For me, that’s website designing and providing marketing support.
Between Christmas and New Year, when things slow down and I actually have a minute to breathe, I do this thing where I audit my year. What worked, what didn’t, and what I’m absolutely not dragging into the next 12 months.
Speaking to a business bestie recently, I mentioned a mutual ex-client who’d turned out to be a disaster for me. She asked why I was bringing it up. I told her I was doing my annual mental stocktake on what worked, what didn’t, and what I need to change to avoid a repeat situation.
She said “holy shit, that’s such a good idea.”
And it got me thinking. How many people actually take the time to reflect on their business and make considered decisions about how they want to move forward?
For me, this process happens pretty naturally. Lessons get filed away under “oh, I must remember that for next time xyz happens.”
It’s not just about tricky clients and how to avoid them. It’s about taking responsibility for my own part in situations. What could I have done differently? How can I change and adapt my processes to better serve me? What are the warning signs to look out for? What checks and balances can I put in place?
A realisation I had (and TBH I’ve known this for years now) is that I say YES to too many things.
When someone asks, “Can you do xyz?” my brain defaults to the literal question. Can I do it? Yes, yes I can do that.
But the real question I should be hearing is “Do you have the capacity to take this project?” or “Are you interested in taking on this project?” Because that changes the answer dramatically.
No, I don’t currently have capacity but here is my next availability.
No, I’m focusing my attention on other projects right now.
No, but I have a great contact I can put you in touch with.
See, I know the answers. But I need to constantly check myself to see if I’m answering the ACTUAL question, not just the literal question.
Last year, I spread myself too thin. I took on too many “opportunities” that sounded like fun. And to be fair, they were. Each taught me something new. How to organise, how to communicate, how to mediate, how to support. But what they gave me didn’t have an overwhelmingly positive result for my business. They soaked up a lot of my time, pushed me to work longer hours, and cut into the time I had available to focus on higher revenue-generating activities.
So where did I land?
I’ve made a conscious decision to focus on the core parts of my business. Serving my existing customers with renewed energy. And getting back to the thing that actually gives me job satisfaction (and gets me paid), website design.
Because I realised I need to stick to what I’m good at. That’s where I work best. That’s where the job satisfaction comes from. That’s where I get home after a reasonable day and feel accomplished. Not like I’ve been attending meetings for the sake of meetings. Not skip-hopping all over town to have the same conversations on repeat but never moving forward. Not teaching people things about marketing that I know they’ll never use because they only showed up for the discount.
And here’s the thing: you should stick to what you’re good at too.
Business owners take on way too much that sits outside their wheelhouse.
Whether it’s trying to balance your own books (unless you’re an accountant, don’t), attempting to manage your own social media marketing (unless you genuinely enjoy it, don’t), or building your own website from scratch (please, for the love of good design, don’t).
We take on these things because, yes, we CAN do them. But do we want to? Is this really where we should be focusing our time? Or should we be focusing on the revenue-generating activities we’re actually good at?
The stuff that lights you up. The work that comes easy. The thing people already pay you to do.
That’s your lane. Stay in it.