A Busy Season…

Odd, but web design business with my particular clientele is SUPPOSED to slow down around Christmas. It has not. Contracts that had slowed have picked back up, new options have come in, and I even landed a new contract yesterday – a rush job for a couple that wants to be well positioned for the local tourist season.

I’ve launched a total of 4 new sites (including this blog) within the last three weeks. We’ve also been working hard on a local property management contract – out of my usual scope of work, but what the heck? The owner is great to work for, the work is something we are skilled at doing, and the job needs doing.

Our town is also on the verge of change – Changes that are surprisingly, making national news headlines. And no offense to any environmentalists, but our town is overwhelmingly in favor of the changes (if you wanna know more, just do a net search on “Medicine Bow Coal to Liquids” and see what that gets you). Alternative energy is a hugely hot topic right now, and a lot is riding on this project.

Anyway, locally it means that I have found myself right back in the middle of the economic development arena. In a way it feels like going backward instead of forward, because I’ve been there before. During my first stint as Web Admin for the town, long before my youngest son was diagnosed with cancer, and before our daughter’s condition, birth, and death swept us into a different reality.

This time things are different though. The first time I went in, blythely unaware of what I was getting into. Locals were obstructive rather than helpful, organizations that were there to help scoffed at me, and it all fizzled into a discouraging battle that I just did not have the energy to fight alone.

Just a little background to make sense of that, I live in a town of less than 300 people. Big town politics got nuthin’ on small town pettiness. People here will fight for their tiny chunk of power in very aggressive ways. And someone can get elected just by who they know, not WHAT they know.

So here I am back in the middle of it again, only this time there are people who want to work together to make something happen, and the outside organizations are offering support. I’ve even been asked to present a speech at an ecomonic development event – on the topic of using the web to benefit small businesses. It is a great opportunity since it is county wide, and will have many state organization reps there.
I’m still not sure I want to be the one to take up the drum and make it happen, but it is something I know won’t get done if I don’t get behind it. There just aren’t enough people here with an interest and knowledge who CAN lead any kind of citizen’s group.

All of those factors though mean that I am being pulled in a lot of directions. Hoping I can organize it all and balance my time so I don’t lose sight of my kids, or neglect my clients who are my first business priority.

I joined the Laramie Area Chamber of Commerce as well, so there are things in that membership that are taking me outside my comfort zone. In a good way, I think, but none-the-less intimidating!

Surprising position to find myself in actually. Sort of outside my image of myself.