Reflections about Small Business: Projects, Feelings and Thoughts for 2022

As part of my “end of year review” I went through a reflection process in which I went through my calendar and wrote down every single event, project, significant meeting that I had in 2021.

Oh boy, just writing that seems like a daunting task. It took me an entire afternoon, but it was so worth it.

Sometimes as small business owners, we forget all the things we do, or in a reflective moment, the recency factor kicks in. Going through my calendar was the best activity I could have done, as I proudly was able to say “I did that” every month.

In addition to working with some really cool clients, I was able to complete some significant projects for my business last year. Some of the projects I was able to complete last year that I’m really proud of are:

• Launching this website!

• Refining my offers

• Documenting my client onboarding process

• Updating my visual brand

• Changing my time management process from time blocking to theme days

• Upskilling on bookkeeping and setting up my own Quickbooks

• Making lots of room to care for myself and my mental health

• Updating my Notion workspace to better work for my brain

• Launching my YouTube page (click subscribe) with my first Small Business Stories interview.

To be completely honest, when I read through this list I was pleasantly surprised. Last year felt really hard. I was missing community. I was trying to re-configure how I worked to align with my personal needs. I was so busy with some client work, that it felt like I was spending no time working on my own business.

It seems like my strategy of “what is the next best step” worked for me.

Slowly, but steadily, I was able to keep doing the single next best thing. The accumulation of that work led to the completion of these big projects. In the moment, I felt like I was not doing enough, that I should be doing more. And reflecting on all of this really highlighted that the structure I have set up for myself works. The tweaks and adjustments I made to how I work helped me get through a hard year. And it has put me in a position to tackle some big things next year.

So…what’s coming in 2022?

I’m excited to continue my Small Business Stories interviews, and I have some wonderful small business owners lined up. I am working on building out a small business hub in Notion that I can share with my clients. I am investing my time in developing a consistent writing practice and strong bookkeeping practice. I’m leaning back into my Adult Learning education and working on building out a program with one of my clients. And I’m spending some focused time on sales and marketing of my own business.

And that’s just the stuff I know! As we move further into the year, I’m excited to see what comes.

♡ Kim