#37: A sneak peek behind the scenes of QiLeader - 2020 & 2021

2020 was our best year so far, but it didn’t start out this way.

I wanted to share a sneak peek behind the scenes of QiLeader – the year 2020.

How I started 2020 by bouncing back from an unsuccessful launch

Like I’ve said before, 2020 was our best year so far. But first let’s go back to December 2019, because at that time, I launched a program. In my eyes, the launch was unsuccessful and I was faced with failure. I have always been a great and ambitious student and I have never been able to cope with failure very well, I am sure some of you guys have the same thing. At first, I felt bad, but I chose to bounce back and made the decision that I wouldn’t put any financial pressure on myself for 2020.

Coping with financial pressure in the first COVID quarantine

My good friend Valérie Van Geel recommended me to look for subsidies for hiring people and after exploring the idea, I ended up hiring Daphné, with whom I had – and still have – a great connection. I hired her in March and we decided to go to my house in Spain to work together on our strategy and our collaboration. That’s when COVID hit Europe pretty hard. Suddenly, we weren’t even sure if we would be able to go back to Brussels, because many flights were being canceled. Fortunately, we made it back home. But then, the biggest economic crisis of our time was announced and I started worrying over my finances again. And so I had a great and honest conversation with Daphné, and instead of worrying over our finances, we completely changed our plans and decided to launch a free 10-day coaching about leading with your heart in times of crisis. We knew people had a hard time dealing with their emotions and business in this crisis and we wanted to help them deal with it. It ended up being a great success, with more than 400 people participating.

How we used the crisis to prepare our future

During the first three months of quarantine, we had no new customers that contacted us. Everyone at that moment was focused on dealing with the crisis in their professional life and in their personal life. Everyone was trying to find new ways to work in teams and to adjust to this big change in their lives. It was scary at first, but I also saw it as a great opportunity for us to focus on working on other things and preparing our future since we had more time to spend now that we had fewer customers than usual. That’s when we decided to focus on three big projects.

   The first thing we launched was our leader quiz. The quiz is based on all the knowledge we have from our course participants and gives leaders a leadership type and seven personalized lessons, based on their answers. We set up the quiz by creating a completely new website and using Facebook ad funnels to lead them there. With that quiz, we’ve helped over 4000 leaders to create more impact, meaning, and balance in their lives, which I am really proud of. If you haven’t made the quiz yet, you can find it in the show notes below.
    The second big project we set up for 2020, is our podcast, Rebel Leader With A Heart. It might not look like it, but it takes a lot of time to make one of these podcasts. I love this way of communicating because I can build a strong connection with your guys by telling you stories and hopefully inspiring you. So far we have made 37 episodes and there will be more to come!
    The third thing I wanted to improve for the future, was my social media communication. You probably have noticed that I am much more active now. By posting interesting things two to three times a week, we hope to inspire you or to help you learn new things.

Then the business came back!

By half June, luckily, companies woke up and started contacting us again. The things we did in the first half of the year probably helped us get more business and so the MBA students started our program along with another large organization. And then in July and August, I worked from my little house in the south of Spain, which I enjoyed as usual, but due to the pandemic being around, I couldn’t enjoy the things I used to like partying and inviting many friends over. On the twenty-first of September, we launched a free five-day challenge called “From overwhelmed to focused QiLeader” which was a success as almost 700 people joined. Unfortunately, during the launch, I had COVID. The lucky thing was that I didn’t have more than a cold, so I could still do the daily live sessions.

Leading authentically in digital times

After this free five day challenge, we launched a new cohort of our improved program “Leading authentically in digital times”. In this program we will guide you for three months, to change your habits as a leader to become a more impactful, meaningful, and balanced leader to get better results while having a better work-life balance. In fact, since 2020 started, we have helped almost 500 leaders with our paid program.

QiLeader team moment to get some relaxation & prepare 2021

In November, my sister Tatiana, Daphné, and I decided to rent a villa in the woods, to isolate ourselves and relax in the sauna or in the bubble bath. We had a great time there and looked back at our year, while also preparing a few ideas for 2021. After the retreat in the woods, we improved our personalized lessons from the leadership quiz and improved our processes so we would have to spend less time on operational things and focus on launching new things and helping even more leaders.

To sum up 2020

All in all, I feel positive ending 2020. We managed to help more than 5500 leaders thanks to our courses, challenges, and free lessons. Financially, we ended our year with 220,000 euros in revenues and 50,000 euros in profits. This is also the first year that we are making a profit! Looking back at my private life, it was not as exciting as the other years due to the coronavirus, but as the quarantine started, I started to walk 10,000 steps every day. This really helped me think and eliminate negative thoughts. I am also running 10km two to three times a week with a friend. I also took some singing lessons, which I really enjoyed and found balance this year, as I managed to work around five to six hours a day, which feels great.

What are our plans for 2021 and beyond?

I am delighted with how our year went; I have a lot of freedom, I only work for a couple of hours a day and I help people find meaning. But 2020 wasn’t perfect. What we miss are stable revenues. Of the 220,000 euros we made, less than 60,000 euros was generated in the first six months, which was a bit scary.
    So our goal for this year is to get more stable recurring revenues while continuing to help people. I noticed that a lot of leaders don’t necessarily have the means or the time to afford a 1500 euro course, which is why we decided that next year, we want to launch a membership for the people that really want to build a meaningful life and organization. The membership will be about helping you change your life to get more time for yourself and your family, while still having a great impact on at work. Compared to the three-month course, it will not be as time-consuming. Every month, you will get a little bit of content, support, and group coaching.
    The second thing we want to do is to launch a free empowerment quiz, masterclass & module to help you identify the success factors of an empowered team.
    The last thing I would like to do is to prepare our organization in a way that by 2022 when my youngest son finishes high school, I can travel the world. I have never made a really long trip around the world and that is exactly what I want to do, while still being able to have this podcast and run this business.

This was my evaluation of 2020, for my business and my personal life. How did your year go? Be sure to go to the link below to download our free QiLeader year review.

Happy New Year!

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