Why Do A 6 Month Internal Review for Your Business? (+ How To Do One)
Hey! Hey! Hey!
In the previous episode, #59, I mentioned that it will be part 1 of a 2-parter.
Today’s the day, the actual review process is outlined in more detail.
I’ll share how to do a mid-year mindset review that will give you, alongside your strategy & goals review, a more contextual viewpoint on your year thus far.
Plus, I want you to listen all the way through to the end to hear about the special offer that goes along with today’s episode.
Alrighty, let’s get to it.
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A biz review done at the halfway mark, usually at the end of the 6th month of the year, involves going over your stats and asking a few key questions to discern what took place in your business in the 1st half of the year.
And then making tweaks and adjustments as needed or, even pivoting if required, to be sure you stay on track to achieve the goals you outlined at the beginning of the year.
Now I won’t go over what that entails in this episode.
There are a myriad number of strategists and businesses that offer these analytical services to help you start that process and gather this information.
What this episode will guide you on is how to do an internal 6th-month review and assessment of your performance.
This is about getting a thorough reflection on how you, the business owner, fared during this period.
We take for granted that the only thing that matters for us as solopreneurs is a fail-proof strategy that leads to business growth, gaining new clients, sustaining those we have and increasing our profits over time.
For the majority of us though, who are solopreneurs, there is no team. We…are it.
We wear all the hats, constantly shifting our focus between the different roles we take on to keep our business running and herald in consistent successful years.
And most times, from the information I’ve gathered talking to my clients, we don’t take the time to think about how we, the person behind the business, got on.
What’s going on for us…what’s affecting us and how we show up?
We don’t reflect back on how we coped with the ups and downs we encountered while performing our everyday tasks, or moving through the challenges we face as we do this work.
We forget that mindset matters.
I’m gonna say that again. We forget that our mindset matters in all if it.
Most don’t realize how much our mindset affects how, when and if we show up, consistently or not, i.e. how our head gunk slows us down or stalls some of our efforts.
Because, let’s face it, some days can be full of shite—knocking you sideways, making you feel like getting out of bed feels like the most massive expanse of effort.
And you’re only just beginning the day.
And some days it’ll feel like there are days or even weeks where nothing goes right.
How you deal with whatever happens—your habits and behaviours that result, IS the point of this type of review.
Those down times shift your mindset, your energy, and it’s these periods that affect how you operate.
An Internal Business Review takes into consideration all of this, acknowledging both the good and the not-so-good periods.
It’s checking in with yourself to see where you are spiritually & mentally and to remind yourself of the good stuff that’s happened, those times you fricken rocked it out of the park!
But also to take stock of what’s not working for you and what you need to do to create change in how you tackle any given situation.
Through this work you’ll get important information, data, for how you approached situations & issues that cropped up that led to successful outcomes...and the opposite as well.
The questions I share next will help you start that process of internally assessing your last 6 months.
Now I suggest allowing a minimum of 20 minutes to answer the questions.
You might find though if this is your 1st time doing one of these, that it stretches longer than you originally thought it would take.
Let that be okay.
Don’t hold yourself to a container of time, especially if you have not had a practice of journaling regularly.
Cause it will take some time to pull the answers out of your subconscious.
As well, note that some questions are about the work you did in your business to recall what happened and to be able to pull from that how you felt and the actions you took.
What follows are 7 critical questions to start this process. Snd understand, this is is by no means the totality of what this process could be but it’s a good start.
Ready? Let’s go.
What 3 things did you do really well in the last 6 months?
— In other words, what actions or outcomes made you feel proud?
— What tasks/ or activities or actions steps did you do that were most successful as you look back at the last 6 months?
2nd part of this question refers to your mindset.
— How was it? What were you thinking and feeling during this period?
Reflect back on your mindset in terms of the answers you wrote for the 1st part of this question.
And a quick note here. You can see after hearing just this 1st question why putting a time frame on your completion of this work might work against you.
Okay, let’s keep going.
2. How successful were you with your productivity in the last 6 months?
— in other words, what was your FLOW like?
What do I mean by flow? A recent article I read described it this way.
“Flow is a state of optimal performance during which our creativity, productivity, and mental health are enhanced. To experience it, we need to find [tasks] that [are] challenging enough to require our full attention but not so overwhelming that we feel defeated.”
So, other questions to ask are, were there regular hang-ups you encountered as you did certain work?
— Or did you sail along—got your shite done and completed your tasks in a timely manner, most of the time?
Whatever your answer is, dig a little deeper to assess what was going on in your head, in your heart, in your outlook that was either good or bad.
Remember, as you answer these questions, do not let self-judgement play any part in what you come up with. That will only dilute them and defeat the purpose of the assessment.
#3
Now that you’ve had a chance to look in the rearview mirror at some of what occurred in the last 6 months in your business, are there areas you need to improve on in terms of how you showed up?
— what came up for you that affected how and what you planned each month? Go there. Really dig into what that was all about.
4. At any point did you reach a sense of overwhelm, feeling like what was before you was too much to handle?
— if so, what prompted it?
— what did you do to overcome these feelings?
And if you chose in the moment to bypass them—deny, avoid, redefine what tit really was—how did that eventually affect you and the work you tried to accomplish?
As you work your way through these questions you’ll see that each one builds upon the next, so this next question is big.
5. What did you learn about yourself and how you operate under stress particularly?
— look over your answers to the previous questions, let them inform how you answer these 2 for #5.
6. What are your key takeaways? Come up with at least 3.
— at this point it would also be a good time to think about what new habits or routines you can establish now, at this juncture to minimize any negative thinking or fall back that leads to adverse reactions or outcomes?
You’ll find that you’ll probably add to this over time, this won’t be the 1st and only time you come up with these routines. You might even be removing some that no longer work for you.
7. Now that you’ve gathered all this data about yourself these first 6 months in business this year, what 3 things do you want to be more aware of as you finish the year?
— think more in terms of how you operate, how you think (that’s the head gunk stuff) and your energetic capacity as you do this work of your heart.
If you’re in business, one of your likely motivations is to serve your community, your circle of clients.
— how can you best serve them now, knowing what you now know about yourself?
If you’re ready to do this work and want to carve out some specific time to answer these questions, I’ve got the perfect container to help you.
On August 24th I’ll be hosting a 1x PowerUP Co-working session.
My regular PowerUP crew, we’ve met every Wednesday for the last 2 years. We are a force of strength and support for each other.
THIS is what I want to offer to you.
A time and place to focus your attention AND intentions as you gather this all-important information, data, about how you work so you can be more informed for your future in business.
Plus, you’ll be able to get support and ask any questions that arise as you do this work and have some concentrated time to flesh it all out.
It’ll be the perfect time to assess and review as you gear up for your end-of-year, 4th quarter work.
The single co-working session will include 2-45 minute Pomodoro sessions. Our group has found that 45-minutes is the perfect sweet spot of time, not too long, not too short
(anybody getting a hint of Goldilocks vibes right now or that’s just me?)
Anyhoo, find the link in the Show Notes to sign up. I’m looking forward to getting on a Zoom call with you to get this work done.
Also, please know that there will be a nominal charge to join us for this eye-opening 2 hours of co-working.
DM me any questions you have about this review or the upcoming co-working session.
One small update I want to share before I sign off. There’s gonna be a change in the upload schedule for future episodes.
I’ll be going to a bi-monthly upload schedule. That means every 2 weeks you’ll see me back there.
Same good information being shared, of course, just a different time frame for now, which will give me a wider bit of time to continue working behind the scenes on new, upcoming projects.
Alrighty then, till next time,
Be Brave. Be Bold. Stay Badass.
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MENTIONED IN THE EPISODE: 6 Month Internal Review + Co-Working (PowerUP)
Use the link below to REGISTER for the PowerUP Review Co-working call.
NB. After registering, approximately 2 weeks before we get online for this co-working session, you’ll receive a curated workbook created just for this powerful session of work.
It will contain all list of questions I share in the episode, ample spaces to record your responses and take notes on answers to any questions that crop up during our Pomo sessions.
This way you get to keep and be able to refer to the answers you wrote for the future of your business.
➢ Break free from the doubt. Unlock your biz brain. Learn how to journal for your biz with this self-paced e-course…Biz Journaling 101
— Start here 👉🏽 http://kgracehowes.com/biz-journaling-101
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