Entrepreneurial: April, Becoming My Best Self

Welcome back for another installment of Entrepreneurial, my monthly journal entry chronicling my experience as an entrepreneur, my victories and failures each month, and the lessons learned along the way.

April, Becoming My Best Self

April was a landmark month for me and my personal/business development. I made a lot of big decisions this month and established some new routines that have helped to streamline my life and business. I also attended my first live event as a brand/personality, which was an amazing experience that really taught me a lot about myself. Last month I started a new format for this series where I list out what I did and did not do, as well as what I learned from the month. You seemed to like that change and so did I, so I am going to continue with it for now!

What I Didn’t Do

1. Run a promotion. April was the first month this year that I didn’t run some sort of promotion for my shop. I was really worried that this would mean I wouldn’t make as much in my shop, but actually my revenue for the month held up to other months where I ran big promotions, so I’m glad to see that I don’t need to push myself every month to do something special, just sticking to my everyday marketing plan is enough to keep the needle moving in the right direction.

2. Spend enough time on Instagram. For one reason or another, this month I didn’t Instagram as much as I would have liked. However, out of that I ended up finally defining a regular editorial for my Instagram posts that I was able to implement later on in the month. Having an editorial calendar for Instagram may seem excessive, but like everything in life, a little forward planning can go a long way to simplifying your workload.

3. Stay inside my comfort zone. This month I did something that totally pushed me outside of my comfort zone by attending and speaking at the Southeast PlannerCon in Atlanta! This was something that was planned for months, but it was the first time I made “an appearance” as a brand offline. I was pretty nervous about it going in, but almost immediately my nerves subsided when I started meeting new friends and seeing welcoming faces. It’s amazing how much anxiety you can overcome thanks to the power of human connection!

What I Did Do

1. Stuck to my schedule. Oh yes, I made my schedule and stuck to it, which includes my new block schedule for working on my business day to day. For a long time I wanted to create a schedule where I themed my days by tasks, and I was finally able to accomplish it this month. Not only did I set up a schedule that works, I executed on it the whole month which was a major win for me and it ended up making my life so much easier and actually boosted my work day confidence. I was able to execute on all my essentials during the workday and then relax in the evening thanks to this new schedule.

2. Added value for my customers. So, this month I didn’t launch a new product per se, but I did add a few items to existing products. I was very excited that I added a new iPhone only module to my Digital Styling Lightroom photography course, which was something my customers had expressed much interest in, and I also added a blogging webinar to Empire Building. Focusing on adding value to my existing products instead of creating new ones really felt like a great use of my time because it helps me keep my products fresh and exciting, and establishes a trust between me and my customers. They know I am listening to their concerns and I’m able to better serve them. Win-win!

3. Thought critically about my business. In early April, after the close of March, I performed a quarterly business review. I actually filmed a whole webinar style video on the topic in case you are interested in the process as well, but this review gave me an opportunity to think really critically about my business. I know I’m always thinking about my business in one way or another, but to really sit down and clear out time and space to review all aspects of my business was invaluable to me. Not only did this give me an opportunity to get organized, but it also helped me brainstorm some new content and strategy moving forward into Q2.

What I Learned

1. Networking is a major part of business. As someone who works for themselves from home, I often forget the power of real, face to face networking! It really is all about who you know, and by attending events within your market or niche, you can develop relationships with new people that you wouldn’t have connected with over email. Seriously, I met some amazing women at Southeast Plannercon, some I had even emailed with in the past but it wasn’t until we met face to face that I realized I wanted to work with them. Connecting in person really gives you an opportunity to see a real human side of someone that you may miss in email.

2. Helping others is never a bad idea. Attending PlannerCon was such a different experience for me than my typical day to day work because it really forced me to tap into my best self and step up to help others who truly needed it. I always consider myself a helpful person, but dealing with a live event situation met I had a chance to really use my talents and knowledge to support others who really needed it. Whether it was working out AV issues for a presentation or giving a nervous speaker support and a pep-talk to encourage them, when I help others, I get in touch with my higher self and become the best version of me possible.

3. It’s better to go deeper than wider. When it comes to developing new products in business, I find that once you have your product line defined, there are two ways you can add more to your business. Either by going deeper or going wider. By going deeper, I mean adding more to an existing product, and by going wider I mean adding more products to your line. As I already explained earlier, this month I didn’t launch any new products, instead I added new elements to existing products for additional value. This was the first time I have created something new that took me deeper instead of wider in my product line and it was a great learning experience. For me, I tend to always want to create “new” in my business. Usually that means a new product which is great because I’m adding to my product line, but can sometimes be overwhelming if I feel like I’m adding too many new products to my shop. By going deeper into existing products I can add value and expand on topics I’ve already touched on without cluttering my product line.

I hope you enjoyed this installment of Entrepreneurial and perhaps picked up some new insight or a strategy you didn’t think of before. I’d love to hear how your month went, so please let me know what you learned by leaving me a comment down below!

xoxo,