Mission Reviews, July 2010
PRIOR MISSIONS COMPLETED WITHIN THE PAST 12 MONTHS
- Self-published book of previous blog’s essays
- Started new, mixed-purpose (social activism and platform for book sales) blog
MISSION 1: LEVERAGE INFORMATION PRODUCTS INTO A LOCATION-INDEPENDENT INCOME STREAM
CURRENT PHASE OF THE MISSION
- Roughly six months away from launching a separate, mainstream blog/platform to support sales of business-related information products
KEY ACTIVITIES CURRENTLY IN PROGRESS
Researching various traffic-generating and search engine optimization techniques, including but not limited to:
- Automated back-links by using article marketing
- Article marketing for immediate traffic
- Designing a resource box for articles that will generate increased clicks and visitors
- Have completed first draft of 3 articles
Planning various strategies for organically building a mailing list of blog subscribers:
- Creating freemium ebooks to offer additional value to blog subscribers (still in the research stage, and reading many, many books on my subject area)
- Planning regular “freemium” special reports and other content that will only be available to blog subscribers
Personal branding:
- Designing a personal brand
- Designing a unifying underlying theme for all content
- Visualizing my one, perfect customer
Information product creation
- Have completed 80% of the first draft of the first paid product
Creating a stockpile of future, evergreen blog posts
NEXT MAJOR MILESTONES
- Completion of first draft of (paid) product
- Completion of first draft of one freemium ebook
MISSION 2: TAKE AND PASS THE B2/HIGH-INTERMEDIATE LEVEL OF THE DELE EXAM (DIPLOMAS OF SPANISH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
DELE (Diplomas of Spanish as a Foreign Language) is the official accreditation of the degree of fluency in the Spanish language. It’s issued and recognised by the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport of Spain. The CEFRL and DELE certificates provide evidence of skills acquired in various European languages for personal, academic or professional purposes. I want to return to Spain on a regular basis in the future. Maybe start spending summers there.
CURRENT PHASE OF THE MISSION
- Roughly 1.5 years away from sitting for the DELE exam
KEY ACTIVITIES CURRENTLY IN PROGRESS
- Reading the Language Hacking Guide and listening to the related mp3 interviews
- Studying Spanish grammar and vocabulary
- Creating opportunities for passive exposure to Spanish by listening to local Spanish-language news-talk radio
- Creating more opportunities for passive exposure to Spanish by changing my iTunes store location from the US to Spain, and downloading podcasts from Spain (I want to learn the European dialect of Spanish)
- Speaking Spanish with 2 native speakers at work. Even though it’s recommended to begin speaking immediately, I had planned on starting in September (to give myself a chance to brush up). However, my secretary started speaking to me in Spanish today {chuckling}
NEXT MAJOR MILESTONE
- Learn the vocabulary needed so I can start conducting all of my normal work-related transactions with my secretary in Spanish
TALK IS CHEAP; WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO COMPLETE YOUR MISSIONS?
Tagged as: lifestyle optimization · mission reviews · tips from khadija's writing adventures · writing biz
Popular Posts 
Thank you Khadija. I really value the information your website provides and how encouraging and straightforward you are. I can honestly say that you’ve caused me to think in a new way.
It’s not often that one finds such a mix of progressive and realistic information on the internet.
Especially with the adage: “if you’re not moving forward, you’re falling behind.”
RevolutionaryAndJoyful,
You’re welcome! Thank you for your kind words; I truly appreciate it.
Expect Success!
You’re welcome. Great points and looking forward to the next post!
To Khadijah & Roslyn: thanks so much for your advice. Though the prospect of buying a home is so exciting, I’ve been reconsidering that, considering my situation, and that article you included on the Oakland police situation (shuddering at the thought).
Well, you guys have certainly given me some things to pondere on and check into.
sorry for the late response, but yeah the name pronunciation can lead to hilarious conversation with various Muslims. A lot of these names, like yours are ancient ones that goes beyond Arab or Persian.
Sometimes I like the Farsi or Turkish pronunciation, sometimes I prefer the Arabic one. My mom’s name is Elham, the Arabic one is so smooth to the ear, in my culture thou we brutalize it.
Farsi, Urdu and to a little extend Turkish (Ataturk eliminated all the Arabic alphabet right after WWI to make the language more Latin like) have a lot of Arabic words and their alphabet is largely build on it.