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Behind the Scenes of my Online Business - Quarter 1 2022 Review

momentum management
Quarter 1 2022 Behind the Scenes Business Review Girl Reviewing Business with Computer and Notepad

Hooty - who, this is my first online business review post! 🙌🏼

I don't know about you, but I love to read posts like this. I don't know if it's because I'm a super nosy person or just a certified biz nerd 🤓 but reading these types of posts always stirs up so much inspiration and ideas. My intention with sharing this BTS look at my business is to hopefully do just that for you, dear reader...

And let me just tell you putting this beast together was a ginormous task! Like a 10ish hour task in itself, but it was totally worth it.  I gained so much clarity from it  & found it rewarding for me to complete. As entrepreneurs, it can be easy to always feel like you are not doing enough. But in reality, you are probably just not slowing down enough to reflect on and celebrate all you've accomplished. I know this was definitely the case for me. After sitting down and putting this post together and realizing how much I actually accomplished in the first three months of 2022, I went from total impostor syndrome... to an "oh, go off, girl!" feeling. 💁🏻‍♀️

So, 10 out of 10 recommend completing a review of your business quarterly, even if you don't intend to share it with anyone. Do it just for yourself.

This business review is very much a mix-mosh of personal life stuff and business. As it should be...

Your business doesn't operate in a vacuum, and what goes on IRL definitely impacts your productivity and focus levels. 

And if you read this post and start to feel like, oh my, I didn't do enough... JUST STOP! 🛑 It's natural for humans to operate in ebbs and flows, just like nature. You might be in your ebb state right now, which is perfectly OKAY. I've been there, too, and I find that when I learn to rest in the uncomfortableness of doing nothing, that's where the magic happens. 🪄

So without further ado.. let us jump in...

 

January Online Business Recap

  • Thanks to COVID, I had a shiny new quiz lead magnet launch in January. I spent about 40 hours during my Christmas Covid Quarantine Creating this quiz lead magnet marketing: Unlock your Limitless Launch Potential using Tryinteract Quiz Software. I feel like it does a genius job of segmenting and serving my new email list subscribers. Although it's not attracting leads as fast as possible, I still think it was a good use of my time. To be quite honest, I haven’t spent a lot of time promoting it versus creating it. (which is a characteristic issue for most creative types.) One of my focuses in Q2 will be tweaking the copy and creating an intentional plan to actually promote it this quarter. 

 

 

  • In January, I  also created my first digital product. “Your Next Big Launch Plan” is an interactive Notion workbook that walks you through the exact process and prompts that I lead all my launch management clients through during our Strategic Planning call. It’s like having a virtual quieter version of me with you during your launch planning process. It has gotten rave reviews from Beta testers and is priced at a $47 investment versus a $5000 investment for my 1:1 Launch Management Package, so I know the value is there. Once again, I need to work on the actual promotional plan. (🤔I think I see a theme emerging here…)

 

 

  • We opened the enrollment for my Launch Management Clients group program. She is a functional nutritionist who was looking to gain more time and space in her business without sacrificing the care of her clients. She worked really hard last year to create a hybrid group coaching program to address Food Sensitivities. She nailed her offer and her sales page copy, in my opinion. We were able to fill the first round of her program and generate over 30K in revenue with no problem. We actually decided to close enrollment early and shorten the launch period because the launch was going so well.  This allowed her to be fully present at a Mastermind Retreat she was attending. 

 

  • Mid-January, we also opened enrollment for another Launch Management Client. This busy influencer was looking to update and upgrade a previously created program. She’s a big fan of James Wedmore’s approach to launching. Together, we developed a hybrid strategy of his Webinar & Monetize Before You Make it Launch Strategy to  Beta  test  her new offer at $997. She co-created the program Live with eight students who purchased during the beta launch period. We will be launching the finished product as a pre-recorded course in April, right before she heads off to get hitched!l 

 

  • I ended January with my family's first trip to see snow! 18 of my cousins ranging from age 2-to 42, and I traveled from New Orleans to Breckenridge, Colorado. It was our first time seeing this amount of snow for most of us. We weren’t brave enough to ski but scheduled an epic snowmobiling tour. The kids just had a blast sledding down our driveway and probably could have entertained themselves doing just that for the whole trip. As for my experience: although the snow-covered mountains were beautiful to look at as I sipped my morning coffee, I’ll take sun and sand over snow any day. Functioning in snow requires more work and clothes, and I'm just not here for it—big shout-out to my readers that live in wintery climates. I don’t know how you do it. 

 

February Recap

 

  • At the beginning of February, we opened enrollment for my Launch Management Client. He is a Hollywood  Hair Stylist who created a career development course for aspiring TV & film industry hairstylists. He’s quite a busy guy, so our ultimate goal with this launch was to test an offer that we can later work into an evergreen funnel. Part of the strategy we developed was to host three live "Ask Me Anything Q/A’s" leading up to launch. These served to both build the list for the launch and collect market research from his community. These sessions worked like a charm for collecting FAQs from his audience that we are turning into foundational content to drive traffic to his course site.

 

  • Mid-January, we opened enrollment for a re-launch of a business development course for my dog grooming Launch Management client. The goal of this launch was to generate a cash injection for her business with minimal effort on her part due to her overflowing Quarter 1 schedule. She was pretty booked with her responsibilities at her brick mortar shop, a 10-day retreat she had scheduled at the Hoffman Institute, and creating a course for launch later this year. So I designed an email-only launch strategy that re-used content created from the past launch to launch to a waitlist we started. All the client needed to do was make a couple of tweaks to the email copy. This “easy” launch strategy was super successful and generated over $25,000 for this client in just 4 days.

 

  • I wrapped up all my client launches just in time to take off to celebrate Mardi Gras with my family in New Orleans. It felt great to have a semi-normal Mardi Gras after it was canceled for two years due to the COVID pandemic. Leading up to the big day, we attended some of our favorite parades: Muses, Tucks, and Iris. We decided to celebrate Mardi Gras Day itself at my cousin's house with our own family parade ( a tradition we started in response to the city-wide celebration of Mardi Gras being canceled the previous years)  

  • At the end of February, one of my long-term retainer clients decided to take a step back from her online business to focus on other priorities. Initially, I was hit with a wave of disappointment and anxiety over how I would replace such a stable revenue stream, but after some reflection, I decided to view it as a gift. Since she was one of my first clients, I sat in a more of a “doer of all the things role” than the standard OBM or launch manager role. Because I was doing all the things for her, the tasks I completed didn’t fit neatly into the time-saving systems and processes that I created for my other clients, so her work took a lot more of my time. Although I took a short-term revenue hit, I’m excited about the opportunities that having more time and space will create. I’m also super excited for my client because she is working to create some really fun non-digital products. 

March Recap

I promoted these articles through my email list, social media, and Pinterest accounts. I had so much fun creating all of these assets and was surprised that I could generate $800 just by sharing what I love. (More affiliate marketing will be something I experiment with within Q2 for sure)

  • I also took the time to re-work my offer suite and revamp my homepage (I actually still have a little work to do on that) to reflect those changes. For the first time, I think ever; I feel really good about my offers regarding accessibility and value alignment in my online business. It's essential for me to have offers that can cater to and are accessible to online entrepreneurs  at whatever stage of their business they are at. My current offer structure is:
    • Power Hour Consultations - For those dipping their toes into the online space and are looking for guidance on offer creation and marketing. Priced at $333 for 60 minutes of support.
    • Aligned Strategy Sessions for those who have a validated offer and are looking for a streamlined strategy and systems for getting their offer out into the world in an easy and fun way. Priced at $777 for 2 days of support with a Project Planning Intensive upgrade available for $1444  & 14 days of support.
    • Launch Management Partnerships - For busy entrepreneurs with lots of balls in the air who are looking for support with managing the BTS aspect of their launch so they can focus on creating killer content and a fantastic launch experience. Priced at $4000 for 8 weeks of support.

 

  • In March, I also developed and implemented an Evergreen Webinar Strategy for my hairstylist clients' career development course in Kajabi. This was my first time creating an Evergreen strategy, and I’m excited to see how this offer elevates the hairstylist students he works with. 

 

  • Also, in March, my boyfriend bought a local restaurant. We knew it was kind of a restaurant rescue situation going into it but had hoped that he could balance his full-time job and the restaurant. Unfortunately, that was not the case & mid-march, he left his job to pursue the new restaurant gig full time. I’ve been having fun being the official menu taste tester and flexing my graphic design and marketing skills by helping him redesign his menu & manage his social media account.

 

  • The beginning of March started pretty slow, and I was ok with it.  Both of my grandmothers were admitted to the hospital, so the slower work period gave me extra time to visit with them. I also had plenty of time and space to reflect and enjoy the short-lived springtime weather in NOLA (100 degrees & 100 humidity will be here before we know it). At the end of the month, I signed on for a relaunch with a previous client and was invited to join another previous client on the team as their ongoing Business Integrator. So the last two weeks of March were pretty filled with the launch and quarterly project planning for these two clients.

 

Quarter One Content Strategy Recap:

Ok, moving on to content now...

The theme of my content strategy for quarter 1 was foundations and experimentation.

I knew going into the quarter I wanted to create and follow the simple content strategy that The Zook’s outlined in their content salad article. So the beginning of Q1 was all about creating my foundational content articles. I wrote and published 8 articles which were exactly my goals. So I’m super happy about that

The Launch Collaborative Blog Published in Quarter 1 :

Pinterest Strategy

I also knew that I wanted to experiment with promoting my business through Pinterest because of its long-term benefits for your business. For as long as I can remember, I’ve always wanted to be a pinner/blogger, and I’m super stoked that this business gives me an excuse to do just that.

Throughout the Quarter, I experimented with both creating and scheduling Pins through Canva and using Tailwind automatic pin creator.

Here’s my takeaway: both are useful.

Using Canva & Brand Spanking You’s Pinterest Templates, I created pins that really stop the scroll & get clicks. The downside of using this method over Tailwind is that the pin creation and scheduling process takes a lot longer than using Tailwind, so that I couldn't produce as many Pins. On the other hand, Tailwind is terrific for creating a lot of pins at one time, thus getting more impressions and building your audience. Going into Q2, I plan to use both strategies to build my audience and increase my conversions.

Here are my current Pinterest Stats:

  • Impressions up 608%
  • Engagements up 631%
  • Audience  538%
  • Outbound Clicks 40

The focus on foundational articles and Pinterest has a significant impact on Website traffic as well. For example, my website traffic increased 16% in Q1 over Q2.

 

Youtube Content Strategy

Going into the year, I knew that I wanted to create more video content, so during Q1, I allowed myself to experiment with a couple of different formats on Instagram, TikTok, and Youtube. These experiments were really about me discovering which type of format and platform felt good for me versus which one drove the best results—and getting myself more comfortable in front of the camera.

On Youtube, I created a couple of unedited "Work with Me Tech Tutorials" for Kajabi. These were fun and easy to create and pretty useful for course creators looking to build their programs in Kajabi.

I also created a BTS look at my planning process. I enjoy creating these behind-the-scenes looks at how I work day and project and could see myself making more things like this in the future.

 

Going into Q2, I know I definitely want to create more BTS how-to content and Youtube. I’ve been experimenting with editing software, and I’m excited to build a process around Video Content creation.

 

Instagram Strategy 

For Instagram, I experimented with hopping on trends that I could use to both educate and entertain my audience. And I’ll just say this about Reels: being natural & relaxed is a lot harder than it looks. I found myself not enjoying this process at first, so to make it more fun, I began treating myself to a glass of wine and spa Friday afternoon to help me loosen up and look my best to batch Reels. This strategy worked, and I significantly upped my Reels game by the end of the quarter. Although it's a lot of work for the ephemeral content, I enjoy the platform and socializing, so I think it will be part of my visibility strategy in Q2.

 

While we are on the subject of Instagram, I’ve still been going back and forth about whether I should use my account for business promotion or focus on building my business account. For this quarter, in the spirit of experimentation, I posted a lot of the content I created on both to see the type of response I would get. Although managing and engaging on two different IG accounts requires much more work. I think if I can clearly define what types of content get shared where it will work well for my long-term business strategy.

Here is my Q2 Instagram Stats : 

Tiktok Strategy

In March, I started a 10 day Tik Tok experiment to build my confidence in front of the camera. I began creating daily tik tok videos where I would share my tips for cultivating a freedom-filled freelance business through systems and firm work/life boundaries. I enjoyed creating these spontaneous videos but don’t love the platform TikTok itself, so that I may be moving these types of videos to my IG account.

Here are my Quarter 1 TikTok Stats - 

Email Marketing

Building consistency in my Newsletter was one of my goals for Quarter 1 & I’m happy to report that I achieved it. I sent  The Weekly Download to my subscribers 11 out of 12 weeks. 

I did only add 34 new subscribers to my list last quarter but now that I have built the systems and consistency around sending a Weekly Newsletter. I can now focus on the consistency and systems around adding new subscribers.

 

Significant Course Program & Digital Product Investments

I’m a self-proclaimed course junkie, so I  have to set boundaries around what to invest my time and money in. I try to make sure I have a plan to implement what I learn from each program immediately. The course I invested in Quarter 1 were:

 

Software I used for my Online Business this Quarter : 

  • Kajabi - My one-stop-shop for landing pages, digital products shops, and also my email service provider.
  • Notion - My 2nd Brain & Business Management Software. I love how customizable it is. I basically use Caroline’s Notion Starter Pack, included in Wandering Aimfully Unboring Coaching Program & have customized it from there.
  • Asana - I use this for most of my launch management clients' project plans. I find it has the slightest learning curve and is easy for users to pick up quickly. The downside is that it is not as customizable as Notion.
  • Google Workspace - Email, Calendar, and Document Management
  • TryInteract - To create my oh-so-fun lead magnet!
  • Loom - Video recording software for creating tutorials for the virtual assistants I work with. (Side note: I’m canceling my membership with Loom & moving to Descript because I love the accessible editing features. 
  • Canva - This is probably my most used software. I have a pro plan and used it this month to create Instagram graphics and videos, redesign the menu for my boyfriend's restaurant, create round-up posts for my likes to know about it, and create graphics for my website at the blog.
  • Zoom - For meeting with new leads and hosting weekly client touch bases.
  • Tailwind - To crank out loads of new pins in no time flat.
  • Lastpass - To safely and securely store my passwords and share passwords with my clients and their virtual assistants
  • 17 Hats - My virtual assistant - handles automatic scheduling of meetings, sending of quotes, invoicing, & bookkeeping.

Revenue/Time Generated Recap:

One thing that I have to remind myself of is that for me, time and flexibility are just as important as money. So, although  I could generate more $$ if I worked longer hours. The long game for me is to build not only a big bank account but also a big, spacious life.

This quarter I generated around $16,000 with the following offers working between 20 and 25 hours a week.

Public-Facing Offers : 

I actively promote these signature offers through my social media and website. 

Back End Offers

There are offers only available for purchase to current clients. They usually supplement an existing service or offer ongoing support.

  • Tech VA (Kajabi Implementation support at $35/hour)
    • Revenue Generated in Q1: 1400
      •  
  • Online Business Management Retainer ($2000/month retainer): 
    • Revenue Generated in Q1: 4000
  • Power Hour Strategy Calls 
    • Revenue Generated in Q1 = 0

Digital Products:

Affiliate Income

Total Revenue Generated: 15963.55



Business Expenses : 

  • Team: $0 
    • Just a one-woman show this quarter. My sister helped a bit with Kajabi implementation but did it for free to gain experience. She has hopes of building her own thing online as well.
  • Bank Fees : $435

 Total Expenses: $3491

 

Whew, that was a lot. This is precisely why I enjoy creating quarterly recaps; as entrepreneurs, we can often feel like we are not doing enough, but we actually get so much done that we forget. It’s essential to take the time to reflect and celebrate the total badass that you are.

Got any questions or comments... Ask away below... I'd be happy to answer for you ⬇️

 

 

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