With it being December, I would like to wish all my readers a very Happy Christmas and a peaceful new year for 2022!
This blog post will focus on reviewing the past year and I will return to indexing/proofreading topics in 2022.
A couple of years ago I came across a very useful blog by Sophie Playle (Liminal Pages) and she had a booklet designed to review your editorial business.
I printed out the booklet, signed up for the newsletter and worked through the questions to examine how the previous year went and make goals for the following year.
As I found it helpful, I have sketched my own questions based on the five “W’s”: what, where, when, why and who to reflect on my indexing and proofreading business. Where I write ‘proofreading’ or ‘indexing’ you can substitute your own business or job. This post is general, and it applies to any business or job.
What…?
What work did I do this year?
What went well during the past year?
What didn’t go well?
What can I learn from the mistakes that I made?
What can I do to ensure a good cashflow?
What marketing can I do?
What courses/mentorship/training/webinars can I enrol on?
What conferences/events (online or in person) are coming up in 2022?
What motivates me?
What challenges did I face?
What am I most proud of achieving during the past year?
Why…?
What is my why?
Why do I index?
Why are indexes necessary?
Why would an editor or an author hire me?
Where…?
Where are my customers?
Where can I get training?
Where can I look for work?
Where is my market?
When…?
When should I post on social media?
When should I work, morning/afternoon/evening/weekend?
When are conferences or networking events taking place?
When do I have to renew my subscriptions for professional organisations/software/anti-virus?
Who…?
Who are my customers?
Who are my competitors?
Who is an expert in my field?
Who can I learn from?
Who do I target social media posts to?
Who do I contact/email when I am available and looking for work?
Who can I network with?
There are plenty of questions here to really dig deep and work out where exactly you are going and where you would like to go regarding your business or job.
I hope this will be of use to my readers, even as a starting point for thinking of your own situations and where you would like 2022 to go for you! Check back in January for a new blog post all about goal setting.
For anyone writing a book which needs a proofread or an index, hire a professional from AFEPI (Association of Freelance Editors, Proofreaders & Indexers of Ireland) , the Society of Indexers, or CIEP (Charter Institute of Editing and Proofreading) to lighten your load!
Merry Christmas and a peaceful new year 2022!
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