September is here and for those of us who are slaves to the academic year, it’s also full of that new start feeling.
While January is the official start to the year, it’s always good to have a mid year check in and what better time than September?
I’ll be honest with you – times have been TOUGH this year. Not just for me, but for a lot of the VAs I’ve spoken to. The VA industry is changing, it’s more competitive, work has been harder to get and 2023 for me has been about survival. Making sure I’m bringing in enough to pay my bills and feed my 2 chubby cats.
Because of this, I feel I’ve lost momentum and I know it’s not just me. The summer panic/stress/quiet time comes and goes and all of a sudden, we are on countdown to the end of the year.
September is the perfect time to boost motivation and pick up your momentum again but how do we do this?
We start with a business check in.
- Look at the goals you set yourself for this year – where are you with those goals? Have you made any progress, or have you forgotten them completely?
- Look at your finances – have you submitted your tax return for 2022/2023? Do you know where your business is financially? Is it where it needs to be?
- Look at your time – how much are you working? Is it worth it financially? Do you want to be working more/working less? Are you sticking with your boundaries or have you let your work creep into your “you time”.
- Lastly – look at you and your wellbeing. Check in with yourself. How are you feeling? How have the first 9 months gone for you and what do you want to do for the next 3?
You might have looked at all of those things and thought bugger. This is a bit grim. (As I have just done).
But there’s time to change it.
Start by setting yourself a goal for the next 12 weeks.
- Set yourself a business goal – this could be renewing your policies, checking the “health” of your business and making sure everything is in great shape by the end of the year ready to jump into 2024.
- Set yourself a financial goal – do you want to gain a new client? Do you want to increase your rate? Do you want to put together some packages?
- Set yourself a time goal – what hours do you actually want to work? Do you really want to be working at the weekend or in the evening? Set yourself some working hours and stick to them. These don’t have to be hours your clients know about; they are for you. I personally quite like working in an evening sometimes – but my clients don’t know that.
- Set yourself a you goal – when was the last time you had a day off and did nothing? When was the last time you had some quiet time to yourself and read a book or watched a TV show (that wasn’t something your kids/partner/cat wanted to watch)?
Write these goals down, break out the fancy pens, and stick them somewhere you can see them. Every time you look at them remind yourself – that’s where I’m going.
I guarantee you; this will give you an energy and motivational boost and you’ll be well on your way for the end of the year.
If you want to share these goals with me, or chat more – I’d love to speak to you. Drop me an email or come and say hi in the Hub!
Let’s absolutely smash the last 3 months of 2023 together.