Hello Charmed Ones! I’ve got an announcement for you today that I hope you are as excited about as I am.
I’ve been working on a new FREE Online Business Webinar for you called ENTREPRENEURSHIP IS THE NEW BLACK and it is officially open for registration today!
I feel incredibly blessed to run my own online business and live the entrepreneur lifestyle that affords me a variety of luxuries. I’m not talking free swag bags or expensive clothing and accessories- those things are great, don’t get me wrong, but they aren’t the reason I love being an entrepreneur and they certainly aren’t the reason I spent years hustling to make my business happen. The most important luxury that my business affords me, and the reason I put so much into my work, is the ultimate luxury that everyone wants more of but many don’t seem to have enough of– TIME!
Yes, TIME! Running my own online business gives me ultimate flexibility over my schedule and lifestyle that I would never get working for someone else. To me, what makes being an entrepreneur, and specifically an online entrepreneur, the best job in the world is the freedom I get from being my own boss, setting my own hours and intentionally designing a business that is tailor made to fit my goals.
If you spend just a few minutes browsing the web, you will find that this point of view on business and entrepreneurship is certainly not unique- in fact entrepreneurship has become something of a major trend especially online. The idea of making money working from home or anywhere really is the tremendous opportunity that our digital age provides, but the fact remains that the low barrier to entry into the online business world means many will make an attempt to start their own business but most will fail. Most, but not all!
There is something special, something very important that successful online businesses have in common that keep them thriving and outlasting the string of trendy businesses that are constantly appearing and disappearing through the seasons. So to give you the best foundation possible for a successful online business I want to share the insights I’ve learned over the past 8 years that have set my business apart, against all odds!
Join me for this FREE Webinar event that begins Tuesday February 21st, 2017 and will run through March 7th! By registering below you’ll get access to the webinar, which I will be hosting numerous times within this two week period, as well as special offers, downloads, and of course, the webinar replay!
If you’re ready to live the Entrepreneur Lifestyle and achieve the ultimate luxury of time, CLICK HERE to sign up for ENTREPRENEURSHIP IS THE NEW BLACK and learn what it takes to build an online business that fits your style!
One month down, eleven more to go, the new year has officially started! I almost feel like it’s useless to count the months down because they just keep recycling anyway to no end, but one point of significance I would like to point out is that this post represents a completion of a full year of Entrepreneurial posts and the start of round two. A full year has passed since my first installment of this monthly public entrepreneurship journal and I’m very pleased that time and time again, you within my community comment on how much you enjoy these posts. So, I guess I’ll just have to keep doing them! After I wrote the outline for this post, I actually went back into my archives and reread last January’s post, and it’s so interesting to me that some of the things I was struggling with last year came back up with this installment. Namely a sense of introspection and solitary reflection. As I will go on to explain in this post, I do think this is just par for the course for me and January. It can be a challenging month for various reasons and I do hope that if any of you felt the same way, this post provides you will a sense of comfort that it isn’t just you who is struggling to get into their groove and workout a sense of uncertainty and unease. So, let’s jump into my review of the month.
What I Did
1. Put myself first: Without a doubt my focus for the month of January was me. This wasn’t the original intention of the month, but pretty early on into the New Year I realized that I was going through something mentally and emotionally that needed time to play itself out. So, I chose to be graceful with myself and loosened my expectations for what I would get done and work on this month. It definitely helped me make progress with myself, even if I wasn’t giving my full attention to my other priorities.
2. A lot of Soul Searching: Because of aforementioned struggle, I ended up doing a lot of soul searching. I spent a lot of time with myself thinking, practicing self-care and putting my attention on matters that concerned my immediate wellbeing and mental health.
3. Participated in an Online Summit: I said no to a lot this month, both to myself and others, but one thing I did say YES to was participating in an online summit called the Go For It Summit. It’s organized by one of my Empire Building Alums and although I was being very careful with what I agreed to do this month, I felt like my participation in this event was so in line with my overall goals for 2017 that I had to say yes! I gave a great video interview and the summit, which is going live in early February, is open for registration if you are interested- it’s FREE. Click here if you’d like to sign up!
What I Didn’t Do
1. Make any videos for YouTube: This was probably one of the biggest shocks for me this month. I knew I was going to take a week or two off at the start of the year because that is what I usually do, but ending the month with no videos was unplanned. It wasn’t that I didn’t try to film- I did a few times, but for one reason or another, I was displeased with the footage or in one case, the footage was corrupted. I just didn’t end up having the mental energy to force myself to create a video against the flow, so I just let it be what it was going to be.
2. Use my planner much: Back in December I was so excited to start using my planner for the New Year, but once January came, I barely touched it. In fact, I had to force myself to use it at time to outline work I needed to do. Again, this all has to do with my own personal struggle with the month, and I know I will be back in my planner soon, but with no clear direction for how I was spending my time this month, it wasn’t necessary.
3. Finish any projects: I’m not sure if I regret this or if I’ve just accepted it, but I didn’t finish any projects this month. Now, I didn’t have any that were due, but it was weird for me not to complete something in a month.
What I Learned
1. January is a tough month: I think as the years go by, I am beginning to see that January is a tough month for me, and I bet others as well. I think after the high of the holidays in Q4, once the new year hits, I fall into a lull. I’ve always said that productivity is like a wave, it ebbs and flows, and for me, Janauary is just a low energy, low productivity month. It makes sense if you think about it- the start of anything is always the hardest part, why would the start of a year be any different?
2. I don’t want to keep doing what I’ve been doing: After all the soul searching I did this month, I think the biggest thing I realized is that I don’t want to keep doing what I’ve been doing with my life and business. I think after so many years of hustling to make my business work and pushing myself, I am seeing that I’ve built a pretty self-sustaining business. Despite doing very little public facing work this month, I still ended up earning a very good passive income, and that’s the point right? I built this business so that I would make money without having to do much. This month has proven to me that I can pull the reigns on the pace I’ve been keeping and focus on projects that will continue to support the ongoing growth of my passive income streams.
3. Uncertainty is normal: As a type A personality, I struggle with accepting uncertainty. I like to know what is going on and where I stand, but this month was a sort of limbo for me. It really upset me early on in the month, but once I realized that the uncertainty was a struggle I had to face by allowing it to just be, I just accepted it. There is still a lot of uncertainty clouding my mind right now, but I can’t let it upset me because it will end up wasting more of my time.
Again, I hope you have found this post insightful and if anything in particular stood out to you, feel free to tell me about it in the comments. I’d so love to know how your month has progressed, so feel free to share some details as well!
Entrepreneurial: Entrepreneurship is the New Black
Three hundred and sixty four days. That is how long it has been since 2016 began, and with just two days left in this 366 day leap year, there is so much for me to look back on over my life and business, but even more for me to look forward to. I’ve spent the last few weeks of this year collecting data, analyzing results, and getting in touch with myself to process what I’ve accomplished and get crystal clear on my vision for 2017. So for this final installment of Entrepreneurial for 2016, I want to recap the big picture items of 2016 and what I want going forward in 2017!
In 2016 I:
1. Worked Smarter, Not Harder: This year, I really made progress embodying the philosophy of work smarter, not harder. I can say without a doubt that this year I hustled less, managed my time better, accomplished my work more productively and saw better results. Despite creating just three new products over the course of the year, producing less video content, spending less time on social media, and taking a hiatus over the summer, my business still grew! I accomplished much streamlining my business in 2016 but I still have more work to do!
2. Bought a Home: The biggest event of the year for my husband and I was definitely the purchase of our home. It represents a lot for us as a couple, but also gives us a new foundation to build our lives and even my business upon. Purchasing a home is a big life milestone, one we sacrificed towards for the past few years. We know we were in an a perfect situation to buy that most couples our age aren’t in, as we have no school loans or other personal debt between us, but we are also very smart with our money and made what we hope will end up being a great investment in our future.
3. Grew into myself as a woman and an entrepreneur: When I turned 30 this year, I started seeing myself in a completely new light. I’ve always been confident and mature for my age, but this year I began to see myself less as a girl and more as a woman. I started to own myself, who I am, and what I want, and wasn’t as hesitant doing for myself and giving to myself the things I wanted and needed. Throughout this year, I’ve gained new insight into my business, let go of certain expectations holding me back, and consciously made the decision to put myself first so that I am in a position to help lift others up.
In 2017 I will:
1. Continue to put myself first: With the impact I want to make, it’s crucial that I put myself first to prevent a situation of overwhelm or stagnation. To do this in the future, I will continue to set boundaries that will protect my time and energy from being drained and establish routines to ensure I am reenergizing my mind and body for maximum output!
2. Positively impact more lives: 2016 gave me a real glimpse into the impact my work and business has had on the lives of members of my community and in 2017 I am setting more aggressive goals to serve and teach as many of my community members as possible.
3. Fail Better: I don’t fail enough, this was a fact I came to recognize this year. While not failing may seem like a good thing, I actually think it’s pretty shameful. If I am not failing, that means I am not pushing myself outside of my comfort zone. It means I’m not taking risks with my ideas, and it means that I’m not truly growing. I acknowledge that I play it safe with my ideas, especially with my content and business, because I’m afraid that pushing the envelope may push people away from my brand, but I think I need to just let go of this fear and try to accomplish some ambitious goals with the intent to make them so big or scary for me that my expectation would be failure. If I fail, then clearly I hit the mark! But if I don’t fail, and I don’t hit the mark, it means that achieved something great. I want to try this in 2017, and consolidate my time as much as possible with the everyday minutiae of my business so I can devote significant time and energy towards this.
I hope you have enjoyed this post and the Entrepreneurial Series in 2016! If you want to look back at more installments throughout the months, click here. I also want to know how your year went for your business and what your big picture goals are for next year. Please let me know down in the comments!
Interested in starting an online business to replace your 9-5 or earn you extra income as a #sidehustle in 2017 but aren’t sure how you’d make money online? I’ve assembled a list of 36 Online Business Ideas for you to consider! The list is broken down into six different categories of activities you can perform virtually or remotely as part of an online business. So, take a look at the category of activity that best suits your skills and interests and see if you can come up with a business idea based on my suggestions!
Coaching
Life Coach
Health Coach
Nutrition Coach
Business Coach
Self Care Coach
Success Coach
Consulting
Design Consultant
Business Consultant
Management Consultant
Financial Consultant
Style Consultant
Family Life Consultant
Writing
EBooks
Workbooks
Blog Posts
Transcription
Copywriting
Editor
Assisting
Virtual Assistant
Bookkeeper
Project Manager
Marketing Coordinator
Video Editing
Content Planning
Creating
Crafts
Artwork
Music
Graphic Design
Build Websites
Photography
Teaching
Video Lectures
ECourse
YouTube video series
Virtual Master Class
Tutoring
Podcast
I hope this post gave you some inspiration for options you have moving forward with an online business in 2017! Although this list includes many great examples, many of which are the real online careers of some of my current students and clients within Empire Building, it’s by no means the full extent to how you can earn income online. If you’d like more information on how to build an online business, I’d suggest getting started here!
Now that we have reached the final weeks of the year, I am spending a lot of time in reflection. I’ve been calculating my results for the year and reviewing my content, products and platforms to understand what I’ve done right and wrong over the year to help me build my brand and business. So, I thought I would recap here on the blog my top 5 blog posts, youtube videos and products from the year.
Blog Posts
These are the top 5 performing blog posts from 2016 that were also written in 2016! I have a lot of content accumulated in my site, and many of my older posts still drive their fair share of traffic to Strange & Charmed, but I really wanted to understand which newer posts had the best traffic as well. Since you can read each of these for yourself, I won’t recap each, but overall planning and productivity win the day on the blog. I’m glad to see a business post sitting pretty at the top of the list, but I think I would have liked to see more, so I will probably dig deep into #1 to understand how I can replicate it’s success for future posts or optimize current business posts to drive more traffic to the site.
These are the top 5 performing YouTube videos from 2016 that were also posted in 2016! As with the blog posts above, I won’t go into each because you can watch them if you are not familiar with the content, and like my blog, my YouTube channel has many videos posted before 2016 that also do extremely well over the years. Again, I’m pleased to see a business video at the top of this list, but after that, it’s all planning content. Two are specifically Functional Planning related which is a good sign to me that the concept of functional planning is really well understood by my community and a topic I need to create more content around in 2017.
When it comes to the products in my shop, I tend to have a good understanding of what items are doing best throughout the year in terms of revenue, but looking back over the majority of 2016, it was interesting for me to see the number of individual purchases. Some of these items are not a shock to me, but others were and I’ve even included a BONUS #6 on this list because when I ran the numbers I was shocked at how many sales this product had over the year.
1. You Got This
It is no surprise to me that the You Got This workbook was the best selling item in my shop in terms of number of individual sales. It’s not even close to any other products, it has sold hundreds of copies this year alone and because of this, I really think I need to decide how I can either make this product even better in 2017 or how I can add another ebook type product to my lineup. I think the ebook format was very popular and with the lower price point on this item, it’s almost a no-brainer type purchase for any of my audience members who are interested in the topic of goal setting.
2. Charmed Life Planner
I guess the Charmed Life Planner being #2 shouldn’t have been a surprise to me. All of my Charmed Life Planners added up do incredibly well, mostly because they are the system I use and prefer, which that means something to my audience. The real shock to me, however, was that not only did the category of the Charmed Life Planner reach the number 2 spot, but the A5/Half Letter version that I use was also #2 in individual product sales. Again, I think this shouldn’t have been a surprise to me, but seeing that the specific size was #2 was pretty interesting.
3. The Digital Styling Lightroom
The fact that any of my higher priced courses or offerings made it to this top 5 list seems pretty incredible to me, and really gives me insight into the fact that my promotional efforts for the course AND my content marketing for my brand overall are working well. I also think this means I shouldn’t be afraid of higher priced products because the market exists for those with in my community and within the ideal audience I am attracting.
4. Planning for Success Master Class
No surprise here with my Master Class. My master class product line in general is a value packed and practical educational experience. This was the first product I created this year after my summer hiatus and it signified my return to normalcy and routine, but it also proved to me that the master class format I had introduced in 2015 was a winner for my audience and business. The feedback I received on this class was phenomenal and I’m so thankful that this relatively new product has done so well over the past few months.
5. Productivity and Planning Master Class
Again, my first master class sitting at #5 is no surprise to me. It had a great year last year at it’s launch and really opened me up to a new product line and way to educate and inform my audience. I absolutely LOVE the master class format and I am excited to create more in 2017!
BONUS 6. Empire Building
Okay- so I had to include this major shocker on the list! In terms of revenue, nothing in my shop touches Empire Building, however, when I ran the numbers and found that it was so close to hitting the top 5, I was shocked. In fact, had I included purchases of the program from within the Online Business Bundle into the overall number of purchases, it would be sitting in at spot #4. It’s amazing to me that this product, my brain child that represents 6 years of research and took me at least 6 months of work to create, is not just a revenue driver, but a sales leader in the shop!
What content and products of mine did you enjoy most in 2016? I’d love to hear from you on what you’d like to see more of from me in the new year!
My Business Planning Process for a Successful New Year
If you run an business online or offline, or intend to start one in 2017, now is the time to start business planning for the new year. I realize that for most people, the idea of business planning can be pretty daunting, and I have to admit, when it comes to my personal planning philosophy, I never like to make planning a stressful or complicated task. So today I want to outline for you my streamlined process for business planning with 5 steps you can take to get your plans mapped out and get a strong start to 2017!
Step 1: Analyze your current/prior year results.
So, if you are staring this process before the new year hits, you want to make sure to capture important information for how your business did this year in order to understand what steps need to be taken in the new year for success. Although you may not have complete full year data at this point, you can begin to collect key information to start the analysis and then fill in the blanks after the year ends. Key information you want to collect and review would be sales data, revenue information, content/traffic numbers, and follower growth. If you are not already tracking your social media statistics to get an understanding of your follower growth, make sure to start asap! I have a video on the topic you can check out here, that will teach you a simple process for tracking your statistics and analyzing them to help you grow your following.
Step 2: Set goals for the new year.
Based on the information and analysis in step 1, you will want to set goals for where you want your business to be in the new year using the same key factors. Set goals for your sales, revenue, content/traffic, and list growth, as well as any new products or offerings you plan to work on in the year to come. If you need additional guidance to help you analyze your current year data and set the right goals for the new year, here is a business planning video I made last year that walks you through my exact process. Block out about an hour and a half for this video, and even more time to collect and process the data! Although this process is streamlined, it’s not necessarily quick, so give yourself a nice block of time to complete this essential business task and I guarantee you will see better results in the new year just from taking this time to focus!
Step 3: Set up your planner and start working out plans before the new year begins.
When it comes to choosing a planner to keep your life and business organized, I think you need to go with what works for you! I use my Charmed Life Planner, and you can see how it is currently set up here, but whatever you choose, I think it’s important that your planner include some key items:
A monthly view
A weekly OR daily view
Master task lists for each month
Expense sheets for each month
Project planning pages and trackers
A notes section or dedicated notebook
Year at a glance calendar for forward planning (get mine here for free)!
Step 4: Get your systems in place.
Systems are just a fancy way of saying a codified process for how you operate and accomplish specific business tasks. Systems are important because they save you time when you have your process worked out and don’t have to make it up as you go each time you complete a business task AND they come in handy if you bring on help for your business because you can easily hand off the system to your worker and they know exactly what needs to be done with little oversight from you. Here are some common business areas that you should have a system in place for, and I suggest downloading my free Online Business Incompletions Trigger List to help you think about where you can implement systems throughout your business:
Emails
Order Processing
Finances
Tracking
Savings/Taxes
Accounts Payable
Inventory
Manufacturing
Marketing/Promotion
Administrative
Step 5: Do some personal development to understand your personality type as a leader.
Did you ever wonder why so many important business figures and successful people are often associated with different productivity or personal development habits? It’s because they know that the secret to success doesn’t necessarily lie in your business plan- it’s all about managing your own personal development so you can operate at a higher level! Personal development as a category is a huge topic, so I won’t overwhelm you with a vast number of resources, but instead I want to leave you with two easy personality tests that I think every online business owner should take in order to better understand their strengths and weaknesses. The first is the Myers Briggs Type Test. This test helps you understand your dominant predispositions and from understanding these and your Myers Briggs Personality Type you can understand yourself at a higher level and take action to work on issues or challenges that your personality type faces to make you a more successful individual. In case you are curious, my Myers Briggs Type is ENFJ which means I am an extrovert, that uses my intuition and feelings to judge situations. I wrote a blog post all about the Myers Briggs Test that you can read here to get a link to a great free resource to take the test and get additional information to understand your personality type. The second test I recommend is the Fascination Personality Test developed by Sally Hogshead. This test is geared towards business owners and anyone developing a brand online. It essentially pinpoints different dominant communication styles that people use to attract others to them and their brands. My Fascination Personality Archetype is called the Victor, which means I communicate primarily with prestige and use power as my secondary advantage. Now with both these tests, It’s important to take your time answering the questions, don’t overthink things, but make sure your answers are as accurate to reality as possible because its not about what you “wish” you were like, it’s about understanding your true nature, personality wise, so you can find a clear path to develop yourself to where you want to be.
I hope this process has given you some ideas for steps you can take right now to set your business up for success in the new year. Of course, these are not the only ways you can prep your business, so if you have other suggestions, let me know about them in the comments below. Also, feel free to check out my YouTube video on this topic if you are interested. I’ll leave it linked above.
I know I have mentioned more than a few times that when it comes to writing my blog posts, I tend to batch the work and write my content at least a week ahead of time, but when it comes to this blog post, my monthly entrepreneurial journal entry, I try to hold off on writing this until the end of the month. So, I’m writing this the day before the post goes live- this is as close to living on the edge that I like to come with my blog, but let me tell you, living on the edge is something I did ALOT in November! In so many ways, this month felt like a metamorphosis for me. I actually don’t understand how the person sitting here at the computer right now typing this post is the same person who woke up on November 1st thinking this was going to be the same old same old type of month for me. If I had to select a theme song for November, it would be Let It Go from Frozen, because like the beloved snow queen Elsa, I let a lot of sh*t go this month!
What I Didn’t Do
1. Let myself get distracted: November was a very transformative month for me and as soon as I realized that I had a lot of work to do to reach the other side in one piece, I turned on hermit mode and kept myself lazer focused on the tasks in front of me. I definitely didn’t lock myself in a room all month to avoid distractions, but I gave myself permission to delete or silence the apps, alerts, and even people that often take up too much of my mental energy. Truthfully, it felt like one of the most selfish things I have ever done, but it was too freeing to let other things slip away and just focus on myself. I seriously need to do this more often!
2. Let Fear hold me back: I tend to be the type of person who hates disappointing others and fears letting people down, but I overcame a lot of fear this month to do the things I knew had to be done. I almost feel a little ruthless with some of the decisions I made this month, some of the people I blocked and some of the projects I dropped, but I just mentally blocked out the fear.
3. Give a F*ck: I apologize for being so crass with this one, but vulgarity seems to be the best way for me to sum this up! I still can’t believe some of the things I did this month to make it to the finish line. It wasn’t that I did anything bad, I just did things and made choices I have never experienced before and it was completely liberating to me and my business. Looking back at the month, I almost feel like I was a little too reckless at times, but even now, seeing how things turned out, I feel like I needed to be a little reckless and I’m curious about how things could have turned out if I had been even more reckless! It really was a major change for me when you keep in mind that I’m normally so deliberate and buttoned up.
What I Did Do
1. Ran two promotions (simultaneously): This idea was a little nuts, required a lot of work and preparation on my part, but it completely paid off. So, I ran two promotions that overlapped; one for my Online Business Bundle as part of that Free Workshop I hosted mid-month, and one for my Annual Holiday Sale in my shop that ended yesterday. Because of this decision, I had my best month EVER in the shop… and that was BEFORE the second promotion even started! Financially speaking, I exceeded all kinds of goals I had set for my business, not just in November, but also for 2016 as a whole! After a period of months where I felt like my business had stagnated after my summer off and my move, it was like my business was in full acceleration and forgot to hit the brakes. Of course, I’m now curious to see how I parlay this success into December, but any way I cut it, this year is a major win for me no matter what happens next month!
2. Closed a Facebook Group: Remember how I said this month’s theme song would be Let it go? Well, my #CharmedBiz Collective Facebook Group was one of the things that I let go this month. For a long time I felt like this group didn’t shape up the way I had intended it, and it was completely my own fault. But after spending months trying to keep it alive in one way or another, I finally decided to cut off the dead weight so I could move on with a lighter load. I’m so thankful for this opportunity because now I don’t need to spend mental energy and precious time worrying about the future of the group- it wasn’t working, so I let it go, and now I can pour my energy into bigger and better things.
3. Celebrated my success: Because of the great success I had in the shop this month, I gave myself permission to celebrate my milestone with a big purchase. Something I have been wanting for a while, but was always a little concerned about buying because of the expense and the lack of necessity. This was one of those reckless moments, but I said F it, did what I wanted and I’m really happy I did. Life is short, we should ALL get in the habit of celebrating our success and milestones while we have the chance!
What I Learned
1. Let it go (and set boundaries!): I definitely have a hard time letting go, but I managed to conquer this fear and let go of nearly everything that wasn’t serving me this month. I feel like I have emotionally, spiritually and physically cleaned house, and it’s one of those amazing feelings where I don’t regret a single thing, and in fact, want to find more things to let go of! By letting go of that which did not serve me in the past, I was able to clear out space for wonderful new things to come into my life. It’s funny how that works! I let go of a lot of random stuff holding me back and I was bestowed a wonderful gift. The universe strives for balance, if you are carrying around too much, it doesn’t want to give you more than you can handle. You need to unpack what you don’t need before you can get all the shiny new stuff the universe wants you to have instead. And in order to keep myself from picking back up anything I let go of this month, I also needed to make sure to erect some boundaries for myself. Boundaries are a new concept for me as well this month- I tend not to use them, but going forward, much of the work I know I need to complete for myself and my own personal development revolves around setting boundaries so I do not let myself acquire too much baggage that doesn’t serve me in the future.
2. Trust the process: I’ve said this before, but trusting the process is a lesson I am constantly learning. We can’t see the future, so making decisions, taking risks, acting recklessly, it all feels uncomfortable. But I have seen time and time again that when I show up and do the work, it all pays off. Even if I do the work and it doesn’t result in success, I always get something important from it. I need to stop playing it safe all the time, and trust the process more, because I know what works for my life and my business, and the more I can focus on doing the work that matters, the more I’ll be rewarded in the end.
3. Luck results when preparation meets opportunity: To sum up this whole month and the big picture lessons I’ve learned, I am reminded of this quote. “Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.” If you are looking at my life and my business and thinking “she’s just lucky” you seriously misunderstand what it takes to create success in your own life and business. Although this blog post and those like it are my attempt to pull back the curtain so others can get a glimpse at what it takes to be successful in online business, make no mistake that you do not see it all, especially the hours of hard work that go into making my successes a reality. Tweeting, vlogging, and sharing on Instagram are the things I do when I am not heads down with my eyes glued to my work. There is no such thing as luck, we all get exactly what we work for in one form or another.
I hope this rather irreverent installment of my monthly entrepreneurial journal has inspired you to let some things go in your own life and business, and to create a plan to move forward and collect all the rewards that are waiting for you on the other side of that sacrifice! For me, this month has been so transformative and absolutely freeing. So, I’m sure I can expect some challenges to come next month as I adjust and strive to enforce the changes I’ve made this month. I’d love to hear how your month went and what lessons you picked up along the way, so please make sure to share those in the comments below or let me know how my experience this month has inspired you to act!
Hello My Charmed Ones! Welcome to The Strange & Charmed 2016 Holiday Gift Guide!
The Most Wonderful Time of Year is Almost Upon Us! So, I thought this would be the perfect time to do a short series of gift guides before Black Friday and the holiday rush begins. Of course, since this is a Strange & Charmed Gift Guide, my choices for 2016 will be themed into categories that pertain to my readers. The first Gift Guide is themed for the Planner Addict in your life. Whether that be you or a friend! The second Gift Guide is themed for your Business Bestie. This may be a fellow #LadyBoss or co-worker that you want to spoil this year! The third and final Gift Guide is themed for the Homebody. This could be someone who loves home decor and entertaining, or a book lover who prefers to stay in on a cold winter’s night to relax and enjoy the comforts of home. Of course, with all three of these gift guides for 2016, I will include links at the bottom of the post where you can check out these items, start making your 2016 holiday gift list and get to shopping. So, I hope you’re excited for this series!
I hope this Holiday Gift Guide gives you some great inspiration for the Business Bestie in your life! Feel free to leave your gift suggestions for #LadyBosses down below to add to the holiday gift giving goodness!
How to Create a Profitable Online Business in 2017
This time of year is always very special for me and my business because it was two years ago this month that I finally cracked the code on my online business and replaced the monthly salary I had left behind six months prior. You may have heard the story before of How I Left My Job, Built My Online Business & Replaced My Income in Six Months. Of course it’s a very compelling story for what is possible and how you don’t necessarily need a very large following or email list to start making a full time income online. Don’t get me wrong, having a large following or list is amazing and it’s definitely important to continue to grow your following online in order to grow your business, but the truth is, you only need a few very specific things in order to start a business online, and most importantly, to start a profitable business. Whether you are someone who aspires to start a business of their own, is desperate to turn their passion from #sidehustle to 9-5, or is already running a business that isn’t bringing in enough money, you need to understand what really moves the needle in terms of money and sales!
If building an online business in 2017 is a goal of yours or if you already have a business that just isn’t working, I want to invite you to a FREE Online Workshop I am hosting in just a few weeks called How to Create a Profitable Online Business in 2017! In this Live Workshop I am going to share with you The 6 Elements of a Profitable Online Business, what they are, why you need them and how to get started incorporating them into your current or future business for more sales and greater profitability!
They say it’s taboo to talk about money, but if you want a profitable business, you need to get comfortable and knowledgable about what you actually need to make your idea work. So I’m breaking the rules and talking about what’s holding your business back from profits, so you can make your goals a reality in 2017!
Click here to sign up to join me LIVE on Wednesday November 16th, 2016 at 3pm eastern/ 12pm pacific! My plan is to keep this workshop short and sweet, at about an hour before the open Q&A because I know we are getting into a very busy time of year and the last thing any of us need is a long, drawn out lecture! I want this event to be informative and engaging, so I am setting up a private watch page with an enhanced chat feature so that we can all connect, and I’ll be distributing a helpful workbook for you to use to follow along and get some extra value from the event! Of course, you will also get access to the replay of this event for a limited time, so if you can’t make it live on the 16th, don’t stress, I’ve got you covered!
I can’t wait to connect with you live on the 16th! It’s been quite some time since I did a live event and I’m looking forward to providing some great insight and answering all your questions about online business!
Oh October! In so many ways, you are my favorite month. You signal the true start of fall in my world, so I shouldn’t have been surprised that with the change in weather this month, you also brought a lot of change to my business. There is a quote I love that goes “It’s so strong that autumn is so beautiful; yet everything is dying,” and this almost perfectly sums up my month. It was a beautiful month in many ways that brought me clarity and even personal change, but in order to get here I had to watch certain things die. As they say, you win some, you lose some!
What I Didn’t Do
1. Spend enough time prioritizing myself: Maybe it was because last month, September, was so self-care focused, or maybe it was because once I got back from vacation I felt the time crunch to get work done, but this month I really dropped the ball on taking care of myself. For most of the month my meal schedule was out of wack, dinners were take out, and “me time” was minimal. Because of this, I was sick for most of the month (residual from a cold I caught on my trip), and then around the mid point, I struggled with anxiety and stress as I prepared for my 2017 insert launch. Luckily, the universe is always so kind as to keep challenging you when it knows you need to learn a lesson, so after a few sleep deprived days led me to the edge, I finally realized that what I had been missing was white space, rest, and lush baths!
2. Finish a project that was scheduled: New inserts were not the only product I was hoping to complete this month. I also had a second project on my list that had been there all year, researched and ready to be completed, but I ultimately decided to let it go until next year. I had even spent much of the month working on, trying to make it work and get it done by the due date, but after breaking down from stress and anxiety and lack of self care, I decided that it needed to be shelved. It was a very scary decision to make because my heart wanted to complete it but my head and timing said no. Once I made the decision I felt like a massive weight had been listed and began to see a path out of the overworked mess I was in.
3. Get out of my comfort zone: I know this may sound a bit odd to be on a business recap, but there were things I did and didn’t do this month out of fear and I don’t really advocate living your life or running your business this way. Now that we are at the end of the month I can see that there are some tough or uncomfortable choices ahead of me that if I am able to break out of my comfort zone and reach for them, it could be a major boost for my business. Or I could let myself be controlled by fear and doubt and keep doing what I’m already doing. I’m not doing bad right now, in fact, I think I’m doing pretty well! But I need to face myself going forward and decide if I want pretty well or if I want great and how far I am willing to reach outside my comfort zone to achieve it.
What I Did Do
1. Launched a new product: I was very excited to launch my 2017 inserts because with them came a new addition to my existing lineup. A Full Size US Letter/A4 planner design that had been highly requested by my audience for a while now. It actually took me a long time to really understand and decide what I wanted to do with this design to make it unique, but one day the vision hit me and I was off executing immediately!
2. Ran a promotion: With my 2017 insert launch, I also ran a promotion for my email/newsletter subscribers. Promotions are great, but I had been struggling with how I could give more value to those within my community who are the most invested in me and my business. Ultimately, I decided to give my email subscribers a special discount code in addition to some bundle deals that were made public. It was simple but effective and my insert launch was very successful this year outside of a major tech issue that occurred on launch day.
3. Invested in necessary upgrades: Overall, my insert launch and promotion went great this month in terms of engagement and sales, which I am always grateful for, but when high volumes of traffic came to my shop that morning, it ended up crashing my site! This had happened to me once before with a promotion so I knew what was going on, so I spent the morning on the phone with tech support and ended up investing in some upgrades to my site hosting that would allow for more traffic and resources to be allocated to my site during peak times. It wasn’t necessarily money I was expecting to spend, but I had it and knew it was going to be a good investment for the future of my site.
What I Learned
1. I need to always prioritize myself first: I know this, this isn’t anything new to me and if you look back over the year of these posts, self-care is something I have been working on all year. I wouldn’t say that this month was a self care fail because it’s not a topic that one can fail at if they are constantly trying and learning. You really only fail when you refuse to try or give up completely.
2. Sometimes all signs can be pointing to yes, but the answer is still no: I consider myself a pretty reasonable and logically person, so I run my business with common sense and strategies I see working for me or others in a similar situation. When it comes to my products especially, I love to create, that shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone who follows me on different platforms, and when I feel like a product or offer is right, I usually get so excited and worked up about it that I am able to make a plan and execute quickly. But, I’m also an intuitive person, and even when everything seems to be right, right product, right time, right plan, I can always sense when something is off and I need to take a step back. This is basically what happened to me this month with that second project. I loved it, it was the right time, I had a plan that seemed flawless. Logic and reason would tell me, move forward right now with this, work hard, get it done but the more I worked on it, the more I felt like this wasn’t the right time for me to do this project. I have nothing logical to point to, except that I don’t feel like I am able to execute my best on it right now. So for quality sake and for mental clarity’s sake, I put it away and hopefully, I can come back to it in 2017 and knock it out of the park.
3. How important it is to stay on brand: This is another concept that is by no means a new idea to me, but you’d be surprised at how distracting social media and the online business world can be even for someone who is pretty crystal clear on their branding and goals. I’m not sure if this month was a success or a flop for me and my business. On one hand I had a great launch, brought in a respectable income and brought some quality content and products to life. But on the other hand, I had to let go of a project I was passionate about for a very vague reason, and I also felt like I got caught in a trap set by social media that ended up distracting me. That’s why the title of this post is “You Win Some, You Lose Some.” With tools like Instagram and Snapchat its easy to share and consume so much different content. To be honest, most of the content I consume online, is actually not related to the content I create. That may seem odd, but I find that it’s easier for me to create great content when I have kept my eyes on my own paper, and because of that, I like to use different platforms to enjoy content that is more passion or interest driven for me than it is business related. But watching different content means I start wanting to share different content because social media makes you want to share. Then before you know it, you’ve been knocked off course and off brand, and I think this is actually what causes a lot of online businesses and blogs/youtube channels specifically to fail because they had a good thing going that was them, but then they let the world influence them to the point that it changed them. I saw myself falling into this trap this month and made a hard and fast decision to break out of it. I deleted Snapchat off my phone, made some decisions about how I will be using a few other platforms as well, and have basically sworn to myself that I will stick to my content, my brand and my main platforms to give them and my existing following there more time and attention.
Looking back at my month now that I’ve reached the end is a funny thing. There was a lot of struggle this month, but from where I am standing right now, I feel more empowered and prepared than ever for the future. Most of all, I feel very clear on where I am going, a feeling I don’t often get in my business, and one I am sure I will soon lose as I begin working on new plans and projects. So, for now, I am going to do what I can to capture my ideas and goals for how I want to move forward for the end of the year and what I want to achieve moving into 2017!
