{"id":5336,"date":"2017-12-27T09:22:47","date_gmt":"2017-12-27T14:22:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bizwomenrock.com\/?p=5336"},"modified":"2017-12-27T09:56:57","modified_gmt":"2017-12-27T14:56:57","slug":"year-review-worked-didnt-lessons-learned-2017","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/bizwomenrock.com\/beta\/year-review-worked-didnt-lessons-learned-2017\/","title":{"rendered":"Year in Review: What Worked, What Didn\u2019t and All the Lessons Learned in 2017"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"smart-track-player-container stp-color-f29900-EEEEEE\" data-uid=\"5943\"><\/div>\n<h3><\/h3>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center;\">Year in Review: What Worked, What Didn\u2019t and All the Lessons Learned in 2017<\/h3>\n<h3><\/h3>\n<div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I absolutely love the end of the year because it forces me to stop, breathe and acknowledge everything that happened. If you\u2019re anything like me, you\u2019re constantly <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">moving forward<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and thus oftentimes forget to learn the vital lessons the past has to teach us &#8211; and therefore guide us in our next moves ahead. <\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So, I want to take this opportunity to share with you &#8211; in true, RAW Katie style &#8211; my year in review for Biz Women Rock. \u00a0I\u2019m sharing the tools I loved, the best investments I made, the things that worked really well&#8230;and all the things that DIDN\u2019T work and the ginormous lessons I learned this year. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">My purpose for sharing all of this is two-fold. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">First, I want to key you into some of the great tools and strategies that worked for my business so you can be aware of them to use as you see fit for yours. \u00a0These are tech tools for organization and productivity, education and courses I invested in that created big changes and practices I habitualized that made deep impacts!<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Second, my intention is that by sharing my own authentic business journey, you will feel a little less alone on yours&#8230;and thus, feel inspired and connected to move forward purposefully and powerfully! \u00a0I want you to learn from my mistakes, use strategies that worked for me and ultimately allow my journey to give you what you need to enhance your own. \u00a0We\u2019re all in this game together!<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So, here we go\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><b>TECH TOOLS THAT I LOVED THIS YEAR:<\/b><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><b>HiFutureSelf:<\/b><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u00a0An app you can program to send yourself messages in the future and on a regular basis. \u00a0For example, I have a message that gets sent to my phone every morning at 6:00am that says \u201cMoney comes to me easily and daily!\u201d and one at 8:00am that says, \u201cShow your man some love today, beautiful&#8230;he\u2019s amazing and deserves it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><b><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Why I love this app<\/span>:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Automated affirmations! \u00a0It\u2019s an automated way I can send little bursts of love and positivity to my mind throughout the day. \u00a0Life happens and these little messages that pop up (right at the time that I know I need them!) are incredibly powerful in training my mind to live in abundance, love and positivity!<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><b>Asana:<\/b><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Project management software that I (finally) started using to manage my team.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><b>Why I love it:<\/b><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> First, let\u2019s talk about why I finally decided to grow up and use it. \u00a0Because I noticed that way too often, a project I would talk about with my social media manager one week would get overshadowed with in-the-moment needs and pretty soon, two weeks later, I would ask her, \u201cwhere are we on project x?\u201d \u00a0And she would have to go back into her emails or Facebook messages and we would both have to start from scratch. \u00a0Getting these projects into Asana helped me not only keep both of us on track, but forced me to shift from the \u201cin the moment\u201d marketing mentality to<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (gasp) <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">pre-planning quality marketing campaigns and projects! \u00a0I\u2019ve implemented the entire system for my team &#8211; all of whom were on different communication channels with me. \u00a0I love it because it keeps the forward movement of my business organized and concise! \u00a0And it gives me ONE PLACE to talk to my team.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><b><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Lucky Bitch Money Tracker<\/span>:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> a free iPhone app (sorry android users) created by Denise Duffield-Thomas, whom I\u2019ve featured on the show a few times). \u00a0She\u2019s the founder of Lucky Bitch and everything she does &#8211; her courses, her books, her events &#8211; all revolve around helping women bust through money blocks to create lives of financial abundance. \u00a0Her Money Tracker app is one of the two programs I use to track every single cent that come into my life so I know where my money is at all times. <\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><b>Why I love this app:<\/b><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Because it is simple to use, I can use it in the moment of receiving a notification that someone has purchased something from me and &#8211; most importantly &#8211; it has a slew of categories that have nothing to do with business. \u00a0Which means that I am recording ALL money that comes into my life, not just in business. \u00a0I record gift cards people give me, money I randomly find, rent that my tenant pays me&#8230;anything! \u00a0Which means that I am honoring and feeling gratitude for all the financial abundance around me! \u00a0The best part is that everytime I enter something into the app, it makes the <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">cha-ching!<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> sound! \ud83d\ude42 <\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><b>THE BEST PERSONAL &amp; BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMS I INVESTED IN THIS YEAR:<\/b><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><b>Private Coaching:<\/b><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> In 2017, I invested $10,000 in private coaching services. \u00a0I\u2019m not going to lie and say it was easy spending that money. \u00a0I did the pros and cons list like you probably have. \u00a0I had those questions come up in my head, <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">do I really need to spend that much? \u00a0Will it be worth it? \u00a0I can really do this on my own&#8230;do I really need to hire someone to help me? \u00a0I\u2019ll just wait until I make a bit more money and then invest it in a coach<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. \u00a0But despite these thoughts, I invested the money anyway because I just <\/span><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">knew<\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. \u00a0I knew I wanted to speed up my learning curve. \u00a0I knew I wanted my business to grow in ways that were out of my zone of genius. \u00a0Ultimately, I knew I needed to evolve into the person who was ready to experience the results I wanted&#8230;and that I needed customized help in that evolution. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><b>The Results: <\/b><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Without a doubt, my business would not have experienced the results it has this year &#8211; both in revenue and in me, it\u2019s leader &#8211; had I not made that investment! \u00a0While we talked strategy, what my business coach really did for me this year was establish a mindset practice. \u00a0A way for me to productively <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">create the life and business I truly love showing up to every day<\/span>!<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u00a0She did not feed me fish&#8230;she taught me to be a fisherman. \u00a0And having the customized access to her was vital as I had my ups and downs and needed feedback for pivoting at a moment\u2019s notice. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Giving business women customized coaching and strategizing is one of the ways I love providing support to the Biz Women Rock community! \u00a0If you\u2019re ready to seriously uplevel your business, then let\u2019s work together in 2018! \u00a0Just a few more private spots remain!<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><b><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Money Bootcamp<\/span>:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> This is Denise Duffield-Thomas\u2019 signature course. \u00a0It\u2019s 6 weeks of identifying money blocks and creating habits that welcome in financial abundance. It\u2019s a self-study course, although she does offer live versions of it twice each year, which is one of the sessions I came in on. \u00a0The investment was $1,497 and I was happy to make it. \u00a0I\u2019ve been following Denise for years and have loved all of her free content. \u00a0So, I knew her bootcamp would be amazing. \u00a0This year, however, was the year I knew I was ready for it. \u00a0Because I was dealing first hand with big money blocks. \u00a0Because I was ready to up my own game in business. \u00a0<\/span><b>Because I finally GOT that the money I make in my business is directly correlated to the depth and breadth of women entrepreneurs I am impacting all over the world! \u00a0<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And in order for me to live vibrantly in my mission of helping biz women grow purposeful, productive and profitable businesses, I was going to have to re-program my mindset on money&#8230;big time. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Money Bootcamp delivered that and then some! \u00a0The best part of the course is that it is content I am continually going back to because I\u2019m ready to take on a new lesson. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I\u2019m most likely going to be refreshing myself through the course in the New Year, so if you have any interest in doing it with me, let me know and I\u2019ll create a Biz Women Rock Money Bootcamp session!<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><b><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Outsourcing<\/span>:<\/b> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This was the year I shifted from \u201cI\u2019ll do it all myself\u201d to \u201cI\u2019m the CEO of my business.\u201d \u00a0And it showed up in my commitment to hire out the jobs that I <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">can<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> do, but should not be doing as a CEO. \u00a0Specifically, that meant hiring 4 different professionals:<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><b><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"> Executive Assistant<\/span>.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u00a0Best. \u00a0Move. \u00a0Ever! \u00a0I\u2019ve been avoiding an assistant for a long time because frankly, I\u2019m really good at administrative, technical tasks. \u00a0I\u2019ve had assistants in the past and it was always a sore point for me that I seemed to spend more time training them to do something than I could do it on my own. \u00a0And it would get done better! \u00a0But this year, I decided I needed a mindset shift around this. \u00a0Because no matter how good I am at administrative tasks, I will never live into my mission of making a global difference for business women if I play small like that! \u00a0So, I hired Jody. \u00a0My Executive Assistant. \u00a0As of the time I write this, I\u2019ve paid her around $3,500 for the year, which has been well worth the work she\u2019s taken off my plate! \u00a0She\u2019s taken over a handful of regular tasks that would take up hours of my time every single week and does them better than I would! \u00a0Being the control freak that I am, I am continually challenging myself to give her more and she continues to show me she\u2019s capable of more. \u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ol start=\"2\">\n<li><b><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"> Podcast Producer<\/span>:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Why did I wait so long to outsource this?!?! \u00a0As of today\u2019s date, I\u2019ve spent about $2,500 on podcast production for a weekly podcast show (and sometimes some bonus episodes) and it has been worth every single cent! \u00a0Danny Ozment with Emerald City Productions (<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.emeraldcitypro.com\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">http:\/\/www.emeraldcitypro.com\/<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">) is incredible, has helped to make my podcast sound better and has freed up time for me to dive deeper into all those non-editing activities (including spending 2 days a week with my little one) that I really love! \ud83d\ude09 <\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ol start=\"3\">\n<li><b><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"> Social Media Manager<\/span>: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Kim with KiMedia Strategies has been working with me on and off for years now. When I brought her back onto the Biz Women Rock team at the beginning of the year, I knew I would have to stay on top of my OWN game as CEO of my company in order to make that investment worthwhile. \u00a0Because I\u2019m a big believer that you can\u2019t just \u201coutsource\u201d anything and expect it to work perfectly without your eyes on it. \u00a0Social media especially because not only does IT change all the time, but how I\u2019m choosing to leverage it is constantly evolving. \u00a0This year, I spent $4,800 on social media management services with Kim and it has been amazing! \u00a0As much as I LOVE social, I can\u2019t be everywhere all at once. \u00a0The way we work it is that I handle my private Biz Women Rock Facebook Group (<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/groups\/bizwomenrock\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/groups\/bizwomenrock\/<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">) and private Facebook Groups I create for specific programs, my personal Facebook profile and my personal Instagram account (these are the social platforms where I really LOVE being and is easy for me to show up every day!). Kim takes care of everything else &#8211; my LinkedIn, my Twitter and the majority of my Facebook Page (which includes any Facebook Ads I create). \u00a0Not only does she help me strategize, but she implements and makes sure the Biz Women Rock brand is out there!<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ol start=\"4\">\n<li><b><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"> Accountant &amp; Bookkeeper<\/span>:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Having an Accountant is not a new thing for me, but this was the year that I implemented the attitude of ME being the owner of my finances and leveraging my accountant to help me manage my business better. \u00a0Many business women (myself included) have made the mistake of putting their finances in the hand of an Accountant or bookkeeper, which means they don\u2019t know what\u2019s really going on with their money all the time&#8230;they just rely on the accountant to keep track of everything and let them know if a bank balance is low or if anything strange pops up. \u00a0This year, I started with a new Accountant, with whom I have a standing call every 3rd Monday of the month. \u00a0During this meeting, we go over two reports &#8211; the month\u2019s prior P&amp;L and the Year to Date P&amp;L. \u00a0I look through everything and instruct her on any changes she needs to make on categorization and bring any questions I might have to the table about charges, income and anything else that may be on my mind. \u00a0This simple act of meeting with her monthly, combined with my daily tracking of my own money has been instrumental in the financial results I\u2019ve seen in my business this year! \u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><b>BOOKS THAT SHIFTED THINGS FOR ME THIS YEAR<\/b><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><b>Code of the Extraordinary Mind <\/b><b><i>by Vishen Lakhiani<\/i><\/b><\/span><b>:<\/b> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A progressive \u201cself-help\u201d type of a book that had way too many golden nuggets for me to list here. \u00a0The author is the guy who founded <\/span><b>Mindvalley <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">and <\/span><b>A-Fest<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and thus, I love the entrepreneurial slant. \u00a0The BIGGEST take away for me, however, was the the core message that our level of happiness is directly correlated to our ability to forgive. \u00a0I have since made it a practice to forgive others and forgive myself on a regular basis. \u00a0SO much toxicity stays inside of us when we hold onto things &#8211; whether we would consider them \u201cbig deals\u201d or not. \u00a0And practicing forgiveness on a regular basis has acted like an emotional and spiritual cleanse that enables me to connect with happiness with ease. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><b>Profit First <\/b><\/span><b><i><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">by Mike Michalowicz<\/span>:<\/i><\/b> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I\u2019m not 100% done with this one yet, but the concept is simple and profound. \u00a0Create dedicated accounts for your business (<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">income, profit, taxes, shareholder for example) <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">and every single month, portion out monies into each of these accounts. \u00a0It could be a percentage of your income every month or a set amount. \u00a0The idea is that it doesn\u2019t have to be a large amount and you won\u2019t actually miss it each month. \u00a0If you can run your business off of $1000\/month, the author states, you can run your business off of $975\/month. \u00a0It works the same way as paying out medicare and social security first before you get your \u201ctake home\u201d amount on check from a job. \u00a0The regular distributions add up and all of a sudden, the tax bill you\u2019re hit with unexpectedly can be paid with no problems out of your tax account. \u00a0So powerful!<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><b>THE LOWS &amp; THE LESSONS LEARNED FROM THEM:<\/b><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><b><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">I Almost Quit<\/span>:<\/b> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Okay, I probably shouldn\u2019t be so dramatic. \u00a0I didn\u2019t almost quit. \u00a0But I actually considered it for a brief second this year. \u00a0If you\u2019re a part of the Biz Women Rock Academy (<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/bizwomenrockacademy.com\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">http:\/\/bizwomenrockacademy.com<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">), you know the intricacies of this from the Facebook Live I did in our private group. \u00a0If you\u2019re not, here are the cliff notes:<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">* I wasn\u2019t achieving everything I wanted to (i.e. I felt really behind the eight ball).<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">* I felt really far away from a big goal I had and thus started judging myself.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">* I was in the midst of rebranding and thus was in a strange space of trying to figure out \u201cwhat I stood for\u201d and what made me so different and was holding the pressure of what that needed to look like.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">* I was comparing myself to every&#8230;other&#8230;women entrepreneur who supports women entrepreneurs. \u00a0(and hint&#8230;there are a lot of us!) \u00a0I was feeling the yucky angst of <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">ugh, why am I not doing that like she is? <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">she\u2019s doing that SO much better than me!<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> And, <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">that\u2019s SUCH a great idea, why didn\u2019t I think of that?<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u00a0I know&#8230;super ugly. <\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Anyway, the combination of these all spiraled into a really emotional season of self-doubt. \u00a0And I considered stepping away from Biz Women Rock.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><b>What Made Me Stay:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> I journaled. \u00a0And I got quiet with myself. \u00a0And I asked myself a lot of probing questions about what I\u2019m here to do and why I was feeling so junky about myself. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And what it revealed was magical. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There is no one exactly like me. \u00a0And while I\u2019m beautifully flawed, I come with my own set of gifts that have helped so many people and flood my heart with fulfillment and love. \u00a0And all of those negative thoughts that creep up and tell me that I\u2019m not good enough or that someone else is better or that I\u2019m not doing anything important&#8230;those are all teaching opportunities for me to evolve and grow up and overcome. \u00a0Because if I don\u2019t live in my gifts and shine my light, then I have robbed this world of my contribution to it. \u00a0I have chosen to shrink and play small instead of living purposefully. \u00a0I have chosen fear instead of light. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And that is just not okay with me. <\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I owe it to myself, to you, to every single woman who is a part of the Biz Women Rock community and to everyone I love to live courageously and unapologetically as myself. \u00a0To keep pushing forward when I doubt myself. \u00a0To keep focused on my journey with myself instead of looking at the journeys of others. \u00a0To keep on growing and giving and growing and giving. \u00a0To make mistakes, learn and share. \u00a0Not because that\u2019s what other women entrepreneurs\u2019 paths look like, but because that\u2019s what I\u2019M HERE TO DO. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That low moment was transformative, not just for my attitude, but for how I show up to everything I do&#8230;with INTENTION, with PURPOSE and with INTENSE FOCUS on who I am and what I\u2019m here to do. <\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><b>My relationship was messy<\/b><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: \u00a0I have no intention of airing my dirty laundry here. \u00a0Nor do I want to give you any reason to believe that my hubs and I are on the outs. \u00a0We\u2019re not. \u00a0We are 1000% committed to each other and our family. \u00a0But I will share that we had a rough year this year. \u00a0Chalk it up to a combination of still getting used to being parents, being fully engrossed in our own <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">separate <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">businesses (we had been in business together for a loooooong time), and a slew of other things. \u00a0Point being, we spent more time out of flow with each other than in flow. \u00a0Which directly impacted my business.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Private clients, mastermind participants and Academy members alike have all shared with me throughout this year some stories of \u201clife\u201d going askew &#8211; divorces, major finance issues, kid challenges, health concerns, etc. \u00a0And as I\u2019ve coached and listened and facilitated those conversations, I\u2019ve come to firmly believe that nurturing our lives outside of business <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">is a part of<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> how we nurture our businesses! \u00a0More than that, when one is off, it is almost impossible to truly thrive in the other. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The big ah-ha hit me one day as Chris and I had just finished a big fight. \u00a0It was minutes before my mastermind was starting and as I got my computer ready to start the meeting, I was struck at the juxtaposition of the moment. \u00a0I was so distraught by the fight and yet needed to show up to be present for my ladies. \u00a0My ego wanted to compartmentalize all those negative vibes and get onto living in my happy place facilitating the mastermind. \u00a0But something struck me\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">My ability to thrive in my business is directly related to the health of my relationship with my husband<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I knew I had to swallow my ego and access peace with my hubs in order to show up powerfully to my mastermind. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So, I called him up and apologized (remember the book?). \u00a0The pain of our egos immediately dissipated and we promised to talk things through later that night. \u00a0And as I started the mastermind, I felt relieved, grateful and completely capable of being my best self for those ladies. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><b><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">The Lesson<\/span>:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Our businesses are just one part of our lives. \u00a0And I\u2019m going to bet you want to truly thrive in all areas of your life like I do! \u00a0Which means that, while there are times we have to compartmentalize and put all of our focus into ONE AREA, we ultimately do ourselves a disservice if we don\u2019t take the time to show love and care to all those other areas of our lives that are important to us. \u00a0Because, ultimately, the business success we want does not happen in a vacuum. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This is a holistic journey, my friend. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><b>MY AREAS OF FOCUS THIS YEAR:<\/b><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><b><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">The Mindset Olympics<\/span>:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> This year was the year of hard core training for my mind. \u00a0Most mornings, I spent journaling affirmations, visions and declarations about what I wanted to experience, what I wanted to have, what I wanted to attract and who I wanted to be. \u00a0This has been the most transformative habit I have cultivated, as it\u2019s shifted my paradigm from \u201cone who is on a journey\u201d to \u201cone who designs my journey.\u201d \u00a0Very big difference. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><b><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Money<\/span>:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> As you have probably gathered, money was a big focus for me this year. \u00a0How to make more of it. \u00a0How to bust through money blocks. \u00a0How to manage it. \u00a0How to grow it. \u00a0How to give it. \u00a0I\u2019ll never forget the core concept of Virginia Woolf\u2019s book <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A Room of One\u2019s Own<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> that states that every woman <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">must<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> have money of her own and a space of her own in order to live a fulfilled and independent life. \u00a0And since FREEDOM is a huge value of mine, taking full ownership over my own money is vital for me to live the BIG, purposeful life I\u2019m here to live. \u00a0I\u2019m still learning, but holy cow, have I stepped up my game here!<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><b><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Experimentation<\/span>:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Looking back, I can see that 2017 was a year of a lot of experimentation for me. \u00a0I tried a ton of different ways to grow my community, to give to you, create valuable offers for you and deepen your connection to me and your fellow biz women. \u00a0As I sit at the end of the year, I can see the value of this experimenting. \u00a0I learned what worked and what didn\u2019t. \u00a0What resonated with you and what got no response. \u00a0What I loved and what I don\u2019t ever want to do again. \u00a0And through this experimentation, me, my message, my offerings and my brand are a hell of a lot more succinct and clear than they were a year ago. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Keep leaning into what works. \u00a0Keep leaning into your gifts. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I hope that my reflections have been helpful for you to hear! \u00a0Mostly, I hope that it sparks a desire in you to recognize how far YOU\u2019VE come in 2017! \u00a0So you can keep leaning into your own gifts and keep shining your light even brighter in the year to come!<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Congratulations on a phenomenal year and I can\u2019t wait to see what\u2019s ahead for you in the year to come!<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>**********************************************************************<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/goo.gl\/A48K7v\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-5265 size-medium\" src=\"http:\/\/bizwomenrock.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/2018-Success-Graphic-300x300.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"http:\/\/bizwomenrock.com\/beta\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/2018-Success-Graphic-300x300.png 300w, http:\/\/bizwomenrock.com\/beta\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/2018-Success-Graphic-768x768.png 768w, http:\/\/bizwomenrock.com\/beta\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/2018-Success-Graphic.png 800w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Ready to have your BEST YEAR YET in 2018?<\/p>\n<p>Then grab your totally FREE 2018 Success Kit!<\/p>\n<p>Get it HERE now &#8211;&gt; <a href=\"https:\/\/goo.gl\/A48K7v\">https:\/\/goo.gl\/A48K7v<\/a><\/p>\n<p>It includes&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>* 7 simple steps that will help you get clear on what is possible in 2018!<\/p>\n<p>* 7 videos for 7 days that give you a deeper understanding of each step! They&#8217;re quick and will inspire you to take action!<\/p>\n<p>* My #1 strategy (Step 7!) for making ideas turn into RESULTS! Planning and strategizing is great, but if there&#8217;s no action behind it, then it all means nothing! You&#8217;ll get my super simple strategy for ensuring that what you want to create in 2018 actually happens!<\/p>\n<p>* A fillable PDF worksheet with prompts and examples that will easily focus you on what&#8217;s to come in 2018!<\/p>\n<p>Get it HERE now &#8211;&gt; <a href=\"https:\/\/goo.gl\/A48K7v\">https:\/\/goo.gl\/A48K7v<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/bizwomenrock.com\/2018-masterminds\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-5202\" src=\"http:\/\/bizwomenrock.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/Mastermind-App-Open-300x251.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"251\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Strategic growth CAN create exponential results\u2026IF you have the right structure and take the right actions!<\/p>\n<h1>And that\u2019s what you\u2019ll get in the\u00a02018 Biz Women Rock Mastermind!<\/h1>\n<p>Because when you CHOOSE to put the right FOCUS, ATTENTION and ACTIONS into your business, you create massive impact for your revenues, your clients and your life!<\/p>\n<h2><a href=\"http:\/\/bizwomenrock.com\/2018-masterminds\/\">\u2013&gt; CLICK HERE TO APPLY TO BE A PART OF THE 2018 MASTERMIND TODAY! &lt;\u2013(NO PAYMENT REQUIRED TO APPLY)<\/a><\/h2>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Year in Review: What Worked, What Didn\u2019t and All the Lessons Learned in 2017 I absolutely love the end of the year because it forces me to stop, breathe and acknowledge everything that happened. If you\u2019re anything like me, you\u2019re constantly moving forward and thus oftentimes forget to learn the vital lessons the past has [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":5337,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1127],"tags":[1647,2028,2029,1210,49,656,422,16,2032,2031],"class_list":["post-5336","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-podcast","tag-1647","tag-2028","tag-2018-goals","tag-biz-women-rock","tag-entrepreneur","tag-katie-krimitsos","tag-mompreneur","tag-podcast","tag-what-didnt-and-all-the-lessons-learned-in-2017","tag-year-in-review-what-worked"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Year in Review: What Worked, What Didn\u2019t and All the Lessons Learned in 2017 - Biz Women Rock!<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/bizwomenrock.com\/beta\/year-review-worked-didnt-lessons-learned-2017\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Year in Review: What Worked, What Didn\u2019t and All the Lessons Learned in 2017 - Biz Women Rock!\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Year in Review: What Worked, What Didn\u2019t and All the Lessons Learned in 2017 I absolutely love the end of the year because it forces me to stop, breathe and acknowledge everything that happened. 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