new managers dilemmas

The cartoons seem to be going down well.
My next challenge is to keep the site relevant and realistic. I don't plan to churn out the management 'received wisdom' unless I know it works. The questions that come in help me to stay feet-on-the-ground about what being a new manager is really like. Do send yours in too - reply within a couple of days. Make it as specific as possible, and read the site first in case your question is already answered there.

more cartoon scenarios

Colleague Toni and I are getting through a lot of cartoons of management dilemmas. 

We've (well Toni really)  invented "Supermentor" who on the page following a cartoon comes in with some possible solutions.

I've put a couple on the open pages as tasters, but the whole lot and the solutions are on the members' pages.

new members!

Moving forward into the next phase of membership, where to be a member costs a little. This means I need to market more, and build up the members site so that members have new things to come back to.

learning about learning websites

It's been a very interesting journey, since I had the first idea. I've had to learn a lot, and also be quite tough with people who had a different view of how it should be.

I favor a rather sober approach, with less of the "Buy Me!" and more of the "You know it makes sense!" approach. I'm clearly out of fashion in this, but it's been a style I've preferred for years. Same with my books. At the same time I envy people who are good at marketing their skills and unashamed about promoting themselves. What has put me off is the fact that I don't respect them and often don't buy. I am more attracted by the subtle laid-back approach myself, so I suppose that's what I like to be doing.

next steps for newmanagersonline

Well I've taken the step, moved the site to a bigger host, and started the process of subscription membership. I have 50+ free members which is satisfying, but they're not all that active, according to google analytics. Personally I can't see how I'll make money on it, considering what it cost to set up even in a minimal way. It'll be one of those things like the books I've published: interesting to do but better for the reputation than for the purse!

latest on newmanagersonline.net

At last I'm beginning to sign up members (free for the first few months) and working on the membership pages to make them worth a subscription. I love the idea of working with mini-videos and cartoons to illustrate various options about managing people for the first time.

Some excellent questions have come in too, and people seem to have been very satisfied with the answers

I've managed to keep the newsletters going too. Developing the site and the whole process seems very slow but I'm determined to persevere until I have something I'm pleased with and that works for other people.

progress so far

Things have gone well with the new manager site. I've a number of subscriptions to the newsletter, and some very good questions have been sent in. A certain amount of spam but that's life online.

Keeping the newsletters going feels like a challenge, but a topic usually comes up just before I give up hope of finding something to say.

I've made things difficult for myself by changing the design without learning the best way to update all the pages - but I guess I'll get there in the end! (I tell myself that on a site like this it's the content that matters.)