2021 Business Reflection
2021 was such a YEAR! Seriously, it was a year of growth, a year of change, and a year that went even better than I could have possibly dreamt for my business. And for that I am SO DANG GRATEFUL!
The truth is last year this time, there were SO many unknowns. I was about to embark on a new chapter as an entrepreneur with a new business and running it by myself for the first time. And while I had a lot of big goals, I just reallyyyy didn’t know how things would go. Not that we ever really know how things are going to go but it was the first year in a while where the uncertainty really scared the crap out of me if I’m being honest. With fear, comes the opportunity for growth though and I grew in SO many ways over the last year. As I reflect on the last year, here are some of the things I’m most proud of.
Stepped into my confidence
This was a really BIG one for me! It’s not that I didn’t have confidence in myself before. I definitely did… but I really had to strengthen that trust in myself even more as a solopreneur. Up until this year, I had always had a business partner to run ideas by, to brainstorm with, and for support. So being on my own was definitely a big adjustment. Flashback to this time last year I was having some serious doubts about if and how I was going to pull it all off. Spoiler, those fears never amounted to anything though and not only did I step up, but I freaking STEPPED UP! To be honest, having to call all the shots really made me strengthen my decision-making muscle which ended up being such a good thing. Now I’m ending the year feeling more aligned than ever with the work I’m doing, where I’m headed, and my abilities to make it all happen!
Furthered my skills both in Social Media and Design
2021 was a year to really stretch my skills — both on the design and social media sides of my business. I jumped headfirst into expanding my skills when it came to video content on social media for my own accounts and for clients. And I also dove headfirst into furthering my skills in custom coding for websites and design techniques. Like girlllll, I’m not going to lie I am impressed as heck at how many new skills I learned this year! A huge part of that is because of my amazing clients and all of the fun projects I got to work on too. For every… “can we do this?” question came brainstorming, finding solutions and learning a lot of new skills!
Learned my boundaries
This was a big lesson for sure! As I mentioned, this was my first year of managing a business by myself and there’s definitely a difference in the workload that one person can take on vs two. So that was a learning curve for sure! I had one season where I took on a bit more than I should have and while I still got everything done (and on time!) I learned that working 15 hour days for weeks on end was not something I wanted to do. So I reevaluated how many projects I wanted to work on at a time, capped how many social media accounts I take on, got some extra help, and prioritized only taking on projects that are most aligned.
Expanded my team
Can I say I am so dang grateful to have some extra hands to help out?! Asking for help turns out to be something I needed to work on but after testing those boundaries I knew how essential it was. I ended up bringing on some help on the social media side of my business and I can’t tell you how big of a game-changer it has been!
Upleveled my processes and software
Awww I’m excited about this one! I’ve always been a systems nerd but this year I really overhauled some of the processes and software I use in my business. Having an easy peasy client experience has always been something that is really important to me, so I decided to optimize some things to make it even easier for everyone. I also switched up some of the software I use which ended up saving the biz some extra moolah that I was then able to invest elsewhere — win win! I wrote a blog post on some of the software changes too if you’re interested.
Took time to heal
As I mentioned, 2021 brought on a lot of changes to my entrepreneurial journey and with that, I had some healing to do. At the end of last year, I was in the thick of things and really repressed a lot of the hurt feelings I had. For better or worse I’m realllyyyy good at doing that when I’m in survival mode. Once the dust started to settle though and I had time to reflect on everything I realized that I definitely had some work to do so I made that a priority this year.
Invested in my business
Let me clap for myself here because I am very excited about this one 👏👏👏. This was definitely a part of my business I needed to adjust my mindset about. I’d definitely classify myself as someone who likes to save for a rainy day — especially since we’ve been living through a pandemic for nearly 2 years now. That being said, there were a few investments in my business I decided to go for this year! Including some new software, hiring some help, a new computer, and (the one I’m currently so excited about) a Squarespace coding course to take my website coding skills even further. I also went on a mini business retreat which was even more beneficial than I thought it would be! Making these investments was a little scary at the time but they’ve all already paid off so much. Plus, making these investments this year has made me more comfortable doing so which I know will be important in the future.
Set myself up for long-term success
This was my intention for the year and truly something I repeated to myself day in and day out. With every big decision I made, I always made sure it aligned with my long-term vision for my business and life. Since I was starting fresh with a new company, I really wanted to be thoughtful in the foundation I built so this was important to me!
2021… truly you’re going to be a tough one to top but I close out this year feeling so proud, so grateful, and just so excited for what the new year is going to bring.
Anna Osgoodby
Founder of Going Bold Studio, Anna Osgoodby is an award-winning designer and social media marketing expert. With over a decade of experience, she specializes in helping small businesses with their social media, branding and Squarespace website design.
