It’s the future..what have YOU been doing?

So here we are, the year is 2010, what have you been doing? Have you been slacking off, slowly churning along in the daily grind, or pushing things forward?

Christmas and the new year came and went by fast. I had already been working on getting some things together in order to help jump start my progress in 2010, but it still feels like the time flew by and I have more to do still.

Now into the second work week of the year, I am feeling a bit overwhelmed, but by no means unmotivated. There are a few new years resolutions and some long term goals to get cracking on this year, so lets cover a few of them shall we?

Number one on my list of things to do in 2010 is work on my businesses. There are a few ventures that have started to get off the ground, but have not made the kind of progress I would like to see. Part of this, I am sure, is due to me working on all of these at once instead of focusing on them one at a time which is something I plan to remedy during the course of this year.

What ventures am I talking about?

-WEB DESIGN-

For starters, web design. For much of 2009 I have put together websites, focusing mostly on small businesses. Word really started to spread close to the end of the year, but budgets were also locked down around that time, but those relationships are moving forward at this time.

Now that the new year is upon us, new budgets are upon us, and I have been hard at work seeking out those looking for my services. Daily I am sending out quotes for projects of all scopes, managing a few working projects, and trying to connect with people and business owners.

-AFFILIATE MARKETING-

Affiliate marketing continues to tease me and I continue to stay just interested enough.  There are a few sites up and running that are actually bringing in some sales, but nothing super substantial at this time.

I plan to continue vamping these sites up as well as building new ones throughout the year.  Everyday I am learning more about marketing, SEO, sales copy, and everything that goes into driving traffic to websites and selling products once they are there.

Hopefully my continued efforts will continue to pay off more and more.

-AUDIO ENGINEERING-

Next in line of importance is finding a recording studio and people with the knowledge and willingness to teach me the ways of this audio world. Separating from my last company has given me time to think. During that time I tried to think of things that I love to do, regardless of monetary compensation, but potentially make a profession. At this point in my life there are not many things that make this list, but high up on it was recording music.

Being a part of that world is something I thrive in and after having spent the last few years honing my skills both in the recording, mixing, and mastering, and also as a musician, I feel like I am ready to make some big moves in this area. In order to do that, I myself need more schooling on the subject.

While attending school for this would be great, and something that is definitely in my foreseeable future, I am not sure it is in my cards at this time. Instead, I need to spend some time with the masters of that domain.

As of this posting, I have had the opportunity to meet and be invited to work with a high level player in the audio world. A close family friend and he go way back which is how I was introduced to begin with. Pending this becoming a regular thing, I will surely be posting up any new developments and hopefully new knowledge.

-OZONE LAIR STUDIO-

While we are on the subject of audio recording, another one of my projects is the infamous Ozone Lair, my recording studio. So far this year the Lair has been regularly active. We’ve been recording new music of many styles, mixing and mastering some fresh material from the end of 2009, writing music, rehearsing music, and having some intense, creative, jams.

I have high hopes for the Ozone Lair this year and look forward to working with many great musicians.

-INDEPENDENT CD-

Something just getting off the ground is a small project I started to match some of my resources with a specific market demand. Short run, low cost cds with custom print jobs. My target market is the independent musicians, though we can meet the needs of any data CD/DVD project as well.

Other than making sales there is not much that needs to be done with this. The production is fully functional, as well as the website is able to take orders. There are a few SEO items that I plan to take care of in the near future which will hopefully drive some traffic to the site, as it is all word of mouth at this time.

Those are my top projects for this year with my goal continually being supporting myself comfortably via my own business ventures.

Now on to the mother of all non profit ventures…

-HIJACKING MUSIC-

That’s right ladies and germs, if you haven’t heard it is time to pay attention. Hijacking Music is coming through and making a ton of noise in 2010.

For the past two years Hijacking Music has been developing as a music collective currently based out of Atlanta. We have a very strong core group of artists and groups, all of which are releasing their strongest efforts yet this year.

Also during those two years I’ve been pushed to the forefront to try and guide us through this tricky, sticky, and downright icky maze of all things required to survive the music industry. At first I fought it, but now am embracing it to help build something awesome. So if you know somebody that knows somebody that could potentially be a good contact to have…hit me up 🙂

Look out this year for the first Hijacking Music Festival, HJM CD Sampler Vol 2, HJM Christmas Album, and a hand full of HJM presents Art/Music shows scattered over the course of the year.