Quit Your Day Job Workbook: Building the DIY Project, Life, and Business of Your Dreams (Good Life)

228 Pages·2020·11.298 MB·English

by  Eleanor C. Whitney

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“Breaks down the daunting process of earning a living as a creative person into chewable, Y
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$16 95 U.S. / $21 99 CAN
Eleanor C. Whitney, MPA

Quit Your
Day Job
Workbook
Eleanor C. Whitney,
MPA

Quit Your
Day Job
Workbook
BUILDING THE DIY PROJECT, LIFE,
AND BUSINESS OF YOUR DREAMS
Eleanor C. Whitney,
MPA
Microcosm Publishing
Portland, OR
QUIT YOUR DAY JOB WORKBOOK
Building the DIY Project, Life, and Business of Your Dreams
Part of the DIY Series
© Eleanor C. Whitney, 2020
This edition © Microcosm Publishing, 2020
First edition, first published September 2020
ISBN 9781621062578
eBook ISBN 9781648410017
This is Microcosm #618
Cover and design by Joe Biel with Jake English
For a catalog, write or visit:
Microcosm Publishing
2752 N Williams Ave.
Portland, OR 97227
503-799-2698
www.microcosmpublishing.com
These worksheets can be used on their own, or as a companion to Quit Your Day
Job by Eleanor C. Whitney www.Microcosm.Pub/DayJob
These worksheets are free to reproduce but no more than two can be reproduced
in a publication without expressed permission from the publisher. Find
supplemental spreadsheets at www.Microcosm.Pub/QYDJ
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Global labor conditions are bad, and our roots in industrial Cleveland in the 70s
and 80s made us appreciate the need to treat workers right. Therefore, our books
are MADE IN THE USA.
Microcosm Publishing is Portland’s most diversified publishing
house and distributor with a focus on the colorful, authentic, and
empowering. Our books and zines have put your power in your
hands since 1996, equipping readers to make positive changes in
their lives and in the world around them. Microcosm emphasizes
skill-building, showing hidden histories, and fostering creativity
through challenging conventional publishing wisdom with books
and bookettes about DIY skills, food, bicycling, gender, self-care,
and social justice. What was once a distro and record label was
started by Joe Biel in his bedroom and has become among the
oldest independent publishing houses in Portland, OR. We are a
politically moderate, centrist publisher in a world that has inched
to the right for the past 80 years.
Contents
INTRODUCTION 12
PLAN YOUR DREAM PROJECT 17
Choose the Right Project for Right Now 18
Clarify Your Project: Start Now, Where You Are 22
Envision Success 26
Success daydream / meditation 26
Create a vision board 27
Summarize your vision of success 29
Clarify Your Core Values 30
Craft Your Mission and Vision Statements 31
Write your mission statement 32
Write your vision statement 33
Resource Assessment 34
Define Your Goals 35
Create Action Steps to Support Your Goals 36
Create action steps 37
Project Timeline 41
Storyboard your timeline 41
Make a workback timeline 41
Chapter One Checklist 46
GIVE YOUR PROJECT AN IDENTITY:
BRANDING BASICS 47
Market Research 47
Understand your project 48
Understand Your Community or Market 48
Identify your target audience 51
Create “personas” for your customers 53
Get To Know Your Brand 54
Chapter Two Checklist 57
SPREADING THE WORD AND TELLING THE
WORLD: MARKETING AND COMMUNITY
BUILDING BASICS 59
Create a Marketing Campaign Creative Brief 60
Develop Your Pitch 62
How to Reach Out, Talk About Your Project, and Grow Your
Community 64
Forge genuine connections 65
Structure your outreach 66
Your Online Presence 67
Website checklist 67
Create an Email Newsletter 69
Your Presence on Social Media 73
Social media guidelines 73
Choose the right platforms for your project 74
Create a plan for each platform 76
Social media account set up 81
Brainstorm posts 81
Build excitement for your project 83
Building community on social media 87
Social media calendar 88
Social media milestones checklist 89
Chapter Three Checklist 90
PRESS OUTREACH: ENGAGING TRADITIONAL
MEDIA 91
Define Your Goals for Press Coverage 91
Identify Publications that Are a Fit for Your Project 91
Craft Your Pitch 93
Press pitch template 94
Press outreach tools checklist 95
Chapter Four Checklist 95
TELL THE STORY OF YOUR PROJECT IN
NUMBERS GET COMFORTABLE WITH THE
FINANCIAL SIDE OF YOUR PROJECT 97
Assess Your Feelings about Money 97
Make a Budget 99
budget brainstorm 99
Generating Income 101
Clarify your income strategy 101
set up a budget in a spreadsheet 102
Spending Record 104
Plan to Barter Better 107
Make barter/trade plan: 107
Earned Income: Pricing Your Work 109
Product pricing guidelines worksheet 110
Product pricing formula 111
Pricing terminology 112
Earned Income: Paying Yourself 113
Pricing your time and services 113
Service pricing terminology 115
Chapter Five Checklist 116
FUNDRAISING 117
Fundraising Campaign Planning 117
Crowdfunding 119
Plan a Crowdfunding Campaign 120
Step 1: make your budget 120
Step 2: assess your network 120
Step 3: determine your goal and your giving levels 121
Step 4: describe and pitch your project 122
Step 5: determine your rewards 123
Step 6: set up your campaign site and spread the word 124
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