Nov 13, 2019
Hey there podcast family, welcome to episode 46 of the Small Business Made Simple Podcast.
Thank you for lending me your ears today – I know you have lots of choices, so I sincerely appreciate me being one of them!
If you’re a first time listener, super super welcome, I am so pleased to have you here. I am your host Jenn Donovan, and, as you’ll learn along the way, I pretty much live, breathe, dream marketing and social media!
Today’s episode is brought to you by my brand new and FREE eBook, the Ultimate Beginners Guide to Facebook Ads. I’ve had some great feedback from some very proactive biz owners out there who have downloaded the eBook and, importantly, taken some action. Because I love an action taker!
So, if you’re interested in learning more about Facebook Ads or just where to begin, download the free eBook at www.socialmediaandmarketing.com.au/ads.
Today we are talking 2020 planning and quite specifically, the word you’ll use to describe 2020.
Now, don’t switch off just yet. This little exercise has had a massive impact on my business and I just want you to share in the love too!
But before I get into the word of the next decade (!), let’s do the discovery of the week.
THIS WEEK’S DISCOVERY!
This discovery has changed my life! I absolutely kid you not.
I popped a question into a Facebook group that I belong to a few weeks ago and asked for help. I was so totally and utterly frustrated by Instagram and it blooming well changing how I wanted my captions to look.
I thought, there had to a better way.
A lovely lady by the name of Katie Taylor @_katiemtaylor, told me about Hashtagie! She said it would change my life and well freaking well did!
You basically cut and paste (or type) your caption into it and then copy it and paste into Instagram and it stays the exact way it’s supposed too – emojis, paragraphs, spaces and all!
If this is your frustration, then I’ve just paid it forward and changed your life too!
You can find Hashtagie at https://www.hashtagie.com/instagram-text-spacer
The link is in the show notes too – www.socialmediaandmarketing.com.au/podcast
As always, just a little disclaimer, my discoveries are just that and I am in no way affiliated with any of them but promise to tell you if I ever am. I just love them and from the response of my listeners, you guys, you are loving them too!
Hey and if you have a little discovery, or something you use in your business that you’d like to share, please do so. Email me at jenn@jenndonovan.com.au or tag me @smallbusinessmadesimple. I really love to know what tools you use to help make your life simpler!
PLANNING FOR 2020 – WHAT’S YOUR 2020 WORD?
Ok, just in case you’re thinking I’m going all wishy washy on you talking about 1 word to describe your coming year and 2020, let me tell you a bit of a story!
About 12 months ago now I was listening to a podcast and I can’t honestly say which one it was, although if I had to guess I would say more than likely Amy Porterfield’s podcast because I’m a HUGE Amy fan, and they were talking about choosing a word to describe your year.
Writing down all your goals, your hopes, your dreams, your BHAG, and then choosing 1 word that would describe all those goals, hopes, dreams that you could think of every day in your business.
I kind of thought at the time, 1 word, are you kidding me, how am I to think of one word to describe all that.
But in true Jenn fashion, the thought wouldn’t leave my head.
It was November 2018, I’d just left a business partnership, one that I thought would last forever, with a business partner I thought I loved and admired, but alas it had come to a very abrupt end and soared quite quickly (which in itself was a complete surprise) and I was re-thinking all my decisions, all my business decisions.
I’d been coaching and teaching social media and marketing for almost 2 years already, but never really branded me, never really on my own and now I was TOTALLY on my own.
So, this podcast, this idea that I could have 1 word to describe what was pretty unknown for me, what 2019 was going to hold, because basically I was starting a brand new chapter and it was a Jenn Solo chapter, started to build in my head.
So, I asked myself these questions – what did I want 2019 to look like? What impact did I want to make on the world in 2019? I asked these questions over and over and over again.
And, as I discovered, within those questions, lay the answer.
Answers are often just in front of us aren’t they!
IMPACT.
IMPACT was my word.
Impact was why I started this podcast on January 1st this year.
Impact was the reason why I took on my private coaching clients.
Impact was the reason why I hosted over 30 workshops this year.
If I was going to do this thing, build the Jenn Donovan brand, then by heck it was going to have an Impact – an impact on my listeners, clients, workshop attendees, and on me.
So, what’s your word? In 2020, what will your word be? How will you show up?
WHY CHOOSE A WORD OF THE YEAR?
If you’re new to the concept of choosing a word of the year, here’s a few reasons why it could be useful for you.
- It helps to give you focus
- It allows for flexibility Ever feel like your goals change a lot over time, or you fail to meet a goal and then feel like it all goes out the window? It’s totally happened to me before. But by having a single word, you can adjust your goals over time, so long as they are in line with the focus word you choose at the beginning of the year.
- It’s easy to remember If you’re like me, type it up and print it out and put it in front of you, in your diary, wherever you look every day!
- It can unify your goals Generally, our goals are broad and cover all the different elements of our life, making it hard sometimes to use them as a criterion for making decisions. But by analysing your goals and then choosing a word that resonates across all of them, I find it makes it easier to define your approach for the year and guide any decisions you need to make.
- It makes it easier to review your achievements; ask yourself: ‘Does this (insert activity) reflect (insert your defining word here)?’.
CHOOSE YOUR WORD FOR 2020
So, are you ready? It’s TIME! Time to decide on your own word. You might know straight away what you want your year’s word to be, it might be something on the tip of your tongue. Or, you might need a little help to develop some ideas, which is totally fine too. The beauty of the exercise is that there’s no pressure to know straight away. In fact, we give you permission to take your timmmmeeeee on this.
There’s a sheet in the show notes www.socialmediaandmarketing.com.au/46 or go to www.socialmediaandmarketing.com.au/word to get it there (no email needed, it’s just sitting there for you to use!)
Step 1. Do a little brainstorm of words that come to your brain about the year to come.
Step 2. Then, if you want to, list some thoughts under the different areas on the sheet. We did these to help you but don’t feel free to completely fill them up straight away and leave any you don’t know.
Step 3. Finally, choose one word that you think unifies your thoughts across all your goals and write it down at the bottom. You might find that your chosen word relates to your strongest goals and not to all of them, and that’s ok, but the broader it is the more useful it will be.
So, what’s my word for 2020, well, honestly, I haven’t quite figured that out yet as I am in the middle of writing my new goals for 2020 and doing some planning.
But, the front runners are IMPACT again (because who said you couldn’t use the same one twice!), CONNECTION is another one, because I think networking, collaborations and connections will pay a huge part in my 2020 according to my goals and GROW is also a front runner!
I’ll tell you mine if you tell me yours! Seriously, though, I’d love for you to head into the Facebook group – Like Minded Business Owners and tell me what your “word” for 2020 is.
Go on, inspire someone else with your thinking and your willingness to take charge of 2020.
I cannot wait to hear what they are.
If you’re not a member of Like Minded Business Owners, simply head to Facebook, type in Like Minded Business Owners and join up. Otherwise, there’s a link in the new notes at www.socialmediaandmarketing.com.au/podcast
www.facebook.com/groups/LikeMindedBusinessOwners
I’ll be back next Thursday with some more marketing know-how and another discovery of course.
If you’re enjoying this podcast, don’t forget to subscribe so you never miss an episode and share this with a friend. And maybe leave me a rating and a review wherever you listen in. Those things are like gold for podcasters like me! PS – you can leave more than one rating and review – just saying!
But that is all for Episode 46. I’d love to connect with you all on social – so let’s get social on social – I’m on all the platforms, so let’s do that!
…….. and remember small business peeps, as my opening song says, there’s no point in dreaming small!