[00:00:00] Josh: hello friends. Welcome into episode 233. We're in this one. I just want to have a casual chat with you, particularly those of you who maybe just didn't have a great year this year.
[00:00:12] Maybe you had some goals that you didn't hit. Or maybe you had some struggles and some challenges either personally or professionally that maybe kind of held you back and you just feel like this year, maybe it wasn't a complete bus, but it just wasn't the year that you had hoped for or that you were expecting.
[00:00:30] Uh, the reason I wanted to do this is because I'm kind of right there with you. I personally did not have my best year ever. I had a lot of things in my personal life that, uh, kind of came into the professional realms and, and kind of held me back from my business in some way, and, I'd had some lofty goals for myself that I, I quite frankly, didn't even come close to this year.
[00:00:54] And in fact, I'm gonna be transparent with you in this one just to show that you are not alone if you didn't hit your goals. And that there are plenty of people right alongside you. I'm also gonna give you some encouragement in this episode. So it's not gonna be a Debbie Downer, it's not gonna be a pity party fest.
[00:01:09] Um, but this was personally the first year that I made less money than I did the previous year. So to this point, I've always made more money than the previous year. This was the first year that that did not happen, and there's a lot of different reasons. I'm not casting blame on anything other than just not hitting that goal.
[00:01:30] Um, but I have learned a lot from this and I just, I wanted to, to just chat with you, kind of a shorty episode here to say that if you did not hit your goals, if you did not have the best year ever, number one, it is 100% okay. Number two, you are not alone. And number three, there is light at the end of the tunnel, my friends, because we were about to head into a new year, and this is the perfect time to not look in the rear view mirror, but move forward.
[00:02:00] And I know we are in the middle of a global economic recession in a lot of different industries. However, I don't want, I, I wanna encourage you not to blame that on not hitting business goals. Now this is a biggie because I've seen a lot of people blame recession kind of stuff. And yes, that can have a factor with with a lot of different industries as far as what they're investing in for their business.
[00:02:25] However, I've had some students this year who have had their best year ever and have absolutely thrived, and I've seen some colleagues absolutely thrive. So I want to encourage you, and I'm reminding myself of this, Just because we didn't hit our goals this year doesn't mean that we should be casting blame. I want to encourage you, just like I'm reminding myself to take ownership of our situation basically.
[00:02:48] So I say all that to say it is interesting, and again, just on a personal standpoint, I'll just share with you why I think I didn't have my best year ever and hopefully this resonates and maybe we can work through some of this together to make sure 2023 is even better and lights us up by the end of the year. So we look. and we say, dang, that was, that was awesome. Let's go again.
[00:03:10] And here's one thing I I wanna say that's important too. This is one thing I've realized. Goal setting is so interesting, right? Because everyone does it differently. You could go into. Thousands and thousands of different courses and trainings and programs to set your goals.
[00:03:26] And I do think it's important. I think it's important to have a monetary goal that you want to take home for you and your family or whatever your situation is, because if you don't know that, then you're just gonna kind of flounder around. So you gotta know what you wanna take home and have good goals.
[00:03:42] I do think it's important to shoot for the stars and have lofty goals because even if you fall short of a lofty goal, You're still gonna likely grow and have a profitable business. And I do think it's really important to have some sort of goal that is attainable. So you don't want to just say, I wanna grow my business this year, cuz what the heck does that mean?
[00:04:00] Like have a goal that is reachable and monetary, but again that takes you outside of your comfort zone and stretches you to build your business. All that to say though, I don't think money is the only goal you should have there some of your goals for 2023 in, in one case, may. lifestyle goals, like maybe you wanna work less, maybe you wanna limit your time to like 30 hours a week.
[00:04:23] And so you craft your week, you craft your day in order to hit that. And that's a biggie too. So when I, when I say I didn't hit my goals necessarily, and, and when a lot of people feel like this, it's usually right towards, you know, the financial aspect, which is a big aspect of goal setting and business growth.
[00:04:37] But I don't want you to neglect or forget your lifestyle approach to a sustainable business as. So all that to say, maybe your goal was to work less hours, but you ended up working more in 2022. That may, that may make you feel like you missed out on your goal when you fell short, which might be the case.
[00:04:58] There might be a lot of reasons for that. Um, but again, I just wanna say that you are not alone in all this. I want to reiterate that because I know how lonely it can feel when you feel like I just didn't have the best of your ever. It doesn't feel great. Um, you're not. It is 100% okay. And it's time to move forward past this.
[00:05:16] So with that in mind, lemme just share a couple of reasons why I personally didn't have the best year ever, and I just wanna be transparent with you as a listener of this podcast. Uh, and to kind of get this off my chest, because sometimes in my current season of life, uh, with having a newborn, with having a daughter who is still in recovery from, uh, a medical emergency we had a couple months ago.
[00:05:35] I've got my other little one in the middle who's, you know, we're dealing with some families. We're just, we're dealing with a tough season of life, right? It is L it is 100%. Uh, a big reason why I didn't hit my goals, particularly at the end of this year. And sometimes it's nice for me to just share some of this stuff because I don't often have time to just sit and think and decompress, which I encourage that you do as well either.
[00:05:58] You know here, I know we're coming up on Christmas at the time of releasing this, but maybe by the new Year or in the new year, take some time to reflect, look at what went well this year, look at what didn't go so well, and then maybe that'll shed some light to help you as you go into next year.
[00:06:11] But for me personally, there was a lot of personal things that kind of went into this year. I, I've, I was open about, uh, my family moving into a new house, which was awesome. And I know it's like, oh, well you. What a pity party you had to move into a nice new build. Uh, but that if you've ever moved and if you've ever moved with toddlers, you probably know how absolutely chaotic that is.
[00:06:34] And I severely underestimated how much time it would take to mentally and practically be like back on my feet in a, in a good place to, to work consistently through that time. And my wife was also pregnant during that time. So our move in the spring here, this past. definitely set me back in some ways, in ways that I dis didn't anticipate.
[00:06:55] So a good reminder for myself and for you, maybe that if there is a move or if there is a change of, uh, offices, if you work remotely, like in an office or whatever it looks like, maybe plan for some extra time to kind of get back into the swing of things cuz I did not give myself enough time to do that. And uh, there was definitely some points where I was like, okay, I'm ready to work on this new project and I just didn't have it. I just did not have it in me. So if that's you, you're not alone in that regard either.
[00:07:24] It happens to. All of us. So that was a biggie. And then a lot of, you know, that, um, with my wife being pregnant, we were gearing up for our third child. And then my, my sweet little daughter, Bria, who I've been posting some updates. If you haven't, check those out. You can follow me on Instagram. I'm on Facebook as well.
[00:07:39] Both those handles are at Josh Hall Co. You can follow me over there and, uh, and follow along. I'm just a little more active on Instagram right now, but I posted some updates. Recovery is going well, but we just recently went through a season where we are still, I mean basically once we hit October of this year with my daughter having a prolonged seizure and us having a extended hospital stay, my baby being born that same week while we were spread through different hospitals and why my little one Annie is, was living at.
[00:08:07] With grandparents. Uh, and then my wife had a serious medical emergency as well. She had a preeclampsia scare and we were in the hospital with her for a few days, all within the span of two weeks. Needless to say, all my plans for the fall of this year have been completely erased, and I have recalculating things, so I, I say this to not, again, not to just have a pity party, but just to share that I went through some challenges and struggles this year of the likes that I've never gone through before.
[00:08:35] and it has made me realize that I need to give myself some grace during all this. Like I, yes, I would've loved to have grown the business to the, to the level that I wanted to this year, but it just didn't happen. And this year's a different year for me personally. Maybe it is for you too. Maybe you went through some stuff this year that is different and hopefully you don't have to go through again.
[00:08:57] I, I would encourage you just like I'm reminding myself, give yourself some grace, uh, in that type, type of situation. And one thing I, I hit on too is that this is so cliche, but social media is just the absolute worst for this kind of situation because you see, again, we all know that social media are the highlights.
[00:09:19] So not too many people are like, had a terrible week. Sales are down this week. Usually it's like, hi, my best week ever. Like, like I'm sharing a lot of testimonials from my students who are having wins and stuff like, But I don't want, I really hope that doesn't, uh, come across that you know you are doing something wrong if you're not getting those wins or you're not landing all the proposals you had hoped for, you didn't hit your goal when you started your business, or you didn't make enough to go from a side hustle to full-time right now.
[00:09:45] I don't want you to feel like that because it's very likely that maybe you're just not acknowledging the wins that you have and small wins are big wins. Maybe there's some unrealistic expectations that are in in play, maybe also. You're right at the cusp. Like I have so many students right now who I can tell they're, they're right there. You are right there where you, maybe you're not landing as many proposals as you thought, but you're so close and you're about to turn that cha, you're about to turn that corner to where things are really start to happen for you. And you likely, a lot of you are probably right there.
[00:10:19] So I, I hope I wanna encourage you to just stick with it. Keep on doing your thing, refine your processes, get better every day. Build that momentum and you will get. and I have to remind myself of that as well.
[00:10:31] So I, I say all that to say there was a lot of, for me personally, it wasn't any other thing this year than a lot of the personal things that happened this year.
[00:10:38] But I've had to learn to give myself some grace. And again, maybe that's you. Maybe you, maybe you had a child this year. Maybe you had somebody in your family that, uh, had, you know, had some extra help that they need. They needed your help. If you have. Maybe parents that are ill or whatever, like, I'm just thinking of cases that students have told me this year as to why they've had to kind of, you know, put the breaks on their business or, or take a step back and that is totally fine.
[00:11:03] Social media makes it, it escalates it, it makes it so much worse cuz you see the highlights and you see people doing really well and sharing their wins. But just remember, even the people who are sharing wins and doing really well, it doesn't mean that they're not facing struggles and challenges as well.
[00:11:17] It just means that they're likely not sharing them. who wants to share all their struggles on social media? You don't wanna be that person. I know we all have that person right on Facebook who's like, oh God might need to unfollow them. Just cuz I can't stand to see their post nonstop. But anyway, that's a big, I had to remind myself of that as well.
[00:11:34] I actually think I did an episode a little while back on how Instagram, in some ways has helped boost my business, but also has hindered my business. And What number was that? Let me look back real quick. That was interesting too, because I, I'm really enjoying my time on Instagram. However, I've had to catch myself with the comparison issue.
[00:11:54] So that was episode 221. If you want to go back and listen to that. Uh, cause I do open up about how Insta has helped and how it's hurt my business in some ways. The comparison thing, I had to, even though I, you know, teach people to be aware of that, it's so easy to, to fall into that trap.
[00:12:09] But I think I also learned that personally this year I've focused on a lot of things that were not moving the needle forward in my business, and one of the biggest things I'm doing in the new year here is to focus, especially since I have such limited time right now, I am going to be focusing on the things that grow my business and move the needle forward.
[00:12:30] I actually just touched on this a few episodes back on 230 about the things that you can do to move your business forward fast as a web design business owner. Um, so that might be worth a listen as well if you haven't caught that one. But yeah, I, I, I found myself focusing on things that really did not move my business forward.
[00:12:46] Now, one thing that I'm also learning, and hopefully this helps you as well, if you are working on like big picture goals for your business, is I feel like this year I've kind of been a duck. In my business, meaning if you watch a duck swim, you, they don't really look like they're doing anything. They're just like kind of coasting on the top.
[00:13:06] But you better be sure that below the surface, their little legs are, they're kicking. It probably didn't sound like that, but I hope you enjoyed that sound effect for for this episode. But their legs are kicking under the water. I felt like that too because I did not release anything new this year. Uh, I basically continued to grow my web design club and do all my coaching in there.
[00:13:27] I have been supporting my courses and all of my students and, uh, updating lessons, a as needed. And I've been refining, I've been refining a lot in my business and I've also been doing a lot more on the socials with promoting the podcast and really trying to make this show better and better. And I did rebrand this show this year, so that was a big thing, and that's gone over really well.
[00:13:47] I hope it has made some clarity about what this podcast is about I've really tried working hard at getting, um, some, not better guests, but just some, some, some really, really good guests and really good topics, which thankfully I think you'll agree in me with saying that all of the guests on this podcast have been amazing no matter where they at, they're at in their entrepreneurial career.
[00:14:09] So, I say all that to say though, I'm really working hard at the processes for, for, for the podcast as well, a lot of which are like slow gains. So it's not like I launched a big new program and it made a huge windfall of money in, in, uh, in a launch period. That's, that wasn't the case this year, which that played into things as well.
[00:14:27] So, and I wanna say I didn't have a bad year. I, I'll, I'll be open and transparent. We'll finish around a quarter million, which is good for the setup that I have. I only have a couple team, like team members, essentially, Nathan, my and then Kam my va and then, uh, I have, uh, my social media manager, Kevin, on retainer now.
[00:14:46] Like that's been a big business. Uh, help with the business growth as well, um, to spread news about the, the podcast and just the programs. And I'm basically laying the groundwork for next year. That's what I'm getting at. And the reason I say I feel like a duck is because it didn't look like I did like that many new things this year, but I actually have in the way of planning out really the next year and, and some, some, some stuff I'm gonna be doing next year.
[00:15:12] So I've talked about this before briefly, but one thing I've been working on, oh, and that was the other big thing this year, which corresponds with this, is I had started writing a book and as I started writing my book, I realized, Hold on a sec. I need to put this on hold. Number one, because of everything we were going through with my family, I just did not have the bandwidth to even get out and write with my wife needing so much help with, with the kiddos being pregnant and everything, and moving and getting settled in and all our family stuff
[00:15:38] but, I looked at my services and my offerings and I was like, I've gotta refine some of this stuff, and I'm really happy with the courses I have out there. I continue to keep those updated and I love my web design club, but I'm finding some holes in, in everything that I have set up. And I'm, I'm, I'm kind of just r. Putting some things in different places for the new year and repackaging up a few things. And I am really excited about this new program that I'm gonna be offering in, uh, the first quarter of 2023 called Web Design Business Mastery tm.
[00:16:07] It's now trademarked. Um, so if you wanna get the down low on that, you can go to josh hall.co/mastery and you can just sign up. Uh, No obligation. I'm just gonna keep you up to date on mastery and give you kind of a peek behind the curtain. But Web Design Business Mastery is going to be my signature program starting next year.
[00:16:26] Uh, there's still a lot of details being worked out, but as I looked at what I have, I'm like, there's so many gaps on helping people. Really make a sustainable, profitable six-figure business. Everything that I've had out there so far has helped people build a six figure business. But now I'm realizing there's so many things that I've learned and that I, I'm sharing in my web design club that are gonna be packaged up into this mastery program.
[00:16:49] It's gonna help you build a six-figure and multi-six-figure business. It's also gonna help scale. So for those of you who are hiring and you're really taking your business to the next level, that's gonna be the program for you. So, I'm doing all that and unless you listen to the podcast, it's likely that you didn't know anything about it.
[00:17:06] So that's why I kind of felt like a duck. It doesn't look like I was doing that much on the surface, but my legs were kicking below the surface, and maybe that's you. Maybe you have been working on some stuff that isn't paying off immediately, but it's delayed gratification. It's bigger picture stuff. If that is you, my encouragement to you just like it is to myself and I'm reminding myself is.
[00:17:27] You almost can't judge your numbers and your goals when you're working on something that is gonna pay off later, and that's extremely difficult. That's also the thing that really makes most people quit or, or quote unquote fail or, or stop early, is you want a media gratification. You wanna start your web design business and get to six figures right now, but.
[00:17:48] Some people who do that burn out really quickly, and that's another really important too. You may hit your financial goals, but then the question is at what cost? So if you hit a six figure goal, Unless you had your systems and processes and and sustainable habits set up from a lifestyle perspective, the question would be at what cost?
[00:18:10] Like, yes, you're gonna have to make some sacrifices to grow and you're gonna have seasons of hustle and periods of life, but it is if it is nonstop. My question to you would be like, if you hit your goal, but you burnt yourself out and you miss time with your kids, or you don't see your spouse, You didn't have any time for yourself this year and your health suffered, but you made that financial goal, but you worked 90 hours a week.
[00:18:32] Did you really? Did you really hit your goal? Like does that feel satisfying adventure to say no? Because then the next year, what's gonna happen? You're already starting the next year at a place where you are like fizzled out. And that is a very dangerous place, my friend. So if that is you, I don't mean to say that to cast judgment on you, I just wanna say, Take a step back, let's reevaluate.
[00:18:54] Maybe it's worth coming close to like 80% of your goals, but keeping a sustainable pace, then hitting a hundred percent inflaming yourself out. So I think that's the case too. And, and, and again, what I went through personally this year made me realize that while working less, I, I am not going to hit my goals necessarily, and I need to be so careful about the hours that I do work to make sure they're productive and make sure they are focused.
[00:19:19] A quote that I dished out earlier this year on my Instagram that now that I'm, uh, pushing some quotes out, is that priority is way more important than productivity. So when it comes to figuring out the new year, and especially those of you who have less time, maybe you're a, maybe you're, um, you're building like your side hustle right now and you have a full-time job, you have very limited time to build your business and to grow and learn.
[00:19:42] So this is the most important mantra. Maybe you need to like print this out and hang it on your wall or go get a nice canvas out of it, priority is way more important than productivity because you're re, if you're really productive at doing the wrong things, you're not gonna get close to your goals and you're gonna veer way off the path and you should be.
[00:20:00] So that's a biggie as well. All, all things to consider when you, when you maybe fell short of your goals, because some of you may have been like, God, I worked freaking, you know, 50 hour, 60 hour weeks. Why didn't I hit my goal? if that is the case, it's very likely that you probably just spent too much time on the wrong thing, on the wrong task, or you're doing too much in your business that you really shouldn't be doing.
[00:20:23] Uh, or in some case, it's focusing on the things that are just not moving, quote unquote, the needle forward in your business. And you're focusing on little things that, you know, maybe you're, maybe there's an aspect of your business that is. Like email marketing for, for web, for your web design clients. For example, maybe you have a pool of past clients and current clients that you could be remarketing to, but you're busy tinkering around on social media, trying to get like one follow a day that may not account to anything, but you've got like this $5,000 pool of clients.
[00:20:54] Like each client may be worth $5,000 for the year that you haven't even touched. You haven't even, you know, reconnected with them. That's a great example of maybe you're focusing on the wrong thing. Maybe an Instagram following is not near as important as your p your client pool of and professional pool of like 50 people.
[00:21:09] It's way more important. So I hope that practical reminder just maybe makes you look at. Your network and makes you realize where you need to prioritize your time and focus as you get into to the new year. So this is not a like goal setting type of episode, but I just wanted to share some thoughts, and I don't even have any notes on this.
[00:21:26] I'm just winging this. I just wanted to share some thoughts on why I felt like this and to say that if you did not hit your goals and you just didn't have a great year, again, just remember it is 100% okay. It's fine. You're not alone. And here we go. Let's wrap up this year. Let's have a nice little Christmas and holiday break and let's get ready for, for the new year because there is much to be done in web design.
[00:21:50] Luckily, my friends is still one of the absolute most in demand services of all industries. So ma, no matter where you are in the world, there's more options than ever to be a web design freelancer, to be a true web design business. To build a business that you want to build, to do the things that you like to do, whether it's branding or copy, or messaging or SEO design, e-commerce development, you can literally choose what you want to do, package it up nicely, all under the umbrella of web design, and you can build the business you want to build.
[00:22:24] You don't have to get that many clients. You don't need to design for everybody. You just design for you and design for the clients of, of who's in your sphere. Uh, back to one of the episodes earlier this year, Troy Dean who said, you don't need to be the best web web designer, period. You just need to be the best web designer in your clients sphere.
[00:22:42] So I hope that helps as well. Uh, especially those of you who feel like I suck compared to all these other web designers, but do they don't need to compare yourself to them because around your clients, you are a God to them on the internet, like you are the web master. Let's bring that term back, my friends.
[00:23:02] Oh, here we go. So for mastery next year. I will help you become a webmaster. We'll see how that, we'll see how that goes. Anywho, uh, yes, just some thoughts on all that stuff. I hope this helped. I hope again, this gave you some encouragement just to, to make you feel a little more at ease. You're not alone.
[00:23:21] Bye, golly. Friends. Let's start this new year. This new year off strong. some of the points here. Maybe help you reevaluate where you're at right now and just look at firming up some things, systematizing some things, and refining your business that way, you know what to focus on for the new year. Cuz that is the biggie.
[00:23:37] That's, that's gonna be my push for you is priority and focus. Priority and focus priority and focus over productivity and just doing work. Just to do work or just to be busy. Just to stay. That's the big show. There you go. Friends, at the time of releasing this, we're about to head into Christmas break, so I hope everyone has a very merry Christmas and happy holidays to everybody.
[00:23:58] I'll see you here. We are gonna do, so, uh, for those of you who are listeners every week, we are not gonna do our typical Monday episode coming up just cuz it's the day after Christmas. I don't wanna put that on my va Kam and I also don't want, uh, you know, everyone who's traveling and doing Christmas stuff to feel like, uh, they're gonna miss out on an episode.
[00:24:17] So no Monday. Next week, I am going to, uh, end off the year with sharing some trends, some web design trends for 2023 that I wanna make you aware of so you can. Just like we talked about, heading the next year, empowered and Prepared, and maybe you can even take the next episode and make it an email to send to your clients to give you a boost of cash flow for the new year.
[00:24:42] Oh, no, that's an idea. You're welcome. Join me next week. We'll do that. That's gonna be coming out in one week from from the release of this episode, so I hope you're pumped for that. And again, Merry Christmas. Happy holidays, everybody. I hope this helped and I'll see you on the next one.