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Reflecting on the Wins and Lessons of 2024: How to Prepare for a Breakthrough Year

• Brooke Jefferson • Episode 324

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I know the year is not over quite yet, but I have already started reflecting on this past year and making plans for 2025 and I want to encourage you to do the same.

In today's episode, I'm going to be sharing some wins and challenges that I've experienced this past year and how that is effecting me moving forward. Plus, I am putting together an event you don't want to miss so stay tuned for that information! 

You want to listen to this BEFORE you set goals for 2025. 

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Want to work together? I offer 1:1 coaching! Two spots left for January 2025. Email me at brooke@brookejefferson.com

Speaker 1:

Some of you really might be OGs and you watched every pivot that I tried to make and you watched me try something and you watched me say nope and come back and redo things and I'd feel kind of like a ping pong ball that went back and forth. But I see how all of that led me here and I'm okay with that. Welcome to the God in Growth Show. I'm your host, brooke Jefferson. I'm a wife, mom to two, photographer and business coach. If you love Jesus and know you were called to build a profitable and impactful business, you're in the right place. There is no perfection here, just real and raw conversations about navigating life and growing your business by putting God first. I've been in the business world for over a decade and I've learned that true success comes from putting God at the center of it all. The verse I live by is Matthew 6, 33,. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. If you're ready for your next level, pull up a seat and let's dive in. I know the year is not quite over yet, but I have already started reflecting on this past year and making plans for 2025, and I want to encourage you to do the same. In today's episode, I'm going to be sharing some wins and challenges that I've experienced over this past year and how that's affecting me planning for 2025. Plus, I am putting together an event that you don't want to miss, so stay tuned for that information. Are you ready? All right, let's dive in.

Speaker 1:

New Year's is one of my favorite holidays because I truly feel like it is a clean slate. It is a fresh start and, while any day you can decide to have your own New Year's, have your own fresh start and clean slate I mean, I've done this in July before but the fact that it just feels that way and everyone feels it, I think that's why I just love it so much and it really I mean, it's really up there with Christmas being my favorite holiday. Now, goal setting has become New Year's signature, if you will, and I don't know if you are a goal setting junkie like me or someone that wings life, but here's what I want you to know Anybody can set goals, anybody. It's so easy for us to, you know, go into December, start thinking about the next year and then just starting to write goals on paper. We can all do that. We can all write I want to work out more. I want to make a million dollars this year. I want to eat healthier right. We can all write different goals down healthier right. We can all write different goals down, but the act of goal setting does not get you any closer to actually achieving the goals that you write down for yourself. The magic of goal setting actually comes before the goal setting and after the goal setting. That truly is what makes all the difference, and this is what we are going to be talking about in today's episode and in the event that I will tell you about later in this episode. Reflection on the previous year is a must before you jump into goal setting. There is data, there is certain answers that you need to find from this year, from 2024, that will launch you forward to a better year in 2025.

Speaker 1:

To be honest, I am in a completely different place now than I was at the beginning of 2024. For starters, I don't even have the same offer or the same education business as before. I started the year off with two businesses. I had my photography business and my online education business. That was for photographers. I had my signature offer that was known as the from broke to booked blueprint. This is where I taught photographers literally the A to Z on how to grow a profitable photography business, and I was working from home full time. Today, as you're listening to this, I'm still working my photography business full-time. I am working a nine-to-five at an insurance office and I just rebranded and relaunched my new coaching business and podcast, god and Growth.

Speaker 1:

The change that has happened from January to today it's unrecognizable to me. This year has truly felt like a lifetime. I mean, I just don't even know how to put that into words. It just does not even seem like it was a year ago that all of this was so very different. So as I started going through goals that I set back in December of 2023, I got hit with a ton of emotions. To be real, I felt completely defeated and almost embarrassed that I only accomplished two out of the 10 goals that were originally set that were originally set.

Speaker 1:

But I reminded myself of the personal and the spiritual growth that has happened this year, and I also had to remind myself that this year wasn't necessarily about the business growth, but more about the inner growth, the realignment to really bringing God back into my business and letting him be in the driver's seat, because, man, I am so open to admit this, but I have a really hard time letting go of control. That is my nemesis is wanting to be in control of everything. This obviously stems back to trauma and things I experienced when I was a child and then it carried over into adulthood, and this is not a therapy session. I've done the therapy, I've done the counseling, and I know that's something that you're never just done with, but I know enough now to recognize that in myself, and so this year I really felt like was a true surrendering and laying things down at his feet and letting him direct my path.

Speaker 1:

So, with that being said, I am going to share some goals and the percentages of the goals that were actually attained, and I'm also going to share whether that goal is aligned with this new brand and business or not. I set a total of 10 goals for 2024. I'm going to share half of those goals with you just for the sake of time. We would be here for hours and I'm trying to get you in and out with this episode, all right. So goal number one was my revenue goal. I wanted to generate over $200,000 in business revenue this year and I ended up doing about 50% of this goal.

Speaker 1:

I'm still incredibly proud that this happened, considering that there were four months of no new sales in my education business, meaning I had really nothing to sell anybody for four months of this year. And now again is because God had asked me to take my foot off the gas and then completely close that business. So I wasn't creating anything, I wasn't offering anything new. I really felt like I was just sitting in. This waiting season of this feels really weird. I need to do something. This waiting season of this feels really weird. I need to do something so I can provide income for my family. What is going on? So my income those months consisted of photography sessions and then payment plans that were being fulfilled by current students.

Speaker 1:

Over the past four years, 2024 was my lowest revenue to date. This has been the lowest revenue to date and it makes sense. So when I compare, I realized it wasn't just like oh well, brooke doesn't know how to run a business. No, it was hey, god told you to completely stop that business. That was the bulk of your income. And so now you know you're just doing things differently. You're having to rely on you know nine to five income to kind of make up for that, and I had to cut team members and cut expenses. It's been a lot. It has been a lot.

Speaker 1:

So, goal number one yes, that was a lofty goal and, no, I did not hit that goal, but I am still so proud that God made the end meet, like it's just so cool how he works and I know that this is going to help me be able to turn around and do much better. I guess that's the easiest way I can say this for 2025, like 2024, numbers and the way of business and everything taught me a lot for how I will be moving forward in 2025. And I know it is going to be a phenomenal comeback year. Okay, goal number two was to give more financially to organizations and charities that I care about. I specifically wrote that I wanted to give to the Oklahoma City Crisis Nursery and Pathways Pregnancy Center. So I don't share this often, but I have a huge heart for babies and teenage pregnancy because I was a teen pregnancy statistic. Now, thankfully, I had already graduated from high school and started college before I got pregnant, but I mean, a teenager is a teenager all the same. So I still feel like this statistic really does. It really does affect me and it really does sit with me. I'm very passionate about this and I'm so thankful to tell you guys that goal number two it happened. While I didn't donate every single month, I am still so proud that I can check this off my list and move this goal over to 2025. I donated 10% of my VIP sales from a virtual summit that I hosted at the beginning of 2024. And we were able to cut them over $500 to the Pathways Pregnancy Center and that was one of the coolest experiences like ever, so, so excited for that. I was also able to donate to the Oklahoma City Crisis Nursery by providing for them by purchasing items off of their Amazon list and having it delivered to them directly, so things like diapers and other baby items that are ready for them when they get babies who are dropped off. I'm going to include both of these organizations in the show notes of this episode If you want to learn more information about them, learn what they do and also learn how you can donate as well. These places are absolutely incredible, and when I say they are the true hands and feet of Jesus, I mean it Like it is amazing to walk through these places and see what they are doing, so highly recommend that you check them out.

Speaker 1:

Goal number three was to host a virtual summit, and I'm happy to say this goal happened as well. I mentioned this, obviously, in the previous goal, so you knew this was a win, but I hosted my very first virtual summit. It was a three-day summit and it was called the Plan to Profit Photography Summit. We hosted this in February of 2024. We had over 400 attendees and it was one of the biggest highlights of my career. One thing that I have learned about myself is I truly, truly enjoy speaking and community, and so the fact that that is exactly what a summit represents is speaking and community, and so the fact that that is exactly what a summit represents is speaking and community. I just found my sweet spot there. We had 12 speakers who are all women-owned businesses, and we were able to have three sponsors for this event, including Flowdesk, irisworks and a planner company. It couldn't have gone any better, in my opinion. I thought it was amazing, and if you were a part of that summit, I am forever grateful for you, because it just sparked something in me to where I truly can see myself speaking and doing events like this, both virtually and in person, and I'm just, I'm just so overjoyed. I loved it so much. So I'm happy to say that goal number three was also accomplished.

Speaker 1:

Okay, goal number four. Y'all, I'm getting really vulnerable with you and I'm not holding anything back, because I know that it impacts you more when I'm not as vague and so, as I'm sharing these goals, just remember that I am a person, I am a human, I am truly ambitious. I've always been that way, and so when I don't hit goals, I just want to preface like it really does get under my skin, and that's where I have to really work on myself. You know, mentally, with the mindset, emotionally, spiritually, all the things, because I don't want to sit in defeat, I want to learn from something, and then I want to turn around and I want to crush it. So just know like I am sharing the real and the raw with you for a reason, and I honestly I hope, if anything, I hope it just inspires you to keep going and that you are 100% made for more. So goal number four was that I wanted to hit 1 million podcast downloads. This has been a big goal of mine for two years.

Speaker 1:

I started this podcast back in 2019 to help photographers grow their business by sharing my own journey and interviewing others to share their journeys. It was called Frame your Way, which is just so funny. I chose such the cute name rather than hey, here's the clear and precise name to get people to find the podcast. But, man, I am so proud of of myself back in 2019 for even taking that leap and doing this. That podcast evolved into the book more clients photography podcast until September 2024, and had over 300 episodes. So if you are a photographer and, honestly, guys, even if you're not a photographer, scroll back and listen to some of these episodes, because the business and marketing strategies are still a hundred percent gold and I know that just by you listening to older episodes, you are going to be able to apply that to your business, no matter what industry that you are in. Okay, but that's besides the point. So the same podcast, the one you're listening to right now, has evolved into the God and growth show that you are listening to right now, which launched in October 2024.

Speaker 1:

So we're a handful of episodes into this new brand and I say this to a lot of my friends, but this is truly my best work yet. Right. The best is yet to come. That truly is how I feel with this podcast. So I am so thankful that you are here, that you chose to press play on this episode, say yes to my podcast, and that you're choosing to be in this community, because this is truly like my life's work. That's what this is Now. As much as I wanted to hit 1 million podcast downloads that did not happen this year, but we still accomplished so much so we have around 640,000 downloads and truly, like I'm overjoyed that that is even a number that I can be proud of.

Speaker 1:

And it's really hard for me to be proud of numbers like this sometimes, because I see the goal and I see, like how far away we are and it just makes me like man, why couldn't we get there? But at the same time, like I have to be honest, like I felt very scattered the last two years with the podcast and fighting the voice of God to move into something and then let fear win and then I would back out of something, and so some of you really might be OGs, and you watched every pivot that I tried to make and you watched me try something and you watched me say nope and come back and redo things and I feel kind of like a ping pong ball that went back and forth, but I see how all of that led me here and I'm okay with that. So it's just crazy to know this little microphone has had so much impact across the world. I should have gone and counted across the world we are in. I should have gone and counted. We are in several different countries and so this is just. It's so amazing. So I am bringing this 1 million download goal into 2025, and I would love for you to help me reach it. The best way is to share this podcast with your friends, share it with your followers, get the word out about the show and, of course, leave a review if you haven't already. That is like the biggest way. You can kind of give me a virtual high five and say hey, brooke, I am loving this podcast. All right. Goal number five Last one was to grow my email list to 8,000 subscribers.

Speaker 1:

Spoiler alert we did not hit this goal, but for good reason. People don't always like change, so they don't align with this new mission. They don't align with the God and Growth Show. Some people weren't happy that I was being so bold about my faith and bringing God into the business arena. So I did lose a couple hundred subscribers with the rebrand, but I'm totally okay with that. I don't want people on my email list that aren't truly going to be in community with me, that aren't there to support me, like we don't. We don't need those people, we don't need trolls, we don't need the negativity, and so that is a big reason of why, you know, we kind of lost some and then built some, and so 8,000 subscribers didn't happen, and that's okay.

Speaker 1:

Now I will say that there were more people that were extremely positive. Those of you that have emailed me, messaged me. However, you got in contact with me to tell me like you are on the right path. God is speaking through you, to me about something. Y'all were the ones that had me go okay, wow, I really did obey, I really did hear God, and I'm so excited. And so, just know like I read every single message, right, I'm not these big people of the world, I'm not Amy Porterfield, I'm not Jenna Kutcher. I literally read everything that you guys send me, because it's you that I do this for. If there wasn't a single positive note and everybody was like this sucks, like stop podcasting, then I might. I'm not even going to lie, I might, but that is not what happened.

Speaker 1:

So another reason that we did not hit 8,000 subscribers was that there were some email updates that happened this year that made it harder for people to see the emails. So I don't know if you guys have seen this in your own inbox. Or maybe you used to get emails from someone consistently and you haven't seen their name in a while. That's just because a lot is going on in email world. They're trying to protect more privacy, and so if you are on my list and you are not seeing my regular emails, go search my name in your email search bar and see when the last time you received an email from me, see when that was. Make sure that you didn't accidentally unsubscribe, because, guys, it's so easy and sometimes your email provider if you don't open a certain amount of emails at a certain amount of time, they automatically unsubscribe you or stop delivering it. So that's another reason you might have got removed from my list. So let's say that maybe you joined a workshop I did two years ago. You never opened another email after that.

Speaker 1:

I clean my email list regularly and again on this podcast at a later time we can talk about email marketing, but I clean my list regularly because I don't need a bunch of people not opening the emails and so you may have been removed from my list. So you need to resubscribe, or the emails could just be hiding in your spam or promotions folder. The best way to get it to stop doing that is go find my email, open it up, add me as a contact, add me as a favorite or star it. There's a bunch of different ways and a bunch of different email providers. Or if you find that you're not on the email list, or you're not even sure you can't even find anything, then all you need to do is you just need to join my email list or resubscribe and again add me as that contact in your email inbox. It's super quick and this will take you less than two minutes. So I'm going to give you a reason to join my email list here in just a second. So don't worry, I will help you. If you're like, oh my gosh, I don't even know, I don't even know that I've ever been on your email list, no worries, I'm going to give you that invitation here in just a few minutes.

Speaker 1:

So I started 2024 off with 5,399 subscribers and, as of today, there are 5,630 subscribers. So, even with all the losses throughout the year and cleaning out my email list, I still gained 231 amazing humans on my list and I don't take this for granted. This is not like fun numbers for me. These are wow. Over 5,000 people have said yes, brooke. I want to hear from you. That's over 5,000 humans, and I know this every single time that I write an email. This is not lost on me so crazy. So goal number five didn't happen, but we still saw progress. So, as a recap, with these five goals, I accomplished two of the five goals. However, the goals with the metrics I still feel like I made progress on. These goals remind me of why I started this and where I am going in 2025. Before I just throw out 2025 goals, it's important for me to reflect on these goals, the emotions that are tied to these goals and the purpose behind them. So I know how to move forward.

Speaker 1:

And this is one of the things that I'm walking you through in the most profitable year yet workshop. Before you even get to the workshop, I'm assigning you one piece of homework with a template that I've created so you can bring some critical numbers with you. We will reflect on 2024 in your business plan for 2025, and create the strategy that will result in you making more money in your business. The most profitable year yet workshop is an interactive workshop that I'm inviting you to. I asked you to choose what date you wanted a workshop to be and both dates ended up with a 50-50 vote. So I am hosting this workshop not once, but twice. You get to choose the date that works best for you. Join me for this workshop on November 22nd or December 6th. This isn't just a goal setting workshop, but a profitable planning workshop. We are getting down to business and doing the work. You will walk away with strategy to implement in 2025. And, the best part, you get to enjoy your holiday season with zero stress because you have already done the heavy lifting for 2025.

Speaker 1:

January 1st is going to be a day that you wake up fully confident, so excited and on fire for your business, and on fire for your business. Come save your seat to the workshop by visiting brookjeffersoncom slash 2025. That's brookjeffersoncom slash 2025. Thanks again for tuning into the God and Growth podcast and I'll see you at the workshop. Hey friend, thank you so much for listening to today's episode. Hey, if this podcast is something that you find valuable, will you take just a moment to hit follow on the God and Growth Show podcast and give me a five-star rating and review if you truly love this podcast? These are the two ways that, number one, you will get every new episode straight to your phone just by following the show. And two, your rating and review will show others that you find this podcast valuable and tell Apple Podcasts to push it out to more people. Thank you so much for being here. Come connect with me over on Instagram at Brooke J Jefferson.