I want to remind you that your year end review is not just a reflection.
It is a roadmap for the future. Take the lessons that you learned, celebrate the wins, definitely, and envision the next chapter for your business.
Hey, y'all, you're listening to the designer within episode number 23.
I'm John McClain and welcome to the designer within podcast, the business minded podcast created for creative entrepreneurs by a creative entrepreneur. That's me. I know firsthand the challenges, but also the victories that can come with our careers. And I'm here to sip and spill the tea with you. It's time to dive deep within yourself and redesign your own business and your life from the inside out.
Together we will uncover secrets and share valuable insights. So prepare for a transformative experience, my friend, because it's time to unleash the designer within.
Hello, everybody. Welcome to another episode of the designer within I'm your host, John McClain. Happy to have you here as always. If you're new, welcome to the podcast. Today's episode is all about the year. End of review. And of course we are now in the month of November wrapping up the month of November, I should say.
This episode actually comes out on Thanksgiving. So we are showing gratitude for the day, for the year, for the time that we have with family and friends. And hopefully you're showing gratitude for the business and for the successes that you've had there and for the lessons that you've learned and all the things that go along with that.
And that is exactly what today's episode is about. It is about performing your year end review, and that is year end, E N D review. And I do this every year. This is something that I started years ago and it has really helped me and my business to look back and reflect and grow and change and just think about all the good things, the bad things, the ugly. The things that, mattered the most.
And some of the things that didn't matter as much as other things. And things that move the needle in my business and in my life.
I invite you to really look back and take this time now to reflect on the year that you've had. And I'm going to give you three simple steps today to do that. We're not going to overcomplicate this.
There's no need to make this any harder than what it should be. So let's jump in and I will give you my three easy steps to look back On your year and review And by the way, if you want a download, I have created a workbook for you for your own year end review. Any, you can download that in the notes of the podcast. If you're listening there or you can find it, of course, as always on my Instagram, you can go to the links in the bio and there is the links there for all of the downloads that I have mentioned in the podcast, or go to my website, John McClain dot C O, and head to podcast.
And then you can find the downloads there. So any of those places, you can get the download for the year and review, and it is about five pages. Of questions that you can answer to perform your own year and review. And again, look back on those things.
This year and review is a crucial journey and it is a journey to look back and sometimes we want to close our eyes and sometimes we want to look back with our hand over our eyes, just kind of peeking through. But it is necessary. And as the year draws to a close, it is time to examine the highs and the lows, celebrating successes and learning from our challenges.
I want you to grab your notebook. A cup of your favorite beverage, whatever that is. If you need a cup of coffee to wake up, or if it's something where you need a glass of wine to wind down, that's fine too. I do not judge at all. And let's dive in to my three essential steps. To really analyze your year in business over the past year of 2023. First of all, I want you to reflect on your wins and challenges.
And before we actually dive into the steps and to the nitty-gritty, let's just take a mindful pause to really appreciate the journey. Right. reflecting on the wins and challenges of the past year is more than just a formality. It is a practice in gratitude and growth. And as I said, this episode, if you're listening in real time, came out on Thanksgiving day of 20, 23, but it doesn't matter really when it came out, because we should always be practicing gratitude and learning from our gratitude and growing in that. So I want you to think on how you can practice gratitude and growth and start with what projects. Brought you the most satisfaction this past year? Was it the successful completion of a challenging design or perhaps a positive client testimonial that was left for you? Uh, equally important.
What were the challenges that you face And more crucially, how did you overcome them? Right. That's really, really important to look at the steps that you took to overcome those challenges. It's also about turning setbacks into set ups for future success. Remember that? And understanding that growth often emerges from adversity. So if you're having trouble thinking of exactly what wins you had last year, a little trick that I like to do is go back and revisit my stories on Instagram.
And you're probably thinking how in the heck do I do that? And why do I do that? Well, here's the reason why, first of all, when you're posting things on your Instagram stories, these were the things that you were probably most proud of or most excited about. That's what you're going to put on your Instagram story.
So it stands to reason that there are some specific moments there where you can also find gratitude and that could be a family vacation. A special project, an employee luncheon that you had with your team. an install that went very smoothly. so many moments are shared in that moment, right? we grab our phone, we share that happy moment. We take a picture and we post it on our Instagram story and then it goes away after 24 hours. So I want you to grab your phone and grab those highlights and take the time to show your appreciation in depth.
Now. Rather than just in a passing moment. And the easiest way to do that is to review the highlights on your Instagram. So here are the steps to do that. It's really, really simple. Just go to your main Instagram page, tap the plus sign in the upper right-hand corner. You see it on the main page of your Instagram, then tap story highlight that will pull up all of the stories that you have posted over the past, you can go back pretty far.
So just keep scrolling and you can scroll through revisit those moments, revisit that walk that you took, revisit that vacation, revisit that installation, revisit your photo with a client, whatever you want to revisit. It will be on there and scroll. Scroll through and remember those happy moments.
And remember those joyous times, you can do one of two things. Now you can either write them down as you see them. So if you see a happy moment, you can write that moment down, relive that moment and really take note of what occurred or if you really want to get extra bonus points, you could actually create. A highlight reel.
You. could create a year, end highlight real showcasing your accomplishments. That's even better. And then you can share that with the world. So the choice is yours. If you want to just take note. In your own journal of what you see on your highlight reel, or if you really, really want to document that. I suggest that you actually create a highlight reel and this could be your year end review, 2023.
And then every year you can have that highlight real living there on your page, where you can go back and remember those highlights of that year. So go back to your Instagram and start looking back at those moments of happiness of joy, and really showed gratitude for that highlight reel that you have living and breathing right now on your phone.
And now that we've discussed gratitude and really taken a moment to look back on the journey of the last year and think about what was accomplished and what happened. Let's actually dig in to our first step, which really is a thorough analysis of your financial performance. Your business's heartbeat lies in your numbers.
It lies in the data. So how did your revenue align with your projections of the year? What were your projections of the year? And did you hit those numbers? Were there unexpected expenses that affected your bottom line? I want you to take a deep dive into your financial story. And it's not just about the dollars and cents, by the way. It's really getting to know the money story of your business. Break it down and you can spot where things could have been smoother.
And whether it's trimming some fat tweaking your prices or adding some different revenue streams to beef up your financial game. I also suggest you analyze your subscriptions to cut back on expenses. And these could be subscriptions such as software. Are you using them all? Can you cancel some? We were not using SketchUp for instance, and we were outsourcing a lot of those services.
I was practically wasting that. Money as a company and I decided to cancel it when it came up for renewal. So look at your expenses right now and ask yourself what software are you not using? What subscriptions are you not using that you signed up for, that you thought that you were going to use Next on the vein of financial topics, is it time to raise your rates?
have you added team members to your company? Have you increased your knowledge so much that you can do your job even better than before that could deserve a raise in rates? If you are providing more or better services to your clients, even if you didn't add any new services, I invite you to review your rates in relation to the services that you do offer really to ensure that you are in. Indeed charging enough, Because if you listen to one of my recent episodes, you know, that I got on a little bit of a high horse about charging enough for your rates.
So I do want you to analyze that, to find out if you are indeed charging enough overall. but of course, if you have added new opportunities for your clients and you are providing more services and better services for your clients that could deserve an increase in rates. Lastly, maybe it's time to add a new revenue stream to your business or tweak the ones that you did add additional revenue streams can be a great way to increase your bottom line while also bringing some variety into your business.
look back and think about what revenue streams worked well for you. Can you increase upon those, make them even better, or is there a revenue stream that you could add on to your current offerings to increase the bottom line even more? step two, evaluate client satisfaction and feedback. As we move into our second step, let's shift our focus to really the lifeblood of your business, which is your clients.
Happy clients are not only your biggest cheerleaders. They are really the catalyst for sustained success on the flip side now, addressing any dissatisfactions head on Can prevent these potential issues from escalating. I want you to dive into your client feedback, what worked well. And if you're not asking for feedback, you need to be asking for feedback that is essential, but this is assuming that you have asked for feedback and that you have gotten that feedback.
I want you to ask again what worked well, what you could enhance and really the overall satisfaction of your clients. This step by the way is not just about the end product, but about the entire experience from start to finish for your client.
Cultivating strong client relationships ensures not only repeat business, but also that in valuable word of mouth referral system that we want to develop. And as I said, if you don't have our process in place for asking clients for feedback, Now it's the time to integrate that as well. It's not always rainbows and butterflies by the way, on the feedback form, but every comment will make you a better business owner and a better designer, and it is definitely worth asking.
So get that feedback, implement the feedback and make yourself a better business owner, a better person. And a better leader for your company. Step three is revolving around personal and professional development. your business is an extension of you and as it evolves, so should you, what skills did you learn this year?
Think about it. Did you invest in any workshops, any CEU's? Any courses or networking opportunities to expand your expertise? Did you join a learning program? Like my own design success academy. Did you become a registered licensed interior designer? Whether it's growing your design steals. Or improving your time management, your business skills or staying on top of industry trends, personal and professional development is a cornerstone of long-term success.
Your growth fuels the growth of your business. And I don't want you to ever forget that. and if you do go and grab the download that I provided for you, there is an entire section about your own personal and professional development and how that can relate and find its way in. In to your company. so those are three simple steps that you can take right now.
I did not want to overcomplicate this for you because I know sometimes it can seem daunting to do this year end review. at the very least, if you perform these simple steps, you are well on your way to looking back on the year that was just closed out and making the year that's upcoming, even better. And as we approach the end of this episode, I want to remind you that your year end review is not just a reflection.
It is a roadmap for the future. Take the lessons that you learned, celebrate the wins, definitely, and envision the next chapter for your business. What goals will you set for the upcoming year ask yourself that. How will you build on the successes and learn from your experiences? Is your vision for the future?
Begins with the insights gained from the past. Very, very important to remember. And I want to thank you for joining me on this reflective journey today on the designer, within, as you wrap up your year end review, remember this growth is a continuous process, and I invite you to jump on that journey and always, always, always be growing.
And as I said, if you want to perform your own year end review, you can head to the notes section of this podcast, wherever you're listening and download my year end review workbook, or you can go to my Instagram and the link in the bio will have all of the downloads there once you've clicked on that. thank you for listening to this short and sweet episode, and definitely look back on the year that you've had. I hope it's been wonderful for you, and I hope that you're showing gratitude and I hope that you're giving yourself grace for the year that's up coming.
And until next time, keep designing, keep thriving and keep envisioning the incredible possibilities that the new year holds cheers to your success. My friend, I'm John McClain, and I will see you next time.
Thanks for sticking with me to the end of the designer within podcast. It means the world to me, if you're ready to dive deeper into the topics that we've discussed here,
Be sure to check out my online coaching and courses, program, design success, academy.com. Here. I will teach you everything you need to know to run your interior design business from a starting the project all the way to the end, including marketing and pricing your services for profit..
And for more information on this podcast, including how to be a guest or my design services in general, go to JohnMcClain.CO that's. JohnMcClain.CO. See you soon, friend.