Looking back on the year, it’s been eventful, to say the least. A lot has happened, changed, and developed in my business, and I want to share all of that with you – what worked and what didn’t work, so you can learn from my mistakes and successes as well.
Let’s start with the numbers! You know I’m always transparent and honest about what’s going on in my business. 2020 was a great year for my business, it was the first time I made 6-figures and felt like I actually did it, I created a business that could sustain myself.
2021 was great, and I had big plans for this year to grow my revenue, but it didn’t work out that way. I actually just very slightly grew my revenue, it mostly stayed the same as in 2020 – which is fine! I’m not worried about it, because I lived a great year!
Plans change – be flexible!
One of my learnings from this year: it’s great to make plans and have it all mapped out, and I did, but sometimes you need to adapt and be flexible so you don’t get lost trying to chase goals that are irrelevant for your quality of life. The reality is that I think I’ve been working less this year compared to last year, so actually making the same amount of money is amazing.
At the beginning of this year, I was tired – with the pandemic, lockdowns, and my adorable puppy Luna who took up a lot of my time, there was just a lot going on. I lost my inspiration, my drive, and I didn’t feel connected to my purpose anymore. When I was working, it felt more like I was ticking off things on my to-do list. I did a lot of things, I was busy, but it wasn’t always inspired action.
Focusing on the wrong things
I focused too much on content creation and not so much on selling which was a big mistake. I did a few launches but none of them were as successful as my biggest launch in 2020, and I didn’t do anything to grow my audience besides my podcast. I also didn’t invest enough in ads, which would have been the other option.
Instead, I created a new online course and updated my existing courses. Which was important too, but I should have tried to balance those two things a bit better.
What I’ve learned is that I need to be more mindful of what tasks will help me move my business forward!
And also, what I can do to improve what I have already. It’s so easy to get lost thinking about new ideas.
Instead, you need to look at your numbers, analyze things, improve what you already have, and get better results for a lot less effort, and I didn’t do this enough.
To give you an example: when you finish a launch, look at your numbers. How many people saw your sales page? Make sure to get the unique page views from Google Analytics. How many people actually clicked? How many people opened your emails? All of this information is important not only to plan for your future revenue goals but also to troubleshoot.
Where do you need to improve things? Where do you lose people? Maybe there’s an email in your sequence that had a really bad opening rate – look at the subject line, can you come up with something that’s more engaging? This of course takes time, and patience, and I’m not really good with that.
So often when we don’t get the results we’ve been hoping for, we think it’s our product. It’s not good enough, it’s too small, or something is wrong with it and we focus on something else.
But instead, it might just be the title, the text on your sales page, or your emails, and you can test all that and improve it, you just need to sit down and face the music and get to it.
This will be my motto for the next year – do fewer things, but do them better.
Take a break when you need it!
After the first six months of 2021, with a never-ending winter, lockdown, the pandemic, working a lot, I was ready for a break. I don’t know how to describe it, but everything felt heavy – like walking through quicksand. Nothing was effortless, everything took so much work.
So, incredibly the universe provided just what I needed – I was able to buy a campervan, I got it in time for summer, and then I left for a 12-week trip to visit Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Switzerland, and Italy. I was working on the road (this is why I built a business that I can manage from anywhere), but not as much.
Instead, I was hiking, exploring the national parks, playing with my dog (who of course was with me on this trip), and just having the best time. Connecting with nature and being outside most of the time was so healing. It gave me time to dream and to think about where I really wanted to go with my business. What did I want for my life? How did I want to work? What impact did I want to make?
It’s so important to take time for this! When you’re just getting started, or you’re in the messy middle like me, you have to wear all the hats in your business.
You have to be the project manager, the assistant, the client-coach, and of course the CEO. And this is CEO work, and it’s important. Without a strong vision, everything is so much harder, and I experienced that this year.
So, I signed up for a mentor program, and then in October, I launched my new program – the Blissful Biz Incubator. I started with a small number of students, and I’m so happy and so grateful for every one of them. They show up to our calls, they do the work, and I feel so connected and invested in their success, and this is what I wanted. I really can’t wait to see what they create, and then of course share their results with you. There are big things happening in this group.
This is what I’ll be focusing on in 2022 – growing my student numbers inside the Blissful Biz Incubator, and helping my students build their online business. This is my biggest learning of 2021 – I want to go deeper with my clients, really work closely with them. I’m so happy to be on the right track here.
It’s okay to let go of control, to not reach your income goals or do everything you had planned, and just live your life instead and take a break.
When you get your mojo back, inspiration will show up again.
I’m mindful of how I run my business. I want it to be blissful, that’s not just a word I use in my branding, and not just crazy busy. I’ve worked in advertising, I had my share of 60-hour weeks and I definitely don’t want to go back there.
My plans for 2022:
In my business, I’m going to focus on the Blissful Biz Incubator. This is my signature program now and the only way to work 1:1 with me and get my full support. There will be a few strategic promotions happening next year, but it’s open year-round and you can get in at any time. It’s application only, so if you are interested in learning more about how I can help you build a profitable online business, click the link here.
Applying only takes 2 minutes and there’s no obligation to join or pay anything, it’s for me to see if we would be a good fit in working together. If I’ve accepted your application you next get a link to a private training where I share my framework on how to build a profitable online business that earns you 5k per month or more, and all the details about the Blissful Biz Incubator.
I’m also going to continue podcasting because I love it, and I’m going to try to reach out to other podcast hosts to guest post on their podcasts as well. I want to learn more about Facebook ads and how to use them to really grow my audience and sell my programs successfully.
That’s it for now, I don’t have plans to create a new program, start a YouTube channel, or another Facebook group.
I’ll be honest, I have so many more ideas of what I could do, I have ideas for new courses I could create and a completely new platform, but I’m not going to do that. I’m going to focus next year.
Do fewer things, and do them better.
If you’re unsure how to reach your financial goals in 2022 I created a financial planning spreadsheet for you to help you plan it all out. I’ve been using this template for the last few years in my business and I finally cleaned it up and made it a template, that you can get for free! I really hope it’s going to help you get clarity and plan your budget for the next year.
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