Week One: Planning and Preparation

This is the first week of a month-long project for Praxis. For the whole month, I’m working with Raposa Technologies to prepare for their launch in June. There’s a lot to be done, so check out more here!

I read (but mostly listen to) a lot of books. Usually they’re self-help books, mindset guides, or about logical fallacies. One thing I have read in many books is to stop planning and start doing. Why spend time planning to do something when you could just get it done instead?

In my experience, this is pretty good advice, but this time I decided to go against my better judgment. For a month-long project, planning is the best decision for me to make this week.

My project this month is mainly content-driven. The goal is to have Raposa Technologies up and running by June for its soft launch so we need as much content to back up the company as possible. So I had to learn a lot of information to make sure the content is up to par for our clients.

What I did this week:

1. I scheduled calls with Raposa Tech to review expectations
2. I read “Thinking in Bets” by Annie Duke
3. I read “The Art of Thinking Clearly” by Rolf Dobelli
4. I researched logical fallacies and biases that affect investors
5. I researched quantitative Investing

6. I scheduled out my project due dates

7. I decided on all the blog post topics for the month and included all research articles, books, and resources to refer to when I get to the writing portion

8. I learned how to use Mailchimp at a high level

I had some struggles this week

Time management has always been something I have struggled with. I work a lot. Between the full Chicago traffic commute, the long hours, and the exhausting work of the restaurant industry, I feel like time is against me. To combat this, I scheduled things religiously into my calendar. I listened to my books while doing my everyday tasks. Even an hour or two of research between daily life helps. By planning everything out and getting the research portion done, I can really just dive into my work these coming weeks.

I also struggled with making decisions. This is not usually something I have a problem with. Unless it’s an ice cream flavor, I am typically a very decisive person. This week, deciding what I can do that will bring the most value to the company in the time given set me to pause. I am a problem solver by nature, so creating ideas was not the problem. It was having too many ideas that I wanted to do that hindered my process. I fixed this by prioritizing my ideas, then grouping them into something that makes sense as a full project.

Everything is a learning opportunity

I learned a lot of valuable information just in one week. All my in-depth research and reading will show that in the coming weeks of course. But I also learned some interesting things that will help not just with investing, but with any other projects I do in the future.

1. I learned how to identify a specific target audience. I had thought before that the bigger the target audience, the higher the outreach ergo the more sales you will make. This project has taught me that is not the case. Raposa Tech is not for everyone, so it should not be marketed to everyone. Our goal is to make this type of investing more accessible to more people, but that doesn’t mean everyone can do it.
2. I learned how to connect with the target audience and do research aimed towards them. Using an Avatar named “Paul”, we have made a very specific target audience to launch to. I refined my research from the “anyone can do this” to “Paul is interested in this and it can benefit him”. This way everything I create will be specific and worthwhile for whom we believe will be reading it the most.
3. I learned how to manage my time on my own and while working with others. Deadlines and updates are much more important when you’re dealing with real people who are expecting real results. This definitely has added pressure, but it’s also made me much more on top of things as a result. I scheduled calls to keep them in the loop and to make sure everyone is on the same page. I learned that planning and preparation, especially when working alongside others, can be just as important as doing the job itself.

While I didn’t produce much to show for yet, I feel very confident in the direction I am going. Over the course of this month, I plan to make my research into digestible content, and take my learned Mailchimp skills into making an email marketing campaign. I will use the marketing skills I have learned in the past couple of months along with new techniques to double our current email list. I also plan to create 3–4 video tutorials on what quantitative investing is and how to do it using Raposa Tech. These goals will really push me to learn and apply information along with improving my writing and producing skills.

Next week I will be focusing on email marketing, creating an automatic email system, and writing the first couple blog posts.