Hello! I missed last week’s newsletter as I was out sick, but I recovered just in time for the festive season. Phew!
Since this time of year’s ripe for reflections and people talking about the highlights of the year, I figured I’ll start off with thinking through what didn’t go so well in the year.
Very work-focused update this week, with some sprinkles of personal stuff.
My top 3 failures or meh moments
1. Health issues
I don’t get sick often, maybe once or twice a year, but this year has definitely upped the frequency. I think (and this is definitely a me problem), I find I tend towards being unkind to myself. Instead of and shifting stuff I wanted to do to another day/time, I try to push myself through the discomfort (100% not recommended) which makes it worse especially when I’m sick.
So I talk a lot about making time to rest but am still figuring out how to practice what I preach.
Persistent foot injury flares up again: I’ve written about my foot issues here and there. Essentially, I have inflamed toe joints in my left foot and that’s why it keeps reoccurring and while I’m glad I’m finally taking steps to fix it in the long term, I’m annoyed it took so long to get here. And the cost is eye-watering of everything combined? Eye-watering. I think to myself, “OK, long term investment”. And investing more time into joint mobility and flexibility
My wife got COVID + asthma (again): And when one of two members of the household are down, you’ve gotta step up and do more stuff. It’s a delicate balance.
I had a bout of flu last week, which sucked. But I’m better now!
2. Ill-fitting client sending me for a tailspin for a good 2 weeks
Long story short this year, I was told that an outline I submitted didn’t meet a new trial client’s expectations and they won’t be working with me again. I’m curious and ask why, but end up with no response whatsoever.
It really affected my confidence in my skillset for a bit. I was thinking “ugh I’m 2+ years in, I’ve made these mistakes in the past but why am I still having this issue now?“
I’ve not had any such issues with my clients since, so to encounter this again after 2 years was unpleasant, to say the least.
While there were things I could have done differently (e.g leave more time to review between completing an outline) or clarify things beforehand. I believe at its core it’s a communication issue.
But I also believe it’s a blessing in disguise telling me that my website and other touch points need to be much much clearer on who I want to work with.
(Also note to self: always always always make sure your deposit is paid before submitting any work)
3. My list of untouched online courses (and books) gets longer and longer…
Note to self, online courses work by selling you the dream. Some of them are so damm good at scarcity thinking as well - which I’m aware that I’m particularly weak towards.
The thing is, you actually have to sit down and go through the course to get value out of it.
I.e: it takes work! And time!
Compare self guided courses to my experience with coaching. There’s accountability, community and a more substantial investment which gets you thinking “ok I wanna get the most out of my investment” which pushes me to put in the work.
But info-products and self guided courses? It’s a hit and miss. Some I’ve gone into years later, others languish in my dusty info-vault, waiting for me to unlock their secrets. I justify it by saying it’s a long term investment but still, I know myself lol.
That being said, I DO go back to the material, but only when there’s a specific need for it - a hole in my education where I have many course-shaped keys. Funny analogy now that I think about it, but I would also like to make better use of the digital products I purchase for both work and personal life.
I also didn’t read as many books in 2024 (especially fiction). Somehow reading became a chore, and I kept associating it with some form of work. I find it difficult to sit through a fictional story nowadays in text, but am reading a lot more non-fiction, essays and Substack newsletters. I’ve also been playing narrative-heavy RPGs, so does that count as reading? I think so!)
Stuff I’m thinking about
It’s exactly 2 weeks to the end of the year (!!!) so my mind’s been focused on this question: “how do I want to show up in 2024?”
Business-wise, it has been A YEAR.
While I intentionally slowed down this year since I wanted to take time to figure out my brand’s foundations, get a logo done, really think about all the non-sexy stuff like contracts, service offerings and all that stuff, macro factors also meant that work was slowww.
I didn’t lose any clients, but I did notice a slowdown in the number of projects and enquiries (also the drop in enquiries could be also attributed to a bunch of confidence issues I was dealing with on how I was showing up online, particularly on LinkedIn.)
For context, tech layoffs were insane in mid-2023. Lots of layoff posts flying around on LinkedIn, my work velocity slowed down, and people I know were struggling as they lost major clients, or had clients stop working with them thanks to good ol’ AI.
Turns out I wasn’t the only one seeing a slowdown. Job board revenue of Superpath, a content marketing community I’m in and follow regularly, also saw a significant dip from July to October this year, with it starting to recover last month. On my end, projects are picking back up! Enquiries are coming in, so now my focus is now 1) figuring out client-fit and identifying my best-fit clients and 2) investing in client relationships and retaining them for the long haul.
Which brings me to the whole idea of goal-setting.
I plan to grow in 2024.
Not grow in the sense of “become an agency, subcontract more, etc”. I still enjoy working directly with my clients and doing the work. But grow in the sense of “being so good at my work and working with clients that excites me (and getting fairly compensated for that value).
Reads I enjoyed:
Leaving money on the table: I enjoyed both this read and the video Paul was riffing off - all too relevant to what I’ve been thinking about these few days. What does it mean to grow? People’s usual perception of growth is expanding, more products, more clients, more this and that. But the more things you take on ,the more it may cost you mentally and emotionally. Are you leaving behind peace of mind by taking on this additional project or client?
Company of One: Similar theme to the article, this book questions the usual startup growth story (i.e there’s a tendency to solve problems by throwing more money and resources at it. Still re-reading it at the moment, but it’s provided me a lot of food for thought. Although word of caution, the book came out in 2019, so it’s slightly dated now (no mention of lockdowns and ‘unprecedented changes’ thanks to the pandemic.
The openness of talking to strangers – and the intimate stories they share: I’ve always been fascinated by photo blogs like Humans of New York and people watching. Made me think about how much we tend to flatten out people by looking at their online avatars e.g people playing up their professional selves on LinkedIn and unhinged behaviour on Threads/Twitter. But ultimately, when we strip away the follower count, the online postering in the pursuit of ‘content creation’ we’re humans. And we have lots of fascinating stories to tell.
Next week is Christmas, so I’ll be sharing my highlights of 2023. Yay! Stay tuned :)