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The Biggest Mistake I Make Every Year
I’m going to be honest — the mistake that I typically make is that I tend to skip Quarter Four. Quarter Four is everything that happens in your business between October 1st and December 31st.
In all of my years of running my business, I haven’t ever really made any big plans for Quarter Four; I’ve mostly acted like the year is already over instead of thinking about how I can utilize these last three months.
Most businesses make the most amount of money in Quarter Four.
Why You Shouldn’t Skip Quarter Four
Typically in Quarter Four, instead of taking action to end my year strong, I usually focus on planning for the next year. I’ve realized this is absolutely ridiculous because that means I’ve just given up on 25% of the year! Honestly, Quarter Four is the worst time of the year to just throw your hands up and say, “Hey, I’m just going to wait to go after my goals until January 1st,” because most businesses make the most amount of money in Quarter Four.
In fact, for a lot of businesses, they will make the same amount of money and bring in the same amount of sales in revenue in Quarter Four as they do in the other three quarters combined!
That’s because consumers are primed to spend money right now — and businesses are making more money than any time of the year so they actually have more revenue to invest in things like consultants, advertising, and marketing. So from now on, I am deeming Quarter Four as spending season — because it really is true!
Even with the state of how crazy the world is right now, consumers are still going to spend money. If anything, they’re going to spend a lot more money online, and businesses are going to need even more help reaching their customers.
So instead of skipping Quarter Four this year, I’ve decided that I’m going to go all-in and take advantage of the next three months so that I can really harness this spending season for our business. My hope is that you apply some of the same steps that I’m taking to your own business so you can reach your goals too!
How I’m Going to Go All-In During These Last Three Months
First and foremost: what I’m doing in order to prepare my business for the best three months ever, is checking in with my goals that I set at the beginning of the year — then I’m going to be making specific goals for Quarter Four.
Prior to 2020, I never really set specific goals for our business. I always wanted to increase our revenue, our members, and our clients — but I never really set specific goals.
Even if I did set specific revenue goals, I never really came up with an exact plan on how to get there: How many clients do I need? How much do I need to charge them? How many new members do we want to add to our programs? It wasn’t until this year that we set very specific goals for the entire year and quarter by quarter.
To be really honest, we aren’t even close to hitting any of the goals I set out for 2020 — I think I got a little too excited about what I could do in the first year as a mompreneur! Now that being said, it’s still been our best year ever in business — it’s been a FANTASTIC year for us — but we’re not even a quarter of the way to what we originally set out for the beginning of this year, and that’s totally okay!
Don’t Wait Until January, Check In On Your Goals and Take Action Now
As I’m checking in on my goals, I know that I’m not exactly going to reach the overall goals that we set for the year, but I’m setting specific goals for Quarter Four so that we can get closer to those goals we set at the beginning of 2020.
I truly believe that you need to do this no matter what your goals were at the beginning of the year — even if you haven’t even come close to them, you need to take action in the next three months to help you at least get closer to them instead of just waiting until January 1st.
So if your goal was to start your business and you haven’t done it yet, it’s been 9 months; it’s time to do it! Don’t wait until January, start your business now!
If you had a goal of hitting six figures in your business this year, but you haven’t even come close to it, that’s okay! Don’t give up — what you need to do is go all-in during the next three months, land those clients, and set yourself up for six-figures in 2021.
Check in on your goals from the beginning of the year and make a specific plan for how you’re going to get closer to them. Even if you aren’t going to achieve them 100%, at least take these next three months to go all in and get closer to that goal so that you set yourself up for success in 2021. You’ll be amazed at how much you can accomplish in just three months!
Dreaming and planning is a lot more fun sometimes than taking action, but those dreams and plans aren’t going to come to fruition without action.
Make Quick, Easy Changes That Will Have a Huge Impact on Your Business
The second thing I’m doing for our business right now is looking at ways we can make quick, easy changes that will have an impact on our results.
A few days ago, I asked on Instagram about what you want to accomplish in the next 90 days – and I loved one of the responses I received:
One of my followers said she wanted to add 20 more members to her membership.
This is a great goal to have in the next three months! I followed up with her and asked what her plan was to make it happen, and she had a great answer. She said she was going to start reaching out to her email list again, after not sending an email since May.
This is a great example of a super small thing you can easily implement and change today for your business that can have a huge impact on your revenue and your goals in the next three months.
Take a look at the things that are outliers in your business that you can easily make changes to really quickly that can have a huge impact in the next 90 days.
What you do in Quarter Four greatly impacts the results in your business the entire rest of the following year.
Stop Planning and Focus on Taking Action
The third thing that I’m doing — and this is a big one for me because I love planning — is that I’m holding off on planning for 2021.
I typically start thinking about the next year before Thanksgiving because let’s be honest, dreaming and planning is a lot more fun sometimes than taking action! But those dreams and those plans aren’t going to come to fruition without action.
What I’ve come to realize is that what I do in Quarter Four greatly impacts the results in my business in Quarter One, Quarter Two, and the entire rest of the following year.
So this time instead of planning, I’m going to be taking action — and I truly believe that you should do the same. Whether you’re looking to start a business, or you’re looking to grow your business, instead of making a plan and spending tons of hours planning, you should take the next three months to take action to make it happen and to get closer to your goals.
I know all over the internet, everyone is going to tell you it’s time to plan for next year starting on November 1st. But you know what? Instead of planning next year, you should be focusing on these next three months — because remember: it’s spending season!
Commit to Going All-in on Quarter Four
I’ve been in business for over four years now and I’ve always kind of skipped Quarter Four so this is a big thing for me! But I’m committed to making the most out of Quarter Four this year, and I want to invite you to commit to going all-in on with me.
Let’s do it, let’s take action, let’s check in with our goals, let’s make a plan, let’s make quick, easy changes in our business and our life and let’s hold off on planning, and instead really take advantage of this Quarter Four spending season.
If you want to commit to taking action in Quarter Four, and also help me stay accountable to my own goals, send me a DM on Instagram @annakonchar — I love hearing from you guys!
Mindset is essential to hitting your goals
Whether you’re an established business owner or just starting out, resetting your mindset will help you stay focused on taking action and hitting those Q4 goals.
That’s why I’ve put together the 5 Day Reset Your Mindset Challenge. It’s completely free and it’s going to help you get clear on what you need to do in your business to reset your mindset, make the shifts that you need and help you set and reach the goals you set for your business. If you’re ready to hit that reset button, head to AnnaKonchar.com/freechallenge!
We will stick together in making sure that we really do take advantage of this spending season! Go forth and stay ambitious my friends!
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