My Personal Goals For My First Year In Business
Although I’ve been self employed since 2014, it’s only since the start of this year that I launched my creative coaching business for bloggers and creatives. After spending most of last year doing the work behind the scenes to prepare for the launch, I’m now into my third month of running my creative business and I’m definitely still just finding my feet in what it means to be a creative entrepreneur.
Today I want to open up about some of my personal goals that are guiding me in the first year, and share some of my intentions and a little more about the ‘why’ behind the work I do. When starting something new, especially a business, I’m sure what many of us think we are working towards is success, but what I’ve been working through recently is really defining what success means to me and what I’d really like to do and achieve this year. I want to take you on this journey with me and share both the highs and lows of starting and running a creative business and hopefully today you can have a little more insight into some of the behind the scenes and what I'm working towards.
Do Inspiring, Purposeful, & Productive Work With My Dream Clients: I feel really blessed to have been able to work with some really talented and creative coaching clients over the past few months. From photographers, to creative business owners, to inspiring bloggers with so much to say and share, nothing feeds my soul more than working with dream clients. I knew straight away when I started that I really wanted to work with creative folk who are as passionate as I am about the medium of the world wide web as a place to share ourselves, our work, and make a living from our passion and purpose. One of my biggest goals and hopes this year with my business is to keep doing some really productive and purposeful work with inspiring creatives, and to really be brave enough to hone in on attracting my dream clients.
My first step into this was taking the leap this past weekend into re-packaging my coaching services in a format that feels more purposeful and sustainable in the long run. I've found that clients are much more interested in longer engagements with me and that I can do much more productive work with bloggers and creatives through long-term packages and services. To stay purposeful and intentional in my business I've allowed myself to listen to my gut and evolve and change with it as I learn along the way. For example, I've removed my shorter coaching engagements as I have something better and more suited launching super soon for anyone who is looking for insights and guidance but doesn't want to invest in long-term engagement.
Be Booked Out Three Months In Advance: When you’re running your own business, work isn’t guaranteed and that uncertainty is something I’m learning to live with as just part of the journey. Alex and I are currently in the process of saving to move out later on this year, and to be able to have at least three months of coaching work booked in advance at all times would be a great way to feel a little more stable and secure. I’m currently working at around 6 weeks in advance so I’m definitely taking some productive steps towards this goal which is exciting and encouraging.
Find The Best Balance Between Running My Business & Managing My Illness: Something I’m hopefully going to talk about in more depth in the near future is my own personal journey so far of starting and running a business alongside a chronic illness. Living with a mental health illness has without a doubt shaped the person I am today and it is definitely an extra added challenge when taking a leap into being your own boss. I’m still trying to find the balance of taking care of my business and taking care of my health, and my hope is this year I can really find the best balance between the two. If I’ve learned anything so far though, it’s that living with a chronic illness doesn’t have to feel like a limitation unless I let it.
Launch Two Side Projects I’m Really Excited About: I’m quite a multi-passionate person and something I actually really have to control in myself is the urge to always be creating and exploring something new. I’ve been working on some side projects recently that I’m really excited about and they’re my favourite place to escape to, alongside ALO, when I just need to recharge and just create. First up is my brand new podcast - Make It Happen - which I announced over the weekend. You can sign up to the mailing list here and be the first to listen to Episode One which is coming soon this month. Second up is an App that I’m working on with some friends, and although this one is going to be a longer process, it’s something I’m really excited about and can’t wait to build slowly but surely.
Create A Purposeful & Community Focused Way To Help People Outside Of One-On-One Work: I’m really enjoying working one-on-one with bloggers and creatives through my coaching services, and I just know this is the work I’m meant to be doing right now. I do however want to create another way to work with and support bloggers and creatives that is outside of one-on-one coaching services, as I know for some it’s a big investment of both their money and time. I’m currently working on something I’m really excited about behind the scenes to be launched later this year that will hopefully be a purposeful and affordable way for me to work with others within more of a community setting. I will of course be continuing to share free weekly content over on this blog and a huge intention for me this year is to really make this space a valuable, engaging, and motivational resource for bloggers and creatives, and I hope I can do that with both the podcast coming soon and some free resources waiting in the wings to be shared.
Here's my question to you: what are your personal goals this year for either your blog, business, or career?
How We Can Work Together
I work with bloggers & creatives to help them feel focused and find confidence in their blogging process. My coaching sessions are a mix of problem solving, strategy building, and accountability mentoring for any bloggers and creatives looking for one-on-one support in their blogging journey. You can find out more about working together here.
