Networking
The community morning tea was a lovely event yesterday with so many new faces and some familiar old ones. One of the latter had been here for 30 years and the other, 50 years, witnessing heaps of change in their time here. The event took place in the hall and as was pointed out, this wasn’t always there. That only came about with a lot of toil from the then, small community. The batons-up on Friday will help with the hall’s maintenance as it is now of the age when a lot of the original needs upgrading.
I used the opportunity to sell three more of my books. One person approached me for two of these and the other had heard about The Collective Us and asked to buy a copy. Conveniently, I had a supply in the back of Stephen’s car. Marketing or selling is not my thing, but I have realised I have to take any opportunity that I can if I want to make sales so I carry a handful with me in the car. Which reminds me, I have to place some in the other car in case I forget to switch back over when I take mine. I know there are still people out there who have expressed interest in my book but with whom I have not yet caught up with.
Sam sold three copies for me at the Mind, Body, Soul event in Pukekohe on the weekend. I was very grateful that he did this for me. I am currently running an ad marketing campaign in the UK on Facebook and have sold four e-book copies so far. I can see that selling is going to be a long, slow process but it is one that I will need to plug away at and really think about how I invest my time and dollar in this process.
I still think public talks, such as at the Mind, Body events would be helpful for sales. I have kind of been getting one thing out of the way at the time and only after completing each task, am I thinking about the next one. It doesn’t help that there is a garage to paint. I know that will occupy me for a good week or so. The actual painting won’t be so bad, but there is quite a bit of rust that will need to be sanded down before the painting. That is what will take the time.
I have usually been pretty good at multi-tasking but seem to be less efficient these days. I have just made a list for the garden. I have tomatoes and capsicum to plant, pots and gardens to weed and hibiscus to prune. On the weekend I planted out the broccoli, cabbage, herbs, lettuces and spinach. When it is warmer, I will plant the peas, beans and courgettes. Up here the varmints strike pretty hard after Christmas so I try and get my garden in early. Already, white butterflies are circulating but after Christmas the green beetle and other insects become a problem too. When that time comes, I usually buy my vegetables from the local market gardeners, and replant again in late Summer or early Autumn for a winter garden and again now for an early Summer one.
And of course, there are these blogs to write. It makes me wonder how on earth I managed to complete all of this when I was working. I have heard many people say that they are busier in retirement than they ever were. I am starting to think this is true.