Ashley Alderson walks through why New Year plans fail and offers a free three-day planning workshop starting January 6. You'll review 2025, set SMART goals with accountability, build a budget and operations plan, and create a 2026 content calendar with guidance on Meta's Andromeda algorithm and paid ads.
Questions this episode answers
January 6, 7 and 8, 2026.
January 2, 2026.
Jeff Fenn, Sarah Burks, Samantha Connor, Ashley Alderson (host), plus other Boutique Hub experts and industry guests.
Andromeda.
The Boutique Hub website (theboutiquehub.com) and Boutique Hub social channels.
Chapters
Hey, guys, welcome back to 5 Minute Friday. And I just wanted to use today to tell you you are invited. If you are knee deep in colorful markers, a brand new planner, a vision board, and getting all set for 2026, I would love to join you. Personally, I would love to work with you to make sure 2026 is your best year yet. Because it's time for our best year yet challenge. And you guys, this is our biggest free free training of the year. It is the one I get the most excited about. Because who doesn't love planning the new year, right? And you get to do it in community with literally thousands of business owners just like you from around the world. So inside of the best year yet challenge, you guys, I want to talk about what you're going to expect for the three days that we're going to spend together. January 6th, 7th and 8th. And some things you could start to think about now so that when you come to that training, you're set up to really hit the ground running. Because I think one of the biggest mistakes that I see retailers make when it comes to planning out the new year is we get so overwhelmed with this idea of like all the goals that we're setting, right? We got goals coming out our ears. There's goals in every area of our life. There's goal after goal after goal and there's New Year's resolutions. Like there's all these things and we chase perfection at the new year, right? And everyone's got their new clothes they're going to wear to the gym and the gym memberships soar. But if, you know, come March, how many people are actually still going to the gym? How much use have those new gym clothes actually gotten? Do we actually even remember what our word of the year is? And then how many of those goals by March have we actually worked our way backwards to break down so that we have an actionable, measurable plan in order to reach them? And does our team even know what they are? Do they even remember by March, right? Does is where so many of us fall off the wagon. I've definitely done that myself. Trying to do it all and trying to be perfect in every single area. Like this whole New Year, new me idea. And the reason I just don't think it works is it's just perfection is not realistic, it's not attainable. And this idea that we're going to get it all done and we're going to get it all done, right? I mean, the second you fall off the wagon, it's easy to Stay off the wagon. It's easy to give yourself an excuse and then continue to lie to yourself about what's actually possible. What's the saying? We often overestimate what we can get done in a week and we underestimate what we can get done in a year. Is that it? I think that's so true. Right. So many of us are running with like this crazy long to do list, right. I've got to do this and this and this and this and this. But if we actually took a step back and broke the things down, like the real things that move the needle, right. The 80% of our list, I'm sorry, the 20% of our list, that's going to get us 80% of the results, like the big things. If we actually took the time to break them down into actionable, bite sized steps, we mapped them out over a year's time and we took small, imperfect action toward them consistently every single day, we would have massive ground that we've gained in the next year. And so those types of thought processes, strategies, how tos, reminders, mindsets, those are all the things that I want to work with you on during the best area challenge. So here's how this is going to work during day one, January 6th, right. You've already had a couple days to get that planner ready to go and to think through these goals. But on day one, we're going to do some exercises that I think are so helpful every single year. The first is we do an exercise where we do a 2025 year in review. And together we look back at the most important key indicators from the last year in terms of what worked, what didn't, what we want more of what we want, less of what we can eliminate. Right. Like all those pieces so that we have a really crystal clear view of what we need in 2026. And then we're going to look at those goals. Right. In 2026 you've already got a whole list of them, but we're going to break them down. We're going to make them smart, we're going to make them specific, measurable, actionable, realistic and time bound. And then we're going to break them down over 12 months of time and we're going to assign who is going to help you accomplish them by when and how. Right. We're going to have an actual action plan and we're going to have an accountability system for your team or those you surround yourself with. Right. Who can you lean on for support in order to get these things done? Right. It's a reset for yourself and for your business. On day number two, we're going to start talking about the money, right? Because the year is also about how you're going to make money this year. So on January 7th, together, we're going to create systems, space and strategy all around your budget, your profitability plan. We're going to do an operations and organization reset so you feel like you've got streamlined processes for the new year. And then we're going to do a training and tools audit so that you can really pull AI into what you're going to be working on in the new year so you can duplicate yourself. You can get more done in less time. You can work smarter, not harder. You can have more clarity and more vision and more focus and get rid of all the silly excuses you have about why you're not a numbers person or why you're not a this or that person, when literally AI is sitting there ready to help you at any given moment. We're going to show you how to do that. And then finally, on day number three, I get a little giddy about this. I'm sure you do, too. Most of us are like marketing and content people. We love the pretty things in business. Day number three, January 8th. We're going to talk about how to execute and elevate, right? All about our marketing, the markets that we're reaching into and the momentum that we're going to build together in the new year. What does that mean? Well, it means we're going to lay out your entire 2026 marketing and content calendar. We're also going to dig deep into what is happening with Andromeda. Andromeda is Meta's brand new algorithm and we're going to talk all about the highs, the lows, the ins, the outs, the why we love it and why we hate it and how you're going to maximize. Because if we're still posting like you were six months ago, I'm telling you, it does not work anymore. If you have a perfect feed, if it's just photos, if it's the same background every single time, there's a lot of things that have changed in terms of the algorithm. So we've got to get ahead of the curve. And then finally we're going to do a look, an outlook into paid advertising, into Meta, and what is actually going to be working in 2026. So you can join myself, you can join Jeff Fenn and Sarah Burks on our team. Samantha Connor will be joining us as well. All of the experts inside of the hub and some industry experts are going to be on the call as well to help you really map out, plan and maximize how to get the most out of this year, not how to, you know, set these big, lofty, perfect goals in January that by March don't mean crap. It is all about, like I said earlier, taking small, imperfect but consistent steps in order to grow your business in the new year. And I want you to be equipped with the right people and the right community and the right tools in order to get there. And that's what we do here at the Boutique Hub. So I hope you guys will come and join me. Please, wherever you're watching this or listening to this podcast, drop me a comment, leave a rating and review or send me a message and let me know that you're going to be joining me for the Best Year Yet Challenge. You can sign up@the boutiquehub.com or pretty much on any of our socials because we're talking about it heavily right now. But I hope I see you there for the Best year yet challenge. January 6th, 7th and 8th. And let's freaking kick this new year into high gear. I'm ready to do it with you, you guys. All right, thanks for listening today. We'll see you there. That's it for five Minute Friday, you guys. I hope you found some quick, actionable steps you can put into play in your business right away. As always, if you're not yet a member of the Boutique Hub, I would love to personally invite you to join us. It's where all of the daily conversations, the up to date what is working now in the industry conversations, the latest trainings, trend reports, discounts, resources, and of course access to thousands of wholesale brands that you also know and love. So please take a minute, follow the link in the show notes and we would love to invite you to join us inside of the Boutique Hub.
