Hello friends! If you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you’ll know that I’m an advocate of setting one big, juicy goal every year that scares the crap out of you… a.k.a an “impossible goal”. Read on for a look back on the end of 2020, on the progress I made on my impossible goal and how I’m processing all this.
P.S.: I’m not only sharing this as an indulgent trip down memory lane (even though some people enjoy a “behind-the-scenes” peek at others’ lives of course), but also to encourage you to start thinking of your own lessons and accomplishments from 2020. Feel free to share them in the comments below. It’s time to take charge of your personal growth!
My impossible goal for 2020
My “impossible goal” for 2020 was to make £50,000 with my Living the Goodenough Life business. I’m not sure where I got the number 50,000 from, so for 2021 I made sure to be more intentional with picking my income goal for the year (you can read more about that here). We’re also talking £50,000 revenue here, not profit (make sure you’re clear on that too if you choose an income goal!).
My goal-setting method involves breaking the yearly goal into incrementally increasing quarterly targets. For 2020, these were:
- £5,000 in quarter one (January – March);
- £10,000 in quarter two (April – June);
- £15,000 in quarter three (July – September);
- £20,000 in quarter four (October – December).
I’m mostly going to share my insights on quarter four in this blog post, but I’ve linked the other quarterly reviews in the list above. I’ll also be writing a blog post with my lessons learnt throughout 2020 – a positive spin if you will on a year that has been difficult for many – as a sort of part two to this post. Make sure you subscribe to get it (and as a bonus you’ll receive my free guide to three ways you may be secretly sabotaging your success)!
Quarter four review
So, to cut to the chase, I didn’t make £20,000 in quarter four. My bank account says £2.64, but I made £33.30 on Etsy in December alone, which is more than I ever have. It was paid into my account (minus expenses) in 2021 though. I’m choosing to believe that this is the beginning of a snowball effect.
Things I feel proud of
- Starting to share videos of myself on Instagram Stories.
- Creating better systems in my business, for example tying ConvertKit* and ThriveCart together (so that when someone subscribes to my email list, they are invited to purchase my goal-setting bundle).
- Creating an opt-in freebie (Three ways you’re secretly self-sabotaging) and products (the goal-setting bundle mentioned above, a colour-in goal tracker and a work-from-home capsule wardrobe).
(* Note: this blog post contains ConvertKit*, Blog by Number* and Amazon* affiliate links. If you click one of the links marked with an asterisk and make a purchase, I may earn a commission at no cost to you. Thank you for supporting my work!)
Things I learnt about myself
- I can do scary things (like sharing videos on Instagram Stories).
- I’ve found topics I like writing about: goal-setting, working from home and online business.
- Everything flows better when I follow the plan I set out for myself in my calendar. (This isn’t new, but was confirmed again last quarter.)
Things that worked well
- Setting up ads on Etsy. I resisted this, but it worked quite well in December, turning my Etsy store into a more passive (if modest for now) source of revenue.
- Choosing a niche to focus on, thanks to Suzi Whitford’s Blog by Number* online course.
- Connecting with fellow entrepreneurs, which helped generate ideas and foster a sense of community (and optimism for what I can achieve).
Things that didn’t work well
- Not having a thought-through strategy for the month regarding content, opt-in freebies and products: I often felt a bit scrambled and like what I was doing was haphazard rather than proactive.
- Advertising my coaching services: I think I need to refine this and then sell more explicitly and frequently.
- Consistency with content, such as social media and my email newsletter, though my overall consistency and “follow-through” is improving significantly!
Reflecting on my impossible goal “failure”
I’ll be honest here: I’m not entirely over my perfectionist habits and I’m feeling shame about not even coming close to my 2020 impossible goal. As a quick recap on perfectionism:
“Perfectionism is not about healthy achievement and growth. Perfectionism is the belief that if we live perfect, look perfect, and act perfect, we can minimize or avoid the pain of blame, judgement, and shame. It’s a shield.”
Brené Brown, The Gifts of Imperfection*
I still have perfectionist tendencies, but I don’t want to dwell there. One way of letting go of this shame of “being imperfect” or seeming like a “try-hard” is to show up and be vulnerable. In total, I made £31.40 in my business in 2020. Quite a way off the £50,000 target. I hesitated to share this here, especially as I’m offering to help people to their first $1,000. But that is exactly why I should share my struggles! I want to coach people through the mental drama of making their first $1,000, not just online business tactics and strategies. I want them to feel like I’m there with them and I get it… Because I do.
That being said, even if the number on my spreadsheet is low, I’ve grown a lot in the past year. I’ve raised Baby J (with my partner) to being a healthy toddler, I’ve made time for myself and for my work, I quit my PhD as it was no longer in alignment with what I want from life. And as far as business is concerned, I’ve learnt a lot and set some solid foundations in place. And even though it can feel sh*tty at times, the growth is what the impossible goal is all about! I probably would have stagnated a lot more had I not chosen to pursue this impossible goal… and then I would just be feeling a different type of discomfort.
As part of my renewed commitment to transparency and growth, I’ll be sharing monthly income reports here on the blog, so you can come on this entrepreneurial journey with me. The next blog post though is my positive spin on 2020 and the lessons I’ve personally learnt. So please subscribe below to make sure you don’t miss it + receive a free guide to three ways you might be sabotaging your success… and how to follow through with your plans instead!
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