What Drove Success and What Didn't in Our Business This Year
Jun 26, 2024
One of my favorite ways to learn as a business owner is to go behind the scenes with other entrepreneurs, especially moms juggling business and family life. I want to know the nitty-gritty details: What do they actually do? How many hours are they working? What's their daily routine? This kind of insight is invaluable because it reveals the real strategies and challenges, not just the polished success stories we often see on social media.
I love this approach so much that I incorporate it into our own programs as a business strategist for female entrepreneurs. Every Monday in our mastermind group, I spend the first 15 minutes sharing my schedule, what we’re working on, what’s working, and where we’re hitting roadblocks. This transparency fosters honesty and trust, which are crucial for any successful business. When you have these two elements, everything flows as it should.
In true Crush the Rush fashion, let's open the doors and share what we’ve invested in this year, what’s worked, and what’s flopped. Here’s an inside look:
1. Investing in a Year-Long Mastermind
In January 2024, I invested in a year-long mastermind. Since starting my business, I’ve always worked with a coach or been part of a mastermind group. Some masterminds have been five-figure investments, while others have been $97 downloads. This year, I wanted a group to bounce ideas off and gain insights into the current market.
What’s worked inside this community? Asking questions. Every month, three times a month, I join these amazing ladies (most of whom have been in business much longer than I have) and ask questions. Questions like:
- What’s working for you?
- What’s been challenging?
- What’s not working?
- How did you do that?
- What would you recommend?
Becoming an expert question-asker has led to incredible outcomes, including new launch strategies, partnerships, and valuable business friendships.
2. Refreshing Our Entire Business
Our goal for the CTR business this year was to refresh everything. I partnered with my copywriter, Jenny Roth, to re-write and re-do all our sales pages and funnels, but not all at once. We’re taking it one product at a time. In Q1, we re-wrote all our masterclasses and updated the Ditch the Social Drama download. In Q2, we’re re-vamping our Dream Income Quiz with a brand new offer. In Q4, we’ll revisit CEO Week. By the end of the year, everything will be refreshed.
This approach means you don’t always need to create something new. Sometimes, a "glow up" of your existing products can make a significant impact. Is your wording still relevant? Is your target market the same? Are you teaching the same things? A quarterly upgrade strategy keeps it manageable and effective.
3. Follow the Fun
Our small business planner got a major "glow up," which aligns with my mantra of following the fun. Think about your business: What excites you? What makes you jump out of bed in the morning? For me, it was throwing a launch party for our new planner. The planner serves as a tripwire and entry point, incorporating a full strategy course, new podcast episodes, and access to our community.
I partnered with a local artist, Christy Townsend of the Paper Vow, to curate a collection and make it an experience. This project has been one of the most fun I’ve had in business in a long time. You can check out the results (and grab your planner!) at www.hollymariehaynes.com/planner.
How can you use this strategy? What feels easy to you? What feels fun? Do more of that!
4. Growing Our Podcast and Online Presence
Our growth engine this year is the podcast. We launched a YouTube channel with the help of our podcast team and focused heavily on SEO, making organic search our top lead generator for the second year in a row. Surprisingly, Pinterest has also played a significant role. Through our repurposing strategy, we’ve amplified our presence on Pinterest and experimented with ads. You know me and my thoughts on Ads, but we have spent on average about $100/mo with Pinterest ads increasing our click rate to our website by 50%. I am no expert here and actually have done the Pinterest work myself, but it's been fun to play around behind the scenes on engagement techniques that actually show results.
When you think about your business, identify your ONE growth engine. What’s your client attraction strategy? How much attention are you giving it?
Introducing a new private podcast series that’s just for you if you’re sick of all the Instagram BS! (or insert social channel of your choice). You can build a business without being a slave to the social engine. Grab the free series.
5. Investing in Our Team
To bring all these initiatives to life, we continue to invest in our team. We have an incredible website team through Studio Classica, They take my ideas and help them come to life and work on retainer each month. I have an awesome VA, Kaitlyn who has done tremendous work on our funnels and SEO. My executive assistant, Karalee, manages our quarterly plans and the teamwork to make them happen behind the scenes. Cait from Amplify Boutique has amplified our podcast strategy, including new episode covers, YouTube strategy, and more.
When evaluating your team, consider if their activities are income-producing or if they create time for you to engage in income-producing activities. What can you outsource to increase your capacity?
Lessons from Flops and Challenges
Despite our successes, not everything has worked perfectly. Instagram and Facebook ads remain a challenge for us. We’ve experimented a lot with boosting posts and engagement ads, but it hasn’t been effective, costing us money without attracting the right people.
I’ve also invested a lot of time in bundles and summits as part of our client attraction strategy. Recently, these haven’t yielded the same ROI, leading us to clean our email list regularly. Instead, lead magnet swaps and partnerships have proven more effective, a more curated and customized approach.
Reflecting on Your Business Strategy
No matter where you are in your business, you can’t build it in a day, and you can’t do it alone. Slow down and ask yourself strategic questions like:
- What’s working?
- What’s not?
- What do I enjoy doing?
- Who can I surround myself with for support?
Create a feasible plan, taking on one project at a time to build and pivot as needed. Re-building all our funnels in 2-3 months would be a nightmare, but taking on one project at a time allows us to build and pivot. Grab a pen and paper (or your favorite note-taking app) and answer these questions for yourself:
- What’s one area of your business you can "glow up" instead of starting from scratch?
- How can you incorporate more fun into your business strategy?
- What’s your current growth engine? Are you giving it the attention it deserves?
Remember, sharing your wins and flops builds connection and trust with your audience. Building a business takes time, effort, and a bit of strategic "peeking behind the curtain." Be patient with yourself, surround yourself with supportive people, and don’t be afraid to experiment and adapt. Keep moving forward, learning from your experiences, and having fun along the way!
Looking for more tips? Check out our Crush the Rush Club!
About the author
Holly Haynes is a business strategist who loves a good plan and flow chart. She is crazy passionate about teaching women like you how to build your dream job and scale to 6-figures without sacrificing your weekends or priorities.
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