My 2011 Professional Resolutions

Yes, I’m doing a resolutions post. If for no other reason than to hold myself accountable.

Looking at last year’s professional goals, which were much more about staying afloat financially, I think this year, the theme is laying the foundation of sustainability to grow a business and opportunities at journalism and the like.

I broke them out more specifically by month, as I did for last year’s personal resolutions:

  1. JANUARY: Work full-time for myself — It will be a great personal accomplishment to be a full-time employee at a business I’ve grown. While I’m currently drawing a salary, its as an independent contractor, I want to finalize the transition in 2011.
  2. FEBRUARY: Post here at least weekly — I continue to find great value in my development as a writer and understanding the tools of the web by flushing out my opinions here and disseminating them.
  3. MARCH: Organize contacts — I have fallen behind in the proper organization of contacts and sources, which I want to solidify. This also means cleaning up my other Google apps, like a calendar that has fallen apart.
  4. APRIL: Complete big journalism project — It looks like I will be playing a big role in a nicely focused investigative piece for NEast Philly, which will launch this month. That will be a satisfying goal to be involved with, ideally, another bigger, meaningful piece of journalism.
  5. MAY: Host major regional event — We at Technically Philly will be soon announcing plans we’re gathering for a major week-long event in the spring that I want to help make a major success.
  6. JUNE: Lead major grant project — Another major investigative and research reporting project will be winding down around this time of year, which will be a major professional focus of mine in 2011.
  7. JULY: Regularly volunteer — I want to return to a focus of serving others, and see opportunity in my professional capacity.
  8. AUGUST: Have physical office space — It goes beyond cache, as I’d like to mark the growth of TP with a location that our sources and readers can visit. This may be closer than expected.
  9. SEPTEMBER: Monthly multimedia skill use — I’m only savvy with the most basic photography, videography and audio editing techniques, but I want to keep them sharp. Using the Story Shuffle platform, which can also help with my storytelling, and others, I want to monthly shoot video, take photos and edit audio. I want to look back on 2011 and know that I’m stronger in those places and others.
  10. OCTOBER: Focus online presence — I have lingering outdated WordPress.com accounts that I want cleaned and projects that aren’t adequately shared online. I also have dead links and other problems in my portfolio and blog here. By the year’s end, I want to feel like all my professional work of merit is available online.
  11. NOVEMBER: Business reorganization — Part of owning a business is organization. I am proud of how I have led this for TP on the fly, but I want to come out of 2011 feeling a filing cabinet, Google docs, any business recording tools and the like are also completely on point.
  12. DECEMBER: Update my print portfolio — I have a binder of old clips from my college days sitting in my office. I want to get that spruced up and available.

I also shared my personal resolutions for this year here.

How could these be better, more actionable? Where are your resolutions? Think I have a shot with these?

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