Business Goal Tracking for Week 5 of 2022

In January 2022, I set three overall monthly goals and three weekly habits to help me meet my revenue and workshop enrollment goals for 2022. This is my accountability report for how I did against these goals between 1/29/2022 and 2/4/2022. In February 2022, I have set three overall monthly goals and three weekly habits.

Monthly and Weekly Goals

January Monthly Goals:

1. Pitch all potential university clients my speaking services and/or tax workshops
2. Publish my annual tax return workshop
3. Update all my read magnets and lead magnets for tax season 2021

January Weekly Habits:

1. Review all communications with university clients and respond as necessary
2. Send invoices and check on payments as necessary
3. Write and schedule promotional email(s) and Tweets

Week Overall

Last week’s hot mess of a week continued into this one. What I didn’t share before was that Kyle was out of town for all of last week and all of this past week for a business trip—his first since the pandemic started, and the longest he’s one ever had. DPR2 was home all week due to her school’s closure and I had no other adult around to help with childcare. I was only able to work in small snatches here and there when DPR2 was asleep, coloring quietly (she’s really into that right now), or watching TV.

The really good thing about all that, though, was that DPR2 never tested positive for COVID or exhibited symptoms. That meant that after her 5-day quarantine, I was able to get outside help: Kyle’s parents came to our house to babysit for a few hours on one weekday afternoon while I was delivering a webinar so that I could focus. That was an immense relief!

All of that personal stuff just meant that I didn’t get as much work done as I would have liked. BUT there is an end in sight! Kyle returned home today and DPR2’s school will reopen on Monday. I should be able to have a fairly regular work week next week.

Monthly Goal 1: Pitch all potential university clients my speaking services and/or tax workshops

My list of previous clients to contact is down to just a few. I’m going to finish this up in the coming week.

Monthly Goal 2: Publish my annual tax return workshop

As I announced in week 1, I published How to Complete Your Grad Student Tax Return (and Understand It, Too!) on 1/3/2022.

Monthly Goal 3: Update all my read magnets and lead magnets for tax season 2021

I updated one more lead magnet and my Tax Center. There are two lead magnets left to update, plus the rewrite I mentioned last week.

Weekly Goal 1: Review all communications with university clients and respond as necessary

Staying on top of my inbox, at least with respect to my university clients, has become a pretty well-established habit thanks to this weekly goal.

Weekly Goal 2: Send invoices and check on payments as necessary

I sent two invoices this week and a Form W-9. That last payment from 2021 is still outstanding… One week until I ping my host again. I’m really glad I’m staying on top of these communications, as I wasn’t last semester!

Weekly Goal 3: Write and schedule promotional email(s) and Tweets

I didn’t have to send any promotional emails this week, and I Tweeted about tax matters at least once per day, all scheduled.

Goal Tracking

Annual Revenue to Date (as a percent of “Best” revenue goal):

• Advertising — 0.52%
• Community membership + tax workshop sales (individual) — 0.91%
• Public speaking — 1.5%
• Sum — 2.93%

Cumulative Workshop Enrollment to Date (5,000 is “Best” goal): 308

Monthly and Weekly Goals

I admit that I didn’t even think about my February goals until writing this post, so we’re already a few days into the month. I have gotten started on some of them.

February Monthly Goals

1. Publish the postdoc version of my annual tax return workshop
2. Create lead magnet and sales page for prospective grad student webinar
3. Consider how to expand tax products this tax season

February Weekly Goals

1. Stay on top of all communications with university clients, including creating workshop copies and financials
2. Write and schedule promotional emails and Tweets for tax workshops
3. Devote two hours to professional development