Day 1: Organized Chaos

I feel ten pounds lighter today as I strike out on my own.  No longer the rush to answer an inbox of overflowing requests, non-stop conference calls, and insatiable requests from clients.  I have settled in comfortably to my new office at the local Starbucks.  I am shocked to find out how much business is actually transacted here.

So I have joined the throngs and while sipping my morning coffee the swirling chaos that is my mind is trying to put things in order.  Right now my goal is simply to settle in on where I should begin.  My sense is there is not a set point but a number of points where I need to begin.  I have decided to treat this like any other project I have managed with high levels of complexity and start mapping out my tasks and capturing all my ideas.

What you may not know about me is that I love "systems" or "processes" or "approaches".  So you can imagine that a simple pen and paper won't do the trick for me to capture all my ideas.  Instead I have decided to use my favorite mind mapping tool - MindJet.  Based on my experience with starting up new projects I know I need to focus on some of the following:

• Goal or Objective
• Mission Statement
• Risks
• High Level Milestones
• Project Plan

The other foundational step I took today was research how to obtain a business license.  It is pretty straightforward and after consulting with my sister who is an accounting/tax wizard settled on creating an LLC.  So once I capture the name for my company I will be able to set things up so that I am a legitimate company.  I also need to consider a web presence to get the word out, develop a marketing plan, and potentially even look for some office space.  The latter being important since I cannot seem to concentrate while I am at home, I end of doing busywork (e.g. laundry, clean the kitchen, etc).  The important thing for my endeavor is to be extremely focused.  I also need to look into certifications and credentialing required to leadership development.  

I can tell that it will be important to tame this beast, that is my new idea, quickly.  Otherwise I keep finding myself dipping my toe back into the chaos ending up with more questions than I have answers.  The important thing is to capture all these ideas and questions and start formulating a plan to get them answered.  I will post the resulting mind map tomorrow for all to see.