It’s time for my Quarterly Review for Q1 2022. What did I do wrong? What did I do right? Learn all about them in this blog post.
Life isn’t perfect, and building a business isn’t a walk in the park either.
As you may already know, I’ve had my shares of ups and downs, too. Furthermore, I’ve had to make some tough decisions along the way.
But when I take a step back and look at the bigger picture, I can see how fortunate I am to be in the position I’m in.
Because life, if anything, is all about the journey, not the destination. I’ve also learned that things don’t happen to you. They happen for you.
Welcome to my Q1 2022 Quarterly Review.
As you probably already know, I do a quarterly vlog about the things I’ve achieved in the past three months, my goals for the next quarter, and just a general assessment of where I’ve been and where I’m going.
We are actually in the 2nd video of this installment, and so far, I’ve been discovering a lot more than I thought I would. For one, I have uncovered some of my hidden strengths, determined some of my underlying weaknesses, and more – and I hope that sharing all these with you will help you in your journey towards becoming a successful entrepreneur, too!
So let’s get started.
My Q1 2022 Goals
Validate Your Biz Blueprint Overhaul.
One of the biggest goals I set for myself this Quarterly review for Q1 2022 was to overhaul my signature program, the Validate Your Business Blueprint. The Validate Your Biz Blueprint is a program that I run to help ordinary people go from having just the desire to own a business to landing paying clients in eight weeks.
Create a company dashboard.
Another goal I had was to create a company dashboard to enable quick and seamless data tracking within our company. As a former VP of Operations for my family’s business, tracking data is a big thing for me, and I want to do the same thing for my own business.
Re-engage in my professional keynote business.
In my 2021 recap, I expressed how excited I am to go back into my professional keynote business and make a difference. I am so excited to go back to doing what I love and sharing my expertise with people.
Create long-form content consistently.
Consistently publishing long-form evergreen content is something that I used to struggle with. But now that I have a team, which creates exceptional content for me, I know that I can consistently churn out content – and all it takes is a little bit of accountability and a few check-ins to make sure everything is on track.
Q1 2022 – A Recap
January 2022 Highlights
1. I didn’t achieve my biggest goal, but…
I’ll say it right off the bat: I didn’t achieve one big goal that I set at the beginning of the year… but I also kind of achieved it somehow.
I know it’s confusing at this point but bear with me.
At the beginning of January, I made a resolution to do a complete refresh of my business baby, the Validate Your Biz Blueprint program, to make sure that everything is up to date and relevant to today’s entrepreneurs.
The latest overhaul I did for the VYBB was last year. This year, I wanted to do a much bigger refresh by taking the program myself, so I can get a feel firsthand of what needs to be done to make it even more effective and relevant.
In fact, I took it as far as taking the curriculum myself – and it’s eight weeks’ worth of content, 8-10 hours’ worth of videos, worksheets – and all kinds of things involved in this program.
That was the top priority for this quarter, but unfortunately, I couldn’t achieve the things I had planned for this program. But on a lighter note, I’m happy to say that I managed to accomplish some goals that I didn’t know I needed until I came across them (more on this later).
2. I’ve relaunched my Youtube Channel.
My Youtube channel needed a little refresh. I realized last year that my old audience might have outgrown the channel. So, I decided to take the plunge and relaunch the channel with content that I think would resonate better with my target audience.
As of this writing, we now have published 12 new videos – and we’re just getting started. In fact, we’re committed to publishing a new video every week, which is huge considering that I used to struggle with this before.
3. I created the Corrie Lo & Co. Company Dashboard on my own.
Another thing that I think is a super big win is I finally got the time and energy to create our very own company dashboard.
And get this: I was able to do it all on my own!
To those who want to do the same, you might want to check out Google Data Studio (that’s where I built mine, too!) I love Google Data Studio because it automatically links all the different Google sheets we use in our team. From there, we can look at how all these different types of content are performing and how else our other key performance indicators are doing.
With the company dashboard in place, it becomes easy for me and my team to look at our overall funnel. We can also look at the details in each step of the funnel, like how many impressions one piece of content get or how many opt-ins and sales calls we got from a particular campaign for a specific period.
This is huge for us because it’s not just about getting a bigger audience; it’s about knowing what’s working and what’s not.
4. I hired a new VA.
Uploading content is an integral part of my business, but it’s also very time-consuming. That’s why I’ve always wanted to hire someone to help me with that part of my business.
And guess what? I found the perfect person who could do just that. I onboarded her just at the beginning of this year. Thanks to my new VA, I can now focus on what I need to focus on.
5. Fine-tuning our SOPs gave us high-performance rates.
Standard operating procedure documents are fantastic, but they get even better when you allot extra time to fine-tune them.
Our SOP worked like magic. Despite having a four-person team based in different time zones, we were still able to hit goals on time. And believe it or not: we only get to meet just once a month – and through Zoom! How cool is that?!
6. I built a separate CRM for my speaking business.
CRM, which is short for customer relationship management, is crucial when running a service-based business.
That’s why I decided to create a separate CRM for my speaking business. The newly built CRM allows me to see all my prospects and their contact information, as well as the tasks I need to get done. CRM also allows us to effectively communicate with all our prospects, including event planners and organizers.
7. I managed to achieve all these things in 20 hours a week.
If my 20-year-old self were able to take a peek at this list of achievements, she’d probably think it might take me months of 40-hour workweeks to get all of these done.
But, can you imagine I managed to pull all these off in just a month… and by working just 20 hours a week? How crazy is that?!
To be honest, I am blown away by how much I’ve been able to achieve in such a short period. But of course, all of these came with challenges, so let me share with you some of the challenges I faced along the way:
JANUARY 2022 CHALLENGES
1. Babysitting
You probably know by now that me, and my entire family, caught COVID just right at Christmas. Because of that, my husband and I have been gun-shy about having babysitters at home.
So we decided to create a new babysitting schedule for our 10-month-old daughter. Since my husband works during the day, I had to babysit during his work hours. Due to this, my work schedule had to be shifted to the evenings.
It was a massive challenge for me because it totally disrupted my entire routine and schedule. As a result, filming for YouTube became very difficult for me because I’m in a house full of kids all the time, and it wasn’t conducive for filming.
I admit that the whole thing stressed me out because I’ve been having challenges meeting the deadlines for my team.
2. Facebook
For years, Facebook has been my number one source of revenue for my Validate Your Biz Blueprint program. But recently, I encountered issues that have been negatively affecting my revenue stream.
For one, the contents that used to get tons of views aren’t anymore. It seems that the Facebook algorithm has changed once again, and it’s no longer giving me the views I once got.
I’m a firm believer in scaling on things that work. That’s why I’ve got tons of winning posts and processes anchored on Facebook. The problem is that since the platform itself has changed, all these winning posts and strategies cannot deliver the same results they used to – and it’s incredibly frustrating.
But that’s not all.
The Validate Your Biz Blueprint has a dedicated FB group for all our paid clients. And because of this algorithm change on Facebook, a lot of our PAID were getting notices for things, like questions, that I wasn’t getting tagged on.
And I’m telling you, it was a disaster not being able to communicate nowhere near the way it was before.
February 2022 Highlights
1. A mindset shift.
Let me tell you: limiting beliefs come in different forms.
In my case? I work so hard in growing my audience, even if there’s a much more important thing for me to do, and that is: getting to know my existing audience on a much deeper level.
It came as a surprise, to be honest. I didn’t know I had it until one of my mentors pointed it out. It was like a lightbulb moment (and a huge win) for me. Because of that, I was able to get to the root of why I was struggling so much despite growing my audience to around 40k.
That’s why I made an intention that moving forward in my business, I’m going to take a deep dive into my audience and get to know them on a much deeper level.
2. I’ve started creating video content in bulk.
With all the babysitting I had to do during the past few weeks, it was a massive challenge for me to be able to film and record content for YouTube. And yes, it was a struggle for me to make time and be able to produce content on a regular basis without the stress and overwhelm.
The majority of my time was spent indoors – cooped up at home all day – trying to run a business with a 10-month-old kid and three others.
Until one day, my husband came up to me and suggested, “Why don’t you take one day, a weekend and do something for yourself?” That’s when I realized that that might be a brilliant idea.
And if there’s one thing that I really love doing… it’s creating long-form video. I find that doing long-form videos is a creative outlet for me, and I realized I haven’t done that in a long time – and I just want to do it again on a much more regular basis.
And so I did, but I took it a little further this time around.
So, what I did was that I took out a co-working space for a day and shot videos from there for like 6 hours straight. And by the end of the day, I had a ton of Youtube content!
And guess what? The whole setup worked so well that I plan to do it every month. It worked out amazingly well. The entire process was so fulfilling because I was so in flow. It was effortless, and it was awesome.
It’s a huge win because I was finally able to crack that process of creating Youtube content, which previously was a struggle for me.
3. I took a whole week off from my business.
I love my business, but I also made a commitment that family comes first. That’s why for the first time in many years, I finally took an entire week off my business to spend time with my kids for winter break. Because of that week-long break, I was able to unplug and recharge my batteries, and I’m so glad I did it.
But I wouldn’t have been able to do it without my team, who had been supporting me even when I was away. My business was running in the background, even if I was offline, and I’m so grateful for that.
4. I explored some strategies to address the Facebook issue.
I talk a lot about how entrepreneurship is all about trying, testing, and failing on a repeating basis. But when Facebook started acting up (e.g., not working as it used to), I realized I had to get wise about how I interact with my audience and how I distribute content.
I had come to accept that some of the things that used to work so well in the past may not work so well anymore – and it’s partly because of the fact that the platform decided to change things. I had to accept that and move on.
That’s why the entire month of February was spent exploring and testing other types of marketing strategies to make up for the Facebook issues I mentioned.
And I was thankful I took the time to do that because it played a considerable role when March came.
February 2022 CHALLENGES
Of course, February wasn’t a walk in the park, either. I encountered tons of challenges, and here are some of them:
1. Several of my systems broke big time.
You probably know that I love systems and that a significant part of my business runs on systems. Systems are great because they help me get everything streamlined.
But one downside to this is that when one of these systems breaks down, it might cause a domino effect, and that’s exactly what happened with mine.
I run an online submission forum for my PAID clients within the Validate Your Biz Blueprint program. It’s where they can submit questions just in case they can’t join the group coaching call for the week.
But this month, I realized that people were submitting questions for the calls – but I wasn’t getting them. And the worst part? I found out about it three weeks too late!
Just because this happened to me doesn’t mean that you should stop using systems for your business. Like I said, systems are great. But you should be aware that part of your responsibility as an entrepreneur is to keep those systems in check so that you wouldn’t end up in a situation like this.
2. I struggled with delegation.
Delegation can be a huge game-changer, but setting it up can be a real challenge, too.
While working on the SOPs and all the little details, I got stressed out because there’s that transition phase – and a real messy one – that my team and I needed to go through to get everything ironed out.
But I know that all these systems that go with our SOPs and delegation will pay off in the long run – and that it will help me get a lot of stuff off my plate and give me the capacity I need to do other things.
3. I struggled with the financial aspects of the business.
Now, complete transparency here: February was tough for me financially.
I know that long-form evergreen content (instead of paying for ads) will work for me in the long term, but the problem is that I only have a certain amount of runway that I can work with.
On top of that, I’ve been having a hard time maintaining consistent revenue because of the recent challenges I encountered with Facebook, which has been my primary revenue generator in the past years.
In other words, my stress came from the unpredictability of what was going on in the business and how long I would be able to keep up with the content project.
March 2022 Highlights
Despite all that has happened, March is a great month, so let me share more about it.
1. I learned so much about you, my audience.
Immediately after realizing that I needed to step back and make a conscious effort to know my audience on a much deeper level, I made it a point to reach out to my audience through DMs every day to speak with everybody proactively.
Speaking with you made me realize that my content is working better than I thought. It’s fascinating that many of you guys appreciate the content I share, even though you don’t interact with it much by leaving a comment or maybe a like.
This is huge for me because, at one point, I doubted if the time and money I’ve invested in evergreen content were worth it. And if I hadn’t taken the time to speak with you, I might still be wondering if I’m doing the right thing.
2. I’ve finally found a workaround to that Facebook problem I encountered a few months back.
Facebook had me in a real bind these past few months, and I realized it wasn’t me or my content. The problem was with Facebook itself. And I’ve proven this because I tested the same systems I had on Facebook and used them on different other platforms – and guess what? They worked like magic.
So I decided not to dwell too much on my issues on Facebook and expanded to other platforms instead. In fact, you may now find me on Reddit, which is a completely fascinating platform! Especially for someone like me coming over to it from more of an influencer space.
Reddit is cool and interesting because it maintains the users’ anonymity – and people seem to love the platform because of that!
It’s super exciting for me, and of course, I intend to continue to do more organic marketing and outreach on all these platforms all the way.
3. Our call volume is back to consistent levels before the Facebook issue.
Previously, I was booking a lot of calls from potential clients. But when the Facebook challenges happened, I saw a sudden drop in my call volume, which is incredibly frustrating.
But now, I can happily say we’re back on track – thanks to the systems I began to build on different platforms outside of Facebook.
The lesson? Test out new strategies, especially when you encounter issues that fall outside your control.
4. I realized one of the main reasons our call volume was off these past weeks.
Unfortunately, Facebook wasn’t the only thing that caused our call volumes to drop. It was partly because of me – and the sudden shift in my work schedule. I used to offer calls when most of my audience was available, but now that I had to do babysitting, I had to shift those schedules in the evenings – which, unfortunately, restricted many people from scheduling calls with me.
But I was able to address it quickly by having fewer babysitting days and not splitting my days up into several shifts.
So, that was huge for me and a massive win.
5. My Youtube channel is performing great.
Another huge win is my Youtube channel, which has been performing really well. It also proves that our systems are tight, organized, and working as expected.
So, I’m glad to say that I’m happy with the way things are going, and I’m looking forward to more wins in the future.
6. I made my very own Corrie Lo Coaching Community
With all the massive things happening over at Facebook, I decided to create a social platform of my own, so I wouldn’t have to deal with any of those things again.
I moved my program to a service called Mighty Networks, which allowed me to create my own kind of social media platform. Think of it as Facebook, but it’s entirely Corrie Lo.
And I’m not kidding! It works just like Facebook, where clients can create their own profiles and connect with others.
The best thing about this new platform is that it makes it easier for my clients to focus on the program. They no longer have to switch between being on Facebook, my online course platform, and having all these different logins.
Now that my network is established, my clients get all they need in one community. They can choose their alerts and choose which posts they want to see because they’re now in control – unlike on Facebook, where Facebook is controlling everything.
7. I finally upgraded my laptop!
I wanted to do more video stuff on my own, but my laptop was simply too slow. But the good news is, I finally bought a new one to replace my laptop of 10 years!
I made this investment so I could create more content and ultimately be able to help and serve better.
March 2022 Challenges
Of course, March came with some challenges, too, and many of them will be addressed in my plans for April. Here are some of them:
1. Our sales conversions took a dip.
Testing on all these different platforms requires a bit of transition time, which is why we experienced a dip in sales. After all, when you are on a different platform, you need to work with a completely different market, and you may have to use different means.
But I believe this is only temporary. I’m hoping that before April ends, we’ll be back on track, and sales will be back to normal.
2. We are still trying to balance things financially.
With all the content we’re producing, despite the enrollment rates being so inconsistent, it’s still a considerable challenge to keep our finances in check.
But I’m optimistic that we’re heading towards a better financial situation in April as we’re setting into a new, more consistent routine.
My Plans for Q2 2022
So, what’s next for me? For Q2, I am setting my sights on the following:
1. Refining my systems in general to create more consistent on-demand leads.
2. Finish my Validate Your Biz Blueprint enhancement and officially launch version 3.0.
3. Audit my Youtube channel and blog to ensure that the content you’re looking for is easy for you to find.
4. Automate a bunch of things on our existing workflows.
5. I will do all these by only working 20 hours a week.
6. Another target (which will remain a secret until my next livestream on June 30).
My Quarterly Review for Q1 2022: My Q1 in a Nutshell
As you can see, a lot has happened these past three months. I’ve got my wins; I’ve also encountered some challenges along the way.
But that’s the beauty of this whole journey. I may be a veteran in the entrepreneurship world, and yet, I’m still discovering so much about the process. There’s so much to learn and gain if you’ve got what it takes to keep pushing forward.
And one more thing: you might think that entrepreneurship is all about hitting one goal after another, but it’s not. Sometimes, it’s about failing, too. Because let’s face it: not every goal you set will be successful – and it’s okay! Don’t beat yourself up.
Because at the end of the day, you will soon come to realize that:
Things don’t happen to you. Things happen for you.
And that’s exactly what happened to me at the beginning of this year.
I may not have been successful with my biggest goal for this Quarterly review for Q1 2022, which is to overhaul my Validate Your Biz Blueprint, but I managed to hit much more important goals and priorities that I initially would have never thought of.
So, I may haven’t achieved that one specific goal, but adding up all the other things I reached in my business in the past few months, I still kind of earned it somehow.
It’s Your Turn
If my experience this past quarter has resonated with you, and you’re wondering if you have what it takes to become a confident entrepreneur yourself, I invite you to take the Entrepreneurial Mindset Quiz. It’s a free, eight-question quiz that will help you determine whether or not you’re a natural-born entrepreneur. It will also give you insights on how you can exactly become one.
So, go ahead, and take the Entrepreneurial Mindset Quiz here.
That’s all for today, and I hope you’ve found value in my sharing this.
Until next time. Bye for now!
