When my team and I sat down to discuss our annual goal-setting process, we committed to making 2019 the year we “double down” in all areas of the business. My hope is that in sharing in full transparency how we’re approaching our goals, it may also be helpful to you as you create and execute your plans for the year ahead.
Double down on being helpful to your audience
We’re looking for new and innovative ways we can add value to our audience. Currently, we connect with our audience through our daily Onward Nation podcast, a weekly video series and written content.
Now, we are asking ourselves:
- How can we take all of the different forms of content that we create (audio, video and written) and make it better?
- How can we make our content more helpful so the lessons we share are even more clear and even simpler to apply, even more practical and tactical?
Every business and every entrepreneur has the opportunity to create impact. So with that in mind, ask yourself the following questions:
- How have you been adding value to your audience?
- How are you connecting with your biggest fans?
- What can you do to helping your audience even more?
Related: The Keys That Separate Thriving Businesses From Those That Fail
Double down on being helpful to your clients
Now we move from audience to clients. My team and I want to double down on how helpful we are being to our clients. We want to help them find and establish their voice in the marketplace, create content around that point of view, and then drive revenue back into their core business by helping them monetize their content.
This has been at the core of our business model for several years. But — we can be even better. We want to double down by getting even clearer on who we best serve, and provide them with the best of who we are and what we do.
So, who are your ideal clients? Identify them even further. What are some key ways you could double down on being helpful to them in 2019?
Double down on your team
My personal goal in 2019 is to make sure all of our teammates feel supported, both in terms of compensation and in life beyond their work.
We’re doubling down on adding more teammates, too. We’re going to build on the trust we have already created within our team because that gives us the ability to celebrate the wins and to also have the difficult conversations from time to time.
We’ve got big goals for ourselves, but we also know that because we’ve been in the trenches with each other, that we can have those difficult conversations — and that is a vital ingredient to any startup’s growth.
Double down on storytelling
We are also going to get better at sharing our story, and I hope you will do the same with your own narrative.
When you share an achievement with your audience, when you share a struggle you’ve been through, when you’re transparent enough to share the moments that at the time felt like they might be the end of you and of your business (but they weren’t), you start to establish an emotional connection with your audience.
When you’re bold enough to share those lessons, an interesting thing happens. Your customers don’t run from you like you think they might. Instead, they move toward you because you just allowed yourself, and your business, to be human in full transparency.
I’m committed to sharing the stories (the good times and bad) because I know that showing our humanity is the right way to be in business, and will help foster a human connection with our customers.
How will you share more of your story with your audience this year?
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How will you double down in 2019?
So my question for you is, “How will you double down in 2019?”
Maybe you’ll double down in the areas I’ve described. Maybe this has sparked ideas and you now realize you have other strategies you need to explore. I’m pushing you to think about it, and then decide how you will innovate and grow in the year ahead.
