Parachute Digital is growing and we’re creating our identify as we go. To do this we need to develop products and marketing collateral and build an infrastructure around us to support this growth. Basically, we need to do all of the things that we counsel our adventurous clients to do. Admittedly, most of our clients are far more mature in their business and brand than we are, but what they lack is digital knowledge – which we provide.
I typed in “a web confessional” and this is the image that popped up. I love it. See the computers hanging on the wall, it must have been for a skype confessional or something like that.
This is the first time that I’ve been on the flip side of developing a digital platform for myself. I’ve done it for businesses and organisations when I was the Marketing Manager or Digital Product Manager, I’ve done it for Parachute Digital clients, but now I’m doing it for me. And its big and scary and expensive and everything is more complicated than I want it to be. But I’m loving it, because I’m getting to know my customer better as I do it. I’m working with suppliers that I hope to have long standing relationships with, we’re getting to know each other, establishing trust and carving out our roles. I won’t be the project manager or lead on this project, I’ll be the client. I won’t however relinquish the role of strategy director, the vision is all mine.
That’s why I got into business for myself. I wanted to drive the direction, I wanted to choose the types of organisations and industries that I worked with. I wanted to feel as though I was doing something with my life. And I’m loving it, and I’m learning a lot about sales mostly, and bookkeeping and finance (which it turns out I’m terrible at), about employment obligations and systems and processes. I am trying to document all of the things that we do so that I can create some processes to outsource to our virtual assistant. Plenty of this stuff is not what I got into business for, but like life and marriage and friendship and family, we have to take the good with the bad. And this website project that I’m embarking on is no different.
I have to take a step back and let the developers do their thing. I need to acknowledge right up front that its not going to look exactly as I imagine it in my head. It’s not going to be perfect the minute it launches, because nothing ever is. In the 10 weeks that we spend developing this platform to my requirements document and scope of work, the industry will launch a new technology or product that I will not have considered and my brand new, state of the art website (see, dreaming already) will already be out of date. I know that websites are a forever work in progress, that we optimise and refine them based on how our users engage and behave, not based on the vision of one person (me). I might get it right, but only for a little bit of time, then human behaviour changes and my website will have to change with it.
In the next 3-6 months Parachute Digital will launch a new product to market, we will have a fancy brochure and marketing collateral to support it. Our new website will go live, and I’ll be creating a suite of video content to support this blog. Did you realise that this blog now has over 200 articles? Pretty cool huh? Hopefully in the new year I will release my book on Digital Fundraising. It’s in the 2nd draft editing process, and I’m so happy with my editor and her approach. It’s exactly how I like to work, but she’s in charge and I’m finding myself a willing follower in this process, because its out of my area of expertise and she is guiding me beautifully through it.
So keep your eyes open, because Parachute Digital is about to arrive. And I welcome all of your comments and criticisms and feedback because we are a forever work in progress and our aim is to deliver to your needs. So please, tell me what you want and need and expect, and I’ll try to align my vision to your requests.
Have a great day people!