Reflections about Small Business: Projects, Feelings and Thoughts for 2022
As part of my “end of year review” I went through a reflection process in which I went through my calendar and wrote down every single event, project, significant meeting that I had in 2021.
Oh boy, just writing that seems like a daunting task. It took me an entire afternoon, but it was so worth it.
Sometimes as small business owners, we forget all the things we do, or in a reflective moment, the recency factor kicks in. Going through my calendar was the best activity I could have done, as I proudly was able to say “I did that” every month.
In addition to working with some really cool clients, I was able to complete some significant projects for my business last year. Some of the projects I was able to complete last year that I’m really proud of are:
Launching this website!
Refining my offers
Documenting my client onboarding process
Updating my visual brand
Changing my time management process from time blocking to theme days
Upskilling on bookkeeping and setting up my own Quickbooks
Making lots of room to care for myself and my mental health
Updating my Notion workspace to better work for my brain
Launching my YouTube page (click subscribe) with my first Small Business Stories interview.
To be completely honest, when I read through this list I was pleasantly surprised. Last year felt really hard. I was missing community. I was trying to re-configure how I worked to align with my personal needs. I was so busy with some client work, that it felt like I was spending no time working on my own business.
It seems like my strategy of “what is the next best step” worked for me.
Slowly, but steadily, I was able to keep doing the single next best thing. The accumulation of that work led to the completion of these big projects. In the moment, I felt like I was not doing enough, that I should be doing more. And reflecting on all of this really highlighted that the structure I have set up for myself works. The tweaks and adjustments I made to how I work helped me get through a hard year. And it has put me in a position to tackle some big things next year.
So…what’s coming in 2022?
I’m excited to continue my Small Business Stories interviews, and I have some wonderful small business owners lined up. I am working on building out a small business hub in Notion that I can share with my clients. I am investing my time in developing a consistent writing practice and strong bookkeeping practice. I’m leaning back into my Adult Learning education and working on building out a program with one of my clients. And I’m spending some focused time on sales and marketing of my own business.
And that’s just the stuff I know! As we move further into the year, I’m excited to see what comes.
♡ Kim
