2019 Goal Setting – Personal and Business
I’ve been thinking about my 2019 Goal Setting for well over a month now but will admit, I haven’t put pen to paper just yet. Mainly because I’ve not a spare moment of time, but also because I’ve felt like there was still a lot “up in the air”. I’ve felt in limbo for a couple of a months, questioning absolutely everything, particularly the juggle of motherhood and a start-up business.
I wonder if it’s the inevitable end-of-year slump, you know, when you dwell on the things you’ve not achieved or managed to do that year, instead of all the things you have actually achieved! I definitely fell victim to that last month – all I could focus on was the stuff I hadn’t done. In fact, it was only when I sat in the car on New Year’s Eve, on the drive back from London and started to high-light my year on Insta-stories that I realised just how much I had achieved…
2019 Goal Setting
My 2018 Highlights
So let’s start there shall we? Start on a positive note and focus on the all the stuff I did achieve last year.
Personal
- Obviously the biggest one here is: I managed to grow another human inside me and birth him successfully this year. Yes, I added another little person to our family in May, so in 2018 I was either pretty heavily pregnant or caring for a newborn. Not easy tasks!
- Had lots of amazing holiday and quality time with my hubby and kids.
Business
- I managed to grow WeBlogNorth membership by 100, doubling that of 2017.
- I put WeBlogNorth on the map by speaking at 5 different events across the North of England.
- I successfully planned, hosted and executed the 2nd Northern Blog Awards (with a newborn baby in tow!), building on the previous year and making a small but very significant profit.
- I developed the CRM to provide more value for our members.
- I travelled to Newcastle, Leeds, Harrogate and Sheffield, spreading the WeBlogNorth love and meeting members outside of Manchester.
Blog
- I booked my 2 highest paying gigs in 2018.
- I developed my Instagram and grew my following by nearly 2000 people – posting 239 times and gaining over 34,000 likes!
- I stayed true to myself and the content I like to create.
- I launched my newsletter.
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2019 Goal Setting
This year’s goals…
Personal
- Enjoy quality time with my children.
- Get to my target weight (which I’ve not been at since long before my first pregnancy!).
- Work out 3 times a week, every week.
- Start yoga properly.
- Have a date night with the hubby once a week.
Business
- Have 100 members for WeBlogUK.
- Grow WeBlogNorth by another 100 members.
- Monthly facebook and insta lives for members and non-members.
- Gain some national press coverage.
- Northern Blog Awards – handover the logistics to someone else, so I can focus on getting more amazing brands on board.
Blog
- Launch podcast.
- Reach 10,000 followers on instagram (I would just love the Swipe-Up function guys!).
- Post twice a week here on the blog and once a week on Youtube.
- Gain a national feature (eg. magazine piece).
- Work with 5 new amazing brands.
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I feel that they are all just the right balance of realistic yet aspirational for me
Getting there…
Having completed by 2019 goal setting, I’ve got quite a few things to achieve haven’t I?! But I feel that they are all just the right balance of realistic yet aspirational for me. I want to stretch myself but not make things so unachievable that it’s just depressing! I will still have full-time care of my baby for another few months, so I have to take that into account (as maternity leave doesn’t really exist when you run your own business!). It’ll be a while before I get a couple of clear days a week at my desk, but that’s ok. I want to focus on my baby and drink in every drop of him before he starts nursery – I want him to have me dedicated to him as much as possible.
I want to grow my businesses, but do accept that growth may be a little slower due to my young family, but that’s okay as my reasons for going it alone are all about work-life balance and flexibility to spend as much time with my family and enjoy my job! And I think it’s going pretty darn well!