Every 3 months I take stock of what happened in my business over the last quarter and what I got done.
These reports track the growth of Side Hustle Nation and my latest projects and experiments.
I’ve chosen “progress” reports over income reports because I believe we can make progress every day toward our goals, and that’s something worth measuring and celebrating.
In fact, you could say I’m obsessed with progress. I even created a physical Progress Journal to help keep me on track.
For the past couple years, I’ve been doing these quarterly progress reports.
Why go through this exercise?
It’s time to evaluate what happened over the last 3 months, to see if you achieved your goals, and to ask if you’re happier or otherwise better off than you were when you started.
So am I?
Last quarter I wrote about feeling more stressed, anxious, and tired, and wondering if that was just the price of parenthood.
With our little hustler growing every day, things are definitely getting better. I think we’ve already blocked from memory how horrible the first 6 weeks were!
This quarter he started daycare 3-4 days a week, which has helped block off longer hours of hustle time and rebuild a bit of a routine.
For the past year, I’ve been doing these quarterly progress reports.
Business-wise, the Side Hustle Nation audience has grown, but other projects have taken a back-seat.
I feel like I’ve been in “maintenance mode” for most of the year.
And while happiness is hard to measure, I have to admit it’s gone down since last year. To be sure, there are moments of elation but on average, I’m feeling more stressed, anxious, and tired. Is this the price of parenthood?
One of the best ways to figure out how to better serve your customers or your audience is to, well, ask them.
So I set out to create my (annual?) member survey and see if I could get some insights into where readers and listeners are at in their side hustle journey, what types of businesses you’re working on, and what your biggest challenges are.
I also wanted to find out about how you were interacting with the Side Hustle Nation content; the blog, podcast, and email newsletter.
Last year I published my first annual review, and have been doing quarterly progress reports since then.
Overall, I felt happier in 2015 than I have in a long time. I think that’s the result of a lot of factors coming together, including lower stress, fun projects, and a growing comfort as to what’s “enough.”
This is my recap of what went down in Q4 and in 2015 overall, plus my wins and losses for the year and my top 10 articles and podcast episodes.
This is the third installment of my quarterly progress reports. If you want to travel back in time, you can check out the first two here and here. Why “progress”? Because that’s what it’s all about. To me, progress means forward motion, or actively taking the steps to improve each day. It’s one thing we … Read more
Yikes, the year is already half over!
This is the second installment of my quarterly progress reports. If you want to check out the first one from April, you can do so here.
Why “progress”? Because that’s what it’s all about.
To me, progress means forward motion, or actively taking the steps to improve each day. It’s one thing we can control.
This is my first attempt at what may turn into a regular series: a quarterly progress report.
Why quarterly? Because months are too short.
Why “progress”? Because that’s what it’s all about.
To me, progress means forward motion, or actively taking the steps to improve each day. It’s one thing we can control.
This month I conducted the first (annual?) Side Hustle Nation member survey, and was grateful to see more than 100 responses!
To incentivize responses, I gave away a free side hustle strategy session and made sure the survey was mobile-ready so it could be done on a phone.
One of the requests projects was a “public coaching” effort, which means I need an audience volunteer. If that sounds like something that would be useful to you, read on.
As we turn the calendar over for a new year, I think it’s a good idea to put pen to paper and write down a few “big picture” goals for the year.
Whether that’s quitting your job, as Bryan Harris outlined last week on the podcast, paying down debt, or earning a couple hundred bucks a month, it’s all worthwhile.
What makes a good goal?