Entrepreneurial: Entrepreneurship is the New Black

Entrepreneurial: Entrepreneurship is the New Black

Three hundred and sixty four days. That is how long it has been since 2016 began, and with just two days left in this 366 day leap year, there is so much for me to look back on over my life and business, but even more for me to look forward to. I’ve spent the last few weeks of this year collecting data, analyzing results, and getting in touch with myself to process what I’ve accomplished and get crystal clear on my vision for 2017. So for this final installment of Entrepreneurial for 2016, I want to recap the big picture items of 2016 and what I want going forward in 2017!

In 2016 I:

1. Worked Smarter, Not Harder: This year, I really made progress embodying the philosophy of work smarter, not harder. I can say without a doubt that this year I hustled less, managed my time better, accomplished my work more productively and saw better results. Despite creating just three new products over the course of the year, producing less video content, spending less time on social media, and taking a hiatus over the summer, my business still grew! I accomplished much streamlining my business in 2016 but I still have more work to do!

2. Bought a Home: The biggest event of the year for my husband and I was definitely the purchase of our home. It represents a lot for us as a couple, but also gives us a new foundation to build our lives and even my business upon. Purchasing a home is a big life milestone, one we sacrificed towards for the past few years. We know we were in an a perfect situation to buy that most couples our age aren’t in, as we have no school loans or other personal debt between us, but we are also very smart with our money and made what we hope will end up being a great investment in our future.

3. Grew into myself as a woman and an entrepreneur: When I turned 30 this year, I started seeing myself in a completely new light. I’ve always been confident and mature for my age, but this year I began to see myself less as a girl and more as a woman. I started to own myself, who I am, and what I want, and wasn’t as hesitant doing for myself and giving to myself the things I wanted and needed. Throughout this year, I’ve gained new insight into my business, let go of certain expectations holding me back, and consciously made the decision to put myself first so that I am in a position to help lift others up.

In 2017 I will:

1. Continue to put myself first: With the impact I want to make, it’s crucial that I put myself first to prevent a situation of overwhelm or stagnation. To do this in the future, I will continue to set boundaries that will protect my time and energy from being drained and establish routines to ensure I am reenergizing my mind and body for maximum output!

2. Positively impact more lives: 2016 gave me a real glimpse into the impact my work and business has had on the lives of members of my community and in 2017 I am setting more aggressive goals to serve and teach as many of my community members as possible.

3. Fail Better: I don’t fail enough, this was a fact I came to recognize this year. While not failing may seem like a good thing, I actually think it’s pretty shameful. If I am not failing, that means I am not pushing myself outside of my comfort zone. It means I’m not taking risks with my ideas, and it means that I’m not truly growing. I acknowledge that I play it safe with my ideas, especially with my content and business, because I’m afraid that pushing the envelope may push people away from my brand, but I think I need to just let go of this fear and try to accomplish some ambitious goals with the intent to make them so big or scary for me that my expectation would be failure. If I fail, then clearly I hit the mark! But if I don’t fail, and I don’t hit the mark, it means that achieved something great. I want to try this in 2017, and consolidate my time as much as possible with the everyday minutiae of my business so I can devote significant time and energy towards this.

I hope you have enjoyed this post and the Entrepreneurial Series in 2016! If you want to look back at more installments throughout the months, click here. I also want to know how your year went for your business and what your big picture goals are for next year. Please let me know down in the comments!

xoxo,