I think I’ve underestimated just about every year of my life. There are always unanticipated surprises, whether positive or negative or both.

I’ve set 5-year goals that have been accomplished in 1.

I’ve imagined things I thought would happen within a year that happened in 4 months.

I’ve thought about waiting for some things, and then went ahead and made them happen in a matter of weeks.

(Don’t get me wrong, I’ve also missed the bar or completely neglected other goals, despite their importance to me.)

2019 was no different.

So I may have to disagree with Tony Robbins when he says,

“Most people overestimate what they can do in a year and they underestimate what they can do in two or three decades.”

Because I usually underestimate what I can do in a year and I honestly believe you can do a LOT in a two or three decades – especially if the past decade is serving as my proof.

Not to mention what’s possible when you live your life with intention.

Which is exactly why I’ve chosen that as my “word” for 2020.

Defined as – a thing intended; an aim or plan.

As I’ll be completing a full calendar year as a full-time business owner this May 2020 (but over 3 years in total), I’m entering the new year with a plan, indeed.

It feels so refreshing to finally have a clear focus. Life is always a juggling act but I’ve been juggling two major areas almost my entire life – whether school and D1 athletics or a day job and a side hustle.

I love being able to pour myself into this business and lead it with clarity and direction, not splintered attention.

Okay, before I dive deeper into sharing what’s on the horizon, let’s first recap December and all that was 2019!

 

December Recap

Latest Content & Offerings

• Catch up on The Monthly Recap: November
• I switched email marketing providers – migrating from Convertkit to Flodesk – and shared all about it in this post
• The Weekend Wine & Words email series continued, skipping the holiday weeks

 

I also sent out an EOY Content Insights survey to the Copy Cru (our email list!) so I could ensure our content creation efforts are in fact desired and worthwhile!

I’ve laid out a blueprint for our 2020 content marketing calendar but this will further help me solidify things based on actual audience data, not just my own opinion!

 

Education, Exploration & Community

Joy Field Trips

I went on a number of “joy field trips” (as coined by one of my faves, Ingrid Fettel Lee) – meaning I got out of the home office and worked from a local coffee shop, went for an early happy hour, or simply took an hour or 2 to inject some joy into my day.

Although I’ve complained about my rather aging MacBook Air that’s getting close to its last leg, I look forward to these little rewards and switch-ups in my daily routine.

Client Work

I made sure to work closely with the CU Project Manager, as to not book any client deadlines or deliverables over the holiday week and have fully enjoyed the breathing room that provided me with.

In addition to having launched Foulsham Corp (Vintage No. 13) this past month, there are some exciting client launches happening very soon – more on these below!

 

Around the CU Office: Things I’m Loving Lately

• This water bottle, influenced by Jen of TONIC – I’ve been using it every day since I got it!
• These Adidas runners to help me with my fitness goals
• My 2020 Powersheets

 

2019 in Review

It was around January of last year I revealed my plan to rebrand from kvh. Creative to Copy Uncorked. I remember being so nervous and honestly, not quite sure how things were going to transpire.

And let me just say, I’ve been blown away.

To keep this post from becoming obnoxiously long (and there are full monthly recaps from May to December on the blog), I’m going to keep this annual review pretty high-level.

So let’s take a glance, by the numbers…

 

No. of Clients: ~31+

No. of Website Launches: 13

• (Christina Crespo Photography, Maui Beachside, Vintage Charm, Camp Climb, Elizabeth Friske Photography (rewrite), Stephanie Ward Makeup, Properties Niagara, Collective Confidence, Kaitlyn H. Parker, Craft & Curate, A Mindful Method, Foulsham Corp)

 

Website Copy Launches Still in Progress: 6

• (Raised Good, Elanaloo, Stay Balanced Coaching, Curate Salon, Cleo Harper, Coaching with Casey)

 

No. of Places Visited: 12

• (Arizona, Vermont, Charlottesville, Wilmington, D.C., California [Napa, San Fran, Half Moon Bay], Prague, Hatteras, Iowa, Durham)

 

No. of Conferences: 1

• (Camp Climb in August – read all about it here)

 

No. of Team Members: 5

• (A part-time project manager, bookkeeper, 2 contract designers, 1 contract writer)

 

No. of Copy Cru Emails Sent: 55

 

No. of Copy Uncorked Instagram Posts: 193

 

Instagram Top Nine: Looks like you guys were loving my CU home office set-up!

 

Other Highlights:

• Fully rebranded (which you can read all about in this post)
• Left my agency job and took things full-time
• Updated, designed, and revealed my home office space (only to later swap rooms a few months later…ha! Reveal Part 2 coming soon.) 😉
• More than tripled my email list
• Bought the car I’d been dreaming about for years at the end of November
• Traveled a fair amount and still was able to be productive while away
• Spent the holidays with family at home in Virginia Beach
• Blew past my revenue goals, encouraging me to set the bar that much higher in 2020

 

So let’s talk 2020, shall we?

 

2020 Goals

As mentioned up above, my word for the new year is intention.

So far, I’m living that out my implementing additional systems and processes to execute tasks like more advanced social media content planning, editorial planning, marking vacation & off days in advance, contractor onboarding, income & revenue goals for each facet of the business, etc.

In addition, here are some of the goal highlights. (They’re quite a bit more specific in my Powersheets & within my Trello boards, but again, keeping it relatively high level for public sharing!) ;).

 

01 – Launch the first CU course before the end of January.

I know, I know, I’ve been hinting at this for a while now! Balancing client work with your own content creation is really no joke, but I promise it’s progressing little by little, day by day.

 

02 – Continue growing & developing the CU team.

I’ve gone back and forth with this one, but I think things are so rewarding when they’re done together. Given how quickly we started to book up in Q3, Q4, and even into the New Year, I want to be able to continue serving more of the right clients, and that means asking for help. We’ll be working on making a contractor onboarding process easy breezy for everyone involved. If you’re a content or copywriter yourself and you’d love to write for + with Copy Uncorked, please do get in touch!

 

03 – Hit a revenue goal that kind of intimidates me.

Yes, I’ve written this number down and outlined what it takes to get there. Most revenue goals I’ve set in the past I’ve KNOWN were attainable, but this one makes me squirm in my white & gold office chair a little but hey, shoot for the moon, right?

 

04 – Attend The Copywriter Club IRL Conference.

The ticket & flight is already booked, so this goal is well in the works. It’s in San Diego so it’s a pretty big investment into the business, but I’m so excited to meet some of the men & women I’ve considered mentors and soak up every little knowledge tidbit to continue refining my craft.

 

05 – Purchase a new Macbook computer for my joy field trip days & travel.

An old 13” Air just isn’t cutting it when I’m trying to look at a messaging doc, a copy draft, and the backend of Showit all at the same time. Neither are the endless memory full notifications or the pesky rainbow circle of death.

 

06 – Have every 1×1 client that works with Copy Uncorked walk away ECSTATIC about what we created together.

If I could only choose one goal, this one would be it. I’m so passionate about client experience (I even did a whole blog series on it this past year!) and it’s my #1 benchmark of success. Can you always and forever please everyone always? No. I get that. And I’m certainly not perfect. But part of it starts with identifying and taking on the right clients and then leading them through a clear, collaborative process from day 1 to final deliverable.

 

07 – Add to the CU Shop.

I floated 4 total “products” out there this year, 2 of which were what Joanna Wiebe calls “productized services”, 1 was a digital PDF, and 1 was a Trello template.

All of these performed relatively well (given I only really ‘promoted’ them twice) and I’m planning to refine the existing products, as well as expand the Shop even more to become a go-to destination for the copy, content & productivity tools you need to grow your business like a grapevine.

There are a few more where these came from, but you get the gist!

 

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Lastly, for those have you that have supported me, whether from the kvh. Creative days to now, or even as recent as yesterday – THANK YOU.

It’s a real honor to have clients trust Copy Uncorked with their words, to have you hang around our corner of the internet, and to connect with peers (both virtually and IRL) from around the world.

This is me, raising a glass to you; to what’s been, and to what’s ahead.

 

Happy New Year & Cheers to 2020!