We are edging towards the end of January, so it’s an opportune time for you to take a look at your planning for the rest of the year.

This blog will take you through some essential questions at you that you critically MUST be thinking about when it comes to planning for your year ahead.

My hope is that the answers to these questions will inspire you, provide direction and really help you nail down a plan for this year.

One of my favourite quotes around this is:

“It’s not always that we need to do more but rather that we need to focus on less”.

That is what the questions we will go through in a sec are for – to provide direction on what it is you critically need to be focusing on for 2023.

So grab a pen and paper, or have a doc or note open on your device, and let your answers FLOW!

With this exercise too, don’t limit yourself to what you are writing – just get it all down.

10 ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS TO ASK YOURSELF:

1. What did you enjoy working on last year?
2. What did you hate working on?
3. What did you absolutely LOVE creating and doing last year?
4. What do you NEVER EVER want to do again?
5. What was your biggest money-maker?
6. What was your least money-maker?
7. What brought in the biggest/most leads?
8. How much did your email list grow this year?
9. What were your income streams for 2022?
10. What are some income streams to explore for 2023?

Mow you have written your responses, we have to take the next steps (I don’t want you just sitting there with a list and no actions!)

I want to see you take action on those questions and keep the list as a live document that will direct you throughout this year.

What you need to do now is the following:

• Take time before actioning the list
• Think about your answers
• Create a plan around them
• Action that PLAN!

For example, the question “what do you NEVER EVER want to do again?” is something that can spark some big responses in my clients.

The answer doesn’t always mean it needs to disappear from your business, but perhaps the answer is that you aren’t the person to do it!  For example, social media.  For some it’s the bane of their existence – they hate doing it but know it’s necessary, so perhaps it’s time to outsource it rather than hating doing it.  If you hate it, it’s clearly not a good use of your time.

The other questions that creates a lot of discussion and thought provoking are “What was your biggest money maker” or “What was your least money maker”.

In many situations, neither is bad nor good as it might seem.

Sometimes your biggest money-making activity falls into something you never want to do again or the thing that felt tough or difficult and vice versa, something that failed the most, was the thing you enjoyed the most.

This doesn’t mean you can’t try and make it successful, just means you need to change, test and measure to see if you can make it successful and weigh up if that’s worth your time and energy.

I ran a Women in Business retreat back in 2021, and it was something I loved working on and creating but it was one of my least money-making activities for that year, and I came away with some big lessons and learnings. So, I took a year break from the retreat while I critically reviewed the concept I had for it and how I had structured it. This time in review enabled me to switch up the format and direction for the retreat I’m running in May this year. So, the moral is that critically reviewing something that you may love doing in your business, but might not be turning a big income, can help you to work out changes and adjustments that can make it be enjoyable AND profitable!

Another learning I had was when I completed my yearly review, related to one of my biggest income streams. When I looked at it critically, while it was financially successful, it was something I found to be unfulfilling and exhausting.  It’s something I 100% have to work on as I just can’t make it disappear – that’s not practical for a whole host of reasons, so I need a plan to make it work for me.

And what did my plan for this end up being you might ask? Well I broke this income stream process it down into sections, worked out what elements I liked or could like doing myself, and outsourced the rest!

No one ever said that business was easy!  Simple, yes – Easy hell no.

Now, let’s go back to your list of answers you just created!

Block out some time in your calendar to go back and review it once you have had some time to digest those initial 10 responses.

Then, start looking at how you can action the list.

And as a bonus – here are a few more questions to ask yourself!

1. If 2023 could bring me one thing – what would it be?
2. What’s one thing you could do every week that would make you happier and bring you more joy?
3. What do I need to ask for help with, and what can I outsource?
4. What time do I need/want to have off this year? (And get it locked into your calendar now!)

If for question 3 you wrote that you do need to ask for help then I’m happy to have a chat with you about all this to come up with a plan of attack!

I’d love your feedback and thoughts- you can head to my Facebook group Like Minded Business Owners or email jenn@jenndonovan.com.au.

As always, if you want to discuss your business goals or marketing strategy for 2023- book a discovery call with me http://bit.ly/Discoverwithjenn and let’s do that together.

Or, let’s hang out and get social on social – you’ll find me on Instagram, Facebook and my fave LinkedIn.

CONTACT JENN:

Don’t forget, you can book a free discovery call with me to talk about how I can help your nail your business goals, planning, strategy and marketing in 2023! Simply click the link and grab a spot!

My Like Minded Business Owners Facebook group is also a great community to join – full of awesome people in small business!

Or you can DM me on Instagram or send me an email jenn@jenndonovan.com.au

I wish to acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of the land, the Yorta Yorta People, on which I conduct my business today and pay my respects to their Elders past and present. I extend that respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples reading this blog post today.

About the Author:

Jenn Donovan of Social Media & Marketing Australia.  Jenn’s an expert marketing coach and mentor from rural NSW. She is all about empowering business owners to earn what they’re worth so they can make a bigger difference in the world.  The Founder of Buy From a Bush Business, Co-Founder of Spend With Us – Buy From a Bush Business Marketplace and host of the very popular podcasts Small Business Made Simple and Stories from the Bush. Jenn is all about community and humans interacting with humans!  H2H Marketing – human to human marketing. Jenn talks the talk but importantly walks the walk! Jenn’s online community is over 320,000 with her famous Facebook Group currently at almost 370,000 members and still growing every day.  She’s the mayor of her own little online city!

Get in touch – www.socialmediaandmarketing.com.au

On Instagram – @jenndonovan_

On Facebook – Jenn Donovan

Or on LinkedIn as Jenn Donovan