Hello there! I don’t know if it’s having a baby or because we’re doing fewer things, but this year seems to speeding past. I can’t believe quarter three (July to September) is already behind us and October is almost over too!
There have definitely been three phases in this past quarter, as I alluded to in the title, and a limited amount of progress on my impossible goal. I’m sharing this quarterly review:
- So that you don’t feel alone if you’re also not making as much progress as you’d like;
- And as a pep talk to encourage you to make the most of what is left of 2020!
2020 impossible goal recap
My impossible goal for 2020 is to make £50,000 in my business on the 31st of December 2020 or sooner. I’ve broken down this big goal into quarterly milestones, as follows:
- Quarter one (January – March): £5,000 (check out my Q1 quarterly review here);
- Quarter two (April – June): £10,000 (check out my Q2 quarterly review here);
- Quarter three (July – September): £15,000;
- Quarter four (October – December): what’s left to get to £50,000 total.
Q3 quarterly review
I’ll cut to the chase here and say straight off that I did not reach my quarterly milestone. In fact, I made £17.70 last quarter… Which is still more than quarter two! That money came from Etsy sales – so even though I’m disappointed with my results, I’m still grateful for the people who have bought from me!
As I mentioned early, my mindset around my business went through three phases this quarter: feeling uncertain, going all-in and then giving up.
Q3 phase one: feeling uncertain
I took a break from creating content (here on the blog and on social media) to focus on the Uncage Your Business course I bought and the Full-Time Formula lessons inside the Perfectionists Getting Shit Done membership I am a part of. I wanted to focus on figuring out revenue-generating activities rather than just continuing with the status quo.
It was nice to follow a course and “just” do what the instructor says, rather than having to figure things out on my own. I didn’t properly finish Uncage Your Business because phase three “hit” (more on that in a minute).
Q3 phase two: going all-in
In phase two, I went all in! And I probably tried to do too many new things at once: namely launching a coaching service and a podcast, when I’d never done either before.
One thing that worked really well – and this might seem obvious – is emailing people to offer them a service, in this case, to be my coaching guinea pigs. I booked three beta clients in one afternoon! This confirms that when I take big (scary) action, I get big results.
Q3 phase three: giving up
What I’ve definitely learnt this quarter is that I can easily let uncertainty throw me and just do nothing. We received some big news in early September (more on that very soon – subscribe below so you don’t miss our big announcement). All of a sudden, things felt very different and uncertain. I just did nothing, rather than taking baby steps in the direction I had chosen, then changing something if it didn’t work.
I also gave up a bit on exercising as I didn’t have a specific goal in mind (e.g. a half-marathon, marathon, etc.) in sight. At the time of writing, I still don’t have a fitness goal, but I am recognising that exercise has its own day-to-day benefits and that I feel better on the days that I do move my body, even just a little bit.
Plans for quarter four
Business goals
Even though I’ve made small progress so far, I’m still going all steam ahead to make £50,000 with my business this year. I’m continuing to pursue my goal, even without strong evidence it will work out, because:
- It’s a good example of persistence for Baby J.
- I’ll learn new skills and enjoy the process more than if I sit around and do nothing (!).
- Any money in the bank is nice! 😊
I’m planning on reaching my goal by:
- Consistently publishing blog posts on Tuesdays and Fridays;
- Putting printables (i.e. PDF guides and checklists) up for sale on my website;
- Possibly creating an online course.
Behind-the-scenes of making my goals happen
Prioritising my physical health makes everything else run smoothly. However it is quite grey and uninspiring outside, and without a race goal, I’ve been very tempted to hibernate. So instead of “pushing” myself to run, I’m now focusing on doing gentle yoga (indoors!) instead. I do feel really good when I go on a walk in the fresh autumn air though, so I’d like to do that more often, when our little one’s routine allows.
A key thing I want to keep doing is scheduling things into my calendar rather than working from an overwhelming to-do list. And then follow the calendar, i.e. don’t get side-tracked by shiny things on the Internet! As I mentioned in my last weekly update in the Living the Goodenough Life community, I’m making quite a bit of progress on this already.
And to make things all work smoothly, another key ingredient is going to bed nice and early, so that I can wake up the next day and not hate the world haha. Knowing that I have a murder mystery waiting for me on my Kindle by the side of my bed helps with that!
(Note: this blog post contains Amazon affiliate links. That means that if you follow one of my links and make a purchase, I may earn a commission at no cost to you.)
Back to you
How did the last quarter go for you? Do you feel like you’re making progress on your goals? Share in the comments below!
If you’re interested in relatable inspiration and actionable advice from a recovering perfectionist to help you build an online business and live a life you love, subscribe below. As a thank you, you’ll get a free spreadsheet to go from confusion to clarity:
- Break your yearly goal into quarterly targets.
- Decide on your main offer for each quarter.
- Know how many sales you need to meet your target.
- Decide on your main marketing channel for each quarter.
- Estimate how many followers / subscribers you need to meet your sales target!
