So the last month of 2019 is done and we’re heading into 2020.
What’s next? The last few months have been incredibly tough on the mindset front but I am ending the year feeling quite light.
Let’s sum up what happened this month.
I took a step back..
I swayed from closing up to pushing on. But following the seasons of things like this December is not the time to launch into anything new and with a large percentage of Australia on Fire wasn’t helping either.
With web, December is historically busy. People want things finished before they go on holidays. Or they want to launch their new thing at the start of the year.
With what I am doing I felt the opposite to be true and overall I saw less engagement, even the website traffic from general google listings took a big dive. So taking time off the emails and the podcast was a good move.
I had a big drop in members, which I expected because Christmas. One of the tricky things when you launch seasonally is finding the right balance and knowing your numbers to stay viable so I’ll keep my eye on that moving forward.
Offered lifetime access
In the search for the answers as to whether or not I continued I decided to offer existing members an upgrade to lifetime access for a one off fee, if people liked what I was doing they would do it. I had 3 people instantly jump on it which was great for an instant cash injection to the business which will be put aside for marketing. The people who joined were some of my first ever members. Next year I am planning on doing this as more of a Black Friday or even end of financial year thing as I know the pinch following Christmas makes it tricky.
I cracked the 10k mark on Instagram
I felt like the last 2k was a hard slog but we got there. Now I can post links which I am super stoked about. To be honest I haven’t even used it for anything but bushfire relief links. Can’t wait to use it more in the new year.
Has the year gone as planned?
Nope.
Have I reached my goals?
Nope.
Of the 3 offerings I wanted to create I did 2. Thstartinge second one tanked so it got wrapped up into the membership.
I did launch a Podcast but I didn’t get around to the YouTube channel.
Money goals, $15k. Either way we look at this (before or after expenses) we’re a fair way off the mark.
Where did things go wrong?
I don’t know, we could blame a few things here. The drought. The economic climate. Maybe I am not putting myself out there enough. Maybe I am not investing enough in marketing. Maybe my audience is all wrong. All I can do to really know is the adjust the sails and keep going.
Summing up
Let’s look at some of the things I’ve achieved
I’ve tripled my email list, Facebook and Instagram followers.
I’ve increased my website traffic by 5x
I’ve created over 100 new resources for my members and recorded 26 podcasts.
I’ve not gone into debt to get this going and we’re sitting in the green.
I’ve done it all on an average of less than 4 hours a week.
But the reality is – I am not paying myself a wage, so is it really viable?
Things I’ve learnt this year
Unless you have a lot of money to burn on advertising budgets or an existing large highly engaged qualified audience don’t expect big dollars.
Launching is exhausting.
Getting into a groove when you’re creating a crap load of content is harder than it looks.
So the big question, will I continue?
Yes.
At least until the kids are in school, I think it’s the most flexible option until then. Hopefully by then it’s covering more than expenses and I’ll be pulling a wage.
What’s next?
2020 I’ll be launching more often but more in line with my personality so will be experimenting more in this department. The all in event style launches are draining and takes me a while to recover. More investment will be put into marketing however that looks.
Big goals for 2020
I want to write a book (eBook)
I want to launch a YouTube channel
I want to earn $30k
I want to study
I am going to keep writing these posts to keep me accountable but also hopefully to help people out there following along in similar journeys.
December STATS
Members – 12 (-2)
MARKETING
- Email subscribers – 750 (+20)
- Instagram followers –10004 (+221)
- Facebook followers – 878 (+15)
- Average Monthly website hits – 3400 (+9.5%)
DOLLARS
Money earned : $460
Money spent: $79.80
- Hosting $22.50
- Payment Fees $13.00
- Vimeo (video storage) $13.20
- Jetpack (spam/backup/security) $13.20
- Podcast Hosting $17.90
Total profit this month: $380.20
Total carried forward: profit of $915.15*
*Not paying myself OR putting money aside for tax
TIME
Hours spent on the project : Approx 24
MY COMMITMENT FOR January
Prepare for YouTube and launch
February SNAPSHOT
Get YouTube channel happening