The last time I blogged for this site, my own site, was March 2013.  That’s when I was trampled by technology.  Have you let technology trample you?

After reading my first draft of this post I actually said out loud, “Really, Leslie? That’s not what happened!”  I wasn’t trampled by technology. After some introspection I realized that this post really is about priorities and it took me writing the first draft to realize I was using technology as a crutch, an excuse.  Instead of stating that I was trampled by technology, I should have been owning up to the fact that this blog wasn’t one of my priorities. It’s a bit hard to swallow, that I really haven’t been trampled by technology, but that I’ve had my priorities screwed up.

Last March I took on a tourism consulting project for a region in Southern California, it had to be built from scratch.  That meant developing a website, starting the social sites, launch it all, and once again, being a one person marketing department.  The launch of this destination marketing program was in July and now the ongoing focus is to grow awareness for the region via social media and online marketing.  While this was happening I agreed to partner on another start up endeavor ~ marketing social media to associations and large meetings. Once again, build a website, start the social media, get the business launched and grow it.  All the while Tourism Currents (with awesome partners Sheila Scarborough and Becky McCray) was going full speed ahead with more subscribers than ever, a super strong social media program and lots of training and speaking engagements.

Practice what you preach!

At Tourism Currents we train and talk a lot about putting your efforts into a couple of online platforms and doing them well.  We also stress priorities.  Talk about NOT practicing what you preach!  During 2013 I said many times that technology, all that I was doing online, was keeping me from this site.  I was having to write too many blogs and social media posts for others which put me on technology overload and couldn’t do anything for my own site.  But let’s be truthful here, I simply didn’t have my priorities set with this site in mind.

It’s all about the “P” word

While both of the new projects are coming along, this site has been left in the dust. I knew I needed to start blogging here again or simply let Just A Small Town Girl go.  Marketing with small budgets, stretching marketing dollars – that’s what this site is all about.  For the past 10 months I should have made it a priority to share the good and the bad of these startup experiences.  I chose to let this blog take a back seat, it wasn’t one of my priorities. Everyone is busy these days, it’s not that we don’t have time for everything, it’s that we don’t make certain things a priority.

So many people write about priorities at the beginning of the year. I’ve NEVER thought about writing a post about priorities.  Blaming technology for my lack of blogging is nothing short of cringe-worthy now that I’ve realized what my real problem is. I’m glad I figured it out before I published a really dumb post.

Have you been in these shoes before? Have an experience like this that you’d like to share?  I hope this inspires you to look a little deeper and not necessarily accept the excuses that you make for yourself.  I can see this post becoming an addition to upcoming trainings!

If you’d like to take a look, the two new projects I took on in 2013 can be found here:

www.visitsanjacintovalley.com

www.marketmymeeting.com