Recorded three more sessions, though only two of them really "turned out"
This style of marketing is a medium term bet for me on a product I'm developing, plus it forces me to refine my language on teaching these facilitation techniques.
Learning final cut pro properly is proving interesting on a macbook air.
Product Dev
Round 1 prototype of a facilitation game up and running, though no first design survives first contact with a user.
Site Refinement
Starting to work on a text and function redesign of the website
Some testing and feedback one this first version has switched up my opinion on what is what.
Etc
Pizza catch up with Kevin Andersen, a good friend and founder of Super Ultra (also in my board game group)
Connecting with a group of researchers on the Arctic sustainability grant
Partnership discussions with the nordic cohort
Sales Coaching
Worked with Claus Birkedal, a sales coach from Erhvervshus Hovdestaden
Practice around call scripts and various other techniques, was an incredibly helpful session
While I'm a strong communicator, this type of selling is something I have a lot of discomfort with, so the fact that these types of resources are available to new businesses in Denmark is wickedly helpful
Etc
Regular catchup call with Justin Pickard. Always learn something new, or generate some interesting tangent with him.
New coaching clients and intros coming up, which is exciting.
Map Building
Starting to build out a map of locations within Copenhagen for workshops and visitors
Built in LeafletJS, it's going to live on this site and hopefully should help you the next time you need to book an offsite or workshop space in Copenhagen!
Etc
I was interviewed briefly by Bloomberg TV about living in the UN17 Village in Copenhagen
Working on a list of recommendations for Copenhagen visitors, specifically for those hoping to host workshops or retreats here
My dog (a greyhound named Moon) passed away this passed summer, and we've been planning on getting a new dog for some time.
Nell, an 8 week old whippet puppy, joined us on Monday. It's been predictably chaotic.
Short Week
Because of Nell and easter weekend, this was a very short week.
The primary focus was on researching a research grant opportunity (plus one or two others), following up on some leads, and finally locking in my accounts.
Open Source Start
I started on a small open source project over the weekend to better learn Node-Red.
Still lots of work on the business admin sidem, including taxes and the like.
Getting a business bank account in Denmark is fun, but almost finished that process.
Getting these Week Notes up and going has been a nice focus as well.
Reaching out to different DK business community connections, as well as from my alma mater at the University of Leicester.
Newsletter
I've been working to relaunch my newsletter, and that work is almost finished and ready for the first week of April.
I'm anticipating next week to be a bit wild due to a new puppy joining our household, so tempering expectations there.
Custom Automations
Got Node-Red set up as my automation platform of choice. I've gone back and forth between ActivePieces, N8N, and Zapier, but ultimately none of them really hit the right model for me.
Node-Red is self hosted, has a Grist plugin (which can also be self-hosted), and the actual plugin development process is pretty intuitive.
I'll be working on some node-red code contributions, and will share those as we go.
Disrupted Home Week
My wife and son were both sick this week, so care duties were amped up a bit this week.
My wife and I have been using the Fairplay Deck since our son was born to plan out our scope of responsibilities, and did a refresh of that this week in light of the new business and our getting a new puppy this month.
The basic coaching platform CRM that I mentioned previously is one piece, I also need to build out the tool for managing workshops.
Megafauna is a "one plus" shop for now — meaning that I'm running everything with myself with support from partners — contractors, consultants, and freelancers.
I need to automate the right things, while allowing for productive friction where creative work come fromes.
The big first steps are workshop management, feedback, and capture. Automating as much as that as I can will mean less work (and lower fees) later.
Thankfully, I've been doing this for about fifteen years now, even if Megafauna itself is new. So there's a long list to work towards.
Covid Anxiety was a super effective planning tool for my little family during covid. It helped us make some smart bets during period that supported our goals.
We're never not living in Interesting Times (as Twoflower would say), so it seems prudent.
I'll be playtesting it soon, so send me a note if you're interested.
Coaching Client
Connecting with some early coaching clients and testing a new approach.
Submitting my Animas certification means I can be a bit less dogmatic about my coaching style.
Specifically, that means using more visual and design tools with my clients.
Hosting Free Workshops
I'm starting to look for spaces and communities to host some free workshops using my original content.
Part of the thesis of Megafauna is community. After a few years of remote-only work, I dearly miss the community that participatory design and workshopping brings.
Got Megafauna incorporated this week, with all that entails in Denmark
Forming a business in Denmark is always a little fraught as a foreigner, so making sure it's all set up properly.
Found a lovely corporate accountant to work with through my friend Alex at Hello Neuman, so happy with this setup.
Coaching Certification
A bit belated since I completed the requirements in February, but submitted for my transformation coaching certification with Animas.
50 hours of coaching, 40 hours of class work, 13 clients, and 8 hours of 1-on-1 coaching mentorship and review has been a fantastic process. As skeptical as I was of some aspects of coaching going into it, it's been an incredibly effective program.
Website Up
Getting the website up (this one) is the big "work" focus this week. Tooling, design, content, and just making sure all the basics are in place.
This time, the site is built on AstroJS, hosted on vercel, and much of the core content is written in markdown. My other megafauna connected site, coaching for makers is written in the same.
Behind the Scenes Work
Busy implementing a simple CRM and mechanism for tracking coaching clients. Basically the lead up to being able to provide a coaching client portal.
Much of this is currently being built on Grist. I'll write about it at some point, but the long and short is that it fits the need (i.e. spreadsheets), has python support, has an easy API, and can be self-hosted.