Theme Your Year with a Song NOT a Word | My Anthem for 2017
At the start of 2016 I set myself an anthem for the year. I’m someone who has an affinity towards music so I thought it was a good idea to give myself a song to focus on for the year that would theme, influence and inspire me. Last year I chose Bird Set Free by Sia and it had an awesome affect on me I never expected. I’ve already posted a few times about 2016 being a transformative year for me and how I let go of many things I felt holding me back, so looking forward to what I have planned for 2017, I decided I need to choose another powerful and meaningful composition. For a long time I worried I wouldn’t find the right song for 2017, but one day sitting in the car waiting for my husband to come out of a store, I was brainstorming a list of Disney songs to quiz my husband on (don’t ask) and I found it. With tears streaming down my face, I immediately knew it needed to be my anthem for 2017!
Go the Distance [from Disney’s Hercules] Michael Bolton
It’s such a meaningful song on so many personal and professional levels, and I know turning to it this year will inspire me to go the distance and not accept defeat.
What is your Anthem for 2017? Let me know in the comments below!
What You Can Expect from Strange & Charmed in 2017!
Hello My Charmed Ones! Welcome to the first post of Strange & Charmed for 2017!
Since this is our first day back to work for the new year, I thought I would ease into my content a bit and share with you some of the vision and plans I have for the blog, my brand and business in 2017. As some of you may already know, last month I shared a survey about my content and platforms, something I had never done before, to help me get your feedback on the direction of my content and what you need more information and guidance on from me. Since then I have mapped out a plan for the new year that I’d like to share with you today.
BRAND
In terms of my branding, not much is changing. I’ve been optimizing the site a bit since last month, some changes like the new header I’m sure you’ve noticed by now, but much of the change is pretty minimal. What I really want to convey to each of you, however, is the concept for the Strange & Charmed Brand moving forward.
Strange & Charmed is a Productivity Lifestyle Brand who’s main goal is to help women work smarter, not harder! I really want to make 2017 the year we learn to live our best lives to successfully fit in more of what we love and say no to the tasks, activities and stressors that do not serve us. If this is a struggle that you face as a full time employee, mother, or business owner, the Strange & Charmed community is a resource to serve you!
BLOG & YOUTUBE CONTENT
My blog and youtube content have greatly evolved over the last few years, and will likely continue to evolve to best serve the needs of the community and express my interests, research and curiosity within the field of productivity. There are many of you within my community who have seen this change, understood what I’ve been up to, and continued to evolve with and support the content which I truly appreciate. For those of you who may have been caught off guard at any changes or are unsure whether the content on this blog, my youtube channel and social media platforms are applicable to you, let me explain what you can expect in 2017!
The goal of my content is to help and inspire women to lead more productive, fulfilling lives. To do this, my content will always share information, strategy, tools and advice on different productivity topics. I look forward to filling my platforms with content that is functional, actionable and relevant to help you execute and find success in your life, whatever that success may look like to you. I plan to create content on planning, time management, technology, personal development and business topics that will teach you new skills or illustrate concepts you may be new to you.
I intend to keep up my current content schedule with blog posts going live on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday at 9am eastern, and YouTube videos going live Sunday at 10am eastern.
BUSINESS
Over the past several years, I’ve created a catalog of digital products and tools centered around productivity, planning and business. These products include digital workbooks, print on demand planner inserts, eCourses, digital programs and master classes. Throughout the year I take feedback from my customers and update many of the products and spend time each year development a few more. This year I look forward to expanding my flagship business program Empire Building in the biggest update to the course since it’s release in 2015! I also plan to add to my collection of eBooks/digital workbooks and master classes with some new topics that I hope will continue to support your productivity and goals!
KEEP UP WITH ME & MY CONTENT
If you like what you’re reading about the future of my content and plans for my business in 2017, make sure you are following me all over the internet so you don’t miss one ounce of the value I have in store for you!
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!
With a new year ahead of us I have been giving a lot of thought to creating a clean slate for 2017. Although January 1st is an arbitrary day, dates of significance like these can be powerful markers to help us find a fresh start and progress with the goals we have for our lives. Here are ten things I am going to do before the new year to ensure I start 2017 off with my life and mind in the right place.
1. Unsubscribe from email lists that you no longer want to receive.
I frequently sign up for newsletters from my favorite shops and influencers but from time to time I find that instead of reading the emails I receive, I end up hitting delete automatically. Once I reach that critical turning point, I know it’s time to remove myself from the list. Email is a significant form of clutter in our lives, and even though it’s not something we see per se, it’s definitely an element of disorganization that we feel. Remove that weight from your shoulders and take some time to go ahead and remove yourself from any email subscription that no longer serves you!
2. Set up your planner.
It shouldn’t surprise you that this is my favorite way to start a clean slate! I’ve already set up my planner and organization systems for 2017, so if you are looking for inspiration head on over to this video and take a look at the tools I’m using and how I plan to stay organized in the new year.
3. Define your goals.
Goal setting is an important part of my productivity process and it’s a practice that I like to engage in whenever I am starting a new chapter in my life. I am such a fan of goal setting, in fact, that I wrote a whole workbook on the topic called You Got This! If you need help setting your goals for the new year, I’d highly suggest purchasing it in my shop. Of course it’s a digital PDF so you can buy it and start reading asap. I’ve already had so many positive reviews of the book from people who wanted to get their goals organized, so make sure to let me know how your process goes if you use my method!
4. Review reoccurring subscriptions.
Netflix, Hulu, magazines, mail order monthly lifestyle boxes. There are so many different reoccurring subscriptions that I’m sure many of us are subscribed to and the new year is a great time to review those subscriptions and cancel any that you aren’t enjoying or have completely forgotten about. If you aren’t sure what subscriptions you’re part of, take a close look at your credit card bill and you might find a few you can get rid of.
5. Remove old contacts from your cell phone and replace with new information.
True story, up until just a few weeks ago, I had contacts in my cell phone from co-workers at my previous job that I quit over a year and a half earlier. Take a scroll through your phone contacts and see if you have some names that can be removed, and of course, make sure to also take this time to update any information like doctors, emergency contacts or school related numbers that may have changed.
6. Put your new insurance cards in your wallet.
At the end of the year I tend to have two sets of insurance cards in my wallet, one set from the current year and one from the new year. Make sure to identify the proper cards and discard or file the old ones so you have accurate information on you as soon as the new year begins!
7. Update your profile picture on social media accounts.
Has your hair colored changed this year? Perhaps you got glasses or lost some weight recently? If your appearance has changed significantly in the last year, spend a few moments changing your profile pictures to something more recent- that is, if you want to be recognized of course!
8. Send thank you cards to customers, clients or colleagues who have been helpful to you this year.
None of us could fully do what we do without the help of others. If you had support this year from key individuals, make sure to show them your appreciation by sending them a note or card. It will go a long way to helping you build great lasting relationships and will ensure that their support continues in the new year! If you run your own business and need to do some key business planning for the new year, check out this free webinar I hosted.
9. Review your budget from the past year.
If you had a budget or financial plan for the past year, spend some time reviewing it to see what worked and what didn’t. If you need that budget to continue into the new year you will want to have a good understanding of how you can do better to achieve your financial goals and stay on track in the future.
10. Consciously let go of any and all tensions from the past year to move on to the new year with a clean slate.
Like most things in life, the perception of a clean slate is all in your head. Take some time to reflect on the past year, identify issues that may have caused you stress or tension that is still lingering and consciously let go of it. It may help if you write down these tensions on pieces of paper and then burn or tear them into pieces to symbolize that you are not going to carry this energy into the new year. Whatever you need to do to release that tension, make it happen so you can feel light and free going forward.
I hope this list helps you make the most of the new year! In addition, I also have another free planner printable to help you stay on track for the new year. My Magnificent Seven DIY Dashboard, that will help you identify 7 habits you want to establish in 2017!
NEW January Planner Printables and Freebies You won’t want to Miss
Hello My Charmed Ones!
I hope you had a wonderful Christmas if you celebrate, and of course a lovely December and holiday season! I have a special gift for you to help you start out the New Year productively, so that you can start working smarter, not harder from day 1. In case you haven’t heard yet, I redesigned my monthly dashboard for 2017 and this year it has become much more functional. After creating these dashboards for you each month, many of you have given me great feedback to help me create better designs. This years concept is one that was highly requested and I do hope is functional for your planner as well.
Introducing the 2017 Monthly Dashboard Dividers! That’s right, this year the dashboard didn’t just get a facelift, it has also been reimagined into a divider for your planner. This two sided dashboard printable comes in both A5 and Personal size. The front side is a beautiful white marble pattern with the monthly calendar printed at the bottom corner. The back side is a redesigned dashboard with space for you to add your monthly Mantra, your theme for the month, a quote or saying you’d like to focus on. I’ve increased the space for important dates, and left the monthly goals and books as these were a great favorite for many of you! I suggest printing these out double sided on card stock or thicker paper than your standard inserts so they will stand out a bit more and hold up longer!
Your January tech wallpaper is also ready to go! I’ve updated the calendar to 2017 so you can add some style and function to your favorite gadget. Same good old design as last year- after much feedback that you loved the patterns and designs I created, I am keeping them around this year.
I hope you enjoy these free goodies and I’d love to see how you are making use of them in your planner and digital devices, so please snap a photo, tag me @misstrenchcoat on Twitter or Instagram and use #CharmedGTD in your description so the whole community can get inspiration from you!
I would bet that at some point in your life, you began a process of personal development. Perhaps this was in order to secure an education, skills or opportunity that you were interested in. Perhaps you tried to take control of your health, schedule, or habits. Whether or not you were successful, I could guess that you started the endeavor and then either completed the task in the form of short term gratification, or slowly phased it out of your life, perhaps unknowingly! Personal development as a concept is incredibly multifaceted. There are so many options we can take to start the process of bettering ourselves in one or many aspects of our lives, but before that process even begins and in order to make the process successful, we need to start by understanding what personal development is all about.
“Strive for Progress, Not Perfection.”
What is Personal Development?
Personal development is a lifelong process people undertake to understand, improve and execute on their capacity and potential. For each person, this will mean developing different skills, setting unique goals and integrating specific techniques into their life routinely. While personal development as a pursuit never truly ends during your life, your approach towards it and your milestones may be fulfilled or ended giving you the impression of achievement.
What are the roadblocks to Personal Development?
The knowledge that personal development is a lifelong process is the biggest misunderstanding or roadblock that ultimately keeps people from fulfilling their potential. Most of us want things have a clear start and end or we feel overwhelmed, but truly our natures are geared towards ongoing progress through habit and routine, so understanding that your personal development needs to be integrated as a habit or routine increases your chances of success.
What do we need to do before we begin Personal Development?
Depending on the metaphorical level you are coming in at, we all have different needs to get started, but the one thing we all must do before we begin is to acknowledge that we want to improve and which area of our life we want to be better. This could mean enhancing an area that is already doing well or filling in an area that is empty or lacking.
What is the first step we should take towards Personal Development?
Although all our needs and goals will be different, the first thing that I find helpful to do is to do a self-audit. Think about where are are currently in life over multiple factors and how our current skills, knowledge, and habits keep us stuck in this place. Getting a big picture understanding is a great way to take the first step down the road to personal development because it can give us clarity into the direction we want to take and guide our choices in terms of how we want to spend our time developing.
I hope this post has given you an solid foundation to understanding personal development so you can get started on your journal for self improvement in the future. I’d love to create a series around this topic, so please feel free to send me your questions and issues with personal development and I would love to create some resources for you on the blog to help you find success!
Interested in starting an online business to replace your 9-5 or earn you extra income as a #sidehustle in 2017 but aren’t sure how you’d make money online? I’ve assembled a list of 36 Online Business Ideas for you to consider! The list is broken down into six different categories of activities you can perform virtually or remotely as part of an online business. So, take a look at the category of activity that best suits your skills and interests and see if you can come up with a business idea based on my suggestions!
Coaching
Life Coach
Health Coach
Nutrition Coach
Business Coach
Self Care Coach
Success Coach
Consulting
Design Consultant
Business Consultant
Management Consultant
Financial Consultant
Style Consultant
Family Life Consultant
Writing
EBooks
Workbooks
Blog Posts
Transcription
Copywriting
Editor
Assisting
Virtual Assistant
Bookkeeper
Project Manager
Marketing Coordinator
Video Editing
Content Planning
Creating
Crafts
Artwork
Music
Graphic Design
Build Websites
Photography
Teaching
Video Lectures
ECourse
YouTube video series
Virtual Master Class
Tutoring
Podcast
I hope this post gave you some inspiration for options you have moving forward with an online business in 2017! Although this list includes many great examples, many of which are the real online careers of some of my current students and clients within Empire Building, it’s by no means the full extent to how you can earn income online. If you’d like more information on how to build an online business, I’d suggest getting started here!
Now that we have reached the final weeks of the year, I am spending a lot of time in reflection. I’ve been calculating my results for the year and reviewing my content, products and platforms to understand what I’ve done right and wrong over the year to help me build my brand and business. So, I thought I would recap here on the blog my top 5 blog posts, youtube videos and products from the year.
Blog Posts
These are the top 5 performing blog posts from 2016 that were also written in 2016! I have a lot of content accumulated in my site, and many of my older posts still drive their fair share of traffic to Strange & Charmed, but I really wanted to understand which newer posts had the best traffic as well. Since you can read each of these for yourself, I won’t recap each, but overall planning and productivity win the day on the blog. I’m glad to see a business post sitting pretty at the top of the list, but I think I would have liked to see more, so I will probably dig deep into #1 to understand how I can replicate it’s success for future posts or optimize current business posts to drive more traffic to the site.
These are the top 5 performing YouTube videos from 2016 that were also posted in 2016! As with the blog posts above, I won’t go into each because you can watch them if you are not familiar with the content, and like my blog, my YouTube channel has many videos posted before 2016 that also do extremely well over the years. Again, I’m pleased to see a business video at the top of this list, but after that, it’s all planning content. Two are specifically Functional Planning related which is a good sign to me that the concept of functional planning is really well understood by my community and a topic I need to create more content around in 2017.
When it comes to the products in my shop, I tend to have a good understanding of what items are doing best throughout the year in terms of revenue, but looking back over the majority of 2016, it was interesting for me to see the number of individual purchases. Some of these items are not a shock to me, but others were and I’ve even included a BONUS #6 on this list because when I ran the numbers I was shocked at how many sales this product had over the year.
1. You Got This
It is no surprise to me that the You Got This workbook was the best selling item in my shop in terms of number of individual sales. It’s not even close to any other products, it has sold hundreds of copies this year alone and because of this, I really think I need to decide how I can either make this product even better in 2017 or how I can add another ebook type product to my lineup. I think the ebook format was very popular and with the lower price point on this item, it’s almost a no-brainer type purchase for any of my audience members who are interested in the topic of goal setting.
2. Charmed Life Planner
I guess the Charmed Life Planner being #2 shouldn’t have been a surprise to me. All of my Charmed Life Planners added up do incredibly well, mostly because they are the system I use and prefer, which that means something to my audience. The real shock to me, however, was that not only did the category of the Charmed Life Planner reach the number 2 spot, but the A5/Half Letter version that I use was also #2 in individual product sales. Again, I think this shouldn’t have been a surprise to me, but seeing that the specific size was #2 was pretty interesting.
3. The Digital Styling Lightroom
The fact that any of my higher priced courses or offerings made it to this top 5 list seems pretty incredible to me, and really gives me insight into the fact that my promotional efforts for the course AND my content marketing for my brand overall are working well. I also think this means I shouldn’t be afraid of higher priced products because the market exists for those with in my community and within the ideal audience I am attracting.
4. Planning for Success Master Class
No surprise here with my Master Class. My master class product line in general is a value packed and practical educational experience. This was the first product I created this year after my summer hiatus and it signified my return to normalcy and routine, but it also proved to me that the master class format I had introduced in 2015 was a winner for my audience and business. The feedback I received on this class was phenomenal and I’m so thankful that this relatively new product has done so well over the past few months.
5. Productivity and Planning Master Class
Again, my first master class sitting at #5 is no surprise to me. It had a great year last year at it’s launch and really opened me up to a new product line and way to educate and inform my audience. I absolutely LOVE the master class format and I am excited to create more in 2017!
BONUS 6. Empire Building
Okay- so I had to include this major shocker on the list! In terms of revenue, nothing in my shop touches Empire Building, however, when I ran the numbers and found that it was so close to hitting the top 5, I was shocked. In fact, had I included purchases of the program from within the Online Business Bundle into the overall number of purchases, it would be sitting in at spot #4. It’s amazing to me that this product, my brain child that represents 6 years of research and took me at least 6 months of work to create, is not just a revenue driver, but a sales leader in the shop!
What content and products of mine did you enjoy most in 2016? I’d love to hear from you on what you’d like to see more of from me in the new year!
To help you set yourself up for success in the new year and teach you how to Work Smarter, Not Harder, I have assembled the ULTIMATE PRODUCTIVITY RESOURCE GUIDE filled with 40+ productivity videos, blog posts, books, downloads and MORE!
With 2017 around the corner, I thought this would be a perfect time to introduce you to some wonderful 2017 Printable Calendars if you are still looking for ways to organize your year!
2017 Printable Calendars for Your Planner, Desk or Wall
