Episode 176: June 2019 Recap

It’s time for another recap. This month, I’m taking you behind-the-scenes of June 2019 and sharing all the ins and outs, ups and downs of the month that was. Let’s do it.

This recap is a little on the late side as July, well, it’s been action-packed, and I’ll be sharing that recap soon enough! June on the other hand, I’m not entirely sure how to sum it up as it feels like so long ago. Plus, it was a bit of a blur overall! But in any event, let’s talk about what happened in June.

For Scoop Studios

Agency-wise, June was a solid month. We have a pretty steady base of retainer clients at this point, so while I’ve not been super active on the new business front, things are chugging along. Revenue-wise, it wasn’t a baller month like April or May, but it ended up being more than I’d originally forecasted due to a few smaller projects coming in, which was perfect timing as a few clients are taking their foot off the gas right now because of summer.

I have been thinking a lot about new business, and I’m looking forward to kicking things into high gear again towards the end of the summer. While it has been intentional to slow down, I’m still a little twitchy about it as it’s a big part of what I do for Scoop. I’m sticking to the plan for now and staying the course, but it’s not easy for me to do when I’m ready to rock and roll.

And remember the payment situation? That client paid a portion of things and went radio silent. The next step will be to send them to collections. Honestly, it’s not even about the money at this point but about the person who hired me not keeping her word. So NOT okay! BTW, if you want to piss me off, not doing what you say you’re gonna do is a really great way to make that happen.

One of our retainer clients brought a new project for me to work on that I’m completely stoked about, and it reinforced to me that this is something for both Scoop and Small Business Boss to focus more on. Any guesses what it is?

Proposals. In this case, the client had me rework and update their proposal that goes to enterprise clients. Then, I’ve set up their template on Proposify and formally become a Proposify affiliate.

For Small Business Boss

Over to Small Business Boss. Let’s talk about proposals and what we’re going to do about that opportunity. First of all, I’ve actually discovered that for members of the Mastermind and the Society, proposals are a key area where we can make a tangible impact on their business.

Honestly, I’m sure for some of you proposals sound like the most boring thing to focus on, but I love them because getting the right proposal in place can change everything. So with that, we’re spinning out a microsite called Freelancer Proposals as part of the Small Business Boss brand. This is a way for us to dip our toe into the water and use the power of a specific niche to help us grow.

Plus, I’ve been deep in my creative cave coming up with ideas for Small Business Boss, and this aligns with how we want to continue to differentiate the brand. In the last six months to a year, I’m noticing more and more people talking to service business owners. I’m not sure if it’s because they need to help their audiences make money and courses weren’t working out or what, but I want to play to our core strengths, which are clients that tend to write proposals AND serve not only a business-to-entrepreneur audience but also a true B2B audience.

In typical Maggie-style, this is all an experiment, and we’ll be playing with some new ways for you to engage with the Small Business Boss brand and Freelancer Proposals this fall, including free content and a fresh new (and affordable) paid option.

I had some time to work on this project by ramping down content production for the month of July, which freed up some bandwidth to work on this and to plan out the rest of 2019. I’ll be talking more about Q3 goals in the July recap, but let’s just say some changes are on the way, and it feels incredibly right and like these people pushing into this market have made me dig deep into how we can do things even better at Small Business Boss.

Keepin’ it real moment: It’s not really about competition but awareness that alternatives are going to pop up in the market, and I need to be ready to bring my A-game. While I believe there’s a massive audience here, I do want to offer a solid, reliable solution based on REAL experience, and the fact is that I still work with clients when many, many of these people simply don’t.

Speaking of clients, I had three VIP days in June — and they were magical. Two were in person here in Ottawa, and I loved spending this time face-to-face with both of them and seeing how we could make such a difference in a matter of a few hours. Then, I also did a virtual one and let’s just say my brain adores being able to get into the nitty-gritty of businesses in this way.

Now, if you’re thinking: “Wait, do you offer a VIP day?” the answer is…sort of. Right now, it’s something I’ve been piloting with some members of the Double It mastermind, and I’m considering where they could fit in as an offering in the future.

While I love working in this way, I  want to make sure it makes sense as it’s energetically intensive, and the thought of spending the day with someone I don’t already know freaks me out a bit. I’m leaning towards this being something that I only offer to existing members of the SBB family who’ve already done a consulting session or are active in our paid community. That way, I know their businesses and I can ensure they’ll be a fit.

Plus, I had a long-time client come to town for an in-person power consulting session that was amazing. So, basically, if you want to come to Ottawa, I’ll totally hang out with you and talk about your business.

Personally, June was all about move prep and lots of adulting. Glad that’s over with, but the good news is that I got in lots of lake time and because I was working my booty off, I made a point of ensuring I had adequate reading time. At one point, I was convinced I wasn’t reading enough and then adjusted my schedule to carve out more time — and my Kobo report tells me I read nearly 60 hours in the month of June.

While that may seem excessive to some of you, the point here is that you need to have time doing something other than work or less-than-fun life stuff to keep on, keepin’ on. And believe me, I needed to charge my batteries up for what was to come in July!