Before I get carried away with January goal-setting, I love looking back on the year that passed and gain perspective, write down lessons learned, and celebrate all the wonderful things that took place. 

Coming into 2021, my word for this year was “joy.” While 2020 was a good year in so many ways it was also difficult. At the end of 2020 I found myself a little burned out with work, and I just felt like it wasn’t as fun as I wanted it to be. So I chose to focus my attention on bringing joy and fun back into my work.

Gratefully, 2021 was a wonderful year and I indeed felt the return of joy and fun in my work. Here’s why…

On the personal side, we celebrated Zia’s first birthday, we traveled to Mexico for an amazing family vacation in the spring, we took countless summer walks at the park, trips to the zoo, and just had a wonderful year as a family of 3. 

On the business side, I worked with over a dozen entrepreneurs on their brands and websites, I hired an amazing team member who has helped me and my business immeasurably, I joined a paid mastermind of incredible women led by my fearless and inspiring coach Anna, and grew in revenue and profit all while working about 15-20 hours a week, along with taking time away when I needed.

It was an exciting year of growth, development, refinement, stability, and care. Looking back on the year, here are some valuable things I learned:

1. I love what I do

This may seem like a no-brainer, but the more I work 1:1 with my clients helping them with their brand and websites, the more I love it. Sometimes people shift and change their services or offers and no longer do the work they began with, but not me. Even 5 years later, more than ever, I LOVE being able to help small business owners and entrepreneurs grow their businesses by helping with visual branding and website design - design rooted in strategy so they get a return on their investment. I was able to work on some amazing projects this year and it was confirmation that this is the work I want to continue doing for a long time.

Here’s a sample of some of the amazing businesses I worked with:

To view more projects including the full design and details, visit the portfolio.

2. It’s ok to drop things that aren’t working

As you grow, it’s inevitable that things that used to work, no longer will. This happened with several things but mainly with my marketing strategy. 

While I began the year with a lot of focus on Instagram and doing a lot of Instagram Lives, and showing up on Stories all the time, as the year went on, I decided that wasn’t the route I wanted to take anymore. I still love going Live with people and showing up but I want to take a considerable step back and focus my efforts elsewhere. This means, I’m trying out Reels, I’m not doing as many Lives, but to the core, my focus for Instagram is still to showcase my work and connect with people - so that hasn’t changed and won’t for the foreseeable future. 

I also turned my marketing focus to my newsletter and blog. I focus a lot of energy and attention to the emails I send out every month as well as my content strategy with my blog. I’ve always loved blogging, but as with some things, I took a step back last year and coming into 2021. After I redid my website in the summer (more on that later) I decided that blogging is really important to grow your SEO and for people to find you online. So I decided to refocus my time on blogging in my content strategy.

I also recognized that things were no longer working with my first VA hire. Noticing this and making the uncomfortable decision to let her go and find someone else was difficult at first, but after hiring my current team member, it’s just a reminder to me that it’s better to go with your gut and take the uncomfortable steps forward rather than dragging out a situation that isn’t working. The sooner you can recognize when things aren’t working, and take steps to resolve it the better it is for everyone involved. Less energy, less drama, and more alignment = win win win!!

3. No more courses, instead I invested in specialized support

You get to a point in your business when courses and blanket advice no longer serve you. This is something I recognized after taking a course last year. I don’t want generalized help and DIY options anymore. I want specific, tailored-to-my-business help and that’s what I invested in this year.

Over the summer I upgraded from 7.0 to 7.1 in Squarespace (and, can I say, gamechanger!) and in the midst of upgrading my site I hired an SEO specialist to help me with the transition. Before I would have DIYed and it would have taken me way too long. But having the SEO people gave me deadlines, accountability, and most importantly, helped my site grow in Google rankings much faster than leaving it to grow on it’s own. 

Along with that I invested in mindset support - I joined the Sell with Heart Mastermind lead by the incredible Anna Frandsen and this was also a boost in my business. Not only did I have individual support from Anna but I was a part of an amazing group of women in the mastermind who inspired me, encouraged me, and we became each other's cheerleaders through the second part of the year. It was an amazing experience and I’m so grateful to have met the ladies I did!

4. Celebrating the actions rather than the results

A true mindset shift for me this year was instead of focusing on results and celebrating those, focusing (and celebrating) the actions I take. THIS IS HUGE! I remember in 2020 feeling so discouraged when a client wouldn’t sign with me. Rather than celebrating the fact that I was making connections, doing discovery calls, and putting myself out there, I was discouraged that the client didn’t sign with me.

This year my mindset changed. Instead of celebrating when a contract is signed I focus on celebrating all the actions leading up to that: the connections, the reach outs, the sales calls, and when you start celebrating those, you really ARE able to grow faster. Because you believe your actions lead to results and the more actions you take the more results you’ll have.

5. Continual refining

The longer you’re in business, the better and easier things get. At least, that’s what I’ve come to find. The reason being is that I’m offering the same services over and over and with that repetition I’m able to make positive, incremental changes. These changes can be on the backend to make my processes more streamlined, or the way I market, or how I lead clients through an experience. Wherever you can improve your process, it’s a win because things can get easier, smoother, and more streamlined. This year was my fifth year in business and my fourth year offering my services and my processes feel really good. The time saved with streamlined procedures helps me take on more clients - or take time off, and both are rewarding.

What’s next in 2022?

I learned a lot in my life and business this year. 2021 showed me that I can continue to grow my business and revenue while working 15-20 hours a week. So I want that to be my goal in 2022. I want to continue to grow in revenue, work with more clients, and also schedule in more white space and time off. I hope that 2022 is the year of abundance in time, income, white space, family, finances, and I believe it’s all possible. Abundant is my word for 2022 and I’m really excited to see what happens!

How we can work together

I would LOVE to support you with branding and website design in 2022. I’m offering 3 ways to work together:

The Artisan Branding Experience includes a custom logo suite, color palette, marketing materials, and Brand Style Guide so you can have a whole new confidence in how your business presents itself. Inquire to get started

The Website Virtuoso which is a complete done-for-you solution so you can have a clean, modern site designed in Squarespace to grow your business by leaps and bounds. This is me! Reach out

The Master Branding Experience is perfect for the business owner who either wants to begin or overhaul their entire online presence to be credible and captivating. This service includes brand strategy, gorgeous design, and an effective website so your entire online presence shows your ideal customers your quality and value.

Interested in partnering together to create an online presence that’s effective for your business? Schedule a free call with me

Projects are limited so reach out today!