Do It Myself Blog – Glenda Watson Hyatt

Earlier this year, I posted my 21 goals for making 2010 awesome, with #3 being to launch my <still secret project>. After a year in the making, I am excited to announce my secret project!

The idea came to me shortly before SOBCon last year, and the overwhelming response to my presentation confirmed I was heading in the right direction. I then spent the summer taking a course from Yaro Starak to learn from the best how to create what I wanted to create. I even resigned from a Board of Directors of an organization that I believe in to minimize the distractions and demands on my time. However, other distractions did come along, and when there’s money attached to them, it’s difficult to say no.

(Photo credit: Jon Swanson.)

While at the retreat with the Random Twitter People (Paul Merrill, Deb Brown, Becky McCray, and Jon Swanson) in early May, brainstorming occurred, ideas clarified and questions asked, resulting in a launch date boldly set. (Gulp! Several anxious moments have since followed.)

This project combines two of my passions: my passion for blogging and all of the magic and power to connect people that comes with blogging, and my passion for web accessibility, which has been my “day job” over the last twelve years, when I’m not blogging. My goal is to share what I do know about web accessibility with fellow bloggers to build an accessible, inclusive blogosphere.

On June 14th, I’m launching Blog Accessibility Mastermind – a six-lesson course introducing bloggers to the field of web accessibility and giving them ways to increase their blog’s accessibility, within the confines of their blog theme and blogging platform. This introductory level course at an one-time introductory price will be limited to 15 people. 

To be among the first in line when doors open on June 14th, be sure to download the free ebook “How POUR is Your Blog”. If you recently received a Blog Accessibility Mastermind News Byte entitled “Do Your Flashing Ads Cause Seizures”, then you are already in line. No further action is required.

More details coming shortly, but those with the ebook will have first dibs on the 15 seats. Go grab your copy now!

Meanwhile, I have a course to finish writing and a website to finish building…

Coming home the other day, I noticed a parked car with several large stickers; quite possibly advertising. That got me thinking…

Why not paid advertising on my mobility scooter?

People tend to look my direction when I drive by, so why not put something in front of their eyeballs? And earn money while doing it?

Seriously.

Advertisers wrap cars, buses, trucks, and segways. Why not scooters and wheelchairs?

Here’s the benefits, as I see them:

• People look anyway. Give them a message to look at.
• Advertising on a scooter/wheelchair is unexpected and would catch attention.
• I can go where cars, buses and trucks can’t.
• No other advertisers are currently advertising in that way or in that space.

Looking at my scooter, I see two potential places for advertising really are visible:

1. The basket on the front (shown in the photo above). This way the basket can easily be removed for situations when advertising would not be appropriate.
2. The back of my chair. This place would not interfere with my use of the scooter or in photos.

Interested? Contact me to discuss this opportunity before someone else does! Seriously!

Its that time of year again – time for creating lists of goals on clean sheets of paper in attempts of improving upon the old year and making the most of the New Year. Here are 21 of my bloggable goals for 2010 in no particular order other than in which they came to mind:

1. Sell the remaining 200 copies of my autobiography I’ll Do It Myself.
2. Find a way to make my book available on the Amazon’s Kindle.
3. Do a beta launch of <still secret project>.
4. Extend my reach in social networks and with social media.
5. Get my efforts in social networks and with social media working seamlessly and smoothly.
6. Relaunch my <still secret project> in a major way.
7. File taxes DURING tax season.
8. Redesign this blog’s theme with accessibility in mind.
9. Learn enough php to complete #8.
10. Attend a taping of Oprah’s show.
11. Further develop the “Faith the Talking CFO” concept and produce a series of YouTube videos.
12. Create an ebook or book from my <still secret project>.
13. Write one guest post per month.
14. Create a 2011 photo quilt calendar to sell on Cafe Press.
15. Comment on 10 blogs per week.
16. Redo www.BooksbyGlenda.com to generate enough revenue to cover domain and hosting costs.
17. Send 20-25 cards per month with SendOutCards.
18. Continue the Accessibility 100 series.
19. Complete the From Special Education Classroom to University Graduate mini-series. 
20. Participate in the Vancouver Blogathon in July. 
21. Feed 100 people in need Christmas dinner.

I will check back after the first quarter with a progress report

What are your goals for making 2010 your most awesome year ever?

Reflecting upon the video I created yesterday, I indulged myself briefly in a sense of pride and accomplishment. I had followed a creative idea through development to completion using various software programs and skills that I had learned myself.

Surely those are characteristics of a valuable employee! Yet, during my job search years, only one employer chose to take a chance on me, and that was for a grant-funded position. Once the year was up and the funding gone, I was out of a job. No other employer gave me the opportunity to prove what I was capable of and what I could bring to the organization. They could not see past my jerky cerebral palsy movements, my significant speech impairment and my painfully slow typing speed.

In recent years I have questioned why did I bother with five years at high school and seven years at university, working hard to keep up (and sometimes surpass) my classmates and friends, only to watch them land jobs with decent salaries, Christmas bonuses and pension plans while I’m still stuck on social assistance, labeled as unemployable. Was all of that work for nothing? Why did I bother?

But then I think back to what I have accomplished by not having a J O B. I’ve written and self-published a book, which took umpteen skills, creativity, determination and perseverance.

Just this year I’ve wowed the pants off of many with my SOBCon and WordCamp presentations – not only with the content but also by the method. Who else combines PowerPoint with captions and a text-to-speech voice the way I do?

My blog, now four years old (another sign of determination and diligence), has a loyal worldwide readership and currently has an Alexa ranking of 357,412, which is higher than many so-called experts’ blogs and websites.

Daily I connect with hundreds of colleagues, friends and contacts, regardless of location or time zone, on Twitter and Facebook – essential tools nowadays. Last night I Skype chatted via video with friends on the Gold Coast of Australia and then with my brother in Alberta.

To those employers who refused to hire me because of my typing speed and “poor” communication skills, you failed to think creatively and to think outside of the box – an ability I could have brought to your organization. The name, reputation and exposure, which I have created for myself, I would have willingly and gladly created for your business, had I been given the opportunity. But, you didn’t look beyond my cerebral palsy to see what I could offer. For that reason, you lose!

By persevering and thinking creatively, I know that opportunities – with benefits better than Christmas bonuses and pension plans – await. By combining these skills and tools that I have acquired I know I’m on the way to hitting it big and to getting off of social assistance permanently. For that reason, I will win!

Yesterday I spent the day getting in my own way while trying to write the long overdue “Work with Glenda” page. I even blogged about avoiding the task, rather than doing it!

This morning I attempted the task again. Surprisingly, the ideas and words flowed this time. Perhaps publicly declaring my goal to have something up by day’s end, to which my readers could hold me, was enough to get myself out of my way!

Or, perhaps it was the two pieces of advice that fellow tweeter John Hayden shared:

1. Susan Murphy’s post “Want Real Success? Then Get to Real Work” in which she distinguishes between real work and fake work. How many of us keep busy with fake work rather than with real work? Great question!
2. The Cult of Done Manifesto – this links to a graphical version without appropriate alternative text. The text version appears below.

The Cult of Done Manifesto

1. There are three states of being. Not knowing, action and completion.
2. Accept that everything is a draft. It helps to get it done.
3. There is no editing stage.
4. Pretending you know what you’re doing is almost the same as knowing what you are doing, so just accept that you know what you’re doing even if you don’t and do it.
5. Banish procrastination. If you wait more than a week to get an idea done, abandon it.
6. The point of being done is not to finish but to get other things done.
7. Once you’re done you can throw it away.
8. Laugh at perfection. It’s boring and keeps you from being done.
9. People without dirty hands are wrong. Doing something makes you right.
10. Failure counts as done. So do mistakes.
11. Destruction is a variant of done.
12. If you have an idea and publish it on the internet, that counts as a ghost of done.
13. Done is the engine of more.

Written by Bre Pettis

Whatever it was, after 2.5 years of procrastinating, stalling, and, generally, getting in my own way, this blog now has a “Work with Glenda” page! Yes!

Admittedly, it is not perfect and will likely evolve. Feedback is most welcomed. But, it is a start. Getting that done feels so good and definitely deserves an extra scoop of chocolate ice cream tonight!

Did you manage to stay out of your way today?