How did your 2020 shape up in regards to your business?

Today I’m going to recap what 2020 looked like for my business, and I hope this gives you a glimpse of what a business can look like. I also want to model something for you that you can use in your business, called the reflection framework.

 

Reflection Framework

Take out a piece of paper, and draw a big “t” so you have 4 quadrants on your paper. 

Now label:

• Top left as “Working”
• Top right as “Not Working”
• Bottom left as “Missing”
• Bottom right as “Confusing”

 

I use this simple framework all of the time. I'm going to use it today to reflect on 2020, but I have used this exact framework for masterminds that I have facilitated, performance reviews, 1-to-1’s, and team meetings. It gives you the ability to collect a lot of info and gives structure to the conversation. It also serves as a documentation piece that you can look back on year to year.

 

What Worked?

This has been an incredible year. When we started I had 4 different products I was selling. I had been feeling the urge to niche down and understand where my greatest value was. By niching down, I could give more of myself by serving 1 audience. This completely changed the trajectory of the success of The Ops Authority. I am so grateful I had mentors encouraging me and helping me see where my potential was, because what was stopping me from niching down was scarcity. 

 

If you feel like you have a knack for operations and are interested in becoming a Director of Operations (DOO), join us for our first round in our upcoming Director of Operations Certification Program in 2021.

 

Mentorship

I have spent thousands of dollars on different mentors, programs, and masterminds over the years, and this year I decided to go big with a next-level mentor. I joined the Unstoppable Entrepreneur with Kelly Roach. I joined the first weekend of March before COVID-19 hit, and I remember thinking about how our economy was shifting in a really rapid way, so I needed to put my money where my mouth was to level up. I found a program that I will be in for a very long time to come. It was a mindset shift for me, and I have been blessed for Kelly’s mentorship, her supportive team and the peers in the group.

The Live Launch Model

I started to use this program that Kelly teaches. I started to pay attention to what she was doing and applied it to make my content work for me. My team and I worked to create my live launch The Scope Creep Solution. It is a topic that stands the test of time, and allows me to show up as myself and teach something I’m excited about. 

 

Expanding my team

I decided to expand my team by bringing in qualified expert coaches into my program, which has completely upleveled the experience that my students have. They have allowed me to see an even greater vision than I did in 2020. We can now handle 2-3 cohorts of DOOs at one time. 

My team

I want to give a massive shout out to my Director of Marketing, Esther Littlefield who is such an incredible support. She is the person I trust in the strategic department of marketing. It has taken a big load off of me, so I can show up as the lead coach.

 

We have been able to expand our hiring services big time. Diana Neff has joined us as our lead hiring manager, as well as Yolanda Rumpf. They are both DOOs and have strong competencies in hiring. 

 

Abby Herman has supported us in the content strategy area to make sure everything is streamlined, and Holly Cain with Prosper Collective has helped take our finances to the next level. 

 

Intellectual Property

I have developed more intellectual property which means we have more content to share with those of you who choose to trust us and learn with us. 

 

Podcast Growth

The dedication to this podcast has paid off!

 

Referrals

We put a lot of hard work into our marketing efforts, but I’m never upset about referrals! We have been really grateful for strong referrals. 

 

“Being reputable has made it very easy to expand our business through referrals.”

What Didn’t Work?

Technology

Our tech stack is going to be shifting in 2021. Our current stack includes Samcart, Clickfunnels, Thinkific, and Convertkit. I have hesitancy about each one of these, and we will be exploring our options.

 

Meetups

I am a people person, and without conferences and meetups this year I’ve been a little heartbroken, and have felt somewhat isolated. I miss the networking and having some time away to focus narrowly on my business. 

 

Website content

Since I have decided to niche down, we have some work to do to make the site match the messaging for our niche audience. 

 

What was missing?

An Operations Coordinator

We will be onboarding our 1st employee, Alex in January 2021. She will be able to fill in some of the gaps, where some of my other team members have been graciously filling in. 

 

More hiring managers

We were so booked that we had to turn away business later in the year, so we are looking forward to hiring a few more people since our processes are so dialed in. 

 

Content in The DOO Certification Program

We have been anxious to re-record the content for the DOO Certification Program. I’m ready to share new wisdom that I’ve gained over the last few years and I want to add some relevant examples. We have also hired an instructional designer who looks at how to piece together content so it flows better, how to be more inclusive to various learning styles, and the visuals and graphics that support the frameworks I teach on.

Accreditation

One of the first things I did when I created the DOO Certification Program was to look at how to get this program accredited. One of the pieces of advice I got was to have a good sample size. When you have enough feedback you have a more solid product. Right now we have 141 certified DOOs, and we are actively in conversations with some really exciting organizations to discuss accreditation.

 

“Whatever we can do to increase the impact, opportunity and income for natural born operators… I am here for it!” 

 

Balance

Personally, when the pandemic became serious, I was really fearful of how it was going to impact my business, which led me to overcompensate for the lack of control and steadiness that I didn’t feel.

 

What was confusing?

Whatever you write in this section, you need a strategy around it to address it. I leveraged people around me to help me with the confusing parts.

 

Mindset

I can be headstrong when it comes to abstract thoughts because I’m such an action-oriented logical, methodical person, so sometimes I don’t think I have mindset issues. My mindset is very different now than it was at the beginning of the year and I attribute that to my mentors and friends. I also learn so much from my own people; from the gals who come through this program who allow me to step up. By coaching their mindset gaps, mine has gotten stronger.

 

“This is my year of transition, from baby business to big-girl business.”

 

Financial Transition

There has been quite a bit of growth this year, and I needed some strategies on how to handle that. We have been able to reinvest money back into the business and I’ve been able to leverage experts to help me in this area.

 

Video Show

I take slow action, but I’ve been thinking of starting a video show. It’s still not crystal clear.

 

Pinterest Strategy

Kate Ahl is a dear friend who runs Simple Pin, a Pinterest management company. She did a podcast with me where she did live coaching on my Pinterest strategy. I want to take Kate's thoughts and feedback and crystallize it in 2021. 

 

I hope you have found this helpful and found some good nuggets that will help get your wheels turning as it relates to your own business!

Weekly Ops Activity

Create your own reflection framework for your business in 2020. Then come on over to the FB group and share with us what has worked for your business this year. 

 

Previous Episodes Mentioned

Episode 23: How To Reflect On Your Accomplishments

 

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This episode was first published at theopsauthority.com/podcast/77.