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Weekly review: Week ending December 21, 2012

Categories: weekly Posted on December 23rd, 2012 by Sacha Chua

Quite a week indeed! Hosting people for tea, going to two dinners with friends, preparing for hosting W-’s family…

Doing lots of sales and marketing, too. I figured out a name for my company: Experivis! =) (Story) I’ll keep working on the site and the other sales/marketing materials after the break.

From last week’s plans

CD – could delegate?; PD – partly delegated!

Business

  • [X] Earn: E1: Check in on E1 and theme
  • [X] Earn: Review I2 sketches
  • Earn: Sent v3 of I2 sketches
  • [X] Earn: Follow up on Hardlines (CD)
  • [P] Earn: Send Hardlines invoice – waiting for them to get back to me (CD)
  • [X] Build: Try including Criselda in weekly review sessions – next delegation goal: data entry
  • [X] Build: Share marketing resources with Tipera
  • [X] Connect: Have lunch with Karim (Third Ocean)
  • [X] Connect: Get together with Rafael and Adnan regarding their startup idea
  • [C] Connect: Sketchnote ENT101 – none until January
  • [X] Connect: Connect with other sketchnoters / graphic recorders/facilitators
  • [X] Build: Experiment with using mornings for coding – yay!
  • Connect: Shared sketchnoting tips with Tamara (CD – writer/artist?)
  • Connect: Reached out to HRPA on Twitter, got a retweet
  • Build: Requested review copy of Visual Leaders (CD – writer)
  • Build: Worked on marketing copy oriented towards conference organizers, with help from Tipera (PD)
  • Build: Created website for Experivis (CD – WordPress)
  • Build: Set up galleries on Experivis (CD – WordPress)
  • Build: Wrote bios for Experivis (CD – writer)
  • Build: Improved templates for main site (CD – WordPress)
  • Build: Reviewed copy and layout for leave-behind marketing material (PD)
  • Build: Redirected subdomains to pages on my main blog (CD – WordPress)
  • Build: Documented process for requesting review copies
  • Build: Balanced my business books (CD – bookkeeper; 8 minutes)

Relationships

  • [X] Host get-together
  • [X] Have dinner with Rachel Lane and friends
  • [X] Have dinner with David Ing and friends
  • [X] Attend krav fitness class – survived, yay!
  • [X] Spend time with W-
  • Help prepare for family party

Life

  • [X] Write more personal stories
  • Quantified Awesome: Added split-by-midnight option (CD – Rails)
  • Quantified Awesome: Crunched my time data (CD – analytics)
  • Updated financial tracking spreadsheet
  • Updated ledger and broke down credit card transactions into separate monthly categories for easier doublechecking

Plans for next week

Business

  • [ ] Take a break! =)

Relationships

  • [ ] Host get-together for W-’s family

Life

  • [ ] Have massage
  • [ ] Review year
  • [ ] Choose blog highlights
  • [ ] Analyze blog following this pattern

Time review

  • Business: 37.5 hours (Connect: 13.6, Drawing: 0.8, Illustration: 1.9, Coding: 4.5)
  • Discretionary: 30.0 hours (Social: 12.6, Writing: 8.9)
  • Personal: 21.7 hours (Routines: 14.3)
  • Sleep: 62.3 hours – average of 8.9 hours per day
  • Unpaid work: 16.5 hours (Commuting: 5.2, Cook: 2.8, Tidy: 6.8)

Blog posts

My favourite post from this week was #4, because I spent more time thinking about the sales and marketing for my business. Runner-up: #5 (my time analysis) because I crunched lots of numbers and learned a little more about how I use time.

  1. Weekly review: Week ending December 14, 2012
  2. Decision review: Art class (includes sketches)
  3. Tips for growing as a sketchnoter
  4. Imagining sketchnotes as a business
  5. Quantified Self: Learning from a year of time data and planning what to tweak in 2013
  6. Delegation: Being clear about what you value

  7. Understanding how I’m changing as a speaker

Short URL: http://sachachua.com/blog/p/24273

Categories: weekly Add Comment »

Weekly review: Week ending December 14, 2012

Categories: weekly Posted on December 15th, 2012 by Sacha Chua

My sister and her husband welcomed the newest addition to the clan. My parents are over the moon – their first grandchild. =) How exciting!

As for me, lots of meetings with people and lots of time spent in the subway. It felt like a slow week, but looking back, I can see that I got a lot of stuff done.

W- convinced me to go to Thursday’s krav fitness class. I’m glad I didn’t chicken out because of a sore ankle. I took it easy and modified any exercise that involved more impact, but it felt good to stay active even though I was definitely not working as hard as the other participants were.

From last week’s plans

Business

  • [P] Earn: Check in on E1 and theme
  • [X] Build: Sketchnote ENT101
  • [X] Connect: Go to MaRS Book Club
  • [X] Connect: Have coffee with Zak Homuth
  • [X] Connect: Chat with Tipera Cleveland about business coaching, brainstorm business ideas
  • [X] Build: Sketch out sketchnote success vision
  • Build: Brainstormed marketing with Tipera Cleveland
  • Build: Sketched flowchart for I2
  • Earn: Produced e-book of Hardlines talk
  • Connect: Reached out to Dscribe and other graphic recorders/facilitators
  • Connect: Met with Assaf Weisz about events, VentureDeli
  • Connect: Had lunch with Bonnie Lui about events, coworking spaces, digital agencies
  • Connect: Talked to Joshua Kauffman, Carlos Rizo, Eric Boyd about Quantified Self
  • Build: Recorded podcast on digital sketchnoting with Mike Rohde

Relationships

  • [X] Get ready for get-together
  • [P] Host get-together (this is actually Saturday, so it’s included in next week’s review)
  • [C] Attend Gabriel Mansour’s improv show? – had introvert day
  • [X] Go to fitness class – survived, yay!
  • [P] Watch the Hobbit! =) – postponed

Life

  • [P] Sketch 5-year plan

Plans for next week

Business

  • [ ] Earn: Check in on E1 and theme
  • [ ] Earn: Review I2 sketches
  • [ ] Earn: Follow up on Hardlines; send invoice
  • [ ] Build: Try including Criselda in weekly review sessions
  • [ ] Build: Share marketing resources with Tipera
  • [ ] Connect: Have lunch with Karim (Third Ocean)
  • [ ] Connect: Get together with Rafael and Adnan regarding their startup idea
  • [ ] Connect: Sketchnote ENT101
  • [ ] Connect: Connect with other sketchnoters / graphic recorders/facilitators
  • [ ] Build: Experiment with using mornings for coding

Relationships

  • [X] Host get-together
  • [ ] Have dinner with Rachel Lane and friends
  • [ ] Have dinner with David Ing and friends
  • [ ] Attend krav fitness class
  • [ ] Spend time with W-

Life

  • [ ] Write more personal stories

Time review

I missed having this kind of summary, and since I have the code to do this easily, I might as well. =)

  • Business: 35.9 hours (Connect: 7.8, Drawing: 9.8, Illustration: 3.3)
  • Discretionary: 17.6 hours (Social: 9.3, Writing: 3.8)
  • Personal: 29.9 hours (Routines: 16.3)
  • Sleep: 64.6 hours – average of 9.2 hours per day
  • Unpaid work: 20.0 hours (Commuting: 8.0, Cook: 6.5, Tidy: 2.0)

I slept a lot this week!

Short URL: http://sachachua.com/blog/p/24170

Categories: weekly Add Comment »

Weekly review: Week ending December 7, 2012

Categories: weekly Posted on December 9th, 2012 by Sacha Chua

I sprained my ankle in fitness class, but I’m almost back to normal. It’s been quite an eventful week! I’m getting closer to the uncertain parts of my business adventure, which is good because that’s what makes an experiment an experiment. This December, I want to build the foundation for good marketing and sales. There’s so much to learn. =)

Sketchnoting Lean Startup Day was a blast – and it got me past one of my first milestones in this line of business. Onward and upward!

From last week’s plans

Business

  • [X] Earn: Sketchnote MaRS Lean Startup Day
  • [X] Earn: E1: Check in on theme, prepare performance improvements (Tue)
  • [X] Earn: Talk to N regarding sketchnotes (Wed)
  • [X] Connect: Sketchnote AngelHackTO
  • [X] Connect: Attend Dan Roam’s lecture at Rotman (Tue)
  • [X] Connect: Attend Toronto Holiday Tech Social (Tue)
  • [X] Connect: Reconnect with Curtis Voisin (Wed)
  • [P] Connect: Reconnect with Sharon Sehdev about connecting (Fri)
  • [X] Connect: Talk to Gary Wolf about delegation
  • [X] Build: Revisit scribing course
  • [-] Build: Document sketchnote workflow some more
  • [-] Build: Get ready for business brainstorming sessions
  • Build: Said no to a potential client because I really should focus
  • Build: Practised calm and polite responses to unhappy ex-contractor. We’ll see how that turns out.
  • Build: Sent sales letter! =)
  • Build: Brainstormed one-page explanation of conference sketchnoting service

Relationships

  • [X] Go to krav fitness class on Thursday
  • [X] Attend Eric Boyd’s birthday party
  • [X] Cook a ton of food and restock the freezer
  • Helped my dad with Android photography tips
  • Set up my mom on Google Hangout

Life

  • [-] Go for a nice long walk (1-2 hours)
  • [X] Finally sit down and write those monthly reviews
  • Sprained my ankle; almost back to normal!

Plans for next week

Business

  • [ ] Earn: Check in on E1 and theme
  • [ ] Build: Sketchnote ENT101
  • [ ] Connect: Go to MaRS Book Club
  • [ ] Connect: Have coffee with Zak Homuth
  • [ ] Connect: Chat with Tipera Cleveland about business coaching, brainstorm business ideas
  • [ ] Build: Sketch out sketchnote success vision

Relationships

  • [ ] Get ready for get-together
  • [ ] Host get-together
  • [ ] Attend Gabriel Mansour’s improv show?
  • [ ] Go to fitness class
  • [ ] Watch the Hobbit! =)

Life

  • [ ] Sketch 5-year plan

Short URL: http://sachachua.com/blog/p/24144

Categories: weekly Add Comment »

Weekly review: Week ending November 30, 2012

Categories: weekly Posted on December 2nd, 2012 by Sacha Chua

Lots of sketchnoting last week and this week! =D

From last week’s plans

Business

  • [X] Earn: H: Revise presentation
  • [X] Earn: H: Send invoice
  • [X] Earn: H: Give presentation
  • [X] Earn: E1: Wrap up consulting before December break
  • [X] Build: Attend art class
  • [X] Build: Sketchnote content marketing webinar
  • [X] Build: Learn about launching online businesses
  • [X] Connect: Have lunch with Scott and Nolin, discuss sketchnotes
  • [X] Connect: Attend Awesome Foundation pitch night
  • [X] Connect: Sketchnote Entrepreneurship 101
  • Build: Improved scheduling process
  • Build: Learned more about using Trello to manage my tasks
  • Earn: Added more logos to Lean Startup Day template
  • Build: Flesh out sketchnoting business idea
  • Earn: E1: Signed contract extension and submitted it
  • Connect: Helped mom with copyediting “About Us”
  • Build: Cleaned up web host files
  • Earn: Deposited cheques, yay!
  • Connect: Discussed sketchnotes with Alex Chong
  • Build: Sorted out tax instalments

Relationships

  • [X] Cook a lot!
  • [X] Spend time together relaxing
  • [X] Put package together for family – to mail on Tuesday

Life

  • [X] Attend women’s self-defense course

Plans for next week

Business

  • [ ] Earn: Sketchnote MaRS Lean Startup Day
  • [ ] Earn: E1: Check in on theme, prepare performance improvements (Tue)
  • [ ] Earn: Talk to N regarding sketchnotes (Wed)
  • [X] Connect: Sketchnote AngelHackTO
  • [ ] Connect: Attend Dan Roam’s lecture at Rotman (Tue)
  • [ ] Connect: Attend Toronto Holiday Tech Social (Tue)
  • [ ] Connect: Reconnect with Curtis Voisin (Wed)
  • [ ] Connect: Reconnect with Sharon Sehdev about connecting (Fri)
  • [ ] Connect: Talk to Gary Wolf about delegation
  • [ ] Build: Revisit scribing course
  • [ ] Build: Document sketchnote workflow some more
  • [ ] Build: Get ready for business brainstorming sessions

Relationships

  • [ ] Go to krav fitness class on Thursday
  • [ ] Attend Eric Boyd’s birthday party
  • [X] Cook a ton of food and restock the freezer

Life

  • [ ] Go for a nice long walk (1-2 hours)
  • [ ] Finally sit down and write those monthly reviews

Short URL: http://sachachua.com/blog/p/24100

Categories: weekly Add Comment »

Weekly review: Week ending November 23, 2012

Categories: weekly Posted on November 24th, 2012 by Sacha Chua

Temperatures are dropping! Time to break out the winter gear.

From last week’s plans

Business

  • [X] Earn: E1 – social business consulting – Tue, Wed, Thu
  • [X] Earn: Draw banner for Lean Startup Day at MaRS (Fri)
  • [C] Connect: Sketchnote Rotman event
  • [X] Connect: Interview another virtual assistant
  • [X] Connect: Reconnect with Sameer Vasta
  • [X] Connect: Talk to Bilal Jaffery about tweetchats
  • [X] Connect: Participate in/sketchnote Girl Geeks Toronto discussion night
  • [X] Connect: Discuss helping Girl Geeks Toronto out
  • [X] Connect: Sketchnote Entrepreneurship 101
  • [X] Connect: Sketchnote Venus Ventures Town Hall, or take a break that evening?
  • [X] Build: Go to art classes
  • [X] Build: Touch base with Ces regarding delegated tasks
  • [X] Build: Deploy the Quantified Self meetup mapper!
  • [P] Build: Work with freelancer to add more features to the meetup mapper
  • [P] Build: Do another Rockstar Scribe lesson
  • E1: Recorded voiceover, cool!
  • Connect: Talked to Stephan Spencer about delegation
  • Posted processes, business ideas at http://sachachua.com/business
  • Posted more sketchnote speed-drawing videos

Relationships

  • [X] Play LEGO Lord of the Rings
  • [X] Set up regular date nights with W-

Life

  • [X] Attend women’s self-defense course

Plans for next week

Business

  • [ ] Earn: H: Revise presentation
  • [ ] Earn: H: Send invoice
  • [ ] Earn: H: Give presentation
  • [ ] Earn: E1: Wrap up consulting before December break
  • [ ] Build: Got my notice of assessment, paid a little extra tax
  • [ ] Build: Attend art class
  • [ ] Build: Sketchnote content marketing webinar
  • [ ] Build: Learn about launching online businesses
  • [ ] Connect: Have lunch with Scott and Nolin, discuss sketchnotes
  • [ ] Connect: Attend Awesome Foundation pitch night
  • [ ] Connect: Sketchnote Entrepreneurship 101

Relationships

  • [X] Cook a lot!
  • [ ] Spend time together relaxing
  • [ ] Put package together for family

Life

  • [ ] Attend women’s self-defense course

Short URL: http://sachachua.com/blog/p/24062

Categories: weekly Add Comment »

Weekly review: Week ending November 16, 2012

Categories: weekly Posted on November 17th, 2012 by Sacha Chua

I’ve been ramping up meetings and helping people out. This is good!

From last week’s plans

Business

  • [X] Earn: E1 Consulting – Tue/Wed/Thu
  • [-] Earn: N illustration – postponed
  • [X] Earn: Put together presentation
  • [X] Connect: Eric Boyd (Mon)
  • [-] Connect: Sketchnote Small Business Network meetup at the Toronto Reference Library (Tue) – cancelled, prioritized working on hardlines.ca presentation
  • [X] Connect: Sketchnote Entrepreneurship 101 (Wed)
  • [X] Connect: Sketchnote #torontob2b (Thu)
  • [X] Connect: Maria Marino (Fri)
  • [X] Connect: Jason Varmazis (Fri)
  • [-] Connect: Catch up on sketchnoting Entrepreneurship 101 (Sun)
  • [-] Connect: Post my sketchnote review of book (Sun)
  • [X] Connect: Follow up with Jeff Widman (?)
  • [X] Connect: Follow up on scheduling
  • [X] Build: Interview virtual assistants
  • Learned how to use RMagick to create a photo mosaic
  • Worked on learning how to delegate some social media marketing, communications
  • Talked to Cassie McDaniel about Women in Tech

Relationships

  • [X] Spend time with W-
  • [X] Get food sorted out: quiche, congee, soup, …

Life

  • [X] Have massage
  • Planted garlic

Plans for next week

Business

  • [ ] Earn: E1 – social business consulting – Tue, Wed, Thu
  • [ ] Earn: Draw banner for Lean Startup Day at MaRS (Fri)
  • [ ] Connect: Sketchnote Rotman event
  • [ ] Connect: Interview another virtual assistant
  • [ ] Connect: Reconnect with Sameer Vasta
  • [ ] Connect: Talk to Bilal Jaffery about tweetchats
  • [ ] Connect: Participate in/sketchnote Girl Geeks Toronto discussion night
  • [ ] Connect: Discuss helping Girl Geeks Toronto out
  • [ ] Connect: Sketchnote Entrepreneurship 101
  • [ ] Connect: Sketchnote Venus Ventures Town Hall, or take a break that evening?
  • [ ] Build: Go to art classes
  • [ ] Build: Touch base with Ces regarding delegated tasks
  • [X] Build: Deploy the Quantified Self meetup mapper!
  • [ ] Build: Work with freelancer to add more features to the meetup mapper
  • [ ] Build: Do another Rockstar Scribe lesson

Relationships

  • [ ] Play LEGO Lord of the Rings
  • [ ] Set up regular date nights with W-

Life

  • [ ] Attend women’s self-defense course

Short URL: http://sachachua.com/blog/p/24027

Categories: weekly Add Comment »

Weekly review: Week ending November 9, 2012

Categories: weekly Posted on November 10th, 2012 by Sacha Chua

Feeling under the weather, but delighted that delegation is going well. Working on connecting with people, too. Good week for business idea validation!

From last week’s plans

Business

  • [X] Earn: E1: Tue, Wed, Thu
  • [X] Connect: Sketchnote WordCamp Developers 2012
  • [X] Connect: Follow up with Javed Khan (Empression)
  • [X] Connect: Talk to Myles Harrison about analytics
  • [X] Connect: Reach out to Todd and Lynne Waymon (Contacts Count)
  • [X] Connect: Tue: Attend $100 Startup book club at MaRS
  • [X] Connect: Wed: Sketchnote ING Direct panel “Innovatively Speaking”
  • [-] Connect: Catch up with Jeff Widman – postponed
  • [X] Build: Attend art class
  • [-] Build: Prepare talk and executive summary – working on it
  • Earn: Set up conference sketchnoting agreement
  • Earn: Connect with N regarding illustration
  • Connect: Volunteer for various events / groups
  • Build: Delegated scheduling and research
  • Build: Described projects
  • Build: Post job descriptions for web scrapers, WordPress; interview applicants
  • Connect: Designed and ordered business cards

Relationships

  • [X] Spend time at home

Life

  • [X] Relax

Plans for next week

Business

  • [ ] Earn: E1 Consulting – Tue/Wed/Thu
  • [ ] Earn: N illustration
  • [ ] Earn: Put together presentation
  • [ ] Connect: Eric Boyd (Mon)
  • [ ] Connect: Sketchnote Small Business Network meetup at the Toronto Reference Library (Tue)
  • [ ] Connect: Sketchnote Entrepreneurship 101 (Wed)
  • [ ] Connect: Sketchnote #torontob2b (Thu)
  • [ ] Connect: Maria Marino (Fri)
  • [ ] Connect: Jason Varmazis (Fri)
  • [ ] Connect: Catch up on sketchnoting Entrepreneurship 101 (Sun)
  • [ ] Connect: Post my sketchnote review of book (Sun)
  • [ ] Connect: Follow up with Jeff Widman (?)
  • [ ] Connect: Follow up on scheduling
  • [ ] Build: Interview virtual assistants

Relationships

  • [ ] Spend time with W-
  • [ ] Get food sorted out: quiche, congee, soup, …

Life

  • [ ] Have massage

Short URL: http://sachachua.com/blog/p/24003

Categories: weekly Add Comment »

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