804: Do These 5 Things NOW to End Your Year Strong

0:01This episode is supported by What Should I Do With My Money? From Morgan Stanley. Okay, can we just talk about how money is legitimately one of the hardest topics to bring up. Like even when you think you have your stuff together, there's always this really weird awkwardness around it. That's why I am obsessed with this podcast. It actually makes money conversations feel approachable. I recently listened to an episode about affording multiple big life things at once, like a wedding, a house, an IVF, if they were all happening at the same time. And honestly, it hit home. So many people are wondering, can we actually have it all without sacrificing our sanity or our savings?

0:42What I love is that they bring in real experts who help break down these massive costs into actual doable steps. It's like having a money mentor in your ear who gets it. Search for What Should I Do With My Money in your podcast player. We'll also include a link in the show notes. Many thanks to What Should I Do With My Money and Morgan Stanley for their support. I know for a lot of people, people wait until January 1st to start new healthy habits. And I want to challenge you. Now is an amazing time to start making shifts in your health while we go into the holiday season and that new year energy.

1:21I'm Jenna Kutcher, your host of the Gold Digger podcast. I escaped the corporate world at the age of 23 with nothing more than a$300 camera from Craigslist and a dream. Now I'm running a seven figure online business that feels even better than it looks all from my house in small town, Minnesota with my family. Here we value time as our currency. We mix the woo and the work and we are in the pursuit of building businesses that give us the freedom to live lives that we love. I've always loved turning big goals into reality and I'm here to help you do the same. This isn't just a peek behind the curtain.

1:58Come along with me and my guests as we tear the whole curtain down. Every week we tackle practical, no-fluff marketing strategies and host honest discussions on what works and what doesn't. Join me and my expert guests for actionable insights to help you grow your dream business with confidence. Pull up a seat and get ready to be challenged, inspired, and empowered. This is the Gold Digger Podcast. Is it just me or does it feel like just yesterday we were having all that fresh January energy sitting there, setting our goals, dreaming big for what this year could bring. And now here we are with just a few months left of 2024.

2:37I honestly cannot believe it. As we head into September, it is the perfect time to reflect, to regroup, and to make a strong finish. Now, maybe this was you last December. You're sitting at your desk. You're sipping on a warm cup of coffee, jotting down your aspirations for the year ahead. You remember feeling so energized, so hopeful, ready to tackle new challenges and embrace fresher opportunities. Fast forward to today. And while you've hopefully celebrated many wins along the way, you've also likely faced setbacks and surprises like the rest of us. It is not just you, But it is also not over yet.

3:14I have learned that how you finish the year is just as important as how you start it. In today's episode, I want to share with you six actionable steps that you can take right now to ensure that you end your year on a high note. Now, these aren't just tips for hitting those last minute goals. They are strategies to help you reflect on your journey, reignite your passion and set the stage for an even better new year. Whether you've had a fantastic year or one filled with more challenges than you anticipated, these steps will help you make the most of these final months. So grab your notebook, find a cozy spot, and let's dive on into how you can finish strong, feel accomplished, and set yourself up for success as this year comes to a close.

3:56Are you ready to make these last few months count? Let's get started. It's no secret that starting a business is hard. Even if you have an amazing idea, bringing it to life can be super overwhelming. HubSpot's new entrepreneurship kit is designed to help you go from idea generator to full-fledged business owner. And let me tell you, I wish I had this when I was first starting my business. This all-inclusive kit takes the guesswork out of entrepreneurship with step-by-step guides, practical resources, and easy to use templates. It literally walks you through every stage of starting a business and even has freelance pricing worksheets and loads more to help you get up and running immediately.

4:35Now the best part is that it's free at hubspot.com slash ENT. With expert guidance from HubSpot, starting a business doesn't have to be hard. So don't wait to start yours. Head to hubspot.com slash ENT to download the free entrepreneurship kit, all from a company who knows a thing or two about growing bigger and better. That's hubspot.com slash E-N-T. Growing a business can feel really hard. And one of the toughest parts can be figuring out which platforms you should be on. Did you know that a podcast could be your next best platform? That's right. Whether you launch your own podcast or advertise your business on other shows, there are a lot of ways podcasting can contribute to growing your business.

5:18But where do you even start? And what's the best strategy? There's a recent episode of a great podcast called This is Small Business with Andrea Marquez that's all about this. You'll learn how to think strategically about podcasting as a marketing tool, how to grow an audience, and so much more. And Andrea is joined by none other than my friend, Halataha, the host of the Young and Profiting Podcast and the founder and CEO of the Yap Media Podcast Network. So you know this episode has some great advice. It's called How Podcasting Can Grow Your Business and Increase Revenue, and you can listen to it right now.

5:52This is Small Business answers so many of these kinds of questions like why you need an email list, how to accelerate your business growth, how good design can help increase sales and so much more. If you love Gold Digger, check out This is Small Business, an original podcast from Amazon on your favorite podcast app. And big thanks to This is Small Business for sponsoring this show. If we want to end our year strong, I think one of the best places to start is to do an audit. And I am talking like a forensic style audit of your life. Let me tell you a quick story. Here's something that I've learned about myself time and time again.

6:30And this is sometimes why I can hit this point of the year and be like, I am not where I thought I was going to be. So I am a visionary. I get so excited with new ideas. I am a manifesting generator. So when I get a new idea or I get inspired, I want to take action and I want to move fast. And while this excitement and effort can obviously lead to success and results, it can also unexpectedly derail my plans very quickly if I am not careful. So I have been learning a lot about myself thanks to human design. If you want to figure out what your human design is and get a blueprint that can kind of be like a Bible to who you are, you can click the link in the show description of today and just check it out.

7:16It's been so life-changing. But one of the things that I've learned about myself with human design is that I need to sleep on things. And sometimes I need to do more than one sleep. I might need like 30 sleeps on things. And that can be really hard for me as someone who loves to take action and loves to move quickly. But when I take space from things, I am able to really ensure that this brand new idea that I'm so excited about is truly my idea that it's coming from me and that it is something that I want to invest in and spend time on and work on. So one of the things that has been so crazy helpful for me is my basically VP of the company, Marissa.

7:57She has been with me since basically Coco was born. She is so great at pushing back on me and reminding me, okay, Jenna, I hear this new idea. I know you're excited, but here was the original goal or here was the original plan we laid out. Is this worth changing for this new idea? And I can remember at first when she would push back, I would get really frustrated because I'd be like, no, don't you see this new idea? It's amazing. Let's do this. Let's run with it. But I have learned to appreciate and respect her keeping me kind of in the guardrails of my life of what was the plan and is it worth changing the plan for something new?

8:38And honestly, most of the time it's not. And so why is an audit important? An audit is so important because if you are off track or off base in what you thought, I want for you to understand why. A lot of times we are so hard on ourselves when we recognize, okay, I'm not where I thought I was going to be, but we failed to realize, hey, maybe there was a new idea that was totally worth pursuing. And while it maybe took us off track, it also probably gained us traction in areas. And so I have really learned to approach the year. And I always say like with a loose grip, right? Like I want to have a grip on things.

9:13I want to have a plan for things, but I also want it to be loose enough to have flexibility and freedom. And so here are some questions that I want for you to think of when you do an audit. And I want you to actually sit down, write out these questions and take the time to answer them, because I genuinely think this is going to help you finish this year off strong, but also give you the basis of understanding what an audit can do for you and your business and how it can kind of help recenter you, refocus you and get you back on track. So here are some questions. What were your goals that you set at the beginning of last year, the last quarter?

9:47Is this something that you have gotten in a practice of writing down? If it's not, I highly encourage you to start now. You don't have to wait for January 1st. Write down what your goals actually are. I want them to be goals where you can be smart, quote, specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely so that at the end of the year or next year, you can ask yourself, was I able to achieve these? And celebrate the heck out of the ones you have and evaluate the ones that you didn't quite make. So what were the goals that you set at the beginning of the year or last quarter? Are you on track?

10:19Did you fall off. And here's an important one. Were they the right goals in the first place? Were they aligned with what you say you want for your life? Were they realistic for what's actually happening in your life? The next question is, how are you feeling? Or as Jenna Kutcher likes to ask, how are you really mentally, physically, energetically, spiritually, where are you in your life right now? Like, how are you doing? And I think this is so important because a lot of of times we take goals at face value, but we forget to mix in all of the factors of who we are, which is a multifaceted human living a very full experience of life.

11:01And you might be in a place in your life mentally, physically, emotionally, energetically, spiritually, that isn't necessarily aligned with you crushing your goals, but maybe you can realign and recenter yourself. The next question, has your definition of success shifted for you this year? Are you clear on what success should look and feel like for you. And this I think is huge because there have been a lot of times in my life where I have set these really audacious and awesome goals. But when I peel back the curtain and I ask myself, okay, what is success for me? What do I consider successful?

11:36Those goals aren't aligned with it. Yes, I could go out and have an awesome mastermind. A mastermind is something that I loved doing, but at this stage of life, having a mastermind, being away from my kids three times a year, planning multi-day retreats, all these different things. That is not aligned with my definition of success. Would having a successful mastermind be considered successful? Yes. But is it aligned with my definition of success in this stage of life? No. And so when you get really clear on what success is for you, it helps to ensure that the goals that you are setting are aligned with that definition of success.

12:13okay it is officially that time of year and if you run a business you know the holiday rush is no joke i've done more black fridays than i can count at this point and let me tell you orders at 2 a.m inventory updates refreshing my site hoping it can keep up it never stops being intense that is exactly why i use shopify it keeps everything running smoothly when things get their craziest. Shopify is the commerce platform behind millions of businesses around the world and 10 % of all e-commerce in the U.S. From household names to entrepreneurs who will be participating in their first Black Friday Cyber Monday this year.

12:51They've got ready-to-use templates, AI tools, and support available 24-7 so that selling stays simple even during the peak madness. And ShopPay's quick checkout, well, it's a game changer. It means way fewer abandoned carts and way more happy customers. This Black Friday, join the thousands of new entrepreneurs hearing for the first time with Shopify. Sign up for your free trial today at shopify.com slash gold digger. That's shopify.com slash gold digger. Go to shopify.com slash gold digger and make this Black Friday one to remember. A few months ago, I got my colors done and I learned that your girl is an autumn, which means out with the black and in with the brown.

13:35I have been rebuilding a capsule wardrobe lately and my all-time favorite place to shop is Revolve. They add new products daily and you can sort by color and size and even build out wish lists. I recently got these brown Autry sneakers that I am obsessed with and I snagged this suede bag that I couldn't stop eyeing for fall. Plus, they have inclusive sizing and constant new arrivals which means there's always something that can fit your life and your style. Whether it's a weekend away, a big night out, or just a little style refresh, your dream wardrobe is just one click away. Head to revolve.com forward slash gold digger, shop my edit and take 15 % off your first order with the code gold digger.

14:17Fast two-day shipping, easy returns. It's literally the only place you need to shop from. That's revolve.com forward slash gold digger to shop my favorites and get 15 % off your first order using the code gold digger. offer ends December 14th. So happy shopping. Next, I want for you to rate your days on a scale of one to 10 consistently. Just see if you notice any trends each month. And I don't want for you to wait until the end of the year to start doing this. When I have my journal, basically every single day at the very top, it says, how are you really? And it has a scale of one to 10. And I just feel like it's really important that you start looking at the trends in your life.

14:53When you go to honestly answer the question, how am I really? You will start to notice that there are different trends, whether it is with your menstrual cycle, whether it is with your rhythm and your routine, whether it is with your workload, and you'll start to be able to discern what areas of your life maybe need a little restructuring or maneuvering or change. Rating your days is just a really, really easy way. If you are someone who can't journal or you don't have time to journal and you just have a little notepad and you can literally write down where you're at each day from an honest place, you will start to notice if there are things and shifts that need to be made in your life.

15:29I've noticed sometimes when I have too much on my calendar, I feel overwhelmed. My how are you really is lower than days where I have a little bit more freedom and flexibility. And so that helps me to change and structure my week and my days to really support the type of life and the type of success that I want to have. We also have a past episode about how to do an audit. And this is more of like a business style audit. So the audit I'm talking about today is more goal and success based. But if you want to get really nitty gritty, episode number 748, is all about how to audit your social media strategy.

16:01So it's called, is your social media strategy working? Do this to find out if you feel like you need a nitty gritty audit inside of your business. Episode 748 is going to be an amazing episode for you to go back and listen to. Again, we've linked it today in the show notes and show description for you. Okay. Number two, revisit your rhythm. Okay. I am so excited about back to school. My daughter right now is in and out of my office while I'm trying to record this. And I have loved summer and the flow and the flexibility of it. But oh my goodness, I am craving structure and consistency again. And it's interesting because when summer first started, we were kind of just like thrown for a loop of like, okay, how are we going to juggle all this working from home, both kids at home?

16:47What does this look like? And then summer flew and I felt like we didn't get enough time. And now I feel like my brain is back and back to school mode where like, I am so excited. And so summer totally threw off my rhythm, it threw off my work and schedule. But I think that I did a good job anticipating it at the beginning of this year, looking at June, July and August and saying, I'm not going to plan any huge launches, I'm not going to plan any really deep work. I know that being a mom and having my kids at home means I need to stay nimble and flexible on the work front. And so it's been exciting to me to think about getting back into a real structured routine and rhythm.

17:26My ideal week is something that I've really been kind of fine tuning. And I recognize that it is a massive privilege to even be able to call the shots in an ideal week. But that is why I love entrepreneurship. And so one of the things that I've been working through is figuring out how to really lay out a week that gives me time to do the deep work that I want to do to have the distraction free time to dig in, but also to do all the other administrative tasks that are required in my business. So I kind of established that Mondays are a day where I do no meetings. I get back into work. I do some deep work and planning.

18:01Tuesdays and Wednesdays are my meetings and recordings day. And then Thursdays are my day to do all types of reviews and finish things up. And then Fridays are my day off. And so when I established that rhythm at the beginning of this year, I kind of adjusted all the different calls that I need to be on and said, Hey, is there any way that we can make this happen on Tuesday or Wednesday, I batch all those calls. Those days are very call heavy and meeting heavy, but that gives me that freedom on Mondays and Thursdays to really be in the work. I found that if I have one call on a Monday and two calls on a Tuesday and one call on a Wednesday and three calls on a Thursday, I am not actually getting the deep focused work done that I need to get done, that I'm craving to get done because my brain can't fully focus on it.

18:42And so revisiting your rhythm, this is a great time of year to really evaluate how you do your best work, what time of day you do your best work. If there are ways that you can set boundaries and parameters around those hours where you can really get focused so that you are using and leveraging that time to drive the most results and do the most beneficial work for your business. So now is a really good time to figure out what are the rhythms that support you? What are the rhythms that support your work? and what are your goals? Maybe mornings are your creative time. Maybe you do your best work in the evening.

19:16How can you tune into your natural rhythms if you are able to and do your best to set up your schedule to support your energy and your creativity? The next thing inside of this key point is to look at your daily and your weekly rhythm. Are there places where you can optimize your schedule or rework it? So again, can you figure out a way to batch different things, whether it's your different call schedules or recordings or writing, whatever that is, when you look at your schedule, you can kind of see if there are gaps in it. And one thing, if you haven't been in the practice of doing it, is try to put everything into a calendar, whether you have a written calendar or a Google calendar.

19:53When you start to see your whole week laid out, you can start to see opportunities to optimize your schedule. And if you are doing daily ratings of how are you really doing, you can start to see like, oh, I notice on days that I have a million meetings, I am not doing very well. Or I notice on days where I have a lot of freedom, I feel excited, creative, and energized to do the work. And so doing a calendar audit can be so incredibly helpful. And then the last question I would ask inside of your rhythm is, are there places to streamline your schedule? Are there opportunities where you can eliminate meetings?

20:27And is there room for you to actually do deep work? So even yesterday, I was noticing that I had a few back-to-back calls, juggling the kids, figuring out this rhythm. And so I asked for one of my calls. I was like, Hey, is this call necessary? Instead, could you record a video that I can watch on my own schedule? And can we cancel that call? And that was totally realistic. And we were able to do that. And so it saved me from doing another call and it gave me more free time to do the deep work that I needed to do. Number three is committing to consistency. So if you want to nail the rest of this year, we have to stay consistent.

21:02I know for a lot of people, people wait until January 1st to start new healthy habits. And I want to challenge you. Now is an amazing time to start making shifts in your health while we go into the holiday season and that new year energy. If you can start to gain momentum and get consistent with your health routines now, you are going to be far more likely to find yourself in February and March killing it. And for me, I have never waited until January 1st. I've slowly integrated different things. So for example, I have not had alcohol in over two years. I quit drinking alcohol in August randomly one year.

21:43I just, it was done. It was not serving my body anymore. It was not feeding me energetically. And so I stopped drinking alcohol, really prioritizing our sleep. You know, we have been parents for the last five and a half years. There have been so many sleepless nights and so many nights where we didn't know what type of sleep we were going to get. And we're finally in this stage where we are sleeping really well. And so making sure that we are up to our bed, we try to be in bed, reading our books by 930 every night and prioritizing that, getting out and walking more, whether you are walking while you work, whether you are walking while you're on a phone call or a meeting, if you're able to, moving your body in that way.

22:20This is such a good time of year to start establishing healthy habits that will not only carry forward into the new year, but give you that momentum that you need to make those changes as we get all those targeted ads about new year, new you, and all of that. So if you can start establishing some different habits right now, you are going to be far more likely to be successful in the new year. So committing to consistency. So get this. This is why I don't want you to wait until January. Sundried conducted a study with a reach of 4 ,000 people and found that 43 % of people expect to give up their goal after just one month.

22:57In fact, the second Friday in January is known as Quitter's Day when people are most likely to throw in the towel on their resolutions. So if you are waiting till January to give yourself this two-week kick, start it now and do it in a very ease-filled way that invites in consistency. Now, if you get consistent now, you are going to be confident going into the new year. And so my goal is for you to commit to consistency in one thing. So can you commit the next 30 days to a habit or working on a goal with consistency to not only prove to yourself that you're capable of it, but to build a momentum as we approach the end of the year?

23:36What is a challenge you can set to show yourself now that you can follow through. Again, your confidence is going to turn into competence, which is going to show you that you are capable of being consistent. And I am so excited for you to get that start now. So tell me what is a 30-day goal that you can commit to right now as we move through the rest of the year? Because something magical happens when you start to see yourself following through. Your identity shifts. And I want that to happen before January 1st, because then the magic will be unlocked for 2025. Let's be real. As business owners, we know a reliable connection isn't optional.

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