6 Month Goal Check In - Let's Do It Together
This week is the summer solstice, the halfway point of the year. Rather than get in a flap about ‘WHERE THE HELL HAS THIS YEAR GONE?!’, I thought it would perhaps be more productive to do a six month check in on the goals I set for my business back in January. As this has been my first full twelve months self-employed, now is a good time to check in and see how I’m feeling about things – some of the goals I set in January were really finger in the air stuff, so now I can go back to those with the benefit of experience and shift them appropriately.
If you’d like to join me and do your own 6 month check in I’ve included my tips below. This is not an opportunity to beat yourself up about all the things you haven’t done yet and add yet more items to your to do list. The check in is emotionally neutral, a chance to analyse our attitude and behaviour towards our goals, and shift them towards something more realistic and do-able if necessary. You can read my own check in for a practical example of this later.
How To Approach This Check In
As I said, the check in emotionally neutral, so come at it at a time when you’re feeling content, rather than stressed or worried about something as that will affect how kind you are to yourself through this process. Getting into the realities of progress and numbers is always going to stoke up some feelings, good or bad, but please try to remember that we are doing this to make improvements, and to not allow any negative thoughts take over.
My check in is divided up into the goals I set for certain focus areas in January. However you set your goals doesn’t really matter as long as you have some tangible objectives to work from. You will see that not all of mine are specific, but still required some sort action that I may or may not have done.
Look at the successes – what’s gone really well in the pursuit of that goal? Did it make you feel good, did you make a new connection, did you make lots of money? It’s also fine if there are no successes, I’ve one like that in my check in
Analyse the problems – if you’ve not achieved what you wanted to, why not? How does this goal make you feel? Is your intuition flaring up when you think about this goal? Dig into these problems and things holding you back, as this is where you’ll find the solutions.
Decide what changes you’re going to make either to the goal itself, or to your approach to it. It might be that one goal is going really well but it’s taking your attention away from something else, so how can you shift your activity and mindset for better balance? OR if a goal is making you come out in hives, what can you change it to so that it makes you feel more lit up?
Finally, give the goal a gut feeling score out of ten so you have something qualitative to go on, and set yourself some actions to get done within a specific time frame to start shifting your progress.
My 6 Month Goal Check In
Products
Goal: I had two product-based goals this year:
1) write and launch an e-course with a fully booked out launch;
2) hold 4 Out Of The Woods Workshops, sell out the two that were already on sale
Successes: I did write and launch an e-course! Although the first intake wasn’t quite fully booked, I was only short by nine people so I’m counting that as a success. I have so far held 3 workshops, all of which sold out and I had great feedback from.
Problems: Not really any problems with the e-course, I’m really happy with how it went and have some tweaks ready to make that next instalment even better. With the workshops, I found them a lot harder than I thought (I’ve gone into more depth about this in What I Learned Hosting Workshops), both in terms of the physical toll of travelling, and the emotional toll of selling them. The profit margins on them are also small, especially compared to how much I put in that I don't think they're quite viable in the format they're in currently.
Changes: Shifting the sold out e-course goal to the autumn launch. Need to reassess what I do about workshops – I love the in-person experience and connection but need to balance that with making them financially sustainable. A change of format may be required before I think about continuing to pursue this goal.
Overall: 7/10, carry on with the e-courses and reassess how to make in-person events more viable over Q3
Speaking and events
Goal: As part of my wanting to increase my visibility and the perception of my expertise, I wanted to do some paid speaking work and be invited to teach at events and workshops. The specific goal was to have four paid speaking opportunities in 2018, and send monthly pitches to get there
Successes:Ummm….none!
Problems:A setback early in the year with a speaking pitch knocked my confidence with this goal. I did try researching a few opportunities earlier in the year but couldn’t find a way in/contact, and none of them were really lighting me up. Despite having it as one of the three things I wanted to achieve in Q2, I haven’t done anything towards achieving it. I need to listen to the fact that my heart is really not in it, at least not enough to go out and actually pitch.
Changes: I’m still interested in doing speaking and workshops, but I’m no longer going to put pressure on myself to be pitching and researching. If the universe wants to send an opportunity to me then that’s great, if not then I don’t really mind too much. What I’ve realised is that what lights me up is writing– instead of speaking I’m going to focus my energy on getting paid to write for magazines and sites.
Overall: 2/10, leave speaking to the universe and focus on pitching for paid writing opportunities. Aim to have one paid piece of work published by the end of Q3.
Influencer work
Goal: Working with brands is a small amount of my income, but I enjoy it creatively (and it feeds my ego). My goal for this year was to get three collaborations per quarter.
Successes: The collaborations I’ve had this year have been excellent – I’ve loved the brands and the stories behind them, I’ve had creative freedom, and they paid me fairly.
Problems :I am nowhere close to achieving the three collaborations a quarter goal. Earlier in the year I realised that pitching for and thinking about brand collabs was making me miserable, so I shifted focus away from it which allowed opportunities I could never in a million years have pitched for come to me. I also don’t like that I can’t have as much control over this element of my business – I am at the whim of budget reviews and someone else’s taste
Changes: I have started to regain my confidence over what I have to offer brands and would like to do more interesting, creative collaborations to help boost the lifestyle element of my brand. I will focus back in on this element, but change the goal towards pitches I send (which I can control) rather than collaborations that happen (which I can’t).
Overall: 6/10, create a hit list and start pitching over Q3 (two pitches per month)
Outreach
Goal: At the end of last year I quickly realised the effect that outreach (guest posting, podcast appearances etc.) was going to have on my business, so the goal was to have one piece of outreach go live each month. The idea was that not only would it help new people find me, but also establish myself as a marketing expert and build trust in me and what I do.
Successes: So far, I’ve succeeded! I’ve had at least one piece of outreach go out every month this year (you can see them all on my Press page). Not only that, but a third of my income in Q1 was generated from my outreach activities.
Problems: I am starting to run out of options for future outreach. I want to make sure the outreach I’m doing is relevant and on-brand am struggling to find new avenues (although this is actually because I’m not making the time to find them).
Changes: Put aside time to thoroughly research new opportunities and engage in the broader content eco-system of my audience. With the podcast launching soon, this may also shift focus to getting people onto my channel rather than getting me onto theirs.
Overall: 9/10, keep going with one opportunity a month
Personal development
Goal: To train and grow as a coach and become more knowledgeable around my subjects to provide a better and better service
Successes: I have set a budget for personal development and have spent some of it on courses and attending a conference
Problems: I have been practically incapable of budgeting time for this goal. I have bought books and magazines that I’m not making the time to read, even though I know they’re helpful. I also haven’t properly researched any other training or courses, although I am interested in looking at and investing in the work of other coaches. Perhaps I need to investigate how I learn and focus in on investing in places that is going to help me holistically.
Changes:Start budgeting time to read and learn and get really clear about what specifically I want to learn and develop and find an opportunity that fits that
Overall: 3/10, budget two Friday afternoons a month to development, set a specific development goal and how to achieve it in July.
Financial
Goal: At the beginning of the year I set a series of financial goals: a baseline goal which was what I needed to earn in order to live, a core goal which was what I would have liked to make, and a stretch goal which was what I’d make if I was consistently booked up
Successes: I have been pleasantly surprised by this goal. I started out this business journey feeling that the best I could hope for was one day matching my old salary; at the time of writing I’m £6,527 away from exceeding it. More holistically, I’m really valuing myself, my time and my abilities more than ever before
Problems: My success with the financial goals has come at the cost of other areas of my life. I have yet to get the balance right between striving towards these goals and maintaining my health and wellbeing, and that is starting to affect me emotionally. I need to really sort out my priorities around money and life, and shift my business model and pricing so that I’m working less to make the money I want.
Changes: For the rest of the year I’m not going to make any drastic changes except to maintain an awareness of balance – I want to work a full year in the same way so that I can work out what the rhythm of the business is and make changes accordingly. However, I am going to start putting in place actions to be able to shift my working patterns from 2019
Overall: 8/10, be more mindful about my time and work towards creating new opportunities for better balance in 2019
I hope you feel inspired to go and check in with your goals now. I know it can be a little scary, particularly if you're someone who tends to set goals and then never look at them again. Look at the year with a glass half full perspective - half the year may be gone, but there's another half to go. It's not too late to get to where you want to be and not be setting the same old goals come January.
