Letting Go & Starting Strong: 2017 Review

Goodbye 2017 and Hello 2018!

2017 was a great year, but it started out with much uncertainty. You see, in order to grow, I had to first be okay with letting go. I had been hanging onto my first business for a while, although it was no longer fulfilling my heart and what I truly wanted to be doing. I adored my clients and my income was at an all-time high with that business. I was crazy to walk away, right? But you see, I knew that I was never going to be able to pour myself into the things that were truly fulfilling me, which were building impactful brands and growing my Wedding Business Bosses community and The Wedding Business Academy. With a family that I very much want to be involved with and three businesses, I was spreading myself and my heart thin. Something had to change.

I enlisted in the help of a business manager, Natalie Gingrich to help me map out where I was and where I wanted to be. She basically held my heart through the decision of letting go. My biggest hangup was, who was going to continue to serve my clients in the capacity that I was serving them? It was important to me that they were taken care of but not by just anyone, but by someone who understood their businesses.  Then I had a lightbulb moment. Don’t you just LOVE when that happens? I actually DID know someone that was perfect to serve my clients. She was actually someone I spoke to often and though we shared the same space, I never viewed her as competition in the sense that we had mutual trust and understanding between us. So, I reached out to her to see if she would be willing to take over my client base so that I could pivot into focusing on what I was truly passionate about. She said yes and it was a partnership that served us both well. She now had more of her ideal clients in the form of my current clients and my clients were thrilled with the smooth transition between the two of us (yes, my clients were able to choose to go with her). Luckily, they all chose that path.

It was a hard decision, but one that ultimately had the right exact timing for everyone involved. With the client base, I also let go of my successful wedding blog that my best friend, Ann and I had spent three years cultivating. It’s just not where either of our hearts were anymore. She was meant to create more art and I was set to move on in my other endeavors, and guess what, we actually really love just being best friends again and not talking about work and wedding blogs all of the time. This was in January 2017 and I can honestly say one year later, it was the right thing to do. #hindsightiseverything

This allowed me to focus on my branding clients, growing my community of Wedding Business Bosses and pour into my Wedding Business Academy students. Financially, letting go of that income was scary, but I was able to replace it within a few months of being able to focus more on my other businesses. It’s crazy what you can achieve when you make a decision, stick with it, and focus.

2017 also brought lots of adventure and memories with my family. In May, shortly after my son turned two, we found out we were expecting our second baby. My Mom was here visiting and it was really great to get to share that moment with her, as the first time I had to tell all of my family via Skype. Most people start preparing for a baby when they find out they are expecting, but I’m a little different. Instead, my first thought was, “How many trips can I plan?”! So, I set a goal to go on as many adventures as I possibly could before having this baby. #traveladdict

A few of my stops included:

Split, Croatia #heavenonearth

Nashville, TN

Berlin, Germany

Thessaloniki, Greece #girlstrip

Baltic Sea, Germany

The Seychelles (this was the furthest trip)

The USA to eat Chick Fil A (true story)

Rome, Italy (the best trip I’ve ever had with my sister)

2018  will be a bit quieter since we’ll have a baby, so a lot less adventure will be involved and a lot more settling into our new normal, which I am very much looking forward to.

This year was also such a fulfilling year with work. I got to work with some incredibly amazing business ladies to help them build impactful, strategic and heart-driven brands. I seriously sit here in awe of the magic that my brand design partner, Patricia and I made together this year.

Here’s just a peek of a few of our favs: 

So, as I go into 2018, my word of the year is STRENGTH. I am feeling stronger than ever in regards to the work that I am producing. I have laid some serious foundations in my business that I am ready to build on in the new year. Above all, I plan to focus on continued strength for my own self-development and cultivating the family dynamic that I wish for my family.

Ending this note as a family of three, soon to be four and feeling that I am right where I need to be in this season of life.

Happy 2018!

xo