
2019 was a year of growth, overcoming, and persevering. I’ve never been more excited about being uncomfortable.
I began this year afraid and determined: overwhelmed by how much there was to do, but undeterred.
This is what I did in 2019 for professional development:
Built a website for the first time (with some help from Julie Bonn Blank)
- Learned the bare basics of CSS
- Navigated WordPress Dashboards
- Figured out plugins
- Got professional photos done
- Troubleshot design issues
Created my first pitch deck
- Learned Google Slides
- Figured out photo transferring and file compatibility
- Choose appealing composition and design
- Crafted a concise yet purposeful narrative
Filmed my first bio video
- Scriptwriting
- Energetic delivery
- Re-recorded (Again, and again…)
- Became familiar with the basics of video editing and publishing
Put my LinkedIn profile together
- Wrote job bios
- Gained connections
- Researched what makes a strong profile
Completed the Building a Second Brain course
- Became familiar with Evernote
- Learned Loom
- Created a note and information organization system
- Improved my info retention
- Interviewed 7 people about their roles in Marketing, Customer Success, Sales, and Operations
Wrote a blog post every day for 31 days straight
- Became familiar with Unsplash.com
- Produced work, no matter what
- Ideas, ideas, ideas
- Got familiar with Grammarly
- Experimented with topics
- Pitched pieces to third party publishers
- Worked with others on revisions and edits
Completed my first digital marketing project
- Refined my communication skills
- Conducted social media marketing research
- Content creation galore
- Pivoted with changing projects
- Learned how to use Canva
- Built a working relationship
- Continued business connection with paid commitments
- Learned how to use Later.com
- Created a tagline
- Wrote a new type of bio
- Selected portfolio pieces
- Re-filmed a bio video
- Built-up my tech stack
- Sent it off for review and launching
- Got the green light to launch
I learned how to turn my fears into curiosities, my uncertainties into excitement, and lean into my determination by turning it into a skill.
At the beginning of the year, I barely understood what a “Pitch Deck” was. The digital world was largely a mystery. Now, I love learning new tech and programs.
Here are some of the programs I’ve learned this year and am still learning:
- Airtable
- Canva
- Evernote
- Excel
- Gmail
- Grammarly
- Google Calendar
- Google Docs
- Google Drive
- Google Slides
- GoDaddy
- HubSpot
- Jetpack
- Loom
- Outlook
- Slack
- Survey Monkey
- Updraft
- WordPress
- Zapier
- Zoom
In conclusion
The person I was this time last year would look at who I am now and be flabbergasted at what I’ve done. I have so, so much more to learn and that doesn’t scare me.
Because I know I’m capable of more than I realize.
If this is what the Praxis Bootcamp results in, I can only imagine the type of growth that’s coming in the next half!
Whatever it is, I will rise to meet it.
I hope everyone has a groundbreaking, incredible, growth-filled 2020 ahead.
Happy New Year, and thank you to everyone who helped make this year as amazing as it was!