Focus Group – a wonderful thing

Welcome back!

Today I woke up and decided to ‘get my shit in one sock’ – a delightful expression given to me by my soon-to-be-ex-husband which felt perfect for my mood.

So I was up and washed and dressed by 7.45am – take note Nicola (the woman who was still in her nightie at 2pm yesterday) – and ready for the garage to come pick up my Sedona that I’d scraped at Christmas time squeezing into my sister’s driveway… Yes, it had been something I’d been ignoring for months but last week, with a surge of energy from eating more raw food, I’d gotten it mot’d and serviced and the chewed up seatbelt (courtesy of my mutt Jasper) was replaced in readiness for being sold. The scrape is the final thing to sort, then bye bye fun bus …. she will soon be appearing on eBay *sniff*

Why am I selling? Cos I need the money basically – a wonderfully easy car to drive with enough room to swing a small child or 6 in, it is just too extravagant for my needs and I’ve got to pay the bills somehow until I get my affiliate marketing business off the ground (that’s another blog post alllllll together). I’ll post a photo and details on here too when I get it back in case you know someone who’d love to buy it.

So, with my new sense of getting on with things, I sat down and trawled through my email and actually DELETED stuff that I know I’ll never read which was actually a HUGE relief. I will start unsubscribing from things now as they come in, my criteria being – if I don’t want to read it straight away then it’s not good enough to get my attention, so LET IT GO.

Reading through I saw Nicola’s post about her new Google group to help people focus. WOO HOO I thought and signed up straight away! Then I thought ‘bugger’ I now have to think about what I want to do today and write it down and be ummmmm accountable… Here is what I sent in:

ok, i’m joining in!

1. Create spreadsheets for my personal finances

2. Move money around based on that info

3. Find the back up discs from my old computer and install files on my laptop ready for more sorting of finances

4. Write a blog entry on http://www.thevirtualhammock.com/blog (for Judith’s info *grin*) and not worry about how it looks or sorting it out first

5. Contact at least one mortgage company or broker about trying to get a mortgage for a flat over a restaurant…. will post on other group about this too

The idea is that you then have to report in every hour or so and update the group on what you’ve actually DONE to achieve your daily goals… WellI’ve actually been pretty good at doing that and this is the last one I sent in…

Ummmm well that didn’t go too well

Done

> phoned Virgin and downgraded tv package to save money

> received phone call from broker – he’s found one lender that will lend subject to valuers comments… 6.39% 2 yrs fixed £1200 fees plus the £8400 to move from my current lender
> did some quick research on cheaper cars as I’m about to sell my Kia Sedona to get a cheap run-a-round
> emailed ex requesting help with school fees…
> emailed buyers of my property to find out what’s happening and to see if they want to adopt my dog
> phoned solicitor and made appointment

> booked dog into kennels forFriday, ready for going to London for Alan Forrest Smith’s marketing workshop on Saturday!!!

Still to do

> paperwork to sort and file *sigh*
> take another look at Nicola’s spreadsheet, find discs, write blog

What have I learned?

> I get distracted easily
> I underestimate how long things take – especially with kids at home
> I need to close down Skype and MSN to help me focus I should do the
> stuff I REALLY don’t want to do first

But I HAVE done a load of stuff – and because I told the group I can see I’ve done stuff and don’t feel like a failure!!! YAY! I’ve also started tackling stuff I’ve been ignoring for ages, which has gotta be a good thing. And I have a new slogan..

I’m not perfect but… I’m having a go!


bookmark Focus Group   a wonderful thing

One Response

  1. Nicola Cairncross Says:

    Sarah, that is brilliant and I’m even more delighted to see a blog posting about it.

    Two suggestions – go see where to configure your blog so it uses your blog title to index the postings rather than a number – not sure where you do that but it’s easy to find.

    Secondly, when you mention your car in the key words, might be a good idea to add “for sale” and “for sale b owner” and “worthing” and “west sussex” in there, then you have more chance of someone looking for a “kia sedona by sale by owner sussex” finding you!

    One last thing, have you set up a Google Alert on your own name so you can see how quickly Google picks up your postings? And is your blog configured so that you are named as the author?

    Sorry to give you more to do, but it’s important as I want you to start getting results to encourage you in your stirling efforts!

    Nicola xxx

Leave a Comment

Please note: Comment moderation is enabled and may delay your comment. There is no need to resubmit your comment.