PERSONAL ANECDOTE

Hey y’all! How’s your Spring been so far?!

The past few weeks have felt like a 180 for me - in a good way.

Seemingly overnight, my “celebrity switch” turned back on.

(If you want to know more about cultivating the resource of fame, check out the episode below).

After almost a two-year-long hibernation period, my media magnetism and the craving to create that I had in my first year in business is back.

On top of the media inquiries and podcasting organically picking up again, this past week, these ‘celebrity-like moments’ started transpiring in real life:

For Easter, Cleveland and I went to Ft Myers.

On the way there, our connecting flight got delayed for a few hours, so I whipped out my laptop and did some podcast editing at the airport.

The family sitting next to me must’ve seen what I was working on and asked me what I did for work.

“That’s SO freakin’ cool,” The dad said.

I wanted to die.

It was an unexpectedly cool experience to be praised by strangers in person…and it wasn’t the last.

Throughout the trip, I continued to meet people and organically have conversations.

“It’s like we’re meeting a celebrity”

“I don’t personally know anyone who’s doing what you’re doing”

“You LOOK like someone who’s famous”

The compliments and follows and pressing questions continued, and I wanted to crawl under a rock….

But I recognize that after 2 years, its time to take up space again.

I’ve been overly humble for far too long - what I’ve created IS unique, and most people aren’t doing this, and it’s okay to acknowledge it.

Times are also changing.

Just because you cultivate the resource of fame doesn’t mean that you’re a tyrant or an egotistical maniac.

Instead, I can use the resource of fame for good - to make changes in the world as I saw years ago when I first started posting online.

But this time, I’m going to do things in a bigger way and from a more grounded place.

Stay tuned! 😌

BEHIND THE NUMBERS

As per usual, we’re getting raw and real. 

Things have been financially really good not because of cashflow changes (yet, at least), but because my foundation is SOLID.

I completely revamped my budget, cut back on expenses, opened up a business account, and finally started to look at my bills and debt right in the face versus avoiding them.

Between biz & personal, I have about $59k in debt accumulated over the past 3 years.

Despite the uncertainty (because wtf else is new), I am no longer scared of my financial future… mostly. I am rebuilding, and that’s okay.

It’s expected, but often not talked about or glamorized. This is the reality of business.

I’ve really started to outgrow the idea of what life and business should be and just enjoy what it is.

I’m still making progress even if it seems small on a micro level. Small steps lead to big changes, after all.

If you want me to divulge more details or something specific, let me know 🙋‍♀️

REVENUE BREAKDOWN FOR Q1 2024:

TOTAL REVENUE: $13,269 (~$4,400/mo)

JANUARY: $4,227

FEBRUARY: $5,201

MARCH: $3,841

MONTHLY BREAKDOWN

JANUARY 2024 - $4,227

FEBRUARY 2024 - $5,201

MARCH 2024 - $3,841

WHAT’S WORKING

I’m really enjoying the freelance clients I’m working with right now. 

The projects I work on with them can vary, making every week exciting.

Right now, I mostly do copywriting for newsletters, LinkedIn posts, and landing pages, but will occasionally do projects on podcast production, branding, creating graphics for social, or website help.

When I first started working with clients, it was for one-off projects or a singular strategy session.

Though I will accept some of those if it’s an exciting project, I mostly work on a retainer so I have a consistent flow of revenue.

I do NOT work hourly and my creative retainer starts at $1,500 per month.

A major change that happened was offboarding my longest-paying client (which is why my income dipped in March), but I’m really happy about it actually.

I was starting to become resentful about the amount of work I was doing and I was no longer loving it, but I was too stubborn and stuck in scarcity to turn the $1,900/mo away. So life did it for me.

This is a temporary income loss for long-term happiness, and now I have more control over my schedule again and am making space for better-aligned clients and CQ offers).

On the cash management side, I completely revamped my entire budget.

For the past 3 years, I have been severely winging it, and learning the money systems in business has been HARD (especially when I didn’t have any income).

I have a lot of making up to do, and I’ve made peace with that.

Now, as a means to get my shit together, I track every single thing I spend, reworked some subscriptions + cut back on what wasn’t necessary but ‘nice to have’ (both personally and professionally), and have aggressively made plans/moves to finally start paying off my business + personal debt versus just paying minimums and floating ($59,000).

When I make more progress on how I’m going to tackle the debt stuff, I’ll let you know. The easiest thing was to just cut back my expenses.

WHAT’S NOT WORKING

Though I overall feel really good about where things are and where they’re headed, there are always going to be bottlenecks or things that are failing.

An example of this is that I launched an offer to help people launch a podcast, the Podcast Launch Lab, and though I had a lot of excitement in the beginning, and a few people jumped on the offer, it didn’t do as well as I’d hoped.

I had wanted at least 6 people in the group, aiming for a high of 16, but I only have 3 (still, it was roughly ~$1,000 in sales).

Part of this was due to a lack of marketing. I didn’t post all month.

You can’t expect to sell something if ain’t nobody knows about it. 

The other reason is because of my lack of conviction.

I’ve been teaching podcast- and social media-related classes for about 3 years now so it’s really easy for me, but it’s the same thing I’ve always taught and I often trick myself into thinking “I already did this before and no one cares.”

It wasn’t until a few days before the program started that I actually got excited about it - 3 weeks too late in the sales cycle 😅 

The reality is that I’m still battling my inner demons and have not mastered the sales/marketing process, and that’s okay.

I don’t think I’ve found my million-dollar idea yet, and I’m also simultaneously conflicted about what I can create because I truly believe I can do anything if I care enough about it.

I’m also wrapping up the first iteration of the Quitter Program and it wasn’t what I expected.

Every person and situation was different.

Some just wanted coaching, others wanted working sessions and explicit instructions every time we met.

I didn’t get any bad feedback, but they all had varying levels of commitment and results.

I blame a lot of this on myself.

…And I’m also coming to terms with the fact that their outcome is out of my control.

I can’t force people to do the things they need to do to make progress in their life, even if they pay me (a lot or a little). That’s on them.

And everyone’s timeline is completely different.

It’s liberating to finally have the realization that it’s not my job to baby every single person, but it’s still an open wound I’m working on. I care too much.

I’m unsure what the next variation of the Quitter Program will be, and that’s okay. It will work itself out.

WHAT WE’RE EXCITED ABOUT

Literally, EVERYTHING is ramping up.

My media magnet is back on and I’m organically attracting opportunities (last week I had an interview with The Financial Times, and this week I had one with Le Monde)

I finally ordered art print samples and have my first legit art show on April 20th at Pancakes & Booze.

YouTube creation is slowly chugging along (we have 150 subscribers) and I’ve finally posted our video podcasts and clips to social.

The cherry on top of this is that I now have a legit studio!!

A week before my podcast program started, Cleve built a custom desk for me and helped create the first iteration of our studio.

We snagged desk chairs and theatre-grade acoustic panels at a gallery liquidation sale for next to nothing and got a bunch of LED smart bulbs to change the color of the room.

We still have more to do, but it was exactly what I needed for this next chapter as things ramp up.

🔮 PROJECTS & PROJECTIONS FOR Q2

As of right now, I’m unsure what my full plan is when it comes to making money, but I know it will be through various streams and it will be A LOT.

I like the stability of client work and the large cash injections that come from brand deals and quarterly program launches.

But I also like the passivity that comes from digital products, affiliate work, and the like. I’ve finally started to see how all of it can flow together.

This next quarter is going to be really good.

GOALS FOR Q2

I just wiped clean my whiteboard and revamped my goals for the next quarter. Here are some things that are top of mind for me:

BUSINESS GOALS

• Finish the first draft of my manuscript, Confessions of a Quitter (30k words so far)

• Earnings eligible on YouTube (500 subs + 3k watch hours)

• 130k podcast downloads

• 5 organic media segments (1 down, 4 to go)

• Another $10k month(s)

PERSONAL GOALS

• Go to the gym at least 4x/week & increase protein intake

• Pay off my Citi card ($2,400)

• Get a newer used car

• Sell my first piece of art (prints?)

• Finish furnishing my studio and bedroom