If you enjoy knowing what gets up to behind the scenes of people’s businesses then read on, I’m sharing what I’ve been up to in my business and life for the first quarter of 2023.

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January

I started off January with a big wobble! I’m not sure exactly what triggered it but I had a moment when I thought maybe I should just go get a job, I even downloaded a job application before I had myself a moment and got my head together. I feel like it’s important to mention this because you can have the most successful business in the world, and still experience these business wobbles sometimes.

I also increased the price of my 6 month group programme Wholehearted Business which I did some promotion around and welcomed some new people into that group.

Towards the end of the month I launched Content Marketing for Coaches Club and I was super happy with that launch, it was so much fun. I hit my income goal for the membership to begin with and I’ve loved creating content and showing up for the live calls for this new offer.

Another thing that happened in January was I welcomed a lot of new people onto my list as a result of Lizzy’s Christmas Party Bundle that I participated in over Christmas. I actually hit my email list target of 4000 subscribers for 2023 before January was out which was pretty cool!

I also think that it was in January that I set up a Wise USD bank account so I could create a USD balance from my USD payments that I can pay my USD expenses in and save just a little bit on conversion rates as my standard bank account isn’t well set up for multi currency transactions.

Income £5300 / $6500

February

The big main project for February was moving all of my courses and students over from Teachable to Thrive Learn.

Teachable increased their prices considerably with very little notice and while I could have absorbed some of that additional expense, the way the price increase was done and communicated quite frankly fucked me right off so it just made sense at this stage to leave Teachable and that monthly ongoing expense and get everything set up in Thrive Learn.

Thrive Learn comes along with Thrive Cart which you can purchase with a single payment so there’s no ongoing expense which is great.

With a lot of support from my VA, Gem, we moved everyone over, and did a bit of a tidy up in my Convertkit account which is where I manage my email list.

I also ran a retreat with my friend Jo, and that was really good fun and it was nice to be a health coach again for a change!

Income £4689 / $5788

March

In March the main thing I was promoting was a price increase around my Thrive 1:1 Mentoring Programme which has been great. It’s actually just been nice to put some focus on that programme as it’s not something that I usually talk about much! I’ve had lots of discovery calls and so far I’ve booked 3 new clients into that programme which is wonderful.

I’ve also just been doing a lot of bits and bobs behind the scenes, finishing up with some clients, progressing some design clients too.

Income £4500 / $5554

Why I share my numbers

I’m sharing my numbers for a few reasons, I believe that women especially probably don’t talk about money enough, and while I know numbers can sometimes be triggering (they have for me before) ultimately I believe it’s illuminating and empowering to share these things.

Some of you might look at those numbers and think they’re brilliant and others might think they’re low – it depends on how we’re all calibrated really. Either way, I’m proud of my earnings as someone who has always run their business alongside raising children and working less than 20 hours a week – and recently it’s been a lot less than those 20 hours. I do still have big income goals but I’m happy to take an aligned road to meet them!

Lessons learned

I feel like this first part of the year has been quite intense and the biggest thing has been this strange internal shift I’ve experienced which has shifted how confident I feel and how I put myself out there.

I also started to notice that people I know online and really fan girl over have been buying my stuff which has been a bit of a ‘whoa’ moment! It brought up a lot of feelings around whether or not my work is good enough, whether or not things need updating and so on, so sitting with those feelings has been interesting.

Something I started to do differently in January was approaching my planning differently. Instead of planning each quarter, I now plan in roughly 5-7 week stints that closely align to the Wheel of the Year, but which basically are dictated by the kid’s school terms. Because so much of how I live and work is linked to the school terms and holidays it just makes sense for me to include that in my planning. I also like how they roughly align with the Wheel of the Year and this makes it easier for me to really root into the current season.

I’ve also found that planning in smaller amounts of time, around 6 weeks, means I’m more likely to plan realistically what I can achieve and manage and it all just feels like a more tangible section of time.

I’ve been calling these sections of time ‘mini seasons’ and they’ve been working so well for me in terms of focus and productivity!

Health + Life

*Little trigger warning here that I’ll be discussing weight, eating disorders, food, exercise etc

So I feel like I’ve experienced a massive shift around my health and wellbeing since the start of the year which has been wonderful.

As someone who has found that their weight in particular has always been an issue, and as someone who previously experienced orthorexia and fertility issues due to that, finding a balance has been hard. Throw kids and lack of sleep and health scares into that and for a number of years my wellbeing has been tricky.

Since I turned 40 last year there’s definitely been a shift and I started this year with very clear intentions about how I wanted to take care of my body better. Since January 2022, I’ve lost 2 stone / 28lbs – so it’s a weight change that has taken some time. As much as I’m not super focused on the weight it has felt good to see that move as I do find it motivational. But otherwise, the changes in how I eat and move has made a huge difference to how I feel. I’m just so much stronger and energised now and I actually feel good existing in my body.

At the grand old age of 40, and as someone who has had a long and complicated journey with their health, wellbeing and weight, I do feel like I’m in the best place I’ve been for a very long time. I love how I eat, I still eat out and have drinks out, I move my body in a way that feels joyful and it all has come together in a really positive way and I’d like to celebrate that for now!

While diet culture is always trying to sneak in, I feel like I’m able to manage that quite well too. I’m also mindful that things could shift at any time but for now what I’m doing feels very sustainable.

So there you have it, a rundown of what’s been going on for me in the first quarter of 2023!

How has it been for you? What have you been up to? Let me know in the comments!

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