Over the past two weeks I attended the Chicago Planner Conference and PlannerCon 2018 in San Francisco. Back to back conferences proved to be quite a lot to handle while trying to build inventory for or vendor booths, prepare for our workshops, and speak on panels. But I’ve come out on the other side (with vlogs to show our adventures) and I feel like things are definitely different.
I’ve been to planner conferences in the past, but these left me feeling a mix of motivation and fear. After every speaker I became more aware of the fact that my business needs to change. For years I’ve been happy maintaining what I built in 2014 without much variety or advancement. But I can’t keep continuing like this and expect my business to sustain itself without any effort on my end. That’s a scary thought to have while everyone around me flashed smiles and gabbed about what was in their swag bags.
So I started to make lists. To figure out what I needed to do to keep Oh, Hello running and growing. Alex and I talked for hours on car rides, plane rides, and continue to dig deeper into the business now that we’ve made it home. We stopped taking risks. And now we’re gearing up to take more than we ever have before. We have two big ideas that began growing in our minds thanks to these two conferences.
We’re going to expand. We’re going to hire employees and take ourselves even more seriously. We’re going to double down on our new traveler’s notebooks since they’re something we created completely on our own. We’re going to delegate. We’re going to wake up early. We’re going to spend more money in the hopes to make more money. We’re going to accept that it’s ok if everything comes crashing down in a year, because it’s better than watching the ship sink slowly.
And we’re also going to start a planning magazine. Now you’re hearing it first and this idea is about a week old at this point. But it’s a void in the community that I think we have some amazing ideas to help fill it. Think tangible magazine/subscription/swag box all rolled into one. We’ve picked a name and snagged up the social media for it (here’s the completely empty Instagram if you’re curious). Now to find a team (email me at [email protected] if you have any design experience) and start turning some crazy ideas into something real.
This blog has been a bit quiet as I’ve come to terms with the twisty-turny road we’ve decided to take. But I’m excited to share the uncertain journey with you. Even if it’s to document the failures as well as the successes. So let me know if you want more of something in particular as we head down this road. I’m more than happy to go into specifics. Because it’s annoying to hear about people’s journey without tangible steps on how you can trek down a similar road too.
So yeah. Here it all is. The scary truth and a promise to try despite the fear and potential of failure. Two big ideas that I can’t wait to tackle.
