2024 Reflections

It is time to review the past year as we enter the New Year. Instead of making New Year’s Resolutions – think about the accomplishments and activities from the past year upon which you can build in 2025. 

I look at four primary areas for this evaluation/inventory of business success, as well as any changes needed. In proper coaching form, I will pose several questions to help you evaluate your career coaching business, whether as a solopreneur or within a career services office/center:

• What went well?
• What did not go well?
• What are the gaps?
• What were your personal successes? 

These four areas will help you identify how to adjust your business, collaborate better with your clients/client population, create new goals or adjust goals, and/or shift operations within a career services office. 

Begin by making a list of the primary areas of services and products. From this list, determine which services and products made money and which services and products reduced income or caused frustration for clients (or you) in the past year. Also, consider time, not just costs:

• How much money did you invest in advertising, website management or development, office equipment and supplies, professional development including education/training/certifications/conferences (including travel), administrative support, bookkeeping and accounting, sub-contractors (1099) or employees (W-2), medical insurance, legal services, 401K/retirement savings, credit card processing, bank fees, rent or mortgage, Internet, smart phone, business loans, liability insurance, utilities, business entertainment, car lease/or expenses, and other specific expenses your business requires? Did you save for taxes?
• Which services and products created the most significant income/Return on Investment (ROI)? 
• For example, did you sell more résumés or more interview coaching packages? 
• Do any of your services cost you money (e.g., a sub-contract résumé writer who received a percentage of the fee you charged the client)? If so, how much? Subtract the expenses from your income – that is your ROI. 
• Are there ways to cut expenses? Like switching from a personal bookkeeper to QuickBooks or a similar product or comparing the cost of insurance or Internet providers to see if one might be less expensive.
• Do you need a bookkeeper and a virtual assistant? Can one do both jobs?
• Do you need a website manager and a branding expert? Or can one do both jobs? 
• Did you pay for advertising? What was your ROI after paying for the advertising or funnel campaigns? Does the money need to be reinvested in the same advertising or shifted to a different advertising or marketing program? 
• Is there a product or service that is burning you out? If so, is it a top money maker? If it is not a top money maker – maybe it is time to retire that service or product. If it is a top money maker, you might consider hiring a sub to work on projects that burn you out. 
• Did you experience any crises or circumstances that were unplanned or caused business troubles? 
• What did not go well? Can you adjust these areas? For example, oftentimes, new businesses take on any client population to generate income. If you enjoy working with college graduates and you find yourself working with mid-level professionals, you may want to reevaluate. 
• Are you comfortable coaching mid-level professionals, or do you need to niche your coaching services to only one client population? For example, a new In-n-Out Burger opened in Boise this week. The lines were hundreds of cars long. Their long-term success comes from specializing in one thing: burgers. They have not diversified – like other establishments that offer burgers, chicken, ribs, salads, etc. The same goes for Chick-fil-A. They serve one thing: chicken. Each company specializes, and they each do it well enough to be long-lasting, growing, and popular. 
• Did you end up with an unexpected, substantial tax burden at the end of the year? If so, congratulations! – that means you made a lot of money. However, it also means that you need to save 30% of every dollar, no matter what, to be prepared for such contingencies. 
• Figure out how many hours a week you are working and compare that to your income. Are you making an adequate salary / hourly wage – or did you find that you worked 80s per week only to make $10 an hour?

The overall inventory of your products, services, and programs that went well in 2024 and things that did not go so well should expose any gaps, e.g., the need to save money for taxes and contingencies; adjust funds for advertising into another area; consider niching the client population; decide only to write résumés, provide interview coaching, provide job search coaching with an action plan and assessment tool; and more. 

For Career Service Centers and Solopreneurs: 

• Take an inventory of the products and services that worked for your clients. Did you offer too many products and services, which may have overwhelmed them? 
• Did you offer enough services and products to ensure career management success?
• What requests do you receive the most, e.g., résumé writing, assessment testing, interview coaching, onboarding planning, salary negotiations, career direction, LinkedIn profile writing, etc.? Keep an ongoing list to determine which products are the best to provide. 
• Do you need to develop specific tip sheets or guides to assist your clients in their job searches?
• Have you worked with your team to create systems to ensure clients return for sessions and complete homework? 

One way to help determine client career success is to send a survey and ask about progress. Questions may include:

• What services did you receive from our office?

• How many résumés did you circulate?

• Where did you circulate your résumés? 

• How did you engage in networking?

• How many interviews did you engage in?

• How many offers did you receive?

• Did you receive a promotion?

• Did your salary increase?

• Did you attain your career and work-life balance goals? Describe?

• How would you adjust your career management action plan for the next job search?

Personal Accomplishments

In good coaching form, don’t forget to congratulate yourself on a job well done. Identify the goals you attained in 2024. Look back and see how far you have moved forward. Even if it is baby steps, it is progress. 

• Did you make more money? 
• Did you implement a new program/product/service for your career services offerings? 
• Did you complete a training or certification?
• Did you obtain a new degree?
• Did you check off your goals to see how much you accomplished from the year before?
• Did you have a new baby? Get married? Have a grandchild? Take a bucket-list vacation?

Give yourself credit!

In 2025, reflect on 2024. Conduct a thorough inventory of your company or career services office. Identify the best of the best and eliminate those that do not work well, are less profitable, or cause burnout. Create your action plan to adjust your services for 2025 and beyond—and add in new ideas like writing a book or starting a podcast and personal goals like getting fit or saving for a bucket-list vacation. 

I wish you a New Year filled with career success, health, happiness, and prosperity! – Diane