The new year slipped in quickly this time. Some years, I remember sitting around waiting for the clock to strike midnight—maybe playing a game, maybe dully chatting. But this year we were with friends and played Code Names and cleaned up and shouted out the countdown to midnight.

2023 is here! And with the first days of the year come all the reflecting and planning as we mark another trip around the sun.

I’ve written various types of reflections on 2022, but they’ve mostly been more geared toward my personal life. So here is a bit of reflection on my business in 2022—what I learned.

1.   Be willing to pivot

Early 2022 had me at a complete mental impasse with my business. Then, I was operating as Abigail Emma, but had become almost entirely burnt out on creating content and pursuing that as my copywriting brand. I’ve told this story before—but one day I was praying and journaling through WHAT I should do (Shut down my business? Keep trudging along, but hating some parts of it?) when it clicked and I imagined my long-term dream of a copywriting studio happening sooner than I thought. I pictured a restful online space that was dedicated to writing clear words for creative businesses that could possibly expand to include other types of media and resources. I started working toward Studio Tell that day. And it hasn’t been perfect, but the clarity and fresh perspective that it has brought has been a huge blessing. But sometimes it takes being willing to rethink and pivot the direction you thought you would go.

2.   Batching is as helpful as they say

If you’ve worked in content creation for any length of time, you’re probably tired of hearing people talk about why creating in batches is one of the best things you can implement for your business. I’m here to tell you that they’re saying that because it is. I started truly batch working in 2022—setting aside one whole day for the month’s blog posts, and another whole day for the month’s Instagram posts. It made my whole month look totally different. Instead of content creation hanging over me every single week, it was one and done in just a couple of days. I’m still working on streamlining and improving my methods for this. I would love to create content a FEW months ahead of time instead of just at the beginning of the month. But a start is better than nothing, and I think it will keep improving from here.

3.   Work shorter days

Do you ever get to the middle of a workday and just feel strung out… like you can’t possibly think or write anything else creative or helpful… and like you just want to quit?

I’ve been there, lots of times. And I think I’m learning how to help it: by working less. I’m still learning this one, but it is becoming more and more obvious to me that if I give myself a shorter deadline in the day, I’m more likely to get the important things done and quit work while I’m ahead. It’s better than running myself ragged. I listened to How to Work a Sixteen Hour Work Week, a podcast interview with Shay Cochrane, and it has helped realize how much more sustainable my business will be if I can implement this type of thing early on.

What did you learn in 2022? How is it going to change your business in the future?