Hey friends! At the beginning of each month, I share in-depth look at my blogging and business goals for the month ahead. I find that crafting goals at the start of the month is a great way to align my work with the intentions that matter to me most. It’s also a way to keep me focused and dreaming big. Not to mention, sharing these goals for everyone to see makes me even more motivated to complete them. 😉 Today, I’m sharing how I did in September, as well as some big goals I’m striving toward this October. 

Hey y’all! Thanks for being here. Today’s post is a long one, jam packed with goal-setting and a little update on my life at the moment. Imagine us sitting down to coffee (or tea, as you’ll soon read more about), and just chatting. Sound good? Let’s do it. 🙂

How I did on my September goals:

1. Plan out the rest of my year.

You know those moments where you just get a game-changing idea and can barely eat because you’re just TOO darn excited about it? Well, that’s how I felt last night, when Super Exciting 2016 Idea came to me. I’m not sharing any details just yet, because I want to make sure I can pull it off first 😉 , but if and when it happens, it should blow your face right off, like that scene in Breaking Bad with Gus Fring.

Anyways, that is something that I’m currently planning and hoping to launch in early 2016. As for the rest of 2015, I did create a pretty solid plan for the things I want to create before the year is over (in 3 months, whaaa!?). There’s still a bit of wiggle room and tweaking to be done, but it should be a really fun Fall/Winter season with more workshops and goodness delivered your way. Woohoo!

2. Travel to Seattle.

You bet I did! Paul and I visited Seattle for about four days and it was such a great way to spend time together in a new place. The cool thing was that we started our trip on a Wednesday, and I was uber reminded of the gift it is to be able to take time off of work in the middle of the week and not have to worry about things going haywire.

If you visit Seattle, I’d recommend eating at Lola, doing a free walking tour, and visiting Olympic National Park. We went to a rainforest there and I felt like I was driving through National Geographic. It was spectacular.

3. Hire an assistant

I did! I found an awesome human to help me out with a few things and it feels great to have less to worry about so that I can focus directly on the work that I need to do most. I’m still on the prowl for someone else who can help me with some other things and have been stalking a few of you on social media to see if we’d be a good fit. *evil grin*

4. Get back into a healthy diet.

More or less, yes! Three things that have helped me with that? Purchasing the Inspiralized Cookbook, a spiralizer, and a food processor. That cookbook is a total G at helping me cook healthy meals that I never would have thought of creating. Eating healthy can get unbearably boring if you don’t mix up what you eat, so that book has become an asset in my kitchen. A spiralizer is also this nifty gadget that looks like something a child might use to make shapes with playdough. Except this version allows you to cut vegetables into healthy spaghetti and other things. I’ve created “pasta noodles” using zuchinni and have also created “rice” from a sweet potato by chopping up the long strands in a food processor. The cookbook and spiralizer really go hand in hand.

Lastly, the food processor is another kitchen gadget that is just freakin’ fun to use. I feel like I must have lived under a rock before, because all of these things are totally new to me. The best thing I’ve made in my food processor is undoubtedly Cashew Cheese. Dear god. It actually tastes like cheese and is honestly delicious. Make it.

5. Launch an e-book and at least one workshop.

Alright, well I didn’t launch an e-book. *Cries in corner* I did, however, create a free workbook to help you guys turn your blog into a business, so that’s a little somethin’, eh? Maybe an e-book will happen before 2016 — we’ll see! 😉

As for a workshop, I taught two free webinars in September. Have I mentioned that webinars are the bomb? I just feel so much more connected to the community during them, it’s really neat. Not to mention, they’re extremely helpful for making product sales. It still blows me away. I’ve also got a paid workshop (and other free ones!) lined up for October that is going to knock your knickers off. I’m excited!

P.S. If you’re looking to do webinars of your own, you should check out my friend, Mariah’s, course here. It’s top notch.

6. Create a TNC Facebook group.

Yup! I’m really digging this new community and all of the interactions that happen over there. People are just so genuinely helpful and it’s a new dynamic for me, since it’s unlike other communities I’ve run for TNC. The group is a little less than 3 weeks old and currently has over 1,700 members. That is just so cool to me. I love the TNC crew. By the way, if you’re interested, you can join the group here. It’s an awesome group of peeps, promise.

7. Form a mastermind group.

I did! We aren’t meeting until mid-October, but I reached out to a couple of other biz ladies in my niche, so I’m looking forward to getting started with them.

My Goals for October 2015:

1. Launch my first paid, live workshop.

So far, all of my live workshops I’ve done have been free. Which I have LOVED doing. There is just something different about getting to talk and present to your community live on camera. The interactions that follow the webinars are my favorite though. I just feel so much more connected to everyone.

Anyways, this month I’m actually planning my first paid, live workshop. It’s going to be a 3-hour event and the outline I’ve created already is insane. You all are going to love it. I’m actually releasing details about it in today’s email, so you can sign up here to learn more. 🙂

2. Host two free workshops.

I’ve got two free webinars already planned out for the month, and I can’t wait to share them with you guys! I’m also sharing details about the first one (which is next week!) in today’s email, soo you might want to sign up for that, too.

By the way, anything you’d love to learn about in a free or paid workshop? I’m all ears! I definitely want to teach you things that are useful to you.

3. Launch my new website for courses and workshops!

Weeeeee! I recently switched to a new e-course platform, Fedora, which makes it so much easier to build a pretty and functional course website. The thing I also love about it is that there’s no limit to how many courses you can have on your site, so it’s ridiculously simple for me to create and add new content. Technology Headache, be gone!

I’ll be sharing more about Fedora in this month’s income report, so stay tuned for that!

4. Create and follow a schedule for Instagram and Periscope.

Even though I LOVE both of these platforms, they’re the two that always fall by the wayside for me. I sometimes go weeks without posting anything once. I want to put more of a focus on them, because I know that my peeps hang out on these two platforms a lot, and I think it’s important to meet your audience wherever they choose to spend their time.

My tentative schedule is to post on Instagram 3-4 times a week and on Periscope at least once a week. I think it would be helpful to start adding these things into my planner, so that they feel like a real task that I need to do.

5. Do 4 things that inspire me.

I find that I don’t do new things to inspire myself very often. If I’m on Netflix and see a documentary that looks like it would have an impact on me? Meh. Reruns of The Office it is! If there’s a really cool event happening in my area? Meh. Nap time! Okay, I’m not that boring (I don’t think? Maybe?), but I’ve noticed my sense of curiosity being replaced by a sense of laziness. So, this month I want to do a few things to inspire myself. Finding new inspiration is such an asset to my happiness and work. Plus, it’s just fun. 🙂

Here are a few ideas:

• Watch one of those Netflix documentaries I always skip over (any you all suggest?!).
• Visit The Broad, a brand new museum that just opened in LA.
• Go to “The Spider Pavilion” at the Natural History Museum. I went here earlier this year when it was a Butterfly Pavilion, but I actually think that walking through a giant terrarium of spiders sounds like it would be pretty interesting.

And now, personal check-in!

I also wanted to do a personal check in to just chat with you all. I try to ensure that 99% of the content here (super scientific statistic right there) is valuable business and blogging advice. But hey, it’s nice to know who the heck you’re talking to once in awhile, isn’t it?

Anyways, lately I’ve been feeling really good. I don’t know if I can pinpoint it to one thing in particular, but my life just feels right at the moment and I feel this enormous sense of happiness that I haven’t felt in years. Literally, years. I remember in college I was just this happy, free-spirited person who could tear up just by looking at a beautiful freakin’ tree because I was so enamored with life. I think I am still that person deep down, but somewhere along the way I hardened a bit. I became more critical of myself and others. And I accepted that sometimes I was bored or unsatisfied with my jobs because it felt like that was “normal.”

But lately I’ve been feeling like that tree-lovin’ girl again. It’s magical, y’all, to feel like you’re coming back to yourself after years away. I know that part of the reason for this is the new direction I’ve decided to take my business. It just feels like the RIGHT place for me at the moment and I absolutely, freakin’ love the work I get to do on a daily basis. Also, — and this one is going to seem like it came out of nowhere — I think it may have to do with my decision to quit caffeine.

Say whaaaa? Yeah, about a week ago I stopped drinking coffee or any caffeine completely, which sounds truly hideous to me, as someone who thought she needed almond milk lattes for survival. Turns out I don’t, and you probably don’t either. I quit coffee primarily for my health and because I read that it can reduce anxiety. I felt like my anxiety is what was keeping me from that college-girl I described earlier, and now I feel so much more at peace with myself and my life.

I’ll admit, the first couple days were gruesome. I felt like some sort of hardcore drug addict, ready to insert coffee into my blood stream if someone had an espresso-filled needle handy. But after that, everything just got better. And I continue to feel great — more energetic, in fact — without it. Now, I drink caffeine-free teas, including one called Teeccino, which is tea that tastes similar to coffee. You can even use it in a french press, so I still get to do my little coffee addict ritual every morning. 😉

Monja, my dog, is also turning three this month. I just love him so much, it’s insane. I also secretly adore it when readers mention him. I feel like I only mention him sparingly (usually on Instagram), and yet so many people refer to him by name. Yesterday, I did a Periscope and told everyone that I was signing off so that I could walk my dog and several people replied, “say hi to Monja for me!” I just thought it was the sweetest thing, like we’re all really just a big circle of friends. <3

I’d love to hear your goals for October, friend. I appreciate you and I’m absurdly grateful for your presence here in this community. Keep rockin’.

What are your goals for October? Anything big you’re working on? Lemme hear it down below!