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| Darby Allen |
Last week I attended the Growing the North Conference and I learned about something called Indiginomics from a gal named Carol Ann Hilton, and I learned about what millenials are looking for in life and working experiences from a gal named Erin Bury and I finally got to meet Darby Allen who spoke about Grace under Fire (literally).
I learned so much at that conference that I am still in the process of digesting it all.
I have also been working on some new projects for Belt Drive Betty Media. The first is an online Talk Show called "Rider Friendly Report". It's on Facebook Live @RiderFriendlyReport
We are hosting it on the WebinarJam platform so it has some unique abilities that you just don't get in a normal TV environment unless you have a huge technical crew.
We can inject videos and slides into the talk show experience, we can use a whiteboard feature, screen sharing and live chat! We host the show every Tuesday morning from now until the end of May, then pick it back up in October when our short riding season is over. We are going to have all kinds of people on the show, talking about topics you riders care about.
AND you are going to be invited to participate in different contests to win event tickets, hotel rooms and more.
It's proving to be a valuable marketing and information dissemination tool already with good watch times and a good number of people tuning in to the live show and later to watch the replay.
We are also learning a new CRM and business management platform, wow who knew one could learn at this pace on a daily basis at my age, but you sure can!
I am excited because although this platform is still in beta, it has the power and functionality my little company has always lacked. Again, this lifelong learning curve has me standing on my head somedays but, you die if you quit learning, growing, evolving.
Canada's Most Rider Friendly Community Contest sponsored by Community Futures and the Rider Friendly Business Association already has over 90 communities entered into it, that's as many as there were in the first two years! We will begin the voting process soon so watch for announcements on that.
We will be coming out with our new Rider Survey soon.
We'll be making the announcement about when that will be ready - your answers will help us make everything we do better, at least that's the plan!
I have a business coach working with me and the difference that is starting to show in my business is huge. My coach has me looking at my business in ways I never considered and she has me doing things I never thought I was capable of.
I have been slowly purging my home of crap I no longer need or that no longer serves me or my family. It's been the most amazing thing getting into a really solid routine and learning to take me time. Yes I still struggle with temper flares, and yes I still have dark days where the PTSD is so demanding, mobilizing that I can't think straight, but every layer of the onion that gets peeled, means that while the pain is intense and shocking in how fast it comes on, in many cases, it's over almost as fast as its started and that has renewed my whole outlook on things.
Learning to reframe trauma into a useful tool is a tough job, but it can be done and while I am far from perfect, I am WAY better than I used to be and the odd slip into temper does not define me. It keeps me humble, but it does not define me.
I am looking forward to riding season. I MISS MY MOTORCYCLE. The relief that machine gives my brain becomes more evident with each winter that passes for this cranky old gal.
He's right here in my office beside me, but I can't ride him, and that is a form of separation that only we riders understand.
It's going to be a busy, busy year. We already have close to 2000 events in our calendars for 2018 and that's just here in Canada. Our new American calendars have already got events being added and we haven't marketed them at all, we just installed it!
We have improved tools to offer at www.riderfriendly.com and all sorts of amazing things in the hopper - I can't wait to reveal them, one at a time...all year long....I feel hopeful, excited and all kinds of other really good feelings that I haven't felt in a long, long time.
Have a fantastic week, dreaming of spring and riding season and dodging potholes!
Belt Drive Betty,
Editor & Rider