63 | 2023 end-of-year review
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2023 End-Of-Year Review
It’s time to wrap up 2023! In this episode, you’ll hear a detailed breakdown of what I achieved in 2023, what I didn’t achieve, new business & marketing strategies I tried and my goals for 2024.
LINKS & RESOURCES MENTIONED:
Episode 56: How I grew my email list by 4k+ in one week (without paid ads)
Reflecting on my word for 2023: Exploration
At the start of each year, I like to choose a word that sums up my intention for the year. My word for 2023 was exploration.
I chose this word for a couple of different reasons, and it wasn’t all to do with business. As business owners, it’s important to set intentions that reflect what you want your life to look like as well. It can be so easy to revolve your entire life around your business and your work that you forget about what you want in your personal life. And that is something that I have never wanted for myself… I’ve always wanted to build a business that gives me the lifestyle I want as well.
When I was coming up with my word for 2023, I took everything into consideration. I wanted to travel to new places and experience what it was like to be a digital nomad, and I wanted to try new business ideas and marketing strategies. And the word that came to mind when I thought about what I wanted from my year was the word exploration.
Looking back, I can confidently say, now that 2023 has ended, that I definitely stayed true to my word of the year - both personally and in business - and I believe that I have had my most successful and growth-filled year because of it.
What I accomplished in 2023
1. I SOLO TRAVELLED FOR 3 MONTHS
2023 was a big year for me in terms of travel. I spent just over 3 months travelling South East Asia from the end of February to the beginning of June. I travelled to 4 different countries, 20 different cities or islands, in the space of 13 weeks. I got to explore different cultures, different ways of living, and meet so many people from all different walks of life along the way - some of whom have become lifelong friends now!
But more than that, I was able to explore myself. I pushed myself way out of my comfort zone, I did things I never thought I’d be capable of doing and I really truly felt like I was truly living my life.
2. IMPROVED ON BUSINESS AUTOMATIONS
I created new automations, updated my sales funnels, and did a lot behind-the-scenes to make sure that my business was set up to run even while I’m not working. Note - I have had automated sales funnels set up for a long time, but I really went in and improved them this year and it has paid off.
I knew that while I was away, I wouldn’t want to be working as much as I usually do. Ideally, I wanted to work 1-2 hours a day so that I could be fully present and immersed in the countries I was visiting and could experience them to the full. So having an automated evergreen sales funnel set up that would drive consistent sales without me having to do much other than finding that initial traffic was more important than ever so I focused solely on this for the first 2 months of the year.
As a result, I have made more passive/automated income this year than I have in my 4 years of business. My business has always been about having time freedom and not being stuck to a screen, so that is a huge win that I’m celebrating!
3. PIVOTING TO FOCUS ON DIGITAL PRODUCTS & SUSTAINABLE MARKETING STRATEGIES
Marketing has always been something that I have focused on but it was more marketing as a whole, and with this new direction I’m teaching you how to set your business up to work on autopilot with passive/leveraged income and automated funnels and sustainable content strategies…
I feel so much more aligned with this direction and the types of clients I’m now working with and the things I’m supporting them with and I feel like I’ve niched just the right amount. This is a pivot that’s still ongoing so I’m excited to see how this evolves throughout 2024, and I do have a few projects I’m excited to bring to life so stay tuned for some fun things to come!
4. GREW MY EMAIL LIST FROM 800 SUBSCRIBERS TO OVER 7,000 SUBSCRIBERS
I started 2023 with around 800 subscribers, and I have been building my email list since 2019. As of December 31st 2023, I have just over 7,000 subscribers. That’s a 775% growth!
I’ve really prioritised email marketing this year, I’ve prioritised lead generation and collaboration and it has paid off tenfold. I’ve seen huge growth from my email list, and I’ve also seen a big spike in sales - the majority of which are coming from my automated funnel and weekly emails. So that’s something else that I will be continuing to prioritise in 2024.
I went into detail about how I grew my email list so quickly in episode 56 if you want to give that a listen/read.
What I didn’t accomplish in 2023
1. I WANTED TO CREATE MORE OFFERS
I began to pivot my business this year, and with that pivot, I have a ton of ideas for courses and digital products that I would like to create.
Now, I know a lot of business coaches say that you should have one main offer that you sell, and that is one business strategy that works for some people. However, as a multi-passionate business owner, I have always enjoyed offering an array of different offers to different types of business owners. And one thing that’s especially important to me is that I’m able to support business owners at all different levels and so I want to have a product suite that is accessible to those who are just starting out. And that is why I like to create low-ticket offers.
In the second half of the year (when I got back from my travels) I created a new course called Low-Ticket Revolution, and I also created a few smaller digital products and I’m really proud that I got those out into the world!
I also wanted to create a membership and another course that I didn’t get around to and I think the reason I haven’t is because I just put too much on my plate. I rebranded and relaunched the podcast, I hosted 2 bundle events, I ran a few different promotions… and I am glad that I did all of these things, but in 2024 I would like to organise my time a bit better and be more mindful with my planning because I have been making a lot of last-minute decisions this year and just going for it and while those decisions have paid off, it did make business a little chaotic at times and it means that I have had to put certain projects on the back burner.
2. NOT GROWING MY BUSINESS WHILE TRAVELLING
Don’t get me wrong - I am extremely glad that I prioritised myself and my travel experience, but it did mean that my business was just kind of stagnant for that 3 month period. I was still releasing podcast content, I was still posting, I was still emailing my list… but I wasn’t doing anything to actively grow my business.
When I travel again in 2024, I am going to be more balanced in the way that I travel so that I’m not so exhausted from travelling that I still have the capacity to work on my business, even if it’s just one day each week where I’m working on some kind of needle-moving activity.
3. I DIDN’T HIT ALL MY GROWTH GOALS
I didn’t hit my social media growth goal, and I didn’t hit my podcast growth goal. Admittedly, social media has been lower on my priority list this year and I haven’t been as active as I used to be so I’m not surprised that I didn’t hit that. I also took a bit of a break from podcasting this year before I launched season 2 and so that definitely impacted my growth.
That being said, I did grow. And I am proud of the growth I experienced, even if it’s less than I hoped for.
At the time I’m recording this episode, I haven’t yet set my growth goals for 2024, but when I do I will be actively making a plan for each growth goal I set of how I’m going to achieve that growth. Like any goal, when you’re intentional about what you set and make a plan for how to achieve it, reaching those goals becomes much more attainable.
New things I tried in 2023
1. BUNDLES
I had loosely participated in bundles in previous years, but 2023 was the year that I really prioritised them as a way to increase my visibility and grow my list and I have seen incredible results both from being a bundle host, and a bundle contributor.
I track where all my sales come from and at least 60% of my income has come as a direct result of bundles in 2023. And that isn’t just from order bump or tripwire sales, it’s from those new leads coming into my business, going through my welcome sequence, being nurtured by my emails and becoming a part of my community.
I’ve signed multiple 1:1 clients this year who discovered me because of a bundle I participated in, or because of the bundles I’ve hosted. So I really love them as a way to boost visibility and I will 100% be continuing this strategy in 2024.
2. AFFILIATE MARKETING
I’ve always been an affiliate for certain products that I love and I’ve listed them out on my resources page and whatnot, but I never really put much effort into my affiliate marketing strategy. This year, I decided to focus on affiliate marketing a bit more and it has actually made up quite a large percentage of my total income for the year, which I was very pleasantly surprised at!
A few things I did to increase my affiliate sales:
I created The Creative Entrepreneur Toolkit, which is a resource that lists out all the tools you need to create & sell online courses & digital products.
I added recommended resources and affiliate links to my courses and digital products
I added a section at the bottom of my regular weekly emails called “Other things you might want to know about…”. Here, I talk about what I’m working on, industry news, products & softwares I’ve been loving… all that kinda stuff! And I’ll also send out some emails dedicated to specific products I’m an affiliate for
For Black Friday I put together a roundup of my favourite Black Friday offers for things I was an affiliate for and quite a few sales came through from that
Because of these things, my affiliate sales have gone through the roof this year and this is something I will definitely continue into 2024.
3. CLIENT & STUDENT-ONLY FACEBOOK GROUP
This year, I also opened my client & student-only facebook group. I was a part of a couple and I really liked the community there and I liked the fact that it was only clients and students of the person who was running it, so I thought I’d create one for my community as well!
My group isn’t even 2 months old yet, so it’s too early to say how this is affecting my overall strategy, but I will say that I am already noticing that I’m able to connect more with members of my community and I’m really excited to see where this goes in 2024.
4. OFFER PARTY
I experimented with hosting an offer party in December, which is where you have a set period of days (kind of like you would in a launch) and every day you run a new offer that isn’t available anywhere else. Your audience then has 24 hours to claim that offer before it disappears.
I only did this inside my Client & Student-Only Facebook Group, and don’t have a huge audience there yet, but I wanted to give back to them in some way and thank them for being a part of that community. I also did the typical last-minute “I have an idea, let me slap it together”, so while it went well considering the limited amount of people I shared this with and how last minute it was, I think that I would like to repeat this in 2024 with a bit more intention, and I’ll probably do it on my email list as well with a much bigger audience.
But I specifically think this strategy would be good for ‘slower’ periods in business when you need a little cash boost as it does give your audience fresh ways to work with you.
Goals for 2024
My word for 2024 is: Enjoyment.
On a personal note, I will be solo travelling again and just like before, I want to be fully immersed in this experience, but I think that I will travel slower so that I can enjoy the places I visit even more and develop a routine where I can still work on my business rather than just doing the bare minimum to keep it going.
And with regards to business, my ultimate goal is to bring more ease and enjoyment into my business.
That will look like:
Hiring more suppport
Saying ‘no’ to opportunities that take more than they give
Prioritising collaborations
Consistently improving upon my automated funnels
Creating new digital products & courses
Being more organised and planning accordingly
How has 2023 been for you? Come and let me know over on Instagram @marketingwithtish!
CONNECT WITH TISH:
Instagram: @marketingwithtish
Website: leticiajcollins.com
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Hey, I’m Tish!
I'm a marketing mentor for ambitious entrepreneurs who want to create more time, freedom & profit in their online business, in a way that feels good to them!
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