Happy New Year
By
Teresa Wojcik
Published on
August 20, 2024
Hi there!
Happy New Year to You - I hope you had some time over the last month to do things that you love and that make you feel recharged and fulfilled.
I had a quiet Christmas at home with my partner (bliss!), and then a few days in Sydney to round out 2023. I also had some personal breakthroughs.
2023 was an incredible year for me personally, and for Your Season. I spent a bit of time recently reflecting and setting goals for the coming year. It's going to be a good one!
I am still actively building Your Season and it doesn't have its own momentum yet. It's very easy to feel like you are always working on tasks, but never get any closer to 'done'.
To help get through this overwhelm, I've been thinking about what I would like to achieve this year, breaking those goals down into tasks, and putting them into timelines.
For example, I want to apply for the R&D Tax Incentive this year, which needs to be entered by April. This is important because if I can get as much back for the algorithm development as possible, this means I will have more cash in hand to manage cashflow for the second half of the year. It also means that I can start offering a subscription to stylists, which will also improve upfront cashflow.
However:
• Completing the algorithm before the middle of the year will cost me another $65,000, which I don't have.
• I will continue teaching singing this year and keep bootstrapping. Even though I am well-paid, this won't cover everything.
• I am still chasing some Angel Investors. I have also been encouraged to apply for other sources of funding, such as the Industry Growth Program.
• I have some applications to fill out.
As you can see, there is a lot of untangling that needs to be done...
Another challenge I have been facing, is that I AM UNABLE TO CONTACT THE WINNER OF THE FREE COLOUR ANALYSIS COMPETITION FROM LAST YEAR!
The beautiful Hang won the competition from the Innovation Showcase. I emailed her, and never received a response. I tracked her down on LinkedIn, and she added me. When I messaged her, letting her know she had won, she never read the message.
If you know Hang, would you PLEASE put her in touch with me?
At the end of last year, I changed over website development teams to Journey Horizon, headed by Matt Ryan. They have lots of plans to improve the website, including making it much more SEO-friendly. Tanja Uzarevic-Colton, my marketer, also has lots of ideas for what she thinks should be added to the website to make it more user-friendly/attractive.
Matt and Team started working on the website last week. It's currently unavailable as the team work their magic, but we should be seeing results soon.
A personal win that I can't stop telling people about, is that I realised I have insomnia. This may seem like a strange thing to 'realise', but as I have had trouble getting to sleep for over a decade, it just seemed 'normal' to me. My doctor was horrified when I told her it takes me 2-3 hours to get to sleep every night - if not longer! And yes, this is despite my sleep hygiene being immaculate.
I have been taking melatonin for the last week, and I am a new person! For the first time since I can remember, I have been waking up naturally around 7.30am. Previously, if I didn't set an alarm, I would sleep until 10am or later. This was a source of great personal shame for me because I thought it meant I was lazy (and anyone who knows me knows I am VERY disciplined in most areas of my life!), so it is extremely gratifying to know that if I just get to sleep within a normal window and sleep through, I am perfectly capable of waking up at a normal time 'like everyone else'.
Watch out, world!
While we're waiting for the website to be back up and running, give us some love over on social media! If you want to keep up to date with business announcements, and love Tanja's beautiful social tiles, give us a like on Facebook. If you prefer the everyday updates, you can follow my much more casual reels on TikTok.
Thanks for reading along! I'm really looking forward to the progress this year should bring. If you can think of anyone who would be interested in joining me on this journey, please invite them to subscribe to the newsletter here.
Talk soon!
