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This morning I slept in a little bit.  My body is having a hard time adjusting to our time.  I know it says, “Give me Hawaii time again.”  Haha.  I’m going to have to start going to bed early and getting up early as well.

Looking Ahead in 2020

Over the last few weeks, I’ve been planning and goal setting to see what 2020 looks like for my business.  I know getting more traffic to my site(s) is involved but I’m not sure what that means because there are tons of ways that you can get traffic to your site.

Today I came across this Medium article: I Blogged Every Single Day for a Year and it Changed my Life​

(If you decide to go read the post don’t forget to follow me here: https://medium.com/@april.lemarr​ I haven’t started posting yet, but plan to soon. I’ve been taking a course from Connie Green called Syndication Optimization and she shares tons of great ways to put yourself out on the web.)

And it inspired me to make sure that blogging is a major part of my goals for the new year. By figuring out my goals it is going to help me with all the decisions that I make in my business in 2020.

When I first started making big goals and planning ahead would have freaked me out. All of the insecurities that go with them: what if I can’t get them done? What if I don’t meet the deadlines I create? What if, what if, what if…

Over the last three years, I’ve discovered that not meeting all your goals or all of your deadlines is okay. This really depends on a few things though.

Now I love planning ahead because then I know exactly what is going to happen, what I need to do and when it needs to be done.

Future Product Creation Brainstorming

A few days ago (before Hawaii) I was planning and goal setting future topics for done-for-you content in 2020.  I created a spreadsheet for my project manager to start setting them up to be created.  I’ve added business topics this year and some of them include: Chatbots, Transparency, Instagram, Video Content and a few more.  Is there any topic you’d be interested in?  Please let me know.

My goal for today is to provide all topics for Business, Home & Garden, and Health that we’ll be releasing in 2020.  

I’ve created a Survey Monkey form so that you can add all of the topics you’re interested in and I’ll have it in one place.

Even if I get these done today I’ll add or replace topics that work for you.

Using a Team Makes My Job Easier

Over the last five months, I’ve been slowly outsourcing tasks that I don’t need to be doing.  I’m still working on tasks that I could assign to someone else, but it is way less than what I was doing in August.  Outsourcing can be scary and time-consuming but I’m learning how to provide training, instructions and find people who have skills that will work in my business.

By doing this in 2020 I’ll be able to focus on different parts of my business.  As a solopreneur I can’t do everything and having a team is something that I knew was in my business plan right from the start.

Outsourcing is definitely a skill and has a learning curve but it is well worth it once you start to get it.  It isn’t easy and I’ve hired people when I shouldn’t have and expected them to do tasks without much input from me.  Doing this wasn’t a good way to conduct business but I didn’t know what I wanted or what I needed and most of the time I was winging it.  This also isn’t a good way to conduct business.

I do think that both of these have helped me in my business because I’m learning how to communicate effectively with my team so that the tasks that I want done will get done, it has also helped me figure out what I don’t want to do in my business and has helped me create systems, processes, and templates.  By doing this it helps my team provide consistency in my brand and my products.

Planning Ahead Helps My Team

Working on these topics now is a great way to spend my time because then the people who help me will know exactly what they’re doing and when it is due. That means they’ll be able to add it to their schedule and know what their workload is each week.

They’ll be able to work ahead of schedule and make sure that everything is done before the deadlines. This makes everything less stressful in business.

Promotions Are Easier When I Have a Schedule

Selling done-for-you content to bloggers, entrepreneurs, coaches, and small businesses is a big part of my income, so producing new content for them to use in their business will help them provide valuable information to their audience but it’ll also help me know what the topics are each week.

By knowing this information I can create a calendar for myself, as well as my affiliates. They’ll know what is coming and where in their promotional calendar they want to add it.

This will also help me provide affiliate resources such as email swipes or blog posts that will help them promote my products easily.

Planning Ahead Frees Up My Time

Creating and selling done-for-you content has been a major part of my business for over three years and in 2020 I want to serve my audience in different ways. By planning my promotions ahead of time I know when they are and can create blog posts, Facebook Live streaming, training, workshops or anything else I’d like to do in 2020.

I’m very excited to try new things in the new year. I’ve learned how to create done-for-you content bundles and I’ve got a system so now it is time for me to learn new skills and grow my business in different ways.

This is both terrifying and exhilarating. 🙂

~April

P.S. What do your 2020 plans look like? A whole year might seem overwhelming, but what about the 1st quarter? I just bought these planners from Brendon Burchard to help me stay on track.

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