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In this episode of Moni Talks Tech, Moni looks back on some of the significant changes in her business in 2022 that, in her words, made her grow up into a badass business bitch.
Moni Talks Tech (and other things) is a show hosted by Monika Rabensteiner, a weird Austrian lady, who went on the journey to start her own business and is now here to tell the tale. But not only that: she will be caressing your earbuds with tips and tricks around tech tools and design - everything you need to make your online business work smarter not harder - and look better in the process.
Welcome to Moni Talks Tech and Other Things, the podcast where service based business owners and coaches like you can walk away with simple tips and tricks to level up your business and defeat the ultimate end boss, your dreaded tech set up. Are you ready for this then? Let's go.
Hey, and welcome to another episode of Moni Talks Tech. Happy 2023. I know we are now in the second week of January, but I decided I make my own rules and I don't need to stick to what people assume needs to happen because usually the first episode of the year is reflection, and my reflection episode is in the second week because who the fuck cares again, make my own rules and my own boss can do whatever I want? Yeah, basically the reason why this hasn't happened before is because I chilled. I chilled over the Christmas holidays as much as humanly possible because for the first time, in I don't know how long, it didn't feel like I was burning myself out before and that I just needed this time to rest and sleep.
Don't get me wrong, I did sleep a lot and I have rested a lot, but I also feel like I did that on a really good level. However, I still wanted to take this opportunity today to reflect a bit on 2022 and how I even got to 2022 to be honest, because sometimes it feels like not a lot is happening, or not a lot has happened in the year on the one hand, because I am so forgetful, I sometimes don't even know what happened yesterday. So me remembering the entirety of the year and things that happened in the year is in itself already kind of a miracle , and oftentimes it really feels like it's not that important. You just keep doing what you're doing and you don't really take track of what you've achieved and what has been going on. But for some reason this year I've really tried to do it differently and I've really tried to reflect on the things that have happened.
And I thought about a morning in 2022 at the beginning of the year and at the end of 2022 and holy shit, things have happened that like January Moni, didn't anticipate in the slightest. So to start off, I have to say is that in the last couple of years, I was kind of tied or, well, let's not say tied, but I was, my business was still registered as a small business, which meant that there were certain thresholds that I knew were there that I knew that existed, and that I knew if I would reach that or if I would surpass those at the end of the year. This could become really, really expensive for me in hindsight, which kind of on the one hand kept me comfortable, but at the same time also stunted me a bit in what I was trying to achieve because I didn't go for anything bigger and I didn't try for bigger things because I kind of already knew that, that this would cause me issues along the line, and I hadn't planned for those.
So coming into 2022, because decisions I made the year prior and like conversations I had the year prior, I already knew if I were to continue my year in 2022 like this, this would already mean that I would surpass this, this threshold. So I knew this at the beginning of the year, so I made the decision not only to look at my finances more closely and separate my business and my personal finances and, just generally have a look at all of that, but also this meant for me that now I officially needed to register to pay VAT, which I didn't have to do previously. And that was all kind of nice and good, but that also meant for me that there's a lot more stuff going into accounting than it previously did. And so I already committed to bigger things.
I already committed to doing that, which means, or which meant that I needed to look at my finances more, like put a lot of money to the side to make sure that I can pay whatever the government wants to have for me later down the line. But it also meant that I had no cap on what I was possible, what I was able to earn. And that changed everything. And I kinda had this in the back of my hand already that this is what's gonna happen, but you wouldn't believe how true it was. Not only did I start to invest in myself and start to have money for myself to even invest in myself, I also made more money in a year than I ever did any years prior. I earned twice the money than I did in 2021 and three times the money that I did in 2020.
And I would like to make really clear that I'm not talking about profit here because people keep throwing all these numbers around and everybody's like, I made six figures, but I made like zero profit or whatever. So it's not for me, it's not even about how much profit I made, the fact alone that I was able to turn over a certain amount of money for myself, but for me personally, to even be, even be able to see that I could gross out more money on my own than what I had made when I was still employed was just really great. It not only made me feel more comfortable in myself and I'm not even motivated or driven by money, like this is not a driving force for me. And like, yes, I like to have like the great great tech and I like to buy stuff for myself, but I'm not driven by the money that people give me.
It doesn't make life better for me if they give me a certain amount of money and then I forget all my worries. That's not how I roll. Like, I am driven by how I can help people and what impact I have like that. And, and it's not, I don't need like all the most luxury things in the world. That's not, that's not at all who I am and like find my sweatpants and all, all and everything is great, but it just gave me, it made me feel like, Ooh, actually I have business. I don't just have like this hobby that I'm wasting all my time on, or am just doing. So I am kind of occupied because I'm comfortable in general as it is anyway, because of the privilege of where I live and what I do and who I'm with.
But it just felt for the first time that hey, I'm doing a really good job. Like the work that I do is great. I deserve the money that I get. And, and this is me being like a grown up badass business bitch, , I dunno, grown up bad as business. I don't know if that would ever go in a t-shirt very well, but maybe it should. So it was just really cool to see all of that happen. And with it came again the confidence and it made me a bit riskier. Like 2022 was the year I decided to stop playing small because, because on the one hand I knew what all the things I did enabled other people to do and other people to make, like how much money my clients made was on the one hand just the most normal thing ever. And on the other hand, I was like, how the fuck is this possible at?
I am enabling all of this? And on the other hand, I'm sitting here on a tiny piece of money and how, how does that even go together in my head? But this year I decided, or last year in 2022 I decided I can do this too. Like I have the skills to do this too. I have the skills to aim higher, to reach higher and to try out things because I'm not an employee. I'm my own boss. I can do what I want and I can try what I want and see if it works. And if it doesn't work, that's fine too. So in 2022, I decided to like launch for the very first time, which I've never done before. I've been a part of so many launches. I can't even tell you how many launches. Especially also during covid when people kept launching and launching and launching because I mean, we were all stuck at home and that's the thing that you had done that you do, right? You just focused on all of that. So there were so many launches and I thought, I can do this. Like it, I can do it. And I did it. I had a challenge, I had a masterclass, I launched and it was great. Like it was a great experience and I gained an audience.
I have more eyes on what I'm doing now, and I started to commit to my social media with the help of people because now I had the money to invest into myself and and into my business and be like, I'm really shit and inconsistent in my social media. Someone please help me. And then now I have people that help me with it, that keep me accountable. And even though I still slack with it, and I have sometimes weeks where I don't post and entire month where I don't post because my mental health is not at the greatest spot, I still am going and I stop or I stopped last year holding myself up from not doing things like and this is something that is really specific also, I think to the start of the year and the reflections and when we have all these new things that we wanna do and our goals for 2023 and what we wanna do.
We wanna work out every day. We wanna eat healthy and we wanna have all these resolutions and we are doing it and then we're in the first week and then we fail at the first things and then we just drop it all because we failed and we can't ever try it again because we already failed. And then this is, this is horrible. And I feel this is sometimes a bit how we run a business. Like we try something and it doesn't work and then we forget about it and it's just not how it works rationally. We all know this, this is the only way you really fail. The only way you really fail is if you stop trying and you start to feel so guilty if you fell off the wagon. But I decided that even if I fall off the wagon, it's fine.
I can fall off the wagon, I can rest for a bit. I can tend to my wounds because I've rolled over in a hard way and landed on a stone or whatever, but I can jump back on it again. I can do it again. Like I can can try and get the next train and then try it again and start over and or I like just continue where I left off. Nobody really gives that much of a that of a shit they would be like, oh my God, have you seen that one? Like, have you seen this person? She just stopped eating healthy on the 2nd of January because she had cake and oh my God, what a horrible human being. This is bullshit. Nobody gives the crap and you shouldn't either. Had I stopped every time I felt something wasn't doable last year, I wouldn't have launched, I wouldn't have committed to the coaching program and to the mastermind that I was a part of.
I wouldn't have increased my email list. I wouldn't have looked after my social media because I have stopped in between like I had a week, especially in October because October is my depressed and sad month because it's always the anniversary of my mom's death. And even though it's this year it will be the 10th anniversary of her passing away, it's still, it feels like even though emotionally I feel like this I should be over this by now. My body's still every, every October comes into this moment of remembering everything and me all of a sudden wondering why am I feeling so shit? And all of a sudden I recall, oh my God, it's October, it's her birthday, it's her anniversary of her death and it's the anniversary of her funeral. So all this is going on in in October for me, while I always kept doing business, and then I always feel guilty for falling off the wagon for being like worse at replying to people until I realized, well, the body remembers everything and okay, it's okay that this doesn't happen in October.
I can start back in November and I can continue where I left off in September and that's totally fine. This is why we are in business for ourselves because of things like this. And it's just about the not stopping. Would I have stopped last year at some point after I fell off some wagon again? That somehow happened sometime in the year. I would not have been able to sell my biggest website so far. Like that brought me the biggest amount of income this year. I would not have been able to, as I mentioned, have this challenge, create the challenge, the masterclass and deliver the program that I committed to doing. I would not have been able to like just take a week off. I decided one week in March I need some time off and I took it and I did all of these things in addition to delivering the work for my clients because I am a service-based business owner and I provide work and I did so many things for so many people and facilitated so much stuff and also did so much stuff for myself last year, which is only because I decided to it say fuck it and doing it anyway and accepting that sometimes dropping off is totally fine and I just need to get back on.
And it doesn't mean that I'm a failure or that I am not a good enough business owner or whatever. It's just how I roll. And that's totally fine. So looking back on 2022, I'm really, really grateful and I decided that my word for 2023 is expand or expansion. And that doesn't even necessarily mean that I want to have my business be this massive thing with a lot of people attached to it or whatever. Like it's not when I say expanding, I don't mean I want to expand the team or stuff like that. I, when I think of the word expand, what I see is when you take in a deep breath and then you let it out, you expand your lungs, expand the muscles and the skin around your chest stretch and expand and then you sigh it out. And I feel this is the most calming thing that you can really do, is to take a deep breath and let it out.
And for me, the expansion is part of the letting it go. And it is the first step to calmness. And this is why I want to expand how I do things. I want to not be tied with how I've run my business. I want to be free and open, and available for things that are coming. And I want, this is only something that can happen when I'm calm and when I'm not stuck in everything else. And well, what is going on and the stress of everything. So I want to work smart and not harder , like all of us do. So that kind of felt really tacky even mentioning it now. But at the same time, I feel like we all collectively need to just fucking breathe sometimes and stop the hustle and listen to ourselves. And I feel this is also part of expand and expansion for me because you decide to focus and listen inwards while letting go at the same time.
And this is why expand and expansion is something that I want to focus on for 2023. That also means that there are new things that are coming out, like the exclusive VIP they said I'm gonna be offering and other ways to work together with me and have me as an expert on your masterclass and things like that. You can find all of that information on my Instagram at monirocksyoursocks.com Very soon. And yeah, I am just super excited what 2023 brings for me and for the first time in a while, especially after Covid. And I mean, and again, we're still running with it and it's still around, but there is some sort of ease. And there is, once again, after a very long time, hope for me, hope for more social contact again, hope for enjoyment and joy and good things and nice experiences and a life of ease and expansion.
This is what I wish for myself and I hope for all of you as well. And thanks for tuning in this week and I hope we will. I will see you again next week for another episode of Moni Talks Tech. And in the meantime, again, you can find me @monirocksyoursocks on Instagram or at monirocksyoursocks.com. And if you like the episode, then just slide into my dms. Well, you can also review me. Please review me. I need attention and validation. No, I don't. But you know how it works. You people are all happy and the algorithm is so excited when, there are good things being said about what is going on. So if you don't mind and have a time and like it, then you can please review the podcast on Apple Podcast or Spotify because you can do it there now too. And otherwise, have a wonderful rest of your day.