I’ve never been big on resolutions or goals, but rather I like to think of them as intentions. At the start of every new year, I think to myself, what do I want to accomplish this year and why? If it’s not something that’s extremely important to me or something that has substantial meaning or thought behind it, it likely won’t happen. So why won’t I be making any new intentions or goals in 2024? Well, let’s go back and review last year shall we?

I manifested everything I wanted last year.

Yes, that’s right. I had some big intentions last year and they ALL CAME TRUE. It’s actually not surprising because when I set my mind to something, I will execute (unless it has to do with my weight…more on that soon). I’ve always been a big believer in manifestation, even before it was even “trendy” or all over Pinterest and Instagram and I was manifesting things into existence before I even knew what it really meant. Don’t know much about this topic? I highly recommend reading the the book, Manifest: 7 steps to living your best life, by Roxie Nafousi. I feel like I could write an entire post on this topic alone, but for the sake of today’s post, I encourage you to read the book and trust the process. So let’s review 2023 so you can better understand what I’m talking about here.

My 2023 year in review

Believe or not, I didn’t write down ANY of my 2023 intentions - or at least I don’t think I did because I can’t find them ANYWHERE (maybe I shouldn’t have 576 different notebooks). But I did make a vision board, something I highly encourage everyone to do. It’s a fun way to be creative and visualization is a huge part of manifesting. You can see a sneak peek of my 2023 vision board below, which I made in Pinterest. I referred back to this board often when I was starting out the year and slowly starting implementing the tasks required to reach my goals.

My top 3 intentions

#1. Financial Freedom. This was really important to me because I’ve always been very financially independent for as long as I can remember. Being an entrepreneur your income can ebb and flow more than I’d like to admit and I historically have not been a great saver (not a great combo, I know). Even though Wes was very involved in the decision I made to leave my corporate job (and very a comfortable yearly salary) after having Tayler, I have always been insecure about the fact that I haven’t been able to contribute to our family for the past 7 years. I have zero reason to feel this way, no one (including my amazing husband) has ever put pressure on me to work, but it’s engrained in me to work and hustle. It’s when I feel I the most alive. Starting a new business has so many ups and downs and I’d be lying if I said I went into this Interior Design business 100% prepared. I had no money to invest into the business when I started and I went solely off a gut feeling and the support of all of you, the followers of Styled Out West who encouraged me to just start! I’ve learned so much over the past 3 years, but something I really decided to focus on last year was how the business could not only grow, but be more profitable, too. This is when I came across the book and method Profit First, by Mike Michalowicz. Again, I could write an entire post on this topic, so maybe I will one day, but this book completely changed to the way I think about money in regards to my business and personal life. I highly encourage all entrepreneurs to read this if you want to start working smarter, not harder. This easy, yet effective process led to the most profitable year we’ve ever seen at Styled Out West and for the first time in a long time, I’m not only able to contribute to our family, but save money for our future as well. The savings part was actually the most monumental part for me. I begin to crave saving money instead of spending it. It led to me purchasing less, well, crap and investing in more high quality items that will last. It also led to Wes and I hiring a Financial Advisor so we would get our financial goals in check because if we really want to retire early (or travel the world), we better start planing for it now!

#2. Get in better shape (aka lose weight). I’ve struggled with my weight for as long as I can remember. It’s never been easy for me to stay thin. I can remember maybe 4 years in my entire life when I felt confident about my body. And I take full responsibility for treating my body like absolute trash from about age 18-28. I’ve tried everything under the sun since then to lose weight and get healthier, but throw in 2 babies and a pandemic and nothing was sticking (except the extra weight). So last year, I decided to seek medical help (something I’ve also done before but have always been told I’m too “healthy” and they could never figure out what was wrong with me). This time, I sought out a naturopathic Doctor because I’ve been burned too many times by traditional medicine doctors and I just wanted to be heard. I’m so happy I did because my blood work showed I was actually “pre-diabetic” and since diabetes runs on my Mom’s side of the family, I needed to take my weight loss seriously. My Doctor informed me that genetically I am likely predisposed to obesity and losing weight will always be extremely hard for me (FUN!) and that I also likely had a major blood sugar imbalance. I’ve always been very active and exercise has always been a part of my life in some shape or form (though not always consistently) so I knew I needed something more drastic than hitting the gym to jumpstart my metabolism and get me on the right track. She recommended a medication and a Mediterranean style diet that would help regulate my blood sugar. To my surprise, I lost about 20 pounds in 4 months. I committed to the plan and stuck with it (and the medication really helped) and I was so proud of myself for staying committed and not giving up. 9 months later, I am maintaining my weight loss and eating cleaner than ever before. I’ve also been challenging myself at the gym and now workout 6-7 days a week without even thinking about. It’s become second nature to me and for that I am so grateful that I stayed consistent.

#3. Grow Styled Out West. This one sort of went hand in hand with #1 because along with financial freedom meant I needed to increase our business revenue. I had worked hard in years past to refine our services and perfect our processes and it was finally starting to show. I didn’t want to take on more projects, but rather, better quality projects that were more revenue generating. One of my big goals was to find a receiving company for our furnishing projects. The big perk of being a designer is you get “to the trade pricing” for furniture and decor, but in order to get the best price, you need a receiver to inspect, receive, store and then deliver all the items for you. This is not only beneficial for our profitability, but it’s a much smoother client experience too because everything is delivered on one day for a flat fee. It was something I had been avoiding for a while because the thought of implementing yet another process seamed daunting, but when I found our company, the transition was so easy and left me wondering why the hell didn’t do it sooner!? I also wanted to hire a Design Assistant so that we could take on these larger projects with ease. In May, I hired someone who I was really excited about. She helped facilitate the design of a really large project, but ultimately it didn’t work out as she ran into a childcare issue. I’m not going to lie, I was defeated. But I realized I needed to do a better job as a Manager and better manage the expectations of my team and the role responsibilities for someone in this type of role (so that’s something I’m focusing on in 2024)! All said and done, we tripled our revenue last year and it was all due to these small changes that led to big impact! It’s a pretty monumental moment when you see the figures in real life and realize you did that ALL ON YOUR OWN.

Bonus. A new car. This one is a bit silly because I don’t like to manifest material things, but our previous car had been in the shop and needed work that required more money than we were willing to spend. I looked at this new car as more of a reward for accomplishing so much in such a short amount of time. I had been looking for a specific car for months and months, but I didn’t want to buy it brand new. I decided to go with a Certified Used car so that we could save some money but still have a newer car. I had a very specific color (exterior and interior) in mind and wasn’t really willing to take anything else. Getting a new car wasn’t a necessity but rather a luxury and I was okay to wait until the perfect car came around. That’s the part about manifesting that most people get wrong, you have to be grateful for what you currently have before you can wish for something else. I would visualize myself driving the car, what it looked like inside and out, how it would smell and the memories we’d make in there as a family. I had looked for months and months online and then one day, the exact color I wanted popped up online with very low miles within our price range. I emailed the dealership and we basically made the entire deal virtually (even my car trade in) and 2 days later I was driving home in my new car. A good reminder that manifesting takes patience.

So what’s in store for 2024?

Instead of creating new goals this year that will likely overwhelm me, I have decided to improve upon and perfect everything I manifested last year. CONSISTENCY is my word for this year. I want to continue to be consistent in everything I do, but also challenge myself. This means saving more money, generating even more revenue, losing more weight and continuing to challenge myself with my workouts. And most importantly, just enjoying this beautiful life (and new car) that' I’ve created.

What are you manifesting this year? Tell me in the comments!

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