Whew! I’ve never been so happy to ring in a new year!
I could sum up the year 2017 with the phrase, “nose to the grindstone”. I’ll tell you what, creating the content for The WP Web Designer Mastery Course™, along with its marketing materials, Facebook ads, and webinars was a lot more work than I ever expected.
The truth is, I could never have done it alone. A major component of getting this monumental task completed and the course launched was having a great team. We set goals, divvied up the work, missed goals, reset them, took one for the team by doing things we didn’t want to do (eighty or so PowerPoint presentations) and worked together on developing all of those Facebook ads and marketing emails and figuring out the technical conundrums in doing all of the above!
A strong sense of purpose
When I look back on the time spent creating the course, I realized that I could never have done what I did this year without having a strong sense of purpose. And my sense of purpose that kept me going is actually two-fold.
I have a commitment to help aspiring web designers become confident and capable professionals. Next, I have a goal to grow my business, and consequently, the salaries of my team, by adding a second-line business to our bag of new tricks. Being able to offer the course once or twice a year will be fun and supplement revenue from our website design work.
Having this purpose founded in aspirations that are bigger than self kept me going… working over months with late nights tacked onto my “regular day at the office.” And weekends with my “nose to the grindstone”, taking care of the countless tasks of what had to be done on deadline to get the job done. Even with this purpose, it was hard, and sometimes, grueling. And I can tell you for sure, without my strong why in place, I could have easily given up and walked away.
And now…Hallelujah!, After 16 months, the course is done, launched, and on its way to making its mark in the world. I’m enjoying working with my first round of students and I can rest easy knowing that I created a valuable asset that can be used again and again in the future.
While I’m looking forward to getting back to focusing on our new website projects starting the first of the year, I’m also looking forward to:
- Having my weekends free. Nothing’s better than waking up on a Saturday morning with the whole day ahead and deciding how I want to spend it.
- Spending time with my new granddaughter. I’ve been seeing her at least every six weeks and it looks like there will be many trips to Orlando this year. Still, I hold strong in my hope that my daughter and her husband will move back to Atlanta.
- Self-care, diet and exercise. Somehow, I cannot keep all the balls in the air at the same time. This ball is especially slippery for me.
And so, with 2018 peeking out from behind the curtain, I’d like for you to ask yourself,
“What is my why?”
Doing well in your business requires that you know who your ideal client/customer is, exactly what they need, and have a passion to provide them the expertise, products or services they’re looking for.
Have you defined the purpose driving you and your business? Have you targeted your ideal client? Are you ready to show people you’re serious?
If you’ve answered these questions yes, that’s great. But don’t stop there.
That’s only Part One.
Part Two is where you clearly communicate all that you are to your ideal client. This is the part where many people go off the rails – ending up with a mediocre, confusing website that doesn’t have a prayer of a chance of attracting their target clients or getting them to call. And then they wonder why their business isn’t working.
If you’re serious about your business, let this be the year you get your act together. When you have your purpose, your why, it’s time to take your passion to a professional that can help you to create an effective online presence.
And then it’s time to do what it takes to get your message out there – write some blog posts, do some webinars, suit up and show up. You have a mission. Share yourself proudly.
Do whatever you have to do to make this year count. I’m counting on you!
