Time to Reflect
I’m never really one to do a looking back post, but I feel that this year has been full of so many highs and lows that it’s worth looking back on them and reflecting, so I can improve this year.
One of my clients recently tagged me in a 2022 round-up post on Facebook (this is my Facebook page Link by the way, in case you want to follow me), that mentioned integrity and honesty, and it’s something I’m proud to have as one of my core values through both my business life and personal life. So this is a no-holds-barred round-up of 2022. An insight into my business highs and lows, and if this helps someone somewhere, as well as me for writing it, then I’m one happy girl 🤩
Not Everything has been Good
This year I’ve learnt so much in my business. I’ve taken all the courses, had a load of coaching, and it’s had a massive effect on my business, but not all positive. That’s where the highs and lows come in!
In 2021 year I’ve earned half of what I did in 2020.
Every single year of my business until now, I’ve pretty much doubled my income, so what made 2021 different?
A number of things, really, the biggest being that all this learning made me question my whole business. For the past 6 years, I’ve kind of ‘winged it’ in business, making it up as I go along.
And do you know what it worked, but if you know anything about the online business world, then you will know you are constantly bombarded with what you should and shouldn’t be doing. I thought to myself that maybe I need to know all this other stuff to be able to grow my business even more, to plan, to structure, to systemise, to have funnels, content plans, and all this other stuff that you should have.
But learning all this stuff took so much time! Time I didn’t really have. But I was doing it for my business.
The problem was that there is so much conflicting information out there, and after really going back to basics and deciding to focus on what I love doing and building a business on purpose, rather than accidentally, I realised a lot of things were going to have to be done from scratch.
Yes, I could earn over 5 grand a month, but I was working all the hours. A lot of it is mostly stuff that could be done by a VA, not a website developer.
Time to Change
So I decided to change things. I gave up being a reseller for hosting, which was massively holding me back time-wise. I went on holiday in July for the first time in 6 years. The reason I couldn’t before was that every time I tried to take time off, something would go wrong with someone’s website, and I ended up working again.
The coaches out there, who mainly work with other coaches, didn’t understand. ‘Set the boundaries,’ they said, do this, do that. Sure, that works if you are a coach and can set your own hours, but not when someone’s website is down, and their business has come to a stop. It’s very difficult to say to them, ‘no worries, let me check when my next appointment is, how about a month from now?’ I found most coaches didn’t really understand, as they work very differently.
But for me, it was an endless cycle of work, work, work, and I was totally fed up. But slowly changing things enabled me to take two weeks off with my family, with very minimal work, and it allowed me to just be, if that makes sense! It was so nice to simply switch off and have nothing to do, and it was something I wanted more of.
Finding the right people
The highs and lows of last year have been a rollercoaster! One of my highs, I also started working with some amazing coaches who have helped me get the basics in place, find out what works best in MY business, and set the groundwork for growth. It’s taken me months. However, I can see an end in sight. Building a new audience, finding what works for me and my clients, finding ways to expand my business, and doing what I really love, which is teaching and connecting with people!
Learning from highs and lows
It’s not been plain sailing and I’ve had some really shit moments this year when I’ve been ready to give up on everything. I thought to myself, if I had just done all this from the start, I would be in such a better position now.
But it’s been a learning experience, and the more we learn, the more we grow. I’ve met some amazing people this year and had some fantastic experiences, not only my holiday abroad but also upping and leaving my office and life to go to London for a retreat on 10 minutes’ notice!
Things are starting to come together, and I know now that I have the basic foundations in place to make 2022 really amazing, doing what I want to do and how I want to do it! I’m determined that the highs and lows will balance more in my favour!
And that’s what I’m here for in 2022, to enable my clients to achieve their goals, their way! So, don’t forget to check out the courses I run to help you with your business website.