2023 Epilogue
When I reflect on 2023, the best way I can describe it is a giant panic attack, or maybe it was more like a combo cage fight and therapy session. I know that all sounds ominous, but it was also one of the best years I’ve had in a long time. I had no idea what to expect and was absolutely terrified when this journey started and to be honest 2023 was nothing short of a giant experiment.
This wasn’t the year that I thrived, it was the year I survived and I am DAMN proud of that. I didn’t make much money and I didn’t have loads of clients. I floundered, I regrouped, I went back to basics and I focused on figuring out what I truly want for my life and my business and TOOK IT SLOW. On the surface, that might look like a failure.
Probably the opposite of what was expected for me to do or even what I should’ve done, but c’est la vie.
Here are the 5, slightly unconventional, things I’m proud of from the past year.
Made the choice to live off of my savings for a little while rather than let the panic drive me to take whatever came my way. This allowed me to take the space I needed to decompress from over a decade of the workforce and readjust to the WFH life. That was a much needed, but not at all anticipated necessity.
Invested in my craft. My experience is varied to say the least and while that would probably seem like that would be a good thing for me, it actually made it more complicated. When you can do ALL the things, what that really means is that none of the work you produce is exceptional because you have too many irons in the fire at once. I did some soul-searching and decided what I enjoyed doing versus what I didn’t. I focused on what I did enjoy and invested in a class to fine-tune my skill set.
Practiced, practiced, practiced. I am so grateful to have such great support systems behind me in the form of family and friends who are also small business owners. I worked with a few of them over the last year to help them establish their branding. This gave me client experience and allowed me to work through new systems and tweak them with the feedback I was able to get from those I worked with.
Started not 1, but 2 part-time jobs. Admittedly, the first is a very small one that requires only a few hours each week and I took it before even leaving my 9-5 job. It was sometime in the summer that I realized that I needed more time to build than my savings was going to allow and as happenstance had it, a part-time remote position became available to me at the very end of summer. This gives me enough financial security to not worry about my basic needs and I still have the time to continue building DDC.
Took my time. 1-4 gave me the freedom to take my time so I can be sure that what I’m building is something that won’t just have the best chance of succeeding, but also be something I love and am proud of for years to come. It’s also given me the space to work on some much-needed healing for my physical and mental health.
I feel like I slid into home base at the last second rather than hitting a home run, but the point is I survived and I feel good about where I’m at and where I’m going. It wasn’t the journey I was expecting, but I’m not sure that I knew what to expect a year ago anyway.
While I foolishly thought I’d be able to build a complete business in one year, this year ended up being the year of laying the foundation. Now comes building the framework.
