My Monthly Review - October 2022
I have been publicly sharing my monthly business reviews since January 2022 (scroll to the bottom of this post to see my others).
This is a reset process I go through on the first of every month to review the month that has just been and to plan for the month ahead.
I highly encourage all of my clients and students to do a similar process each month as it helps keep you accountable and see what is working and isn’t working in your business.
If you want a free checklist to use you can grab that here:
If you aren’t regularly tracking what is happening in your business then it’s very difficult to assess what’s working, what isn’t working, what progress you are making (or not making!) and how you can improve.
My review process normally takes me about 20 minutes to complete each month and when I look back on my previous entries I’m so grateful that I have a record of what has been happening so I can look back on how far I have come!
A quick note before we start…
I share this information publicly because I’m a completely open book and want to encourage and inspire other women and mothers about what is possible with their businesses.
When I was starting my ow business I used to follow a few business owners who did something similar to this and I found it hugely inspiring and helpful as it showed me what was possible in my own business.
However, I’m aware that some people find the sharing of business results and revenue numbers triggering, so if that’s you then I suggest you skip this post and jump in to some of my other free content instead :)
Here’s my review from October 2022.
Looking back - review last month
Revenue
Revenue for October 2022 was $168,000
Expenses
Main expenses for October:
Advertising spend: $20,477
Virtual assistants: $2,773
Software subscriptions: $1,331
Social Metrics
Email/newsletter subscribers: 40,842
Instagram - TLDC: 75.6K
Instagram - CLR: 8,922
YouTube - CLR: 8.66K
YouTube - SketchUp: 384
CLR Facebook Page Follows: 335
TLDC Facebook Page Follows: 24K
Facebook Group: 10.5K
Pinterest Follows: 10.6K
Pinterest monthly views: 827K
Twitter followers: 183
LinkedIn Follows: 511
CLR Website visits: 3.5K
Bounce Rate: 79%
TLDC Website visits: 26K
Bounce Rate: 77.5%
Top 3 Wins Last Month
Had a great holiday in Brisbane and Noosa
New lead magnet created for OCC
Have stuck to 75 Hard for 22 days in a row (2 workouts per day + healthy eating) - starting to feel stronger at training
Notes from Last Month
What went well, what didn’t go well…
Urgh…for the third or fourth month in a row I’ve been pretty unproductive (at least compared to my normal levels of consistency and discipline). As per last month I’ve still been moving things off my to-do list from one day to the next. I’m meant to be in the middle of creating my next course, which is due to launch over Black Friday weekend, and I just don’t have the motivation to do it.
BUT…I’m still only 3 months post my brain surgery. To me that sounds like a lot of time but in reality, my body has been through a pretty traumatic event and I am just going to have to give it as much time as I need to get back to my old self.
Let’s move to some positives. The month started with 10 days in Brisbane and Noosa and we had a really relaxing time. We all needed the break of routine! I ate too much and couldn’t stick with 75 Hard as the boys would have killed me if I tried to exercise twice a day on holidays - so I had to restart that when we got back but I’m now 22 days into it again and I feel heaps better.
Training is all moving in the right direction. I’m starting to get stronger again and get my fitness back. That’s just going to be about consistency and patience to get back to my old self there. But I’m putting in the reps and have been exercising twice a day (part of the 75 Hard challenge) - one strength training session and one walk. I’m also eating really well, which is helping me feel better too. So from a health and fitness standpoint, things are going well and I’m starting to feel a lot better about myself. Given how important this is to my overall sense of well-being I think as I get back to being in better shape I’m likely to feel a lot better in myself as well.
In terms of work I haven’t been a complete couch potato. I still get up at 4am (because I love that time of day and get the most done in those early hours of the morning). I am still creating daily content on my Instagram pages, LinkedIn, blog posts and I got a YouTube video out about my Notion dashboard, that I’ve been wanting to make for ages. I also created a new lead magnet for my Online Course Creator program and I’ve nearly got the webinar ready for my business short courses for designers. I just need to find a day when there are no builders here making noise so I can record it and post it up! So it’s not like I do nothing - it’s just that I’m not doing as much as I normally do.
Revenue has been solid again this month, although sales for OCC have dropped since last month and we didn’t have many new students in that program this month. This is because the ads haven’t been running well yet - we are still trying to get the audiences sorted out for the FB ads. At the moment they aren’t targeting the right sorts of people and so there aren’t good conversions yet. I’m very happy with the webinar funnel that I have for that program. I think the content in the webinar is really good and I know the program is fantastic - we’ve got lots of students launching courses in there now - so I know that it will take off with the right ads strategy and more effort put into the free content I create around it (which I have been doing, but probably not with the right strategy yet). I’m still fully confident that OCC will become another 7-figure revenue stream for me, but I do need to put some more effort into the lead gen side of it to get word out about the program and how it can help people.
This month is Black Friday weekend and I need to plan for that. It’s the only time during the year that I offer any discounts on my courses, so it’s normally a pretty solid revenue month as a result of that. I did a short course myself on how to plan and set up a good strategy for Black Friday - so I need to implement some of the things I learned in that course over the coming few weeks to get everything ready.
So even though every month I’ve been saying that next month will be the time when I start being more productive this month I’m going to just say that I’m going to do my best and not put too much pressure on myself this month. I’m doing my best with where my headspace is at the moment and that’s all that I can ask of myself!
Looking forward - plan this month
Focus this month:
Be kinder to myself and where my headspace is at right now :) If possible, get my next course Online Course Creator - Going Evergreen launched for Black Friday. Plan and execute a solid Black Friday sale weekend.
Projects this month:
Plan Black Friday
Finish business short course webinar and share
Online Course Creator: Go Evergreen tasks - launch Black Friday (if possible)
Create Notion templates
Weekly posting to YouTube
Goals this month:
1: ♠️ 75 Hard - Ends 3 December
2: $200K revenue (a little higher goal this month due to Black Friday)
What would make this month amazing?
Actually do the tasks I set for myself rather than pushing them from one day to the next and writing again next month saying I have been unproductive!!
Getting back into alignment with how I self-identify (as someone who is disciplined and consistent) is likely to make me feel much better - so that’s my main aim for this month.
If you would like to follow my business journey you can read my other monthly reviews via the links at the bottom of this page.
And if you would like to download my free Notion template to conduct your own monthly business review you can do that here:
Courses and Templates for Designers and Architects
DO YOU WANT TO….
Improve your professionalism?
Find more clients?
Bring in more revenue?
Create better systems and processes?
Then check out my business courses and templates for designers and architects.
These courses and templates leave you with work done - not just a long list of things you need to do next. We have a really strong focus on taking action and getting things created that improve your business.
Enjoy the rest of your day!
Clare x
Dr Clare Le Roy
