I am a massive believer in setting goals and of course reviewing them on a regular basis. My clients can testify to this. At the start of each of my group programmes we do my 12 in 12 desire process…and I do it along with them each time.
It’s simple really. Set a timer on your phone for 2 minutes, and write 12 things you want to attract into your life in the next 12 weeks. There are a few rules though…it musn’t read like a to do list, it doesn’t just have to be about your business…oh and it doesn’t have to be remotely realistic.
This is simply about tuning into your desires.
I find that in a 3 month window, I tend to achieve between 5 and 7 of them each time, and then over the subsequent months the others often come in when they are good and ready too.
It is a technique I have been doing religiously for the past 3 years, and I can’t see me stopping anytime soon. Whether you are a believer in the law of attraction, or just like to write out your goals and tick them off…the process of admitting what you want, and committing those desires to paper can be super powerful…and admitting them to other people increases the power of the process ten fold, as does taking the time to celebrate when you have achieved them.
And thats what todays blog post is about.
Me celebrating the last 6 months….you might want to grab a cuppa and get comfy…this might take a while….oh and FYI I am super nervous about sharing some of this.
I started the year off with massive goals.
Everything I had worked towards in 2019 I was going to ramp up. January was a cracking month welcoming 600 new clients into my world in the first 10 days of the year….making a bumper £12K…not a bad way to kick of the month hey?
February was a brilliant month too…I invested in a kick-arse coach, got a business loan to buy new computers and to invest in a complete business rebrand, and then BOOM…a global pandemic hit!!!!
I mean you can’t make this stuff up.
I had just created a new programme called One to Many, which I had been working on since the start of the year…and in the panic I filled the first cohort with ease.
But I am not going to lie, the pressure was building.
How would I continue to grow my business while homeschooling a 7 year old and looking after my sister who had broken her ankle a couple of weeks before the big lockdown.
It seemed an impossible task? But of course we manage right? Its not always easy but whats the alternative?
I was in a very fortunate position that I had done a lot of positioning and proving myself in the years leading up to 2020…I had a loyal tribe of clients and a supportive network of peers and business buddies.
See I really was on to something with this tribe building thing.
So at a time where I was feeling pretty alone….I never really was, my customer base has been incredible, not only in continuing to buy from me, but checking in on my mental well being too.
Juggling parenting, and the fear of Corona virus, while in a major growth period in my business was a challenge to say the least.
My daughter has been back at school for the last few weeks (she needed to be in school for both of our sanity), but she breaks for the summer in a couple of days and so it does feel a bit like my own second wave is on its way…it has been a real luxury to have time for myself and my business again.
Those first 11 weeks of no childcare taught me some very valuable lessons, namely that a lot can be done in a short period of time when you set your mind to it….plus how resilient kids can be.
And also that most of the crap we do in our businesses, really doesn’t have to be done.
We are firmly in July now, so more than half way through the year…and so on Friday after a pretty busy week I sat down and made a list of all the things I’ve achieved this year.
I didn’t have any intention of sharing it, beyond my mastermind group…but I am always reminding my clients to celebrate and share their wins…and so here are mine.
My mid year wins.
- I’ve welcomed more than 1000 new clients into my world
- I took my 7-year-old to Paris for a daytrip…part birthday treat and part just because we could.
- I’ve secured more than £30K of investment into my business (loans to help with cash flow and investing in infrastructure…£11K of which has already been paid off)
- I’ve made £100K in sales
- I’ve worked with a branding expert to rebrand my business
- I’ve designed and created 4 new online group programmes
- I’ve worked with 4 VIP clients
- I launched Too Fat to Run TV…a weekly online TV show for my running clients
- I launched a programme called Thrive Inside for my running community, employing a personal trainer and inviting other experts into my group…and commissioned a new Tshirt design
- I’ve run a 5 day Nail your Niche challenge, with almost 300 participants and 12,000 comments
- I’ve hosted 5 free webinars, given 6 virtual talks/masterclasses for other organisations or business owners
- I’ve been listed as an East London Innovator
- I’ve taken part in 4 online group programmes (led by other coaches and experts), and finished my transformational coaching qualification modules.
- I’ve built a support team…a VA and various freelancers to help out as and when.
- I’ve taken on a new family member….Tom the cat…this has been a massive undertaking ha ha
- I’ve refurbished parts of my home…including my only outside space my tiny little balcony
- And I’ve kept safe and well…reaching out for support when things got tough…and trust me tough they did get
When I wrote this list out, at first I thought it was a bit braggy.
Especially the money stuff.
We have been taught to believe that speaking about money is crass, but to speak about having my best months in business during a global pandemic surely that puts me in the “cringey internet marketer camp”
But also I hate that this list plays into the narrative that during lockdown we all had to be super productive….trust me there were days where I did sweet FA, and literally just cried on the sofa while my child ran amock
But back to the business.
My goal this year was to triple my income and my impact…and I am on track for that. Aside from that, I am incredibly proud of the support I’ve been able to give to both my running clients and my business coaching clients during what has been some of the toughest times in our lives…I have learned more about what leadership really looks like in the past 100 days than in my whole working history.
And so in summary…
I’ve had 6 cracking months not necessarily because of the pandemic, but despite it, maybe even co-creating alongside it….and I guess we will never know if I would have had that success anyway.
Sometimes we do our best work under pressure, sometimes we are pushed before we are 100% ready, we take action because the consequences of not taking action are too scary to think about.
And so what next?
I will take a bit of a break over the summer…I am easing back on new things and focussing on serving my existing clients. I will do one more round of One to Many…as I know people are keen to get their online offerings up in time for the Autumn….which is traditionally a popular time for signing up to new online programmes.
And then I have BIG plans for October
A completely new programme that is going to be my most transformational EVER, another cohort of Tribe Builder my signature programme…and who knows what else.
Next Thursday I am going to be running a FREE masterclass all about how to design profitable group programmes, dissecting two of my most popular programmes.
And finally.
It is really important that we don’t shrink away as small business owners, overwhelmed with what else is going on in the world. There is a heap of fear knocking around right now when it comes to the notion of a global recession, a second wave of Covid19, travel restrictions, political uncertainty.
When we decide to focus on what we can control…ie our attitude and our habits and behaviours, it gives us more energy to cope with the other shit that comes our way.
Grow your tribe, leverage your expertise, and don’t think you have to do it on your own.
Wishing you every success for the 2nd half of 2020
Julie Creffield is a community engagement strategist and business mentor from Stratford East London. She has spent more than 20 years bringing communities together, online and off.