Solo-preneurs and founders -
here is your year-end “retreat” agenda
If you are a solopreneur, small team, or founder, you may look longingly at your peers on Instagram as they celebrate 2022 with holiday gatherings, offsites, and retreats. As a team of one (or two), we sometimes feel we are in a fishbowl. That everyone “out there” has it all together. It can be a lonely echo chamber as you close out the year - exhausted, inspired, or somewhere in between.
As a new entrepreneur, I glorified the grind culture. I believed that the way to my goals was through brute force. Rest and reflection are for other people. Now, seven years in, I know I’m running a marathon. I am building something valuable that takes time and endurance.
I miss marking milestones as a team: the work anniversary, the celebration of a big project, or the win. As founders and freelancers - we must observe these achievements by ourselves. Recently The Lola, a women’s community and workspace, asked me to facilitate a year-end experience for female solopreneurs to finish the year strong.
These two facilitation tools are the swiss army knife of closing the year. They work in groups, both big and small. I borrowed them from my corporate strategy toolkit and used them regularly as a small business.
If you’re connected to a group of small business owners, gather them together, share wine and cookies - and design your next steps together. Step back from working IN your business - and work ON your business. Consider it your own “small business year-end offsite.”
Step 1: Mine the hits and misses for insights
Draw this on a sheet of paper:
It's been 12 months! Time to study what just happened. What are you proud of? What were the low points? If this year were a movie, what would the title be? Most of all, what have you learned? What insights can you glean from the experience?
Reflecting is crucial in business and life. As business owners, making space to look back allows us to internalize learning and close the gaps in problems and issues - so that we can move forward with creativity, energy, and motivation.
Step 2: Get honest about the 'Meh'
Draw this on a sheet of paper:
Did you know that our brains process visual inputs 60,000 times faster than words and text? Build a visual snapshot of your business with the Impact Effort Matrix. The experience will illuminate three things:
Seeing all of your work in one place.
Getting honest about energy invested relative to return to your business.
Getting clear about what impact means to you.
Now for the reckoning:
Look at the bottom left quadrant, which I lovingly call the ‘meh’ - and choose one thing to release. Letting go is a choice. Surrendering low-impact/high-effort work allows you to redeploy precious resources - that will move your business forward.
If you struggle to let go, look at the top quadrants. What would it look like to invest in these projects with more bandwidth, energy, and ambition?
I just used these tools for Springboard and am excited about what’s coming in 2023.
What surprised you about 2022 in your business? What will you release to make space for new growth?
Have a peaceful Holiday and a Happy New Year,
Amy