Like most of us, at the beginning of each January, I sit and reflect on my business goals for the coming year.
Since I have my business, every year I have set myself some kind of business goals to achieve, some have been smaller (but seemed very ambitious) others have been really big…and hard to achieve (like the ones I have just set last year).
About the year 2021 and how the burnout messed up all the business goals I set at the beginning of the year, I’ve already talked about. It has been a year of survival for me and reflecting. I gave myself time to think about what I want my business to look like going forward, what really brings me pleasure, and what I don’t like and don’t want to continue doing. It has been a year in which I have learned a lot.
The business goals for 2021 will mostly shift to 2022 with a major focus on quality and not quantity. This includes increased design services pricing and transitioning to an international and English-speaking audience. Some of these things I have already implemented starting from the end of 2021 when I redesigned the website and clarified my offerings.
So, roxiehristev.com starting 2022 offers custom web design services for women entrepreneurs who exclusively offer services and digital products (e.g. courses, templates, e-books, etc.).
Before moving on to business goals for this year, I have a few plans for my personal life as well and somehow the business goals are built around the changes that are going to happen this year.
The major change and one that will affect our family life is that we will be moving to another city, and that mean I will need to allocate time for packing, moving, setting up the new apartment, finding doctors, daycare, doing all sorts of paperwork…so fewer hours of work over long periods of time.
But in all the craziness, I keep making the same plans as every year (and which I shamefully admit I haven’t stuck to more than once):
- I want to read more and I set a goal to read at least 10 pages a day – I’m generally interested in books on mindset, productivity, business, and self-development. But sometimes a true crime or horror book slips through.
- I want to move more and I said that I want to do at least 3 times a week an activity of at least 1 hour that will challenge my body more intensely. I think I’ll mostly cover that with the mountain hikes I’m looking forward to.
- I’m looking forward to journaling more. To not keep everything in my head all the time, always be rattling around in there. I want to free up space in my mind for things that really matter and stop wasting energy on nothing, and journaling is a great way to free myself from all the ideas and restless thoughts. Journaling is great for mental health!
Basically, these are my personal plans for 2022, overall I want to focus on both mental and physical health, to gain more time to spend with myself and my family.
What are my business goals for 2022?
Launch Elementor PRO templates + Mini Brand Kits.
The first business goal is to launch the Elementor PRO templates and mini brand kits shop to prioritize passive income, but also to offer budget-friendly quality design or a business starting out. There will be templates aimed at women-led businesses, with different color palettes, and copy prompts.
Increase website traffic and SEO Rank.
The second business goal is to bring traffic to the site, and for this, I will initially focus on organic traffic coming from Google and Pinterest. I’ve already started optimizing the site for SEO by adding relevant keywords and learning about Pinterest SEO strategy. To drive traffic I will try to write at least one SEO-optimized blog post per month. Also, for each social media post, I will try to send traffic to the site to a specific page or article.
Grow my email list to 500 subscribers.
I currently have 100 subscribers on my list, and my third business goal is to be able to grow it to 500 this year. To do this I need to create some lead magnets that I can promote on social media. At the moment I only have this one lead magnet – 24 mistakes to avoid on your website – but I have two more planned.
As we’ve all seen this past year, when Facebook and Instagram have been down for a long time, I want to have a way to reach the people who follow me and potential clients. And for that, I can’t rely on social media accounts, because I don’t own them and besides the fact that situations like last year can happen again, I can also have my account hacked or shut down by Instagram or Facebook on grounds of breaking their rules.
Plus their algorithm is terrible! Says someone who has been struggling with Instagram for 1 year and has grown very, very little.
An email list is safe, along with your website it’s the only thing online you own and it’s in your name. Plus, that email is much more personal, you know people open it and there isn’t as much noise as in social media. You don’t have to constantly adapt to an algorithm or learn all sorts of ways to deliver content.
Outsource strategy and content for Instagram.
Depending on this year’s revenue, I want to try to outsource content creation and strategy on Instagram. As much as I would love to create graphics and do research for Reels, I realized this year that I’ve spent a lot of time just on social media, and too little time on activities that bring money into my business. At the moment the plan is to limit posts to 3 a week and 5 stories a day, so I can create and schedule more content in advance and the rest of the time I can focus on web design (which I really know how to do and love).
Reduce full website design projects and prioritize short projects.
Why do I want to do this? Because full custom web design projects usually span a very long period of time and I’ve noticed that my energy and interest drops after 2-3 weeks of working on the same project. The solution so far has been to take on multiple projects at the same time so that I don’t waste time and money waiting for one project to be completed, but this has led me to burnout and it’s clearly not working.
I will only take on a few Full Custom Web Design projects during the year and the rest I will try to fit in Website in a Week or VIP Days. That way I make sure that both myself and clients are fueled with the energy of launching a fast, functional, and beautiful website without stretching ourselves over a few weeks not needed for their project.
We’ve already tested this strategy in the last few months of 2021 and it’s been a success. We created 3 Websites in a Week and it was a great experience for both me and the clients.
Some of the business goals for 2022 feel hard for me to reach, but I know that if I set goals that seem easy to achieve, I am actually protecting myself from disappointment and failure. But the main purpose of these goals is to grow my business, not to avoid hurting my feelings.
I also hope that your business goals for 2022 are realistic, not too big and not too small, and that you take action every month to accomplish them.
