January is National Mentoring Month — which reminds me of the incredible 54-hours that was Houston Start-up Weekend. GlobalWrites was a proud sponsor of the local edition of the global event that brought together business and technology entrepreneurial leaders to create and launch a product in a single weekend.

It sounded like a wonderful idea to bring all these people together for an intense weekend of creation, but I had no idea how they would pull it off. Brian Cohen, one of the organizers of Houston Start-up Weekend, tried to explain it to me beforehand but it took going to it to get a clue at the complexity of the event.

Some 75 entrepreneurs showed up, ready to roll up their sleeves. Some came with an idea and were looking for a development partner to make it real. Others came with technical know-how looking for a great product idea. Everyone came with an open mind. The meet-and-greet was like a speed dating event. Individuals or partially formed teams walked around not only looking for the right team members to fill out their ranks but also to build excitement around their own ideas. Only 12 teams would be formed that weekend.

Everyone was called into the auditorium and those with ideas had one minute to pitch to the crowd. Afterward, teams were formed and product development began. The teams did market research via personal interviews, social media, and online polls to hone their product features. They then came up with a better elevator pitch, a prototype, and a presentation in the remaining weekend hours. Some had never done this sort of thing before. Others had never done it in this compressed time-frame.

Throughout all of it, mentors walked amongst the hopefuls. They questioned assumptions and challenged participants to refine their product, their message, their plan. Two mentors in particular caught my attention: Grace Rodriguez of C2 Creative, DFJ Mercury and Culture Pilot; and Keith Casey of Twilio. (Thanks to both of you for taking time out of your busy schedules that weekend to grill me and offer up some great business advice!)

It might sound cliché to say, but I think everyone — sponsors, entrepreneurs, technologists, judges — came away from that weekend a winner. If you have a chance to participate in a Start-up Weekend near you or an event like it, take it. (If you’re foundering on where to take your business next, find a mentor. There are resources out there, like the SBA.)

Keep track of this on-going series!

The new year is a great time to set goals and get organized. If one of the goals for your business is to keep track of website content or newsletter ideas, an Excel spreadsheet may be the best option for ease of use, access, and storage.

As stated in my newsletter series, your ideas should be relevant to your client base, connect with them, and motivate them to move to the next level of service. So it’s a good idea for you to include these as checklist items on your spreadsheet.

Below I have included a spreadsheet that I find useful to keep track of my ideas. Feel free to download this and adapt it to suit your business needs.

>> Download our sample idea tracker (Excel, 9KB)

An experienced copywriter for both print and web, Jessica believes that a good freelance writer should be a literary chameleon — writing seamlessly in the client’s voice while providing powerful, search-engine-friendly copy.

Read more about Jessica.