Back in my sysadmin tech days, I learned the one immutable truth about planned operations: there is always a bottleneck in the process somewhere. You can’t avoid it, ever. The “bottleneck” is the eye of the needle; it’s the one engineering factor that keeps the system from running the way you want it to. It could be lack of processor power, or maybe the hard drives don’t pass data fast enough. Maybe the software needs to be more efficient. No matter what you do, however, there is always one single point that’s holding up the show; all you can do is fix it, open up the bottleneck, and sit and wait until the next one manifests itself. And step by step, you get stronger.
Seen that way, bottlenecks are good things. They’re reality’s way of improving itself, of telling us what needs to be done next. They keep us on track. So as frustrating as they can be at time, I welcome bottlenecks. They keep me sharp.
With my copywriting business over the years, the bottleneck has always been one of two things: bringing clients in, or getting deliverables out. Either I can’t bring in enough client work to fill productive capacity, or I’m overloaded and can’t get deliverables out fast enough to accommodate all the clients I can pull in. So pretty much from day one, life has consisted of solving those two problems, over and over again, finding better ways to do it each time. Back and forth, back and forth. Equilibrium in oscillation. Life in a nutshell.
Early this year, the problem was rounding up clients. Now we’re back to productive capacity again, usually the easier of the two problems to solve, because the solution can usually be found somewhere in technology. The client end, you’re dealing with people, and human beings are harder to work around than machines. But lately I’ve been sorting through my software libraries and rearranging my lineup of writing-related utilities, trying to find a better combination of tools than the ones I’ve been using.
I think I’ve finally found a killer combination: FreeMind, an excellent “mind mapping” software package, and TextRoom, a minimalist word processor. Both are open source and pretty good quality. FreeMind makes it a snap to analyze client calls, sort research, outline assignment drafts and maintain sophisticated to-do lists; it’s a great organizational tool. TextRoom is perfect for distraction-free writing, especially with its “flow mode” turned on – disabling the backspace and delete keys, forcing you forward and effectively turning it into a digital typewriter. I highly recommend them both.
So anyway, just got one big round of deliverables out, and I’ve got a new client launch call in another hour. Tri-fold brochure for a mortgage broker. Then, most likely, it’s back to solving the client-recruit problem again.
Again, alas, equilibrium in oscillation: the meaning of life.
Click through for a general news update. We haven’t given you guys a thorough update in a while.
Just a bit of this and that..
Work. Kristi’s wrapping up the final days of the school year and we’re packing up her classroom this week and bringing it home. It’s been rough, but we’re chugging through. Summer work options exist and so far it looks like they’re going to work out, but it has been hard.
Business has been steadily picking up since March. Some of that I take credit for (been working much harder to draw business in, as well as build on preexisting client relationships), but a lot of it has been improvement in the economy. Businesses may not be hiring, but they are spending, and the regular marketing work still has to be done; unless the economy tanks again, the freelance ground should be pretty fertile until the job market recovers and all those marketing people start getting hired back. One of our big priorities this summer is to get Kristi set up as a travel copywriter and start drawing in a second line of client jobs. It’ll be interesting, no doubt, but we’ll do okay.
Family. Everyone’s alive and well as far as I know.
Health. We’re still getting out and putting in the miles. Weather permitting, we go out after dinner and bike the 9.5 miles of Dry Creek Trail. We come back after all sore and achey, but it keeps us in good spirits. As Kristi says, exercise is good for the soul. We’ll probably make a decision on the car harness after May client checks arrive in another week or so, and then sometime after that will probably be our first cycling trip outside of Modesto. I’m hoping for Pacific Grove or Asilomar.
We’ve also been sorting our diets out, working to eat healthier. A lot more fresh fruit and vegetables, fresh fish and grilled chicken, salads. The nice thing is that here in Modesto, we’re effectively surrounded by farms – we’re able to get good quality stuff at pretty reasonable prices. We drove down to the Modesto Farmers Market on Saturday morning (it was packed) and cleaned up on fresh strawberries, cherries and squash. And we got an AMAZING deal on fresh, locally grown almonds.
Animals. All alive and well. Sam’s his usual rambunctious, overexcited, the-cats-want-to-steal-my-chewer self. Ruca is as Ruca is. Tuck’s rebounded in a fairly surprising way from his sharp decline a few months ago; he’s gained weight, he’s eating like a madcat, and lately he’s been picking fights and wrestling around with Ruca. We don’t know what to think anymore with him.
House. With the garage now rewired, we’re discussing the next job/bottleneck we want to tackle in the house. Right now it looks like the next task up is repainting the bathroom. We also have a lot of classroom stuff to incorporate into the office. But nothing’s set in stone yet.
I think that covers it. Anything I missed, leave a comment.