With the nights drawing in and a definite chill in the air, we’re coming up to Christmas once again.
And NOW is the time to tidy up all your financial loose ends, so they don’t get away in the way of next year’s goals!
It’s a great opportunity to look back over what’s happened over this year, and to start thinking about what you might want to do in 2022.
Of course, it’s not been a ‘normal’ year! So much has happened over the last 18 months that it can feel really hard to actually see the wood for the trees.
So taking time out NOW to see where you are and what’s going on can make a massive difference to how you feel about your life, your finances and your plans for next year.
- When you look back at your business figures for this year – how did you do?
- Is your business up on last year or down?
- Were you negatively affected by the pandemic? How much so?
- Or were you able to pivot into a new area of business or life, that meant that you earned MORE money this year than last?
- How do you feel about all this? Surprised? Shocked? Anxious? Delighted?
Maybe your business is the type of thing that people need – whether there’s a pandemic or not – and you’ve carried on, without any real disruption in the day to day running of your business.
Maybe you’ve taken your business online (or more of it) and it’s opened huge new opportunities for you.
I think it’s safe to say we’ve all had to make some changes this year. But now we’re (hopefully!) at the end of what has been a horrendous experience, it’s time to draw a line under it and start to think about what we want in 2022.
I’m not one for New Year’s resolutions. I think that if you’re going to make a change, you can do it at any point – the right time for YOU – rather than waiting for some arbitrary date! But the end of the year can feel like a natural and useful time to take stock.
So once you’ve worked through those questions above, to get a clear picture of where you are, it’s time to have some fun! What do YOU want in 2022?
- What’s your big financial goal – for your business overall?
- What’s your personal financial goal – the amount you want to be able to take out of your business, every single month? How much would feel amazing for you?
- What big things do you want to do? Holidays? Upgrading your car? Moving house? Home improvements? Luxuries?
- What personal development would you love to be able to invest in? High-level coaching or Masterminds?
- How do you want to FEEL about money? When you check your bank account – abundant? Wealthy? Certain? Confident? In control? How does that compare to how you feel now?
And of course, updating your vision board or creating a new one is not just a lot of fun too – but an incredibly effective way to get clarity and focus on your goals (as we’ve talked about on this blog before!).
Wherever you are now and whatever you want in 2022 – by starting NOW, you can get things in place before the end of this year, with a super clear vision of where you’re headed.
Which is exactly why I’ve opened my 6-week ROCK Solid™ programme!
It’s totally self-study. So you can work at home and in private, without sharing any of your financial information with anyone, all on an online platform. So you can fit it in before your working day starts, if that’s what works for you, or do some bite-sized learning while you sit waiting in the car at the school gates.
We’re going to deal with those things that are crucial to business owners, to give you that peace of mind with your money. The stuff you know you need to do, but never quite get around to! But that make a MASSIVE difference.
You’ll work on your financial foundations that form the ‘ROCK’ in ROCK Solid™:
R = Regular Income
O = Organise Your Finances
C = Comfort Blanket: Your Financial Safety Net
K = Know Your Focus + Your Plan!
Starting with the R – creating a regular income is the BIGGEST thing you can do.
It means you get paid the same amount every single month from your business, no matter how much money comes in or whether your launch is a success or if you take time off to go holiday.
I can’t tell you how amazing it feels, knowing that the same amount of money is coming into your personal bank account every single month!
You stop worrying about taking time off over the school holidays and not being able to afford to do the things you want to do.
And by consistently having the same amount of money coming in each month, it means you can organise your finances (the O!).
You can set up money pots at home, for all the important things. It’s probably too late to set up a pot to save for this Christmas (and if you’re like me, you’ve probably done most of your Christmas shopping already anyway).
But you could set up a Christmas shopping pot and start putting money in now. So that next year, you don’t end up with it all on credit cards, maxing out your overdraft or stressing about how you’ll pay for everything.
You can have money pots for personal development; holidays; fun stuff or anything else that’s important to you. But realistically, you can ONLY do that (and actually see your pots grow) if you’ve got the same amount of money coming in every month first.
The other part of organising your finances is the business side. You’ve probably heard of Profit First – the popular book by Mike Michalowicz – which is all about managing your cashflow so you always get paid a decent amount (which has got to be a good idea, right?!).
BUT the other major benefits are that it stops you overspending on your expenses or buying too much stuff too quickly. You feel so much more in control. And you know your tax money is set aside ready at the end of the year, rather than that panicky feeling of scrabbling to find a chunk of cash for HMRC!
So we cover a version of Profit First, along with the C in ROCK Solid™ – your comfort blanket.
Putting your financial security net in place and the things that makes you feel safe, like emergency savings and insurances and writing your will.
All the stuff that you probably think it is a bit boring! But the impact of not having them sorted out can be absolutely massive for you and your family, in so many ways.
Which leaves us with the K…knowing your focus and the ONE single thing you’re going to do first!
I know taking control of your money can feel really intimidating. So the whole programme is deliberately designed to help you take one small step at a time, to get everything in place without ever feeling overwhelmed.
All this means that by getting a clear picture of what you want next year – and getting your money organised NOW – you can go into the New Year with a plan in place, to make 2022 the year your big goals and dreams actually (finally) happen for you!
Click here for full details and to join ROCK Solid™ now.
Of course, I hope this blog has given you a good insight into where to get started, if you want to go off and do all this stuff by yourself.
But you don’t have to go it alone. I’m a huge believer in investing in expert support where I need it, which has been a huge part of my success in growing my own business to multi 6-figures in the last few years.
And I’d LOVE to be the financial expert in your corner!
Until next time,
Claire