I love a new start. I always LOVED getting a new pencil case for the new school year and starting off a new notebook with the neatest handwriting. Ring any bells? So I love the chance to start afresh that a new year brings, as well as the opportunity to look back over the previous one, celebrate successes and identify weaknesses to improve on going forward. Being a business owner, I now do this twice a year; in January with everyone else, when I usually vow to lose weight/eat better/sleep more/read more, spend less on shoes etc, and then again in July, when, as a new financial year starts (on my birthday), I assess and make promises to myself about my business life.
So, it’s been my first full financial year as a self-employed business owner and it’s been a massive one. I’m looking back with a lot of pride but also full of ideas and hopes for 2014/15. So, what did I achieve this year? I took on my first employee, I made more money than I did in a year in my previous job as an employee, and I proved that it is possible, with the right technology and the right support team, to run your business (well, my business) from anywhere. Traffic, which is the big indicator of success as a blogger has climbed and climbed and last month, happily, saw my biggest month ever, with more than a quarter of a million page impressions and more than 85,000 unique browsers in just 30 days (Did I mention I’m big on transparency? No fudging figures here!). It still blows my mind, believe me.
We now post four times per day Monday to Friday (this figure was sometimes only once a day a year ago). We had three reader events, all sellouts with wait lists (ok, they were free to attend, but you get the point). On a more personal note, I was honoured to help ghost write interior designer Greg Natale’s book, The Tailored Interior, due out in November.
So, this now brings me to what I’d like to achieve in the next 12 months (and I do feel a little anxious about publishing it to the world here)! I’m a great believer in the power of accountability, so I like to put these things out there so other people know about them and to keep myself on track too. Write this stuff down, people! Don’t just keep it in your head!
I’d like to increase unique browsers to more than 100,000 per month, I’m going to open an online store selling homewares, which will be attached to the blog (there’s been a lot going on behind the scenes on that front for months!) and we’re going to have even more events and take them to places other than Sydney and Melbourne, due to popular demand. I’m also going to give you video content (I said this last year and didn’t follow through, sorry!) and I want us to start posting seven days a week, every week. And, of course, I want to make more money!
I’d also like to sleep more (I do believe this is related to my work life as well as my personal life), I’d like to switch off from my constant connection to the internet one night per week (let’s keep it realistic!) and I’d like to get better at, and more organised with, the financial and accounting side of running a business.
There’s a part of me that cannot wait to get back to Australia and back to working full-time. Bring it on, 2014/15, I’m ready for you!
What are YOUR business goals for the next financial year? Do you make them? Do you write them down and tell other people about them?