2023 Recap & 2024 Goals

It’s the most wonderful time of the year! Yearly review/celebration and goal setting season! And 2023 was a pretty big year!

I’ll be breaking this down into business goals and fitness/wellness goals since those are typically my main areas of focus when it comes to goal setting and are probably the most relatable to you.

Business

Became an ongoing creative partner for past clients (but not through retainers)

I love having ongoing client relationships and continuing to design under the brand strategy and website we built together. So going into 2023 I wanted to be really intentional about creating ways to provide that support, from creative direction calls, to regular website updates, instagram graphics, email layouts, studio graphics, etc. At the beginning of the year, I thought the easiest way to set this up would be to offer design retainers (since that’s a pretty common practice in the industry), but in Q4 I found a more streamlined approach where I basically created a menu of client updates that can be easily booked. There’s no question in price or availability, making it easier for everyone. I’ve been slowly rolling this out and look forward to fully implementing this process in 2024 to all past clients, even for the smallest of updates.

Continued educating and building awareness through monthly webinars/podcasts (in Q1)

With the birth of Carter in May, this was primarily a focus in Q1 and did work really well. Researching and finding the perfect partners for this, however, was very time consuming and might not have been the most efficient. In 2024, I plan on offering guest webinars and podcast interviews as they come up naturally and feel like the right fit, rather than seeking them out. Instead, the time I get back can be used to focus on the community I already have and love.

2024 Goals

From a business perspective, I actually had a bit of a hard time coming up with what felt like new goals for 2024. Maybe it’s just because I’m regularly checking in and updating them, or maybe for once I actually feel good about most things the way they currently are. Of course I have plenty I could work on to improve, but no major overhauls to my marketing or new income streams in the works. Just growing and improving what I already have and dreaming up fun projects!

Enhance My Blog by Updating Old Posts and Tightening Up SEO

As my business services and platform recommendations have changed across the years, old blog posts may not be completely up-to-date so I want to be sure the full blog is a helpful, accurate resource. There have also been plenty of times where I posted to the blog without taking much time on the post SEO keywords, title, description, etc (use the Yoast SEO plugin for a full check list on your post) so I’ll be going back to enhance those.

Design the Graphics for a Large Running/Tennis/Triathlon Event

This is an ongoing career bucket list of mine. I LOVE the hype around sporting events and the process of designing a full event branding system.

Do Less

But actually…haha. I always have the habit of filling my plate because I get excited about every potential project and every new business idea. But, especially with the birth of my son this year, I want to feel a little more present, calmer, and well-rested. Not everything has to happen today, this week, or maybe at all.

Health & Fitness

Led With Intuitive Movement & Smart Workouts

2023 was completely focused on intuitive movement during pregnancy and postpartum as well as workouts that would help prepare me for labor and rebuild afterwards. It all went better than expected and I was thrilled to be able to build back up my running to run the Turkey Trot with my family on Thanksgiving without walking.

2024 Goals

Pregnancy and postpartum required so much patience for me to listen to my body, slow down, and not go all in on races and speed goals. But I’m picking things up this year!

Run a Half Marathon

I previously trained for a half, but in the last few weeks of training I experience a lot of knee pain and wasn’t ultimately able to run the race. This year I plan to be consistent with the PT exercises I was given for said knee pain and hope to finally check this goal off the list!

Finish an Olympic Distance Triathlon in Under 3 Hours

I’m so excited to do another triathlon, my favorite! I don’t have much of a benchmark right now for where I’ll be at in terms of speed, so under 3 hours might be a stretch, but I love an ambitious goal.

Experiment with Cycle Syncing

I’ve been interested and read a lot about cycle syncing in the past, but have always been hesitant to change my workout schedule with each phase. I love my high intensity workouts and wasn’t sure how I’d be able to train for a race with down weeks, but I’m excited to experiment with how it can work for me.