Last month I published my first ever monthly entrepreneur report. I got some really good feedback from a lot of people on it, and so I’m excited to publish this, my second ‘Ducker Digest’ – a rundown of everything I’ve been through in the last month, lessons learned, wins, losses and a look at the upcoming month and whats in store.
I don’t publish these reports to gloat, or to ‘show off’ in any way. There are lots of other entrepreneurs that are out there that are overall more successful than me. I publish them because:
- They’re a great way to keep myself on track, in regards to my goals and overall business aspirations.
- I think that that ‘fly on the wall’ approach to showing how to ‘get sh*t done’ is a great way to learn.
- It’s just a lot of fun to put ’em together!
With each report I’ll be focusing on three key areas:
- Important Happenings This Month
- Lessons Learned This Month
- Plans for Next Month
So, without further ado, let’s start breaking it down.
Important Happenings This Month
It was another busy month. As the run-up to the launch of Virtual Freedom gets closer and closer I’m really starting to put all my resources together to try and make the biggest splash possible around launch day, which is April 1st. Here’s a full list of the things I was focused on in February – most of which were related to the book.
Launch of my Branding Bootcamp – This is something that has been in the works since before Christmas. I opened the doors to this one-stop-shop branding course to people just on my subscriber list (get on it at the bottom of this post!), and in a few days had 104 people sign-up at a discounted rate. It’s now live and unleashed for the whole world to enjoy and includes 6 modules (video, audio and PDF versions of all training), 4 exclusive interviews with experts that have built brilliant brands and the full, unedited version of my ‘Business of You!’ keynote that was filmed this January at NMX. So happy to launch this course and to help entrepreneurs build their personal brands.
Click here to check out the Branding Bootcamp!
Launch of the Virtual Freedom Podcast – To help build buzz and get general awareness of the book out to as many new people and platforms as possible, I decided to produce and publish a limited release podcast of 25 episodes related to the overall concepts of the book. In each episode (there have been 12 episodes published so far), which run for 8-10 minutes on average, I focus on one topic, or answering one question. This is a great way to engage with and help people at the same time, and I’m very happy with the feedback I’ve gotten on it so far.
Click here to check out the Virtual Freedom Podcast on iTunes!
Book Minisite Press Page Launch – In addition to the launch of the podcast to help support the book, we also added a ‘Press’ page to the minisite with the first lot of coverage on the book. This page will be consistently updated, and we’re expecting March and April to be very busy months in relation to this area of the site.
Podcast Interview Tour – One of the key main elements of our book marketing plan for Virtual Freedom is getting in front of as many awesome entrepreneurial audiences online as possible. One of the easiest and most fun ways to do this today is by being interviewed on podcasts. By the time the book goes live I would have been interviewed by almost 20 of the top podcasts online, and heard by a collective audience of well over one million listeners, to talk about everything from avoiding burnout, productivity, team growth and overall outsourcing strategies.
Final Release Copy of Virtual Freedom Arrives – Just yesterday I had a knock, knock, knock at my door and there it was. A box that had traveled all the way from Dallas. The final release copy of my book had arrived. I was lucky enough to have a special guest cameraman on call for me, and shot a little ‘unboxing video’ to share the moment when I cast eyes on my book for the first time. Watch and enjoy with me, please.
More Confirmed Speaking Engagements – My speaking schedule continues to fill up with another two really amazing invites coming to me in February. First up was an email from Darren Rowse of ProBlogger, inviting me to speak at his ProBlogger Event on the Goldcoast of Australia this coming August. Secondly, Joe Pulizzi and team confirmed that I would be speaking at Content Marketing World in Cleveland in September.
To see a list of all of my speaking engagements for 2014, you can click here – I’d love to meet you at any of these events.
Announcement of all my 2014 Mastermind Dates – Whenever I travel (and this year I’m doing a lot!), I like to try and fit in a day where I can host a private mastermind session. I’ve done a bunch now and thoroughly enjoy helping entrepreneurs get their businesses off the ground, and taking them to the next level, if they’re a little further along the journey. This year I’m holding six of these events, in three different countries and six different cities. It’s going to be awesome!
Check out the listing of all the cities in this years 2014 Mastermind Roadshow, and come spend a day of business brainstorming with me!
Lessons Learned This Month
This is the section in which I will lay down some home-truths from the last month. Generally speaking they will be from lessons that I learned myself, through personal experiences, but from time to time, I might just share lessons I’ve heard from other people I admire, too.
Love Your Team – In just a few days 25 attendees and 8 speakers will ascend onto Cebu, Philippines for the first ever Tropical Think Tank event. This event began as a discussion over drinks at World Domination Summit last year and became a reality – fast. It sold out in 27-hours. Wow! Over the last 3-4 months I have worked hard with my team to put together what I hope will become one of the most life-changing business events any, if not all of the attendees have ever experienced.
The fact of the matter is that it’s turned out to be much more work than I anticipated. And if it wasn’t for my amazing team, I probably (if I’m to be really honest!) would have refunded everyones money and cancelled it. My people are always my number one priority. They are rockstars and I love them.
Deadlines Matter – This a realization from Pat Flynn, who shared with me that putting in place deadlines in February, so that he could make it to the Philippines to speak at my Tropical Think Tank event, yet still produce all the content he’s highly regarded for, thus continuing to help, support and nurture his audience was paramount. He worked seriously hard to hit all those deadlines, but did it. And now he doesn’t have to worry about a single piece of content until the end of March! Boom!
Plans for Next Month
It’s all about Virtual Freedom, baby! – As you no doubt saw in the video above, I am ridiculously excited about getting my first traditionally published book out into the world and this is going to be all that I focus on in this upcoming month, after I enjoy a little time with Tropical Think Tank, of course!
Next months report will be really focused on giving you all a rundown on everything that has happened in the 4-weeks running up to the launch of the book, and will probably be published around the end of the first week of April, because of the book launch on April 1st.
If you haven’t picked up your copy yet, you can do so by visiting the book minisite, and I would really suggest you look closely at the 5-Book Bundle, as it’s insane value and you’ll also have a few extra books to hand out as gifts to your entrepreneurial buddies, too!
I’m so stoked that you are all along for the ride on this incredibly exciting journey!
Now it’s Your Turn!
I’d like for you to tell me what you have planned for the coming month.
Writing it in the comment section below will make it way more likely to happen, and you’ll be holding yourself accountable in front of the rest of my ‘New Business Tribe’.
Remember, being a productive entrepreneur is about taking action. Start now by sharing your proposed next 30-days worth of business goals, and lets all cheer each other along towards achieving them!
Until next month…
