2024 Begins (Income Report & Update)
The year has been a roller-coaster already. I always end up feeling more optimistic after writing one of these updates, though.
I am writing down to actually write this for the first time on March 24. I’ve been putting a “January and February Update” newsletter on the list every week this month.
*** 2 weeks later ***
Ahem… Let me begin again. I have decided that I wanted to write Biz&Life newsletters and updates on the weekends. Generally, I have a few stretches of time where my daughter is happy to play independently while I do whatever I want to do. Last time I sat down to write, my daughter was being a bit more clingy than usual. The next weekend was Easter, so we took the long weekend at my grandma’s house. It is again the weekend, but my daughter is enjoying more independent time today so I can write.
Now here is the reason why I really want to write these updates monthly… how do I begin again? Let’s just summarize the last few months.
How did I spend my time?
January:
In my annual review, I selected Flow as my word of the year. I’ve found some ways to boost energy and get into flow, but also struggled with low energy sometimes and its difficult to get back into flow — and at the same time, I need to remember that sometimes rest is more important. It is an ongoing struggle to find the best balance between these needs. I’ve also been exploring other facets of Flow and look forward to seeing how that will show up over the year.
January was a bit of a struggle as well because I had a lot of non-self-directed work to do. I was doing some behind-the-scenes work for the marketing agency and doing a ton of work for the Arthritis Health Professions Association (AHPA). I had hoped to spend my time working on my private practice, but wasn’t able to, hence the struggle and frustration. After reflecting, I was satisfied with how I managed my time, but it was frustrating in the moment.
February:
In February, I really started to feel some momentum. I published a food and symptom journal on my website and Amazon, recorded module 1 of my course, participated in my first summit, wrapped up my term as AHPA President (though I am still on the board for the next year as Past President), and learned how to crochet. I even got to attend my first conference since 2018.
March:
March was a whole lot. The first week back was all about catching up from being away from home for a week. I was able to finish editing the video content for the course, uploaded it and did some promotions. The next week, I left for vacation. It was my grampa’s 80th birthday so we went to spend time with family. The next week, back at home, my energy completely collapsed. Being away from home 2 of 3 weeks is a lot for me. Then the week after that was magically the last week of March!
I started feeling really behind; there are a lot of initiatives I am wanting to do, deadlines that I have set, and I haven’t even done any spring cleaning yet.
What is going on?
Private Practice: samanthaholmgren.ca/course
I have put a few podcast episodes out, a few articles, and most excitingly published the first module of the program! I had several sales of the program, mostly through a bundle but also one that signed up from my email list, when I let them know that the price would go up. Despite feeling really frustrated at times, there were some really great moments and things to celebrate!
In addition to working on the course, I am continuing to look for opportunities to participate in bundles or summits. This has been the most successful way of finding people for my email list. The next step is to work on the email sequences for new members to promote my course.
I am also planning to do a cold outreach campaign to chiropractors to introduce myself and my private practice services. I’ll also offer my ebook for them to share to their clients (as the pdf directly, without the clients having to sign up for my email list directly). Inside the ebook are several calls to action to sign up for the resource library (which I host in Teachery), so there is still a natural way for them to enter my ecosystem. There may be a bit of a technological challenge, however. Currently, I don’t have any automation for people who might join my email list via the free resource library (just a Pabbly automation to add or update their contacts so I don’t lose anyone). And on the free version of Mailerlite, I don’t think I could structure an automation with multiple criteria (so I can opt out those who already got the welcome series). But that is something for future Sam to figure out.
Biz&Life
As mentioned, I haven’t been able to spend much time writing newsletters here. Despite all the ideas I have, I am just one person! And a person who is still relying on gig jobs to pay the bills at that. Sooner or later, though, I’ll be able to carve out time for my many random ideas. That is what I am working toward, after all.
Income Report
So far this year, I have not hit my income goal once. One the plus side, I was able to make a few sales from my course and the contracts for dietitian services have been steady.
Editing: Editing was a small piece of the pie in quarter 1, but was starting to pick up towards the end of March and I anticipate doing much more in April and May.
Contract RD: I have three contracts right now, covering different areas of practice or geographic areas. One of these has been very consistent and a solid source of income. It isn’t enough on its own but it is a huge help.
Marketing agency: I was able to do a fair amount of work with the marketing agency to help behind the scenes with a couple of clients at the start of the year. However, there has been less work for them to pass along to me in March so things may be winding down with this gig.
I’ve got a few plans that I’m excited about. I am trying to use the pinch to help clarify my decision making going forward. We’ll see how things go!
Final Thoughts
This was a bit of a challenge to think back over the past 3 months and write this update. For my own purposes, I’d love to write one every month — and I want to share it with you. In April, I’m going to try mentally combining writing an update as part of my monthly.
Overall, I know I have a good plan for my business. It is just a matter of having time and space to do it. One of the largest challenges is that I have bills to pay in the short term. The dietetic clients I see via contracts and the Stigma Free Society talks are a high rate per hour, but I am not getting enough to form a sufficient base income at this point. Which means that I need to dedicate time to lower rate of pay gigs (like editing or work with the marketing agency) when the work is available.
At the same time, spending time to finish my course, create products and market my business through content marketing, outreach to possible referral sources and collaboration (e.g.being a guest on podcasts and especially participating in bundles and summits)… It will all pay off in the long run. And stepping away for too long from any of these strategies could end up costing me significant momentum.
This is the balance that I am constantly seeking to find: short-term income vs. long-term growth. I don’t have any answers yet, but I just need to keep making steps towards the vision I have in mind for my life, main biz, and all the side projects I want to explore.
Until next time,
-Samantha 💜
If you found this newsletter helpful, I would appreciate it if you could leave me a tip or become a supporter on Ko-Fi!