IT’S THAT TIME OF THE YEAR - LET’S KEEP IT SIMPLE

Well, hello January. Whose arrival means your social media feeds – particularly if you are a regular visitor to LinkedIn – will be overflowing with good intentions.

You don’t have to go very far right now to find posts packed with good advice, dressed up with a little bit of showboating.

Many, many people take the opportunity to tell the world how much they are looking forward to absolutely crushing it this year.

Now, there’s nothing wrong with this. If you look through my blogging history here, you’ll probably find a post or three along the same lines.

And it’s only natural, as the calendar ticks into a New Year, to step back, take stock, and work out how to make it a really Happy one – and then to share your conclusions with the world.

Unfortunately, the percussive effect of reading post after post on the subject of commercial resolutions for the year ahead is to deaden their impact after a while.

Maybe it’s because I hit 60 last year. Maybe it’s because LeBoo Media celebrated its 10th anniversary during 2024. But I’d rather keep my thinking clear at this point in the calendar, and distil my plans for the year ahead into two simple imperatives.

1/ If it’s working, keep doing it

You don’t have to upgrade your business operations constantly. Sometimes you hit the right groove and find a lucrative and enjoyable niche that brings you plenty of work that you take pleasure in completing.

Yes, it’s as simple as that. One of the most intriguing aspects of business that I’ve discovered over time is that after a while, you take what you do for granted. To put it another way, you forget how special your special sauce is.

I’m a copywriter and I’m very good at it, and the response of clients through the years reassures me of that.

I’ve explored various ways of adding to the LeBoo Media value proposition over the years, but in the end my sweet spot will always be delivering outstanding written content for clients in a host of different industries.

I’m happy to take on different subject matter, or varying ways of presenting it. But in the end, my core expertise lies in the written word and I won’t ever forget that.   

2/ If it’s not working, change it

I think I’ve been honest about the fact that 2024 was a challenging year for me and my business. My main client made a significant strategic shift that meant the torrent of words I’d been writing for them over the previous two years slowed to a trickle.

One consequence of this – apart from the pressing need to identify a new core client – was that I looked a lot more closely at the ways in which customers come on board.

I’m a huge fan of networking, but I realised that much of my activity in that direction over the previous few years, while incredibly enjoyable, didn’t actually bring in much business at all.

So I changed things, turned my focus in a different direction and am now seeing traction from that new way of doing things.

But, critically, if those new methods do not lead to the type of opportunities I want and need, I’ll kick them swiftly into the long grass and try something else.

That’s it. That’s all there is to it. I’m as confident as ever in my ability to delight a range of customers, to identify them in the first place, and to put in the graft and the sweat that delivers the results I want.

Yes, I compiled my detailed business plan as always, as detailed here a couple of years back… but in the end those two pointers are what I’ll follow in 2025.

I hope it’s a great year for you. And if you require any assistance with your written content, please get in touch.