128: Q1 2025 Business Bestie Chat

Sabrina: Welcome to the shoot it straight podcast. I’m your host, Sabrina Gephardt. Here, I will share an honest take on what it’s like to be a female creative entrepreneur while balancing business, motherhood, and life. Myself, along with my guests, will get vulnerable through honest conversations and relatable stories because we’re willing to go there.

If you’re trying to find balance in this exciting place you’re in, yet willing to talk about the hard stuff too. The shoot it straight podcast is here to share practical and tangible takeaways to help you shoot it straight.

Welcome back to the shoot it straight podcast. My friends today is the first business bestie chat of 2025. If you are new here, this is something that we started a year ago in January, 2024, and it turned into a fan favorite situation. And also my guests and I, it’s our favorite too. So it’s a win, win, win for everyone, but these are quarterly chats and they’re basically like unscripted discussions about business and life between two real life business besties.

They are fun for Coley and I, and as it turns out again, the listeners just love them. I get more feedback from these episodes than any other, which is so fun. Um, so here we are, we’re starting year two of the quarterly business bestie chat. I don’t normally have you introduce yourself because you’ve been on the podcast so many times, but I think it’s been a year since you’ve introduced yourself.

So maybe for the new listeners around my friend, tell us who you are

Colie: and what you do. I mean, I don’t ever introduce myself on your podcast. So I mean, I’m going to be scrambling. Hello, everyone. I’m Koli James. I am a client experience and system strategist. I used to be a photographer and a filmmaker, and I have kind of moved myself over to the other side of the aisle, which we’re going to talk about today, but in general, I have known Sabrina for so many years, I can’t even count, and this is one of my favorite podcast episode opportunities.

I joked around internally with myself. That I was going to propose to you that we do this on my podcast this year, and I figured that was going to be a no go, so I didn’t even mention it.

Sabrina: Oh my gosh, we can. We totally can. And also, how many times have you and I said that we could probably have our own, like, offshoot podcast together?

So, maybe we’ll try that in 2025. What if we did it as like a A monthly. Or like a private podcast where it was like every day for a week or something. Oh, there’s so many ways we could do this. Anyways. Okay. Listeners stay tuned. Send me a message. If you think that sounds like a good idea. Okay. We’re going to jump straight in.

I do have, I sent you, what did I send you? Five questions of where we’re going to kind of go. Thanks. Yeah. Just because it’s good. New year discussion topics and the listeners know that we’ll just see where this takes us today. It’ll probably be somewhere. Great. Bye. So what are some

Colie: of your highs and lows from last year?

I mean, I have to kick this part off because I was going to tell you, I don’t really want to discuss the highs and lows from last year. What I’m going to say is for those of you that have not, that don’t listen to my podcast, even though I haven’t really talked about a lot on my own podcast and haven’t listened to the four besties chats from last year, last year was the roughest year of my entire life, personally and professionally.

So I think the high and low is that I survived. And other than that, I don’t want to get in the weeds because part of what I want to do in 2025 is forget that 2024 ever existed. So that’s part of my plan.

Sabrina: I will say though, I am going to prompt you to tell the audience, it was a real hard year for you.

And like you said, personally and professionally, and a lot of your business got put on the back burner because it had to, which is the beauty of entrepreneurship, but. You were telling me that you ended the year not as bad financially like from your business as you thought you did. Do you remember those numbers

Colie: off the top of your head?

I do. I, for the systems part, cause I’m going to be honest, I don’t track the photography part. I don’t really track the extra money, but just from the system side of the business, I only ended 4, 000 less than I did in 2023. That is a freaking miracle. I still don’t really know how that happened, but I’m not going to I’m not going to fight it.

Like I looked at my numbers five times and I told you that, yeah, you know, there were a couple of things that I found that it’s like, Oh no, that’s not real money. That’s when I tested inside dub Sato and I needed to delete that. But you and I had that conversation at the beginning of December. And I ended up deleting those fake transactions from my air table.

And then what I made for the rest of December actually brought that money back in and a tiny bit more. So I, for the system side of my business, I ended 4k under 2023. Now, 2023 was already under 2022, but that’s okay. Like, I think it’s a miracle that the business didn’t completely cease to exist.

Sabrina: Yeah. I mean, I brought it up because I feel like you were skirting over that.

I’m like, that’s a freaking massive win. Not only did you, yes, survive and you ended the year in a way better place than you started the year. And there’s a lot of glimmers of hope and progress you made, but just from the business perspective of you were able to literally set your business down, focus on your personal life.

And it kept working for you in a way that you basically were broke even for the year, which

Colie: is insane. That’s true. I do feel like, and I. You know what, I’m gonna let you talk about your highs and your lows. And then I’m going to talk about the flip side of that coin when we talk about what we want to leave behind in 2024.

So Sabrina, what were your highs and lows for 2024?

Sabrina: Yeah, I had some pretty big highs business wise. I hosted four retreats last year, uh, which is the most I’ve ever hosted in one year. They were all fantastic and successful and unique and great. Uh, I have no, no complaints there whatsoever. I also launched two brand new courses last year, which for the educators and the course creators out there is a massive feat in and of itself to launch not only one, but two, and they both are doing really, really well.

I also hosted, I had a new education offer last year, the education blueprint. I’ve mentioned it here on the podcast a few times, and that ran basically from May to December and included one of those retreats. And. It was a new teaching topic that I’d never done and a new like container, so to speak. And it was very successful and wonderful.

And I loved it and love those women and loved seeing them all succeed and hit their goals. And then a really big thing to note is if you have been listening to these quarterly chats, if you think way back to the first Q1 and Q2 chats of 2024. One of the really big things that I wanted to focus on last year was passive income and increasing my profit.

Even though I hosted four retreats, which do bring in a lot of revenue, but they also are very expensive and they’re not as profitable as other things. I had a lot of new things working. Like I had those two courses, I had a couple of tripwires, I had some new freebies. I had a lot of. Irons in the fire that we’re leading to more passive income, um, and more profit.

And I am so happy to report that in 2024, I crossed the threshold and may I made 12, 000 in purely 100 percent passive income things that when people hit purchase, I did zero stuff with, which is a first for me and something that I’ve been working towards, which is so freaking exciting. And so. I’m hoping to continue more of that next year.

And then the other part that’s really exciting is when I had my first call with my bookkeeper, actually last week, and she’s giving me all of the, you know, end of year numbers from 2024, um, my profit margin got up to 60 percent last year. I mean, 60 percent is, you

Colie: know, what’s

Sabrina: the, I’ve never asked you what your profit margin is 60%.

Oh my God. 60 percent profit margin is healthy for anyone. But for me who had always had so much of my revenue tied up in these lower profit offers, that’s something that we really, really worked towards. And so that felt like just an absolute massive, massive win and a really, really big high. Um, I had some health struggles last year, which I’m still dealing with getting older is really not fun.

And I, yeah, I feel like my body is just continually breaking and fighting, uh, fighting with me. So I’m still dealing with that, which is a bummer. I also found myself in a, a little tinge of burnout in August, which was really hard for me in that. I felt absolutely ashamed and embarrassed that somebody that talks about burnout all the time found herself in burnout.

But the bright side of that was it wasn’t nearly as bad as it’s been in years past. I know how to coach myself out of it. And I was also able to really Kind of be honest with myself about like, remember, like burnout is not unavoidable. Like you can set yourself up for success, but it is still going to happen from time to time.

And it was not fun, but, um, you know, that was a low. And then. Something that’s really, which we’re going to get into guiding kind of where I’m going for next year. I didn’t realize this at the time, but now that we’re, you know, did some reflection stuff in December. Now we’re working on like goals and where we want to go for the new year.

I’m realizing that I feel like I missed out on a lot last year, not physically, but mentally, like I was present for all of the things with our family and our kids. Like I was there, but I wasn’t there. You know what I mean? Like my mind was somewhere else. I was not noticing. I wasn’t fully present and in the moment.

And I’m not happy to say that I don’t love that. And so that’s kind of a low that I’m still unpacking a little bit. Like, how did it happen? How can I avoid it? All of that. So yeah, that’s my highs and lows, you know, had some real high highs and some not so great lows.

Colie: So I just want to kick in because I feel like.

A lot of the times we talk about the really good stuff. I mean, you and I, we do it with the people that we coach and our podcast individually and all this, but I’m going to just piggyback off of your guilt and shame because you coach people in burnout and then you were in burnout. I felt the same way about my systems for all of 2024.

Now, don’t get me wrong, listening audience. My systems are the only reason that I did not go out of business in 2024. But when I think about the fact that I’m telling you, I’m setting things up for other people. I’m telling people what to do. I felt like in a lot of ways, my systems failed me in 2024, but it wasn’t that they weren’t working as they should.

It was that all of my systems were created when I feel like I had the brain capacity to do a lot of things. And so I do feel like why the systems let me down in a way or why I felt like I let a lot of my clients down related to systems was I did not adjust them fast enough when I realized, hey, when you tell someone that you’re going to do something.

And you forget about it a day later. If you could just set up a system to remind you, that would be good. Now, of course I have to remember to put it in that I said it. I have to actually listen to the system when it tells me to follow up. So I do feel like I’ve had a lot of guilt and shame about that, but I also have to coach myself.

To use one of your words to say, yeah, my systems did not fail me. I just did not adapt my systems when I needed to because I just kept feeling like it was a hump. And eventually I’m going to get over the hump. And then I would have some like really good days where I’m like, Oh my God, I’m back. I just did a solid seven hours and checked off like 30 things on my to do list.

And then the next day I was in bed and literally couldn’t get up and couldn’t do work and I was like, maybe it’s not over yet. So that kind of roller coaster feeling inhibited me from changing my systems fast enough. But that is definitely something that I would like to leave behind for 2025. And of course, you know, all of the million reminders in place to try to combat this in 2025, but I still feel.

Like I have a lot of guilt about all of the balls that I dropped in 2024, even though, again, business survived, I personally survived. Everything is, everything is a hundred times better this January than it was last January. But I have to remember, and I have to kind of make sure that whatever I’m doing in 2025 is aligned with how I am planning to show up in my business in 2025.

Sabrina: Yeah, totally. I think it’s so important to. Just both remind ourselves that like we are always constantly evolving and learning. And even though we are in the coaching expert space, like we still need support and coaching and we will still fall and make mistakes. And. It’s a hard thing. Cause I know you and I like to be really good at stuff and not fail.

And so it feels like such just being kicked down when you’re like, gosh, not only am I failing, but I’m failing at the thing I claim to be excellent at.

Colie: I mean, I don’t even think I’m claiming to be excellent. I’m failing at the thing that I am actually excellent at, which kind of in a way made me feel bad for old people.

I mean, you know this, but my in laws are very aging. My mother is about 20 years behind them, but in general, our parents are getting older. And I’m seeing that in the case of all of my parents, that they all used to do these things and now they’re really not able to because of age and health related things and all of these things.

And so it’s just really put it into perspective to me, like, Hey, like, this is just your new environment. This is your new you. And so stop waiting for like Coley of 2023 and Coley of 2022 to show back up because guess what? She’s not coming back. So what, what is Coley of 2025 going to do for her business?

And how is she going to make sure that whatever she sets out to do, that it is successful and that I do not feel like I am constantly dropping balls.

Sabrina: Yeah. I think that’s such a good point. That’s something that I know I constantly am bringing up and coaching and like in the mastermind and stuff is making sure your business is set up for where you are today, not where you used to be.

Like that’s great. If three years ago you felt like it was the best year you ever had and everything felt easy and you had time and you weren’t burnt out and all that, but that was three years ago and you will literally never be in that same position again. Like your season of life, your kids ages, your age, your health.

Like everything is changing and you have to be willing to like. evolve with it. And sometimes that’s easier than others, right? Okay, so you kind of alluded to this, but officially speaking, what are you leaving behind in 2024?

Colie: Oh, there’s a couple things I’m leaving behind. I’m going to really try hard to leave this guilt behind.

So I need to like do some things to kind of make up for the balls that I dropped in 2024. But once that’s done, Like 2025, I want to put myself in a position where I don’t do that again. That is going to mean saying no a lot more. In fact, this week, you will be proud of me. Someone asked me, someone wanted to hire me to do something.

And I said, I really want to say yes, but I’m going to say no to you. So that saying yes to you doesn’t get me in trouble in a month. So I was very proud of myself for doing that. The other thing that I really want to leave behind in 2024 is without even knowing it. I have created, like, all of these new offers, and I get reminded of this every time ShowIt tells me that I have more than a hundred pages on my website.

I mean, I’m, you know, I’m making, I mean, I was literally making an offer the other day. And it’s not that it’s something brand new, it is just kind of packaged differently, but I was like, I should look at all these things that I have, and there’s just too much shit that even if I’m not publicly offering it, there are just too many things that are on my list of things that I could do for you.

And I’ve realized that even though I feel like each one of them has a place for the audience that I currently have, that is not going to work for my brain in 2025. I need things where I can have a very short list of tasks to complete. I can check them off of a box. I can give you your deliverables and I can move on.

Now, if you want to hire me again, that’s fine. But like my thing for 2025 is not bringing in any of the long term things from 2024 that seemed to be where I dropped the ball the most in 2024.

Sabrina: So you’re like simplifying what you are available to do. Yeah. Okay. So are you taking any of those longer term offers and breaking them up into smaller?

I already did it. Okay. So that people can still technically get all the same stuff from you, it just is in steps and pieces.

Colie: Okay. I already did it on the website. I did it after I saw you, but. So as the end of December, I was like, okay, no more. And it’s, I do want to say, so like, for example, my biggest thing is I will set up your Dubsado account for 5k.

That has needed to have a price increase for so long because I haven’t increased the price since I believe February of 2022. So that product, that service was 5k for three years. And that’s way too long. But when I thought about raising the price, I’m like, no, like it has so many moving components. And in 2024, not only was I not the best at following up, I just happened to have a smattering of clients.

that like didn’t push through the process. And so I’ve already taken those off of my website and they have been replaced with VIP days. Now it specifically says on there, Hey, I used to charge you 5k. If you have more than one offer, it is going to take multiple VIP days. Like I’m listing these things, but like, I want to be able to.

Talk to you, make a list, do it, send it to you. And Hey, if you want to hire me again, great, but I need there to be an endpoint and again, I’m not blaming my clients. I will take almost all of the responsibility on myself, but the way that my brain works now and the way that I keep thinking of something.

And not really writing it down and thinking that I’m going to remember it. Like I always have, and then not following it up and not completing it has just really gotten me in a place where, again, I feel a lot of guilt about having open projects that don’t have a conclusion. And so I’ve already done that work on my website

Sabrina: while we’re on this topic.

I just remembered something that you had started to kind of dabble with last year. So I want to ask, I know you started working on this a little bit because I have some clients that are working on it with you, but are you still playing with the like done with you

Colie: offer with Debs auto? So I didn’t finish like it is.

It is something that I am planning on rolling out now, but that is also part of my. That is not on me, like the client will do something and they will fill out a form to let me know to go do my tiny part. And then I can check a box and then it’ll basically be passing the ball back to them. But that’s not me putting myself in a position where I have told you that I will do these thousands of things for you at one time.

So it did not, it did not fully launch, but it is part of what I’m doing for Q1. Because to be honest, that is just an extension of the core. And so that is actually where I want to put a lot of my effort in 2025, but we’re, we’re going to get to that too.

Sabrina: Okay. Okay. I love that. Things that I am leaving behind.

So like I mentioned, I feel like last year I was physically present and not really fully present. So. I’m trying to think of ways that I can leave behind like distraction or inattention to the things that are right in front of me. I think part of that last year was, I think it’s twofold. Like I said, I was dealing with a lot of health stuff last year and that definitely takes up a lot of mental energy and bandwidth and just kind of is like running constantly in your brain.

But Like I mentioned, I launched a lot of new things last year. I had a lot of new things. I was building, launching, growing people. I was serving people in new ways and I didn’t intentionally do that, but my brain became just obsessed with all of the working Parts and tasks and details and all of that.

And so I think that just ate up a ton of mental energy so that even at any given time, I’m at a volleyball game or I’m on a hike in Colorado, or I’m at this, that, and the other. And it’s still like running in my mind, you know, and that’s terrible. And I hate that. So I’m trying to think about ways to not find myself in that situation again, this year, so that I can be really fully present for my life.

Part of that is that I’m not going to be launching a ton of new things this year. My business coach has already said, like, we’re, we’re not doing that this year. That was that last year. This year is going to be about new year. Yeah. Well, it’s about optimizing what I have. And so I will be launching things, which we’ll talk about, but it’s not new things.

Part of that, which we’ll get to is that I’m, I actually don’t have any idea what’s, what the second half of 2025 is going to look like for me. It is a big fat question mark, which is unique for me. So, but I think that’s going to help me be more present in my everyday life. And I, I wasn’t going to mention this, but.

I have done my vision board for the year. I will say normal, normal, historical Sabrina would always do goals first, and then a vision board to like make a fun craft project to match my goals. Right? Like that’s the order that my brain works. I go off the data first with the goals and the, all of that. And then I’m like creating a fun, cutesy little vision board this year.

I felt very pulled to do it in reverse. And so I made my vision board first without even remotely considering my goals. And I truly did it based on like, just gut, like I just was finding images that spoke to me. I was like, whatever. And I put it together and I will say I’m obsessed with my vision board.

I’m obsessed with my vision board. I have not done, I have not created my goals off of my vision board yet. Uh, which we’ll get to, but based on what I’m seeing on my vision board, I don’t know that any of my goals are going to be based on business this year, which is

Colie: fascinating. I also think that it is just going to help you because like you said, you had four retreats last year, you ran two root to rise groups and you also did the education blueprint.

And because you’re not doing the education blueprint this year, and you have gone from to root to rise. masterminds to one, I do feel like you are going to be able to be a lot more present. Now I will say that was probably the most incredible part of 2024 is that I felt very present with my family.

James and I made it a point to do date nights and what we were calling resets and I just, we have spent a lot of like, Family time together. And I did manage to not work into the evenings, which I was really good about that before COVID and then COVID hit, and then that just went out the window, but I definitely feel like in 2024, I am not really waking up first thing in the morning and feeling like I have to do a bunch of stuff or doing it.

After he, I made a much more intentional choice to when I know that James is coming home, like I. Turn everything off and go cook dinner. So that was one of the benefits that happened in 2024 was family time.

Sabrina: Yeah, I’m looking forward to that. Anyways, it’s going to be interesting to see what my goals actually shake out to be.

That doesn’t mean that I don’t have, you know, aspirations of increasing my revenue and doing like all of those things. Sure. I want all of those things to happen. But they’re not going to be the primary focus this year. I think they’re going to be a secondary. And I do think that I have put in enough of the work in the past four years of growing this thing and fine tuning and optimizing it and, and all of that, having support people come on my team, that it’s still going to grow without me being hyper, hyper vigilantly focused on it, you know, which is really exciting.

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com backslash model dash freebie to get yours today. Okay, back to the show. Okay, so we’ve talked about highs and lows. We’ve talked about what we’re leaving behind. So thinking about those things and how they like dictate our path forward, what are some things that you have planned for 2025?

Colie: Well, I feel like I started this process in July of 2023, and then it just kind of took a backseat in 2024.

Like you, I have dreams of not passive income, but passive delivery. I have dreams of people buying shit for me and that I don’t have to do anything other than maybe answer a question or two after you’ve bought the thing. Like that is the dream. And when I look at how much effort I’ve put into doing, you know, creating the products in the shop.

And then as you know, I gave my shop a complete makeover in December. Almost every single shop product page has been redone. The main shop. page has definitely been redone. Like that is my goal. I would love for anybody listening to come buy some products for me to where it is not a service. Now, again, I want to say that if people buy these for me and they need help for me, Hey, 30 minute calls, one hour calls, again, things that like you can schedule.

I can talk to you. I can check it off of a list and. Honestly, I love you all, but then I never have to think about you again unless you hire me again. Like that is my goal for 2025. And so I am doing a lot to put those kinds of things in place because I feel like I done is better than perfect. That’s how I got my shop going.

And then I didn’t really build the things around it that would run ads to it. That would have the funnels that would do all of the things that you really need in order to sell the smaller products. And, you know, templates and those kinds of things on the back end of your business. I am still doing VIP days.

Like I said, I’ve narrowed it down, but like, I really do want those passive delivery things to be a bigger chunk of my income for 2025, mostly to protect my brain. So that’s what I’m, and then we’ll talk about what I’m doing in real time for that in the next segment. But like, that’s where I’m going for 2025.

Sabrina: Yeah. I love that. I definitely have. Big plans to increase like the passive deliverables and passive income. I’m glad you mentioned Facebook ads because I need to do that this week. So I’m going to do less to get them turned back on. I actually had a lot of success with Facebook ads last year. And so this year is just kind of taking it to the next level.

Yeah. Um, which is really, really exciting. So like I mentioned, I do have a couple of things planned to launch in the first half of 2025. They’re not new things. They’re just times that I’m doing a push and a launch. Or at time of air, I will be in the middle of launching something tomorrow, um, which is fun.

My first big launch of the year. So I’m doing that. But like I said, the second half of my year is a question mark. I am not doing a fall route to rise, um, for the first time in a couple of years. And I’m not doing the education blueprint, which went all the way through December last year. So I have a lot more free time on my calendar for the second half of the year.

I’m not sure if I’m going to bring back family mini sessions or not. I did not do those in 2024 and I actually ended up loving that. But I was also still heavy in coaching at that point. So maybe I’ll, I don’t know. I just, I’m leaving it inspired. I’m leaving it open for now. And I just, I do feel like a part of this is because I need to be more present in my life and with my family, but I also still feel like there’s something brewing and I don’t know what it is yet.

So audience, there may still be some new thing that comes at the second half of this year. I’m not saying there’s not going to be, but I’m just, I’m letting it. I’m letting it be what it is for. I’m letting it be unknown. I’m letting myself sit in the uncertainty of what that is, um, which is challenging.

it’s challenging to sit in the unknown. So we’ll see. But if, like I said, if you’re listening to this, you know, at time of air, I have a course launch coming tomorrow. I’m launching the personality portrait blueprint for the first real time. It was a brand new course that came out during black Friday last year, and it was for sale for like a couple of days and it went really, really well.

And so this is going to be my first real true launch of it, um, where I’m giving it dedicated marketing time and energy. And then we actually timed it, which I think this is kind of cool. We actually timed it with. My own photography business personality portraits, they’re in the same window of time. So those are this coming Saturday and I’m launching the course at the same time.

So I’m excited to see how that goes. And then I also did quietly launch something new a few weeks ago. And so I’m technically running that. The first half of this year, it’s called the inner circle. It is basically a root to rise 2. 0. And, uh, I had a, I have a really great group of women that have enrolled in it.

And it’s a six month commitment and I have very high hopes for what this group will be, but I’m also holding it loosely. So I have committed to running this group from January to June, and I’m going to give it my all and. Set it up for success and then we’ll see. I hope that it becomes an every six month thing where women get invited to join and then they join for six months or a year and then they, they go about their merry way.

But I’m also holding it loosely and knowing that maybe it’s not going to be that great. Maybe they won’t love it. I won’t love it. Something won’t jive. And so maybe it won’t exist in the second half of next year. I’m not sure. But for those of you listening to it, it’s women who have been in root to rise at least twice.

They get invited to join this program. And so we’ve got 13 women that are in it for the first half of 2025. And I’m really, really excited about that.

Colie: Yeah. I mean, part of my brain, not remembering stuff when Sabrina told me this yesterday, when we’re recording, I was like cussing at her in text messages because I was so excited for her because we did a majority well.

I mean, I say we. Sabrina did the planning for this while we were together and as my husband says, I lovingly supervised and gave my opinion when it was asked for, but I had completely forgotten that she was in, that she had sent out the email. Like, I never remembered to follow up and be like, Hey, Sabrina, how many people did we get?

Like, I just forgot. So when you told me yesterday, I was like, Oh my God, that is amazing.

Sabrina: Okay, so the listening audience probably realizes maybe you don’t realize, so I’ll give you a statistic here, but a lot of women do root to rise more than once it has a little bit of, I hate to use this word because it’s going to sound really cocky, but it has a little bit of a cult following.

Okay. And, um, actually the statistic is 40 percent of my students do the program at least twice, which is insane for a high level program. But. I have done it so many times. I have this cult following and these women who’ve done it over and over again. And so many of them have asked for a next level offer.

And I’ve just been kind of sitting on it and ignoring it because I didn’t know what it looked like. Right. I knew that I had, you know, I did the education blueprint last year and that was specifically for women who were ready to become educators, but that’s not everybody. Not everybody. Is ready or even wants to do that.

And so it was like, what’s the middle ground? What’s the, what’s the next level of virtualize if they don’t want to become educators. And so I just kind of sat on it for a long time. And it’s interesting that late last year, when I started saying no to things, when I decided not to do fall mini sessions, and I decided not to do a 2025 fall route to rise.

And I just started to let things open up. All of a sudden it came to me. It was like, Oh, this is what it should be. This is what it should look like. Here’s how we’re going to try it out. And it just literally came together so quickly. And Coley and I were together for a working weekend in December.

Literally I was, we were, it was like the first night we had dinner and I was like, I think I have this idea. I think I finally know what I want this to look like. By the end of our weekend, I had built the sales page, written out the emails, mapped out the timeline. Um, and then the very next week I sent out the first email.

to the women who qualified was like, hey, it’s here. let’s do this thing. And received. So buckle up, h Okay. Um, and then the ot That I’m planning on at this point is I know for sure I’m going to do another marketing challenge in March. Um, I did that last summer and it was really, really successful and really fun.

And it was like a low lift, easy, high engaged thing. So we’re going to change a little bit of. What it looks like and how it’s going to go, but generally speaking, it’s going to be very, very similar. So we’re going to do that in March. Other than that, I don’t know. I don’t know what 2025 is going to bring, but I’m here for the ride.

So yeah. Okay. So let’s talk real time for a minute. What are you working on in your business? Like right now at time of reporting

Colie: girl emails. So part of that, when I said I put the shop out there, I put the products out there, and I will say I did that because I had so many people ask me, well, you know, I really don’t need your course, but like, I really want these templates.

And so I did kind of like do that so that I could put it out there immediately so that people that had been asking for it could get it. But it didn’t really have like a back end process, like it didn’t have funnels, it didn’t have emails, like it had a delivery email, but there was like nothing else. And so what I am currently working on is my freebies now have brand new refreshed delivery emails, and some of them have little treats when you do it.

And then my templates all have longer delivery sequences now that kind of Deliver it and then a few emails that kind of help you guide, you know, and kind of, it’s like me. I don’t want to say cracking the whip. That sounds kind of rude, but like me lovingly checking in on you to be like, hey, you bought those workflow templates.

Have you created a workflow yet? And then like, You know, what do people struggle with when they create their workflows? Well, they put them into the world and they haven’t tested them. So then I wrote up a whole email about how you test them. And I mean, I’ve had a sequence like that for my course, but I basically created it for the templates that people are buying.

And then of course, There’s stuff with pricing. I mean, there’s, when people buy this product, what other product are they most likely to buy? And do I want to offer it to them in some, you know, special way? And so right now I’m writing all of the emails that are delivery ones, but the next set of emails that I’m working on are kind of that, okay, you bought this product, you did this.

Now what comes next? And I will also say, in addition to the emails, you and I both have ConvertBox. And it has been on my list of things to do to add convert box pop ups to the actual course shells. And when I say core shells, I also mean the products like just the templates so that it tells you what comes next.

It asks you questions for feedback like those kinds of things. So I think that that’s pretty much my Q1. My Q1 is getting like all of these back end systems updated for my new focus on passive deliverables.

Sabrina: Okay. I love that. I’m also really glad that you just said convert box because that had fallen off.

You forgot again. I forgot. I forgot again. I may just need to hire you for a day to just. Get me going on that because I can’t seem to remember, uh, that I need to do that. And I, the potential is endless and I know that, and I’m really excited about it and I just haven’t done it. So thanks for the reminder.

I jotted it down. Um, real time for me. I, at time of recording, I just came home from the root tries alumni retreats, uh, two days ago. So I’m definitely in like re entry on all of that. And. For the first time ever, I am literally immediately shifting gears for the next route to rise retreat, which is in five weeks.

So I have never had, yeah, I’ve never had this tight of a turnaround before. It’s just the way the calendar fell this year. I’m really excited about it, but it’s kind of a lot to be like, okay, and now we’re going straight to the next one. So, um, you and I will be in Savannah in February, which is. So exciting.

Uh, also side note listeners, if you’re in Savannah or have family in Savannah, I’m still looking for models. So send me a DM. Okay. Okay. Thanks. I am, you know, the first week of the year was preparing for the retreat and having the kickoff call for Roots Rise 25. Now I’m immediately shifting gears into prep mode for the Roots Rise retreat in Savannah next month.

Um, I’m also making sure I have several new one on one clients for this year. Roots Rise, like I said, just kicked off a week or two ago. So I’m really making sure that all of my new clients are feeling served and seen and supported and that they’re getting their rhythms and routines in order and that we’re just kind of.

Getting started off on the right foot, so to speak, which is really exciting between, let’s see, between the inner circle group and Root to rise. I think it’s 25, 26, 27 women that I’m serving this year. And then you add in my one to one clients. So let’s just call it 30, which is a lot of women that I can’t wait to support this year, but it’s making sure that I am developing relationships, especially with the new ones who were still in that.

Get to know you phase, you know, my one to one clients. The inner circle women, they, we already have a relationship and so it’s not, uh, I don’t have to be quite as intentional in the beginning, but all these new route to rise students really making sure that we’re getting kind of the groundwork laid, right?

And everything. Um, so I’m doing that. And then, uh, like I mentioned before, just being totally transparent, I don’t have my goals yet. I knew that it was going to be a hard, fast start to the year with a retreat immediately. And so I’m giving myself until the end of January to really have my goals mapped out.

And so I’m totally still in the thick of it. I’m mulling over things. Like I said, I have my vision board. I’ve decided on my word of the year, but I haven’t, I don’t have any like actual goals yet. So, um, circle back around with me by Q2. I’ll know what those are. I’ll have a little bit more information for you there, but that’s really where I’m at.

I’m, I’m in this very, I’m leaving January very loose, uh, so that I can just serve people and kind of get my new year routines going, get back to work, um, and just mulling over like what I want my goals to be. I’m not hitting the ground running as hard as I normally do in January. So it feels different, um, but different can be good.

So that’s where we’re at. I’m gonna ask one more thing, I guess, before we kind of wrap up, but do you feel like there’s anything that isn’t working yet or is frustrating you as you’re kind of getting started with the year?

Colie: Oh, writing down all the balls that I dropped. That’s pretty frustrating. Um, it doesn’t really have anything to do with, like, new stuff, though.

Not really, so I, again, as part of my, I’m doing less, I’m doing smaller chunks, um, I have quite a few people that have already booked half days, and then I’ve already booked a couple of full days, and like, putting those on my calendar, I am being very intentional this year, because last year I’d be like, oh, you just want a VIP day, I’ll just shove you in here, no, no more of that, so I have intentionally, like, listed it.

dates that are available. I have it compared to like my calendar because you and I were talking about health. Of course, Q1 is where I get all my checkups. And so, so many doctor’s appointments, Sabrina. And I’m, you know, I’m having a colonoscopy for those of you that are not our age. You know, you don’t understand.

But like, I have to set aside days for that because who am I gonna want to talk to? Right. While I’m prepping for my colonoscopy. So it’s just a little frustrating, but it also, I know that future self is going to thank me for being like, no, I just don’t have the capacity for this right now. You have to wait until the end of February or you have to wait until the end of March.

And so I am just trying to be happy with myself that I am saying no, and that I am putting my capacity. At like the top of my priority list so that I do not fall into horrible habits of being overwhelmed and burnt out. And all of those things that Sabrina mentioned at the beginning of this podcast.

Sabrina: Yeah, I love that. Minus it’s kind of similar, like parallels that a little bit. So I don’t think I’m, I wouldn’t say I’m frustrated by anything currently. I’m just, I’m getting used to this new slower pace, which is specially when you historical Sabrina in January, February is just different. I normally hit the ground running.

I go full speed ahead. I’m like 90 miles an hour. So excited marching towards all these things. And this year, not only am I not going 90 miles an hour, I don’t even know what my goals are, you know? And so I’m just kind of, I’m taking it easy on purpose. And I know it’s the right thing to do for me in this season where I am right now, but it, I’m almost like having like an internal battle with myself because this is not how I normally treat a new year.

And so it feels like I’m doing something wrong, even though I know I’m not doing anything wrong. I know I’m doing the right thing, but it’s almost like a daily thing where I’m like, it is okay that you’re going at a slower pace. It is okay that you don’t know. Like it’s okay. I’m like constant pep talks, you know?

Um, so it’s not really frustrating, it’s just different. Different than my normal pace, different than what I’ve ever done. But like we said at the beginning of the podcast, things change every year. And this might be the new normal for me. This might be the new normal January, a slower, more intentional, easy month.

I don’t know. We’ll see. But that’s where I’m at. That’s where I’m at. Okay. My friend. This was very fun. I’m so excited to hear. All the things you do in Q1 and all the progress you make. Anything you want to leave us with at the end of the, what is this? The fifth business bestie chat. I’m still

Colie: here.

Sabrina: I’m

Colie: still here.

I love it. And I’m going to Disney. Uh, by the time this airs, I will have already gone. I am super excited. I am taking my first alone trip with my husband and I will say. I feel like having this trip on my calendar at my happy place has actually made me more excited to like, do the work that comes after.

So maybe like my new trick is that I just need to have a trip to Disney on my calendar and that makes me more motivated to do the work that it takes in order to go.

Sabrina: Hey. Okay. That’s a really cool hack. You have to let me know if that works and then maybe it can justify me getting away for more trips too.

Okay. This was a really great chat, my friend. Thanks for being here. Thanks to the listening audience. Send us either one of us a DM and let us know what you thought. If anything resonated with you, we would love to hear from you. And until then, I’ll see you next quarter. Bye. Bye. Thanks so much for listening to the shoot it straight podcast.

You can find all the full show notes. And details from today’s episode@sabrinagehart.com slash podcast. Come find me and connect over on the gram at Sabrina Gehart Photography. If you’re loving the podcast, I’d be honored if you hit that subscribe button and leave me a review. Until next time, my friends shoot it straight.