Weekly Progress: What will you get done this week?

[Andy Black]

Week Commencing Monday 13-Nov-23

1) What will make you happy with progress this week?

2) What are you doing to make a sale this week?

3) What are you not doing but should be?

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[GoldFibre]

Week Commencing Monday 13-Nov-23

1) What will make you happy with progress this week?

2) What are you doing to make a sale this week?

3) What are you not doing but should be?

1. Big improvement in my own productivity by focusing on high leverage tasks
2. Tracking how I spend my time each day
3. Avoiding the news

 

[WJK]

Week Commencing Monday 06-Nov-23

1) What will make you happy with progress this week?

2) What are you doing to make a sale this week?

3) What are you not doing but should be?

I've taken a couple of weeks off to write a book. I finished the 30k word draft in those 2 weeks. I'll have a Zoom call with my writing coach today. We'll see what she has to say. I'm working on the editing step.

the off-site rehab

We changed the roof line of the house and framed out a carport. We'll be finishing the framing for the extending the roof over the front door. That will be the framing for new front porch and deck for the second floor door. We've had over a foot of snow during the last few days which has a been a problem. The house looks like a different structue due to the roof line.

We already raised the roof on the other side of the house over the old single garage. That garage is going be converted to a family room. The attic area above that family room is going to be the huge new master closet area on the second floor.

Last night a friend came and helped us make a plan for the forced air furance system. That unit will go in the basement with a system of vents to whole house from there. The change in house roof line will give the space on the second floor to run our vent system.

on-site work

We have gotten 2 vacancies ready to rent. I must work on marketing them to find new tenants.

I have a 3rd one that needs to be cleaned out and ready to rent.

and the beat goes on, and the beat goes on...

 

[Andy Black]

Week Commencing Monday 20-Nov-23

1) What will make you happy with progress this week?

2) What are you doing to make a sale this week?

3) What are you not doing but should be?


4) Who will you help this week?

Read this great post by @Lyzmin:

View attachment 52547

I read this question last week from a blog I follow.

This week I turned it around, how can I help someone around me connecting to a opportunity they seek?

Last Friday, I heard my personal trainer talking about how she needs to leave her apartment before the end of the month. She lives in Amsterdam as well and finding space here is tough.. She's been searching for months without any success. I told her I would like to help her (she's a really great person, besides a great trainer).

I called a buddy after our session Friday and called in a favor. He promised me to make a call. Within five hours they set her up with a real-estate owner (I vouched for her). Today she had a sighting in a nice part of Amsterdam. They signed on the spot. Next week she will move in and is so grateful.

One simple phone call for me.
A game changer for her.

2023 so far is great. Moments like this make it even greater.

Also a shoutout to @BizyDad. Since your reframing of 'who are you helping to get rich?', my perspective has grown. The more I'm focussing on helping others, more things come my way.

Now it's focussing on finding the right RPA CTO and keep growing into a Fastlane person.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[GoldFibre]

Week Commencing Monday 20-Nov-23

1) What will make you happy with progress this week?

2) What are you doing to make a sale this week?

3) What are you not doing but should be?


4) Who will you help this week?

1. 3k USD profit
2. Lowering my international logistics costs and getting my ad accounts unblocked
3. Making progress on new marketplaces
4. I'm helping my supplier with digital marketing in exchange for lower rates

 

[WJK]

This week I'm working on:

My book:
I'm editing my book. I'm adding and subtracting from the draft. I want to get through it the first time by the end of the week.

Off-site rehab project:
We have all the roofing metal at the job site. The roofer is drilling his holes and lining up the job of installing it. We've had quite a bit of snow. It's very cold here, but life is going on.

Our friend is finishing up his drawing for the vent system. He works for a plumbing store. By putting the furnace in the basement, it will help keep that area warm and water pipes that run through there thawed.

That store had a whole pile of venting pieces they were going to throw away at his work. Those materials will be perfect for part of our project. We picked those materials up for free this last week. We filled up our truck and trailer load. That gift of materials will save me thousands when we put the furnace system together. Yea!!!! I feel so blessed.

Long term project for the rehab projects:
My husband is working on the water pipes for the house. And he needs to run a gas line over to where we are going to put the furnace. But first, we will probably pour a concrete pad in the basement to put the furnace on. (The floor is gravel in the basement and covered with plastic for the moisture barrier.) He also must put an air vent to the exterior of the house for intake air for the furnace. Since we're in the Arctic, that vent must be long enough to heat the exterior cold air before it enters the furnace. That's gonna take some planning. These chores and processes may take us the rest of the winter -- and we have very long winters.

the rentals:
I have two vacancies that are ready to rent. I'm going to do fliers and run ads this week. I was writing my book and I just hadn't gotten this issue to the top of my list. It's there now.

We're cleaning out another rental to get it ready to rent again.

My office:
I have piles and piles of paperwork to process. I think all those papers had babies while I was busy. This week I want to tame some stacks.

 

[Saint]

Ah this is a great thread!

1) What will make you happy with progress this week?

Completing business plan for 2024. Probably won't quite get there by Thursday, but I'm almost done.

2) What are you doing to make a sale this week?

• Call today to potentially partner with a wedding planner
• Emailed to get started again with our recurring office order and the coffee shop we sell our products at (took a pause to have a baby!)

3) What are you not doing but should be?

Working on how to ship product

4) Who will you help this week?

The wedding planner. Our property manager client and the coffee shop. My neighbor who helped us out while my wife was pregnant.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Andy Black]

took a pause to have a baby!

Wait, what?

Congrats to you and your wife!

 

[Saint]

Wait, what?

Congrats to you and your wife!

Haha yeah, two weeks ago now! Thank you so much! She's just precious and my wife is recovering well.

I've paused on the sales grind knowing we'd have to stop service for at least a few weeks. But we're feeling like we're getting back on our feet, so we're ramping back up with business too! The last few weeks I've been working on our gameplan for next year so we know where we're running once we hit the ground again. Gotta make the most of 6 more weeks of paternity leave!

 

[Andy Black]

Week Commencing Monday 27-Nov-23

1) What will make you happy with progress this week?

2) What are you doing to make a sale this week?

3) What are you not doing but should be?

4) Who will you help this week?

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[GoldFibre]

Week Commencing Monday 27-Nov-23

1) What will make you happy with progress this week?

2) What are you doing to make a sale this week?

3) What are you not doing but should be?

4) Who will you help this week?

1. Matching the previous week's profit considering it was Black Friday
2. Accelerating new listing creation
3. Scheduling a recurring meeting with my account manager
4. I'm helping my supplier start their paid marketing strategy

 

[Saint]

@andy should this be through Dec 11 (instead of Nov 23)?

Reviewing last week:
1. I completed my business plan, now to show it to some friends and mentors
2. Got the partnership with the wedding planner, and started back up with recurring orders
3. Didn't start working on shipping orders, but my wife is supposed to start on that this week

Next two weeks:
1) What will make you happy with progress this week?

• Contacts and gameplan (including email and call scripts) ready to start prospecting to catering companies
• Meetings set with all existing vendors, partners and customers
• Put 2024 business plan into reviewable format and review it with at least 5 friends and mentors

2) What are you doing to make a sale this week?

• Starting back at the markets on Saturday!!!
• Organizing ground game for catering companies
• Setting meetings with existing partners and customers

3) What are you not doing but should be?

• Gotta make sure we start working on how to ship product

4) Who will you help this week?

• Volunteering at my church's food pantry Thursday
• Giving our product to a few different people as "Thank yous"

 

[Andy Black]

@andy should this be through Dec 11 (instead of Nov 23)?

By 27-Nov-23 I mean 27th November 2023.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Saint]

By 27-Nov-23 I mean 27th November 2023.

Chalk it up to American/new daddy brain...somehow first interpreted the post on the top of this page (13-Nov-23) as "Nov 13th THROUGH Nov 23rd" and rolled with that since I first saw it lol. Thanks for clarifying!

 

[Andy Black]

Week Commencing Monday 04-Dec-23

1) What will make you happy with progress this week?

2) What are you doing to make a sale this week?

3) What are you not doing but should be?

4) Who will you help this week?

 

[Saint]

Reviewing last week:
1) Pulled ~500 caterers from various google lists and uploaded into Hubspot
2) Initiated meetings with several vendors and partners, but haven't had them yet
3) Finalized 2024 business plan and started scheduling time to review it with friends and mentors

1) What will make you happy with progress this week?

• Organize projects and recurring tasks from business plan into ClickUp
• Start updating website - site audits, better content for target market, learn how to use landing pages in Mailerlite
• Pick a place for a business address

2) What are you doing to make a sale this week?

• Testing packaging for shipping outside of our area
• Learning how to target specific personas with ads/landing pages
• Meetings with existing partners and customers

3) What are you not doing but should be?

• Struggling to think of something right now; just continuing to workthrough the backlog of things to do!

4) Who will you help this week?

• Volunteering at my church's food pantry Thursday
• Buying some gifts for people
• Need to think of more ways to help!

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[WJK]

This week:

On the first book, I have it ready to go for the final editing and formatting this week. I'll be choosing the book cover's basic design today. I figure it should be out there in a couple of months.

I've started a companion workbook to support my main book. I have it half-written and then I'll add the artwork to the manuscript.

I had forgotten how much I love to do creative writing. I could have hired a ghostwriter, but I'd rather do it myself. I didn't think I had anything to say -- but I sure do.

My off-site rehab:

Got the new carport basically finished. Just adding the finishing touches. Working on building a front porch and deck for the second floor. My roofer is on another job for 10 days. When he gets back we'll extend the front roof line to cover the new porch and deck area.

My rentals:

Got one rented and another is now vacant. The most recent vacancy is ready to rent.

The third one is getting fixed up so it will be ready to rent. We've just about gotten it painted on the interior. We're replacing the forced air furnace and installing a hood over the kitchen stove. I'll be able to raise the rent $250 per month when we get it done.

 

[GoldFibre]

Week Commencing Monday 04-Dec-23

1) What will make you happy with progress this week?

2) What are you doing to make a sale this week?

3) What are you not doing but should be?

4) Who will you help this week?

1. First sale in country 3
2. Launching a new country, putting uploads on pause on one country, accelerating uploads in my safest country, waking up early to get quality working time in each day
3. Thinking big enough about how to 10x this business
4. Continuing to help my supplier with digital marketing

 

[Andy Black]

Week Commencing Monday 11-Dec-23

1) What will make you happy with progress this week?

2) What are you doing to make a sale this week?

3) What are you not doing but should be?

4) Who will you help this week?

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[GoldFibre]

1) What will make you happy with progress this week?

2) What are you doing to make a sale this week?

3) What are you not doing but should be?

4) Who will you help this week?

1. Sales in a third country
2. Attempting to register all remaining countries
3. Fixing some obvious fulfillment issues
4. My vendor

 

[Queenie]

Week Commencing Monday 11-Dec-23

1) What will make you happy with progress this week?

TWO things this week that will constitute a W. In order of priority.

1. Determine value proposition for app business.
2. Post CENTS analysis for feedback in FLF.

Bonus (will become #1 thing for next week):
3. Complete app design and wireframes to prep for product development.

@Andy Black love the accountabili-buddy system. Thanks for getting this going.

 

[Saint]

Reviewing last week:
1) Organized tasks, made a bunch of website updates, and picked biz address, but didn't get to learn landing pages in MailerLite
2) Tested packaging for shipping, had first partner meeting, which went great, but haven't tested ads/landing pages

1) What will make you happy with progress this week?

• Continue updating website and doing site audits
• Test several more shipments
• Learn how to test landing pages

2) What are you doing to make a sale this week?

• Testing packaging for shipping outside of our area
• Learning how to target specific personas with ads/landing pages
• Meetings with existing partners and customers

3) What are you not doing but should be?

• Recently discovered some potential opportunities that we're not doing now, but are definitely going to

4) Who will you help this week?

• Volunteering at my church's food pantry Thursday (wasn't able to last Thursday)
• Buying more gifts for people

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[WJK]

This week I'm sending my first book off to finish the editing and the formatting. The book cover design is ready for me to choose. My pen name is chosen and life goes on.
I finished adding the graphic to the workbook this morning. All the graphics are my own artwork. I'm setting up a library of artwork that will be very handy.
I plan to publish the two of them together in the next couple of months while I work on a third companion book for them.

Vacant rentals.
I have 3 right now. Putting them on FB. One is just being finished up today. We're cleaning up and doing some touch-up painting. We've replaced the central furnace and installed the over-the-kitchen range hood/vent. That had to have an outside vent run through the cupboards. That's done and it's boxed in and ready for some touch-up paint.

Off-site rehab
That project has been on hold due to a bunch of snowfall. We're waiting for the weather to clear. Hope to get back to it this week. We've gotten over a foot of snow and the mountains have gotten 4' in the last couple of days.

 

[Andy Black]

Week Commencing Monday 18-Dec-23

1) What will make you happy with progress this week?

2) What are you doing to make a sale this week?

3) What are you not doing but should be?

4) Who will you help this week?

 

[GoldFibre]

Week Commencing Monday 18-Dec-23

1) What will make you happy with progress this week?

2) What are you doing to make a sale this week?

3) What are you not doing but should be?

4) Who will you help this week?

1. First sale from Shopify
2. Automating product import to Shopify, setting up a conversion funnel
3. Making some daily screen to highlight urgent issues to address
4. Maybe will look for someone on the forum to help

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Queenie]

TWO things this week that will constitute a W. In order of priority.

1. Determine value proposition for app business.
2. Post CENTS analysis for feedback in FLF.

After speaking with many prospects, and working on both Value Prop and CENTS, I realized how much MORE there is to make this a valuable product. Determining that last week was a W for me, despite not posting my work for feedback.

Week Commencing Monday 18-Dec-23

1) What will make you happy with progress this week?

1. Finishing this version of Value Prop/CENTS and posting by midnight on Wednesday eve.
2. Sketches of wireframes for current version of App.

Oorah.

 

[Saint]

Reviewing last week:
1) Made several site improvements, tested several shipments and learned a lot, and had great meetings with our existing cusotmers
2) Still haven't tested ads/landing pages

1) What will make you happy with progress this week?

• Work through more website stuff

2) What are you doing to make a sale this week?

• No real activity this week since I'm out of town for Christmas. Ready to hit it hard next week though

3) What are you not doing but should be?

• Learning to use landing pages/sales funnels. Keep puttin git off

4) Who will you help this week?

• Help out around my parents house

 

[Sorcha]

Love this post! Thank you Andy. It really helps to have accountability buddys to speed up goal achievement.

1.Finish Renovating/upgrading a spare room with the intention to rent it out in January and cut my living expenses in half.

Looking forward to hearing your Goals next week.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[WJK]

Week Commencing Monday 18-Dec-23

1) What will make you happy with progress this week?

2) What are you doing to make a sale this week?

3) What are you not doing but should be?

4) Who will you help this week?

I know the week is already going but...

On my books:

The first one is being edited and formatted. It should be back later this week. The cover is done and purchased. The book should be ready to submit for publication in the next couple of weeks. I need to order a professional mic to record the audio for that version.

Book #2 is ready. I want to see the formatting for the first one to see what more I need to do on #2. It is a workbook to go with the #1. It is written and art is inserted. It's ready to convert to a PDF for submission I think.

Book #3 is 25% written. I've been in the flow working on it.

I've been converting a bunch of my art to jpeg files and grayscale so I can use those files in my books. I'm building an art library. Amazingly enough, the colored art converts well to B&W. I had plenty of art done to populate the workbook -- and it's all my own art!

I also have older art stuff I did years ago. I have the original art done for some kid's books. I will work on them next. I'm working on stuff for adults right now.

I'm going to build 2 different brands on my writing -- one for the adult stuff and one for kids. Each with a different pen name.

On my rentals:
I still have 3 vacancies. The Christmas season and tons of snow are slowing me down on finding tenants. This too shall pass. I'll get them rented. But, that may happen after Christmas. Oh well.

All my rents are in this month -- despite the holiday. Yea!

On my off-site rehab:
We bought the furnace yesterday for the heating system. The slab for it (on the gravel basement floor) was poured over the weekend. We're ready to get the forced air heating system installed. We must build a vent system and get that furnace itself installed. It's natural gas, so it must be plumbed into the system. The water delivery system from the well is almost completed, but we cannot turn the water on until we have heat to keep it from freezing.

We haven't been able to work on the new deck and front porch. It's been snowing a lot here. The weather is not giving us a break to work outdoors. The new carport and roof line on the house are shedding rain and snow just like we planned.

 

[WJK]

Christmas is over. This week - tomorrow -- our son is coming to visit with our daughter-in-law and our year-and-a-half-old granddaughter. I gonna be Grandma all week and part of the next week. And that's all I plan to personally get done. I have today to get ready for their visit.
They are going home on 1/3/24.

My new book business:

And then my book that I wrote in November is due back from the editor/format service on the 4th. I'm ordering the professional microphone and set-up today so I can narrate it when it is edited. I must publish it first to submit the audio. I have bought one of the book covers. When it comes back, I'll get the other two made.

I took time over the weekend to get educated on how to do the audio myself. The computer program is open-source and I found a youtube telling me how to do the settings. I believe I can do this myself.

I have chosen the graphic designer and the basic design for the companion workbook cover. That book is finished and formatted. It's a low-content book with my graphics. I will need to make the paperback and the audiobook covers. I want to publish the two at the same time and possibly then bundle them.

I'm half done with writing book #3. They are all in the same subject group. And I have another low-content book planned to complete the set. I don't know how I want to bundle them until they are all done. I'll know when I physically see them.

My rentals:

I rented a unit over the weekend. The guy is getting his money together today so he can move in soon. He's a single father and needs a place for his kids. He grew up here so I used his foster mom for part of his references. She's a good friend.

We're working on the rafters for a couple of the roofs for the rehabs. They need a llittle slope so they'll drain properly. They all have the rubber sheet roofing on them, so we're working from the insides of the units. And we can use our diesel heaters inside to keep our men warm. This summer we'll put shed roofs over both of those units.

My off-site rehab:

My husband is putting in the new furnace I bought last week. It's in the basement. The "vent-tree" has to be built for the different rooms in the house. There was no central heat in the house, so we're doing it from scratch. All the ducting and vents must be run throughout the house and installed.

Over the weekend, the roofer and one of my men started on the front porch and the deck frame for the second floor. We got the rest of the lumber before the store closed on Saturday for the holiday. Now it needs to be finished so we can extend the roof line over it and put the deck boards on for the second-floor deck. It may be a couple of weeks before we work on that again. We've gotten another 6" of snow and it -5 degrees out there this morning.

See, I told you I was just going to be a Grandma over this next week!