when things make sense, and when they are predictable. I love patterns. I see patterns everywhere, and this makes the world make sense to me. It’s comforting to know what comes next. (Maybe this isn’t actually comforting to Spock, but it sure as heck makes my life easier.)

But the more I planned things for my logical self, expecting that more organization was going to make my work even easier, the more my creative self rebelled.

My creative self didn’t want to be told what to do, or when to do it, or even HOW to do it. My creative self wanted me to leave it alone, and when I didn’t, it would slam the door and sulk and do nothing but feel sorry for itself. (My Spock-self was completely unimpressed by this behavior.)

Despite this upsetting problem, I kept trying to organize my thoughts and my projects and my work and my life. I used Google Docs. I hacked a moleskine-type notebook in GTD fashion. I tried text files, sticky notes all over my desk, note cards, and even more notebooks. I tried emailing myself, so it would all stay in my inbox. I tried Remember the Milk and the voice recorder in my phone.

The thing that was the most confusing for me was that all of that stuff worked… part of the time.

Figuring out why it didn’t work the rest of the time, however? My poor logical pattern-seeing brain got pretty tired of trying to understand it.

Still, life (and work) had to go on, so I kept floundering through, using what worked as long as it worked, and discarding the rest. It was sad, throwing away those different ways of doing things. Sometimes I would even go back and try them again after a few weeks, out of guilt or loyalty, but inevitably I would have to abandon them again.

Then I found Charlie and his free planners, and heaven opened and a chorus of rainbows started singing hallelujah.

When I happened upon those free planners, I noticed something profound that had never occurred to me before: there is NO ONE RIGHT WAY to be productive, and there is NO ONE RIGHT WAY to plan how and why and where you are going to do things.

It’s difficult to encapsulate here what I learned from trying Charlie’s planners, because – like all my other attempts at finding The Perfect System – I stopped using them after a few weeks. Yes, I was hooked, but one day I didn’t need to specifically plan anything, and the next day I forgot to, and it was some time before I picked them up again.

And when I picked them up again, I had another epiphany about my particular special awesome brand of productivity: sometimes I need to plan out every single thing, and sometimes I don’t. AND THAT IS MY NORMAL.

Digital + physical are my Perfect System.

When I say “perfect,” that’s very tongue-in-cheek. It’s not actually perfect, because I am not perfect. (My inner Spock disagrees with this.) My creativity is not perfect, and neither are the patterns I see. Yes, all the patterns are connected, but they are all organic and unique and they can change. Knowing that, I can support myself and my way of being and doing, by using a combination of things that serve me well.

I use Charlie’s Premium Planners and 3×5 notecards for planning, taking notes, and keeping track of whatever I need to keep track of. I like the Premium Planners because, unlike his free planners, I have access to the entire year’s worth of dailies and monthlies and overviews, and I can print off as many as I want. (The free planners still rock, but you can only get a month at a time.)

Digitally speaking, I use Google services (Gmail, Docs, Calendar, Voice, Talk), Backpack, and Freckle. (I’ll write more about Backpack and Freckle another day.)

This combination gives me near-perfect flexibility, redundancy, and portability. There are a lot more great digital options than there are great physical options, and I consider myself ridiculously blessed to have found Charlie’s planner system.

Spock is happy now, because his creative half is being taken care of without screwing up his whole perfectly-planned-out day. Most of the time.

I think Spock just needs a hug.

P.S. Yes, I’ll get paid if you buy anything through my links. If I value something enough, I will recommend it with an affiliate link.

Today, I hired one of my beautiful best friends as an assistant.

This was A REALLY HARD decision to make, probably far harder than it needed to be.

I kept telling myself that I just needed to be MORE PRODUCTIVE and that would fix it.

Now, compared to some, I don’t have a ridiculously overflowing inbox. My client list is manageable, and my project timetable works for me; and when it doesn’t, I adjust it.

I am used to being captain of my boat, first mate, and cabin boy, all rolled into one. Entrepreneurs are like this, you see: we can do all these different things in tandem. We are really good at multitasking when we need to (which is a lot of the time). We can wear many hats, and most of us learn how to take all the unnecessary hats off at the end of the day, and just be ourselves for a while. Most of us learn how to de-stress so that we can enjoy the beautifully unique life we have built with our own capable hands.

Recently, however, my boat has become a ship, and the ship has begun to sail. I am not just sitting here fishing in the (plentiful) shallows. I have been pulled, gently at first, into a current that moves me faster and faster each day that goes by.

Translation: MORE WORK COMING IN, SAME AMOUNT OF TIME TO ACCOMPLISH IT.

Not only that, but some of this new work is coming in the form of incredibly brilliant ideas from my own mind, ideas that need to become the Thing they were meant to be.

How am I supposed to get all this done and maintain my sanity and my health?

Answer: I can’t.

I can’t do it.

That’s because it IS actually too much. I needed someone to share the burden, to take some of the stress away, and to help my ship sail smooth and true.

I tried comparing myself to other people I know who have assistants (trying to figure out if I was THERE yet), but in the end, that’s just ridiculous. I’m not them, and they’re not me. They don’t have my inbox. They don’t have this amazing business. They don’t do things the way I do, because I’m the one who does them that way.

Now the lesson to learn is this: giving up control is not a bad thing.

Learning to let go of things I don’t need to hold on to is probably the best thing possible for me right now.

Finding a person to trust them with is even better: My new Caffeinated Ninja, Sarah (@leianajade on Twitter), is on board the ship with me now.

(It’s mindblowing to me that I am busy enough to need an assistant. OMG I’M A TWO-PERSON CREW!)

In this series, I have been discussing the lessons I learned from being in a failed business. This is part two; read part one here.

Since you might not have been here for the first post, and you might not feel like reading it right now (and that’s okay – bookmark it for later if you like), I’ll quickly summarize why I am writing these posts.

The Reason I’m Writing Is Simple

I was part of a failed business, several years ago. Not only was it disappointing that it failed, but it was heartbreaking because it was a family business. It barely lasted a year, and the lessons I learned from that experience will stay with me for the rest of my life.

I’m writing this series so that you can learn from the mistakes we made.

The first lesson was don’t use money you didn’t earn to build your business, because invisible money produces invisible results.

Second Lesson: Figure out who your business is for BEFORE you take the plunge.

I know you’re really super enthusiastic about your new business idea. I know it’s near to your heart in some way, or you wouldn’t even be considering it.

I know you care about the way you’re going to do things, and that you’re so excited about planning what you’ll be doing.

Newsflash: Your business isn’t for YOU.

Does that sound weird to you? Counter-intuitive?

Your business is for your customers, not for you. Your business is for what your clients need. It’s for who they are and who they want to be. Your business is FROM you, out of your heart and your experience and knowledge – but it isn’t FOR you. It’s for them.

And unless you know who they are, you won’t succeed in the way you are supposed to.

So who are they anway? How do you figure that out?

Finding out who your target market is – the people your business is for – requires you to use your imagination.

Imagine that your perfect person (your target market) has a name. We can use my perfect person as an example: her name is Jane.

Jane’s super-short bio

My perfect person Jane is pretty awesome. She has two kids and is an entrepreneur. (This means she works from home.) Her highest priority is being there for her kids, and after that comes providing for them, for herself, and keeping her car in working order.

Jane knows that her business needs a website, and not just any old website – she needs a WordPress website with a hefty dose of kickass and awesome, so that it showcases her abilities and talents and positions her as an authority in her field of expertise. Jane also knows that good design costs money, so she has some saved up, and wants a designer who isn’t going to leave her hanging after she’s trusted them with her budget and her budding business.

Can you see why it’s valuable to know who your target market is?

Since I know Jane values her family even more than she values her business, I already know that she’s the sort of person I’ll really click with.

And since I know that she’s careful with her money and only does what she knows she needs to – which includes taking risks like starting a business from home – then I know that I need to make sure my trustworthiness comes across in my marketing, in the way I communicate with all my clients, and particularly in how well I treat Jane.

Just in case you forgot the point of this post, here’s what happens when you don’t figure out your target market first:

You fail, and you fail BIG.

Our company was a mortgage company, and we thought HEY AWESOME, EVERYONE NEEDS A MORTGAGE, WHEE! Which, truthfully, is mostly true. A lot of people do need a mortgage, because most people can’t (or don’t) save up enough money to buy a house in cash.

However, we started to decide after we opened our doors that we were going to target first-time homebuyers. We had a lot of compassion for the inexperienced youngsters who needed a lot of hand-holding and guidance, and we wanted to be the trusted business people who could help them with their transaction, and remain honest and above reproach the entire time.

That was AWESOME. Except that we didn’t figure it out until we had already spent way more money than necessary on the building and the furniture and the sign. We didn’t think of marketing materials until we needed them, like, yesterday. We didn’t think of how to answer the phone. We didn’t think of what our business cards should say.

We dropped the ball and it cost us the business.

Don’t drop the ball!

If you don’t know who your target market is – whatever stage of the game you are in, figure it out right now. Your perfect people are waiting for you.

If you need help figuring it out, you can hire me as your coach. I’d love to help you out. :) My consulting and coaching rates are on my Services page.

So many people are talking about what their 2009 was like, and I’ve enjoyed reading about what’s been awesome and what’s been changing things for other people this year.

This is my business blog, and I’m writing my 2009 wrap-up extravaganza thank-you post here because my business has changed incredibly this year, and it’s because of you.

The clients who took a chance on me

Some of you just wanted someone to take care of something quickly. Some of you needed a helping hand, a person to brainstorm along with you. Some of you wanted a great design, and some of you changed your mind about what you wanted during the process (and that’s okay!).

Some of you were so happy to have me making you something awesome. Some of you didn’t really care one way or the other, but you were satisfied with the exchange of value when you got what you paid for.

Some of you have become my friends. Some of you will be my business partners in the upcoming year. Some of you make me smile, bring me joy, and lift me up when I’m feeling sincerely down for whatever silly life-related reason.

Regardless of why you needed me, I’m so glad we worked together this year. I have become a better designer, a better helper, and a better business person because of all of you. Thank you.

The mentors who taught me about business and marketing

This year, I knew I needed help being a great business person, and I knew my business needed help too; so I turned to a handful of incredibly great, authentic, occasionally irreverent, AWESOME people to help me.

This thank you is for Charlie, for Naomi, for Dave, and for Sonia. This thank you is for Johnny, for Pace and Kyeli, and for Havi. This thank you is for Clay and Goddess Leonie and Mark. I read your blogs, I buy your stuff, I listen to what you say. I absorb and I learn and I try to apply the valuable gems you give me. I am so glad I found you, and I look forward to learning more from you as you journey this next year into better and bigger things.

My children and my husband

Most importantly of all the people in my life, I learned from my children. I learned not to work non-stop. I learned to remember why I do what I do. I learned to say ‘no’ or ‘not right now’ to the work that calls my name even when I am doing something else important.

I learned to be so very grateful to be home with them, not to have to leave them and go to an office building somewhere, and to have the luxury of taking a day off simply because I want to be with them.

From my husband, I have learned so much about communication. We are so different in many ways, and in learning how best to love him and speak to him, I have learned how to be a better person. He has been my support, my strong shoulder to cry on, and my biggest and most honest fan. He reads what I write, he lets me tell him what I’m learning, and he helps filter the world for me so I can always figure out where I am.

What will the new year bring?

I don’t know what this next year will be like. I didn’t know everything I would learn this year, and I had no idea how far I would come.

Next year, I think that once again, life will surprise me. Things will be better than I expect. Some of the plans I’m already making will fall through, and other better ones will take their place.

(Hopefully next year, I won’t be posting why I shaved my head, ha!)

What was your year like? I’d love to hear about it. :)