I don’t know about you, but the first quarter of 2023 was quite a wild ride for me. My inbox usually fills up with requests for strategy sessions the first or second week of January. It is usually a great month for me. 

Not this year. 

Picture me yelling out over a cliff, “Hellllloooooo.” The only thing that came back was an echo. 

I was distracted with the upcoming release of my book. If nobody told you, launching and promoting a book is as hard or harder than writing the book. 

I was too busy to panic like I probably should have. 

February was more of the same, but now I started to panic. I was promoting the book like crazy and trying not to let things fall through the cracks with my current clients. I did some outreach, but not nearly enough. 

And then I went to Hawaii for two weeks. 

Yes, the timing was awful, but when someone offers you a free trip to Hawaii and it’s February in Chicago, you say yes. 

I can work from anywhere, but I tried to do as little work as possible, even though I should have been kicking my business development efforts into high gear.

The truth was I was burned out and needed some rest and a mindset reset. I hadn’t taken more than a few days away from my business in years. 

When I got back in early March, I got back to work and finally had some prospects reaching out. I am thrilled to share that March was a pretty good month and the pipeline is starting to fill up. 

But I was scared for a while there. I told my accountant that I probably should have shut the business down, but I am just too stubborn to do that after 12 years.

So, here we are in Q2 and I am doing some planning. I am:

  • Creating and launching a new half-day workshop called Recalibrate
  • Considering creating a book study group with the author to support my new book
  • Developing a content calendar so I know what I will be posting on social media
  • Having current clients do more coaching with a coach I partner with 

Basically, I am structuring my business so I can do my client work that pays my bills, but trying to leverage my time by doing more group coaching and less 1:1 coaching. 

I am also running what is essentially a second business, which is the ongoing promotion of my book. This includes scheduling and recording podcasts and posting all kinds of content on social media. 

I am blocking out time on my calendar for creative thinking and writing. I am scheduling time for exercise. I am scheduling time for art / music / dance. What I know about myself is if I don’t do these things, I do not show up as my best self in any aspect of my personal or professional life. 

I guess this is the upside of the fiasco that was 2020 and 2021. I am unwilling to give up my self-care for anything. 

I am excited about spring and what I am creating in Q2. I hope you are making some big plans for your business. Let’s do this!

Photo by Matt Bowden on Unsplash