Day 9 of the 30-Day Challenge: Creative Movement:
Task: To work with my local school district on becoming a vendor, providing my reading and writing incentives and services to its various educational programs, groups, and facilities.
Reason for Task: One of my major goals for this year is to establish a working partnership with my local community, namely with the school district. In determining where my products and services would serve those who could utilize them the most, my mind quickly went to young children (school-aged), their parents/other adult family members/guardians/mentors, and educators.
And what better audience to attract than the one in your own backyard. Right? I would absolutely love to partner with the educational institutions in my city, starting with the school district my son is a part of. Within this entity, there are sooooooooooooo many opportunities to cater to the needs of the individual schools and the district programs at-large, needing print materials that encourage the young reader and writer. And, I’m up for the challenge to rise to that growing need.
With the onset of COVID, we’ve quickly seen how more and more of the virtual learning and homeschooling environments were prevalently-utilized out of necessity. And, I believe the interest in this non-traditional education style will continue to grow (even with children returning to their brick-and-mortar schools with the social distancing mandates loosening).
Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m continuing to work hard to gain an online presence to meet the needs of those that I’ll never get to see face-to-face. But, I sure embrace the possibility of becoming the go-to for reading and writing educational resources here within my own community.
To this end, I’ve been making connections within the school district to get Degrees of Maternity’s name out there as a provider of reading and writing learning and teaching tools for children and adults. My products are currently being advertised at the parent-teacher resource center for the school district and I’m hoping that they’ll look to actually carry my print materials one day.
Furthermore, there’s a summer program that I want to work with in providing my journal cover, bookmark, and doorknob hanger bundles. One of the core subjects that the educators will be looking to assist children with (in this program) is English Language Arts. So, I believe my products would be a good fit for such an educational opportunity. Now, if I can just convince the appropriate parties in the school district that that’s the case, then I’ll be one happy camper.
Duration of Task: On-going. This task is a work-in-progress (started before day 9 and will be carried out after day 9) on a continuous basis. Establishing strong working relationships is a process and one to be developed and nurtured long-term.
Outcome of Task: I went to the parent-teacher resource center today to follow-up with my contacts, regarding progress made toward getting my products to not just be advertised at this site but to actually be offered for purchase.
More follow-up will be needed as my contact was not available at the time of my visit. So, a phone call will be made tomorrow to check in on next steps.
And once I’ve been able to follow up with my contact at the parent-teacher resource center, then I’ll be able to move forward with calling my contact for the summer educational program I mentioned earlier in this post. I’m hoping to make that call before the week’s end to see where it leads me.
Practical Application of Day 9 for Your Life: Very worthwhile goals will take some hard work on your part in order to accomplish. Don’t give up when it seems like there’re a lot of obstructions in your way, trying to derail you from what you’ve set out to do. Keep to your goal-setting plans and press onward.
Sometimes, it can appear (at first glance) that you’re never going to achieve your goal. But if you take a harder second glance with a positive and visionary outlook, you just might notice that you’re still moving toward the goal post. You just needed to get off of the path you were originally on to realize the more appropriate road to travel in arriving at your destination.
I’ve been saying this a lot lately; but, pivoting is sometimes necessary for meeting your tasks or goals. So, don’t be afraid to change for the better. Flexibility, patience, and persistence are the operative words here.
degreesofmaternity.com 