I was an Attendee at the recent GKIC Super Conference in Chicago. Had never been to the windy city before and even though I know I was there, I still have NOT been to the windy city! Didn’t get to go anywhere outside of the hotel, conference center, local restaurants and the airport. Sadly, a pretty typical situation for one of these intense, information-packed events.
Anywhoo, I had to make the decision back in early December whether or not to go to this conference. Flight, hotel and conference price due almost immediately, with assorted costs to follow. I decided to look at it again as an investment of my time and money into ways to improve and grow my marketing skills, my business, my client base and my network of marketing folks and resources.
After registering, I also decided that my social media assistant, Nurse Jackie, would compete for the Marketer of the Year award. All I had to do was knuckle down and implement all the things that were floating around my desk and my head that were designed to increase my clients, referrals and income! So, in true procrastinator style, I began the year not implementing, as I should have done, but by list writing and prioritizing what had to be done, when.
Then life intervened in a rather dramatic way – my husband was admitte
d to the emergency room with chest pains. This particular weekend, we had visitors staying over and that Saturday evening, he had escorted our daughter to the Elementary School Father Daughter Dance. At about 3am he woke me up complaining of chest pain that wouldn’t go away. Having been through this before (that’s a whole other story!) I knew what to do and called the paramedics. They hauled him away to the emergency room while I prepared my guests for our abrupt departure so they could take care of the kids while I followed Jeff to the hospital.
Our Super Bowl Sunday was spent between the Emergency Room and the Cardiac Ward before the cardiologist finally decided to send him to another hospital to prepare for open-heart surgery. The Black Eyed Peas had just begun their dismal show when the medivac team (yes, they were transporting him by helicopter!) arrived and prepared him for a flight to downtown Orlando.
To cut a really, really long story, really short – I ended up spending the next 10 days commuting between home and downtown Orlando after Jeff had surgery early Tuesday. Not a recommended situation for anyone, but his surgery went well and he came out of it pretty good with some new arteries.
My entire attention was taken up between taking care of Jeff at the hospital, taking care of the kids at home and communicating with family and friends on his condition. My business suffered and Nurse Jackie was all but forgotten. Sad to say that the medical profession was there in front of me the whole time but I wasn’t really paying attention. The entire episode seemed unreal and I appeared to be experiencing it from another dimension. I now believe that to be a defense mechanism for the psyche!
Many of my clients were great and offered all kinds of support and I believe the extra TLC they received when I returned my full attention to them, has paid off in Spades. Some areas of my businesses suffered tremendously and I just let them go. I didn’t have the mental stamina to cope with it at the time.
So, when things were back to normal – which to everyone else, meant that Jeff was at home – life took on yet another surreal patina. It was difficult to concentrate on my business with him in the next room – my office is in my home. During one of his routine (which meant daily) visits to the Doctors office for blood testing on his new medications, he was sent directly to the Emergency Room again. Four more days dealing with a different set of medical folk in a different setting. I believe it was on day three that I had my meltdown! That is also a story for another day.
But, back to the main story which involves Nurse Jackie – I, unfortunately, took the easy way out of the Marketer of the Year competition and did not submit an entry. I wasn’t ready, there wasn’t enough time to launch all the stuff, and so on, and so on. Yes, I had a more valid excuse than most, but it was still, at the end of the day, an excuse. I had choices and I made the easy one.
As I watched the contestants do their spiel on stage, I felt the most frustrated because my choice had me in the audience again instead of on stage with them. Instead of following my own advice about “definiteness of purpose“, I procrastinated again. Not only did I not get a chance to win some marketing dollars or expose my business to many potential new clients, I also lost the chance to be laser-focused on my business enough to put it into a presentation worthy enough to be in front of so many successful entrepreneurs and marketers.
But, no use crying over spilled milk. I just had to get this out in the open and commit myself publicly to getting it done this year and having my entry ready for next years GKIC Marketer of the Year.
