2. Looking Back to Leap Forward: Tips on Reflection and Goal Setting

Shaochen: 0:32

All right, so we uh, already accomplished overcoming a couple obstacles to be here with you today. We spent like an hour doing technical troubleshooting, and then Elaine braved a snowstorm to get into the.

Alane: 0:46

not a. Hoboken decided like not to salt the sidewalks or shovel any of the snow that we got on Tuesday. So it was a little treacherous walking here, but I made it and I definitely jinxed myself because Did you see the story I posted like right before we started this recording and I was like.

Shaochen: 1:03

did you fall

Alane: 1:04

Oh, no, no, no. I didn't actually fall

Shaochen: 1:06

oh good.

Alane: 1:07

No. I had gotten everything like our setup set up, my light, my mic, and I posted on Instagram, ready to record after like some technical difficulties last week. I think I fixed everything. Totally jinx that because here we are an hour later.

Shaochen: 1:23

Right. There's always something new, but that's kind of how it goes when you're doing something brand new for the first time. So we're gonna roll with it.

Alane: 1:30

learning as we're going, so we appreciate you bearing with us

Shaochen: 1:33

Yeah.

Alane: 1:35

But we are super excited to welcome you back to another episode of the Calligraphy Biz Corner. Today I'm really excited'cause we're gonna be chatting all about reviewing the past year setting goals and I just got back from a two day like business retreat in Indianapolis. So I have been like really fired up and energized about the year. And I feel like I'm excited to bring that energy into our chat today.

Shaochen: 2:00

Perfect. So let's just dive right into it. When we think about reflecting and goal setting, I kind of think about it in two main components. Um, There's the intuitive or qualitative piece of it. Um, Kind of thinking through like what went well, what didn't, what you liked, what you didn't. And then there's the more quantitative piece of it. So as bus business owners looking at and understanding our numbers. And we'll dive into both parts in this episode especially,'cause I know the numbers piece can sometimes feel a little bit intimidating. So with that, we're gonna get started with the more intuitive reflections first. Um, And then typically I'll look at my numbers to see if it backs up what I'm feeling or understand what story the numbers are telling me. Sometimes I find that the numbers are surprising, but a lot of the times I find that the numbers actually Reiterate what I'm feeling, which makes a lot of sense, because if I'm not feeling motivated to do something, or if I'm not feeling passionate about something, that's going to impact how I show up and that's gonna impact my sales as a, you know, single member business. Before we dive into the meat of this episode, if you're not driving and you're at a computer or you're on your phone, go into the show notes right now and then click on the link to the New Year's Reflection Guide so you can follow along with what we're talking about today. We're gonna break down the reflections into three sections. What I achieved. What I learned and what I love, and we'll go through one question from each of the sections and share how we would answer some of those questions. Um, But we're not going to go through all of the questions, so make sure that you go to the show notes and download the guide so you can get all of the in-depth prompts that we have for you.

Alane: 3:45

Yeah, I love that you're gonna have that for them to follow along. That's gonna be super helpful. Um, And then I just wanna note that this is gonna be mainly business focused, but we definitely encourage you to do this for your personal. Life as well, because as a business owner, regardless of whether it's part-time or full-time, they kind of go hand in hand and inform one another. So I like to do, when I'm doing my reflection, I do like a very well-rounded one where I look at the business things, but then I also look at the personal side of things.

Shaochen: 4:13

Yeah, I think that's so important., When you brought that up when we were chatting, I realized that that's something that I should be doing for my personal life, and I'm so always so focused about looking at my business from the standpoint that I really should be doing that for like, Other aspects of my life as well.

Alane: 4:30

Yeah, definitely. It's helpful'cause I feel like we wanna create businesses that support our life, so making sure that they both align in various areas is. Super helpful. So what is the first area that we're gonna be looking at today and what is, what are the questions that we should ask ourselves as we reflect on 2023?

Shaochen: 4:50

So the first section is what I achieved and the question that we chose to cover on today's episode was what was my proudest moment in business last year? So Elaine, tell us a little bit about yours. I.

Alane: 5:03

Yeah, so I love that we're starting with this because. I feel like as you reflect back on the year, it's really easy to think about all of the negative things or things you didn't accomplish or things that didn't work out. So I love that you suggest starting this reflection with something that's really positive. As I was doing my review for myself I also realized that I needed some help jogging my memory of what my Proudest moment was. So I encourage, as you're doing this to pull out your camera roll, pull out your Instagram, pull out your calendar, anything that's gonna help you remember all of the good things that happened to you this past year. For me, my proudest moment isn't necessarily a single moment um, but it's more of just an overarching theme that occurred throughout the last year. I'm most proud of being able to stay true to my values within my business this year. In the past I feel like I've really let outside I. Factors or forces affect how I run things and the decisions that I make. But in 2023, I really tried to keep my blinders on and just focus solely on what's most important to me. So in my business, this looked like only booking clients and projects that were really aligned with my larger business vision. Staying true to my pricing, not letting negative feedback affect my sense of self-worth as a business owner, things like that. So kind of more like Proud of how I decided to run my business this year than a specific moment in time.

Shaochen: 6:29

Yeah, that's awesome. And that's also also like so hard to do because it entails saying no to things and saying no to people. And like sometimes I notice that our businesses will just kind of like take on a life of their own because someone will be like, oh, well you do this offering that you. Had never really thought about doing before. And next thing you know, you're building like large installations and walls and you're not a woodworker. You know,

Alane: 6:54

right? Yeah. And

Shaochen: 6:55

experience a little bit here.

Alane: 6:57

I. So how about you? What was your proudest business moment?

Shaochen: 7:04

So mine was hosting a brand new masterclass last summer for calligraphers um, about booking their dream wedding clients. Uh, Because it was like something brand new that I was doing. It was a bit intimidating to put together. There was a learning curve. I mean, much like this podcast, there were technical difficulties. I remember spending like a couple hours at night editing the recording because of something that I didn't do. The way I set up the recording and Zoom wasn't quite right. So, you know, things like that. But I. I, the thing that I think I came away with feeling most proud of from the masterclass was um, actually the results from a survey. Asking for feedback from the people who attended and you know, what, what they thought of the class. And it was all like, very positive. Um, People felt like it was really helpful and that's really like what drives me is being able to feel like I added value. I was able to help somebody else with their business. And you know, a lot of times it's really hard when you put something new into the world not knowing how it was received. So I was really proud that, you know, I was able to actually help people in this like new format,

Alane: 8:11

Yeah, that's really awesome. And all of those calligraphers that signed up we're definitely very lucky to learn from you. So

Shaochen: 8:16

thank.

Alane: 8:17

I'm excited to see you do more of that this year.

Shaochen: 8:20

Thank you. Um, Okay, let's talk about the next section. Again, we're just pulling like one question from each section, so there's plenty of other questions to reflect on in the, what I achieved if you download that New Year's Reflection Guide. But the next section is what I learned and the question we chose to answer for this section is what's standing between me and where I want my business to go.

Alane: 8:45

I love this question so much because it forces you to be really honest with yourself, which can be really scary. I think this is more about our overall mindset, like naming our fears and owning our actions or inaction. Um, And it also forces us to think about where we might be getting in our own way or what outside factors might be. Getting in our way and how we can address those. So personally, I am struggling with mindset stuff right now, which I feel like is just a common recurring theme as an entrepreneur

Shaochen: 9:19

Yeah,

Alane: 9:20

um.

Shaochen: 9:20

have to always have to like build the muscle, you know, with the mindset.

Alane: 9:24

Exactly. Yeah. I feel like you never get to a place where it's like you're got it in the bag. It's something that you're always working on. But it definitely gets easier over time'cause you build the tools to combat it. But. For me, I know that I wanna expand more of the business education side of my business, which is part of this podcast

Shaochen: 9:42

Mm-Hmm.

Alane: 9:43

But in order to do so, I know that I'm gonna have to cut back on the amount of weddings that I book in order to create space for this growth that I have been dreaming of fantasizing about. And I'm just having a hard time being okay with it. Significantly reducing an income stream in order to create that space that I know I need in order to explore something new. So. What's standing between me and where I want my business to go? It's me, It's my mindset. It's my fears that are holding me back from not necessarily shedding one side of my business, but just making it a little bit smaller, shrinking it a bit so that I can allow another side to grow and blossom into. Something that I honestly can't even imagine yet. So yeah, that's what I'm kind of struggling with right now. What about you? What's standing between you and where you want your business to go?

Shaochen: 10:39

Yeah, well, we're in a very similar, similar place in our business. We've both been wedding calligraphers for the last several years. That's kind of how we identify ourselves, and so I have like a similar fear, a similar, just discomfort with kind of shutting that Identity. And I still love weddings and I still want to do them, but like you said, I, I wanna do less of them so that I can work on this education side that I've been kind of, you know, been desiring to put more time and effort to the last few years. And it just, just never happens because weddings can be like. I mean, they're kind of a whirlwind. Once you get into wedding season, there's really not much time for anything else. So at the end of 2023 when I was doing my reflections, I decided to stop taking on weddings in the Bay Area in California. I. I've been working in the Bay Area and in Denver where I'm based, and it was really scary to make the decision not to work on Bay Area weddings anymore.'cause that was my biggest revenue stream. Like, it just seems like a bad business decision to be like, I'm just gonna cut off my biggest revenue stream and then see how things go. Um, It's really scary, but for me it was like there was this emotional tie because I lived in the Bay Area for 12 years. I started my business there. I built Some really great connections and friends with, you know, vendors, calligraphers clients. There. And I think it was just kind of this emotional tie that was standing between me and where I wanted to go. Like, even though I kind of knew it was time to, to let that part of my business go, I just wasn't emotionally ready because I just, I love that part. It's still part of my community, you know, a lot of my friends are still there too, so. Anyway um, I made that decision because where I wanna go is building stronger relationships in my local market where I am now in Denver. You know, I moved here three years ago, I'm not going anywhere. So I think it makes sense for me to like build, like, put roots down here and build that same community that I had in the Bay Area. I also wanna focus on the education side of my business. Um, Ultimately, what, what was really helpful for making the decision to let go of that? Um, Revenue stream was actually by looking at my numbers. So even though it was my biggest revenue stream, the way I had it structured, I had pretty low margins. And what that meant was that it was taking up a large chunk of my time for smaller return. So. When you think about it that way, from an objective standpoint, it actually makes sense to spend more time on revenue streams. That'll bring me a larger margin, right? And we'll talk more about things like profit margin a little bit later in this episode. That just means like I'm jumping headfirst into uncertainty. I'm trying new things just like you doing this podcast. Um, But I know that if business calligrapher, business education and, you know, building out the Denver market, if that's the direction I want my business to go in, then I really need to stop investing my time in anything else. And anything that's not that, you know.

Alane: 13:42

Yep. Absolutely. And that goes back to what you said earlier about having to say no or you know, practicing saying no and getting okay with that because I think we're both at a point in our careers where we are really understanding the power and the importance of being able to say no so that it creates room for things that we want to like shout yes to, right?

Shaochen: 14:05

Yes. Yeah. That you like feel in your soul like, this is what I'm meant to do. And like how can we do more of that? And the one thing that's interesting is that's definitely evolved over time for me. Like I've felt, you know, a stronger voice pulling me towards like the business education stuff over time. Especially like as things in my life has changed. Like I had a baby last year and that's really kind of changed like. What I want my life to look like, like you were saying earlier. So those things evolve over time for sure. And it's good to continue like listening to that voice. And actually, that's a really great segue. The next section we're gonna talk about in this reflection is what I love. Um, And the question that we're gonna go through in this section is, how did my business support my life? So Elaine, I'd love for you to kick us off here.

Alane: 14:54

Yeah. So you're gonna hear us say this a lot, but one of our big beliefs is that your business should support your life rather than run it. Um, You know, you start this business because you want flexibility, whether that's time, flexibility, financial flexibility, et cetera. So when it starts to. Take over your life, it kind of starts to feel like, what am I doing this for? So we are very big proponents of creating a business that supports your life. So I love that as we're looking back over the past year, we're gonna acknowledge the things that our business has, has supported in our personal lives. Another way that I like to think about this is what does having your business enable for you? So for example, does it give you additional students of income that you can travel with or that you can pay off debt with? Does it allow you time, flexibility to be able to spend with your kids or a new baby? So this year my business really allowed me the flexibility that I have Dreamed of and desired since day one, and it's taken me, I guess, five-ish years to get there. But I really feel like I was able to step into that this year. I was able to have full control over my schedule. I was able to take time off when I needed so that I could be present for things like my niece and nephews Halloween Parade or their move up day at pre-K

Shaochen: 16:14

Oh

Alane: 16:14

um, yeah, adorable. And my dad's 70th birthday. It also gave me the ability to travel to new places. Like we did a 10 day trip to Iceland, which was incredible. So I,

Shaochen: 16:26

feel like that trip was like life changing for you,

Alane: 16:29

it really was and Brendan, is he, he's going back in March?

Shaochen: 16:35

He's by himself.

Alane: 16:38

He's not taking me. No. But I was like, I'm not going when it's like a tundra He's going on like a photography expedition. So he's super excited and I will live by vicariously at home.

Shaochen: 16:50

Yeah. That's amazing though.

Alane: 16:52

But but yeah, so I was really able to tap into that like flexibility aspect that I have always. Dreamed of and have been working towards since I started my business in 20 16, 20 17 and really see it come to fruition this year, which was just incredible. And I'm very excited to be able to take that now moving forward into the future.

Shaochen: 17:15

Yeah. And I think that's also a good reminder for all of us that like building a business is a long-term endeavor. Like we all have the dream of the freedom and the flexibility, and you gotta lay the groundwork to get there, you know? Like building your Your technical skills, your calligraphy skills, but also like your marketing skills, but also your mindset is such a big piece of it. I think in order to get to a place of freedom, you have to really know what you want and be able to say no, like, like we were saying before. So, but that's awesome. I'm so happy for you that like your business is like what you always dreamed of.

Alane: 17:50

Thank you. Yeah, and going back to what you were just saying, like it takes time to build the foundation, but that's also why we are super excited to bring this podcast to the Calligraphy community because. It might have taken me five years to get there, but we're hoping that by sharing the lessons and the experiences that we've learned and mindset tricks, marketing strategies, all of that with you, that it won't take you as long to find that.

Shaochen: 18:17

Very true. Yeah.

Alane: 18:19

Okay. So how about you? How did your business support your life this year?

Shaochen: 18:23

Yeah, so for me, I was able, similarly, I was able to be a lot more present with my family. Like I said, I had a new baby um, and it was a huge transition year for me. I spent basically all of last year learning how to be a mom, and I'm sure it'll be something that is a lifelong um, a lifelong thing that I'm, I'm learning. But having my own business allowed me to take Fridays off with him. Even once I came back from like my maternity leave and I was able to spend less on childcare, you know, I was able to manage all of like the drop offs and pickups, all the appointments, so many appointments, especially in the first year. Then allow me the flexibility to be there when he was sick, which was basically the last two months of the year because it was our first winter. So it was just constant rollercoaster of sickness. But it was, it was interesting because I actually thought about getting a job around like halfway through last year. I was just at that point where I was. Tired all the time. I was getting used to this transition of being a mom and I wanted someone just to tell me what to do. Like I actually wanted a boss for the first time in a long time. I was like, somebody just give me a task and I will accomplish it, and I will do it well, and I will just like clock out. Because being an entrepreneur is not like that. You know, being an entrepreneur, you're the one steering the ship. You're the one deciding the direction, which is like Both exciting and also sometimes like can be a little overwhelming. And just the, the season that I was in, it felt more overwhelming than exciting. So I thought about it and then I thought about the things that I was able to do by having my business and how it supported my life. And I realized, no, I actually don't think I wanna work for someone else because I wouldn't have the same amount of flexibility. And I would probably get fired if I if I did. So like, I need to, like, this is, this is the right path for me. I wanna keep going down. I wanna keep, you know, building that dream business and figuring out how to, like, how my business can support my life and build it in that way. It just means that I might need to do things a little bit differently than, than I had been in the past.

Alane: 20:35

Yeah, I love that story and I also love that you didn't listen to your initial like gut of like, maybe I need to go get a part-time job because you've already built a successful business once and you're gonna be able to figure out whatever is next. Whether it's focusing more on Denver and the business education or it's something completely different. But I think Putting, you know your values and what is most important to you first, and then working to build that business around it is just gonna be so much better and will help get rid of that, you know, overwhelm and the burnout and things like that, that you're feeling because your life does look different now, right? So like, of course your business is gonna look different. That just makes sense.

Shaochen: 21:17

Yeah, and there's definitely no shade in like getting a job by the way. Like if you feel like you're at a point where you've had a business and you need to go back to having a job or having a part-time job, all those decisions are like personal based on whatever factors are going on in your life. But I just feel like with the amount of flexibility that I want right now, having my own business is gonna be what gives me that.

Alane: 21:40

Yep. And I feel like you have so many ideas and I just wanna see you do them all. So Okay, so now that we have the feelings aspect of everything, it's also important to look at the facts to see if they actually back up our reflections from the year, which I feel like you already pointed out so well when you were talking about getting rid of San Francisco. Kind of cutting that off. You know, you were saying like even though that was an emotional decision for you, when you actually looked at the facts, you were like, this actually makes the most sense for my business right now. So since we are business owners, we should be empowered to know our own numbers and understand them and be able to make decisions from them. So what do you suggest that we look at first when it comes to our business numbers?

Shaochen: 22:27

Yeah. Okay. So I like to look at our business numbers in terms of like. The funnel. And by the funnel, I mean like the order in which kind of money enters our business, if that makes sense. And so I look at metrics for marketing first, which is like lead generation, where are your potential clients coming from? And then I look at sales. So sales is like clients that actually book with you. How much money you're making. Then I look at the client experience. So once you've actually booked someone, what does that actual experience look like for them? Are you getting feedback? What are you doing really well? And so we're gonna talk about our metrics, our quantitative metrics um, using that funnel as a guide. I. So I'm gonna just kind of talk for a little while. And Elaine, you can jump in if you have any questions or things you wanna point out. But the first section for metrics is around marketing. I like to look at. Your top lead sources by the number of leads. Basically what this tells you is where are most of your potential clients coming from? So. for me, it's often other vendors that refer me, like planners. Um, But when I first started my business, it was more likely friends um, who were telling other people about my business or through like Instagram. So just to take a quick step back when you actually reflect on these numbers, you need to make sure that you're capturing this information at the beginning. Otherwise you won't be able to, you know, track and analyze this. So make sure that when you have like a contact form when leads are coming in that you're tracking how they found you. Or that you're asking them somewhere in your process. The next metric I wanna look at in marketing is my top lead sources by revenue. So not only do I wanna know how many leads came to me from a source, but I wanna know how much money is actually being brought to me from that source. So it's important because you might get a lot of leads from Instagram. But they might only account for a small amount of your revenue. And this could be because a lot of them don't book with you or they ghost, or maybe the clients that come from Instagram tend to book smaller deals with you. So these are just good things to understand about your business. Like maybe you find that you have a lot of leads from Instagram, but they tend to be smaller clients, whereas the um, leads you get from other vendors tend to be larger clients, right? So that's gonna help you think about where you wanna focus your time.

Alane: 24:58

Yep. I actually noticed this, I think it was in 2022. My top lead source was Instagram, but my like highest value of clients was vendor. Vendor referrals, not Instagram. So. I was able to use that data to be like, okay, then maybe I need to be putting more of my marketing efforts into the vendor referrals because they have higher qualified clients that they're sending me. And they're more likely to book than the people on Instagram for the reasons that you just said. Either they just didn't have the budgets or they ended up ghosting because they're on Instagram looking at a ton of different vendors.

Shaochen: 25:33

Messaging. Everybody.

Alane: 25:35

Exactly. Exactly. And then I just wanted to say one quick thing about tracking lead source. It can just be something as simple as like a dropdown menu on your con contact form. So I wouldn't leave it like an open-ended question. I would have a dropdown that says Instagram Vendor Referral referred by a friend. Things like that. That way they have to select something and make it required

Shaochen: 25:56

Yes. Because that way you have categories where you can actually analyze your data. Um, but yes, what you were saying is a really good point that the lead source by revenue is kind of telling you what is the quality of that lead source rather than just the quantity of it. So actually leading into the next metric is conversion rate by lead source. This is another metric that tells you about the quality of your lead source, and this is a really important metric to look at. It basically tells you what percentage of the leads that came to you were ones that converted to clients. So what percentage. Of the leads, did you win essentially for that particular lead source? You could take a look at your overall conversion rate too, but I do like to separate this out by lead sources um, so that I can understand which lead sources are providing the highest conversion for me. So in that example where like a lot of people ghost on Instagram, maybe my conversion rate's only like 20%. When I have a low conversion rate, that means that I'm expending a lot of my time and energy and not getting a lot in return. So typically if I see that a lead source is a low conversion rate, then I either want to see how I could improve my conversion rate or decide not to spend as much time on that particular lead source.

Alane: 27:16

Exactly. I was just gonna give a quick like example for people listening. So, for example, say you have 10 leads total from Instagram and two of them book with you. That's a 20% conversion rate. If you have 10 leads from vendors and five of you them book with you, then that's gonna be a 50% conversion rate. So like the vendors are gonna be the higher conversion rate. Just if somebody needed like a number example.

Shaochen: 27:38

Yeah, the, the actual formula for calculating that percentage is how many leads booked with you, the number of leads you won, divided by the total number of leads. And one thing just to know in terms of calculating this, not only do you need to be tracking your lead source, you also need to be tracking whether. That particular client was a win or a loss. So that's also something that Elaine and I, we both use CRM Systems, client Relationship Management tools. I used Sato and Elaine uses HoneyBook and both have the ability to track this information. And we also have our, um. discount codes that will list in the show notes if you're interested in a trial or signing up for one of these CRMs. But you could also use a spreadsheet, of course, when you're first getting started. That's the easiest way to do it. It's just a reminder to be tracking this information.

Alane: 28:29

Okay. So once I have all of these numbers. Which would be the top lead source by number of leads, top lead source by revenue, and the conversion rate. What do I actually do with all of these numbers?

Shaochen: 28:41

Yeah, so understanding your metrics and seeing what story they tell that can help you figure out what actions to prioritize, where to spend your time, and what you might need to tweak in your business. So I'll give you a real life example. One year I was reviewing the numbers and I found that the highest number of my leads came from Google search. What was interesting was that I won a very small percentage of these leads. They had a low conversion rate. But the ones that I did convert to clients, they were some of my biggest clients. They had like the, the largest deal sizes. And so this told me that my website was not doing a good job of like marketing who I was, who I was for what I offer. And so I got a bunch of leads that like didn't understand my offerings and weren't a good fit. That's why there was like so many that didn't convert because they weren't a good fit. But it told me that for the people, if I could hone in on the right clients for me, they tended to be bigger clients. And what this told me was that I should make my website more clear. And so the next year I took on a project to completely revamp my website, come up with like a new guide for clients to kinda walk them through what they would need for weddings, what my process was. And ever since then, the leads from Google have been much more my ideal clients.

Alane: 30:05

I love that. That's such a good example of taking the facts and then being able to take action based on those facts or like setting new goals, which we're gonna get into at the end of this episode. But like that's a really great way to be like, okay, this is what this is telling me, and now this is what I'm gonna go do about it.

Shaochen: 30:22

Yeah, exactly, because like ultimately you don't wanna just look at numbers for numbers. You want it to be actionable and help you help guide your business.

Alane: 30:31

Okay, so then what is next in the numbers funnel?

Shaochen: 30:34

Okay, so after marketing, we have sales. So sales, the metrics under sales are gonna be a lot of the ones you've heard before. So revenue, which is like the, or sometimes they call it the top line because it's the top line of your profit and loss statement. Revenue is how, how much you're selling. Then the, the next number to look at is profit or net income, and that's your bottom line. And so it's basically revenue minus all of your expenses, what's left for you. Profit is the number that tells you how much your business is really making and whether you're in the green or you're in the red, right? And then another number I look at under sales is the profit margin. I alluded to this a little bit earlier when I was talking about looking at the profit margin for my Bay Area income stream. Profit margin is a percentage, it's your profit. Divided by your revenue. So the higher your profit margin, the more money you're making from that particular income stream. So for example, like. Let's look at live events. Your profit margins for live events are likely going to be higher than if you were creating a product because you don't have material costs, which means that you're keeping a higher percentage of the money you make. And the great thing about profit margin is that it is a percentage, which means that you can more easily compare it across like different types of income streams. And that can be one factor that weighs into where you wanna spend more of your time on. So in order to be calculating these numbers, you wanna make sure you're tracking your sales and your expenses, whether that's in a spreadsheet or I use QuickBooks and I'll include my affiliate link in the show notes. I.

Alane: 32:18

Yep. These are really helpful. I also feel like once we start, I mean, I remember when I first started my business and it was still just kind of like on the side. I was just like, oh my gosh, I'm making all of this money on the side, but like not really looking at any of these actual numbers. And I wish I had started before I went full-time because I probably would've had a better idea. Of what is possible for the business and you figure it out as you go, but the sooner that you can get started with even just keeping that basic, like this is my revenue, this is my profit or net income, and then this is my profit margin, the better off you'll be.

Shaochen: 32:54

Mm-Hmm.

Alane: 32:55

Okay. So then what is the last thing that we should look at in this numbers funnel?

Shaochen: 33:00

So after sales, we have client experience, and this speaks to the quality of your work and helps you identify any opportunities for improvement. It's also a good reminder that if you're not asking for reviews already, make sure that you're building that into your process somewhere. So for client experience, I typically look at the number of reviews. And then the review rating. So both kind of factor when a client's making a decision. especially if you're a service provider, like a wedding vendor, they're gonna be looking for testimonials. And so the higher your rating and the more reviews you have, it's gonna create a more compelling story for your business.

Alane: 33:41

Absolutely, and this is like my favorite part.'cause I just love the client experience. So I'm actually planning on doing a like Instagram post or something soon. I put it on my little content planner about why reviews are so important.'cause I also think it is a step that tends to be overlooked in the client workflow or. Not everybody makes it a point to reach out and to collect those reviews, but it really is one of the most important things that you can do for your business for the reasons that you just said. They show the proof in the product or the service. They establish that greater sense of trust among potential customers. And I really feel like the only thing that's more powerful than you saying that your service is the best, is other people being able to say it for you and sing your praises. I mean, I know for my business, I feel like the majority of my business has been built on reviews and word of mouth referrals, whether that's like a past bride who was referring me to a friend or a vendor that's referring me to one of their clients, and then having all of those other reviews, you know, on either my Google Business site or wedding wire on my website really just helps back up what those people are saying. And makes that person more likely to be warmed up to me by the time they're reaching out for a consult call or reviewing the proposal. I also think that reviews really help with imposter syndrome because they are clear evidence that you have booked clients and you have done great work

Shaochen: 35:08

Yes. They're such a good reminder. Yeah, if you're having like a down day and sometimes we get emails that are not the nicest, you know, you can go back and read the nice things people said about you,

Alane: 35:19

Exactly. And you can be like, yes, okay. I know what I'm doing, I know that people are happy with the work that I'm providing. So yeah, I, I love them for that reason as well. So if you do collect reviews, then once You look at the number that you received as well as the rating. Then what I recommend doing is copy and pasting all of them into a Google Doc and start highlighting the words or the phrases that people are using when they're talking about you or your services, because this is a really great. Free tool for you to basically use your client's words in your own marketing copy, so from your website to your Instagram captions and your service brochure, things like that. Like just pull out what people are already saying about you to describe the product or the service that you are selling. It's basically like free market research.

Shaochen: 36:12

Yeah, that's such a good idea. Elaine's basically a marketing genius. I'm also curious if I could, like, I have all my reviews pulled into a Google doc actually, and I wonder if I could just like pace that into like an AI system that could just pull. You know?

Alane: 36:26

Maybe.

Shaochen: 36:27

Yeah. I feel like AI can do a lot of things

Alane: 36:31

Yeah. Yeah.

Shaochen: 36:32

I could do that.

Alane: 36:33

I was gonna say if you do that, then please report back. Maybe one of our episodes will be on that,

Shaochen: 36:38

that would be cool. Yeah. Listeners, if you try it, please let us know if it works.

Alane: 36:45

Okay, so now that we have our reflection done, we know our numbers, how do we take all of this information that we have compiled for the past year and use it to set new goals? So what I like to start with is just some vision casting. So I like to pull out my journal and open up a Google Doc and just brain dump whatever comes to mind when I ask myself these three questions. So we're only gonna go over three questions here, but I think that you have a couple more in your

Shaochen: 37:14

in the New Year's Reflection Guide. Yeah. So just grab that out of the show notes and you can see what the rest are.

Alane: 37:20

Awesome. Okay, so then the first question that I like to start with is, what do I want my life to look like in 2024? So again, this is where I really start to think about my life as a whole, not just my business. I try to think about my relationships, my wellbeing, professional development, things like that. So for me, for 2024, I know that I wanna continue growing and evolving a business that Continues to support my life and my overarching values. So that includes things like working with clients who really understand and appreciate the value that I'm providing. Saying yes to the projects that light me up and creating space for other business ideas to grow. I wanna feel a stronger sense of community. So again, hence part of the reason behind this podcast and I really want my life to continue having that time flexibility that I have been working really hard to obtain.

Shaochen: 38:13

Mm-Hmm.

Alane: 38:15

What about you? What are you envisioning for 2024?

Shaochen: 38:19

So I'm trying to keep mine pretty simple. I wanna be a good mom and I wanna have a thriving business. And I think the challenge lies in balancing the two. Like both, both of those things are important to me. I find that when I get to work on my business and do the things I'm really passionate about, it also makes me A better mom. Like I'm more excited about the time that I get to spend with my son. So I wanna get paid for the work I'm passionate about, and I also wanna have some time and energy for some passion projects. I've just started, I. Like finally having a little bit of time at night to work on things that aren't business or mom related things. So I'm starting to like design a playroom for Emmett, like there's a spare room that we haven't Set up yet. And now I'm like, you know, on Pinterest and looking for playroom Inspo and how I'm gonna, you know, what each area of the playroom's gonna have. And I'm getting really excited about that. And it's been a while since I feel like I've had the time and space in my life to do something that's like not a necessity, if that makes sense. So

Alane: 39:28

That's so fun. I love that. And you're gonna have to share before and afters on your Instagram for all of us to see and follow along on that journey. But I also think that that just goes back to building a business that supports your life, right? Like you Feeling like you have the time and the space to be able to do those passion projects now is incredible. So I, I love that you're keeping it simple and that's what you're focusing on for 2024.

Shaochen: 39:56

Yeah. So the life question leads into this next question, which is, what does success look like for my business this year? And often I feel like we hear success and we go straight to revenue goals and numbers and set. Setting the financial goals is definitely a part of this, But also think about the other things that would make this year a success. So things like maybe you wanna register for your LLC, maybe you wanna book more of your ideal clients, or really define who those ideal clients are. Maybe you need to increase your prices or you wanna launch a new service offering. Those are all things that could contribute to how you define success for your business this year.

Alane: 40:36

Yeah, I feel like this is a new idea for me where I used to always think that success was just based on numbers or how many weddings I booked, things like that. And over the past, like two-ish years, I would say it's Really transferred more to being based on desired feelings rather than numbers. And really just getting very clear on what success actually looks like for me, not what, what is other people's definition of success. So when I start to think about what does success look for, like for my business this year, I focus first on what I want to feel in various areas of my life. So in like business, money slash wealth, health and wellness, relationships, et cetera. And then I set my goals based on what I can do to achieve those desired feelings. So of course, numbers do have to be a part of it because. If we're not making money, then we don't have a business but making as much money as possible will never be a top goal of mine.

Shaochen: 41:36

Yeah.

Alane: 41:37

So when I do set financial goals, they are rooted in deeper desires that tie into my values. So for example, last year I set a revenue and a booking goal of 30 weddings at a hundred thousand dollars. That's what I wanted to do. I felt like that would. Give me the flexibility that I was looking to achieve while still being able to support my business and my life with my business income.

Shaochen: 42:05

Mm-Hmm.

Alane: 42:05

So I set that goal based on previous year's statistics as well as knowing that if I could do this, I would be able to create more of that freedom in my business. So by setting that goal, I then defined all of the actions that I would need to take in order to achieve it, which included things like raising my minimum, enhancing my overall client experience, so like diving into my workflows and really making sure that I was serving my clients extremely well. Reevaluating my pricing, networking with other vendors, ensuring that I'm delivering value every step of the way, things like that. So I had that kind of overarching goal, but then was able to break it down into smaller bite-sized pieces. And at the end of the day, I always knew that like, if I didn't reach that goal, then I would still be Farther along than where I was at the beginning of 2023 by doing all of those smaller action items, right? Because we can't necessarily control numbers, we can't control the market, we can't control the economy. There's a lot of things that are out of our control. But I'm choosing to focus on the things that are in with are within my control. And, you know, those are things like my marketing efforts or learning a new Skill or a service to provide or, you know, making sure that my client workflows are rock solid, things like that.

Shaochen: 43:25

I just got goosebumps while you were talking. For some reason. I was like, it just makes, that makes so much sense. Like yes, you wanna set the financial goal, but even if for some reason you're not, you don't hit it. Like all those little things you did, it's not like they were for nothing. Like those were all things that improved your business and made it better and made it closer to like the business that you want, you know? So I love that. That's awesome.

Alane: 43:50

So what about you? What does success for you look like this year?

Shaochen: 43:54

Yeah, for me, success for me is not monetary this year. I'm creating an income plan and I'll talk a little bit about how you can create yours as well But I'm using guesstimates because I don't really know what to expect monetarily. Um, As I shared earlier, I. I no longer have my biggest revenue stream, so I can't really make estimates based off of that. And I'm also trying a bunch of new different things and new service offerings, so I. I'm, everything is just a best guess right now, and it's pretty nerve wracking, but I, when I'm, I feel like I'm trusting that if I go towards what I'm feeling motivated by and what I'm good at, that ultimately that will lead towards financial success. So. Try not to worry too much about that part right now Um, but what it, what success looks like for my business this year is building out a roadmap for my education business. Like Elaine, you were saying. I have a lot of ideas, but I know that I also need to be focused. All of these ideas are gonna take a lot of time and energy from me, and so I can't be all over the place. I have to be like methodical. And so I need to build a roadmap and I need to follow it. I want to make like a significant progress this year in building up this education side of my business and something that I've been doing wanting to do for a really long time. So, I mean, I'm gonna pat ourselves on the back right now for starting this podcast because it's something that we've been wanting to do for a long time, and it's like part of this overall strategy.

Alane: 45:28

Yeah, absolutely. I know, I'm already look looking ahead. I'm like, okay, 2025, I'm reviewing 2024. What's my proudest moment? And I'm gonna be like getting this podcast out into the.

Shaochen: 45:40

Oh, I love that. Yeah, for sure. At least like we can say, we can say that once this is out in the world, we can, or even if the podcast ends up being like two episodes, we can still say, just

Alane: 45:50

Exactly. We still did it.

Shaochen: 45:52

Yeah.

Alane: 45:53

No guys, I promise we're gonna have more than two episodes,

Shaochen: 45:55

right.

Alane: 45:57

Okay, so then the third question for the looking ahead goal setting, it kind of ties back a little bit into the question that we asked earlier of what's standing between me and where I want my business to go. The last question that we both find really helpful when we're setting new goals is asking, what will I say no to?

Shaochen: 46:17

Mm-Hmm.

Alane: 46:18

So there are so many examples for this, but for me, something that's become really important to my rou morning routine is taking my dog for a long walk each morning. Although I will say this week it's been like five degrees in Hoboken and we have not been doing our long walks.

Shaochen: 46:36

Yeah, you can't. I mean, the polar vortex is definitely something out of her control.

Alane: 46:41

Yeah, but. When it's not that freezing out, that has been something that it makes a difference in the way that I feel at the start of the day. I enjoy spending that time with him. Sometimes my boyfriend, Brendan, will join us and it's a nice way for the three of us to start our day. So I've to start telling myself no every single time that I wanna roll over and hit snooze. So that I can just get up and start my day the way that I know I actually want to start it and in a way that I know will actually make a difference. So that's kind of more personal than business related. I think we've already given some business examples, but in my day-to-Day life, like I am practicing saying no to myself every single morning when I'm like, just hit snooze.'cause it's still dark out and it's so cozy in bed,

Shaochen: 47:29

That's really inspiring for me because I know you're already a morning person. Right. And I, which I am not. And so I guess, I mean, not related to my, what I would say no to, but like I keep trying to tell myself I need to go to bed earlier so I can wake up earlier. So I'll take some inspiration from your Your, what will I say no to? For me, since I'm taking on fewer wedding clients this year, I am going to only take on my ideal clients. And so I'm going to say no to the clients that aren't a great fit for me. It might be a great fit for somebody else. Um, And I'm not gonna compromise if they don't meet my minimum or they wanna negotiate on pricing um, or they just generally want something that's like not in my wheelhouse, not something that I'm Really good at. So I think that ultimately it'll be beneficial because I can refer those to other people who will be really excited to do that work, who will be a better fit for that client. And I wanna do that more quickly instead of kind of like, oftentimes I find myself going back and forth being like, well, if I did these five things, then I can make that client work. Or if I outsourced this part of the project and did, you know, like. I am just gonna say no if it doesn't feel like the right fit.

Alane: 48:47

Yes, exactly. It's such a good reminder that your no is creating room for somebody else to say Yes. Who really wants to, and it's giving somebody else an opportunity that. Maybe the perfect fit for them. And as the client, what I've realized this past year is if I were hiring somebody for my wedding or my live event or whatever the case may be, I wouldn't want that service provider to be working with me, but not really want to be working with me.

Shaochen: 49:13

Yeah, I've been thinking about that a lot too. For sure. Like every client deserves someone who's really excited about their wedding, their project, whatever that might be.

Alane: 49:23

Exactly, and then vice versa. Every service provider deserves a client that they're super stoked about. So it goes both ways.

Shaochen: 49:30

Yeah.

Alane: 49:32

Okay, so we only covered three of the planning questions from the New Year's guide, so don't forget to. Download that guide and there's several more to help you plan for the upcoming year. It's gonna be linked in the show notes. And then if you wanna read more about some of the shifts that I am personally making and embracing in my business this year, I'm gonna also link my blog post in the show notes as well that dives into that.'cause I think that also might be helpful as people are setting their New Year's goals.

Shaochen: 50:03

So one thing we didn't talk about as we're planning for 2024, is that we didn't get into how to set your financial goals. And it is important to have those numbers. You don't wanna come up with them out of thin air. You wanna make sure you're doing some math behind it so you know how you're going to reach that goal. You know how Like what kind of actions you need to take to reach that goal? How many clients to book what your minimum should be. I know this is daunting, so I'm actually gonna be hosting a brand new live workshop in early February to do this with you hands on and figure out your income plan. It'll be a paid workshop and you're gonna get my income planning worksheet with it. That's basically a really cool tool that kind of guides you step by step through your different income streams, and you'll walk away with like your hourly rate and how much you anticipate to make each month or for the year based on this income plan. So you'll have clear clarity on how many clients to book, and you'll also be able to use your hourly rate then to set your prices. Um, The workshop's gonna be all about setting up your business to have a great year. So we'll talk about other aspects as well, like what feels to be capturing on your contact form, which we briefly covered in this podcast. How to ask for reviews um, how to reach out to vendors. And I'm gonna give you my exact Email templates for how I do that because I know a lot of times we spend time just thinking about how I'm gonna word a specific email, not come off as being like awkward or you know, asking too much or anything like that. There's gonna be a ton of value in this live workshop, and I'm doing it for the first time, so I'm gonna be offering early bird pricing. If you are listening to this podcast as it is released, that early bird pricing should be going on right now, and I'll make sure that the workshop is also recorded if you're not able to join live. So it's gonna be a lot of fun and it's gonna be super productive. I feel like you'll really walk away from this workshop feeling like you're ready for the year. Um, So click the link in the show notes and it'll have all the details there. I hope you can join us.

Alane: 52:03

Yeah, that's incredible. You are jam packing that workshop with value, so I know that people definitely aren't gonna wanna miss that. All right, so we have come to the end of this episode. Episode two is in the books

Shaochen: 52:18

Yay.

Alane: 52:19

and we hope that you found some value in this episode. We hope that you found it helpful as you're starting to reflect, or maybe you already have reflected on the past year, but you're gonna take this information for next year, and then as you're starting to plan for 2024, we would love to hear what your 2024. It's going to look like or what you want it to look like, what success looks like for you this year, anything like that. So please send us a DMM on Instagram at calligraphy biz Corner. We would love to hear from you and cheer you on and then we just want you to remember that every day is a fresh start. So regardless of when you're listening to this, it's never too late to set a new goal, start a new habit, et cetera.

Shaochen: 52:59

See you next time.