Hey there, my fabulous listener, welcome to episode 173 of the Small Business Made Simple Podcast.

Thank you for lending me your ears today – I know you have lots of choices, so I sincerely appreciate me being one of them!

If you’re enjoying this podcast – I’d love to you take a screenshot and share it on your socials and tag me in it.  How cool would that be!

Don’t forget you can get the show notes for this podcast at www.socialmediaandmarketing.com.au/173

Today I am going to fire some really important questions at you, for you to be thinking about when it comes to planning for your year.

It might be a good one to take notes on or for pressing pause whilst you think about your answers.

My hope is that you will be inspired by your answers, get direction from your answers, and plan your year around your answers too!

One of my favourite quotes around this is “It’s not always that we need to do more but rather that we need to focus on less”.

So, let’s get into it.

1. What did you enjoy working on last year?
2. What did you hate working on?
3. What did you absolutely LOVE creating and working on?
4. What do you NEVER EVER want to do again?
5. What was your biggest moneymaker?
6. What was your least money maker?
7. What brought in the biggest/most leads?
8. How much did your email list grow this year?
9. What were your income streams for 2021?
10. What are some income streams for 2022?

How’d you go?  I fired some BIG questions at you, didn’t I?  Sorry!

Your answers need thought though – so don’t just answer and move on.  But think about your answers, create a plan around them and action that plan.

For example, one of the biggest questions I find for anyone I ask it to is “what do you NEVER EVER want to do again?”

The answer doesn’t always mean it needs to disappear from your business, but perhaps the answer is that you aren’t the person to do it!  For example, social media.  For some it’s the bone of their existence – they hate doing it but know it’s necessary, so perhaps it’s time to outsource it rather than hating doing it.  If you hate it, it’s clearly not a good use of your time.

The other question that brings up a lot of chatter is “What was your biggest money maker” or “What was your least money maker”.

In many situations, neither is bad nor good as it might seem.

Sometimes your biggest moneymaker falls into something you never want to do again or the thing that felt tough or difficult and vice versa, somethings that they that failed the most, was the thing you enjoyed the most.  Doesn’t mean you can’t try and make it successful, just means you need to change, test and measure to see if you can make it successful and weigh up if that’s worth your time and energy.

For me, my Women in Business retreat was something I loved working on and creating but it was one of my least money makers.  But it was the first time I’d done something like that, the lessons came thick and fast, and I think I can make it profitable.  It might take a few more goes, but for me, given the joy it brought, it’s well worth it.

For more thoughts and exercises about income streams – tune in next week to that episode that’s all about that exact subject – income streams!

In full, we’re friends aren’t we, disclosure, one of my biggest income streams of 2021 was something I find really unfulfilling and exhausting.  It’s something I 100% have to work on, I just can’t make it disappear – that’s not practical for a whole host of reasons, so I need a plan stan to make it work for me.  Break it down into sections, work out what elements I do like or could like and outsource the rest.

No one ever said that business was easy!  Simple, yes – Easy hell no.

Before I sign off on this question asking podcast episode to make you think and make amazing action (because the world needs more action takers!), ask yourself these questions as well:

1. If 2022 could bring me one thing – what would it be?
2. What’s 1 thing you could do every week that would make you happier and bring you more joy?
3. What do I need to ask for help with?

If that person is me – then I’m happy to have a chat with you about all this.  Feel free to reach out or book a discovery call to see how I can help you.

Reach out inside the Like Minded Business Owners Facebook Group – just tag me or book a call here: https://calendly.com/jenn-smm/discovery

Remember you can find the links in the show notes at www.socialmediaandmarketing.com.au/173

Before I head off, don’t forget about my planning day and content marketing days in January.  If you haven’t signed up already, then there’s still time but only just!

Planning Day on Monday 17^th January – here’s the link to come along https://bit.ly/virtualplanningday2022

And Content Planning Day on Thursday 20^th January – here’s the link to come along to that too: https://bit.ly/contentplanning2022

Remember you can find the links in the show notes at www.socialmediaandmarketing.com.au/173

See you next week on the podcast for episode 174.  But in the meantime, let’s hang out on social and get social on social – you’ll find me on Instagram, Facebook and my fav LinkedIn.

But whatever you do,

……..remember small business peeps, as my opening song says, there’s no point in dreaming small!