Plan, Do, Check, Adjust

Time for a check up

This next week I will be examining my efforts to become relevant and make money on the web. It all started with a blog. Somehow it made sense to me that I had something to say that someone else would care about and so I began. At first, I had no real plan and posted just what occurred to me when I sat down to post. Slowly, I began to see a pattern in my posts and slipped into a routine but I also discovered a community on the web that seemed to understand a bigger picture. This has led me into exploring the opportunities and resources of the web. It is a big world and there are many people who offer help. It is easy to get sidetracked and led down rabbit trails. At this point, with no measurable progress in gaining readership or making money, it makes sense to stop and evaluate my current efforts. One of my business mentors calls this PDCA (Plan, Do, Check and Adjust). I did a bit of planning and a fair amount of doing. Now it is time to really check out my accomplishments and make some adjustments.

There are three activity areas to examine:

• Blog

• Social Networking

• Making Money

I have already posted about the Social Networking area. Although I am participating, it is unclear that I receive any benefits from this effort. Clearly there is some checking and adjusting necessary here. I have never discussed Making Money in the blog but I think it is time. Blogging is what I have done for the longest time. It is perhaps the area in which I have some degree of technical competence. So I will start with blogging. First, I will start with a summary of my experiences and strategies and then some checking and adjusting. As I work through this I intend to intersperse some lighter posts. I will need some diversion because this kind of self-evaluation is painful to me. As I go along, I welcome observations, comments and suggestions. I need help in staying objective and identifying things that I can do better, new things I should try or things I should avoid. Stay tuned.