I’m back with another Behind the Scenes post! I’m going to share a peek at what I’ve been up to between July and September 2023 in my life and business.

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July

Half way through the month the school holidays started so this was a pretty quiet month. I didn’t launch or promote anything in particular and most definitely ‘coasted’ but I think that’s fair enough sometimes!

This is definitely reflected in my income numbers, which was a bit of a reminder that I haven’t quite got enough ‘set it and forget it’ stuff set up to bring in more income passively. However the previous quarters income numbers were really good, and part of running a business that aligns with your life is that some months you’re going to work less and generate less which I’m ok with – especially when it means you can work less and take lots of time off!

Income: £2561.50 / $3100

August

August is full on summer holidays for us, it’s also my birthday and my son Finley’s birthday and we always go away for a week’s holiday so I knew it wasn’t going to be the most productive month business wise.

However I did do a quiet launch of my new(ish) Connect and Amplify Academy which is my ongoing higher level membership where we look at creating your own multi channel marketing system. It was an upper tier of Content Marketing for Coaches Club, but I wanted to be able to have an open / close system on that level of membership and a more strategic focus for it so I wanted to experiment and see what would happen if I offered that separately.

I welcomed 10 new members into that $47 a month membership which I was really happy with.

So even though I was very busy personally in August, I had what for me is a pretty solid income month.

Income: £4350 / $5275

September

With the back to school busyness and new routines September always feels like quite a full on, but enjoyable month!

I started by promoting my Get it Done Package (as I type there is still one place remaining) which is focused on helping you progress a very specific area of your business. I love delivering on this package because it’s very tangible – you can really see what you get at the end of it from your investment!

Then I delivered my free event Sustainable Visibility. Picking ‘visibility’ as a topic wasn’t an especially strategic choice, it just felt right so I went with it! I had over 100 people sign up to receive the free training and at the end of the event I pitched Wholehearted Business which as my core offering really fits in well with what I cover in the event.

I’m still promoting this at the moment so it has crept into October!

Another thing that happened business wise this month was I participated in another bundle – Elizabeth Goddard’s Playgrounder Bundle – something she created for people who had participated in the Profitable Playground, one of her former programmes. I added 700 people to my list from this bundle which was amazing.

Income wise, I always feel like September should be a bigger month than it ends up being. It seems that people just need a bit of time to get into the swing of things and looking back at my old cash flow spreadsheets that is definitely reflected in the pattern!

Another thing I did in September was have a new photoshoot! I really enjoyed it and I got the images back and I’m just so happy with them. My next project is to tweak and hone my messaging, website copy and my overall brand too.

Income: £3545 / $4300

Why I share my numbers

I put this reminder in every time as I know that income numbers can be triggering for some people (they have been for me before). But I share them because one of my values is transparency, because I think we all need to discuss money much more openly and because I hope this inspires someone out there in some way.

This quarter is down on the previous two, but this is definitely expected given that the way I show up in my business is significantly different due to school holidays and life stuff. My goal is to average £5K a month over the year so to meet that I do need the last quarter to bring in the cash, but we’ll see how it goes!

Lessons Learned

I definitely learned that I need a bit more going on before I enter this quarter that will give me more ‘passive’ or recurring income. As I’ve talked about before, I have a robust cash flow, so some lower income months isn’t a big deal – especially when it’s because I’m off living my best life outside of work! But for next year it’s certainly something I’ll consider more.

I really enjoyed delivering Sustainable Visibility, and doing a free event like this every couple of months feels like a fun thing to build into my year.

Health + Life

Over the last couple of BTS posts I’ve shared my continued health and wellbeing journey and the big shifts I’ve been experiencing.

I’m in such a good place right now, I’m enjoying what I eat, I’m feeling the strongest in my body I’ve felt in years and I’m just in a great groove! At the start of September I joined the gym, which was a bit scary but I’ve loved it. I enjoy lifting weights and feeling strong and seeing what my body can do. I’ve also started running and I’m doing a 5K where I walk / run on a weekend and again I just love how strong my body feels.

I’m not focusing on not losing any further weight – traditionally the ‘maintenance’ part has been what I’ve found the trickiest and I’m working with an amazing coach and PT, Hannah, who is helping me with a plan for the gym and continuing to take care of myself really well.

Another huge thing I’ve been doing for my wellbeing this quarter is sea dipping / swimming. I started in June and never looked back! Over the summer I dipped pretty much once a week and found so much joy in it! I’ve not dipped in September, I feel like I need to join a dipping group to help me get over the barrier of sea dipping in the colder months and there’s also finding the time for it amongst other things, but I have loved it this quarter.

In September when the schools went back I made quite a big change to our weekly routine and decided to put Freya into nursery for an extra day a week and change her hours. Something wasn’t quite working with our old routine, so now she goes 4 days a week 9am -3pm (and a day with my parents) which matches her hours to Finley’s school times and means we can all have a much slower morning and afternoon, and I get the extra day to catch up with household stuff and errands. So far it’s working really well, I go to the gym early before they wake up a couple of mornings and then later in the day on others fitting it all in around my business.

So there we have it! A run through of what I got up to last quarter. How was July – September for you? Let me know in the comments!

Laura

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