Planning-Organization-Productivity Archives

Year End Planning and Making Sales for Wellness Coaches

by Michele | Planning-Organization-Productivity

We’re digging into something incredibly crucial for all you wellness coaches out there – planning and promotion for the fourth quarter of your coaching business. Yes, I know it is the beginning of August, and hear me out. Typically the fourth quarter is the best quarter for selling. Whether we want to believe it or not, the final stretch of the year is upon us, and with kids heading back to school, it’s the perfect time to focus on building up your business.

So, grab a cup of coffee or your favorite drink, get comfy, and get to it.

Why Year End Planning is Essential

Yes, I know. We're only one month into the third quarter, and this time of year is essential for any online business, especially for you, my wellness coach friends. Before you know it, you'll be kicking off with all your new coaching clients in January. Taking a few hours each quarter to review and plan for the upcoming months is essential. Why? Because what you focus on improves.

I'm not sure about you, but things do not get done if I do not block time on my calendar. Start by scheduling time on your calendar for this year end planning session. I know not everybody loves to sit down and plan, but trust me, it's so worth it for your decision fatigue and for your business. Block off at least two hours, ideally on your CEO day or whenever it actually works for you. You want to review the fourth quarter from last year and set your new goals for the upcoming fourth quarter.

Setting the Tone for Year End Planning

Before you dive into your year end planning, set the tone to really get you in the right mindset.

Grab your coffee, water, wine, or essential oils if you have a diffuser. If that's your thing, let's begin with a meditation to really get you focused. Turn off all the distractions. Yes, this means notifications are off, the phone is in do not disturb, and close all those extra browser tabs. You know what I mean, right?

Personally, I love to pop in my earbuds and play some brown noise on my Insight Timer App. It helps me drown out all the distractions so that I can focus. I really need that in order to really get in and focus and be able to get things done in a shorter amount of time because we all want to get things done in a shorter amount of time. Am I right?

Reflect and Review

Once you have your year end planning day set and you're ready to go, the first thing you need to do is reflect on the current year. How is it going for you? Are you in line to reach your financial goals? If that makes you feel a little bit squeamish because you struggle to focus on money, think about your impact goals instead. How many people were you planning to work with this year? Are you close to hitting that target?

Pull out your quarterly review from the fourth quarter of last year. I'm guessing a lot has changed in your business over the last three quarters. However, it's a good base for year end planning. What worked well? What didn’t? Did you hit your goals? If not, why? This reflection is crucial to moving forward effectively. Take five to ten minutes to jot down your thoughts. I'm not expecting you to spend a whole lot of time and energy on this, but I just want you to get all your thoughts out on paper. Anything that comes to mind regarding last year's success or learning lessons?

Revisit Your Vision

Next, revisit your vision for this year. Personally, I do this monthly. I like to have a new splash on my desktop with my goals for the month and my vision for the year. If you haven't looked at your vision since the beginning of the year, does it still align with where you are now? If not, adjust it. Write out your three-year goal, so you know where you're going and where you want to be in three years. Then use that for your one-year vision to ensure alignment. Focus on just the last 90 days of this year. What do you want to achieve in this time? Make sure your quarterly goals align with your one-year vision. This alignment ensures that every step you take is pushing your business forward in the right direction.

Set Concrete Goals

Now, let’s set some concrete goals for the last quarter. Ensure these goals will impact your one-year vision. Break down those goals into actionable steps—who, what, when, and if needed, a little bit of how. Remember, commitment is key. Are you willing to devote two hours a day to these goals? If not, reconsider their importance. Map out important dates on your calendar: out-of-office days, kid events, holidays, and launch dates—all need to be accounted for. Reverse engineer your goals from these dates.

Prepare for Black Friday

Let's talk a little bit about Black Friday. Do you have a plan? If not, don't worry. You're not alone. Many small businesses find themselves either winging it or scrambling at the last minute. But today, we're changing that. Because it's August and we're looking at our Black Friday specials, we want to start by setting a revenue goal. Look at your numbers from last year and set your good, better, and best goals for this year. Determine your budget for ads if that's your jam and set a dollar amount that is reasonable.

Do you need to hire any additional help to make this year end plan come to life? You may need to budget time for a virtual assistant. Decide what you’ll be promoting at the end of the year. Will it be group coaching for January or one-on-one coaching packages? Plan your mini-offer or low-ticket offer for Black Friday that flows into your high-ticket offer.

Create Your Action Plan

Then create your action plan to get it all done. Action drives everything. You need your landing page, email sequences, shopping carts, onboarding process—the works. This preparation will make your Black Friday promotion and end-of-the-year promotions run smoothly and successfully. If you need help, I have just the low-ticket offer for you, a Black Friday Google Project Plan done for you. https://misstask.com/black-friday-project-plan

Time To Wrap This Up:

So there you have it—a quick start guide to year end planning your fourth quarter and gearing up for Black Friday. Remember, consistency is key, and taking the time to plan now will pay off in the busy months ahead. Focus on building your email list with a valuable freebie and keeping your audience engaged. You've got this, coach. Keep your mind, body, and spirit healthy, and let’s make this fourth quarter the best one yet.

Thank you so much for your support, I appreciate you and hope you make it a wonderful week!

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3 Steps to Organize Digital Content: Never Lose Your Content Again

by Michele | Content Systems, Planning-Organization-Productivity

I’m curious: Have you ever found yourself frustrated and exclaiming, “Help! I’m Always Losing My Images/Files/Content Ideas?” Today, we're tackling a common problem: losing your images, files, and content ideas. This issue can cause significant frustration and inefficiency in your workflow. But don’t worry—I’m here to help with three practical steps to fix this problem once and for all.

Tackling A Common Problem

Have you ever been ready to post an amazing blog only to find that you can’t locate the perfect image you created in Canva? Or maybe you had a brilliant idea for your next podcast episode, but it has vanished from your memory. You knew you wrote it down somewhere, but you can't remember where any of this sound familiar. You’re not alone. Many entrepreneurs face this issue, but today, we're going to change that. By the end of this post, you’ll have a clear strategy to ensure you never lose your important files or ideas again.

Step 1: Create a Centralized Storage System

One of the biggest reasons we lose files and ideas is that they’re scattered across different devices, apps, and platforms. The solution is simple: create a centralized storage system.

Choose Your Tool: Decide where you want to store everything. Google Drive, Dropbox, and OneDrive are excellent for storing files. For capturing content ideas, consider using Evernote, Notion, or your project management system like Asana.

Organize Your Files: Create a logical folder structure. For example, have a main folder for each project or content type with subfolders for images, documents, and ideas. Use consistent naming conventions to make searching easier.

Free Resource: I have a free guide on organizing your Google Drive, including tips on naming files and creating folders. Here is the link to sign up for the organization series and workbook.

Step 2: Implement a Regular Backup Routine

Even if you store your files in the cloud, it's crucial to have backups. Cloud services can fail, and having a backup routine ensures your data is always safe.

Backup Tools and Methods: Use cloud services, external hard drives, or automatic backup tools. Personally, I back up my files to both Google Workspace and iCloud. This redundancy ensures that I have access to my files even if one service fails.

Schedule Your Backups: Depending on your content volume, schedule your backups daily, weekly, or monthly. Automate the process using tools like Time Machine for Mac or Backup and Restore for Windows.

Extra Tip: Besides backing up your website, remember to back up your email list. Most email platforms allow you to download your list, ensuring you have a copy if needed.

Step 3: Develop a Consistent Workflow for Capturing Ideas

Random note-taking leads to lost ideas. Developing a consistent workflow for capturing your ideas is essential.

Capture Tools: Use mobile apps like Google Keep, Trello, or Asana. Voice memos and dedicated notebooks are also great for capturing ideas on the go. I often use the voice function with ChatGPT to document conversations and ideas, especially when driving.

Single Place for Ideas: Ensure all your ideas go into one place. For example, if you use ChatGPT for idea generation, transfer those ideas to your main idea bank in Notion or Asana when you’re back at your desk.

Schedule Idea Time: Set aside specific times for idea generation and capture. Whether it’s in the morning with your coffee or during a weekly brainstorming session, find what works best for you. Track your energy levels to identify the best times for creative thinking.

Templates and Forms: Create templates or quick forms for idea recording. In Asana, you can set up templates for easy duplication, ensuring all your processes are documented and accessible to your team.

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Time To Wrap This Up

Here’s a quick recap of the three steps to fix the problem of losing your images, files, and content ideas:

Create a centralized storage system.
Implement a regular backup routine.
Develop a consistent workflow for capturing ideas.
I hope you find these steps helpful and start implementing them today. This will make your content creation process more organized and stress-free. Don’t forget to check out the free resource on organizing your digital content.

Thank you for reading, I appreciate you and hope you have a wonderful week!

← Manage the Busy: Productivity Tips for Moms and Wellness Coaches Streamline Your Wellness Podcast Process in Four Steps →

Manage the Busy: Productivity Tips for Moms and Wellness Coaches

by Michele | Planning-Organization-Productivity

As a health and wellness coach, you're no stranger to the constant juggling of family, endless to-do lists, and running your own business. It's easy to get caught up in the whirlwind of busyness, feeling like you're always running a million miles per hour. When a friend asks what you've been up to, you might automatically reply, “Oh, you know, just busy with family and growing my coaching practice. Everything's going great, but it's pretty crazy!” Sound familiar?

But is this automatic response merely a mask to cover up the chaos we feel swirling around inside?

You are devoted to your family and your growing coaching practice, and managing the ever-present busyness can sometimes feel like an uphill battle.

So, how do you differentiate between genuinely productive work and mere busy work? How do you ensure you invest your precious time in areas that truly enrich your life and business? How do you manage the busy in your life when it begins to feel out of control?

Choosing Calm and Ease

Why do we answer with busy? Is it for the connection? Do we not want to burden them with everything going on in our heads? I don’t know about you, but we're all busy and running around crazy. I mean, that's a really easy way to describe our lives, right?

Whenever I feel overwhelmed, I head to my journal to read past entries. Success leaves clues, and history always seems to repeat itself.

I will share this entry with you from a time when I chose to feel calm and at ease no matter the circumstance.

Journal Entry June 2, 2022:

While we all have a lot going on, I don't really feel busy. In fact, this year, I consciously chose to embrace the feeling of calm and ease.

Does calm and ease come easily all the time? No. I’ve learned that I’m the only one who can control my reactions, so I’m proactively choosing calm and ease.

Even last Sunday, when our golden doodle, boy, she can be so naughty, jumped on top of the counter at 8 PM and ate my whole loaf of gluten-free cooling banana bread with chocolate chips and walnuts. I'll tell you what: I was pretty disappointed that she did that. So instead of taking my nice hot, relaxing shower before bed, nope, not this girl. I was listening to my vet. Explain to me how to induce vomiting. Thank God for Dr. Jerry.

That was a perfect opportunity to let the crazy in, but I didn't. Nope, I didn't. Instead, I embraced calm and ease. Did it take everything in me to keep it together? Yes, yes, it did. It took every fiber of my being to embrace calm and ease and not want to go off the deep end feeling overwhelmed, but I did it anyway.

I don’t know about you but after reading this journal entry, it may be time to chose calm and ease to manage the busyness.

What drives you crazy?

So how exactly do you manage those feelings of being busy and overwhelmed when they keep popping up in your life? In spite of situations, you can't handle and are out of your control?

Here are two ways that I've created in my life to be able to help manage the busyness. First, make sure you have a great routine for scheduling your week and being okay that you'll have to let some things go. Of course, this will feel difficult, however, for right now you know that something has to give. Learn to accept not everything ought to be done by you. Basically, know that sometimes your schedule will get off and you'll have unexpected things come up that you didn't have planned or scheduled.

Oh trust me, I have done so much thought work on this. In this situation, nothing would throw me off my game more than if my schedule or the outline of my day would get off in any way, shape, or form. It drove me crazy. When the crazy happens embracing calm and ease, will not throw me off my game nearly as much.

Plan Your Week To Manage The Busy

You may be wondering, how to create a great routine for scheduling your week. The trick is to pick a day that actually works the best for you to plan out your week. You may do this Monday first thing, Friday afternoon, or over the weekend. Despite what you think, planning doesn't have to be a long-drawn-out process. Actually, I encourage you to set a time limit on how long you're gonna spend planning out your week, may I suggest up to one hour.

Basically, you can simply sit down and map it out ahead of time. When you decide ahead of time what you’ll do this is huge for not feeling so busy because you can see what you have going on and laid out ahead of time. Make sure to find a day that works the best for you, and map it out.

Points are often overlooked when you're mapping out your week. Block time to get out the door. Or maybe it's just me, that needs 10 minutes before I plan to walk out the door.

It seems I find a number of last-minute items that somehow seem important to me, during those precious moments. Instead of getting out the door, again maybe it's just me, but for some reason, I notice that the water dish is empty for the dogs or, oh, did I feed them today? Of course, look there's clothes in the washing machine that need to go on the dryer.

Hey. Maybe that's just me? Those last minutes are when I seem to find all those little things that add up.

Therefore, I always buffer in 10 minutes for, and it's specifically in my calendar, time to get out the door because I know me and for some reason, I need that time. Also, make sure you include your time to truly get ready. Not your PR of the fastest time ever that you’ve gotten ready, plan for the amount of time it will realistically take.

Be sure to work backward from your appointments so that you make sure you have adequate time in your calendar to plan for getting yourself to your appointment on time.

Big Rocks

Another big rock to plan in your calendar, big rocks are the big, important things that you wanna make sure happen during your week. A few examples may be to make sure you have time set aside for yourself. Time for whatever it is that helps fill you up leaving you a little bit calmer and at ease in your life. This may be meditation, prayer, journaling, exercise, or whatever it is that you need to do to make yourself feel calm and at ease.

Without a doubt, those big rocks you put in your calendar are all important things that cannot be overlooked or missed to make sure that you have time set aside for things that allow you to manage the busyness.

Letting Go to Manage The Busyness

Secondly, is by letting go of some things. Oh, it's okay. You can do it. It's really not that big of a deal. You know in your heart there are things in your life right now that are no longer serving you, but you've kept doing them and doing 'em because you've always done it.

It's okay. It's okay to let them go. I'm giving you permission right now to let those go. Please check in with yourself, check in with how you're feeling is this really something that you wanna do? What if, you reserve your valuable time for things that bring calm and ease to your life?

Certainly, let go of the things that are no longer serving you at this time in your life. This is where I personally need to check in with my feelings of calm and ease.

After all by embracing calm and ease, and I'm learning to accept that I can not load extras into my calendar, activities I know are really gonna be pushing my schedule. Going out for dinner to often or trying to put too many things in one day. I know now that I'm the type of a person if I have more than one, two max big activities I'm gonna be drained completely.

Plus he can have people come over to the house. I'm not that girl. I'm the girl that needs to limit the number of activities that she does in order to feel calm, at ease, and manage her busy feelings.

When I load all of those extra things into my schedule, well, you guessed it. I'm not gonna feel very calm. I'm gonna feel busy.

I want to be able to manage the busy feeling and embrace, calm and ease. There, I am aware by taking a step back and reviewing all the items on my calendar for the week.

That way I know if someone asked for me to do something during the week, I can go ahead and look at what I have planned out in my paper planner or on my calendar and know, Hey yeah, this, this is not gonna work.

It's gonna be opening that door back up to the feeling that I'm frantic and busy and trying to get everywhere.

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This is how I know when I’m scheduling too much

How do you know when you’re scheduling too much? Do you have a trigger that alerts you?

How do I know? When my day is getting to feel frantic and busy because I start to dream at night that I'm trying to get places. Here is what happens in my dreams, I need to get someplace and I can't get out the door to go. The reason is that I have all these things that I'm trying to gather and put into either a suitcase, a basket or a bag. I’m struggling to get everything gathered up because things are everywhere and I'm frantically trying to organize and pick them up so that we can get out the door on time.

This dream is my trigger, once it begins I know that I'm doing or trying to do too many things. It a signal that I need to take a hard look at my schedule and figure out what need to go. If letting things go is hard for you right now, I'm giving you permission to let it go.

Throw it over

Despite what you think, you do not have to do everything. You only need to do the things that keep the ship afloat. Everything else may be thrown overboard.

If you're getting asked to be the next person to run a committee, are you the best person to be running that committee? Maybe the answer is yes. At least consider what you’ll have to say no to if you say yes to a new committee. Regardless, you need to make a conscious decision if that time commitment will allow you to manage the busyness or instead of fulfilled it will leave you exhausted and busy. Should that be the case, say no. Add the committee to your Someday/Maybe list, once your calendar frees up a bit then at that time you may consider joining another board. Even though you’re making a conscious decision to say no right now. In the future, it could be a yes.

For me personally, I had to set the limit of only one board at a time.

Okay, I lie. I'm lying to you right now. I didn't set the limit. My husband told me I'm only allowed to be on one board at a time because I tend to take on too much if I'm on more than one board at a time. He is 100% correct. Since this rule was established, I’ve also set my priorities to create a decision matrix.

Know your time bank

Given these points, begin to know and understand your time bank. What is your time bank? Let’s figure it out. The simplest way to figure it out is how much time you spend sleeping. Take that number and subtract it from 24 hours. That's your time bank.

Should you sleep eight hours, that leaves you with 16 hours to manage the busy.

What you decide to do with your 16 hours every day is up to you. How many hours do you have to get to do everything that you want to get done?

You may try to justify this, but I did.

Okay. One other point regarding busyness: It is really only a thought. I know, right? Plenty of clients have tried to tell me differently, and heck, I even tried to justify to my own personal coach when she pointed out that I was merely having thoughts that I'm busy.

Yeah, in the end, it is our thoughts.

You guessed it your thoughts create the feelings that cause the actions that give you your results. You get to choose the thought of being busy. Yep, I know. Try that on for size and see how it feels. Heck, you may want to jump on my bandwagon and choose the thought of calm and ease. Once you look for all the ways your life feels calm and at ease. You’ll see how everything will begin to change in your life by simply choosing that one different thought.

Thank you, friends, so much for reading. If you're ready to have somebody in your corner, helping you choose calm and ease, I'm a little bit down the path. I'm happy to help you. Together, in six months, we can work on calm and ease in your life. The link to my private coaching is below. I appreciate you. Have a wonderful week, and I'll see you back here next week.

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