Hey guys,
I’m writing this on my break as I reflect about 2023 …
It has been honestly one of the best year for me in terms of financial gains, growth in skillset and clarity in the direction I want to move towards for my business and lifestyle…
A few people have asked me how to do so and the easiest answer I can give is to experience more for yourself and decide where you want to go after
It took me 6 years of entrepreneurship before I could say I love the direction I’m moving towards
So if you are comparing, please don’t…
Run the marathon at your own pace
I want to share the lessons I learnt in 2023 that really helped me this year
- Finding time to think is important
this was one of the most fundamental change after my agency
I pride myself at thinking of solutions very fast, but sometimes speed isn’t great for certain decisions where there are alot of pitfalls
For example, when I was thinking on how to create a SEO team for a current company im CMO for, I wanted to hire a few consultant or agency to learn more.
Between both agency and consultants, most of them seem to want to do it for me and charge me a monthly retainer, telling me that they are able to help increase my rankings
Nothing much was substantiated during the meetings besides that they are able to help…
I knew it wasn’t so straight forward and that google search AI is coming soon as well, so I can’t possible be playing the same game as everyone else…
I consulted another friend and he gave me a simpler solution that will help rank a brand new site using a strategy that none of the competitors are using
That eventually was the decision I landed on to execute in 2024
Having more time to think made me weigh different decisions and outcome better and sometimes helped me to formulate much better solutions to problems
One great decision will help move any business nearer towards their goal
That’s my motto from now on
- Get clear on your goals
This seems simple but its very underrated in entrepreneurship
Goals aren’t only about how much money you earn a month or what you can buy with the money
But rather understanding what you wont do to achieve those goals, what you want your life to be like when you hit the goal.
Sure you can put a goal to do 200k/mo in your business with at least 50% profit
But what you want to do next is outline exactly how you would like to achieve that with your non negotiables and ideal situation
Doing that helps you visualise clearly the steps required to get to that goal
- Its easy to make money if you focus on one thing at a time
This is also a problem I had previously, I had an abundance of opportunities and deals coming to me when I left my agency
People started asking if wanted to partner them on a new venture etc
And I was very very tempted, I also ventured into trying to build my own offers with other experts…
All while running the current company as a CMO
This kept repeating itself until i realised that I need to stick on one core business model to generate lots of money before I start investing into other vehicles or people
After realising that and focusing on my consulting business, I did way more in 5 months on my own with the least amount of effort
- People underestimate small incremental gains
Compound your execution and wins into bigger and bigger wins
People under estimate the small growth you get when you do something consistently
Like going to the gym 3x a week
Creating video 2x a week
writing email newsletter 3x a week
Posting on social media consistently
Launching offers consistently
All these are what I’m doing even before 2024 so that I can get small improvement day after day after day
I already have seen my social media getting me more prospects who want to buy from me and the ease of taking a video compared to when I started…
- Saying no to opportunities that doesn’t stack
playing off point number 3, I will only take on opportunities that compliments or stack on my current situation and goals
In 2024 im trying to grow my consulting business to over 1M/year , so if the opportunity to do a joint venture, partnership that leads to mean moving into that direction with the right partner I will choose to do so
That’s what I meant by stacking opportunities
As for everything else , I’m just going to say NO.
- Delegating more instead of doing more
Number 1 best thing that happen to me was to hire a Personal Assistant for myself,
Saved me over 40 hours of my time each month to work on the business
Watch my video when it’s launch on my youtube channel
But here’s the old email I sent on my blog: https://bryanang.com/productivity-isnt-doing-more-but-less/
- Health is wealth
Also, the big C the last 5 years made me stop exercising and placed me in highly stressful situation
I kept working in the business and trying my best to improve it without much needed self care or rest
Its only after I kept failing my fitness test the last 2 years , I realised how bad my state of health was
I have been going to the gym weekly for the past 3 months and felt a big change in my mental state, emotion and body as well
Im going to push more on this front and get back my previous body fat percentage when I was 25
- Stick to the plan, stop FOMOing
Stop changing once things get hard, or choosing another option when things don’t go your way
Patience is required to achieve great things
I have seen alot of students and clients change funnels as and when they want
This happen often when they buy into another guru’s coaching and the guru without any context to their business or situation suggest that they do certain funnels and throw away the current one that’s making them money
Stop shiny funnel syndrome and start working on improving your current funnels and business to scale
- Always ask for help when stuck, instead of trying to do it all alone
I tend to always do this when I get stuck. I look around my own network to see who can help me solve this problem in the next 30 mins
Its so easy to get caught in watching youtube videos to solve certain problems and procrastinating time away when sometimes the solution is just a call away
Now I’m not asking you to keep taking from your network, but also remember to give back regularly in value or in your love language
My network has contributed to nearly 90% of everything I achieved today, that’s how powerful it is
- Have your own opinions
Lastly, this is the most important as an entrepreneur, many people are going to give you their opinions be it mentors, friends, family or influencers
What you consume daily will influence your actions and decisions, but if you have your own opinions, understand your strengths and where you want to go in the next few years
You will get there sooner or later…
You need to make your own decisions and stop projecting responsibilities onto others
That’s when you will see the light at the end of the tunnel
That’s all for today!
Hope everyone is have a good festive break!
Regards,
Bryan “reflecting on 2023” Ang
