My 2023 Life & Business Review and Recap

2023 has been a super strange year so I thought I would write up a complete review and recap. I’ve been in business for 17 years now and I can honestly say: there hasn’t been another year that has felt similar to 2023. It was hard, it was full of experimentation, and it was challenging.

There’s a lot to look back on and unpack in this business review so let’s jump right in:

What were my goals for 2023 at the start of the year?

Let’s start with a review of what my goals were at the start of the year and see how I did with achieving them (or how things shifted throughout the year).

Every December we do a content & goal planning workshop inside the Introvertpreneur Club and every year I use it to plan out my own things for the upcoming year. Here’s a look at what I planned for 2023 back in December 2022:

1) Podcast Guesting

My plan for 2023 was to be a guest on more podcasts. I had a goal of doing at least 2 podcast interviews per month and sending 15 pitches per month in order to hit that goal. I did pretty good for the first 6 months of the year, but it became harder to book Zoom calls and timed events.

I realized I had to scale this goal back due to my capacity and availability.

After I sat down to write this out I finally looked at the numbers and I was actually a guest on 15 podast this year 🎉

While my goal was 24, I’m super happy with this and feel like it was a win! You can check out all of my podcast interviews over on my about page.

2) The Introvertpreneur Podcast

Another goal or area I wanted to focus on in 2023 was my own podcast. We moved from 1 episode a week to 2 episodes a week (one solo, one guest). It was a lot and with limited recording time, I wasn’t able to batch as well as I would have liked.

Here’s a look at the top podcast episodes from season 3:

• Stop the Discovery Calls as a Service Provider
• My Low Priced Digital Products That Sell Like Crazy
• Celebrating 100 Episodes & Sharing My Favorite ChatGPT Prompts
• Using a Human-First Marketing Approach with Katrina Aronson
• Creating & Selling Online Courses with Samantha King

Season 4 of the podcast will kick off again in February and we will probably be going back to 1 episode per week. I’m taking a less is more approach with me into 2024!

3) Email Marketing

My goal for 2023 was to email my list 2x per week and I definitely accomplished that!

I also switched from ConvertKit to Drip in November which was a big project but I’m so glad that I made that choice. While I love ConvertKit, Drip just has more advanced features and analytics.

4) Blogging

My goal for 2023 was to publish a new blog post every month.

That didn’t quite happen, but I’m okay with that because I ended up focusing more on using what I already had (optimizing old blog posts, adding ConvertBox popups to the best posts, etc.)

5) Pinterest

Pinterest has always been my second traffic source, even when I didn’t utilize it at all in 2021 so my goal was to get back to it this year. That’s how PinPERKS was born!

I’ve been using my own PinPERKS system for scheduling on Pinterest using Airtable and Pabbly Connect. I spend about 30 minutes per week batch creating pin designs and scheduling.

6) Writing My Book

This goal was definitely a fail for 2022.

But, it is still a work in progress. I’ve decided not to rush the writing process and the book will be self-published when it’s ready. It’s been a therapeutic experience for me and has helped my own healing journey & personal development this year.

The first draft is almost done so I still hope to publish it in 2024!

7) Automating More

Another area I wanted to focus more on in 2022 was automating more things. I can definitely call this a win thanks to Pabbly Connect. I was able to take a lot of things off my plate this year thanks to automation, and add in things that weren’t on my plate but that I’d wanted to do for years!

What business changes happened in 2023?

1) I closed and sold Entrepreneur Templates

As a creative, I struggled with having to create templates every month. I create and design better when I’m doing it for fun – not because of a commitment or time constraint.

That’s why I decided to close Entrepreneur Templates at the beginning of the year.

Later in the year, I ended up selling the thousands of templates created as an asset to another business owner. I loved the membership and I love creating, but it just didn’t feel aligned any longer.

2) I changed The Introvertpreneur Club from a membership to a program

There might have been a theme this year… me shutting down recurring revenue streams!

I love the Introvertpreneur Club. But again, the pressure of having to show up and deliver was taking the fun out of it for me. That’s why I decided to turn the Club into a lifetime access program instead of a membership. All current memberships had their subscriptions cancelled and were grandfathered into lifetime access.

I talked about this decision on the podcast and while it didn’t make sense financially, it made complete sense to me, my values, and how I want to show up! The best decision I made this year!

3) Season 3 of the Introvertpreneur podcast

2023 was a year of the podcast! With 2 new episodes per week it was a big investment and time commitment. While I’ve decided to probably go back to 1 episode per week, it was amazing to connect with so many incredible guests for season 3!

Plus, I have twice as much podcast content from this year to repurpose and re-use – which is definitely a win in my book!

4) I rebranded (again!)

This wasn’t planned at the beginning of the year but I was feeling an itch to rebrand again. With changes and new decisions, I felt like I needed to get clearer on who I am and who I want to help.

The rebrand feels good and I’m super excited about how it’s felt this year!

5) A shift to done for you services (again!)

I fell in love with done for you services again!

I started working with a few pretty darn amazing clients and their businesses (and our work together) lit me up. About 40% of my revenue for 2023 came from done for you services vs under 5% in 2022.

As of right now, I’m booked until March 2024 for my retainer services which feels pretty dang good!

What life changes or things happened in 2023?

1) I was pretty close to burning it all down

I mentioned this on the podcast but this year has been tough.

Even though my revenue is up and my expenses are less… the cost of everything else is up, too. All of our bills increased this year (hydro, water, property taxes, gas, cell phones, internet, groceries).

We used to spend about $80 a week on groceries and now practically the same order is over $200.

It’s expensive out here & lots of people are struggling… and anyone who says different isn’t living in the real world. #sorrybutfacts

2) Challenges with 3 senior dogs

Along with the cost of everything going up we’ve had a lot of extra expenses this year for our 3 senior pups – Luni, Cheeto, and Ellie.

Luni:

In the spring, she had to have surgery to remove an infected toe. She’s clumsy and had broken her nail off and after lots of laser treatments, our vet determined it needed to come off. In November, Luni also had a stroke and a seizure. Thankfully, she seems to have recovered and is pretty much back to herself.

Cheeto:

Earlier in the year Cheeto was in kidney failure. He wasn’t eating or drinking and it wasn’t looking good. I decided to start syringe feeding and giving him water that way, too. After doing this every couple of hours for 3 weeks, he started to eat on his own again! His kidneys recovered and I couldn’t believe it.

Side note: we also started Cheeto on this Kidney Gold stuff and it seemed to really contribute to his recovery. He is still getting this 2x per day, just in case.

In July, Cheeto was given a new drug on the market… which, unfortunately, brought underlying neurological issues to the surface. He now can’t walk on his own. We do physical therapy exercises every day and are continuing to monitor his quality of life.

Ellie:

At the very beginning of the year she was diagnosed with a neurological issue. She’s lost the use of one of her back legs but otherwise is currently able to get around. We also purchased her a pink wheelchair that she uses for walks.

This neurological condition also affects her ability to use the bathroom herself.

She needs that done 2-3x per day.

She also has regularly re-occuring ear infections.

All in all: we are at our vet’s office pretty much every week for one reason or another! But, I love my dogs and would do anything I possibly could for them.

3) Health issues and family

Along with the dog’s health issues, we’ve had a lot of health issues come up with many close family members. I won’t share the details, but it’s been a tough year all around.

What new offers and products did I create in 2023?

Let’s look back at all of the new offers and products I created and launched in 2023.

• The 2023 Introvertpreneur Virtual Summit
• PinPERKS
• Content Oasis – this was a live event I did for my birthday in April
• Ultimate Showit Template Kit
• Content Kit Magic
• AutoPOD Pro
• Next Level Offers Challenge
• Search Superstar
• Think Like a Strategist Group Program
• AI Quiz Fuel
• 3-6 Month Evergreen Email Sequence Workshop
• The Selling Safari Bundle – my Black Friday premium bundle

2023 By The Numbers:

My email list grew by about 4,000 new people this year (I’ve also removed about 10k myself this year as I’m trying to keep my list active and engaged).

My number of students in Thrivecart Learn grew from around 10,000 to almost 17,000.

18,000 Thrivecart transactions this year vs 13,000 in 2022 (this does include bundles)

My website views doubled in 2023 vs 2022.

I cut my expenses in half this year: mostly by keeping my team small, utilizing more lifetime deals, and not signing up for a million courses, programs, and digital products. In 2022, I spent about $50k on programs and courses 😱 so I’m super excited to have scaled that expense number wayyyyy back this year!

What I’m focusing on in 2024:

1) Community and Connection

This is where it’s at for everything I do in 2024. I want to continue to grow and connect with everyone in my audience. I want to build connections and increase visibility.

How am I going to do this? I’m still going to be speaking at virtual summits and participating in bundles. However, I’m going to be a lot more choosy on which ones I participate in and how many I do.

I have some other fun ideas, but I’m keeping it a secret for now!

2) Lower Priced Digital Products

Not just digital products but digital products that deliver value, like Content Kit Magic.

Like I said at the beginning, everything is more expensive right now. And a lot of people are struggling. I might be creating a digital product shop so it’s easier for you to snag some quick win digital products to help you achieve your goal.

I don’t think you need to invest like I did last year (read above: the $50k I spent on courses & programs in 2022) to market or grow your business successfully.

3) Done For You Services

Along with digital products, I’m keeping the done for you services rollin’.

I’ve loved working with clients again and I have the best clients ever!

4) Enough, Not Always ‘More, More, More’

This might be my mantra for this year, who knows. But seriously, I’m tired of the ‘more, more, more’ messaging around these internet streets. Sometimes we don’t need more content, or more subscribers, or more traffic. Sometimes we just need to figure out ways to work with what we have.

More, more, more… it almost sounds like hustle, doesn’t it?

We don’t always have to be growing.

That’s a Wrap!

I hope this was insightful and fun to read. I’m super excited to say good riddance to 2023 and hello to 2024! I have a lot of exciting plans and things I want to do, and I can’t wait to connect, inspire, or help you.