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2022 was quite a year.

Sometimes it feels like just yesterday that I was ringing in 2022, and here we are with 2023 around the corner.

One thing that remained steady was keeping my website design business registered in St. Pete, FL. I absolutely love Tampa Bay and have no intentions of leaving the area.

Without further ado, here goes my end of year review…

What changed this year

There’s quite a bit that changed this year from last…

I changed my website design services from set packages to VIP days

Doing a website every 2-3 weeks was starting to feel draining, and I was finding that clients didn’t like honoring the set deadlines.

I had learned about VIP days a couple years back, but was always skeptical about offering them. I think it came down to confidence to charge such a high amount for so little time. But I’ve truly realized how much can get done in a day.

I moved exclusively to Showit for web design projects (and then changed my mind 😅)

For the past few years (since I started my business), I was only designing Squarespace websites. In 2019, I was asked to do a website on Showit and I had been wanting to learn the platform, so I dove in.

And I became obsessed with Showit (affiliate link) - the customization is incredible.

And I realized how much easier it is to create templated sections inside Showit to build websites compared to Squarespace.

That is one of the reasons why it pairs so well with VIP design days.

Even though I had built dozens of new websites, I had such an aversion to Squarespace’s new Fluid Engine editor, which I did not vibe with when it was launched.

And I also had a limiting belief that I couldn’t do as much with Squarespace during a VIP day. But I realized that this was such a silly thought and added back into my offerings.

So to clarify, I am still designing on Squarespace as well as Showit :)

I launched my template shop (finally)

Ya’ll this was years in the making! I’m so freakin ecstatic to finally have the template shop live.

At this time, there are only Showit websites templates available. That may change in the future, but I love Showit so I plan to build the shop out with more templates.

There are templates for coaches, service providers, and (in the future) photographers.

I went back to a job

If you’ve been following me for some time, I’m guessing this is probably a shock. I went through a lot of personal shit this year and felt like I needed a reset when it came to my business.

As many of us small business owners know, running a business when you’re going through a lot in your personal life is very difficult. At times, I really lacked motivation and my energy misalignment really showed in my business.

I started looking at jobs and was offered an incredible opportunity to work as Jasmine Star’s marketing manager. I’ve admired Jasmine for years and it was definitely a “pinch-me” experience getting to be on her team.

Unfortunately, I was laid off just shy of my 3 month mark. As much as I loved getting a paycheck and having a set of clearly defined tasks to tackle each day, I took this as a sign to get back into my business full time.

The best investments I made

Copywriter

I have been telling alllll my clients about how important it is to hire a copywriter for your website design or sales page design project. I had invested in a copywriter for my SEO course, but I finally invested in one for my website.

And it sure didn’t disappoint. Especially since I place a focus on SEO and driving leads from Google, I was tired of not having stronger copy on my website.

Social Curator

Social Curator is an amazing resource for business owners. Created by Jasmine Star, it’s a subscription that includes social media captions, stock photos, and marketing guides to help you make more sales on social media.

Instagram has always felt so difficult and time-consuming, and Social Curator has been so extremely helpful in making posting on social feel lighter. Not to mention that there’s an app so you can schedule your posts!

I’m not just sayin this because I worked on the team. I truly wish I knew about the value of this subscription a long time ago.

Click here to learn more about my experience using Social Curator.

Abundant Ever After

As mentioned above, this was a very heavy year for me. I feel like I became disconnected from myself and my business - the passion and excitement that fueled me to start my business in the fall of 2017 had fizzled.

I really felt like I needed an energetic reset, and that’s when I came across Cathy Heller’s Abundant Ever After program. I’ve been following Cathy for years as well, and if you’ve never heard of her you need to check out her book and podcast.

Cathy is an expert on manifestation and calling in abundance, and I felt so incredibly drawn to this program when I came across it.

I’ve been going through the past recorded videos and won’t experience the live portion of the program until February, but I’m already starting to feel its effects. It’s been really insightful in helping me shift my mindset and cultivating a more positive mindset and attitude throughout the day.

The investment I didn’t make this year

High level group coaching programs and masterminds

Over the past few years, it has felt like these programs are pay to play.

You max out your credit card to get access to other entrepreneurs who are where you’re at or a higher level.

I have spent tens of thousands of dollars on coaching, and in 2021 I was part of a $20K mastermind that I had to leave early because I wasn’t seeing the ROI.

Afterwards, I decided no more. I really wanted to get my finances in check, implement the things I have learned from all these programs, and stop feeling this pressure to always be investing.

There’s always some program that it seems you “need” to have. But I have found that some of these programs are more smoke and mirrors and don’t actually give you the tools and resources you need to create a thriving business.

I realized I had to go back to basics and just…pause.

I’m not fully against them - it’s just much easier to handle life when you actually have the funds to make the payments. I had become the queen of finding the best 0% APR credit cards to float the money, but you can operate from a much better headspace when you’re not worried about going over your limit.

I’m definitely going to be very selective about the kind of programs I join in the future.

It’s good to have support, but you shouldn’t feel pressured into joining program after program because that’s what everyone in the online business space is preaching.

Goals for next year

3x my income

Although this feels scary to write, I’m ready to do some big things in 2023.
Especially with how this past year turned out, I’m feeling really lit up to make more impact and reach more people with my services and products.

Make more sales from passive income

With the launch of my website template shop in addition to my SEO course (psttt watch the free SEO webinar here), my goal is to take the pressure off of taking on clients and earn more from passive income.

With this, I’m definitely revving up my SEO strategy to bring in more traffic and leads.

Possible rebrand

I’m getting some new brand photos in January and I’m so excited. I’m feeling this internal shift to rebrand myself with new photos, new look with branding, and a new website.

But we’ll see what 2023 brings ;)

There ya have it! That’s my 2022 end of year review.