Digitally She Does It Podcast

EPISODE 104: Setting your business up for success in 2025

• Karen Davies • Season 1 • Episode 104

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Are you ready to make 2025 your best year yet?

In this episode of Digitally She Does It, I’m diving into everything you need to know to set your business up for success in the year ahead. I’ll be sharing personal reflections on the wins I’ve celebrated, the lessons I’ve learned from challenges, and how these experiences have shaped my goals moving forward.

One of my biggest focuses for 2025 is growing my membership and increasing revenue, and I’ll take you behind the scenes to show how I’m planning to make that happen. We’ll talk about the power of setting meaningful goals, staying connected to your “why,” and the importance of self-care because let’s face it, we can’t pour from an empty cup.

I’ll also share some of the challenges I’ve faced this year and the strategies I’m putting in place to keep myself focused and moving forward. My aim is to give you practical advice, actionable tips, and a little dose of motivation to help you start the new year with clarity and confidence.

Whether you’re building your first online course, scaling your business, or just looking for a fresh perspective, this episode is packed with insights to help you avoid stagnation and drive real growth.

So, grab a cup of coffee, get comfortable and let’s make 2025 the best year yet!

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Karen Davies [00:00:00]:
Hello and welcome to the Digitally She Does It Show. This is episode 104. And in today's episode, I'm talking about getting ready for 2025 and setting your business up for success. So, let's jump right in and let's get started. Welcome to the Digitally She Does It Show. I am your host Karen and I'm here to lift the lid on what it actually takes to create a successful business.

If you are an ambitious creative ready to build a business on your own terms and without compromise, then this podcast is perfect for you. With my award winning approach to marketing, and expert knowledge in creating online courses, this show will leave you feeling inspired, energised, and ready to bring those big dreams to life.

Karen Davies [00:00:50]:
Join me each week for a dose of motivation and marketing know how along with actionable step by step strategies to help you accelerate your businesses grow. So, let's dive in and don't forget to subscribe to all my upcoming episodes which drop every Wednesday. Hello and welcome.

Thank you so much for joining me today, the last episode of this year. I am your host Karen, and I really do appreciate you hitting that play button to listen to today's episode. Can you believe that we are in the final week before Christmas? It is crazy. This year has absolutely flown by, and I can't believe that we're wrapping up wrapping up for the year. I don't know about you guys.

Karen Davies [00:01:43]:
I don't work through Christmas and New Year. I like to take some time off, be with the kids, and just have a break because I'm tired. I am so tired. I am ready now to just stop work and, like I say, be with the family and get all festive and just enjoy some downtime. It's been a long time coming. So today is going to be the final episode of this year, and I thought what better way to finish this year than to talking about getting ready for next year. Because, and, again, I don't know about you guys, but I'm in planning mode at the moment. I have been in planning mode probably for the majority of this month.

Karen Davies [00:02:33]:
I really enjoy, planning for next year, and I have, like, a particular process that I go through. And I'm excited. I'm excited about a brand new year. I love the new year. I love the opportunities that it's going to bring. And I just like to end the year on a high, but start the brand new year feeling optimistic and in that space of knowing that there's going to be unknown, but embracing, like, say, future opportunities and all the things that come with a brand new year. So today, I thought I would talk about getting your business ready for 2025 so that you can start to achieve the success that maybe you're ready for. So before we dive into looking at next year, I just want to take a moment to reflect on this year and how this year has been.

Karen Davies [00:03:33]:
I always think that it's important to look at how things have evolved over the year because a lot of the answers that we need for next year really can be found in the year we've just had. And it may be things like we've had success in certain areas, but maybe in order to achieve further growth, we need to bring more of ourselves to the to the forefront. And by reflecting on what we've done, how we've shown up, and the activities and the strategies that we've implemented, we can reflect on the performance of it all and make judgments as to what we need to do for next year. So I always think that spending some time and reflecting can be just as powerful as making plans for the year ahead. Now it is really important to celebrate wins along the way and to identify what those wins are. And I know for me this year, my year has been really interesting because back in July, I launched my membership, sell your brilliance online. And so for half of the year, I've been trying to work out how to be an effective membership host. I have this platform now where I am teaching people how to create their online courses.

Karen Davies [00:04:57]:
And alongside that, I have live teachings and I have events that people can come to and be a part of a community of other creators who are looking to achieve similar aspirations. And so I've stepped into this role of membership host, but my role really is to encourage support and to help my members to achieve their goals. And so for me, I've had to learn how to do that in an effective way that actually supports my members and gives them what they need. So that's been a really interesting sort of step forward for me this year. I obviously, I create online courses so I'm comfortable with creating digital products and selling those digital products and that. But having a membership is is different because there is that live element and I wanted there to be a live element. That live element is so important to me because I get to support my members on a on a much deeper level which is why I launched my membership in the first place. But I think it's it's it there there's a skill involved with being really effective and doing the job well.

Karen Davies [00:06:15]:
And so that's where I'm at at the moment is learning how to do that. The other thing where I'm at in my journey because, guys, I am on this journey as well. I'm in the trenches. I'm doing my thing. I'm I'm walking the talk. I am learning day in, day out on how to be better, do better, and to show up better for my members, for my listeners, and for my community. So I'm in this kind of space at the moment where I'm just learning how to be better at doing what I do because I want to be effective and I want to make a difference and I want to make a change. I wouldn't be here if that wasn't what my driver my driving force was.

Karen Davies [00:06:59]:
So I come at it with purpose, heart, and intention. And so for me next year, it is about amplifying what I'm doing now because I want to reach more people. I want to impact more people. I want to support more people. And I want to help people literally build businesses that that kind of work for them and and not get caught up in this cycle of having to trade time for money all of the time. Now I'm not saying that there's not an aspect of your business where you can't do that, but what I I suppose what my message is is that it doesn't all have to be on you. There are other ways in which you can make really good money by by creating things that you can sell on repeat. And so my my message that is a strong message.

Karen Davies [00:07:52]:
I want to get out to more people. And so my I suppose my desire for next year is to build on my visibility and to grow my membership so that I can impact more people. Now maybe for you, it's it's something similar. Maybe for you, it's about getting started with your online course. Maybe it's about creating some kind of passive income in your business whereby you can earn on repeat without you having to give more of yourself. Or maybe it's about just finding that balance, Finding something that can support you that doesn't require you to have to kind of be at your desk all of the time. So maybe it's a mix of a few different things that's gonna support your business's growth. Whatever it is, I think it's about like, now it's about setting those intentions and putting those plans in place and being able to succinctly sort of, be clear about what your intentions are.

Karen Davies [00:09:01]:
Because the thing is, if we don't know what it is we want for the year ahead, then what's gonna happen is we're just going to coast. And when we coast, we're not growing, and we have the danger of remaining stagnant. And we don't want to be doing this, especially not in our businesses. Our industries are changing all of the time. Trends are changing. People's behaviors are changing. And as business owners, we need to be evolving our businesses so that we can support the people that we want to help. So we need to be continuously moving forward.

Karen Davies [00:09:43]:
It doesn't mean that you've you've constantly got to be developing your business and innovating new products and doing new things and all of that. I'm not saying that. What I'm saying is that we we need to be in that place of kind of future proofing our businesses so that we can serve the right people and create businesses that actually have a purpose. So for me, I just wanna touch on the things that I've learned this year because I do feel it has been a a year of learning. So for me it's, you know, of course I faced moments of overwhelm. When I decided to create a membership back in February, it was like, okay, what do I do? I've never done a membership before. I'm an online course creator. How do I approach this? And, of course, there was overwhelm involved.

Karen Davies [00:10:39]:
So I get it. When my members and clients say to me that they feel overwhelmed at the prospect of creating an online course, trust me. I get it. I've been there. I understand it. And, well, what I have to do in order to combat that overwhelm is I have to reevaluate where I put my focus. So I have to really sort of get clear on what my purpose is and what my priority is as well and why I want to do the thing that I want to do. And when I start breaking it down and then I start to work out the steps, that helps me manage that overwhelm.

Karen Davies [00:11:19]:
Now one of the biggest lessons I've learned this year is that sometimes less is more. Because another thing that I am very, very guilty of is getting distracted. I was saying it to one of my friends a couple of days ago, actually. I have got my strategy for next year. It's called my growth strategy. I know exactly what it is I want to do to grow the membership. And I said to my friend, I was like, I know that one of my biggest challenges is that I get distracted. I have an idea and I implement the idea, and then 80% of that idea, when I'm 80% through, something else will happen and I'll suddenly steer my attention somewhere else.

Karen Davies [00:12:03]:
And I'm so guilty of that. And I don't know if it's because maybe that's the creative in me. Maybe it's because I'm I'm a bit of a tech junkie. I love junk, tech. So I can often find myself immersed in a new piece of tech. Or maybe it's just the fact that I've got so many ideas that sometimes I just wanna kinda sit in that place of bringing ideas to life and not follow through on actually developing them and therefore getting them out into the world. And that's something for me that I really have to work on. And I don't know if you guys, you know, can relate to this, but there is so much noise out there.

Karen Davies [00:12:42]:
And sometimes when you're on Instagram or Facebook or LinkedIn, whatever your platform is, it can get really distracting constantly scrolling, trying to be engaging, trying to do all the things. And then what you find is that the thing that you've started out on, the thing that you're you've set your intentions on in order to create, bring to life, whatever, suddenly you find yourself doing other things that have no relation to the thing that you started in the 1st place. And that can be really frustrating. And then I get frustrated with myself because I'm like, Karen, just focus. Focus on one thing at a time. Less is more. So that's, I suppose, if I'm gonna set a New Year's resolution, I think that would be it. Focus on one thing at a time, see that one thing through, and then move on to the next thing.

Karen Davies [00:13:37]:
So I'm not saying that I don't always do this. I mean, I I set intentions about my membership. I developed it. I got it launched. And I have some wonderful members in there, and it's going great guns. But there are other things that I do do that I think, oh, if only I just focused on that, I'd be so much further along. So trust me when I say, guys, if you have started your online course and you've got distracted and you haven't finished it and life's got in the way and all of a sudden you've found yourself doing other different things, I get it. Honestly, I 100% get where you're coming from because I am guilty of that as well.

Karen Davies [00:14:18]:
But I think by focusing your attention on what truly matters, then I think that is what will ultimately see you through. And the other thing that, really kind of landed with me, I was thinking about it last week actually. I was talking to one of my members and, my member actually turned around to me and said she didn't have a desire to create an online course. That's what she said. And she has realized that it's not for her. She doesn't want to create something that she can sell on repeat. She wants to stay delivering her one to one services. And I thought that was really interesting because in my mind, you'll be if you are focusing solely on one to one work, if if anything happens to you or a family member and you have to take time out, then that's where the struggle is gonna come.

Karen Davies [00:15:16]:
It's the it's your business is going to stop. So for me, my logical brain says to have things in place so that you can sell other things if you're not available in your business because life happens. Things happen. You can't be in your business 247 and you shouldn't be. Anyway, this conversation happened and I thought, no. Fair enough. I get it. Online courses are not for everybody.

Karen Davies [00:15:41]:
Okay? So I, again, I completely understand that. But what actually when I when I started to think about the conversation back, what really landed with me was the lack of desire and the lack of drive in order to make something happen. And I think with this member, there was nothing driving her because she knew that she could just go back to 1 to 1 services so she could make money. So in why do a ton of work when actually you can make money through 1 to 1 services? And because that's what you've always done, that's the easiest way to do it. So the desire, the thing that pulls you when times get tough, her her why, her purpose, her reason for creating the online course wasn't there. She didn't have anything to hook onto. And then I was thinking, okay. So when I developed my membership idea and I put in all that work and and I and I created it and I launched it and I went through the whole process, which was months months months of work, what was the thing? What was my my desire? What was that thing that kind of pulled me to the finish line? And then it kind of sort of I realized that my drive is always about my children.

Karen Davies [00:17:03]:
It's always about making a better life for them, being available to them, and creating a business that supports my family and me. And there's other things that I do outside of my my business. I am a marketing manager in a in my local community center, which is a national, brand. And I go in there and I I only do, you know, I do I do some hours a week, but I help them market their events and bring footfall through the door. And I love that. I love that because I get to do all the things that I really enjoy doing. I get to design. I get to strategize.

Karen Davies [00:17:42]:
I get to create sort of marketing plans and all of that stuff. So my business is supporting me so I get to choose to go and do that. My kids go to the community center. It's very much part of our lives. My husband goes to the community center. I go to the community center for the events. It's part of the community. It's an important piece of our our family life, and I get to be a part of their growth by supporting them with the skills that I have.

Karen Davies [00:18:13]:
So my drive is so deep rooted because it's this constant strive to supporting my my family and also to being a good role model for my children. I've got 2 young girls. I've got a daughter aged 10 12, and they are seeing the world. They are seeing the world through me, and I am showing them what is possible. And I think that is a really powerful driver to get up every single day and to do what I do. To jump behind my laptop. To deliver my to deliver my episodes, which I absolutely love doing, and to teach and impact people in the way that I do. It's all about making people's lives better whether it's my children, my family, myself, my members, my community, whoever.

Karen Davies [00:19:07]:
It it really it is about having that positive impact. So I guess it's worth thinking at this point, this time of the year, what is your driving force? What is the thing that gets you up in the morning, gets you out of bed, gets you behind your laptop, and gets you doing the things that you do day in and day out? Even when things can feel like a struggle and times get tough, what is your pull? What is your what is your driver that that you know, is it family? Is it your children? Is it money? Is it a desire to do good? Is it the fact that you want to be an influencer and you have a desire to impact people? Identify what that looks like because I think when when you connect to that really strong desire within you, I think you become unstoppable. I think that's the difference between having a business that does okay and has and has and you having a business that thrives. So I really want you to kinda get clear on what that looks like because we need to really be connected to the to the thing that drives us so that we know deep down what we're doing it for. The other thing the other questions that I would encourage you to ask yourself as well was is what was your biggest win of this year? Again, for me, it was my membership. What lessons did you learn? Again, for me, it's about one thing at a time. Keep the focus. Keep it simple, and just do one thing at a time.

Karen Davies [00:21:02]:
And then what would you do differently next year? Now this is an interesting one because for me, I think what I would do differently is I literally would I would strip everything back. Just focus on one core strategy that aligns to the one goal that I want to achieve. So for me, it's about growing my membership. I wanna serve more people. I wanna help more people, and I wanna create more impact with the people that I work with. I want to grow my membership. I'm gonna have one very simple strategy that's gonna help me achieve that growth. What is the one thing that you would do differently next year? Write these down because it's a really powerful way to take stock of your journey and where you are so that you can set yourself up for growth next year.

Karen Davies [00:21:56]:
So just to recap, I've got 3 questions. What was your biggest win? What lessons did you learn? And what would you do differently next year? Now we need to set ourselves up for success. We success doesn't just happen in isolation. It's often down to a multitude of things that come together that give us the outcomes that we're looking for. So really think about what it is that you want to achieve in your business next year. And a bit like maybe what I'm doing, strip it down to 1 or 2 things that's going to make a big difference. Think about it in terms of a domino effect. If you do one thing, that one thing is gonna knock down all the other dominoes so that you get the results that you're looking for.

Karen Davies [00:22:54]:
So for me, I want to grow my membership. By getting more members in my membership, it's gonna help me to grow the membership, to increase the revenue, to build more passive income, and to build a stronger community. What is that one thing for you? Could it be to create and launch your online course? Because by doing so, you know that you can start to bring in an additional revenue stream that's going to support your business. Or maybe it's about launching a premium program where you can sell that on repeat. What is that thing that you're looking to achieve? And then get clear on why you want to do it. What is the driving force behind it? For me, by building my membership and growing it, it's gonna give me more time back because I would generate more income. And that means that they it takes the pressure on having to earn go and find income, and it just makes life so much easier. So it makes sense that I focus all my energies on this membership.

Karen Davies [00:24:09]:
What is your one thing? Remember the domino effect. By focusing on one small thing, or it could be a big thing, it really doesn't matter, that in itself is going to impact other areas of your business or your life, and it's going to improve it. And then I want you to think about your why. Why did you start your business in 1st place? What was it for? Who did you wanna help? Is that still the same? Do you still wanna help the same people? Your why is the thing that's gonna keep you going through tough times, and it's going to be the thing that motivates you to stay consistent in achieving your goals. So really think about that why. That's why when I was having the conversation with my member, it just it I just felt like she didn't have a strong enough desire to create the thing that she'd set out to create. She hadn't connected the dots. So connect the dots and get really clear on what your why is.

Karen Davies [00:25:10]:
I like I say, I know my why. I get up every single day knowing why I'm doing what I'm doing and that sees me through. Because there are days where I really don't wanna do it. Some days, I just wake up. My hormones are raging. I'm just not in the mood. But you know what? I get up. I do it because I know what my why is.

Karen Davies [00:25:32]:
I know why I'm doing the thing that I'm doing. So get really, really clear on what your why is. And then I want you to think about setting really clear goals for next year. So you've got your core goal. By doing x, you're going to achieve y. By understanding what that is, that's going to really help set you up. But I also want you to think about some micro goals as well. Once you've achieved what is going to help you achieve your big goal? Because it may be that in order to achieve a certain thing you're going to have to put some smaller goals in place that's going to help you to get to that big goal.

Karen Davies [00:26:13]:
So identify what those smaller goals are. And, of course, get spit get smart with those goals. So we're looking at getting specific, getting measurable, making sure they're achievable, making sure they're relevant so that they're relevant to your big goal, and your big goal is gonna feed into your greater why. And, of course, make sure they're time bound as well so that you know the time frame by which you want to achieve them. And then another thing for setting yourself up for success is about prioritizing self care. Because the one thing that I believe entrepreneurs are really guilty of is neglecting the thing that actually is going to make the biggest impact, and that's self care. So making sure that when you are in the planning stages and you're looking at next year and you're working out your big goal, you're getting clear on your why, and then you're identifying those smaller goals that's gonna really feed into that greater goal, you're building in this your self care routine. What could you do that's gonna support you whilst you're working towards that big goal? So could it be that maybe you need to take more time out to go for a walk? Maybe January is a brilliant time to join a gym so maybe that may help.

Karen Davies [00:27:40]:
Maybe it's about going swimming. Maybe it's about spending more time with your family. Maybe it's about just having a bath at the end of the day. Whatever it is, that needs to be included because you need to prioritize the thing that is most, most, most important, and that is, of course, you. And then as of as we move into next year, we have a brand new year ahead of us, a brand new blank page. It's the perfect time to embrace new opportunities. So I want you to think about stepping outside your comfort zone. If launching your online course is the thing that you want to do next year, then I want you to just do it.

Karen Davies [00:28:28]:
And I don't say that with ease. I say that because sometimes we can go get so trapped in what in our comfort zone that we don't wanna veer outside of it because it's going to make us feel uncomfortable. But the success that we often go are looking for sits outside the comfort zone and so we need to force ourselves to take the steps that we need to take to be able to achieve the things we want to achieve. So we have to move from the place where we feel comfortable and we have to get uncomfortable. If there's one thing that I've learned in the time of running my business is the fact that I've had to get comfortable with being uncomfortable. I think it's just part of the journey because the magic happens when you take that leap. Another thing that I want you to consider for your growth next year is what investment do you need to make either in yourself or in your business that's going to set you up for success? Whether it's joining a membership like Sell Your Brilliance online, whether it's hiring a coach or learning a new skill, what investment do you need to make so that you get to have the success that you're looking to achieve? Because this is going to fuel your personal and business growth. We need to invest in ourselves so that we can invest in our businesses.

Karen Davies [00:30:01]:
You can't have one without the other. So what do you need to do next year to achieve your goals? And then finally, I want you to think about the people you surround yourself by. Surround yourself with people who inspire and uplift you. Whether it's you join a Facebook group of like minded individuals or you find an accountability partner or simply join a mastermind, having a strong network of people around you will make all the difference to your growth in 2025. You should not be doing your business alone. You are not meant to be doing this alone. It's better with people on your side that can support you, help you, and inspire you. So who what do you need to do in order to take the steps you need to take to find those people? Now just before I finish, I just wanna finish up by saying for me 2024 has been a year of growth.

Karen Davies [00:31:04]:
It's been a year of learning and connection. I have met so many wonderful people and I have done things that I never thought that I would do. And year on year I am learning more and more and I fall and I really do fall fall more in love with what I do every year that goes by. As we head into 2 2025, I want you to really take a moment to celebrate your wins. I want you to reflect on your journey and reset your focus because this is your chance to recharge and start the new year off with clarity and confidence and with the understanding that you 100% have the capabilities to bring your goals and your dreams to life. Thank you so much for being a part of this incredible journey with me. Your support, feedback, and your wins inspire me every single day, and I can't wait to get into 2025 and make next year the best year yet. So I want to wish everybody a very merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year.

Karen Davies [00:32:23]:
Thank you so much for tuning in to today's episode. I hope you found this episode of value and, of course, please do feel free to share it with others who you may think will also benefit from today's episode. If today's discussion has sparked some inspiration and you're eager to dive deeper into creating your online presence, then be sure to visit my website www.karen-davies.com because you'll find a whole load of resources that you can download to help you kick start your online journey.

And if you're ready to take the next step and create your very first online course, then join my membership, sell your brilliance online, which is designed to guide you through the simple process of creating your very first online course. Head over to my website www.karen-davies.com/membership. I will be back next week with another episode but until then have a great week. I hope you enjoyed this episode of the digitally she does it show. Don't forget to check out the show notes for all the links and resources mentioned in today's episode.

Karen Davies [00:33:39]:
New episodes drop every week on a Wednesday. So, why not rate and subscribe so you never miss an episode. Thank you for tuning in today, and I will see you next time.