Mornin', y'all! Everyone all turkey-ed out over there? But seriously, I hope you had some down time to sit, reflect, and express some gratitude for where you are today. I've been seriously grateful to be <30 minutes from family so when those inevitable emergencies that happen, especially with young kids, I get to call in backup.

(Also, can we all just celebrate that this newsletter didn't take me 365 days to write?! 🎉)

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🌹 & 🥀

Okie dokie - as promised, it's roses and wilty roses thorns time! My kids and I love a good roses & thorns discussion around our dinner table. I wish it happened more, but such is life when you're serving meals at 4:30pm AND 7:30pm to your kids who must do all.of.the.activites. Anywho, when we do have a chance to actually use our dining room, we always chat about what's gone well and not so well during our days. So, I figured I'd do a roses & thorns on steroids for what's been going on with consulting over the past year.

🌹

1. I have an immense amount of autonomy and control in my work life. I get to decide who I work with, who I don't, when I work, where I work, etc.
2. I get to take calculated risks. If I want to try a new offering or do my accounting differently, I can just do it. I don't need to ask permission and if things fail, it's only on me. I'm not letting down a huge team of people if something just doesn't work out.
3. I found a pretty solid set of offerings that seem to be resonating well with my ICP.
4. Even though I was worried about feeling isolated, I've found an incredible community of people who are also along similar journeys (shout out to OGC and WELL!).
5. I get to go on fun adventures with my kids. Gone are the days of shoving my kids off to a babysitter after school. Now that both kiddos are school-age, we get to make impromptu stops to the library or have playdates. I also really enjoy seeing my kids have fun with their afterschool activities - now, I get to really watch them and stay present.
6. I get to take breaks during the day while the house is quiet. I am 100% an introvert and having a quiet house to enjoy and not hop from call to call has been really energizing.
7. I have more time for podcast listening. I've gotten to listen to some awesome podcasts this year. Currently, I'm on a personal finance kick and listening to Money with Katie on the reg.

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🥀 (just go with me, this is a thorn)

1. I haven't done the best job of protecting my time, especially for deep think work. It's really easy to just say, "oh, I'll just take 1 more meeting..." but this is a slippery slope.
2. Navigating the ups and downs. Consulting, especially in the early years, is plagued with uncertainty with just about everything. Most people focus on the uncertainty of income. This was definitely true this year. There were some months of higher income than I could have ever expected, and months with very little. I'm looking forward to finding ways to even out the peaks and valleys, or at least make them more predictable.
3. Finding the right tech stack. Ugh, I hate even typing the words tech stack. I experimented with a few options, but ultimately landed on Moxie because it's a one-stop shop for everything I really need. It has calendar links, accounting tracking, CRM, contracts, etc. It was worth A LOT to me to not have 5 different programs to manage each part of my business. I'm happy with it, but we'll see what this year brings. I'm eager to bring some more efficiency into the business!
4. Finding the "right" balance. I'm not sure that this really even exists tbh. At times, work takes over. Other times, it's all the other parts of life. It never really feels quite "right" (whatever tf that means..). I've talked a bit about finding synergy between work and non-work and I think this is where things start to come together. It's not 50% work and 50% everything else. There's a natural ebb and flow that I'm looking to get more cozy with in 2025.

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So, there you have it.

Next time, based on the data (obvi) I've gotten so far from the poll below, we'll dig in a bit more into the wonderful world of consulting and what I'm thinking about for 2025. Drop me a line via email if you have some specific questions I can help answer in the next newsletter! Maybe you're wondering how to make it work financially or how to start consulting before you leave a full-time gig... no question is off the table!

The Sassy Scientist 💁‍♀️

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