2016 Business & Life Review

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2016 was a step into the unknown for me on many levels. A new addition to our family, a house move, relying financially on my educational business, and the building of a freelance business. I certainly haven’t had an easy year.

On the back of State of Unions by Paul Jarvis & Jason Zook, two individuals I follow closely online, I decided to do one of my own. A review of 2016 of sorts and look forward to 2017.

What went well:

Personal:

Matilda:
On January 28th 2016 my wife and I welcomed Matilda Rose Gibson into the world. An unforgettable experience and one which I will remember for the rest of my life.

Having a little person to look after, cherish and adore has been the making of me and my year. She has made me better at life. You receive so many cliche remarks when having a baby and sure it’s tough but it’s also incredibly rewarding and aspiring. Having Matilda has weirdly made me more focused than ever to progress and grow the business in the way I want to grow it, at home as much as possible, surrounded by my loved ones.

New Home:
We also decided to move house to a completely new area and away from a ‘clean and clinical’ new build to a 1950’s home. We traded nice clean walls for a beautiful area and an extended 4 bedroomed home. Enough space for us to enjoy for years to come. It’s just about ‘right’. Living/dining room, snug, four bedrooms. It has potential to be a forever home in an area we fell in love with.

Less working more nurturing:
We made the decision as a family that financially my wife would reduce her working hours following maternity to just one day a week. At first this was a huge burden on my shoulders; especially given my move to self employed and freelancing, however we are far more money conscious and actually feel we are far better with money since the decision.

In terms of lifestyle it allows my wife to continue the wonderful job she has done with raising Matilda into a beautiful human.

Completely home based business:
At the start of 2016 I set myself the goal of becoming predominantly home based by the end of the year. After a flirt with a co working space (not for me) I’m pleased to say that my business is mostly home based. Sure I venture into the office of my clients from time to time however the mainstay of my work is completed at home just as I like.

I want to work within an environment which brings me happiness and is conducive to productivity. My home is that environment.

Financial:

New (old) car:
Before leaving my job early in 2016 I had a brand new, top of the range car on finance. A long commute meant I felt obliged to spend ridiculously on a car and pay for that monthly.

Having slapped myself in the face in the new year the car was sold and a 2013 VW Polo was bought outright. No car finance; ownership outright. Fast forward a year and the car has done 500 miles (home workers don’t drive much) and is used for the occasional client meeting. That’s thousands of pounds a year back in my pocket.

Commute less = save more:
Other than the occasional commute to a client’s office I very rarely step foot in the car Monday-Friday. Having previously spent £150 a month on petrol as well as a car on finance the savings have been extraordinary. Lifestyle creep happens. Not having that burden means we have more savings or financially we can afford to have a nice life on even less money. Do the numbers.

Business:

From Employed >>> Part Time >>> Freelance:
The year started as an employee, followed by part time, while pushing the business, until September where I plunged into self employment running my educational sites as well as having freelance digital marketing clients. I will always thank my part time employer for agreeing to such an arrangement (they are now a client) which enabled me to slowly grow my client base and business while having a regular income from an employed source.

Business supports the family:
As of right now the educational business represents around 55% of our household income. Given this was a mere ‘side project’ back in January this is one of my biggest achievements. I put this down to extended time and focus on the business.

Five regular clients & retainers:
My goal when stepping into the freelance world was always to have a handful of retainer based clients of which I dedicate XX amount of days/hours to a month. I decided to use my own name instead of a business name which was partly for branding purposes but also because I wanted to provide a real personal service to a select group of clients.

I have absolutely no interest in growing/scaling a team; my goal is to build long term relationships with a group of clients who are proud to work with me and vice versa.

As of January 2017 I have secured retainers for five clients and have a very close working relationship with them all.

Subscription model for the win:
With the rise of Adblockers and my conscience getting the better of me we decided to drastically switch from Adsense only websites to a predominantly subscription based business. At the beginning of 2016 Adsense represented 90% of the business’ earnings. By December 2016 subscriptions accounted for 70% of all revenue. A turnaround we are hugely proud of.

The education niche is riddled with Adsense heavy websites which are in my opinion counter productive to the educational and nurturing of the future generations. The new model represents a more valuable, better user experience.

Acquired 6 websites:
I’m always looking to buy more educational websites with potential. Having moved away from Adsense to more of a subscription based service the goal posts have changed slightly however I’m still actively looking to acquire. This year as a business we acquired 6 websites. All incredibly small but with great potential. They all happened to arrive in the latter months of 2016.

What I could improve:

Saying no from the outset:
As with any freelancer when an enquiry arrives, large or small, I’m always tempted to quote for the job. First year freelancing I was a little ‘wet behind the ears’ as the saying goes. Any job which arrived I would provide initial analysis and get into long dialogue without knowing budgets.
I need to learn to say no from the outset and not get into dialogue with clients who are not the right fit for my freelance goals.

Tie down clients to longer contracts:
Throughout 2016 most of my client contracts were 3 months which then became rolling once the 3 month period had elapsed. For any freelancer this is a risky strategy. From 2017 I am making every effort to tie clients down to longer contracts (6 months +) to give me stability and allow me the time to grow their digital marketing within a realistic timeframe.

Taking on too much client work:
Juggling an educational business and freelance work is a challenge. As is the challenge of prioritising instant work (and payment) over work on your own business with a long term financial gain. With a new addition to the family and a wife on maternity leave there were times when I was working on client projects everyday of the working week. Although this was paid work this was time away from the business which perhaps prevented me from growing the business. Certainly a lesson learnt for 2017.

Time for learning:
Other than keeping up with the digital industry my time spent on learning was significantly reduced this year. For me to grow as a freelancer and a business professional I need to keep learning. Growing a business, starting a freelance consultancy and raising a family is perhaps a good excuse for this however I want to spend more time learning in 2017.

More reading:
Since Matilda was born bedtime means sleep. Holidays are also not spent on a sunbed binge reading. Although I still consume a healthy level of online articles I have neglected actual, physical books. I love reading and I feel it really opens my mind where perhaps a 1000 word blog post cannot.

Gym routine:
I’m an annoying morning guy who loves to hit the gym before anyone else is out of bed. Any time after 9am and I’m not interested. Again since the arrival of our daughter I’ve prioritised the mornings as daddy/daughter time so naturally the gym took a hit. I’ve still managed to gym twice weekly however that’s down from four times a week before her arrival. I’m still in good shape but through 2017 I would prefer to step this up a notch.

2016 was a fantastic year for me both professionally and personally. What did you achieve in 2016 and what are your goals for 2017?