Day 5, 6 and 7 - Still In The Prep Stage

I'm keeping up my posting schedule more efficiently than I ever have and I think the project is motivating me to maintain an up-to-date chronicle. I'll be able to look back on my postings as a written record of what took place - a diary of activities.

Days 5, 6 and 7 feel full and rushed because of many different family duties that eat time and challenge my concentration. But there are lessons for me to learn about time management and prioritizing my activities. So these responsibilities bring valuable insights as well.

I'm still working on the five (5) flyers for the mailout. I'll review my e-mail addresses and select the first hundred targeted addresses. I've looked at some e-mail management programs; Worldcast from Fairlogic is a very powerful e-mail program with an automatic e-mail verification feature. Topica, Yahoo Groups, MSN Groups and ICQ all offer e-mail discussion lists.

I have a web hosting service through which I can send out e-mail announcements using PHPList. I want to be able to just send out a bunch of e-mail messages but in this era of cracking down on spam I've got to look at a double opt-in process. Constant Contact and GOT Corporation offer e-mail management packages; I see a lot of businesses using Constant Contact.

My phone situation is interesting. I've got access to free Skype, Gizmoproject and LycosPhone inbound calling numbers as well as an inbound number from K7 that works along with two other sites I've signed up for: Podomatic and Youtube.

I've also signed up with Ourmedia.org to host some audio/video podcasts I'm preparing. I can call out on LycosPhone for 1 cent a minute and I've got access to Yahoo, MSN Messenger, and ICQ outbound calling. So I can make and receive many calls for a nominal fee. I loaded up ACT 2000, the old sales contact management software some months ago - I've got thousands of corporate and faith-based names and addresses and thousands of addresses on paper labels.

So I think I've got the tools and resources to stretch my initial $100.00 investment for maximum impact.

Daily totals:

Day 5: $100.00
Spent: $94.00
Income: $0.00

Day 6: $100.00
Spent: $94.00
Income: $0.00
Balance: $6.00

Day 7: No change so far.