First Year in Business, Month-by-Month How It Really Went
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In this episode:
The past week I’ve been reflecting a lot on what this past year of starting and building my business has been like. Right now, I’m in a pretty good place. I feel confident in my role as a coach and have seen my clients succeed again and again.
But it felt a little cheap to just call it all positive success when the reality is that most of the year was a struggle.
I really wanted to celebrate this first year with you, but to do so in a way that was honest and beneficial for others who are on the journey of building something creative—whether it’s your own business, a passion project, your career, family or something entirely different.
I chose to take a month-by-month look at what actually happened this past year, and how it all felt.
I hope it encourages you to keep pressing on in your good work!
In this episode I share:
How long building momentum took for my business
A month-by-month breakdown of the experiments, challenges and wins I had over the past year
How I found my footing in the first year of business chaos
First Year in Business, Month-by-Month How It Really Went
How long building momentum took for my business
Last week, I shared the following post on Facebook & LinkedIn:
It’s my career coaching business’ first birthday! 🥳 This week, last year, I officially launched my career coaching business and stopped working for my previous employer.
And, it is with great gratitude and joy that I’m sharing a major milestone I accomplished in April. I was able to earn the same income from my coaching business alone that I made while working full-time at Simpleview!
While the financial success is huge as a business owner, that accomplishment is about SO MUCH MORE than just money. It’s a testament to making the right move into work that I LOVE. I’m able to use my skills and gifts to help others in a significant way, which is so life-giving.
In some regards, this past year has been the hardest of my life. But in other ways, it’s been the easiest and most fun year because I’m doing what I feel I'm made to do.
The best part of this past year has been witnessing the bravery and transformation of my clients as they stepped confidently into new opportunities, launched businesses, worked to align their work with their priorities and so much more.
When my clients succeed, I succeed. So I’m sharing some of the recent client testimonials I’ve received in celebration of year #1 in the books!
Thank you to everyone who has been part of this journey with me!
All of those sentiments are true and accurate.
However, I know that it’s likely that when other people read that, they skip over the “In some regards, this past year has been the hardest of my life” part and just see it as a blanket statement of success.
While it’s true that I would call the full past year a success, that is definitely not how I felt while I was in it.
As a way to both honor the hard work or this past year, and provide something of value to others building, or considering building their business, I decided to share a month-by-month breakdown of how I actually got to the point of earning the same income as my previous full-time job.
A month-by-month breakdown of the experiments, challenges and wins I had over the past year
If you’re able to, I highly recommend listening to the podcast episode for this breakdown. I offer way more context and anecdotes that would make this information more applicable to your own journey.
But if you’re good with the bullet point version, here’s a recap of the past 12 months:
May 2019
Had my last day consulting with Simpleview
Moved into a new house!
Took a Spoelma family vacation
Backpacked to Havasupai Falls with my husband, sister and friend
Announced my business
Started taking a Professional Career Coaching Certification training program
Built out the resources for my Decision-Making Style Quiz
No clients
June 2019
Hosted 2 free, online workshops about how to make confident career pivots
Got my first paying client!
Landed my second paying client!
Continued Professional Career Coach training program
Started a mastermind group
Drove to Michigan for a month of time with family and friends
July 2019
In Michigan, having fun but feeling very out-of-my-element regarding my business
I had 2 lead calls, but neither signed up
Continued Professional Career Coach training program
No new clients
August 2019
Drove back to New Mexico
Finished the Professional Career Coach training program
No leads or new clients
Became very anxious and started applying for jobs
Offered a couple of contract positions and took one
September 2019
Went to TRIBE Conference
Got the brain blast idea for Beyond the Gram
Started working on Beyond the Gram, including building a team around it
No new leads or clients :(
October 2019
Started a contract position with a financial app company
Spoke at the She Podcasts Live conference
Launched a group career coaching program & got 3 participants
Started volunteering for Junior Achievement teaching a career readiness class for high school students
Got my first client who wasn’t previously in my network!
November 2019
Pitched a business on offering career coaching as an employee benefit and got to the third call with the CEO in consideration (didn’t come through)
Attended Blissdom conference as a community leader
Finished group coaching program with all clients seeing dramatic success!
Landed another new client!
December 2019
Started launching Beyond the Gram
Hired a Marketing Strategist
Completely pulled the plug on Beyond the Gram
Traveled to Michigan and Uganda and completely unplugged from business
January 2020
Planned 6 calls with people who had expressed previous interest in my coaching services
Took a business finance class that helped me realize I needed to increase my prices and gave me the confidence to sell confidently
Got another new client!
February 2020
Pitched my group coaching class to the local university’s continuing ed program and they plan to offer it in the Fall
5 new lead calls
Booked 3 new clients!
March 2020
Started being assessed by a master coach as part of the certification requirements
6 new lead calls
Booked 2 new clients!
April 2020
2 new lead calls
Booked 4 new clients
Launched and led the RENOVATE that RESUME Bootcamp
Officially made my same monthly income that I had made when I left my full-time job!
May 2020
When I officially put myself on my own payroll!
How I found my footing in the first year of business chaos
It’s hard to say exactly when I felt I was getting a handle on my business and feeling more confident. But it started happening sometime in February and has been growing ever since.
After a year with a lot of experimentation and being open to my business growing in a handful of directions, I feel so grateful to have had the opportunity to work closely with several individuals. It has been very life-giving to be invited into other people’s stories and to help the realize and act on their potential.
I know the future of my career will have many more exciting things and surprises in it, but for now, getting a front row seat to people’s hard work and transformation is the best work I could imagine!
I’d love to hear your thoughts on this episode, and what topics would be most beneficial to you during this season. Send me your thoughts, opinions and questions by going to jenniferspoelma.com/contact and sending me a message!
