2023: My Year In Review

Any year that goes by leaves us with abundance. It is the good, the bad, the ugly, the best and the worst – that’s what makes life, isn’t it?

I took a look at 2023, looking back to see what happened. I usually do a review once in three months and also a major one at the end of every year. It helps me pause, and reflect.

And, I do a year-end review to assess my progress/betterment – to find out what worked and what didn’t.

Let me share some of the big things that happened in 2023 (definitely not boasting, but absolutely grateful)

#1 Launched my Newsletter

I used to have a very active email newsletter. That was back until 2015 after I changed course with my business. Once I started embracing video content creation, I got so busy with my YouTube channel. As a result, my writing took a bit of a back seat.

Besides, I also changed my core focus – from online marketing/blogging to Personal Finance / Self Improvement. Though I have not completely left blogging/online marketing, I needed more time to focus on my new niche.

So to cut costs (which means I will be simply paying an email newsletter service which I won’t be using for at least a year) – I discontinued my service. I did take a backup of my email subscribers (8.9K). But in the meantime, I didn’t add those subscribers to my new email list.

I feel that it is not “ethical” to add a list of email subscribers to another list without their consent. So I didn’t use that list. I started from scratch.

My “new” email newsletter focuses on personal finance and self-improvement – if you want actionable tips and insights on these topics, you can join here (it is completely free).

#2 Launched my Podcast

This was something I never had pre-planned. It happened spontaneously a few months into 2023. I wanted to try it out – and ended up liking the attention I got.

I published my first Podcast episode on September second week. I have so far published 20 episodes (at the time of writing this post).

I am sweetly surprised to see that my podcast did really well just at the start. It also got a 5-star rating 🙂

You can listen to my Podcast on Spotify, Amazon Music, and a few more. On other platforms, you can search “Jane Sheeba’s Podcast” and listen to the episodes. Make sure you “Follow” me there, and give the podcast a 5-star rating, if you like it!

#3 Started writing for Knit India Magazine

By February of 2023, I was approached for contributing to the Knit India Magazine. I was initially quite doubtful because the magazine is about fashion and export business.

Though I had been writing for a decade about “business” in general, most of my focus was on doing “online” business.

Besides, since I recently shifted my focus to personal finance, banking and money, I hesitated a bit, but also wanted to take up the opportunity for two reasons.

1. In 2023 I was fully into creating video content and “writing” was almost gone from my content creation agenda. So I wanted to use this as a chance to give myself some writing time.
2. I wanted to create content from a fresh perspective. And it worked great. Every time I sit to write content for this magazine, I have to think fresh – outside of my regular niche / focus topics and it is so refreshing for my brain.

I am enjoying my journey 🙂 What more can I say?

#4 Became the Associate Editor of Knit India Magazine

After a few months into writing for the Knit India Magazine, I was offered the Associate Editor position, which I am so grateful for.

I was told that my articles got good words of appreciation from the Executive Editor and a few others. That made me extremely happy.

More motivation to write!

What I was able to do…

#5 Read 2 (and a half) business/self-help books

This year I was able to read 2 books – one of which is a bulky one.

Atomic Habits – James Clear

The Science of Self Discipline – Peter Collins

After finishing Atomic Habits, I started reading “The Psychology of Money” by Morgan Housel. But I couldn’t keep my attention up beyond a point. So I discontinued and started reading TSoSD.

Both the books that I completed reading and the book I read partly gave me loads of insights, that I started applying. A very good investment of my time, I would say.

#6 Tried a few new content types

As I said 2023 was a year of almost fully video content creation for me. However, launching my Podcast, and increasing my activity on Instagram made me focus on other types of content too.

With videos, I not only created long-form videos, but more shorts too (for Instagram, Facebook and YouTube) – this helped me explore new things with creation and publishing.

However, I have to admit that it got a bit overwhelming in the second half of 2023.

#7 Grabbed some brand opportunities

In mid-2023, I was approached for a few brand offers – sadly, I couldn’t take them up all as some didn’t align with my goals.

I still grabbed some and worked on them. It was a different experience. Will I continue doing it in 2024? I don’t know! Let’s see 🙂

#8 Other milestones….

My YouTube channel, though showing lesser progress in 2023 compared to the previous years, crossed the 10 Million views mark in 2023.

That was a piece of great news indeed!

My banking website, Banking Minutes, was recognised as a “source” in Google News (app). Something to be happy about, and something to remind me to write more on that site 🙂

A few of my Instagram reels hit nice numbers – (follow me on Instagram).

#9 Realised I must write more (in 2024)

Yes yes. Writing has always been my passion and the core of my business since 2007. When I started, I started with writing. Until 2015 it was all writing and writing only!

Writing has helped me earn 5 figures a month consistently for over a decade. I had several blogs (and still have) that helped me get clients, earn advertising income and so on.

After video content creation came in, I had to devote a lot of time to creating videos, so the time I spent on writing has decreased substantially.

In 2024, I have planned to get back to devoting more time to writing while still creating video content.

That’s all! I would love to hear from you now. Leave a comment and let me (and the others) know about your 2023 review!

PS: Before you leave, check out my Kindle book on Weight loss!