2020 – What a Ride
2020 was quite a year – to put it lightly. It seems like the longest year EVER and I have worked a crazy amount of hours. I have been helping my clients navigate through financial highs and lows during this crazy COVID-19 pandemic. Let alone cancelled vacations for us all. Am I right? Some things worked well this year and some did not.
I have learned so much about myself in 2020, both personally and as a business owner. This year has helped me reevaluate what is important. I’ve reassessed my core values and goals. It’s given me clarity on what’s really important in my business, and personal life.
The challenges from this year also helped me take pause, to take time for myself and give myself grace when I needed it. I was forced to take a step back and get a baseline of what’s important – whether that was my business, or simply being able to take time for me to meditate, do some yoga, or a drive-up run for a Caramel Macchiato. Simply put, taking time for me to reflect on the day.
Setting Goals for 2021
Frankly, I’m tired of 2020 – we all are. I’m ready to ring in 2021 and I bet you are right there with me! With a new year, that means new goals. So let’s talk about goals.
To boil it down, think of approaching goals through these steps:
- The first thing to do is to take a hard look at where you are now. What’s working? What isn’t? Try to be as non-judgmental as possible.
- Next, think of where you want to go. What changes do you want to make in your life or business from 2020—big or small? Why is it important that you make this change? What will success look like for you? What’s your timeline?
- Now, look at the time and effort you want to put into your goals. Be realistic! Part of this step is figuring out what has worked well and not-so-well for you in the past.
- Break your goal down into achievable steps. You know me—I’m all about the bite-sized chunks! Doing big projects in small steps will help you feel like you’re making progress and motivate you to stick to your goals.
When you think about your goals, I want you to think about what made you create them and why they’re important to you. Reflect from 2020, take pause, plan out your goals and figure out where you want to spend your time. Goal setting is a thoughtful process, and will take some time.
I know, it’s not the most comfortable thing in the world, but once you start really getting to the heart of your goals, commit to them and define the bite-sized steps you know will make them happen, you’re going to feel like a badass—because you are!
For my part, this next year I want to…
- Teach more solopreneur business owners to do their own bookkeeping; I’ll be doing this by launching the Number Nerd Bookkeeping Academy
- Be more productive = work less hours
- Create + develop more workflows to continue helping my clients get back their time
- Educate my current + future clients how to uplevel their businesses by taking understanding their numbers to a new level + thus increase their profits
Alright, I have my goals, now what?
I know to hit these goals I need to work backwards, which might seem like an odd concept.
But think about it like this. I have identified what I want to achieve—the high-level goals. Now to get there I have to streamline my processes even further and start with small goal chunks that are doable. It makes it a much more manageable process and then if I need to adjust my goals along the way, I can do so.
Let’s say I wanted a new car…that’s the high-level goal but now I need to figure out how each month I’ll save the downpayment for it and budget for payments once I finally drive it off the lot. That might mean cutting expenses or finding a new revenue stream – but little steps make your goals come to fruition.
No matter what the goal, I know I need to commit to changing my mindset and put in the time to make it happen. But I’m ready to do the work for my 2021 goals and I can’t wait to tell you how it all turns out this time next year.
Why Knowing Your Numbers Helps You Set Goals
Remember – setting goals often also involves your money. That’s why it’s so important to know your numbers and understand the financial implications of reaching those goals.
It might mean having to make changes in where your expenses go or changing up a revenue stream, but I cannot stress enough how important it is to know your numbers if you want to hit your goals.
Think about it like if you wanted to join a monthly membership, investment in training or certification, give yourself a raise, or get a new car. Those are goals, and they take money. You have to account for that new monthly payment, and the money has to come from somewhere.
I also want to encourage you to revisit your goals regularly. I like to look at mine quarterly. It gives me enough time to have made progress on my goals, but there is still time for me to take into account everything that’s happened in the last three months so I can adjust them (if I need to) to move forward.
So Heading Into 2021…
Goals are great and SO important to have, whether they’re professional goals or personal ones! If we’re being frank, sometimes we don’t always hit them, which sucks, but it’s no reason to give up on them. In fact, it’s all the more reason to stick with them and make adjustments as needed
Use any frustration or disappointment from 2020 as fuel to light a fire under you for 2021. And remember, just because things might not go the exact way we thought they would, doesn’t mean something great isn’t coming. New day, new year—you got this!
Clarity Kickstart to a Financial Fresh Start Challenge
I know this is a lot, and you might be feeling a bit bogged down or in the weeds when it comes to your numbers. I get it. It’s been a long, weird year and numbers are confusing at the best of times.
So I want to lend a hand when it comes to giving you some help with my Clarity Kickstart to a Financial Fresh Start challenge. It’ll be opening for enrolment soon, so you’ve got some time to get ready.
In five days, this challenge will help you…
- Get your numbers organized
- Analyze your finances so well that you can basically recite your numbers in your sleep
- Get clear on your expenses and pricing
- Figure out how much money you’re actually making
So that’s it all I’ve got for you today….I’ll let you soak that in. I hope you found it helpful and I can’t wait to see you in the challenge!
