I can’t believe it’s been 4 months since I last wrote here.  Unfortunately, in the grand scheme of things, when priorities overwhelm and activities need to get cut, this is one of the first to go and last to come back as this is more of an online journal and testing ground for me and doesn’t tie into the business I’m building.

Looking at where things were when I last wrote, there has been a fair amount of progress.  The biggest change comes in the form of a high concept.

A high concept is something that I picked up from one of the mentors.  It’s the idea that there should be an overarching idea that is unique to me and my products that frames what I do, what I teach, and how I empower others. 

While I’ve always been focused on systems and processes, there was a theme that I started picking up the more I worked with folks.  Really, nobody wants systems and processes.  Nobody wants effectiveness, efficiency, and productivity.  People want outcomes, and all of these things are just things people have to do to get outcomes.

As I thought about that (and that there are tons of people talking about systems, processes, efficiency, etc.) I realized that could be my high concept – a focus on optimizing around outcomes.  It’s what I was doing anyway when working with folks… talking to them about their businesses and what they were trying to achieve, then problem solving with them about realigning what they were doing to support those outcomes.

This led me to register a new domain and commission a new logo.  The center of everything now is www.optimizeforoutcomes.com.  This is also how I define the high concept of what I do.  I help companies identify the right outcomes, then align and optimize the work they are doing to achieve those outcomes.

The webinar I discussed last time never happened – the mentor has been too preoccupied with other things to make that work, but I do have another one potentially coming up that should produce some better results.  With the new high concept, this will be my first presentation to a large audience.

I’ve been building out a framework that aligns to this high concept as well – a tool that businesses can use to map their businesses and see where they are out of alignment in achieving their outcomes.  It’s close to done and will be another freebie that I use to generate buzz for paid consulting hours and an eventual program I’ll sell around implementing the framework with much more detail.

I’ve also been releasing tech videos specific to using technology to optimize and automate.  I’m doing that once a week and building some momentum there as well.  I’ve picked a couple technologies (ActiveCampaign, Zapier, and Airtable) and have been hyper-focused on those.

The last thing I’ve been eyeballing is writing a book.  I’ve wanted to do this for a while and have been researching options on self-publishing.  I’ve got someone who is an expert in this arena that I met through one of the Facebook groups I’m in, and plan on using her to help me once I’m ready to dive in and have the funds to support this the right way.

That’s it for now – need to get back to the grind.  I’d like to commit to writing more here and getting back to a regular cadence, but the truth is, if things get crazy busy again, this will be the first to drop.

And the photo is one I took recently on a drive through Western Washington. It’s a picture of Mount Rainier, not far from Seattle.

Until next time.