Here we are ready for another great year as entrepreneurs! How exciting is this…. And as every entrepreneur knows, if you’re not having fun and enjoying your work, it’s tough to stay motivated. And if you’re not feeling motivated, it’s nearly impossible to grow.
So many solo-preneurs like you simply exist, working hard day after day, without ever loving their business, and sometimes even coming to resent the very things they used to enjoy.
Or maybe you still look forward to your day-to-day tasks, but have trouble achieving your goals—or even knowing what your goals are. Business feels boring or stagnated, and you can’t seem to reach that next level.
Whatever level you’re at, whether you’re in love with your business today or not, the only sure-fire way to make the next year your best ever is to spend some time reviewing your wins, setting new goals, and planning your strategy for the coming months.
If that sounds overwhelming, don’t worry. It’s easy, and even fun. Trust me, I love this stuff!
First step:
Review & Celebrate the Past 12 Months
Before you can look forward, spend some time looking back. As one vintage ad proclaims, “You’ve come a long way, baby!” It’s time to celebrate!
You have very likely accomplished a lot in the past 12 months, even if some days it doesn’t feel like it.
Think back to how you started the past year, and make a list of how you’ve grown and improved. Keep the following life and business areas in mind as you make your list:
Family & Relationships
Financial
Reputation
Audience Reach
Charity & Volunteer Work
Business Vision
Spirituality
Then write down where you were then versus where you are now for each of these areas, and any others that are important to you.
Next step:
Take a look back beginning with January 2017 through December 2017 and write down all the accomplishments you’ve had in all the areas of your life (don’t be shy):
Save all your client testimonials, FaceBook testimonials, e-mails you’ve received from something you sent your list or from an event you hosted and/or attended. Anything good you’ve received in the form of words, pull it out and save it to a central location. This will be your “yay me” file.
Celebrate all your successes.
Start creating your 2018 goals if you haven’t already; challenge yourself to reach beyond what you accomplished in 2017.
Final step:
To make this exercise easier next year, set yourself up right from the start.
Create a business diary. This can be as simple as a Google calendar or a notebook with a new note for each day or week. Spend a minute or two at the end of every day and jot down anything you might want to remember later. For example, you might make a note about being published in Huffington Post, or getting re-tweeted by someone you admire.
You may also want to include things like sales results, affiliate promotions, ad campaigns and how they performed, and anything else you’ll want to remember or reference later.
Create a “2018 yay me” file. Here is where you’ll record all the good stuff.
Glowing emails from clients, exceptional reviews, and even particularly flattering photos should be saved and pulled out whenever you need a pick-me-up.
There are lots of ways to build this file, but don’t be afraid to get creative.
Once you see all the great things you’ve accomplished throughout the year, you will surely be motivated to set some goals and get started working towards them. We usually don’t give ourselves enough credit for all the progress we’ve made, let’s change that beginning with 2018.
To your success,
Gwendolyn
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