- Reflections of a year gone by and resolutions for a year to come: Part 3
“There is no true ending, just a new beginning.”
- Unknown
For the third year in a row, and my fourth in a career that is no longer new, I am penning this review with the confidence of having established myself as an executive and personal empowerment life coach. I am also filled with gratitude for the time gone by and the time that's to come.
Before setting goals for the future, it is always a good idea to reflect on the past, pat ourselves on the back for a job well done, and sum up the learnings to begin the New Year on the right note. We cannot change history, but we can definitely ensure that we do not repeat historical mistakes.
If you remember my last review, I had made a pact with you – dear reader – to share my progress, achievements, successes and failures every year before the New Year. I have come good on my promise this year. I hope my learnings inspire you to make 2025 the best year of your life.
2023 was a highly eventful year for me. When 2024 started, it was not a question of replicating the success; I knew I would. My ambition was to soar higher and innovate so that I could do what I love (coaching) to the best of my abilities. I had my own goals for 2024, but destiny dealt its own cards. I found myself exceeding some goals I had set, discarding or deferring some goals for later, and charting grounds I hadn't envisaged.
Hard work, teamwork and God's blessings came together to make 2024 a successful year for me.
My Coaching Journey: Roaring Growth in 2024
2022 was the year when my coaching practice evolved into a business. 2023 was the year when the business leapfrogged and I had the pleasure and opportunity to make a difference in the lives of many individuals across multiple geographies.
2024 was a year where I transcended boundaries and gained exceptional recognition as a coachpreneur, exceeding my own ambitions in the process.
My Executive and Life Coaching Business Goals for 2024
At the beginning of the year, I had set out the following goals for my coaching business (listed in order of importance):
1. Make a deeper impact in the lives of clients I work with. This entailed being more selective in working with clients and adjusting my professional charges accordingly.
2. Focus on 3 key channels for Business Development Efforts: SEO, LinkedIn, and Bark. The video strategy was to be re-pivoted towards LinkedIn rather than YouTube.
3. Double down on brand-building efforts to reach out to my target audience in a cluttered market. Target 5 high-impact stage/print/electronic appearances during the year
4. Increase the number of clients from countries outside India, and institute a separate fee tier for international clients
5. Enhance the coaching experience for clients – add incremental offerings and touchpoints to the core proposition
6. Take out the time to experiment in coaching business – continue to accumulate more ‘fail-fasts’ to grow the business
7.Set up 1 passive income stream for Empower Yourself Business by the end of the year
The above resolutions were intended to evolve as a coach and grow as an entrepreneur in my coaching business. I had set separate milestones for myself in my writing career, which I have mentioned in the blog post on my writing site.
The Life of a Life Coach: Behind the Scenes
2024 was a year of experiments. Throughout 2023, my focus was on developing strong business processes. Those processes, coupled with the support of my Virtual Assistance team (again, a 2023 investment), gave stupendous returns in 2024, providing me the bandwidth to innovate on client experience and brand building, in addition to investing in my own development as a coach.
That doesn't imply that I didn't have to work hard. There's no shortcut to success. To reinforce this, I am providing a behind the scene breakdown of what went into pulling off a successful business year.
1. Continued business development calls, albeit with reduced frequency (391 calls vs 500 last year)- Cumulative count of 1377
Two years ago, I realised that nothing gets you more business than speaking to people who are looking for the services you provide. Continuing in the same vein, I had business development conversations with 391 new people during the year—people I didn’t know and vice versa. This would mean making at least 800 phone calls during the year since it takes two or three calls to convert a prospect into a client. While the number may appear large, the corresponding number last year was 500. So my time towards active business development activities reduced this year.
Masked Screenshot of my Lead Follow-up File
Toward the end of the year, I reached the cumulative count of about 1400 unique people conversations. My client conversion ratio continued improving this year, meaning I needed fewer conversations to fill my client roster.
2. Vigorous experiments on LinkedIn- Multiple LinkedIn Lives, Challenge Videos and Brand Refresh
Given the significant presence of my target client base on LinkedIn, this was my focus area for the year. I continued posting five days a week on LinkedIn—with frequent posting on weekends based on events and milestones. I also periodically refreshed my LinkedIn strategy, attempting and then consistently resorting to LinkedIn Live events, challenge videos and different posting formats during the year.
LinkedIn Live was a new area I ventured into for the first time earlier this year, and I ended up hosting 10 such events during the year, with building my brand as the primary objective. The highlight of my LinkedIn experiments was the 6-week episodic 'Career Pivot Playbook: Navigating Career Change with Confidence', a six-week event that I could pull off despite my schedule with the help of my Virtual Assistant Shruthi.
Banners of some LinkedIn Live events hosted during the year
I also refreshed the branding collaterals for the Empower Yourself Business, making them bolder to match my messaging and logo palette.
3. Wrote 100+ LinkedIn articles and blog posts during the year and continued with the SEO link-building strategy
I was consistent with my articles and blog posts this year- publishing 2 of each every month. Further, I prepared more than 300 responses to press questions from HARO(lately Connectivity) as part of my SEO backlink strategy, till the latter shut down wef 9th December.
I also wrote 3 guest articles on the Women’s Web platforms before the latter shut down its operations. This is excluding my fiction writing, which I have given an account of in my yearly round-off for writing here.
Improved client experience by providing seamless AI-enabled session transcripts at no additional cost to clients
In the AI era, you either adapt to the tool or risk being left behind. I was determined not to be left behind while using AI to improve the experience for my clients while staying within ethical limits.
Since the middle of the year, I have integrated an AI tool in my coaching sessions that transcribes speech to text after due permission. Now all my clients automatically receive the transcript of the coaching session without any additional effort. They don't have to worry about taking notes, enabling both them and me to be fully present during the sessions.
This is an add-on offering for the benefit of my clients, with no additional professional fees. Those who use the transcripts have good words to say about the customisation levers it offers, giving me an additional lever for client delight.
Technology, including AI, can both be a boon and a bane. It is up to us how we decide to use it. Not leveraging technology is not an option if you want to grow.
5. Posting YouTube shorts along with full-length videos
Though YouTube was not my focus area, I consistently released one(occasionally two) video a week on the channel, making more than 60 videos during the year. Thanks to my VA's suggestion, I also started posting shorts on the channel, which helped expand my subscriber count.
If you read my last year's round up, you will recall that I fell way short of reaching my target of 100 subscribers for the channel. Funnily, the year I took my eye off the target turned out to be when I crossed this milestone. My subscriber count stands at 132 as on date and is steadily growing. I will continue posting videos on the channel consistently, though YouTube will remain on low-priority for my business development strategy.
6. Refreshed the format of my Coaching Newsletter and continued sending weekly newsletters
I refreshed the format of my weekly newsletter midway through the yearand continued sending it every week to subscribers, making it 52 newsletters during the year. Thanks to my SEO strategy, the subscriber count also kept on growing steadily.
Executive and Life Coaching Business Report Card: Progress Vs. Plan
Here are my achievements and misses against the 2024 goals:
1. Steady client base and coaching hours increase despite taking selective clients and increased pricing
I started the year with 1187.5 client coaching hours and ended it with 1870 hours. That is 682.5 client coaching hours in 2024 — about 2 client coaching hours every day of the year. I started the year with the intention of being selective, and yet am ending the year with more coaching hours than I did last year, though these hours have come from working with fewer clients than last year.
From 2021 to 2024, I was blessed to work with about 300 individual and corporate clients for life and executive coaching requirements, including those from 9 countries outside India. That makes an average of >6 coaching hours/client, meeting my objective of working more deeply with clients. 8 of my clients who I worked with this year are in the C-suite level.
Some of the companies where my coaching clients work
More than the 74 new clients I worked with during the year, it was the 26 clients who came to me again (some of them multiple times during the year!) that gave me more satisfaction. The 120+ client testimonials on my website and the increase in the number of clients coming through word of mouth and referrals (14% of new clients during the year came through referrals) testify to clients’ satisfaction with my services, which is translating into more business.
Select appreciation that I received from my clients over text messages
I introduced a separate fee tier for international clients, and during the year, I had 15 new international clients from 6 different countries.
I also established relationships with 5 new corporate clients in the year and received repeat business from my existing ones. Although I fell short of my target last year in the former aspect, the gap was bridged this year despite my not targeting it.
Who says persistence and hard work doesn't pay off?
Excellent service delivery speaks for itself and leads to more business with swifter lead times.
2. Diversified my lead generation sources while nurturing my key funnel
Bark continued to be my primary lead generation funnel with 44 new clients coming through the channel. It took me about 391 unique BD conversations to get those 44 clients. I am purposely bringing out the number to put the behind-the-scenes work in perspective. Building a business is hard work.
I continue to be among the most successful coaches on Bark, with 147 cumulative client hires from the platform. All these clients were onboarded without the customary free discovery sessions that are prevalent in the industry. Further, my expenses in Bark are 9% lower than in the corresponding period last year despite the platform increasing its prices, underlining my decreasing reliance on the platform.
Image of my Bark Profile; 147 clients have hired my coaching services over the last 4 years
My SEO efforts paid dividends this year, with 22 new clients finding me on Google and onboarding after booking a strategy session directly from my website. This signifies steady progress towards my objective of having Google become my primary source of lead generation.
My number of email subscribers through lead magnets has tripled from last year, and the site sessions and unique visits to my website have grown by 63% and 132% over the last year year.
Screenshot of the Traffic Stats of my Website
I devoted a significant proportion of my time to LinkedIn in 2024. My content performance grew by over 1000% over the last year, and my number of followers has more than doubled.
Screenshot of my LinkedIn handle content performance
However, the eyeballs-to-sales ratio through the platform has been low. LinkedIn accounted for 2 clients who found me directly through the platform for the first time.
This reinforces my view that LinkedIn is more of a brand-building platform rather than a lead acquisition platform, and I will consider my strategy accordingly from next year.
3. Held 17 workshops and speaking sessions with corporates and educational institutions during the year
I had the opportunity to strengthen my relationships with organisations by holding 15 speaking sessions and workshops on diversity and inclusion, mental health, communication and leadership development. That's the highest number of sessions I have held in my last 4 years in this profession. The engagement and positive feedback and from these workshops always encourage me to try harder.
One of the speaking sessions at an organisation this year
This year, I was also invited by educational institutions and children-centric associations to guide students in improving their communication skills. This was new ground for me, and I am grateful for the opportunity to influence and shape young minds.
Some glimpses of my interactions with young minds
4. Became an International Bestselling coauthor of Cracking the Rich Code Volume 12, appearing on the book cover with Tony Robbins
The year started with an amazing opportunity when globally renowned success coach - Jim Britt- reached out to me to co-author a chapter in the 12th edition of their bestselling 'Cracking the Rich Code' series. I wrote the 'Destiny by Design' chapter, which was a personal story of my career pivot journey that resonated with readers worldwide. In the process, I became a New York Times bestselling co-author and appeared on the cover page of the book with the inspiring Tony Robbins.
Screenshot of a Media Feature of the international bestseller that I co-authored
6. SEO focus paid expected and unexpected dividends, with my blog posts continuing to appear in the Top 5 of Google search results and the life coaching blog finding a mention in Feedspot's list of India's Top 25 life coaching blogs
The 171% growth in my website impressions, 337% growth in visitors growth and 213 new subscribers through blog posts alone over last year tell their own story.
Screenshot of Blog Post Performance Statistics of My Coaching Website
Screenshot of the Feedspot email mentioning Smita D Jain's blog amongst the country's top life coaching blogs
7. Garnered Awards, Accolades and Recognition along the way
I am grateful that Silicon India named me among the ‘Top 10 Prominent Life Coaches in India, 2024.’ This is the third year in a row and the fourth recognition from a prominent body, I have received for my coaching.
Recognition of excellence in Life Coaching by Silicon India Magazine
For the second year in a row, my entrepreneurial efforts were recognized, with HerKey (formerly JobsforHer) naming me among India’s Top three Women Entrepreneurs in 2024.
Named among the Top 3 Women Entrepreneurs in India by HerKey (formerly Jobsforher)
Being a coach cum entrepreneur feels surreal and comes with weightier responsibilities. I am aware what got me here can’t keep me here, and I have to try new things to build momentum.
8. 4 TV and 6 Print Media Appearances, 1 article featured by LinkedIn and quoted in a Forbes article, along with features in multiple portals around the globe
I succeeded in growing as a brand in 2024. The year was marked by 4 TV appearances - 2 on CNNNews18 and 1 each on CNBC Awaaz and Zee Business - and 6 Print Media Appearance (not counting the appearances as a fiction writer). The subject of balancing career with passion, workplace stress management, happiness and mental health at work are all causes I strongly believe in.
Some of my TV appearances during the year
The Daily Guardian Print-cum-Digital Appearance
In two significant firsts for me, LinkedIn News featured my article regarding Promotion at the Workplace, and I was quoted in the Forbes article on Leadership Succession Planning.
I also got 5 top-voice badges on LinkedIn- for Life Coaching, Executive Coaching, Communication, Public Speaking and Leadership Development.
Screenshot of the article featured by LinkedIn News
Screenshot of the Forbes article headline where I was quoted
9. Consistent subscriber engagement through newsletters continues paying dividends
Continuous subscriber engagement does pay dividends with many people from the email list approaching me at a later stage for a coaching engagement. My email subscribers, open rates and click rates have gone up steadily, with the subscriber doubling from last year to reach close to 2000. I continue using email as an engagement tool rather than a monetisation tool, mostly because the business continues exceeding its revenue targets.
11. Invested in my continuous coaching development and upskilled myself as an entrepreneur
As a coach, I emphasise upskilling and making investments in professional and personal development for my clients. I walk the talk as a professional here.
During the year, I completed 1 new coaching certification program on emotional intelligence and took multiple courses to begin my quest towards MCC accreditation. I also invested in 3 online courses on entrepreneurial aspects.
The certification on Emotional Intelligence I completed in the year
12. Failed to explore significant passive income sources for Empower Yourself while the attempt to hold a group masterclass for aspiring TEDx speakers bombed.
The financial performance of the ‘Empower Yourself’ Coaching business in 2024 exceeded the targets I had set for it. While the topline of my business was about 15% more than last year (despite getting selective and reducing the number of clients), the bottom line of my business grew by 31% over 2023, the latter being the year where I had grown significantly over 2022. As my coaching roster, corporate engagements and speaking commitments grew, the time at my disposal for non-core activities was reduced.
This year, many bloggers approached me to understand guest posting guidelines, providing me with an opportunity to develop this as a separate income stream. I didn't put a concerted effort into it since I can only do so much in the 24 hours I have available.
While my business is doing well, it is currently dependent on a single person for generating income – me. As an entrepreneur, that is too big a risk to take, and I do have plans to diversify the income streams. However, it is not on my priority list for 2025.
My one experiment in organising a group coaching masterclass for aspiring TEDx speakers failed due to a lack of takers. The sign-ups that I got were fewer than I expected. I was, and continue to be excited about this program; it is a very unique end-to-end offering not provided by anyone else. I have some learnings from the experience that I intended to implement in the next edition; however, with my packed one-on-one roster, I never got down to offer the next edition!
An attempt that didn't work: Rock The Stage Masterclass for TEDx aspirants
This was another of my inevitable ‘fail-fast’ attempts as an entrepreneur, something that I am glad to have attempted.
That’s what an entrepreneurial journey looks like – you will pass through many failures to achieve success and need to fail fast and move on.
Executive and Life Coaching Business Goals for 2025
How can I grow as a Personal Empowerment Life Coach and an Executive Coach in 2025 while pivoting to a life-first business?
Reflecting on what I learned during the year, I have decided to have fewer goals and pivot to a life-first business model. That means my professional goals will revolve around continuity, and my business will pivot to revolve around my personal life. While I will continue to empower people to achieve a better version of themselves, my work hours will reduce, and I will prioritise my family over my work while maintaining the same income levels.
While the above may sound simple, it entails a significant mindset shift. It has taken 18 years for a workaholic like me to reach this stage. I have no hesitation in declaring that this is one of the toughest life goals I have set for myself.
Here is the breakdown of my 2025 goals:
1. Become an ICF-accredited Master Certified Coach (MCC). Only 2% of coaches globally are MCC certified. Besides other conditions, this will also entail completing 2500+ client coaching hours during the year.
2. Focus on two key channels for Business Development Efforts: SEO and one alternative to Bark. Bark has decided to shut down its operations in India from the beginning of 2025, which will be a big test for my coaching business venture, given that it was my largest source of lead generation.
3. Focused brand-building efforts on LinkedIn via knowledge sharing. Will aim to establish thought leadership in one particular area.
4. Invest in my development as a coach by completing at least two more certifications besides the MCC credential and undertaking at least one training/course a month.
While 2024 was all about experimentation, 2025 will be the year of steady focus and skill enhancement.
Executive and Life Coaching … The Last Word for 2024
For me, passion is always over profit, and people are always more important than money. I am blessed to make a direct impact on people's lives and careers through my work. I am committed to authentic and transformational coaching, and this will not change even as I pivot to a life-first business.
My Second Career: Journey as a Writer
2024 has been an equally eventful year in my writing career with the publication of my fourth book and some significant writing accolades. I have penned the blog post in a similar format at my coaching website here if you wish to read the same.
A Special Day: With a Reader at the Launch Event of my fourth fiction book
My Personal Round-Off for 2024
My personal goals for 2024, and the progress under them are:
1. More travel during the year: I travelled a lot in 2024. 1 domestic vacation, 1 international vacation, 1 solo trip, as well as multiple small duration travels. This was the first year that I stopped carrying my laptops during vacations. And I am determined this will not be the last 😊.
2. 30 min-daily workouts: I failed miserably on this front. No wonder, my health deteriorated in 2024. Nothing alarming, but I need to spend more time on physical activities. While I was consistent with a daily 20-minute workout routine for the first 10 months of the year, this dropped off my radar in the last two months.
One silver lining on this front was me resuming playing badminton after nearly two decades.
Rekindling old flames: Resumed playing badminton after two decades
I intend to restart with regular after the winters are over and increase the duration.
3. Start maintaining a daily gratitude journal and end the day by noting the things I am grateful for: While I didn't start a journal, I did add a 'thank you' routine in my daily prayers. This helped me overcome a very difficult period personally.
Declutter my surroundings: I started the year with an aim to simplify my business and life. While business experiments added more complexity, destiny had other plans for me in life. While I did declutter and simplify things, it was not to the extent I had envisaged.
5. Block at least 3 hours daily for quality family time: This was better than last year but I wasn't as consistent as I would have liked. Now that I have decided to merge business and personal goals and pivot to a life-first business approach, my scorecard should improve on this front in 2025.
The pleasures of travelling and being with the family: Glimpses
Like last year, my scorecard again shows that I focus more on my career than personal life. While I am not apologetic about it, I do want to change.
I do not have any separate personal goals for 2025, except for consistent physical activity. If I succeed in pulling off the life-first business pivot, both my personal and professional ambitions should be realised.
The Last Word…I manifested the best professional year of my life, for the third year in a row.
2022 was a good year for me. 2023 was even better. 2024 was the best. 2025 will be even better. I know that.
There were no shortcuts here; the results and accomplishments came through hard work. Like last year, I continue to use manifestation as a tool to achieve my professional milestones.
Destiny is a choice.
2024 was the best professional year of my life. At the same time last year, I said the same thing about 2023. And I am sticking my neck out in pronouncing the same for 2025.
2025 will be the best professional year of my life. No doubt about it. What I need to see is whether I will succeed in transforming into a life-first business pivot.
Do you want to make 2025 the best year of your life? Read my tips for the same here.
Need my help to make 2025 the best year of your life? Book a strategy session with me, and let us see what we can do together.
Smita D Jain is a Certified Life Coach, Executive Coach and NLP Practitioner. Smita’s ‘Empower Yourself’ Personal Clarity Coaching Programs enable busy professionals unhappy in their jobs to tap into their passions and transform them into professions so that they work because they want to, not because they have to. 'Empower Yourself’ Executive Performance Enhancement Coaching Programs enable mid-career and senior executives to speak with confidence and communicate with impact so that they emerge as leaders sooner than envisaged.
Prior to her journey as a coach, Smita had extensive experience of 14 years as a corporate and business strategy professional with Fortune 500 companies. She is also a 2X TEDx speaker, a speaker at various public forums, a published writer, and an Amazon bestselling author.
You can learn more about Personal Empowerment Life Coach and Executive Coach Smita D Jain’s ‘Empower Yourself’ Coaching Programs by visiting www.lifecoachsmitadjain.com and book a strategy session at https://www.lifecoachsmitadjain.com/booking. You can know more about her writings at https://www.smitaswritepen.com/