goal setting | Strawberry Communications: Writing & PR

2016 in Review

December 28, 2016 By Johanna Baker-Dowdell Leave a Comment

It is late December and as I’ve done for several years I’ve been reviewing what I’ve achieved throughout the past year.

For a year that has been difficult personally for many I know (and with the loss of so many important icons), I have to admit I’m looking forward to waving goodbye to 2016 in a few days. However, it has been a good year in other ways.

I like to start each year by setting a word to focus on and mine for 2016 was “knowledge”. However, I think after reviewing what I’ve done through the year it should have been “write”. Makes sense that a writer should write, doesn’t it? Sarcasm aside, I have written thousands and thousands of words for my PhD thesis, newspaper articles, blog posts and creative pieces, not to mention hundreds of social media updates. Words are my life.

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Filed Under: My Stuff Tagged With: 2016, business goal, goal setting, goals, personal goals, university goals, year in review

A Decade in Business: Reflection and Refocus

September 28, 2016 By Johanna Baker-Dowdell Leave a Comment

A photo by Christopher Sardegna. unsplash.com/photos/CMOa3H1SXG0

This month Strawberry Communications turns 10. I had been freelancing on and off for six years before I started working for myself full time, but once my eldest son was born I knew I didn’t want to be working for someone else five days a week. My work experience and entrepreneurial spirit drove me to go it alone and I registered the business in October 2006.

My business has gone through many iterations in that 10 years: from being a purely freelance writing business initially, to combining my own clients with freelancing for other PR businesses. From there Strawberry Communications was predominantly operating as a PR consultancy with two additional consultants supporting me and it’s now back to mostly writing, with just me at the helm.

A fluid business

There have been many reasons for these changes: responding to industry demand, working around my family and my own desire for change. During the past 10 years I’ve worked around one, and then two, small children, after which I ran the business full time while my partner become a stay-at-home dad. Next I combined running Strawberry Communications with baking business, Stanley & Nelson, and then with studying part-time. For the past two years I’ve been studying full time and working in the business part time. I expect to be finished my PhD within the next six months and so now I’m starting to think about what I’ll do post study.

Moving Mountains with my Focus

January 29, 2015 By Johanna Baker-Dowdell 2 Comments

“That’s been one of my mantras – focus and simplicity. Simple can be harder than complex: you have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it’s worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains.” ~ Steve Jobs

Like many, I awaited the end of 2014 with a mixture of trepidation and excitement. For me 2014 was a blessing and a curse. It was not a good year for me personally with a major foot injury clipping my wings for five months, but I celebrated many successes including being confirmed as a PhD candidate at the University of Tasmania so it wasn’t all bad.

To start me off on the right track I chose a word, incorporating ideas from Christine Kane, Leonie Dawson and Kelly Exeter. My word for 2015 is “Focus”, which I settled on because I want to stop reacting to other’s priorities and trying to do everything concurrently so I can concentrate on less to do my tasks better. And because I feel inspired by pretty things, I decorated a poster for my office during a craft morning with my boys to remind myself to stay focused.

2016 in Review

A Decade in Business: Reflection and Refocus

A fluid business

Moving Mountains with my Focus

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