Behind the scenes! How I plan and prepare my business for the new year.
Happy January everyone! I hope you had a lovely and refreshing break.
This summer I spent time with friends and family, drinking cocktails and also exploring some of the South Island of New Zealand (a super cool experience, I would 100% recommend). I also spent time planning how I want to take my business into 2023 and setting a few intentions for the upcoming months. I honestly love a good planning session and now build this out into a ritual I try and repeat every January.
So on that note; I’m excited for the first blog post of 2023 to be a little behind the scenes of this process, and how I prepare my business and myself for the new year. Disclaimer*** Sometimes I think there can be a lot of pressure to set an intention or goal by January 1st and if you haven’t you’ve missed the opportunity. I totally disagree. There is no right or wrong time to plan and take action. Whenever you are ready to reflect and plan is perfect. I personally love the new year vibe and track my business over a 12 month period hence why this works well for me. In saying this I’m stoked if I have some plans pulled together before Feb.
Anywho, let’s dive in.
Gather inspiration and get in the energy.
For me this is super important. I love to get in the right head space to plan before I plan anything. This part of the process spans over the space of a few weeks through December and January. During this time I will listen to podcasts themed around the new year where others are sharing their top tips. Here are a couple of my favourite podcast shows…
I will also watch YouTube videos to gather inspiration. These two channels are awesome for planning inspo.
This really helps me get amongst the new year energy and feel excited to plan. Plus it’s also really cool to hear first-hand how some of my favourite business owners prep their businesses. This is a really cool way to fast track trial and error as well by learning from others experiences. In this time I will make a few notes especially if they are sharing journal prompts, little routines or activities I want to incorporate.
2. Start getting intentional and pull out the journal.
Once I am feeling inspired I will start working through a few different exercises and journaling prompts around goal setting and business planning. I love to make this time feel special by either going to a café or pouring a glass of wine and lighting a candle. This year my boyfriend did some of the exercises with me.
When it comes to journaling about business goal setting, my all-time FAVOURITE tool is the Artist of Life Workbook. For the past three years I have repurchased this journal and worked through it and found the prompts and things have led me to make huge and powerful shifts within my business. This is an integral part of my planning routine and the way the questions are structured really prepares me for the new year.
In this book I work through different sections. The first being a reflection on the previous year, what worked and what didn’t. In the second section I set a theme for the year (one word or phrase) and journal on big open questions like:
If I knew I wouldn’t fail and I could have anything I went after; what would I do.
How do I want to evolve this year.
What does success mean to me.
The third section is where I take all the energy and feelings that I want from the year ahead and start to work out where the action steps are, these also cross over into my personal life as well. I break these out into categories as well like financial, wellness, social, career and relationships. I then start to set goals in each categories as well. These categories are quite important for the next step of my planning routine.
Quick pause: I’m going to share a secret… if you’re reading this live I will be giving away one of these planners on my Instagram tomorrow (I’M SO EXCITED).
3. Creating a vision board.
I know this is quite popular but I honestly think when they are built with intention they can be so powerful. I love to make these BUT only after I am super clear on what I want for from the year. In the past I have scrolled on Pinterest and chosen vibey images without any real context. My vision board looked beautiful and had a cool energy but wasn’t really connected to me as I hadn’t done the foundation work.
So to get specific now, I will bring out everything I wrote down in the previous step and choose images specifically for each category very directly showing the goal I detailed above. I love to choose images that are resonating with me and are also as detailed as possible. I will even edit pictures of things like a flight with my name on it or bank account showing my income goal. I also print off phrases and quotes that inspire me. Here is a quick peak of some of the pictures on mine. Travel is a big thing for me this year which you can see over the moodboard. I have a coworking space I found in Madrid, my laptop on a beautiful italian balcony, my income increasing and my social media growing.
I print this off and do a big collage up on my bedroom wall as well as keep a mini version in my daily planner. I also love to set this as my computer background. I have found keeping it as forefront as possible is important to make sure I stay connected to the vision.
4. Aligning the goals and intention to dates and times.
Now I will pull out my calendar and start crafting a loose timeline. I usually try break this down into quarters but no further. This leaves space for me to adjust my plans dependant on how I am feeling at the time. Honestly this is just a guide and as I am moving through the year things eb and flow. I am happy for plans and shift around and understand my estimated timelines aren’t always correct.
5. Clearing out and decluttering.
The last thing I like to do as part of my new year prep is clear out any old or stale energy, things or tasks from the previous year. This was actually a tip I came across in the Make Shift Happen podcast. She was talking about how important it can be to clear energy by decluttering in order to make space for new fresh energy and things to come into your life. I know this isn’t revolutionary but I have loved adding this into my new year ritual.
So for me this means tackling my physical space first, picking up those tasks I have put off for months. This could be finally sorting the mystery draw of assorted things and finding a home for everything, deep cleaning the coffee machine, vacuuming under the bed, popping all my winter clothes out and sorting anything that needs to be donated. Following this I love to declutter my computer desk top, cleaning files up and creating new folders for things like my social media for the new year. After this I go over and sort any leftover admin – this might be paying old parking tickets, sorting any outstanding invoices and booking in any appointments etc.
Annnnnnnd that’s a wrap on how I plan and prep for the new year. I think one of the most important things is to have compassion for yourself through this process and make sure to celebrate any wins big or small.
I would love to hear if you have tried any of these tips or how you like to prepare and celebrate.
