It’s time to do some serious “housekeeping” around here. Next year, I’m switching gears and doing some things I’m doing differently in my business in 2020.

In 2019 I had a lot of realizations about JSC and I decided that I wanted to do some things differently. Today I wanted to share what I’m changing and switching up to bring JSC to the next level over the next few years. The underlying theme for 2020 is “go deeper, not wider”.

The 5 Things I’m Doing Differently in 2020

I’m happily staying small

Yes, indeed.

In a world full of opinions, it can be hard to stick to your guns. There have been many times when I’ve felt the pressure to scale, grow, make six figures, launch x, y, and z, create a miracle morning routine, and do god knows what to “be successful”.

Everyone is selling their definition of success.

I’m honestly so over it.

This year I sat down, took a long hard look at my 5-year vision, and realized I need to stop questioning myself.

Because let’s be real, the problem isn’t that someone is out there saying “if you’re not doing x, then you’re not going to make it”. It’s that I read that and thought “well, damn, maybe I really should do that then”.

Just because successful people are doing something, does not mean it’s the right thing to do for me and you!

One of the founding principles of Jungle Soul Collective is the wholehearted belief that business should be built around your life, not the other way around.

When I looked at my big life plan and what role my business plays in it, I realized that I’m perfectly happy with staying small. I thrive working by myself, making all the decisions, and not having to manage a team.

Here’s how I see it. As long as I do what feels right and stay on my path, everything is good because if it doesn’t feel good to me, then what’s the point?

This approach has always worked for me. The only time I stray from my path is when I get too caught up in what other people are doing or what they might think.

Making even more time for who I am outside of my work and business

The problem with doing what you love is that it’s easy to “always be on”. It’s one thing to actively work with clients, but then there’s also the learning, testing, measuring, improving client experience, emails, etc. I love my work and am obsessed with it to a healthy level, but I don’t want it to become my only identity. Not now, not ever.

There’s so much I love to do outside of my business!

I’m growing a garden and almost 100 houseplants. I love to read and collect handbooks on my favorite topics. I’m currently learning and practicing nature videography. Priit and I recently bought a homestead and are planning our first house – planning and figuring everything out has become a wonderful way to spend evenings. I love to try new recipes (my current obsession is canning), knit sweaters, and host our friends. I go on vacations and create travel videos to look back on when I’m old and grey. I have personal goals and projects that have nothing to do with my business.

Next year I want to protect my personal time even more fiercely and nurture my personal interests and projects. I’ve created a new schedule for myself that defines (more clearly than before) how much I want to work on and in my business, and when is my downtime.

Don’t get me wrong – it’s not about chasing a perfect work-life balance. I’m not even sure that exists. It’s also not about creating a four-hour workweek. Rather, it’s about finding a ratio that fits my life like a glove in the season I’m in right now.  We’ll see how it goes.

Balancing learning with taking action

I feel like I’m always bordering on wanting to learn something new and also wanting to shut off all streams of information. Sometimes the noise just gets to be too much and it’s too easy to consume, not create.

In 2020 I’m terminating 95% of the information noise and focusing on taking action on the courses I’ve been meaning to take for a while.

Seriously, this year I went all in and ruthlessly unsubscribed from newsletters, unfollowed blogs on Feedly, stopped listening to some podcasts, cut back on my YouTube subscriptions, left or unfollowed Facebook groups, cleaned up my Facebook feed in general, just to name a few. I only kept what serves my interests at the moment and it’s not a lot (which I love).

I’ve also stopped mindlessly scrolling on social media which has undeniably made the biggest impact. It’s so freeing!

What am I going to be doing with all the time I used to spend consuming? Well, I’m FINALLY taking a deep dive into the in-depth courses I’ve been wanting to tackle for a while now. I’ve already started working on them and I’m pretty excited to take the theory and implement it in my own business. #finally

I’ve also set aside a specific time on my schedule every week for reading, learning, and putting that information into action.

Niching down even more

There was a time I offered like 6 services at the same time and everyone was confused, myself included.

Then I niched down, niched down again… and again.

Well, with time and experience comes clarity. Recently I niched yet again to focus on serving in my zone of genius and go from scratching the surface to solving problems at a deeper level. As I said, I’m going deeper, not wider.

Although I have monthly management clients at the moment, in 2020 I’ll be opening the private Beta of The Blush Experience, my signature conversion-focused Pinterest for business set-up service for creatives and coaches with signature offers, and focusing on that side of Pinterest strategy.

I’ve been honing the process behind it for years but the time has never been more right to bring it to light in this form. It just feels so right and the feedback from early access clients seems to agree.

New content policy

In 2019 I published 6 blog posts, 4 at the start of the year, two in autumn. I took a long gap because at some point I no longer felt aligned with my content strategy.

At the same time, I was actively keeping in touch with my list, sharing not only value-based emails but my controversial opinions about the industry, online business space, and my own life.

Being authentic, transparent, and showing the other side of my business did wonders! I mean, up until 2019 I had never had a consistent 45-55% open rate and I have never received as many newsletter replies appreciating a new fresh perspective.

I love it too!

I’m an introvert and only share openly in a close-knit group. My list is our private community where I let loose and show up as I am. It bridges the gap between me, the content creator, and you, the reader. There is no resistance. On the blog, however, I felt it would be easier to stay on the safe side, in my comfort zone, and stick to the topics I know my audience values.

I no longer feel that way, though.

Coming up next, I want to bring that same approach to this blog. We’re going to be focusing less on the beginner step-by-step guides and more on the really helpful information straight from my experience, controversial opinions included (yeah, I have a lot of those). Pinterest content is going to be geared more towards everything you need to know to start and grow your own Pinterest presence, and there will be some eye-opening moments.

We’re also going to get more up, close, and personal as after all, I’m the woman behind this business and we should totally get to know each other and share our stories.

The same thing applies to social media. My one-year mark of social media hiatus is coming up in January and I’ve finally understood how I want to use social media for my business.  It does not involve over the top curation, scheduling weeks in advance, spending hours scrolling, and obsessing over growth, likes and followers. I’ve been there, done that and it does not align with the way I’m running JSC nowadays.

Instead, I’m adopting a laid-back, organic and authentic approach and getting back into it to create connections and relationships. Honestly, I prefer to spend more of my time actually engaging than curating a perfect presence. That is IF I decide to get back on social media – a year ago I adopted a strong referral-based client acquisition strategy (in addition to Pinterest and SEO) and it has been working wonders. 

So those are the main changes I’m going to make in 2020. I’m excited! Maybe we’ll see how it all played out at the same time, next year?

What are you doing differently in your business in 2020?

Before you go, pin this for later!