Before writing this review, I reread my 2022 review - I have just republished this here if you wish to read it. Apologies, it is a big wall of text. I can't find the visuals that were originally in there.

I was struck by the fact that so much has changed, yet so little has changed simultaneously.

As I said last year, if you know me well - i.e. you read my emails - you'll have a fair idea of how this review will go. I'm going to be honest; I'm going to share my frustrations and the things I got right/wrong. But I will not be sharing my numbers (income/list size) just because this isn't what I do unless I feel it is 100% helpful to my readers - it rarely is.

Where 2023 Started

Even before the clock struck midnight, I knew 2023 would be a messy year. I don't think I quite appreciated how messy it would be. Nevertheless, I felt prepared.

One day at a time.

On January 1st 2023, I was fairly confident that it would be a "one day at a time" year. And, to my credit, I wasn't too far off.

I knew my husband and I would be making some decisions that may or may not come to fruition, that we may or may not have had a plan for yet (read into that what you will). But I didn't know that a few other curveballs would have been thrown our way, too.

This made business planning tricky. Not because I didn't know what I wanted to do. But because I didn't know how far ahead I'd be able to commit.

As I write this now, a part of my brain literally does not know where the year went. Nor whether or not it could be classed as a success. I guess it depends on what you classify as a success.

I said last year that I started 2022 in the wrong place. Reading this so far, you'd be forgiven for thinking I did the same again. However, I can't entirely agree. I believe I started in exactly the right place: free from expectations with a desire to, if nothing else, watch and learn, which is exactly what I did.

The Great **** Up of 2023

I am painfully positive, and ordinarily, I'd like to continue talking about the good decisions I made in my business this year - there were some. But I don't think I can continue this review without talking about the great disaster of 2023. Let me just set the scene for you.

I'm very much a calm, long-term gain, kind of girl. I do not hustle. Sure, I launch products and host the odd sale here and there. But you will not find me dropping prices every five minutes to make a quick buck.

Because of this, SEO has been a huge focus for me over the entire five years of The Happy Journals Plr Club. My wonderful affiliates send a lot of people my way. But so has Google, which leads to passive income.

Early on in 2023, I noticed that the traffic and authority of my two main websites were dying before being completely obliterated in around April.

But no worries, I found the issue and got to work trying to fix it. SEO work is never a quick fix. So, over the summer, I spent hours and hours shaking up two websites, renovating the content, adding more, and other very important but boring things. It was worth it, though - my efforts paid off.

In September, I went on a wonderful holiday with my husband and returned feeling refreshed and ready to do things I'd wanted to do for a long time. When we got home, I checked all my 5/6 websites, and everything was running perfectly.

The next day, I came to publish a blog post aaaand The Happy Journals PLR Club was gone. Not just down but gone gone gone. The entire website - and my other websites - had been scrunched up and put in the trash, then put through a shredder. Gone.

Now, I won't go into the long and very boring details of this. But it is safe to say that the following 6-8 weeks or so were not a fun time. Having said that, patience and calmness under pressure are two of my greatest skills. And boy, did they pay off! Holy moly.

So, my summer of hardcore SEO work - and 4.6 years of work prior to this - had disappeared overnight. In the interests of openness, I'd like to share a few truths and learnings about this situation.

The truths:

• This was not my fault - I did everything right. It can happen to anyone at any time.
• Amember saved my business. The fact that Amember runs on a different database than a WordPress install can make things more complicated and frustrating. But somehow, the fact that it is separate means it wasn't destroyed. Considering this holds all my customer and sales information, I am eternally grateful.
• My income is dramatically down from last year. This is to be expected. If you can show me a person who can lose their main sources of income twice and not be dramatically down on last year, I want to meet them.
• My websites have been rebuilt but are not 100% complete. It might surprise you that around 60 blog posts and about 15 pages are yet to make it back to The Happy Journals PLR Club. But I had to prioritise.
• I thought about not rebuilding this site. I know! I don't know why; I just kept thinking, "What if I don't?" Ultimately, I decided that was silly... and here we are.

The Things I Learned:

• Panicking gets you nowhere. Fact.
• There are things you can do to prepare for a monumental disaster like this. As it happens, I prepared for it pretty well by accident. I'm writing a course on preparing everything just in case this happens to you. This will be out at some point in the new year.
• How to build back better. Building a website is like building a house - you must get the foundations right for long-term success. I talk about this a bit in Learning WordPress Without Fear, but I will be going into this in more detail in 2024. But take a look around this site and tell me what you see (or don't see).

As it happens, the great **** up of 2023 wasn't, for once, anything to do with anything I did. Rebuilding The Happy Journals PLR Club wasn't something I envisioned having to do to celebrate its 5th anniversary. But I do Love the new website, and maybe in the long run, I'll be grateful all of this happened. I don’t think we're there yet though.

The best things I paid for in 2023

Despite feeling a bit wayward and spending a lot of time waiting for stuff or fixing stuff, there have been some really great things to come out of the year.

I'll share a few of the memberships/tools I'm grateful for, then I'll share the best things I've done personally.

I have kept up my subscription to Cindy Bidar's Six Figure Systems. I must admit that I am currently behind on the most recent things she has added to the membership - I will allow myself this. But for me, Cindy is a calm voice of reason, logic and wisdom. The membership reopens in January if you're interested.

In December 2022, I joined Leonie Dawson's Biz & Life Academy and just renewed it for another year. I love listening to different perspectives and adore people who go against the grain. Leonie does this in a lovely and uplifting way.

I switched my web hosting from A2 Hosting to Lyrical Host. Losing my websites was A2's fault - there were too many coincidences for it not to have been. So, I had to move. Lyrical host is much smaller, but I feel much more comfortable with them. If you’re interested, my code FRANLOVES will get you 10% off your first hosting plan payment.

Lastly, I switched everything over to ClickUp. I use it as a project management system but predominately use Docs. Everything I ever write - emails, blog posts, sales pages, etc - all go into ClickUp first and then copy over to wherever it needs to go. I love this; it means I have everything I need in one place.

Best things I did in 2023

If you read my 2022 Review, you may notice that there were a few things I said I was going to do this year but didn't. This was either due to not knowing if I could commit or because it was scheduled for the end of the year, so the website rebuilds got in the way. But there were a couple of things I just decided not to do. Nevertheless, let's discuss what I loved doing.

Coaching

Nope, I don't offer coaching as a service - yet! I am a coach: I'm qualified and have been coaching (informally or as part of other services) for years. But I've never created a specific coaching service/program that could be purchased. Yet!

This year, I gave two people the platform to work with me as a coach. I did this for two reasons: I wanted to help them with what they were working on, and I wanted them to help me find my feet as this kind of coach.

I've been working with one of these people for 29 weeks, and I love it. This is exactly the kind of thing that fuels me up. One of my superpowers is helping people see the other side of things (trust me, ask my husband) and ask questions that make things click.

I love that coaching makes me use my brain so others can use theirs. I love that, for the last week, my early morning routine has involved studying a book intensely to find ways to inspire clarity in my person. It is fun (for me) and rewarding (for both).

Watch this space - could you be my next person?

Reading

I love books - I love buying them, and I love reading them.

For me, whether or not I'm reading much is an indication of how good my mental health is at any one time. I'm probably not at my best if I'm not reading much. If I am, then things are going okay.

Last year, I read 44 books. This year, at the time of writing, I am 4 books away from my goal of reading 180 books in 2023. Quite a difference, huh?

I read quite a variety of books. I am very fortunate that I own nearly 800 books, so it is very easy for me to pick up whatever interests me in the moment. These are the ones on my "currently reading" list right now:

• The Broken Cage (Crow Investigations #7)
• The Toll (Arc of a Scythe, #3)
• Morning Star (Red Rising Saga, #3)
• Iron Flame (The Empyrean, #2)
• Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity
• Twelve Minutes to Midnight
• Daisy Darker (finished this morning)

With Getting Things Done, I've been reading it differently. I've basically wrecked the book by filling it with notes and tabs. I don't usually condone this - I'm very protective of books. But, you know, I'm enjoying this kind of reading. I've been taking my time to really think critically about what I'm reading. So, although it has destroyed the book, I might do more of this in 2024.

Learning Google Sheets

I think Google Sheets has become a bit of a playground for my geeky side. I have offered a couple of Google Sheet products this year - one as a bonus and one as limited PLR during Black Friday. Both of which were tools that I created for myself - and use daily.

I've massively enjoyed learning how to do clever things with my Google Sheet tools. Some of the formulas I've had to build have been outrageously complicated. But it has been hugely satisfying when they work the way I want them to.

Learning WordPress Without Fear

This year, I wanted to write and launch a lot more courses.

I started quite a few. But in the end, I only completed and launched one. I loved it, though.

My WordPress course is something I've wanted to do for a long time. I know many people have a fear of WordPress. For me, setting up a WP website comes naturally. So, I wanted to teach the step-by-step process of getting set up. I also wanted to teach some key things that never get taught until it is too late.

Like coaching, teaching is something that really fires me up and makes my heart happy, even if it involves a lot of writing!

Minor Frustrations of 2023

I spent a lot of last year feeling frustrated about things that were happening or things I was seeing in the online world. So much so that I knew it was getting in my way and blocking the things I wanted to do. It is never healthy to put energy into things you cannot control.

Ultimately, I created a double-page spread dedicated to frustrations at the back of my planner. Here, I jotted things down that annoyed me and then moved on. I feel so much better for this. In fact, I'm now more likely to laugh at things than get annoyed.

Even so, a Fran review wouldn't be complete without a few mini-rants. So, let me share some of my minor frustrations of 2023 with you.

My current email open rates

Okay, let's start small. I already know why this happened, so it is a minor frustration. But I pride myself on my open rates. Also, you could help me out if you wanted (not in the way you might think).

Of course, after losing my websites, I moved to a new web host. I'm now with Lyrical Host, who seems excellent.

Let me let you into a little know fact: whenever you move web hosts, email tools (like Gmail or Outlook) will see your emails (and domain) as brand new entities. So, even if you have been emailing someone for years, their inbox won't necessarily recognise you as a good person.

The sensible thing to do when you move to a new host is to build up your emails. Start by emailing people who open 100% of your emails, then build up. For some reason, I did not do this - even though I know this happens. This means my open rates are still 20% lower than they were.

So, if you see my emails in the promotions tab or spam (oh, the horror), could you pull me out? I don't belong there, and it is for the greater good. Thank you.

SEO being taught badly

Okay, last one, and I'll make it super quick.

This year, I've seen - and tried - quite a few courses that offer to teach you how to use SEO to make money, but many have not been great. This frustrates me on behalf of people just learning SEO.

Different perspectives and strategies related to SEO interest me a lot. I am open to different opinions and new things to try. But I have actually left live workshops this year because I just couldn’t listen anymore.

I love SEO; it appeals to my geeky nature. But I do not - and will never - claim to be an expert. I may embed some SEO teaching into some of the things I put out. However, I will never be putting out anything that claims to make you a shit ton of money with SEO. Unfortunately, it ain't that simple.... Beware of people claiming that it is.

I do recommend learning SEO to any online business owner. It is a truly valuable skill to have. But I recommend learning it from reputable sources.

Where Do We Go Next

As I've reached this point in the review, I'm aware of how little I've mentioned PLR. Of course, I have mentioned it because it is what I do. But it is noticeable that it didn't make it onto the "best things I did" list.

Is this because I take it for granted that I've created PLR this year? Or is it because it isn't filling my heart with joy right now?

I feel like it is a bit of both. Of course I still love creating PLR. But I think I've realised that I love other things, too. Maybe balance is good?

As I write this, it strikes me that what I really really love to do is use my brain. Don't get me wrong, when I create PLR, I definitely use my brain since I create it all from scratch myself. Having said that, it occurs to me that it is a different kind of brain power.

If I think of 2024 and ask myself what I want to do with it, my first answer is this: I want to use my brain to help you use yours.

I'm still somewhat in the "may or may not" phase of life I mentioned earlier. Something may or may not be happening in January, hindering my ability to form specific commitments.

But I will put something out there: if I do not offer you the opportunity to be coached by me in the first half of 2024, you are free to hunt me down and find out why.

Aside from this, I will be creating more PLR - of course I will. But there will also be more workbooks, tools and courses for you to learn from.

Above all, I will continue to be true to myself and my values.

The Bottom Line

2023 was a year filled with both challenges and growth. Despite unexpected obstacles, such as losing my websites, I managed to rebuild and [will] come back stronger. I found joy in coaching, reading, exploring Google Sheets, and launching a WordPress course. As I look forward to 2024, I'm excited to continue helping others through my knowledge and experiences. Bring it on, 2024!

Finally, if you have got this far - well done for powering through my rambles, I wish you a very merry Christmas and a productive and prosperous New Year.