3 Things to Re-evaluate at the End of the Year

Welcome to the Author Audience show, the podcast that helps you reach more people with your message. Create a book, connect with your audience, change lives. Here's your host, Shelly Hitz.

It's December. It's the end of the year. And in this video, I'm going to share with you three things I recommend reevaluating at the end of the year. Hi, my name is Shelly Hitz, and I'm an author coach author on a mission to help you reach more people with your message. It's time to let your light shine. I am the owner of authoraudienceacademy.com and inside my academy, I have a training called Plan It Day. It walks you through step by step through goal setting and planning, but also I take you through a process of evaluating some different things. And so I've just been in this process as the year starts to close of evaluation. Have any of you been in that mode as well? If so, just type yes in the comments below. If you're watching live or watching the replay here on Facebook, just leave me a comment, give me a reaction, let me know you're here, and I would love to hear from you. So it's just been that time of year where it's just easy to think about, okay, what went well over the last year. And in a recent training, I actually took you through my generous gratitude training where we went through the last year of what went well, what do we have to be thankful for? And so many different other steps. And it was, it was just a great process to go through with you. But today I wanted to share with you three things that I've recently been reevaluating. And I recommend that you do the same as the year ends. So the first thing is just to simply look back on 2016 and say what worked and what didn't work.

You know, it's good to be honest. It's good to look at those things. It's good to see what's working, what's not working. And that is one of the things that we did go through on the generous gratitude worksheet, but we didn't really dive into the what's not working part of it. And this is the part that is really important. I believe in the 8020 rule. So the 8020 rule means 20% of your efforts will yield 80% of your results. So many times we're scurrying around, we're doing all these things, and yet it's not yielding the results that really matter. And so it's good occasionally, at least once A year, if not quarterly, to look back and say what's working, what's not working, and what things do I need to change? I like to say, and I say this a lot, test track and tweak each. You know, we're always in a mode of looking back and saying what, what worked, what didn't work, and what do I need to tweak, what do I need to change? For me personally, I looked back on this year and this year I really did a content marketing blitz. I hired a content marketing manager part time and I paid a graphic designer, I paid a transcriptionist. So I have a team that I'm paying and really took my Facebook Live trainings. They would edit them, they would post them on YouTube, my blog, on my podcast. I would go on to Pinterest, LinkedIn, all these places, and it's just like I was everywhere. And, you know, this is a strategy that a lot of people recommend and many times it works well. But for me personally, what I found, and I'm looking back over the year, I don't really know that all of my content really brought me income. I have more followers. I know some of you love getting my new trainings and I know some of you are very loyal podcast listeners or you watch my new videos on YouTube or you check into my blog, but I really haven't been getting very many blog comments. My blog really hasn't taken off in Google. I don't know why. There's something, there must be something there that is blocking it for some reason. And I don't know exactly. I've had this domain for years and so I just started using it when I was rebranding, but it never took off in the Google search engines. My YouTube channel hasn't really taken off. My podcast hasn't really taken off. And occasionally new members of Author Audience Academy will tell me they found me through my podcast or through my YouTube channel or something like that. But I put a lot of time into creating these free trainings and then I pay a lot of money to, to my staff in order to get them out to you in many different formats. And I just don't think it's yielding the results that I hoped it to yield. And I've given it almost a full year. I mean, I've done my podcast for a year and a half and so I've really given it time. That's the thing. A lot of times, you know, you'll try something and, oh, it's not working. I tried Twitter, it's not working. I Tried. I tried an email list. It's not working. I tried this. It's not working. Now, granted, some of the things may truly not be your sweet spot, may not be the 20% that yield the 80% of results, but have you really given it time? And I really believe I gave this time. And I'm not going to stop giving trainings, but I am reevaluating my process. I'm investing a lot of time, a lot of money into my content marketing strategy, and I just really don't think it's yielding the results that I would want. All right, so the first thing to reevaluate is what's working and what's not working. And like I said, for me, it seems to be my content marketing strategy. I really was hopeful that it would just take off. And if I did this another year, two years, three years, it may eventually take off. But for me, right now, what I see working the best is when I have webinars and, and I give live webinars to invite people into Author Audience Academy or for my books. It's when I do book launches. It's my email marketing that really is working well. And so I really think that this year I'm going to be shifting some of my time and my money more into Facebook ads targeting people for my email list and to join my live webinars so that I can share with them what I have to offer with them. I. I'm still going to be doing trainings. I'll still be here on Facebook Live. I don't know how often I'll be here. I probably will not have every one of my trainings transcribed or sent to my podcast anymore. So if you're not following me yet on my Facebook page, make sure to come over to facebook.com authoraudience and also subscribe to my live updates, because there will be trainings on Facebook that won't end up anymore on my podcast or my blog or my YouTube channel. So if you're not yet subscribed to my live updates on Facebook, make sure to do that, because that's where I'll probably be posting the majority of my trainings in 2017. It may change tomorrow, but as of today.

You know, go to shellyhits.com Facebook Live. It shows you a screenshot of how to subscribe to my live updates. That way, whether or not you can attend live or not, you. You'll get a notification that I have a new training. That way I can do it here on Facebook and I can do it as I'M inspired. I can still give you guys great training, but then I'm not having to invest in paying my staff for something that really isn't yielding the results. The other thing is, this week I got very frustrated with managing people. I mean, I love people, I love my team, but there was just several things from several of them that I had to deal with. It took extra time, energy, and emotional energy for me, and it's been really escalating over the last few months. You know, it's just taking more time to manage my team, and so I just want to have less stress. I want to really just be the person God has created me to be. And so, anyways, that's another reason I'm just considering this change. You know, for most people, you're not going to be able to do the content marketing blitz like I have this year, so. So I always recommend to focus on one or two social media platforms for your content marketing. It could be a blog, it could be live video, it could be YouTube, it could be something else. But when you're focusing on one or two, that really is powerful and it can show you what's really working for me. Facebook has been one of my top things that I've really focused on. And so that's what I'm really going to go back to at this point. My content marketing manager agreed to go now to an hourly rate, and. And so I'm just gonna go forward and see how it works for me. Everyone is different. Everyone's business is different. Everyone has different amounts of time and money. But what I want you to do is I want you to take some time as the year ends to look back on your business and say, what is working and what is not? Or for your books, maybe it's your writing schedule, what is working, what is not for your marketing of your books, what is working, what is not for your time, what is working, what is not? You know, just kind of just looking back and giving yourself some space to reflect and to really strategize and plan for 2017. I find that so many people don't do this step. They don't give themselves space, just strategize and plan. And I really believe that has been one of my biggest successes over the last few years is I have done this faithfully. At the end of every year, I make space to really evaluate. The second thing to evaluate are your business expenses. So what are you spending money on and what are your recurring expenses? You know, look into those things. And my husband and I have an Excel spreadsheet. And we keep on there a list of our monthly expenses. So it's our recurring expenses for our business. And we also keep a list of things that may be yearly, like domains or lead pages. I pay that in a yearly basis. And so, you know, just going back through your list and if you don't have a spreadsheet like that or if you don't have a place where you list that, I do recommend doing that. It's really good to have an overall view of what are you spending for your business, for your books, maybe for you, you're spending it on book cover designs or editing or whatever, you know, but of look back and see what you're spending money on. Is it something that you want to continue in 2017 or is it something you still need? I was looking back and I realized that we've been paying for a website backup service and they recently emailed me. They've changed the way they do things and they needed something updated. Well, with my host I was going to have to update something. They said it might break other things and I, I don't know, it kind of scared me to update all of that. And so I began talking with her and I said, I don't think I really need the entire service that you offer anymore because of the way my membership system has changed. And you know, is there a plugin or something else that I can use? And you know, she gave me a great recommendation and so I probably will be switching over to having my websites backed up through a plugin. And it's a one time fee or you can get started for free if you. And then I won't have to pay that monthly fee of. I think it's 1995. So that's just one small example of something that I'm reevaluating. And the plugin that she recommended. If you're interested in having a WordPress plugin to update your backup your website, it's updraftplus.com is the one that I'm looking into. So that's just a little thing to have as you go. Yeah, so I mean, I would love to do the podcast, but the podcast takes a lot more time. I'm still thinking of publishing content to the podcast occasionally, but I don't know, I may just stop the podcast. I don't know. We'll see, we'll see how it goes. But if you want me to keep the podcast going, I need you to tell me. I need you to post reviews on itunes and let me know that you really enjoy the podcast, that you want me to keep it going. And also email me, let me know that the podcast is something you would like me to continue and why. And I know there are a few of you that are faithful listeners, but, you know, my numbers show it's not really growing. And so the other thing is to share it with your friends and followers and so that it can continue to grow. And I can see that it's a valuable use of my time and my resources to have my staff edit these trainings and do everything they need to to post them on the podcast. All right, so the first thing to reevaluate is what's working, what's not working. I believe in the 8020 rule. So 20% of your efforts will produce 80% of your results. The second thing is reevaluating your business expenses. I recently did this and realized there were several things I was no longer using, didn't have time to really take in, or that things just changed. Like, you know, my website backup stuff. Things have changed and I no longer really need the service that I previously subscribed to. And then the third thing is your time. Where have you been investing your time related to your books, your website, your online platform, your marketing? Where is it that you have been investing your time? Is that working well for you? Where is your time going and what really gives you life? In my Planet Day training, I walk you through the process of evaluating your top five values. When you, when your actions are lining up with your values, then you are able to really have more joy and peace. And you know, for those of us that are Christ followers, when, when it's lining up with what God has for us and what he wants for us, you know, we will definitely have his joy and his peace when we're following Him. And so where's your time being spent? I know for me, I have really had addiction to Facebook and I would just sit and scroll and scroll and scroll and I'd be on it all day, on and off, especially on my phone. I went on a prayer and fasting retreat. It was just 24 hours and it was in the middle of my broken crayons still color book launch. So I'm looking at my calendar. It was November 13th. So I went on that retreat on November 13th and God really convicted me that my time was being spent, spent on Facebook way too much. And I really wasn't getting the value from all the time that I was spending on it. So I took the app off my phone and God really did Some things in my heart, it was a heart issue and I haven't checked it on my phone since. So, you know, something to evaluate is where are you spending your time? Is that really where you want to spend your time? You know, is there places that you can tighten up the reins a little bit, especially with social media or watching television or watching Netflix or, you know, whatever it is for you? There are things that sometimes just can take up our time and then we're not accomplishing the goals that we really want. So the three things that I recommend that you evaluate are what's working, what's not working, the 8020 rule. And number two is your business expenses. Look back over all of your business expenses and are they still all relevant? Are they expenses that you still need? Are you getting value from the things that you are spending money on? Is there some changes that you need to make there? And then number three, your time, where is your time going? Is it really lining up with your values? Is it really lining up with what God has called you to do? Is there any changes you need to make there? For me, going into 2017, I really want to spend a lot more of my time exploring this creative side of me that has emerged. And it's art, painting and lettering and watercolor and there's so many different things that I've been getting into and I love it. I recently opened an Etsy store and I recently launched three different trainings on skillshare. Skillshare is a platform for learning, but it's really a great place to learn a lot of art skills. But I actually share in one of my trainings, how to create hand drawn coloring pages and then how to digitize them to sell them online. And then the print on demand company I've used to sell my designs on physical products. So that's been so fun. You can get those trainings@shellyhits.com Skillshare and you can sign up for just 99 cents and get access to those trainings. Or if you would like a review copy, just feel free to email me@shellyellehits.com but you know, going into 2017 art and exploring my creative side, it brings me joy. It's a stress relief for me. I was at my mom's recently for Thanksgiving and I was kind of stressed out. One day I sat down at her table, I brought some of my art supplies and I did some art for a while and all of a sudden I didn't have that stress. And so, you know, for me personally, when I am reevaluating my time. I really want to spend a lot more of my time with my art. I really think that's going to mean that I'm going to be transforming a little bit, my brand, my branding. Just really integrating the art and that creative side of me more into my branding. You know, it really fits though with the writing because writers are creative and using that right side of your brain. When you integrate even more creativity into that, it's just like, boom, it's so powerful. So will you do it? Will you spend the time and give yourself some space to reevaluate? If so, just say yes. I will create the space in the comments below. Let me know that you're going to do this. You're going to walk through these steps. You're going to reevaluate what's working, what's not working. You're going to reevaluate your business expenses and reevaluate your time and really think about like, what do you want to see in 2017? Pray and ask God. God, what is it that you have for me? What is it that you want for me this next year? What is my next 90 day goal? I always recommend that you set a 90 day goal and in my training plan, a day inside authoraudienceacademy.com I take you through the process of choosing and selecting a 90 day goal. For me, my next 90 day goal is actually going to be helping my husband launch products for his running coaching. And so we're working on that now. And that's really my next big goal is to help him and to walk beside him and really see him, to take his coaching to the next level and to really shine. He has something that people need. He's an amazing coach. He has amazing, amazing knowledge in the area of running and so I'm really excited to help him take those steps and to launch some new products for people who want to get into running or runners who want to take their running to the next level. And that will be really cool. If you're interested, you can check out his website, trainwellracewell.com that's where he his home is for his running stuff and he does have a free consultation if you're just interested in chatting with them. It's at trainwellracewell.com free. So thank you so much for being here with me and I appreciate you. There will be some changes coming up in 2017 to the way that I publish content on my podcast, my YouTube channel, on my blog. I'm not exactly sure I'm still figuring it all out. But just know that I'm still here and I have trainings that you can check out on Facebook. It's@facebook.com authoraudience and then I am almost 100% sure that there is not one of you that has gone through every single piece of my free training. You can find all my free training@shellyhits.com free and then I also have a ton, a ton of more training inside my academy and I would love for you to join me. You can join me@authoraudienceacademy.com we are starting a new 90 day accountability group January 1st and the thing that really makes my academy different is that it is faith based. It is based around Christ. It's for Christian authors. You don't have to write Christian books, but authors who want to keep Christ the center. But also it's the accountability. It's not just a training that's going to sit on your hard drive. You have the accountability and I'll be meeting with you every week and in starting in January 1st, inside author audience Academy to help keep you accountable and to help you move forward on your goals. I'm so excited to work with you and I will see you next time.

Thanks for listening to this episode of the Author Audience Show. Connect with us online@authoraudience.com where you'll find all the resources mentioned in today's episode. While you're there, grab Shelley's free free video training on how to write and publish your book using her six Step Ascent method. Join us again next week to learn how to reach your audience with your message.