Top Three Lessons of 2022

Today’s topic is actually one that gets me super excited. I don’t know about you, but around this time each year, I feel this strong desire to start setting goals for the New Year. It’s like a blank canvas, a fresh sheet of paper, a new chance to set out and chase your dreams. But before I bust out the vision board and go all in on 2023, I have to remind myself to take some time to reflect on this past year. Without taking the time to reflect on this past year, we would be missing out on a huge growth opportunity. Reflecting on our top lessons allows us to evaluate where we missed the mark and where we hit a home run so that we can take those experiences with us in the new year. After taking some time to reflect on this past year and our business, here are our top three findings. 

Consistency is Key

The Covid pandemic changed the way we showed up in our business. And in many ways, for the better. Because the pandemic was a scary time for brick-and-mortar small business owners, we had to get creative and make sure we showed up in every way possible for our customers and clients. One area we focused on was all digital formats including email, text, and social platforms. We continued our focus in this area this past year and CONSISTENTLY showed up in front of our customers. Instead of only reaching out to customers when we had sales or promotions, we sent out newsletters every week with valuable tips and inspiration. We posted on social platforms daily and sent text campaigns bi-weekly. We have found that the consistency has really paid off. We stayed relevant in our customers minds and saw an increase in our customer return rate. This is one area we will continue to focus and improve upon moving into 2023. 

Ongoing Training

While we made a lot of positive improvements coming out of the pandemic, one area we let go to the wayside was training. Prior to Covid we held monthly team meetings which gave us an opportunity to educate employees on new products, upcoming promotions, sales and customer service techniques. We discontinued these meetings and have yet to bring them back, and I’ll be the first to tell you, it’s noticeable. We have seen a decrease in our employees’ knowledge of products and services and less communication in general. We know that ongoing training is powerful and necessary. Needless to say, monthly team meetings will be back in January. 

Personal Health

Overall, the biggest lesson of 2022 was the value of prioritizing our personal health. If I’m being totally honest, at the beginning of this year, we were in worse shape physically and mentally, than we had been in a long time. We both saw it and decided we had to pivot to focus on ourselves, even if our business suffered. But to our surprise, our business not only survived this transition, but thrived. By focusing on our wellbeing, we had more focused energy and a newfound motivation to put towards our business. Our personal health has a major correlation to our business health. If we are in a bad place mentally, that trickles down to our employees and customers and creates an overall negative experience. Prioritizing our personal health was one of the best things we could have done for our business and I’m so glad we did. 

There you have it. Our top three lessons from 2022. As we close out the year, I encourage you to take some time this week to reflect on this past year. Whether it’s business or personal, what went well for you this year? And where could you have done better? Write it down or talk it out with your friend or partner. You may be surprised by what you find. In the coming weeks, we will be sharing with you our favorite way to set goals for the New Year. Stay tuned, you won’t want to miss it!