Looking at the money in my bank account, my first thought was, it didn’t go how I wanted to…again!
But that’s because I invested pretty much everything I earned back into the business, and I’m OK with that. More on that in mo.
To keep it simple, I’m going to answer these 3 questions:
- What went well?
- What didn’t go well?
- What’s my focus in 2024?
Full disclosure, I had to look through my camera roll to remind myself that I did have a life and I’ve done and achieved loads I’d forgotten about.
Let’s get into the 2023 reflections.
WHAT WENT WELL?
This was the year I felt truly aligned with my vision and made good progress in bringing it to life.
Here’s what I did:
Niched down
I went all in on changing my message to help introverts with their social media strategy, and honestly, it’s like someone turned the tap on for collaborations as soon as I announced it.
Some of the highlights include:
- Being a speaker at The Quietly Influential Summit and sharing the virtual stage with headliners such as Denise Duffield-Thomas!
- Guest podcasts to talk about introversion and being more you on social media. I’ve got a Spotify playlist with them all on here.
- Special Recognition award at MarketEd Live (an event for marketing peeps) for fighting the corner for introverted biz owners. This was totally unexpected and an award from my marketing peers which made it even more special.
Offers
As an introvert, I talk about energy management a lot. That’s because it matters to me and is something I want to embody in my business too.
I did a lot of 1:1 work in 2022, which I LOVE, but it felt draining.
I took clients through the same workbooks, saying the same thing over and over again.
It felt repetitive and boring.
I didn’t want to bring this energy into my coaching sessions, so I decided to create a group programme..
(Yes, us introverts do like groups – we thrive in small, close knit communities)
I already had a proven concept. I’d had several 1:1 clients go through it, it would free up hours and give me much-needed recharge cushions throughout the week – what’s not to like?
So I invested in a coach who specialises in evergreen programmes, and Silent Storm was born.
I’m so proud of myself – it’s the signature course I’ve wanted to create for so long.
Another good decision was to build it “live”. I’m super grateful for the first group of ladies who joined the beta round and helped me shape the programme to what it is now.
Genuinely feel so lucky to attract clients who feel like friends. It makes it more fun and less like “work”.
On the subject of co-creating with your clients. I introduced two more offers that I hadn’t even thought of on the back of conversations with my audience!
- The Content Collab Membership was born after a request for regular prompts relating to my P Squared Framework.
- Roots is a beta offer I’m testing at the moment after countless conversations with people who find content creation hard because they haven’t got their foundations nailed.
Both of these launched with days after the original convo. I’m not afraid to try new things and see what happens.
There’s 2 ways it will go. It will land or it won’t.
Either way, you’ll learn something. You’ll never know until you try.
Community
I’m not scared to invest in people who are where you want to be and surrounding yourself with people ahead of you so you feel like the dumbest person in the room. I did both this year!
The beginning of the year, was all about getting Silent Storm off the ground so it was nice to share ideas with others building their group programmes for moral support (recording and editing the course content almost broke me!)
Once that ended, I thought I’d try and go alone for a bit, but I needed someone to hold me accountable to do the things I know I need to do (that’s exactly what I said to my current coach when asked “why do you need me” lol), so I invested in my lead gen and sales process.
This is why I’m not ending 2023 with as much money in the bank as I thought I would.
I’m OK with that because 2023 was the year of investing in the skills I need to push myself and serve my clients better. I’m happy to pass on what I learned to them, so they can improve their business.
It’s all about the ripple effect.
Granted not everyone will have the same risk outlook as me, but it pushes me to ensure I make the money back…and some.
WHAT DIDN’T GO WELL
I’m going to be honest, the past couple of years feel like I’ve been in “survival” mode due to hubby’s health diagnosis. I won’t go into it, but it’s a lifelong thing we both needed to get our heads around.
I’m just about getting to grips with it all and feel like I can focus on the business properly again.
I know some people can plow through life events and get on with it, but I’m an empath so it’s harder for me.
When you’re a solopreneur your life and work are kind of intertwined so there’s no shame in acknowledging that and giving yourself some grace. We’re not machines (she says!).
Lead Gen & Audience Growth
Whilst I focused on recording, editing, creating workbooks, and client delivery during the creation of Silent Storm, my audience growth and lead gen activities went out of the window.
You can guess what happened next. It was much harder to fill the next group because I hadn’t nurtured my audience enough.
Moral of the story – don’t slack on audience growth and sales! The seeds you plant now will grow into sales when you need them.
FOCUS FOR 2024
I feel energised by my niche, my offers, and the results I get for clients.
Refinement
2024 is all about refining what I’ve already got, improving the customer journey, and growing the business in a this-feels-cringe-right-now -but-I’ll-get-over-it-the-more-I-do-it kinda way.
Content
Clients always tell me they get more than they thought they would when they join, which is lovely, but makes me think there’s a disconnect between the content I’m sharing and the experience you get when you work with me.
I know I don’t share enough personal stuff, client stories and behind-the-scenes stuff (like this blog). I’ll work on that.
I LOVE writing The Snapshot (my weekly email) to my community every week. I’ll be focusing on growing this community as it’s a good source of clients when used alongside Instagram and LinkedIn for me.
Blog
Another thing I took a course on and started then didn’t carry on. I’m hoping this blog will be the start of more consistency in 2024.
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