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.
I’ve been doing these quarterly progress reports for the last couple years.
I find this exercise a helpful 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?
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 first discovered Side Hustle Nation, your #1 goal for the year, and what you’d like to see me cover here in the future.
As we move into 2017, on the surface, things are great. I had my best year financially since 2009, we managed to keep our little hustler alive 11 months in a row, and we went on quite a few cool adventures as a family.
Yet I’ve got some weird anxiety. Like I’m working every week, but maybe not on the right things. Like I could and should be taking on more or different projects. Like I’m letting people down who email me. Like I’m in maintenance mode and not growth mode — even though things are growing.
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.