Ep. 32 | End Of Year Reflections, Lessons Learned, Overcoming Content Heartbreak, and Plans for 2026

In this episode, I’m doing a real end-of-year reflection on 2025,  not the highlight reel, but what actually shifted for me behind the scenes.

I talk about what it looked like to truly niche down, how inconsistency showed up in my content this year, and something my coach calls content heartbreak ; that feeling when you’re creating, but it doesn’t seem to land the way you hoped. I also share a few things I tried that didn’t work (including one idea I had to let go of), and how simplifying my offers and my capacity changed the way I run my business.

I’m also sharing what I’m thinking about heading into 2026 , what I’m leaving behind, what I’m building next, and why the Systems Rehab Community feels like such an important next step.

If you’ve had a year where you learned a lot, but it didn’t always look how you expected on the outside, this episode is for you.

In This Episode, I Share:

• What niching down really required of me
• Why content consistency felt harder this year
• The lessons I learned from ideas that didn’t work
• How simplifying my business changed my capacity
• What I’m excited about as I look ahead to 2026

Grab your favorite beverage and let's dive in! 

Need support on making this happen?
Head over to YourSystemsPro.com to book a sales call, and let’s talk through your unique business needs. Together, we’ll uncover where your systems need support and map out your next best steps to streamline, simplify, and scale with ease. 

🎙️ABOUT THE HOST

Hi, I'm Kenniqua Lewter, Client Experience Systems Strategist, HoneyBook Educator, and the host of the Systems Rehab Podcast. I help service providers create client experience systems that save time, strengthen client relationships, and build a business that runs with ease. 

➡️WAYS WE CAN WORK TOGETHER

🌿 5-Star Client Experience CRM Build
A done-for-you HoneyBook CRM that organizes your clients, automates processes, and creates a seamless experience. Perfect for service providers ready to streamline operations. LEARN MORE🌿 Client Experience Accelerator

Ready to finally streamline your service-based business with HoneyBook? Head over to yoursystemspro.com to get started. 

Let's keep the conversation going. Send me a DM on Instagram or Threads @kenniqua.lewter

Transcript

Kenniqua Lewter (00:00)
Hey there, hey, welcome back to the Systems Rehab Podcast. Today we're going to just kind of dive into some end of the year reflections and what we have coming up in 2026. ⁓ So usually on YouTube, and I've done this for the last few years, is that I've done this end of the year reflections kind of going back to...

cover some of the things that has happened over the year, some things that I have learned along the way, as well as what's coming up. feel like most people during this time, they love to kind of hear those like behind the scenes episodes of what's going on in the business. And so that's really what I want to talk about today. This is our last episode of twenty twenty five. And honestly, twenty twenty five for me as far as

the podcast as far as content ⁓ has been a little bit of a rocky road. It's been a little bit of a rocky road, but I'm gonna talk about that in today's episode as well too. I'm just gonna break this up. I just have a little bit of notes. This is kind of like on the fly episode. I just wanted to make sure that I did.

⁓ Make the connection with you all. Just number one, wish you a happy holiday and to kind of just share a couple of things that I have brewing for us coming up in 2026. And again, some things that I have learned and how I've been operating my business and maybe share a couple of tidbits of things that I've learned with.

Working with clients and things of that nature as well, too. So just in case you're new here, this is the first episode that you're tuning into. This episode is going to be a little bit more of a casual episode as I'm just going to be just candidly sharing. I don't have much notes. This, course, is not scripted episode or anything like that. So and it's a little bit more off the cuff than than usual. But if you're new here, my name is Keniqua.

I am a system strategist. a HoneyBook educator. And normally on the channel or on the podcast, we talk all things systems for service providers, how to ⁓ create better systems in your business to help you to be able to manage your clients much easier and more profitable. So yeah. So in today's episode, I kind of broke this up in this ⁓ three parts here is kind of just kind of taking you back a little bit with me of

how I actually came into 2025. So kind of paint that picture so you can kind of determine, okay, this is where we're coming from and where we're going to. Some big shifts that I made, and I'm not even gonna say big shifts, but just some shifts that I made in my business this year. And mostly that came at the later part of the year. And then what I have coming up for the podcast, for my business, my clients coming up in 2026 that I'm very excited about. So.

All right, so let's just go ahead and dive in. So coming into 2025 to kind of paint the picture here for you. So, and I want to make sure I don't want this episode to be too, too long because I know that you might be watching or listening to this maybe as you're maybe cooking your food, getting prepared for the holidays. So I don't want it to be too, too long. coming into 2025, I had came into the year niche down.

Okay, so when I first started my business and I don't want to I've been in business for about seven, eight years at this point, but I have done a lot of different things all underneath the sun, right? I've been a virtual assistant. I've done OBM work. I've done website design, right? And so coming into

2025 and one thing that's already always stuck with me has been system setting up systems not only for myself but for my clients. It just wasn't something that I was actively just marketing and offering at that point in time. My people were seeing that what I was talking about or what I was sharing on YouTube but it wasn't something that I was just actively promoting all the time. So I was getting clients kind of.

here and there for that particular offer, but I was doing mostly the website design and things like that. So when we came into the new year, I said, you know what? I, and not even the new year, so this actually started before the new year, so I would say probably about the last year and some change or so, so probably about a year and a half or so, I decided that, you know what, I just want to do one thing. I just want to be the systems girly.

for service providers that need help of manager or clients and making those and building those relationships, those connections and creating a more profitable business without them burning out. That's what I wanna do. I don't necessarily wanna do the website design. Can I do that? Obviously I can do it, but do I offer it anymore? I don't. So when I came into the new year, that was really the energy that kind of pulling from 2024,

it was the same energy that I was pulling in is that I just want to hone in and talk about this one thing. And that for me has been a big transformation in just the way that my business went. When I completely decided that, know what, you can do so many different things, but do you need to offer so many things? Do you need to do all of this? And the answer was no.

You don't need to do all of this. Being known for one thing. Talk about one thing. Help people with this one thing. And that's completely it. And so coming into the new year, that was one of the things kind of paint the picture that I that I kind of kept that same energy from twenty twenty four. Now, one thing that people don't really talk about, I don't think as much as how much when you pivot or when you niche down of how that actually

kind of hurts a little bit. It's not an easy thing to say that I'm not gonna do this thing that I also do like, that I also do love, that I also can help people with. I'm just not gonna do that anymore. That's not an easy thing. And then since starting my business in 2017, it was like so many things that I had to just kind of like let go, like let go of all the things.

that you can do, all the things that you have been all of these years helping people with. And, you know, there was a season of my life where I was going through, and I still have videos on my YouTube channel where I was teaching people how to get into the virtual assistant space. And I've helped so many people become virtual assistants, but kind of going through and kind of letting go of that to say that, okay, you're only going to do this one thing. It was so, so difficult for me to do. And I don't think

I over the past year and a half that I necessarily did it the right way. Is there a completely right way or wrong way to do it? ⁓ I don't know. But one thing I do know is that I didn't necessarily transition it the best. So I didn't kind of just like ease into it. It was one of those things that I felt like I said it like, guys, I'm not doing this anymore. And kind of did more of an abrupt pivot versus let me kind of take you on this.

pivot for me for a year, two years, I kind of did a little bit sooner than that, which did not actually translate well for me on the backend, right? So I kind of came into it like, okay, I'm trying to navigate my way of only being able to go through and I'm gonna talk to this particular audience and I'm going to help people with this particular audience. And then the audience that I did have, it's like, okay, I'm not offering that anymore. So let me just kind of cut all of this other stuff off.

I did it a lot, a little abruptly. I have a YouTube channel. If you guys haven't gone, definitely check it out because most of the videos, this one won't, I'm just chatting with you guys, but this one won't be on YouTube, but I do have a YouTube channel, Kinequa, I think it's under Kinequa.Lutr. And ⁓ I have been doing YouTube videos for about five years now. And when I made the transition, I removed over 200 videos from my channel.

So it was kind of like one of those abrupt things, which also led me to feeling what has I've been able to kind of heal with a little bit is my coach says, ⁓ describes this as content heartbreak. And I'm going kind of go into that in a, in a second, just to kind of tell you what that is, kind of painting the picture just a little bit. So that was one thing. So when I came into the new year, I was completely niched down to just doing systems only, right?

And not just systems, so systems can be a lot of different things. There's productivity systems, there's financial systems, there's so many different, there's operations, there's so many different things, but I decided to niche down to client management systems. That is what I deal with, client management systems for service providers who care about their clients, right? They care about the success of their clients, they're already doing a really good job in their business, but.

they're just doing a lot of different things manually in their business. They might be sending proposals and contracts manually. They're communicating with clients and communication is all over the place, right? And the reason why I really honed into that niche is because I've come from, but prior to actually going through and starting my business is that I worked at a call center and customer service, and this has actually been my whole life.

only real job I've really had besides a short stint at working at State Farm for like eight months. that was a whole nother story. I won't even go down it. yeah, so majority of my life, I worked at a call center helping people. And so that has always since 15 years old. That's what I've done. And so making connections and talking to people and providing customer service.

has always just been a part of me. It's always been my thing. Connection, community, it's always been my thing. And so what better thing to help my clients with is to help them to be able to not only manage their businesses, but actually build true relationships with the clients that they were already getting. And so...

That's what I decided to go do when I niche into. So coming into the new year, that's what I did. So it started off, so 2025 for me, long story short, is that it started off a little rocky because it started with me already doing something, doing something fairly not new because I already had been doing it for years. I just hadn't been promoting it or talking about it to the degree that I talk about it now because it's the only thing that I do.

before my message was cloudy with a lot of different things. Like I said, I was doing VA services. was showing service providers, not service providers, entrepreneurs how to get started on YouTube. Like I was doing so many things and so it was very cloudy messaging. But now I'm having to sit with, this is the one thing I'm gonna talk about and this is the hill, like they say, this is the hill that ⁓ I'm gonna take a stance on. This is the hill that I'm gonna die on.

Yeah, so that was the one thing. So 2025 started off a little rocky because it's going into a land of nailing the messaging down for the new niche. So pivoting is hard. It's hard in a lot of ⁓ different ways. But then the other thing was is that I came into the new year with a failed ⁓ business idea. So.

If you've been around the podcast. So when I first started the podcast, the podcast initially started out. right now it's systems rehab. But initially it started out to be getting over the hump podcast. And if you go back on this podcast, you'll see that I think I have about 20 something episodes, but I've actually had the podcast for a year now and I had way more episodes than that, but I removed those other episodes.

because a lot of the episodes that I had was under the older brand of getting over the hump and getting over the hump podcast. was it came from, think or I know really ⁓ it came from the season of life where I felt that's the way that I felt. I felt that I was getting over the hump, that I was transitioning from me pivoting and that I was at the bottom.

of the hill and I was making my way over the hump. so ideally the podcast was really just about motivational, ⁓ motivational entrepreneurship behind the scenes of, you know, just trying to go through and kind of navigate pivoting the business, growing a business in a totally different niche that I've been doing over the past four or five years, kind of navigating a different land that I had never been in before.

And then I had some guest episodes that was coming in, ⁓ that were sharing their stories about their entrepreneurship journeys and et cetera. And so I felt like that went well, it was going well, but then I started to realize that, you know what, I really need to have a podcast that is though.

Stories, entrepreneurship, triumph, transformation, like those are really, really good episodes. But I feel like there are other podcasts that are talking about that. And then I'm like, as I'm going through and transitioning and I'm pivoting, I can still talk about that in a different type of light than maybe the way that I was talking about it before. And so I

basically cancel that podcast. And I went through and I removed majority of the episodes. There are a couple that are still left from there ⁓ that's on this podcast, but I changed the name to Systems Rehab where I'm like, okay, I want to kind of hone in to serving. If I'm gonna go through and I'm going to help and offer one particular thing, I wanna help service providers that care about their clients, that care about...

⁓ serving their clients at their with premium services. I want to have a podcast that's actually talking to and having these conversations from a person that is like them. Like I am my ideal client. I have the things that my ideal clients go through are the things that I have gone through or still go through. Right. And so I wanted to have a podcast where I am

sharing those things that are actually going to help people, right? To actually help people to be able to move the needle forward in their business. And again, like I said, manage your clients. And that's where Systems Rehab was born. Where it's the place where I feel like when I think about rehab and the good sense of like what rehab is supposed to do, not necessarily. And it's funny because I thought about the word rehab and I was like, man, I really hope that

Systems Rehab is not triggering for anyone. And I really thought about that name. Like, I don't want it to be triggering for anyone, but I want it to be a place where people, service providers, that they felt safe to come and to bring their problems that they're experiencing in their business and actually get support to be able to fix it. And that's why.

That's what I thought about when I thought about systems rehab is the place that you come to get your systems fix. You come to build connection that you come to network and connect and to build the foundation that you need to move your business forward. And that at the end of it, that you come out on the other side as a better, stronger service provider.

a better, stronger business owner, right? And so that's what I think about when I named the podcast Systems Rehab. And so with the failed business idea. So this was the other thing. So I came into the year with this failed business idea, the business idea of I thought of. So kind of backtracking a little bit. I have been in business since 2017. I have always had a

office space, like an actual commercial space. I've always had one. I got my first commercial office space when I didn't have a single client. I was not making any money whatsoever. And I still had a commercial office space. It was a little space. It was like maybe 250 square feet or something like that. But I always had an office space because I always wanted to have a space where I can come and I can work and that I could keep

work as much as possible separate from home life and that I can always kind of just set up my gear and just have it set like it's just set in one place. I don't have to worry about breaking it down. I didn't have to worry about any of that. So I've always had an office space. So last year and my last office space that I was in, I'm in an office space now. I've been in this office space now almost two years. But the other space that I had. Previous to this last year.

is well, they overlap. So that's part of the failed business idea is that the space that I'm in now is that I was thinking like, okay, wow, you know, I'm seeing all of this. And I think I talked about this. I'm not even sure that episode probably is not even up, but anymore. But I had talked about this where I'm like, man, I'm seeing all of these content studios pop up. And I'm like, that would be really good in my area. live in Virginia and I'm like, that would be really good in my area.

⁓ Maybe I should look into getting a commercial space since I create content. I have a lot of equipment. ⁓ I can get even more equipment and I can help business owners have a place where they can come through. They can record their content and da da da, right? But I already had an office space, but the office space that I had wasn't really like content studio-ish. You know what I'm saying? So I was like, well, let me find another space. So I have reached out to the...

to my landlord over my space. And he's like, yeah, I actually do have a space that's literally the building right in front of you. And so long story short, I jumped on it, got the space and it just did not work as a content studio. So like, if you guys ever seen any of my videos, especially like when I do like reels on Instagram, I actually did a reel where I took a picture and I finally actually just covered it up where it's at content studio 1015.

Um, I had a content studio. I'm actually in the content studio now and it's now officially my, my office. I only have the one space now, but it was a failed business. did that. That cost me a lot coming into 2025 where I was paying for two office spaces. I was paying for my regular office, um, which I shared with state farm. And then I had this office that I'm in now, which was, um, formerly was Mars R studio. I had this one, but.

We weren't able to really get anybody to really book the space for the studio. It was too much. I was doing too much. I was doing too much. I wasn't staying in my lane of just girl, just do this one thing, right? And I would probably say this is probably my theme for probably going into 2026 is just do the one thing.

do the one thing that you know how to do, which is going through and helping service providers with systems. And I was trying to just help in another way, right? Because I have so much equipment. Like I said, I've been doing YouTube for about five years now and I buy so many different things. Like, this new light here or this new microphone here. So I have so much. And so I didn't mind sharing my equipment with other people in my area, but I'm like...

It just did not work and it didn't work because I didn't really market it or promote it as well as it should have been just because I just did not have the capacity to do that. And so I think it's really important for us to kind of realize what our capacity is. Like going into 2026, like what is your capacity for what you're trying to go through and offer? Like, are you offering everything underneath the sun? Is there things that you need to cut back on to kind of, ⁓

to really start to hone in on just, I haven't read, I think I, have I read that book? If I have read the book, I don't quite remember it. The one big thing, if I read it, I might've been like listening to it on an audible, but I think that's, that's my vibe. My, probably my word going into 2026 is just focus on the one big thing. And that's all this you guys are gonna be really hearing me talk about. I'm not going to be starting any other businesses or,

kind of creating really any too many different offers. I am gonna talk about some things we have coming up in 2026, but that was definitely, it cost me a lot this year. And so it was definitely a harder time of going through trying to be able to go through and just, it cost me money really. If anything, it cost me money. I wasn't able to be in both spaces of course, but I was paying rent and internet, mind you, for both places, but yet it wasn't bringing me any.

in any money. that was the kind of pain, the Pinterest of like the first two things is going through nation down all the way into systems, kind of painting that picture of what I did that was definitely a big shift and then kind of still bringing in the trauma from my failed business idea. I basically still had to do that until I was able to actually get rid of my old space. So I had a decision really to make is like, do I want to?

get rid of this space, the space that I'm in now, ⁓ because the contract was about to renew again, or do I kind of quit the other space? And so obviously I decided to stick with the studio space. It's a bigger space. It's almost two times as bigger as the space that I had. And now I actually have space to host in-person events inside of our, inside of the office or inside the studio that I have here. So.

That's gonna be coming up, which I'm gonna talk about here in a second. We did have some in-person events in 2024, but I didn't host any this year, but I do plan on hosting more. So we did have like a Christmas party here. It was like a Christmas networking event that we had for entrepreneurs. So it was like an ugly Christmas sweater. That was a really big one that we did. And then...

We did a couple other ones. So I think last year in 2024, so we had maybe about three, four different events, but definitely going into 2026, you can expect for me to have more events, but more events that's tailored to systems. So definitely if you want to work with me in person, you wanna come to my events, you wanna work with me in person, you can do that. Even now, even if it's not an event, if you are a client and you want to work with me in person,

We definitely do in-person work here as well, too. You just have to, you know, it has to be scheduled. Okay. The last thing about the reflection, this is already getting longer than what I thought. the last thing about reflection coming into 2025 is really a skill gap. So I started to realize, and I did a podcast episode on this. I think that one is actually still up, is that I noticed a skill gap that I was lacking in the area of sales and marketing.

Now I told you before that I hadn't really come from a background that I really had to know sales and marketing. I have been in business for a while. The business model that I had previously was really mostly ⁓ selling digital products, selling courses. so majority of the things that I was doing was selling courses. And then I was constantly showing up. I was active. I was doing lives. And so

the things that I had, really just kind of just sowed itself kind of, kind of sort of, I didn't actually really possess that skill. And I started to notice that kind of at the end of last year that I'm like, okay, I'm not really have a really strong skillset in sales and marketing. And so that's when I went through and I'm like, you know what I need to go through and I need to find someone that can really start coaching me on this because this isn't something that I'm going to be able to

resolve on my own. Like I could try to resolve it on my own and I did certain things. Like I am a big heavy listener of like podcasts. I constantly listen to podcasts all day. listen to, you know, watch YouTube videos. I do all of that, but it still wasn't anything that was really, really moving the needle for me as far as myself and marketing. ⁓

So what's next? yeah, so that, so those are the big, the big three things, right? The big three things that it's kind of like really coming into 2025 and how I kind of came in. So those three things really started 2025 into having this rocky road. I also had, I think I just already mentioned, but when I came into the new year, I was suffering from what my coach calls is content heartbreak. So.

I was coming into it from a person that had switched niches that now I'm talking to a completely different audience for the most part, that now when I'm producing content, it's like, my goodness, I don't feel like anybody's listening to me or I don't feel like I'm being heard or I, you know, I'm not getting as many views as maybe I was getting on my YouTube videos before and really having to sit and actually get coached on this. Like, okay.

Is this stuff actually true? are people really not listening to you anymore? Like, you're getting clients, you're getting booked out. So evidently there are people that are listening to you, right? Or I was listening to a podcast with, ⁓ it's on Think Media with ⁓ Sean Cannell. And he was just talking about, this was recently, this was about maybe...

maybe about a month ago or so where he was talking about that across the board, YouTube views are down by what did he say? He said like a really large percentage, like 70%. I want to say that he said, and he was saying that was for like even bigger channels. He was using Mr. Beast, Gary Vee, and he was saying like how those views have all significantly gone down. And I'm like, my goodness. Okay. So that makes sense.

of why my views are going down. before it's like, a lot of times I think we internalize it like, my goodness, what am I doing wrong of why I'm not getting the views or why it seems like no one's listening or what am I doing wrong? Or, you know, instead of from the point of view of like, what can I do better? Or how can I market this a little bit more when I know that I'm not marketing it to its greatest point, right? And so I was dealing with that, which led me to be like, you know what?

I'm not gonna post then. I'm not gonna post. it led me to be like this year coming into this year has been this year period. Like I can't even say coming into the year. This year period has been my most inconsistent content year I have ever had in business. I have never been this most inconsistent. it came and stemmed from this thing of content heartbreak, right?

no one's listening to me anyway, so I might as well not even post, right? And so I've never went through business where I've been this inconsistent in posting. if I might've, I've always been pretty consistent on YouTube. Like missing uploads was like, wasn't really a thing. Like when I first started YouTube for the first two years, I didn't miss a single week. And then even maybe after that, I might miss one week here, two weeks here, you know I'm saying? But I never just missed weeks in a row.

Whereas now it's like I've missed weeks. Like I just posted a video last week, but before last week of posting a video, I didn't post for a month. I've never not posted for a month, but I've had that trend of doing that this year. And it was really just because of the content heartbreak. It's like, ⁓ people are not listening. So why even bother? You know, why even bother posting? But that's something that this year that I've worked. ⁓

that I've actually gone through and I've worked through. I've worked through this now where it's like, you know what? And having, just had a call with my coach and it's like, is what you're telling yourself true? And I think sometimes we have to go through and we have to ask, kind of sit back and kind of ask ourselves these questions. Like is that, is what you're saying yourself true? I know back in, what was this? It was back in May, I went to an event, ⁓ in-person event in DC.

to go see Ashley Kirkwood, Speak Your Way to Cash. And one of the things that she was talking about there that she did, she did like this demonstration of, matter of fact, it was when we first came in, she was holding up a receipt and she went around the room and she's like, what's on this receipt? And let's just say it was $45 and someone said $45 and then she'll give it to someone else. And she's like, what's on this receipt? $45. And then someone else, $45, right?

And then she's like, well, and then she passes someone else and she said, well, what do you think about the cost on this receipt? Like, what do you think about the $45? And somebody would say it was too high. Someone else said it was too low. And everybody else had different ideas of what they thought about the $45. And I'm saying that to say like in her analogy, which I absolutely love is that she talks about the receipts.

Like the receipt being the truth, you can't deny what was on the receipt, right? The receipt says $45 in this example, right? The receipt is, this is what's true. Everything else about it, what people think about it, what you think about it, what you think that it means, that's what she calls is rhetoric, right? And so I love that. And that processing of that has also has helped me because it's like, okay,

If you think people aren't listening to you, the receipt shows that you're booking clients. The receipt shows that you're booked out already for the beginning of 2026, right? So evidently people are listening to you, right? The receipt shows that people are. The rhetoric of what you think about that has been deemed untrue.

And so I think just kind of going through and just kind of processing these things, like sometimes we have to go through and process this internally because we tell ourselves a lot of different things that may not necessarily be true. And so kind of going through and doing that, that, that self coaching to be like, okay, this is not true. And this, my job to go through and to show up, I have benefited so much from content that people have produced.

Like I said, I listen to so many different podcasts. I watched so many different YouTube videos. And if that person decided to say that I'm not going to post because no one's listening to me, I have watched plenty of videos that don't have barely any views, but have helped me tremendously. And if that person decided to say that I'm not going to post because I'm not getting any views, no one's listening to me, then they're not.

they're doing a disservice, right? And that's kind of how like the energy that I have now is like going into the new year is that, know what? I know that what I'm telling myself, that's not true. I actually just talked to a client. She became a client. It was about maybe about a month ago. what I had to start doing too, and maybe if you're feeling this same type of way, is maybe an exercise that maybe you should try as well, because this is also has helped me.

is that I started to create, I created a folder on my phone and it's just like kind of like a praise folder of when someone says something good, right? Because a lot of times we hear bad things, we think bad things sometimes about ourselves, but sometimes you have to go back and be like, is that really true? And you have to go back and look at that praise folder and be like, oh, you've...

of how many people that you've helped, right? All the people that you have helped and sometimes realizing that. And so like a client had came and she's like, yeah, you know, I've ⁓ she booked services with us for our five star client experience CRM builds. And she's like, yes, I've been a long time listener. And in my eyes, I'm like, really? You know, it's like, ⁓ OK, awesome. You know what I'm saying? Awesome. And it's good to be able to know that. I.

can see people on the other side. You know, it's hard sometimes of being able to go through and just talking to Mike or just looking at camera and that's all that you see is just like yourself. And it's like so good when I get a chance to be able to go through and I can hear other people. I can see other people because typically, you know, I typically work alone, right? I work alone and it's so good to be able to make those connections and to be able to

to hear you guys, hear your voices and to know, like to actually see faces on the other side. I love to be able to see faces on the other side to make the connections between, ⁓ that's such and such, you know, like, ⁓ that's Crystal or that's Tina or that's Lindsay. Like I like to be able to go through and to be able to do that and to have those type of conversations. So that's something that throughout.

this year that I've been working to and that I'm like, you know what, I'm not going in 2026 and believing that rhetoric that no one's listening, that even if just one person is listening, if I can go through and I can talk to one person to help them to be able to manage their business, their clients so much easier and gain profit in their business that I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing, right? Because it's like in me to be able to go through and do so.

It's like one of these things that I'm currently working through, but it's like, okay, I'm going to get to the other side, but the only how I can get to the other side of this, like quote unquote content heartbreak is just to post content. I'm not gonna get through it any other way, but post content. And so we did a challenge.

And our coaching program, we did a challenge where we were supposed to be posting onto like a social media platform. So you can choose something like Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, TikTok, whatever it is that you that you wanted to do and that you would post there for 30 days straight. And so I did that. The challenge, it just ended. And I was like, you know what? I feel good about this. Like I have never in my life posted on ⁓ posted on Instagram like 30 days in a row. Like I've never posted on Instagram, probably

five days in a row. And so to be able to go through and do that, I felt like that was a really good accomplishment, but it was also something that really helped me to be like, you know what, this is really not that bad. It's not as scary as it feels. It's not, and I can see like even on the Instagram, it's like, okay, you're not still getting a whole bunch of views, but it's like, but you are getting a little bit more than you did the day before, right?

And so it is just one of those things like you have to kind of, I have to be able to just do it, do it, scare, do it, even if you don't think anyone's listening, do it. If no one's watching just to go through and do it because the only way to get through it is just through it. You have to go through it. So that's like the positioning of.

like how the year actually went. There was a lot of good things that went through. We got a lot of new clients this year, which was awesome. A couple of things, so I guess kind of transitioning over to some of the main things. Like I really need to start writing this stuff down. Like actually, I think I said that last year, but I did not. Writing down the wins. I need to be a little bit more focused of writing down the wins and writing down each things because I know as I'm talking and I'm...

did write down a couple of main points prior to recording the episode. I know I'm not gonna cover every single last thing, but a couple of things that kind of just stood out to me ⁓ as far as like what really I can kind of deem that really made a difference for me this year is like I said, number one, kind of coming to terms and kind of curing ⁓ my content heartbreak.

That's number one. And then also two, which I feel like this is a really big one, is that I changed my offer delivery. So I have one main offer, which is my five-star client experience CRM build, right? This is where I build CRM systems, specifically HoneyBook ⁓ at this present time for service providers. So...

We do everything about it. So it's not just, I'm not just going into HoneyBook and just doing that. No, I'm going through, we're doing system strategy. We're mapping out your client journey. I also do strategy and coaching and everything with the clients. And I also go through and I build out their HoneyBook account, collecting all of their assets, et cetera, right? I do all of that. All right. But one thing that I did change, which I felt like really made a difference this last part of the year,

was, and as far as like energy level and capacity, was I changed the way that I actually delivered the offer. So initially what I would do is that when someone wanted my offer, they could book the offer, like we would do the sales call and they could just book the offer and we would start, you know, it could be middle of the month and we would just.

started like, let's say a week, two weeks. Like if they said, yeah, no, I want to go ahead and I would just send them a link to do the strategy call. So they would get after the sales call, they would get their proposal. And then on their proposal, when they paid, it also had the to book the strategy call. So they literally could just book that strategy call, which they still have access to book the strategy call. But now I have it where it's set for them to do it after a certain period of time.

but they used to be able to just book the strategy call. So it could be like a week later and then we would do the strategy call and we would just jump right into, we would do the project, right? But now what I've done since the beginning of the year, which has worked tremendously for my capacity, it's given me way better energy is that I started making all the projects start at the same time.

So what I did was I have my projects, I work project based, which I've thought about this before. It's like, do I want to just do project date based or do I want to do like retainers where I'm in clients businesses all the time? And I think just for me, when I really think back on like my business model and what I love to do, it's like, no, no. I like to do the project based, but I am that project based

Systems girly that does not go away. Okay, so what I mean by that is like I'll build out my clients systems And you constantly still hear from me, right? So like we give them 30 days We give our clients 30 days of support and then I touch base with base with them So we do the 30 days of support then they get a 60 day check-in 90 day check-in and then after that

we check in every three months, right? Because I know that as they're going through, they're utilizing their systems that they probably have questions. They probably might need to do tweaks or updates, right? Like I literally just went through, in October I went through and so like all the clients that I had from this year, like, hey, you know, it's time for a systems audit. And what I did was I just offered all of those clients an opportunity to come do a strategy call for me.

for 30 minutes. I didn't even charge them for it. Just come talk to me for 30 minutes. Like if there's some questions that you have or there's some type of things that's changing, because I like the connection and actually meeting with the clients. Now, not saying that it's always going to be free, but I did offer it for free for like all the clients and anybody, all the clients that wanted to go through and book their 30 minute sessions, they were able to go through and do it. And it wasn't, this wasn't a sales call. This wasn't,

let me give you clarity. No, this was, ask me questions. I'm gonna give you strategy. I'm gonna tell you what to do, right? I'm gonna tell you exactly what to do based off of what you're saying. And so I don't go away from the client. Like I'm all, I'm your partner in this. just are, I'm just not the, I'm just not the partner that's going to be in your business every single day, right? So I'm not gonna be, you know, managing your HoneyBook account every single day, sending proposals on your behalf. I'm not gonna be doing that.

but I am the partner that you can always contact. You can always reach out to you. You can always get support. And that's kind of like the business model that I like to have. And so when I changed over the way that I delivered the offer, I went through and I had it where all the projects started at the same time. So we kick off our projects at the beginning of the month and they all end at the end of the month. So this gave me where I'm able to go through. We typically take on four projects a month.

So I was able to go through and I can do them all because at this point in time, I'm doing all the implementation. So I can do them all in rhythm. I can do each stage all at the same time. So everybody at the first week, I'm doing this phase. The second week, I'm doing this phase. The third and fourth week. So I have a process for how I'm going through and doing it. Now I've put them all together where I have a rhythm for each one. So I know that the first...

two weeks of the month are going to be a little bit lighter over two weeks because that's when I'm doing the strategy calls, I'm getting assets, and I'm doing the less heavy stuff in the first two weeks versus the last two weeks of the month. Those are heavier ones. That's when I'm going through, I'm building out the templates, I'm building out the automations, those things, and I'm doing all of the SOPs, I'm doing the guides that I do.

for ⁓ letting them know like this document does this and this automation goes with that, right? I'm doing all of that like they're off boarding material which takes me some time to do. I'm doing all of that. So I know that the last two weeks of the month those are a little bit more intense but that allows me to kind of figure out what my capacity is for doing other things. So being that that's my main offer like my main offer is my five-star client experience.

I know that, okay, I don't mind because I do offer an accelerator. So a client experience accelerator. Going into 2026, I've had just the accelerator has just been 90 minutes, right? So it's 90 minutes, you get seven days of post support. So we do have a custom client portal. I talked about that I think in a previous episode.

about the custom client portal has been a gem for me because I'm able to go through, put all of my clients, ⁓ documents, everything all in one place. It has a chat system and everything. So that has been a game changer I absolutely love. But with the accelerator, it's been 90 minutes. But what I found is, is that I'm having more clients come to me, not just for 90 minutes, that they want multiple sessions. They just don't want 90 minutes. And so...

Going into the new year those strategy sessions i'm going to basically give options so they'll have the options that if they want to book just the singular session the 90 minute session they can or they'll be able to go through and book a three month session of strategy sessions where they'll get three 90 minute sessions.

and then they'll also be getting support in between. So they'll still be getting, so instead of getting just the seven days of support with the singular, with the single option, they'll be basically getting three months worth of asynchronous support. So I'm gonna be doing that as well, but this allow for me to be able to see like what my capacity is going to be and to kind of navigate my weeks and my days a lot better when I know that, okay.

no, I can't do this, you know, the third and fourth week because the third and fourth week are a little bit more intense for me. Or I know that, ⁓ don't necessarily need to be recording content. I need to kind of already have my content prepared because it's not going to be, it's not as flexible for me those particular weeks, right? And so that's one of the things that I really shifted, shifting into this year that has made a really big difference.

The next thing has been, ⁓ I said that I was going through and coming into the new year that I noticed that like my sales and marketing skills was not the best. So I went on a venture. Like I said, I love going through listening to podcasts, episodes, podcasts and things like that. And so I went into kind of like in this mode of let me try to find somebody that could help me to be able to kind of start building my skills up in sales and marketing.

And so I did. And so I enrolled into a program for sales and marketing back in, I think it was August or September, ⁓ that I absolutely love. could not ask for a better program. have learned so much. have indefinitely have increased like my sales call conversions. I have converted a hundred percent since, ⁓ the beginning of October. I have converted all of my sales calls.

⁓ It's been a very, very ⁓ good program. And yeah, and that's been like a very, ⁓ a big game changer, I would say. like, I love to say that word. It's funny because even before that's one of the things like chat GPT says all the time, game changer. I've been saying game changer. That's always been part of what I say. So it's funny, like when you write it in, you know.

And everybody's like, it was like chat GPT. No, this is the way I really talk. I really say game changer. When I think something's really big, I say game changer. anyway, so yeah, so that has been really big for me as well. So I would say just kind of, like I said, I wrote it down and I would say those were like maybe like the two biggest things is simplifying, simplifying my offer delivery to increase my capacity. My months feel way better. I don't feel like it's like, I got to do.

I'm off boarding this client and I'm onboarding this client. No, I'm onboarding them all at the same time. I'm off boarding them all at the same time. And so it allows just, it just allows it to be so much smoother and so much easier ⁓ for me on that part. And then also too, put like, so now like on our website, like we have the availability on our website now. Now it's like true availability, like, okay, boom, you have four spots available for February. Like you can see, so like when clients,

do come and are like, hey, I want to work with you. They can see what the availability is, like of the spots booked or not booked, which it allows that transparency to kind of know like, okay, when you come on the call, like if you wanted to go through and actually work with me, you want to get your systems available, like you know what that spot is. And like I said, it keeps me where I can be like grounded in the capacity that I really have. Like now.

We've already gone through, we booked out January already, so now what we're booking is for February. But literally if someone wanted to say, hey, you know, I really want you to build my system for me in January. I know that I literally, I just don't have the capacity for it. Like it would be something like, ⁓ I would love to do that for you, which I would, but I literally just don't have the capacity to be able to do it because I already have bookings for that time. So.

And then closing the other office space definitely has been a game changer for me this year because it has saved me a lot. Like I said, I don't have to pay that extra space. I don't have to pay that extra internet. So I'm literally just paying for the space that I'm in now and then paying for the internet that I have at this place too. So that has definitely been great. Okay, so the last thing, and I said I was gonna come on here and I said, know what, I'm gonna come on here. I'm gonna do a podcast episode and I'm gonna talk for 20 minutes. This is...

the reason why that when later in the year, let me say, let me say this. I'm not a fact, let me add this to the list. The last couple of episodes that I've been doing that I found that has been very, very good for me is that I have been ⁓ going through and I script. In the past, I have been a scripter. Then I'm like, I don't want to script. I'm just going to bullet point where I'm just going to bullet point my podcast.

And the reason why I didn't like scripting is because it takes a lot of work to be able to go through and script, like script word for word, right? And especially script word for word based off of like how you talk. And so my last two podcasts that I did, a single podcast that I did, they were fully scripted, fully scripted word for word. That has worked for me. And if you look at those podcast episodes, one podcast, I think was 15 minutes.

The other was 20 minutes. It's because I sat down and I wrote it out word for word to make sure that I didn't miss anything and to make sure that I didn't over speak. So with that being said, that's why this podcast episode, because I love to talk, especially I just finished. in the process of drinking coffee. And so when I drink coffee, I can really, really get the going. So.

That's why I started like I'm going to start going through and scripting out my videos and start scripting out my podcast episode so they don't be as long. But anyway, hopefully you're cooking or you're, you know, chilling. You're maybe in the car, maybe you're working out. You're listening to this podcast and it is OK that it's long. OK, but the last thing kind of shifted into the last thing. So what's coming up for for twenty twenty six with our business for our clients?

So let's get into this. It's not a whole bunch of things that I have on the list, but one of the things that I think I mentioned that previously before is that I very much so value connection and community. ⁓ When I first started my business, that was one of the first things that I did is that I started a Facebook group. I think we had almost 3000 Facebook community members in there and ⁓ I liked it. It was a lot of work.

It was a lot of work kind of managing the community. I was doing it by myself, but I liked it. I liked going through and just networking and connecting with people. just it's just one of those things that I'm drawn to. And when I shifted from going through, so like two years ago at that point, I also had closed down my I closed down my Facebook group, I closed down my community and.

I said that I wasn't going to start another community again, but, but I am going to start another community. I am a start another community. I said I wasn't because I thought, you know, it's going to be so much work. But honestly, I don't think this one is going to be. I think it's going to be a really good place where.

I don't think it's gonna be a lot of work. maybe I could be mistaken, you know, but I don't think it's gonna be more work than I'm not, that I'm already more than what I'm already doing, right? So you can come to see the systems rehab community. Now, when it's open, I'm going to let you guys know when it's open, it's probably going to be about February, probably February, mid February when that group is going to be ⁓ open, but it's gonna be the systems rehab community. This is going to be a free community.

I went through and I kinda contemplated, do I wanna pay, do I want it free? And I'm like, you know, I don't want a paid community. Like I don't want the pressure of a paid community, right? I want it to be nice and chill and easy. And I just don't want the pressure of a paid community. it is going to be, ⁓ systems rehab is going to be a free community. It's gonna be a coworking and accountability hub for

service providers that are ready to sit down and get their stuff done. Okay, so where you'll be able to go through, you'll be able to show up with me alongside other service providers that just get it, that just want to get their work done, whether they're planning for the week or maybe you're tackling your client work or you're addressing your back end systems, you can come to this community and you can... ⁓

have support and network with other service providers and business owners. So the community is going to be on school. I've had a school community, quote unquote, community for a while. I've been paying Alex or Rosie for no reason for the last few months. But yeah, so you are gonna be able to have access to the community. Of course, I will be, I'll let you know here on the podcast when that is open.

There are going to be so inside the community, we will have the community parts. So there will be regular coworking. So you'll be able to see when the coworking classes sessions are coming up. I'm also going to be having workshops and things like that that are going to be popping up inside the group. There will be a paid aspect for like paid workshops. So like if there is a workshop that I have that's going to be paid or in-person events. So we will be doing in-person events. I'll announce it inside the community as well to those will be paid.

but the community itself will be free. So you'll be able to do free coworking. You'll also be able to attend some of the workshops that will be free inside of the community as well. So that is one of the major things that we have coming up in 2026. Like I ⁓ mentioned, in-person events. So in-person events, connection, connection, connection, and community. ⁓

Like I said, the reason why I got this office is because I really wanted to go through and I wanted to be able to share something with the with my community like we literally we have tables already in our other space in our other room because our office, has a few different rooms and we have space. I have the tables and chairs set up already for 16 people. And so.

In the new year, I plan on hosting events and I plan on filling my 16 people seats, right? I plan on ⁓ filling up those seats. And I just really want to just think about like topics. If you have any topics that you think would be kind of cool for me to go through and cover, I would love to get your feedback. You can definitely if you're listening to the podcast, you can always text. ⁓ It has a text line under ⁓ under where you're listening to the podcast and the show notes or just send me a DM on Instagram or threads, but.

Yeah, so I'm really just kind of contemplating like what type of topics that I wanna talk about. I know last year when I held the events last year, they were more so I was trying to bring in people for the quote unquote studio purposes. And so they were more of a wider range of topics. like they were, like I said, we did the ugly Christmas sweater.

⁓ My mom, she does like Tumblr. So we had like a Tumblr's event and we did things like that, but it wasn't anything like specifically tailored to systems. But coming in 2026, we are going to have ⁓ events that are specifically tailored to systems that you can actually come and get your systems done, learn systems. You can learn this actually in person.

And of course, other business things, it doesn't have to be as high level or niche as that, but there will be some that will be like that ⁓ in person, which I think is good because I have been looking on, like I said, I live in Virginia. So I have been looking like on Eventbrite and trying to see what, yeah, and we also did a networking event. And so I've been looking on Eventbrite to figure out, let me see what events are kind of going on in my area.

And I just haven't seen really any in my area. ⁓ There are some that are kind of like across the water for me, which with traffic, it takes a while to get there. Sometimes it's 45 minutes to an hour going one way and then I have to come back through the tunnel. So it's just like a whole thing. And even then I don't even really see a whole bunch of events. so like, it's like I'm an introverted type of person. And so I

don't mind, I'm not necessarily like the hosty host, like I'm not the hostess with the mostess, right? I'm not that. ⁓ And so I don't mind attending someone else's event. And I've just been waiting this year to like, who's gonna do it? And nobody's done it. And so it's like, K'Niqwa, you have to do it. Like you, I want to be involved. I want to.

but I'm like, I'm not seeing anyone else do it. And so it's like, you have the space, you have the know-how, and so you have to be the one to do it. You just have to be. So now I have to kind of do that. So we're going to be doing that. So definitely any type of in-person events that we do have in my office, I definitely will be letting you guys know here on the podcast. It'll be on our website too, which like, you I love revamping the website. So yeah, you guys are gonna get another little website that I'm working on now.

⁓ It's available on the website, which is the your systems pro.com website The next thing coming up for only got two more things for you guys here This episode was definitely longer than what I what I intended it to be But I'm happy so happy if you are still listening and you're still tuning into the podcast I really appreciate you you listening and still being being here and being around so ⁓ The last thing is just being making sure it won't last you think it's being consistent

here on the podcast and on YouTube. Like I said, I'm bringing in that energy, you know what I'm saying of into 2026 of being more consistent. I will be on holiday break. So this is our course, our final podcast episode of 2025 and the next podcast episode, just in case the next podcast episode probably will not be until the week of January 12th.

I typically like to post my episodes on Wednesdays, so it might not be until January 14th, which is a Wednesday. That might be the first new episode you guys get from me. ⁓ I'm gonna try for January 7th, but I'm not, I have no guarantees, right? I don't want you guys to think, man, she said she was gonna fall off and she did again. No.

It might not be till January 14th ⁓ where I can go when I, because I need to batch some podcasts, but I'm going on holiday. So I'm to be on break for two weeks. Okay. All right. So, but yeah, just being more consistent here on the podcast, making sure that I'm showing up. If there's topics that you guys want me to go through and cover that's in the realm of systems, automation, workflows, client management, ⁓ business, business stuff, you know, just let me know, send that information over to me. I don't mind going through.

and talking about those. do want to have another segment on the podcast, like the podcast that I have now for here for the systems rehab podcast. ⁓ The podcast that I have now, I do have my topics, like I have so many different topics that, you know, that we have and that I would love to cover here. But I do want to kind of mix it up with some episodes like this. ⁓ These being just me just ranting off.

You know, stuff it's structured. have my notes, but just having like, you know, just behind the scenes, you know, conversation with you about business and all of the things in between. If you like these type of episodes, you know, definitely let me know. I just know these episodes tend to be a little bit longer. And so I'm not sure if, you know, my husband always says, you know, people don't want to listen to really long episodes, you know. And so.

I'm like, yeah, maybe I should cut it down. So that's when I started cutting it, trying to cut it down to like the 20 minutes. I personally don't mind listening to like a podcast. It's like an hour long because I listen to it while I work. But definitely let me know because I want to make sure that I'm giving you the content that you need ⁓ and that you, you know, that you connect with, you vibe with and that helps you move your business forward ultimately. So.

But that's what we're doing as far as that. And then the final thing before we close out this podcast is going to be templates and workshops. So I touched on workshops already. What we have coming up for 2026 just with the systems rehab community. So that will be a part of just going through and just doing more of like an education base and having a place where I can actually show you certain things, especially for some of you that like to DIY.

your systems that you actually have a structure on how to actually do it and do it successfully. And so I do want to do the workshops, live workshops, and then, you know, of course replays, but do live workshops, but then also templates, templates so you can see, so I can create the system for you, for those, again, that like to DIY that.

the system and structure is already there. You're just plugging and playing your own stuff. like, for example, like I have systems for, like I have a client management hub and an air table, right? I would love to share that with you. I have a content hub and air table. We do ⁓ client support tickets inside of air table, right? ⁓ Honey book templates where I design your honey book templates for you and you can.

this plug and play them like your proposals, your welcome guides that these things are already done for you or a project management system that's done that you have my strategy, you have my strategic mind behind the tool and software that we're using that you can just go through and just plug and play your own process and your own workflows into. So that's something that you can look forward to in in ⁓ 2026.

So after a long hour of conversation, longer than I thought I was gonna go through and speak, I hope that you found this episode helpful. I hope that you and your family have a wonderful holiday. I hope that you have a very happy new year. I hope that as you're going into the new year is that you really just start to just reflect on the things that, not necessarily that you've.

I kind of think of everything as a learning lesson, right? You can learn from every single thing that happens in your business and in your life. And it's really just about the way that we interpret the things that have happened to us or rather I say happened for us of how we go through and interpret it and how we're going to go through and use that information to be able to better ourselves and better our lives.

And so as we're going into 2026, I really just want you to just pull out the lessons, pull out the things that you can learn from and actually start to go through and just make certain tweaks and changes to help you to be able to move your business forward, your life forward in 2026. So again, like I said, I hope you have a wonderful, wonderful holiday, wonderful new year.

and I will see you guys over on the other side in 2026.