What’s In Q3?

by | Jul 28, 2020 | Business, Podcast | 0 comments

About This Episode

Host/Producer/Music

In This Episode

Mark cover’s the focus for Q3, projects and more.

Show Credits

Main show hosted, produced, mixed, edited & music by Mark.


BlogScript

Welcome to ApexThis.Podcast. A chronicle of my journey to start a publishing side business. This will be a behind the scenes look at what I’m doing to make that happen. I’ll share tips and best practices that I learn along the way. Tips that you can use to start your very own indie publishing journey and share your voice with the world.

Coming up…An update on ApexThis and the future.

The end of June was a busy one as I needed to plan Q3 of 2020. And as such, I wanted to share what Q3 looks like as I start back to what ApexThis was supposed to be 3 years ago.

The Process

A quick reminder of my process—I plan yearly by outlining what I want my focus to be and what I would like to have produced by the years end. I then take this and break it out into milestones or quarters. The quarters are broken down to monthly items, and then the monthly into weekly. In all of this, I use themed days where I bulk the work I need to do. This helps when I am planning the month and or week with the tasks I need to complete.

What’s In Q3

Here is a break down of what I want to focus on for Q3. We will run through the defined focus for each month in Q3. Follow up on these items will be done in monthly update episodes. Please note that these will only be ApexThis projects and not other endeavors I am involved in. So, let’s get started.

July

For July, I estimated an available 92 hours to work on side projects. This time was then broken down for the items I chose to focus on, excluding minor things that pop up.

Primary Focus

  • Project Dollar – 26k Words | 34h
  • Mixtape Manuscript | 5h

Project Dollar is a small book that I am working on. If you’re a long time listener then you may have heard about this project countless times.

Mixtape is a poetry collection. I am in the process of a second revision to finalize the manuscript before we get into formatting, etc.

Secondary Focus

  • ApexThis Podcast – Two episodes | 12h
  • YouTube video – 1 video | 6h

I may be biting off more than I can chew but I hope to produce two podcast episodes per month; one monthly update, and one focused on particular topic.

I also want to produce one YouTube video but this highly varies and would likely be repurposed content of this podcast. Though, I can say that I’ve recorded a few videos on planning for Camp Nano, my business A5 planner and entering my Q3 data into my digital tools.

Aug

For Aug, I estimated an available 106 hours for side projects. Here is the Breakdown:

Primary Focus

  • Mixtape Formatting
  • Revise “Waited”

I am hoping that if I can finish edit in July or early August, that I can spend time formatting Mixtape in preparation of publishing this.

“Waited” is a short story I wrote in June as a break from leaving Austin Podcasters and to get me back into the process of writing creatively. Since, I’ve toyed with the idea of actually publishing this under ApexThis. As such, I’ve moved this personal project onto the ApexThis roster for further development and that starts with the first revision.

Secondary Focus

  • Mailing List
  • Website Prototype
  • ApexThis Podcast – Two episodes | 12h
  • YouTube video – 1 video | 6h

I want to researching mailing lists for ApexThis and see if it is worthwhile.

I also want to update the website as it is sorely needed, thus I spend some time creating a prototype to see what I want to build.

As always, continiuing with podcast episodes and a YouTube video.

Sept

The last month in the quarter has a budget of 90 hours.

Primary Focus

  • Edit & Revise Project Dollar
  • Publish Mixtape
  • “Waited” external edit / illustration

The expectation is that I would have completed a complete first draft of Project Dollar and given myself some time away from the text to come back and start editing and revising it.

My expectation is also that I would have finished formatting and everything else for mixtape to publish.

And lastly, that I would have completed revisions for “Waited” and send it off for an external developmental edit.

I think these are wishful thinking and that they will get pushed to Q4.

Secondary Focus

  • Website Redesign
  • ApexThis Podcast – Two episodes | 12h
  • YouTube video – 1 video | 6h

Also, wishful thinking is the website design but if I restrict the time I put towards it, I think this can be completed. There isn’t anything particularly difficult but I do want to ensure I have proper time for writing.

Thus, throughout Q3, July, Aug, & Sept, the projects I will be working are Project Dollar, Mixtape, and Waited, for writing related projects, with secondary projects of this podcast, YouTube, and Website.

As mentioned, I believe some of these will get booted to Q4. This is the first quarter where I am primarily focused on ApexThis projects and thus I am working out my cadence and throughput. As the primary work is writing, the time can shrink or expand based on how focused I can be in the moment of writing.

In Closing

That is how Q3 has been shaped and planned. Each month will be tweaked as we enter it depending on the progress made on the previous month’s items. These items do exclude other outside responsibilities such as my actual day job, other projects, social life, health, and more.

If you’re curious about the tools I use, I have put up a video on YouTube from my Q3 planning session that shows the tools I use, and I how I digitally structure my Q3 outside of my business planner.

In the next episode we will have a July monthly update with the results for the items I chose to focus on.

Until next time.

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BlogScript Welcome to ApexThis.Podcast. A chronicle of my journey into the world of publishing. This will be a behind the scenes look at what I’m doing to make that happen. I’ll share tips and best practices that I learn along the way. Tips that you can use to start...

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