Here are my 2021 brand and business goals for Emma’s Edition.
One of my favorite things to do at the start of each new year is to reflect on my previous year’s goals and choose new goals to work towards in the new year. I love goal setting. I love looking at my brand and business and choosing my focus areas. I love reflecting on what I learned and what I could do better.
Before I jump into my 2021 goals for Emma’s Edition,
here were my 2020 goals and why or why I didn’t meet those goals:
Goal #1: Drive 100,000 monthly page views on Emma’s Edition (didn’t meet)
In 2018, I drove 10,000 monthly page views. In 2019, I drove 40,000 monthly page views. In 2020, I drove 50,000 monthly page views. I didn’t meet this 2020 goal for a few reasons.
The first, is that when the pandemic hit in spring, my travel posts tanked. My “Instagrammable places” blog posts for cities like New York, New Orleans, and San Francisco absolutely took a hit. Prior to the pandemic, my travel posts drove tons of traffic through both organic Google Search results and Pinterest.
Secondly, I switched my focus halfway through the year when I found out I was getting laid off from my aerospace job. Brandon and I wanted to purchase a home this summer before I got laid off and my friend Tori recommended that I launch my first course instead. I listened to her advice and decided that I would focus on courses the second half of 2020. I’m not surprised I didn’t hit this goal because I chose to focus elsewhere.
But here are the two courses I launched in 2020:
How to Negotiate (Paid) Brand Collaborations
How to Set Goals for Your Brand & Business
Goal #2: Match my (former) corporate salary of $90,000 with content creation (achieved)
I’m so excited to share that I reached this goal in November and surpassed it in December. In 2019, I earned $40,000 with my blog and Instagram as a side hustle. I was working full-time and finishing two quarters of grad school during this year. After graduating in June 2019, I knew I could earn more money in 2020 since I didn’t have to split my time and energy with grad school. You’ll be seeing a full blog posts on my journey to hitting 6-figures as a content creator soon!
Goal #3: Reach 50,000 followers on Instagram (didn’t meet)
In 2018, I reached my goal of growing to 20,000 followers. In 2019, I reached my goal of 30,000 followers. So in 2020, I wanted to set a stretch goal of 50,000 followers. I didn’t meet this goal. I ended 2020 with 39,000+ followers but my engagement rate actually improved from 4% to 5%. I look back now and realize that I organically grow by about 10,000 followers each year, so I know by the end of 2021, I’ll be at 50,000+ followers.
Goal #4: Launch a Podcast with my friend Maddy (achieved)
We did it! We launched the Content Creatives Podcast in February 2020. We’re coming up on our first year anniversary and we’re so excited to see how our podcast community grows in 2021.
Here are my 2021 Goals:
Goal #1: Bring in $200,000 in revenue with Emma’s Edition
I broke over 6-figures in 2020 so my stretch financial target for 2021 is $200,000. I plan on bringing this income in with a mix of long-term and short-term brand collaborations, courses, and a mentorship program.
Goal #2: Build my community and consistency on TikTok
In 2020, I was focused on getting more comfortable on video and editing short-form video content. I think I was successful in that and I’m ready to expand my TikTok presense in 2021.
In order to build community, I need to create a consistent schedule creating videos and engaging on TikTok. My goal for 1Q2021 is to post 4-5 videos a week and work up to eventually posting every day. I plan on repurposing my behind the scenes videos from photo shoots and also using the content I produce on Instagram stories.
Goal #4: Launch 3-4 courses
My goal is to launch at least 1 course per quarter. I have three courses I want to launch this year. My next course is going to be: How to Create a Content Plan & Strategy for your brand/business.
I’ve found that I love writing courses. I’ve been writing long-form content on my blog for years. Creating courses has been an extension of my writing passions and I love being able to showcase my process, lessons learned, and tips for career in content creation in courses. My community has also responded well to the course so I’m excited to create content that’s going to help them build their brands and businesses!
Goal #5: Automate Podcast Processes
I could probably write a separate blog posts on our Content Creatives Podcast goals. But a major goal for me is to automate posting to Instagram and solidify my process publishing new blog posts for our CCP website.
There you have it friends – 5 of my major goals in 2021 for Emma’s Edition.
I have a few more goals that I’ll share with you as I realize them through the year. But I did want to share with you a financial goal, a goal around building community and consistency, and a goal around expanding my brand on a new platform.
What are your goals for brand and business?
If you want to see how I’ve grown as a blogger and content creator, I recommend checking out my previous goals:
2020 Blogging Goals for Emma’s Edition
5 Blogging Goals for Emma’s Edition in 2019
Thank you for reading!
Love,
Emma