10 Expert Tips You Need to Know to Crush Your 2021 Goals
Have you been goal setting yet? 2020 turned a lot of things upside down but hopefully you have held up this far! Since this roller coaster of a year is almost over, I’m thinking a lot about what I want to accomplish before it’s over and how to start 2021 on a high note. In the spirit of getting inspired to set and crush some goals, I got the scoop from Bree Johnson, a digital marketing strategist and speaker. Her mission is to help women entrepreneurs transform their mindset, money, and mental health through business strategies, books, and blogs. Keep reading for more about her tips for female entrepreneurs , setting and achieving your 2021 goals , and conveying a confident image in person and on Zoom!
Tell me about yourself and how you got started as a digital strategist.
I started as a Digital Marketing Strategist back when I was in college after completing my first social media marketing course. After the course was over I started managing people's social media accounts for free to gain experience, while running my own blog and that led me to start what was then TheBreeJohnson.com. In 2018 after working for a national political campaign I relaunched as TBJ Digital Consulting and it's been the best decision ever.
You have a very admirable goal of helping 1 million female entrepreneurs create a profitable marketing strategy. Tell me how you came to that goal and how you plan to accomplish it.
Yes, so my goal is to help over 1 million women improve their money, mindset, and mental health through books, blogs, and business strategies. I came up with it because I wanted to build a village of exceptional women covering things and topics that I've learned in my adulthood – especially about running my business, and mastering my mindset. All of my businesses were built and are committed to women so I know that this goal is achievable through my bookclub, digital consulting company, podcast, and newly launching candle company.
What is the single most important piece of advice you would give to an aspiring entrepreneur?
Challenge yourself to do a hard, scary thing daily. You really want to build that muscle so that when it's time to make hard, scary decisions (like quitting my job in the middle of a global pandemic to pursue my business fulltime) you can be ready and prepared to make that decision because you've done hard things before and survived (maybe even thrived).
We've seen a fair amount of controversy in the past few years around female founders and CEOs. What do you think about "girl boss" culture? *I may not use girl boss, want to research and make sure they won't sue me or something. but leaving it for now for reference of the concept.
Honestly, I don't associate "Girl Boss" to a person. No one gets to own that. I think it's about the community that you choose to surround yourself with and learn from. There are totally some frauds and mean girls out there but that's anywhere. I wouldn't cancel the whole space of black girl magic because of a few bad apples. In fact, I think it's more important to give those bad apples grace so that they can learn how to navigate with other women from a secure place of collaboration vs. competition.
I saw a post on your blog about a 2019 Routine for Success. What would you say for someone looking for build a 2021 routine for success?
Routines are hard! Be more committed to not failing than to being excellent. And give yourself grace as you build a new muscle. You may not get it perfect everyday and that's fine, but commit to not missing your routine twice. Also, start small – build momentum before adding a ton of different steps to your routine. I like to wake up, make my bed, have coffee and take my dog, Benji for a walk and then journal (write to God, write what I'm grateful for, write my manifestations + affirmations), and workout. It sounds like a lot and I'm still building the muscle, but this routine is a game changer!
What fashion/style tips would you give to women in business?
Since Corona, I've being nothing but dresses and comfy lounge clothes and I may honestly never go back to pants ha!
I'm sure you're spending a lot of time on Zoom these days. How do you project a stylish, confident, powerful image when limited to a web cam?
My go to is a comfy and cute dress of some sort with a bold lipstick and lashes. It's an easy look but it comes across (especially on camera) like I put a ton of work into it.
I'm sure you're an incredibly busy woman. How do you manage time for yourself/practice self care?
I am very big on boundaries. I establish my workday/load every morning at 9 am and I stop working when I say I will. I honor my calendar so sometimes I schedule my "no work" times or appointments for things like getting my hair and nails done and use that time to really treat myself without opening my laptop. It's hard but it does work for me. Also, the more that I establish and stick to my boundaries the easier it is for me to establish them with other people.
Do you think women can have it all?
Eh. I think "having it all" is a ridiculous term that a man probably came up with to shame us for wanting many things. I think you can have your heart desires if you work everyday to attain them and get better juggling your priorities from day to day. Somedays your career will be the priorities, other days it may be your relationships – in either case you weren't wrong.
What do you think the future of social media will be?
I think social media is going to continue growing. People say that it will go away -- I really don't think so at all. I think it'll just keep evolving and being integrated into our day to day lives.
