2022 is over and 2023 is here! I always love the start of a new year!

One of my favorite things to do at the end of one year and the beginning of a new one is to take time to reflect on the past year and set goals for the new one.

Taking time to reflect on my business at the end of every year has been so helpful in helping me to grow my business and when necessary take my business in new directions. It’s something a have practiced every year since I started my business in 2017. This is the first time I’m sharing my reflections on the blog. I hope you will find them helpful and interesting.

So here is a look back at 2022.

I Start a Group Coaching Program and Covid Hits My Family.

In January I started a group coaching program for Web designers. I was so excited to start and immediately began digging into the content.

Attending the first meeting was a bit nerve-wracking but I enjoyed it so much. I knew I had found my home with other designers many going through the same things I was! Things like imposter syndrome, finding quality leads, and clients willing to pay for your services. It was amazing!

In February though, Covid hit both my husband and me. We are blessed that it didn’t hit us sooner considering my husband is an essential worker and was on the front lines the whole pandemic.

While sick with Covid we also had a horrible leak in our basement from a clogged pipe. It was awful having to deal with that while also dealing covid but with some help from my Dad, we made it through.

Defining my Web Design Niche and Improving Processes.

Needless to say, covid set me back a bit with my group coaching program but mid-March I started back strong and I was able to narrow in on the niche I want to serve and refine my messaging around that. You can see on my revamped services page the work that I did during this time.

In April and May, I continued with the program, learning what I needed to do to put together a proper proposal for web design. That work helped me to land a 3k project as well as two other design projects in 2022!

During this time I also worked on refining my onboarding and strategy call processes based on what I learned from the program.

Self Mastery LIVE, my First Webinar and Profit First

In July I was able to attend Self Mastery LIVE in Nashville! It was hosted by my client, Sonja Thompkins. Because the focus was more on personal development than business I invited my sister to join me. We both had an amazing time!

I got to meet three of my clients in person, Sonja, her mom Fatimah Muhammad, and Bri Guillory! We experienced a Sound Bath! And just spent time learning about our human design and more. I came away so rejuvenated and ready to tackle the rest of the year.

It was definitely my favorite experience of 2022!

After the retreat in late July, I held my first webinar exclusively for subscribers to my email list. It’s all about how to use your website to build trust with your audience! I’m super proud of this webinar as it took a lot of hard work to put it together. 🙂

During this time, I finally read Profit First by Mike Michalowicz. Y’all! I wish I had read this book sooner! It had been on my shelf for years! It has already made a huge difference in how I handle my business finances.

Also, it made me finally sit down, take inventory, and get honest with myself about some of my business expenses.

You may have noticed that I let things like Convertkit and Podia go.

Profit First made me realize that these were unnecessary expenses. I can get Mailerlite for free and it’s just as good as Convertkit.

And as for Podia, digital products have never been a huge focus for me, and keeping it around because someday it might be didn’t make any sense.

Fall Hates Me

I love Fall. But it does not love me. From September on, I have been sick for at least a week out of every month. In October it was two weeks of sickness followed by almost a week with a crick in my neck. It was awful.

This made the end of the year rough. All I was able to do was concentrate on getting my client’s work done. I had no energy to work on my own business projects and goals.

I finally started to feel better in December and was able to attend a goal-planning session in my group coaching program. Goal planning always gets me fired up for the next year!

My Goals for 2023

The biggest issue I had in 2023 was no leads. You all have heard me talk about how my business was built on referrals and SEO. I thought that it would work the same with Web Design, but the leads just weren’t coming in. I was still getting leads for tech assistance but very few for web design which is the service I want to grow.

My coach preaches that partnerships are the way to grow your business and get consistent leads. So I took her advice when creating my goals for 2023.

Speak at 7 Summits or Podcasts

I want to get out there and become known as a web designer. People know me as a Virtual Assistant. It’s time to change that.

Why 7? Well, that is my favorite number!

I’ve already booked one podcast interview and landed a spot in a Summit at the end of this month. That’s two in January. I’m very excited about these opportunities and I hope they help my business to grow. Follow me on Instagram if you’d like to know when these events go live.

Grow my Email List to 1000+

Goal number two goes with goal number one.

To be an appealing guest to summits and podcasts, I need to grow my subscribers. I’m working on revamping my main lead magnet right now.

It is a free 5-day course about how to use your website to position yourself as an authority. My current lead magnet isn’t working well but I have high hopes for this one.

Be on the lookout for it!

These are the two big goals for 2023. Some other goals for this year are:

• Land 5 to 6 web design projects
• Convert those web design clients into monthly retainer packages.
• Be consistent on Instagram
• Create a presence on LinkedIn

I’d love to hear about your 2022 and some of your goals for 2023. Tell me about them in the comments.