I've been reflecting a lot over the past couple weeks as I close the books down for 2015, I've had a great year, and am ready to welcome in another one. Many thanks to all of you for listening, subscribing and sharing this podcast!
biggest 2015 mistakes
no boundaries established - not honoring days off or time off, etc. limit your launches - map them out way in advance not hiring soon enough not doing my due diligence with hiring - website, VA not doing enough research prior to launching an event - presellI’m sharing some free exercises to help you understand some of your biggest lessons {failures} - this is the reflection guide I use to create more success in my life. Go to adriennedorison.com/bigmistakes to download this free reflection guide.
Started a business on the side of my day job, organically evolved from a personal development & leadership blog I started in late 2014. Offered my services for FREE to get some humans some real results and build my own confidence that I could start charging for this! Worked during mornings lunch breaks, evenings, and weekends to grow my side business alongside my corporate job. Took lots of action - without overthinking things first. Read The Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod and completely switched my schedule around to make more time to grow my business in the evenings after my corporate day job. Read 6 Months to 6 Figures by Peter Voogd and learned to really master my skills before moving on - then later he became more of a personal mentor. Focused on Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University program and paid off all my debt in just 6 months - over $45,000. Invested in an empowerment coach and transformed ME before I transformed a business w/ Lisa Carpenter Dove deep into podcasts and learned from the best while I was on the road during my day job commute; Internet Business Mastery with friend, Jason Van Orden, Tiffany Han’s Raise Your Hand Say Yes, Chalene Johnson’s Build Your Tribe, Amy Porterfield's Online Marketing Made Easy, Pat Flynn’s Smart Passive Income… Built my own website on SquareSpace and it was pretty darn good for a DIY. Had my website re-designed by someone and paid tons of money for it — but basically I had an artist build a bridge and it was a website nightmare that had to be redone. Had it redesigned again – by someone far more qualified to build a website that does what a website is supposed to do…and it’s pretty too. Created a FB group – grew it organically and it has continued to grow to a group full of supportive, high-achieving humans looking to become more masterful. Had my first professional photoshoot done and even brought my dog, Church E. Bear Launched a course before I was ready and had 5 people join. Launched another course before I was ready and had 15 people join. Raised my prices 3 different times because I had a waitlist. Revamped my packages 3 different times because it takes awhile to figure out what’s going to get your clients the best results. Worked with incredible clients – saw them getting incredible results, getting published, quitting their jobs, getting their own clients, creating their first products, doubling their income, increasing their prices, starting waitlists, growing their audience, etc. Quit my corporate job. Took two courses that rocked my world - BTBY with Kimra Luna, and Sales School with Kendrick Shope. Reached out to mentors and influencers to learn from the best. Started my own podcast - The School of Self-Mastery. Hit the New & Noteworthy in iTunes and stayed there for over 11 weeks. Reached the 10% of all podcasts with tons of downloads thanks to you! Connected with and interviewed tons of successful, influential and interesting humans because of the podcast - condensed 3 years of podcasting into 6 months! Shared my debt freedom story publicly even was I knew it would annoy people. Traveled to Atlanta to meet and be interviewed my personal finance guru, Clark Howard - and had my first national TV debut because of this bold action. Hired Shana Lynn Yao from yourmarketingmastermind.com to up my business game. Hired my next mentor, Farnoosh Torabi, who has been an invaluable investment for me and my business. Started outsourcing some smaller tasks to free up some time. Got even better at outsourcing and hired Erin Kelly as my OBM - best decision ever and she’ll eventually be my first full-time team member (fun fact, Erin was a client, and now I’m her client). Made a few business besties just by building real relationships. Planned and launched a live event with a business bestie - and it was the biggest failure turned lesson ever…stay tuned for 2016 plans Put systems in place and invested in the tools I needed - 17hats, Acuityscheduling, Leadpages, Libsyn, Basecamp Won a year long coaching program for 2016 with sales expert, Kendrick Shope, and plan to get banging results to thank her for the generosity. Got active on periscope, and then stopped when it started to feel stressful. Pitched myself (and got published) in Huffington Post, GROW, Brazen Careerist, and Get Rich Slowly. Created tons of content & free resources - some that were great and some that “flopped” Gave away over 100 hours of free coaching and over $35,000 of content and coaching. Condensed over 3 years of podcasting into just 6 months and learned tons about myself and interviewing in general. Was featured as a guest on TONS of podcasts (SoMoney, Stacking Benjamins, Screw The Nine to Five, Lifestyle Business Podcast, The 5am Miracle, All Up In Your Lady Business, Success Secrets of Entrepreneurs, Creative Soul Lab, etc…) and even one of the #1 podcasts in all of iTunes - Art of Charm Was consistent EVERY SINGLE DAY for all 365 this year. Seriously, I didn’t miss a day. Focused on building relationships and generosity, not on selling. Took a stand, often a controversial one, on the things that I believed in, which attracted the right people to my work. Launched a membership site Simplified Success Society and then added a $1 trial period. Joined a mastermind full of powerhouse women. Launched an in-person retreat for June 2016 and have almost filled the spots! Took vacations with my fiance, paid cash, and was able to take time off or even work from wherever I was if I wanted to. Made over $11,500 in business mistakes - and then talked about them. Tracked my numbers and didn't avoid my finances. Focused on profit not just revenue and "banked" income versus "booked" income. Showed up even when I didn't really feel like it because I knew once I started, I'd get motivated {I was always right}. Wasn't afraid to take big risks, but always made sure they were calculated ones. Spent tons of time understanding what my audience wanted {and still do} and then gave it to them over and over again. Invested a lot of time, energy, action and money into my business and reaped the rewards.Welcoming in 2016 success!
Resources
How To Turn Your Failures Into Wins: a reflection guide to create more success
