Hello and welcome to The B-Side, a mastermind group for entrepreneurial women! On the first of each month, I share my business-related goals, challenges, and triumphs while inviting you to do the same! I'd love for you to join me; you can learn more about participating by clicking here.Time flies, no? It's already been a month since our first B-Side meeting! So how did you do on your March goals? Here's how I did on mine:

Last Month's Business Goals & Results

1. Get my blogging schedule down. I did really good at this! I was pretty consistent with my blogging and managed to get 3-4 posts out every week.
2. Come up with an effective social media plan. At first I was really struggling with this, but the blogging course I'm involved in, Bright-Eyed and Blog-Hearted has been very helpful. Rachel, the course creator, sent out some really great worksheets to map out your social media effort for the week. I still want to get better at actually implementing it, but what I'm doing now is a lot better than the haphazard way I was going about it before.
3. Complete the blogging course I signed up for. I haven't completed this course yet because its still in progress. I didn't realize it was a 6-week course, which is great! I am a little behind on the course work but I've been making steady progress.
4. Guest post on two blogs in my niche. I didn't get to guest post on two blogs...but I did guest post on one! I'm a contributor for the wonderful site, ForWomentoWomen.com. You can check out my guest post here.

This Month's Business Goals

This month, I want to kick it up a notch and do some things I haven't done on the blog before. Since my ultimate goal is for TGC to be an on- and offline personal development company for women, I want to start offering things on the blog in that arena. My goals for this month are to:

1. Spend more time writing and editing blog posts. Though I was really consistent in getting 3-4 posts out every week, I've found that writing that frequently doesn't give me a lot of time to mull over the post and really refine them. Initially, I was hoping to write all the posts over the weekend and schedule them throughout the week, but its very difficult to sit down and blog for 4-5 hours straight, coming up with everything from scratch as you go. Instead, I've decided to blog 2-3 times a week so that I'll have more time to let me ideas develop and improve my writing. I think this will allow me to create really detailed, helpful posts more often. (Aside: If there is anything you want me to post more about or a topic you want me to cover, LET ME KNOW!!!)
2. Make site improvements based on blogging course. The great thing about this course is that it teaches you to make all sorts of improvements to your blog, including updating your about page, making navigation easier, etc. This month, I plan on sitting down, going over all the suggestions from the course and actually doing them on the blog.
3. Conduct some interviews/panels. One of my favorite things to do is interview inspiring women on a variety of subjects. I've done several interviews before, but I want to get back into it and make it a regular thing for TGC. This month I'm shooting for at least two new interviews.
4. Plan my first event. Holding a live, local event has been a dream of mine since I've started TGC. I don't know why I haven't done it yet! I think I've made hosting an event a bigger "thing" than it has to be and my perfectionism is keeping me from just doing something already! Last month, I met with Tori and Kellee of Black Girls Social here in Dallas to get some advice about hosting my first event. Tori and Kellee were so sweet and agreed to be my accountability partners on this! Tori just emailed me in fact, so by the end of the month I want to have a rough plan (event topic, location, prospective sponsors, etc) of the event in writing so I can finally move forward on this.
5. Begin working on an e-book. Another dream I have for TGC is to write a book! To get there, I thought a short-ish ebook (maybe 30 pages or so) offered for free on the site would be a fun place to start. I haven't done this yet because I'm like uh...what should I write about?!? I have no idea what my topic will be but my goal this month is to figure it out!

Current Challenges

1. Writing Schedule. An annoying habit I've fallen into is writing and finishing my posts right before I have to publish. This is a stressful way to write -- you can't really do a whole lot of editing or exploring different ideas when you have to get that same post out within the hour. I need to figure out a more consistent writing schedule that allows me to work on and tweak my posts over multiple days.
2. Newsletter. So I'm really excited that people are signing up for me email list! But now that I have sign-ups I'm like uh...what do I send?!? What should I talk about? So if you are on my email list -- help a sista out! What kind of information do you want to receive?
3. Facebook. The beast that I still can't conquer! I will say the engagement on my Facebook page has improved, but I still don't quite know what my "fans" want to see on my Facebook page. Definitely a work in progress...

Current Successes/What's Working

1. B-Side Facebook Group. Let me just say, wow! I had no idea that the B-Side Facebook group would be such a hit but it is! The ladies who have joined thus far are PHENOMENAL and a lot of great information is being passed back and forth. I'm really enjoying connecting with everyone!
2. Blog Tools. As you already know, the blogging course I'm a part of has been a big help. In addition to the course, I also bought this amazing blog planner from Party Over Hair creator, L. Providence that has changed my life! I'm going to review it in a separate post, but it was only $12 and has radically improved my blogging organization. In general, you should invest in your blog or business. Get some tools and take some course to help you do whatever it is you do. It makes a difference.
3. Showing Up. For years, being consistent with TGC was a challenge for me. By simply showing up, posting regularly and working on it everyday, I've moved that much closer to my ultimate goal! Whatever it is you are trying to do, just be consistent.

Your Turn!

Mastermind Rules

• Share your goals, challenges and successes in the comments.
• The goal of this mastermind is to support each other, so be sure to read all the comments and check out all the participating blogs and businesses! If you have something to offer, leave a comment and help each other out!
• If you are a blogger, feel free to create a post sharing your entrepreneurial goals, challenges, and successes (via the format above) on your blog and link back here. You can even grab the button and include it in your post:

B-Side Facebook Group

Be sure to join the B-Side Facebook group! Since the B-side post will come out monthly, this women-only Facebook group will serve as a "hub" for us to ask questions, share what we have going on, and generally connect with each other on a day-to-day basis. You can join right now: http://facebook.com/groups/bsidebythinkandgrowchick