2022 was a good year at Refine. I started my business in 2019 as a huge leap of faith. I had NO idea if a specialized business like mine would even work out of a small rural town in Iowa, but I had a passion that I couldn’t use anywhere else, a desire to do things differently, and I was at a point that I knew if I didn’t give it a try, I’d always wonder “what if.”
God closed a bunch of doors and opened every single door to start my own practice, so I took the plunge, and Refine began. 3 ½ years later I’m SO thankful I said yes. Both my in-person and online businesses have continued to grow, as more and more women hear about Refine and the services offered, as well as the testimonials from patients and clients alike. Refine served women all over the world this year through my online course, Pelvic Core, and saw women drive from 2-3 hours away to receive services – it’s crazy! I can only say that it’s by the grace of God and I’m just incredibly thankful to be His vessel and tool to do His work.
In 2022 we changed the format of Pelvic Core and made it into a lifetime purchase that you can do from your own home, on your own timeline. We created a new course, Diastasis 101, and ran a beta group that had great success. That course has continued to run throughout the year for those who need it. And then at the end of 2022, we launched our first membership – Level-Up. This has been a dream of my heart for a LONG time and I’m so excited about the way it allows me to continue to coach, encourage, and serve women in a more intimate way.
I joined Rachel McMichael’s Mastermind in August as I was ready to take my business to a new level and learn how to be more efficient and effective in the online space. I got to travel to Dallas, TX in November for the Mastermind’s fall retreat which was SO much fun to meet the other ladies and learn together for a couple of days. I plan to continue in the Mastermind throughout 2023 as well as there’s so much to learn, but it’s been really helpful as I analyze what’s working and what’s not working, and then figure out how to make it even better.
The end of 2022 also left me a bit frazzled. I’ll ALWAYS be thankful for my work, the flexibility it can give me as a mom, and the joy it is to do work that I LOVE. I’m an entrepreneur at heart and am constantly dreaming and coming up with new ideas to try. I’m also a recovering perfectionist, and this has, at times, left me feeling a bit ragged as I try new things, fail, and try again. It’s also SUPER easy to let work life spill over into home life. I have no doubt that this is a problem EVERY business owner faces, and unless you are constantly diligent about boundaries, it’s REALLY easy to let this begin to slide and just continue.
As 2022 came to a close, I was seeing my anxiety pick up. I was constantly stressing about something (home or work-related), being short with my family, and not sleeping great. In general, I wasn’t feeling “well,” and I absolutely knew it was related to my stress levels and not only how I’ve been handling work, but how much pressure I’ve been putting on myself to achieve certain goals.
I started my business by saying, “I don’t even care if Refine fails. I’ll just be sad if I never try.” And I truly believed that! But now that it’s gone so well, I began going back to my old ways of striving and achieving, and this is a quick trip to burnout.
So I’m starting 2023 off differently. I’m taking the entire month off social media and everything that goes with it (we are very efficient, but SM still takes up a chunk of time each week and though I never scroll for long, the number of times I click on my apps to check for messages, etc was getting to be a very bad habit), we are not doing any course launches, and I’m going to just invest in my current patients and clients, making sure that I’m serving them well.
Then I also plan to use some time to figure out better work/home boundaries and work on surrendering my business back to the Father. It was His to start with, and it’s still His…but somewhere along the way, I thought I had to make everything happen and I took on a burden I wasn’t meant to carry. So I’m working on surrender, trust, and faith in His plan for Refine. Whatever He wants to do, I know it’s for my good and His glory. So I’ll trust that regardless of how Refine grows in 2023, I want it to be from a place of JOY and PEACE, rather than striving and stress.
I don’t always do a Word of the Year, but I did pick one this year – Radiant, from Psalm 34. The whole chapter is amazing, but verses 3-4 are where this idea came from: “I sought the Lord, and he answered me; He delivered me from all my fears. Those who look to Him are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame.” I may have started 2023 with a face that was a bit tired and weary, but I pray that I end it with one that is radiant – filled with Joy, Hope, and Peace that can only be found in Him.
