Goals and Outtakes - Susan C. Daffron

As we approach the end of 2006, the Internet is full of “year in review” wrap-up articles. As I noted in our Sandpoint Insider newsletter, it’s been a big year for us here at Logical Expressions. From our location here in the trees, we sent out 48 issues of Logical Tips, 36 issues of the Sandpoint Insider, and 23 issues of Pet Tails. We’ve also published 4 issues of Computor Companion, and released three books and one software product. We sold quite a number of products from our online shopping sites (the LEI Store and the Sandpoint Store) all while we also were doing editing, writing, programming, and web site development work for clients.

In early 2006, we decided to move our business away from being a purely service business and become a book and software publishing company. We’ve made big strides in that direction in just one year. It’s proof that a small idea can net big results. With that in mind, I’ve been thinking about lessons learned and our goals for 2007. Here are a few thoughts that come to mind:

Don’t work with clients who don’t appreciate what you do.
Don’t work for less money than you deserve.
Stop doing things that don’t provide any personal or professional benefit.
Have no qualms about firing clients or vendors whose ethical or professional standards don’t match your own.
Choose tasks that you enjoy and are good at; outsource the stuff you hate.

Life is short, and I hope to meet our goals in the next year so I have more time to do fun stuff. One example of something I love to do is take pictures of our dog Cami for our Christmas card. After the first snow, Cami and I go out into the yard and I take a whole bunch of photos with the digital camera. Generally, I get at least one that isn’t terrible that I can use for a card. Of course, I also get about 200 shots that are weird, goofy or bad for one reason or another.

All our friends, family, and clients get to see the finished printed card, but they don’t see the outtakes. So here for your personal amusement are a few glimpses of what happens during a photo shoot when the model doesn’t cooperate.