Listen on your favourite podcast app like iTunes or Spotify.

2020 is coming soon so you probably already started to think about what next year is going to bring you and what you’re going to do in your health practice.

If you haven’t, I know the ideas are popping around your head so now is the time to start thinking about 2020 and what you want to accomplish next year.

In today’s episode, I go through the action steps you can take to both reflect on the past year and begin to set goals for what you want to do next year.

Here’s what I talked about:

• What to reflect on before planning your goals for next year (you’ll want a pen and your favourite notebook for this!)
• Looking at the past year (and what you loved and what you didn’t love!)
• Reflecting on any gaps in serving your clients (including what’s missing from your client experience!)
• Setting goals for how you want your business to be (and balancing it with your personal goals too!)
• How to shortcut creating your online program (this can mean different steps!)

It’s time to genuinely reflect on this past year and the questions I share will help you see what worked and what didn’t – and then you can dream and plan for an amazing 2020!

If you enjoyed this podcast, you may enjoy these 3 other podcast episodes about goal setting and planning:

• Ep.30: The $100K Mat Leave

• Ep. 31 Embrace the Numbers

• Ep.33 When Your Dream Isn’t Your Dream

Prefer reading? Here’s the transcript below

---

Stephanie: Hello there. Welcome back to another episode of The Leveraged Practice Podcast. I’m so glad you’re here with me and if this is your first episode, thanks for stopping by and checking this out and seeing if you like what you hear. You can find me on Instagram @theleveragedpractice or online at TheLeveragedPractice.com. You can find me on Facebook too. I love hearing from listeners and so if there’s anything you’re looking for, please come and find me and let me know. And if you are a listener, if you are OG, if you’ve been here from the beginning or you’ve been here for a little bit, thanks for coming back again.

I wanted to share with you some end of year planning. So I’ve been sharing in my Facebook group, the Dietitian Entrepreneurs Community. If you’re a dietitian with a business and you want to be a part of this Facebook group and you’re not yet, just search in Facebook for Dietitian Entrepreneurs Community.

So I’ve been sharing some trainings over the last two weeks on what to do now that it’s the end of the year. The day this is coming out, we have about 34 days left of the year, so you probably have already started to think about what next year is going to bring you and what you’re going to do next year.

If you haven’t, please don’t feel guilty about it, my friend. I know the ideas are kind of popping around your head, but you don’t have to feel bad about it. Let’s start thinking about it now. So now is the time to start thinking about 2020 and what you want to accomplish next year.

Do you want to keep your business the same? Just maintain what’s going on. Do you want to make the same money but work less hours? Do you want to work more hours and make more money? Like what is it that you want to do in 2020?

For some of you, maybe you want to make a human. Maybe you’re a mama and you want to make another human or you want to make your first human. Good for you. What’s your business going to do while you’re doing that? No matter what is going on next year, whether it’s personal, professional or whatever else, there are some things that we can do right now to gear us up for a great 2020. So if you want to hang out with me for a little bit, I’m going to walk you through two different parts. I’ve done two different trainings in the Facebook group and shared a little bit on Instagram as well, of what to do.

So part number one, I want you to take some time today if you can or tomorrow or even this weekend after listening to this training or this podcast. It’s kind of like a podcast training on the following things. So the first thing, this is basically a podcast episode that’s all about action. So normally I like to teach and share and talk about stories and all that stuff and then give you action steps. We are going right into the action steps. Okay, no time to delay. Let’s start planning a great 2020.

Reflecting On The Past Year

 

So before we get into those goals, we are going to start with some reflection work. Okay? So the first thing I want you to do is to reflect on the past year. So please take some time after this episode and you can even get a pen and paper out right now, pause it if you want to, and write down some of these questions.

So the first thing is to reflect on the past year. So let’s reflect on 2019. What did you love about 2019? What felt really good? What was a hell yes? What work did you do? What contracts did you take? What clients did you help? What was fantastic and lit you up and felt like you weren’t even working? What were those things? And again, those can be things like the types of clients that you saw and got to work with. Those can be the kinds of contracts, jobs, companies you’ve got to work with. Those could be things you did.

Perhaps you’ve been working on a book or maybe you’ve been running in-person group programs, or maybe you are teaching. I don’t know what you’re doing, but you know what you’re doing. So reflect on those things that you really, really loved to do and just kind of write that down. Just jot those down. Those are things that lit you up. The reason we’re doing this is, you know, not just because it’s like touchy-feely, which I love a good touchy-feely talk, but it really is about the more work that you do that feels good, the better you’ll get at it. And the more money you’ll make. That’s the truth.

So the other part to this is what work did you not like to do? What really felt heavy? What should you have said no to? But you said yes to it and you hated it. Or were there any clients that you had to fire? I did have to actually let go of a few clients this year. I had to say no to a bunch of offers and a bunch of ideas and things. And you know, I think I’m getting better at it. I think getting better at identifying things ahead of time that I don’t want to do or that I don’t think will be worth it or worth my time or whatever. Sometimes those things are really financially good opportunities, but financially you’ll get there, you just have to focus on the things that feel good.

So what were the things that didn’t feel good? So who were the clients that you had to fire or who were the clients that you kept, but you did not like working with? And no offense to them, God bless your soul, maybe you’re a nice person, but you are just not the right person for them. The work that you do, that didn’t have you in your zone of genius. You know the work that you were doing with that particular client or that particular brand or that particular company or something that you’re doing now.

Let’s just think about marketing materials. Are you doing a blog? Are you writing? Are you making videos? Are you doing things on Instagram? Like what didn’t feel good. It could be something like, you know, trying to show up on Instagram stories every day, but not having a plan and it felt really bad. And it felt really like you had a lot of anxiety around it and you threw things together. It could be something like that.

For me I can tell you, I’ve been on Instagram a lot this year and I’ve been connecting with you guys, listeners and other people on Instagram having conversations and it really has financially helped my business because it’s so conversational. I get to know you. I get to know potential clients or even current clients so much more. And I love it. It’s such a great tool.

But I personally didn’t have a plan. Well, I have somewhat of a plan anyways. Some days it didn’t feel great because I knew I wanted to show up and share, but I didn’t know what I wanted to share and so that’s something that didn’t really feel great. Our marketing plan for 2019 was really tight on the podcast. We did a really good job with that, but just kind of on the day to day it fell flat, so it didn’t feel good.

It doesn’t mean I’m going to throw my marketing plan in the garbage. It means I’m going to look at it and say, “Hmm, how can I do this better next year? How could it feel good?” Maybe we can do more batching or more planning or more, you know, whatever. So think about those kinds of things, what you didn’t like.

How You’re Serving Your Clients

 

Another thing I want you to reflect on this year is whether there are any gaps in serving your clients? So if you have a big following on Instagram, are there things people are asking you for? Or if you’re running a business, small business or a small clinic or practice or a big business, big clinic or practice, and you feel like there’s a gap in the market there, there’s something missing from your client experience or the way that you’re serving your clients.

Or I just said this in my last training on Facebook that I was just talking to you about, was that for a lot of my clients who do decide to work with me in The Leveraged Practice and create online programs, they convert let’s say like 50% of all new potential clients. So someone emails you, DMs you, calls you and 50% of those people buy and they decided to work with you, but 50% do not. Do those people need something else? Do they just not want to do one-to-one work in a different program or workshop or package or course or whatever is something that’s good for them? Potentially.

So you want to think about the gaps right now in your market. Other clients end up working with me because they do one-to-one counselling or one-to-one appointments with clients and they find like they need a better model for that. Like you see a client and then you don’t see them for two weeks or three weeks or four weeks and you see them again, and in the meantime maybe you’re doing email support but they’re not retaining information or you’re not able to give them enough information.

When I built my first online program for IBS, it was because I would see a client week one and I’d see them week four and I was like, “Darn, I can only fit so much information into these sessions. Like I want to teach you more about eating for good digestion and exercise and mindfulness and probiotics. Like there’s so much I want to teach you, but I only have so much time in my appointments.” And so that’s when I was like “Bing!” Great. Online education.

An online program doesn’t necessarily have to be a course that you charge $1,000 for it. Although it can be. It can be something else too that fits a gap in what’s going on in your client’s experience with you. So building an online education system that lies underneath your one-to-one counselling services can be a fantastic thing.

Or again, seeing what clients you’re not serving. And again, some of my clients have some really solid Instagram followings or big audiences and they don’t want to do any more one-to-one work or at all, but they have an audience that’s like, “Please help me, give me information, help me with this struggle.” And so,, creating offers and programs and products that serves them is really, really useful.

So what’s going on in your business? What happened this year that maybe you feel like there was a gap? Where are you leaving money on the table? Where are you leaving clients unserved that perhaps you can build something for? And of course, you know, I believe in the scalable company that you can grow that doesn’t require just one-to-one work with you.

So the next thing you need to do is look at the numbers. So where did money come in this year? Where did you make sales? Where did you not make sales? So I love reflecting on a good old spreadsheet and looking at where sales came in and if that’s a sale from Instagram or if from word of mouth or website traffic or ads you placed. Knowing what’s making money and what’s producing sales is so pivotal for next year. So you can do more of what worked this year.

So that’s the first step, to reflect on these several questions on how this year went, what felt good, what didn’t, and where there’s a gap in the market, so that you can create another product or service or package and stop leaving money on the table. Stop leaving clients unserved. Because you deserve to grow your business, serve your people In a way that really works well with your time.

Remember, I’m a mom of a four year old and a one year old in a busy house that is running a business and I believe that you can grow your business, that you can make good money, that you can make an impact and serve people in a way that doesn’t require all your one-to-one attention. I believe that we can grow our companies, bring on team members and still serve and make an impact. That’s who you’re hanging out with.

Once you’ve done the reflection, now we’re going to do some goal setting and think about how you’re going to grow, okay? So the first thing I want you to think about is financial goals. So how much money do you want to bring in in 2020? Now, I don’t want this to be super unrealistic, like if you only made $50,000 this year, don’t say a million. But if you have a small business that did $800,000 this year, why can’t you hit a million? Of course you can. What are you going to do to do that?

Goal Setting for Your Health Practice

 

Let’s move on to part number two. So think about your financial goals, and make it realistic. You know where if you did 100K this year, maybe your goal for next year is 200K, maybe you want to double. Now, I don’t know what’s possible for you. Maybe you can go from 100K to a million. I’m not sure about that. But it gives you a starting point of the financial picture. Where do you want your business to go next year?

And if it’s even helpful, you can say 2021 too. Cause let’s say you do want to hit $500,000 and you think it’ll take you a couple of years to get there, so you know you’re going to do that in 2021. So next year you want to do $250K. Let’s say you made $200,000 this year, so next year you want to do $300,000. It’s a good place to start. There are some other factors of course, but it’s a good place to start and your financial goal may change as we move forward into the next few questions.

So the next thing to think about is your working hours goal. All of these factors that I’m talking about here are important as you set these goals. So as you go through the next ones, you may change your financial goal.

You may say, “You know what Steph? Gosh, I’d love to work three days a week. How much money can I make max working three days a week with my current business model next year?” Not that you can’t make half a million dollars working three days a week. I kind of think you can, but it might just not be next year because it can take some time to build that up and then hire team members and stuff like that.

So the next thing you want to think, what is those working hours? What’s your ideal? Do you want to work five days a week? You know, eight hours a day? Do you want to take Fridays off, but work half day on Sunday. Do you want to work part time days to pick your kids up from preschool? Like what is it that your working hours look like? That’s important to factor in.

Then we get to what your product and program and service offerings are. So you have a number, you have working hours and now we have to do some math. How do we take 30 hours a week and make it into $300,000? What do we need to offer, sell and charge for those things?

So this is where you want to look at your product portfolio. What are you currently offering? Are you doing spokesperson work and working with brands? Are you doing one-to-one client work and charging a premium for that already? Are you doing speaking jobs that maybe only get you so far and you want to travel all the time to make money. You know, what are you currently doing? Are you doing group programs in-person right now? But you can’t fill them up and they’re small. Or are you even doing an online program right now? But it’s not where you want it to be.

So we want to think about the different offerings and services and products and programs you have right now in your practice. Do you have enough right now to scale those? Can you scale what you currently have? So add more team members on or increase your prices, those kinds of things to scale. Those are kind of the two leavers, right? Add people or raise your prices.

So then we want to think about is there a product or offer that we want to add? Now you know, you’re listening to The Leveraged Practice. So I am all about helping you leverage your practice, working more manageable hours, not burning out and creating group programs that you can offer online, whether they’re professional trainings for other health professionals or certification program that would be so cool, or a membership for people that they need or an online program or whatever it is.

There’s so many different cool things that you can do that are digitally leveraged so that you can run a group program and show up a little bit but then have team help you support that. So is 2020 the year that you take some time to build something that you can grow and scale? Is it? It’s a good question.

I know some of you listening have been thinking about this for a while, maybe six months, maybe a year, mulling over it. I know that some of you listening have very busy businesses and you are speaking and you are travelling and you are doing a lot. And so it feels really challenging to make time in your business to grow your business. I know, I know. I get it.

When I launched the IBS membership, which was several years ago, I stopped working for three months. I stopped taking one-to-one clients. I stopped having cash come in. I actually just had a couple of contract jobs that were bringing in a little bit of money to keep me afloat, but I was not really working or doing any consistent work or taking any clients. And it was tough, but it was so worth it, you know?

Then I launched my membership and grew my membership very quickly to 250 members within five months. And then you know, things changed and things got real and all kinds of incredible opportunities happened in money and growth. So it can take some time out of your business to do this. And you know how to do it faster, right? Especially if you want to create an online program or product or membership or training for professionals.

How To Shortcut Creating Your Health Online Program

 

You can do it faster by getting some shortcuts, you can decrease the learning curve and make it faster. So by working with me and enrolling in The Leveraged Practice, the only company that understands creating online programs and resources for health practitioners, you can do this in the least amount of time with the most short cuts. With the most templates and examples and feedback from my 75 launches and 12 programs, plus all of our other clients and students who are doing this too.

You know, whether it’s me or another kind of shortcut or idea that you have, you can do this and you can do it quick. Especially if you’re a busy person or quicker than trying to figure it out on your own for the next couple of years. So I just want you to know that if you get to this point and you’re like, “Yes, Stephanie, 2020 is my year, I’m going to take the time, I’m going to build it, I’m going to launch it, I’m going to revise it and launch it again and make it successful.” Then great. Let me know. Let’s talk about it.

I’m going to open up The Leveraged Practice for enrollment the second week of December. So if you are one of my beautiful listeners and you’re interested in this, send me a message, find me on Instagram or on Facebook, let’s chat because I’m going to open it up for enrollment for a few days and it’s a totally revamped and exciting program. I can’t wait to share with you how it’s going to help you to not just create your program, but help you relaunch it and grow. So after that point of products and services, remember you’re going to think about next how you will grow.

So we’re kind of talking about this now with The Leveraged Practice Program, but what is it that you need to grow? Do you need to work with me to decrease that learning curve to get all these shortcuts, speed it up and get your program out there and then get the support that the revamped program for 2020 will have, which is ongoing support for growth. Or do you need something else?

Do you need a different coach or do you need a different kind of training? Do you need to hire? Do you need to delegate and get some people in? What do you need to do in order to grow your company so that you can hit these financial goals and also work the amount of hours that you want to. And that’s it.

The last thing I have written down is how will you provide a better experience, which I feel like we’ve already talked about in that first half of the gap in serving clients. So I would leave you there.

So the second part, remember was financial goals, working hours goals, and the offerings, products and services that you’re going to create in order to hit those two things. And then what you need to grow. Do you need The Leveraged Practice? Do you want to join us in December and do this thing and get all this support so you can get there faster and better? Or do you need something else? Do you need to delegate, hire, you know, do all that kind of stuff?

All right, so take some time. Remember this had a part one and a part two. We have our end of year reflection. So take some time to do that. Legit like this is serious. You need to, if you haven’t yet, you need to stop right now and take, I don’t know, a half hour, maybe an hour to sit down today tomorrow, this weekend, Monday, whatever day it is, and take the time to genuinely reflect on 2019. What worked, what didn’t, all those other questions I gave you. And then to dream and forecast and plan for 2020.

Get out a notebook. I know you like a beautiful notebook. Get one out or I think for the 3% of you that like a Google doc or a word doc or a spreadsheet, get that out. That’s also good. Whatever works best for you. Let’s do this.

I’m right here to help you along the way. Let me know if you’re interested in jumping on the wait list for the program that’s going to be released in a couple of weeks now. I would love to just touch base with you and chat with you and make sure you know if it’s the right thing for you before we open those doors. I hope that this was helpful. It’s been such a pleasure doing this podcast all year with you and I am here to support and love on you.

I know many of you listening are my clients right now in The Leveraged Practice. Thank you for saying yes this year and joining me in the program and I’m so excited to see so many of you create and launching your programs. It is what lights me up. It is my hell, yes. It is so exciting that I get to do the work that I love and see you create something beautiful. So thank you to all of you wonderful Leveraged Practice clients and customers that are also listening and get out there and do your 2020 plan too. All right, I’ll meet you back here next time.