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In the past I’ve always written my review blog post over on The Pillow Fort blog. Partly because I didn’t have a blog here until this year, and partly because I only started as a VA last year (say whaaaat?!).
This is a pretty self-indulgent post, but I enjoy reading other people’s end of year review posts, and it’s been fun putting it together. If you wrote a similar post, feel free to share a link in the comments – I’d love to take a read!
Oh, and this is pretty life-y and pretty business-y. It all kinda merges and it’s just stuff I did this year.
January
- Acquired a life-sized, signed, Kylie cutout. I transported it home on the bus.
- Went to Iceland with Emma.
- Went to Colorado for a 4 day, 3 night 1:1 Vision Intensive with Makenna Johnston.
- Bought an awful lot of crystals in Colorado and had trouble getting through security with them in my hand luggage.
February
- I wasn’t particularly well for a lot of February. I was really struggled to find my flow again after the travelling and jetlag of Iceland and Colorado.
- Joined ConvertKit and migrated The Pillow Fort list over.
- Joined Edgar for The Pillow Fort’s social media.
- The Blurt Foundation shared one of The Pillow Fort blog posts that had a content upgrade on their facebook page and I had a HUGE flood of new subscribers which was awesome. Was really, really pleased that I’d switched to ConvertKit the week before.
March
- Went to Hay House Ignite. Emma came with me – her first ‘woo woo’ event, which she loved!
- Went to my 9th NUS LGBT Conference (my 5th as Steering).
- Had my 10 year headache/ill anniversary. The day went by uneventfully, I think I actually missed it completely.
- Booked the ceremony and reception venue for our wedding (8 months to go!)
- Reframed ‘saving’ for the wedding to ‘earning’ for the wedding. Came up with an intense earning for the wedding plan – eek!
April
- Set up a ConvertKit services page. I think I was the first person to do this, and as a result I continue to do very well on google for a lot of relevant ConvertKit terms.
- Emailed ConvertKit to ask them if they had any plans for a Certified Consultant/Expert/Partner scheme – they didn’t.
- Learnt the entity of SamCart in about 72 hours for a client’s launch. Really liked it.
- Sent off for, and received, my full birth certificate for the first time. Nope, definitely not adopted.
- Signed up to work with Makenna Johnston 1:1 ongoing.
- Hired a bookkeeper.
- Had my first £5k month in my VA business. (Definitely not a coincidence based on the other action I took this month!)
- Invited to be admin/moderator/ambassador for the official ConvertKit facebook group (The ConvertKit Family) as I’d been so involved and helpful.
May
- Went to London for a Conquer Club meetup which was lovely.
- Started offering Free Calls after getting lots of nudges to give more.
- Started watching Scandal. Marathoning ensued.
- Found out that my tweet is in the book ‘Middle Class Problems‘.
- The big one: Was invited to become one of the first 4 ConvertKit Certified Experts.
June
- Tegan and Sara’s new album, Love You To Death, came out. I loved it and had a lot of feels.
- Emma had to spend a night in hospital undergoing some tests as she was having really bad migraines. (She was fine). It was super disruptive to my (and her) work and really through us off for a lot of the month.
- The official ConvertKit Certified Experts page went up and I was super pleased and proud.
- I bought a developer’s license for PopupAlly Pro. I briefly loved it.
- The Orlando shooting happened and completely rocked my LGBTQ community. It put a lot of things in perspective and it was a very difficult week. We went to a lot of vigils in Nottingham.
- I came up with the idea for ConvertKit Club.
- I went to my 50th and 51st Tegan and Sara show. Emma went to her 1st and 2nd. They were both amazing.
- Brexit happened. It was (and still is) shit.
- My mum started teaching Emma how to knit. It’s adorable.
- We went to a wedding dress shop, and both emerged a couple of hours later with wedding dresses.
July
- Genevieve Mari invited me to be a ConvertKit guest expert in her awesome Optimize Your Course.
- Gemma Went invited me to be a ConvertKit guest expert in her Simply Smart Business Academy.
- I bought a huge and beautiful labradorite.
- I got an iPhone for the sole purpose of doing Facebook Lives and playing Pokemon Go. I’ve done one Facebook Live and a whole lot of Pokemon Go 😉
- I was interviewed by Danielle over at VA Lifestyle Design about my journey to becoming a ConvertKit Certified Expert.
- I quietly opened ConvertKit Club.
August
- Enjoyed the Olympics.
- Spent an excellent and tiring week in Edinburgh for Edinburgh Fringe with Emma’s family. We saw Mae Martin 4 times. She’s really great. Also caught a lot of Pokemon.
September
- Started Niamh Arthur‘s Light It Up 30 Day Video Challenge. Only made it to Day 3.
- I joined Leah Kalamakis’s Freelance to Freedom Project School. It’s incredible. It’s quickly risen to be one of my fave low cost business support investments.
- Went to see Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. It was phenomenal.
- Went to Queer Summer Camp in Brighton, organised by the excellent Sarah Magdalena.
- Spontaneously got my first tattoo, and did it myself, at a stick and poke workshop.
- Another amethyst joined our family…
- I had a cuddle with a blind rescue hedgehog
October
- Had an epic Hen Do organised by my 2 bride folks that included lots of food, laser quest, a silly tiara, Kitty Cafe and a walking tour of LGBT History in Nottingham.
- Bought the domain TeamEBG.com.
- Ended my love affair with PopupAlly Pro and started a new one with ConvertPlug. It’s early days, but so far I like it a lot.
- Rejoined The Conquer Club for another year.
- Earned a 5* review badge on my ConvertKit Certified Expert profile.
- Somehow managed to squeeze in an engagement shoot with Natalie J. Watts 2 weeks before our wedding.
November
- Got married. The whole day was perfect (and superbly branded, if I do say so myself).
- Went on an almost 3 week honeymoon (4 days in Athens and then a 2 week cruise from Athens to Abu Dhabi).
At the Dead Sea
- No, seriously, I took off almost 5 weeks for my entirely service based business, and it was okay. All my clients were still here when I got back. Nothing bad happened. I had one email to my emergency email address, from my dad. It wasn’t an emergency. I’m hoping to create a little mini guide about how I did this in early 2017.
- Confirmed on renting a house in Burton Joyce (a little village just outside Nottingham that Emma and I are obsessed with and where we had our wedding reception).
December
- Ran a 2nd annual Planning Party for The Pillow Fort.
- Booked flights to Practical Magic LIVE in San Antonio, Texas in March.
- Started playing with OptimizePress PlusPack and am in love.
- Realised I might like to do launch strategy/management. Got my first paying client for this service 4 days later.
Other things that happened this year:
- 100%, fully, completely, legit quit chocolate. No more ‘I’ll just scrap it off’ and no more ‘a tiny bit won’t hurt’. General headache haze that I’ve lived with for over 10 years has lifted significantly. I also have way less migraines now (this is the main reason I quit chocolate properly).
- In February, after my first £3k month (about $4k), I decided that I would not have a month less than £3k again. That was going to be my new minimum. With the exception of June, I have not yet had a month less than £3k.
It’s been a really strange year, but also really good. I think I’ll look back on it as a ‘between’ sort of year. For the most part I was super focused on earning for the wedding and staying well/stable to do that. I’ve not had much opportunity to focus on (or risk) scaling my business. I’ve had to keep my head down and keep on ploughing forward, knowing it’s only temporary. I’m really looking forward to taking a step back and doing some bigger picture work next year.
How was 2016 for you?