Hey there, my gorgeous listener, welcome to episode 323 of the Small Business Made Simple Podcast.
Thank you for lending me your ears today – I know you have lots of choices, so I sincerely appreciate me being one of them!
If you’re a first-time listener, super super welcome, I am so pleased to have you here. I am your host Jenn Donovan, and, as you’ll learn along the way, I pretty much live, breathe, dream marketing and social media!
Don’t forget you can get the show notes for this podcast at www.socialmediaandmarketing.com.au/323
Did you have a listen into last week’s episode? My special guest was Chantal Gerardy, and we talked about Black Friday and Christmas promotions – but with a twist! It was a great convo, if you haven’t already listened in, to and do so after this podcast! www.socialmediaandmarketing.com.au/322
Okay, we are at the pointy end of the year where I get to chat with you about having a “word of the year” for 2025.
What’s going to be your word of the year? The word you use to help make decisions; to help create the business you want next year, the word you measure things against?
Now, don’t switch off just yet. This little exercise has had a massive impact on my business, and I just want you to share in the love too!
Ok, just in case you’re thinking I’m going all wishy washy on you talking about 1 word to describe your coming year, let me tell you a bit of a story!
It all began about 8 years ago now I was listening to a podcast and I can’t honestly say which one it was, although if I had to guess I would say more than likely Amy Porterfield’s podcast because I’m was a HUGE Amy fan, and they were talking about choosing a word to describe your year.
Writing down all your goals, your hopes, your dreams, your BHAG, and then choosing 1 word that would describe all those goals, hopes, dreams that you could think of every day in your business.
I kind of thought at the time, 1 word, are you kidding me, how am I to think of one word to describe all that.
But in true Jenn fashion, the thought wouldn’t leave my head.
So, I choose a word – that word back then was IMPACT, and it had a massive impact on my business and on me, so ever since I’ve chosen a word of the year.
This year was BOOK. Book was my word of the year – it was all about my freshy published book Small Town Big Impact.
Writing a book is a huge investment both with time and money [if you’re curious about this process, I did a podcast last year – go back and check out www.socialmediaandmarketing.com.au/272]
Has my word of the year worked this year? Has it had the impact I wanted?
Yeah, a bit – if I’m honest. It certainly wasn’t as a powerful word of the year as past ones – e.g./ Challenge, Impact, etc. If you reflected on my marketing it’s not been huge around the book but I am on my 3rd reprint of it so it’s definitely selling well and working – but I have to say that I could have put more energy into it and I would say, hand on heart, that the word didn’t keep me on track like in other years.
In past years I’ve felt like the word has chosen me rather than I choose it – but my word of the year this year – book – I strategically chose. Not sure if that’s made a difference? And I hope not because I am strategically choosing my 2025 word too! But before we get to that ….
Did you have a word of the year this year? How did that work out for you? I’d love to hear your stories as well. Let’s chat! Maybe we could even do a Facebook live about our experiences with choosing a word of the year. You up for that?
WHY CHOOSE A WORD OF THE YEAR?
If you’re new to the concept of choosing a word of the year, here’s a few reasons why it could be useful for you.
- It helps to give you focus
- It allows for flexibility Ever feel like your goals change a lot over time, or you fail to meet a goal and then feel like it all goes out the window. It’s totally happened to me before. But by having a single word, you can adjust your goals over time, so long as they are in line with the focus word you choose at the beginning of the year.
- It’s easy to remember If you’re like me, type it up and print it out and put it in front of you, in your diary, wherever you look every day!
- It can unify your goals Generally, our goals are broad and cover all the different elements of our life, making it hard sometimes to use them as a criterion for making decisions. But by analysing your goals and then choosing a word that resonates across all of them, I find it makes it easier to define your approach for the year and guide any decisions you need to make.
- It makes it easier to review your achievements; ask yourself: ‘Does this (insert activity) reflect (insert your defining word here)?’.
CHOOSE YOUR WORD FOR 2025
So, are you ready? It’s TIME! Time to decide on your own word. You might know straight away what you want your year’s word to be, it might be something on the tip of your tongue. Or you might need a little help to develop some ideas, which is totally fine too. Maybe your word of the year, like mine this year is strategic.
The beauty of the exercise is that there’s no pressure to know straight away. In fact, I give you permission to take your timmmmeeeee on this.
In the show notes which you can find at www.socialmediaandmarketing.com.au/323 you will find a worksheet with a few steps which will help you work through this.
There are 3 steps involved, and the worksheet goes through them:
Step 1. Do a little brainstorm of words that come to your brain about the year to come.
Step 2. Then, if you want to, list some thoughts under the different areas on the sheet. What are your personal goals, your fears, what can’t you wait for in 2025 and how are you going to give back to your clients/customers/community/yourself/family/friends – whoever –
What’s your big project for 2025? Your goals for your business/career? What’s something new you’d like to learn?
Step 3. Finally, choose one word that you think unifies your thoughts across all your goals and write it down at the bottom. You might find that your chosen word relates to your strongest goals and not to all of them, and that’s ok, but the broader it is the more useful it will be.
So, what’s my word for 2025? Well, honestly, I am sitting with it at this stage. I think I might need two – selfish I know! The strategic word I am going to have is SPEAKING. Speaking, keynotes, workshops, conferences etc this is 100% what I want as my biggest income stream in 2025. I have been working up to this moment for years and years – and 2025 is it. It’s my speaking year. I have started the work and it’s a LOT of work. It isn’t going to be easy chasing more speaking, it’s definitely heads down, bums up work but it’s really really really what I want. And I am going to chase it.
But I am a little concerned that my word of the year this year – BOOK – just didn’t drive me like in the past 8 years or so. Picking a strategic word as opposed to a philosophical word might have been my downfall. So, SPEAKING, will be in my 2025 Word of the Year but I am also going to have another word. RELENTLESS is the one that keeps popping up in my head but it’s a very harsh word and I am not sure it’s aligned with me, so I am going to have to sit on that one and work through it. I guess honestly, other than a few podcasts where I might mention my word of the year, it’s really not a public thing – it’s for me, isn’t it? So, I am not sure if Relentless doesn’t fit with me or whether it doesn’t fit with how I want people to see me …. Arrhhh the complexity of our thoughts, right?
The other word of the year which I am more likely to embrace, although it’s two words is PLAY BIG – I think that works better for me, for my goals and in with my other word SPEAKING. If I want to get on the stages I am admiring, then playing big is my reminder to trust myself and break through my own fears. And play means, perhaps, that I can achieve what I want and have a bit of fun along the way!
It’s a hell of a year coming up! So much movement in the digital marketing space and I am totally excited about it all!
Okay, so now it’s your turn, I’d love for you to hop into the Like Minded Business owners’ group and let me know – what’s your word of the year going to be? Or do we need to brainstorm this together inside the group?
Go on, inspire someone else with your thinking and your willingness to take charge of 2025.
I cannot wait to hear what it is!
But that’s it for ep 323.
If you’re enjoying this podcast, which if you have listened to here – you hopefully are, don’t forget to subscribe, share this episode with another superstar business owner who’s doing the daily grind and would appreciate someone making their business simpler, and leave a rating or review to show how much you are loving this free weekly content.
Massive love coming your way if you do!
See you next week on the podcast for episode 324. But in the meantime, let’s hang out on social and get social on social – you’ll find me on Instagram, Facebook and my fav LinkedIn.
But whatever you do,
…….. remember small business peep, as my opening song says, there’s no point in dreaming small!
Thanks for your Podcast. I already have a word and its COURAGE.