2020 3 x 3
What three things do I want to accomplish this year?
That’s what my coach, Sam Wilder, asks me to do every year, and especially in moments when I need direction. It’s a simple concept. Write down three goals and three steps to meet each goal. Sam calls it a 3 x 3.
Here’s my 3 x 3 for 2020:
Goal 1 Invoice $100,000 total by December 31, 2020.
Start and complete six brand identity projects that include both messaging and design. In total, these projects will bring in about $60,000 ($15,000 p/quarter) of the budget. I want to focus my attention on clients in the overall world of B2B, including tech companies, building and architecture, and education. I’m also interested in community-focused non-profits and social enterprises. While my focus is brand identity, but I want my client list to be broad (diverse in categories). To attract and an array of clients (inside and outside of the categories mentioned), I will need to attend events at business incubators, tech meetups, the Lloyd and Mercantile Library, and AIA events. It also helps to have coffee with people in these fields who know potential client prospects.
Facilitate four individual messaging and strategy workshops. In total, these workshops will bring in an approximate total of $12,000 ($4,000 p/quarter). I imagine many of these could come from colleagues in creative fields who don’t know how to facilitate or don’t like to do the work. It’s essential to meet with other creatives often to discuss my skillset and how it can complement theirs. Events like creative mornings are helpful in that regard.
Work on $28,000 ($7,000 p/quarter) worth of projects that are collateral to brand identities. These include annual reports, websites, and print materials. Research also falls under this category. The primary target here is former clients that I already have an established relationship.
FYI: I need to bring in $8,500 p/month to reach these goals.
Goal 2 Build my reputation as a voice in the design industry.
Write one newsletter for every month in 2020 (11 total, not including December 2019). Each newsletter needs to include one original article that has nothing to do with a TDC project. Topics that were popular last year were ethics, religion, and brand identity. I want to expand into issues related to technology and mortality and conduct more interviews. If I want to reach my goal of 12 substantial articles, I aim to write one thought a day, every weekday and Saturday. This practice will work my writing muscles and form potential ideas for my monthly post. I want to increase my newsletter list from 70 to 100 by the end of the year — +30 organic subscribers.
Write one article for a design publication to get your name out there and share your URL with a broader audience. To do this, you will need to find a publisher that fits your writing themes and style. You will also need to make connections with other writers to connect to a publisher. The bigger question is, what do you want to write? Sidenote: I get angry in the field of design and education. Those could be verdant topics. Like below, I could use the independent study to focus on the content and aim to publish in the fall/winter of 2020.
Give one keynote presentation about a theme you are excited about, like the big idea, what’s the matter with branding, or death and design. A CreativeMorning’s type of talk might be a good start. I want to use my summer independent study to build content to present in the fall/winter of 2020.
Goal 3 Create a close network of colleagues in design and education to bounce ideas off of and to help with decision making and project collaboration.
Meet once a month with the cohort of designers that Jessica Jones has formed. Bring one challenge to every meeting that the group can help you solve.
Rejoin AIGA and become an active member at U.C. with students and locally with professions (do this by the end of February). Attend the AIGA Conference as an educator (late March). Additionally, there may or may not be a research group I could potentially meet with locally/regionally. Talk to other researchers you know about this for references (by February).
By the end of Q1, contract freelance design and support person for 10 hours a week at $15.00 p/hour (on a three-month trial). Give this person all of the design work and busywork that you can so that you can focus on running workshops, getting clients, taking care of clients, and working on your schoolwork.