A quiet month but progress is being made

Good afternoon, lovely WA peeps!

I hope you are having a wonderful close to the month.

January starts with lots of fireworks - literally - and we all have lots of great intentions of things we are going to do that rarely last into week 2. For me, this month has looked very quiet from an online business point of view, and I haven't been able to post as much here or read the blogs that I normally would.

I've had:

• No big launches
• No major traffic wins
• No shiny new projects to show off despite having 'finished' the draft of my book!

But strangely, I feel more accomplished this month than I have in a while. Why? Because this month has been about clearing the things that were quietly draining my energy in the background and getting myself back on track for the future.

Clearing up is part of putting on the show!

Being a drama teacher, I love this quote because it reminds me that building anything is not always about the slick launches and the bits that appear on the outside to the audience. Most of the work that goes on in an online business is slow grafting in the background, and that needs site maintenance, checking analytics, and, yes, sweeping the proverbial floor when needed.

This is what January has been like for me. I finally tackled a huge pile of paperwork and post that had been sitting there making me feel guilty every time I thought about it - or more accurately, climbed over it to get to my desk! I applied for and got a new job, which gives me more financial stability while I continue to build my online income streams. And last night, I submitted my tax return before the deadline (just), which has cleared space in my head and avoided a financial penalty!

None of this directly built my websites.
But all of it has made me feel lighter in my outlook, less guilty and more productive, and has prepared the way ahead for the new month coming in.

When you’re building an online business, especially alongside work and family life, mental bandwidth is everything. If your brain is full of “I really should deal with that” thoughts, it is so much harder to sit down and write, create, plan or learn. I generally dislike the "shoulds' and 'shouldn'ts' that we tell ourselves, but sometimes you just have to stop and clear the path in order to move forward.

This month, I wasn’t building income-generating pages, but I was building peace of mind. And that matters more than we sometimes like to admit.

We often measure progress in visible metrics like posts published, emails sent, followers gained, or income earned. But there is another kind of progress that happens behind the scenes, when no one is looking, and where the lights rarely shine. It is the kind of progress where you sort your finances or your family situation, organise your paperwork, make responsible decisions, and create a more stable base for your future.

That is not a distraction from your business.
That is support for your business.

The payoff

I can already feel the difference in my mental clarity, and I am genuinely feeling very pleased with myself, although others would say there is little to show for my efforts.

But's that's the case with lots of things when you are building an online business. It takes time to dig and secure the foundations before any of the glitzy building really gets going.

With these big life-admin tasks out of the way, my head feels clearer, and I have so much more emotional space to think creatively again. Instead of low-level stress humming away in the background, there is more calm and more focus, which means more creativity coming soon!

How was your January?

So if you’ve had a month like me where you feel like you “didn’t do much” for your online goals, take a closer look.

• Did you handle something you’d been avoiding?
• Did you make a decision that improves your stability?
• Did you clear something that’s been weighing you down?

If so, you have moved forward, and you need to congratulate yourself on clearing your path.

Online business is not just about strategies and tools. It is built on the real life of the person behind the screen. And when that person is more organised, more stable and less stressed, the business has a much stronger chance of growing.

We all know that many of us have life events and obstacles that crop up from time to time that take us away from what we are trying to build online. And this is just part of living on Earth. But the main thing is to keep going; clear the path and move forward.

Next month, I will be back to more visible action on my sites. But I’m starting from a clearer, calmer place. And that feels like real progress to me.

And a little rest stop with time for a coffee and a choccy biscuit never did anyone any harm, every once in a while!

Let me know how your January has played out in the comments below.

Have a great rest of the week.

Gail