Rather than the whole look ahead and goal-setting theme that always comes around right before the new year, we wanted to take a different approach because well, we suck at celebrating. Maybe you do, too!
Instead, let’s spend this time reflecting on 2023 with some wins and not-so-much wins from this past year. This is going to be a real raw reflection and could turn into an emotional journey.
We also want to take this opportunity to thank you for supporting the Duo on Air podcast and Duo Collective. We wouldn’t have reached episode 99 (episode 100 is starting the new year!) without you. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.
Duo Wins (and Not-So-Wins) in 2023
Marketing Mastermind
The first thing we launched in 2023 was our marketing mastermind. We were so excited to offer this new service to our clients to help them with their marketing strategy. If you listened to episode #65, you’ll know it didn’t turn out how we thought it would. We put so much time, energy, and passion into it, but when we launched it, we realized it wasn’t meant for us. It reminded us too much of our agency days, and we started Duo Collective to get away from that lifestyle.
Duo on Air Anniversary
The next milestone was we hit a full year of podcasting in February! This means we’re almost on our second anniversary! It doesn’t feel like we’ve done that much; it’s our easiest form of content creation because we love it. It’s fun for us to talk to you guys in this format, and it’s an excuse for us to get together, too. We’ve just scratched the surface of our podcast, and we’re excited to see what 2024 brings.
Mat Leave
Obviously, Court’s maternity leave was a huge deal for us this year. We talked about how we prepped for her leave, and Court shared a recap of her time off. It was scary to navigate this new challenge but we had a strong plan going into it. Despite Court being out for three months, this was our best year yet. We’re so proud of ourselves for facing new challenges head-on and figuring them out while serving more and more clients.
SEO Group Coaching
We also had four rounds of SEO group coaching this year, which is the most we’ve ever run in a year! I (Abbey) love our group coaching program and the intimate feel – there are usually only 8-10 people in each round. We’ll probably do one less round in 2024 because we’re completely revamping the program. Stay tuned for that!
Outsourcing
We took the leap and outsourced and hired a stellar team this year. We talk about how to let go and outsource in episode #74, which was hard for us at first, but we’ve grown so much since hiring. We figured out this year that if we try to do everything ourselves, we will never grow. We’ll always hit a wall we can’t get past. If we didn’t outsource, we wouldn’t have time to work on our business. These are the people and roles we outsourced this year:
- Heidi – project management
- Kelli – past group coaching student who is Abbey’s SEO sidekick
- TBD – Court’s branding sidekick
Serving More Clients
We served 55 clients this year (so far). That is crazy for us! It’s a lot of work, but that’s why we hired help in these areas. We want to continue serving entrepreneurs and helping them level up their businesses. We’re juggling a lot of clients at the same time, and we’re excited to serve more in 2024!
Revenue Goal
We didn’t celebrate this huge milestone… We hit our revenue goal for the year in October! We also COMPLETELY missed this, but we are currently making the same salaries as we did in our agency days. When we started Duo, this felt impossible, yet here we are. We had some amazing financial coaching and training to get there. You can listen to how we do it in episode #50!
When we get excited about our business, we overcommit, and that’s where we’re at now lol. We’re launching group coaching in January, relaunching our course (Get on the waitlist!), and rebranding our business. If any other business owner said they were doing all this at once, we’d say they’re insane. So if you’re thinking that about us, you’re right 😅
What’s Coming in 2024 for Duo
We’re starting the year with a rebrand launch! Since Court had some extra time after coming back from mat leave, we decided it was a good time to start working on the rebrand. But we got busy again, and we’ve had to push the launch a few times, but it’s on the way! We will start 2024 with a fresh look, and we can’t wait!
We also want to engage in more speaking opportunities and guest podcasts. We already have a few speaking sessions booked at conferences next year. We love connecting with other entrepreneurs (especially in person!) and would love to do more.
Did you know we offer web design services? We don’t market it, but we get inquiries for it all the time. Kelli also helps Court with web design projects, but we want to expand that service more in 2024. We need to actually put it on our investment guide and share it with you all 😂
Thanks for going down memory lane with us. We hope you had fun reflecting on 2023 with us. We encourage you to do it in your business, too! And don’t be like us and forget to celebrate your wins. You deserve it!
Episode 100 is nexttttt. And it’s January freakin’ first…. Talk about perfect timing. You are not going to want to miss this episode! See you there!
If you liked today’s episode on The Duo On Air Marketing Podcast, don’t forget to leave us a review & subscribe!
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Abbey Oslin and Courtney Petersen are Minnesota-based marketing experts, educators, and co-founders of boutique marketing agency Duo Collective, which specializes in SEO, social media strategy, and branding for small business owners and creative entrepreneurs. To learn more about Duo Collective or to inquire about working with our team, head over to www.duocollective.com.
To inquire about being a guest on Duo On Air, please fill out this application form.
And to submit a topic or a question for next week’s episode, send us a DM on Instagram! See you on Monday!
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