Welcome to episode 19 of Creative Collaboration: Conversations with Veronica and Jillian. In this episode, Veronica and Jillian talked about conducting year-end reviews, emphasizing the importance of analyzing, improving, and letting go of things to make space for new opportunities. They both agreed on the importance of doing a year-end review and encouraged their audience to start the habit. Jillian emphasized that the process can help identify key performance indicators and make other processes more efficient.
Today Veronica and Jillian talk about conducting year-end reviews, emphasizing the importance of analyzing, improving, and letting go of things to make space for new opportunities.
They share tips on using frameworks and developing a regular cadence for reviews. Veronica mentions breaking down plans into smaller pieces while Jillian emphasizes the need to identify key performance indicators (KPIs). Their approaches to strategy implementation influence how they approach the review process.
Veronica Guguian discusses the importance of reviewing what worked and what didn't work in a business strategy. She emphasizes the need to focus on both positive and negative aspects for growth.
Jillian Vorce shares her perspective, highlighting the value of constructive criticism and looking at accomplishments rather than unmet goals.
They discuss their personal experiences with reinventing their businesses and taking a step back to evaluate their desires and directions for the future.
They emphasize the importance of reviewing the year, analyzing, improving, and making space for new things.
Veronica encourages taking into account external factors when reviewing performance, such as economic and social environments. Both speakers reflect on their year in review and share insights about their current positions in business transformation.
Jillian Vorce discusses her accomplishments and experiences in the past year. She landed her first Dutch client and onboarded two new team members from the Netherlands. Jillian had over 125 meetings, reconnecting with old contacts and building new relationships. She also earned a certificate from MIT in sustainability for industry. Jillian launched a podcast with over 160 downloads and relaunched her business website. She published more blogs and social media posts than ever before, focusing on quantifiable results. Veronica Guguian reflects on their achievements as well, including launching Spin Ideas France and a Chrome extension for LinkedIn networking. Both emphasize the importance of celebrating successes and documenting them to understand growth opportunities.
Veronica Guguian and Jillian Vorce discuss the importance of trusting your instincts and building relationships. They also highlight the benefits of volunteering to gain new experiences and connections, particularly when transitioning careers or moving to a new location.
Both Veronica and Jillian reflect on what they have learned about themselves throughout the year, with Veronica emphasizing the need to check in with oneself and align actions with personal desires. They conclude by expressing gratitude for their conversation and wish listeners a happy New Year.
People & Resources Mentioned in This Episode
About Veronica Guguian
- Website: https://spinideas.nl/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/veronica-guguian
About Jillian Vorce
- Website: https://thejilliangroup.com/better
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jillianvorce
Credits
- Music Composed by BeeLa Music
- Voiceover by Amanda Balagur
Jillian Vorce: Hello, and welcome to Episode 19 of Creative Collaboration Conversations with Veronica and Jillian. And I'm Jillian. This is my friend Veronica.
Veronica Guguian: Hello, everyone. Hi, Jillian.
Jillian Vorce: Hello.
Veronica Guguian: How are you today? Ready for.
Jillian Vorce: Good? I'm good.
Veronica Guguian: We are reaching the end of the year.
Jillian Vorce: I know.
Veronica Guguian: How do you feel after almost 20 episodes?
Jillian Vorce: Yeah, it feels like it went by in a blur. I remember when we first talked about this idea of doing a podcast together, and then it took some time to get it up and running, and suddenly we're in a pretty good rhythm. And 20 episodes, we're just about at episode 20. So good stuff. It's been quite a process, and I feel like we have met one of our primary objectives, which is to kind of get to know each other a bit better. And so I feel like, yeah, we're on a roll with it. Everything else is gravy, as they say.
Veronica Guguian: I do remember our first episodes, and were like, what are we doing? How should we structure it? What should we talk about? And everything, if I'm listening now to our first episode, compared to what we are doing now, is such a big difference. So, thank you for being on this journey with me.
Jillian Vorce: Yeah, likewise.
Veronica Guguian: And the topic for today actually is the year in review because both of us, as marketeers and businesswomen, we are preaching, and I'm going to use this word, actually. We put a big emphasis on the fact that we do need to take a moment and look at what happened, analyze, improve, say goodbye to what needs to be gone, and in this way, make space for new things. And as I do strongly believe, do what the preacher says, not what the preacher is doing. I don't want to just say it to my clients or to the listeners. And we are busy doing that as well. And I think, actually, Jeannie, you're more advanced in the process of reviewing your year than I am, I have to admit.
Veronica Guguian: But maybe, shall we give some tips or help our audience on how to approach it and what to do when it comes to reviewing yours?
Jillian Vorce: Yeah, yeah, that's great. We should do that. So I feel like straight away, I am going to just reference something, but the link will be in the show notes. I have a friend, Doreen, who's fantastic. She has a very successful business. She's actually Dutch, but living in the US now. And she has a really strong business and brand, and she's an amazing person. So I feel like that matters more. But she recently published a great framework that's very kind of approachable and simple and very relevant to help people think about where to start. And looking at their year kind of in review is how I think of it. So I'm just going to include the link to that in the show notes. So just a heads up about that. I don't know.
Jillian Vorce: Do you have any tips or anything that you'd like to share about it? I guess the one tip I have is to do it. I should have said that my tip is to do it and eventually to get into the habit of doing it. And as we've talked about in previous episodes, I think ultimately getting into a pretty regular cadence with it. I like doing the QBRs, the quarterly business reviews for my own business and with clients. But if you're not accustomed to doing that, a good place to start is at least doing an annual kind of year-in-review.
Jillian Vorce: And as you start doing that, you realize it also can help to kind of push some other processes into place because it's a lot easier and just more time efficient to have some sort of a process that you're keeping track of things throughout the year so that you don't sit there in December and feel like, oh my gosh, I have to go back over everything and try to remember and all of these things. So ultimately figuring, yeah, here I am like, oh, what do you think, Veronica? Now I'm running on and doing it. And then doing. Going through that process will also help you to identify what are your KPIs? What are the things that are important for you personally and or for your business to measure and to be able to quantify kind of.
Jillian Vorce: So I think those two things go together hand in hand, and those might evolve over time, quarter to quarter or every year, et cetera. So that's my opening tip. Jam for you.
Veronica Guguian: I couldn't agree more. And it's very in line, actually, how we do plan the strategy, because you do like, this is the big plan, and then you start breaking it down into smaller pieces per quarter, per month, per week, even per day. And actually that goes hand in hand because it depends a little bit on how you approach it. How do you approach the overall strategy and implementation? And that will influence how you approach the review. Because if you do it like I just described it and it's very in line with what you described, then it's easier to go to each segment and see, okay, I did Xigrexet and these are the results. Like a perfect example, the online networking with the spin event that I'm running. So we did different changes over the quarters of the year. And promoted it differently.
Veronica Guguian: And it's very easy for me to go and see the data and see what worked. Was it better at the beginning of the year, where we basically did the same thing that we did for two years, whereas starting the middle of the year, we changed quite a lot of things, even took a longer break for the summer? So, for example, we had an event yesterday and we promoted it slightly differently, and we used some AI tools to share it and invite people, and the result was amazing. So definitely a lot of learning from our side, what we need to take and what we need to say goodbye to, because that's the whole thing, is not just to take and do more and more. And I feel we tend to do that.
Veronica Guguian: What I want to emphasize is that when you do a review of the year, or actually any review, one of the most important things is not what worked, but also what didn't work, because that will give you a lot of information. What do you need to let go, or where do you need to work to improve things? And we do tend to focus on what is working, because it's human nature, right? It makes us feel good, it makes us feel visible and wanted, and it's normal. But in my perspective, if you really want to grow, you need to look at what is not working, because of this.
Jillian Vorce: It’s why we're doing this. I think this is amazing, because I'm listening to you, I'm like, wow, I actually see it completely differently, or I experience it completely differently. Because for me, my default is to notice all the things I didn't get done this year, or all the things that are not working how I wanted and all of that. So for me, going through this exercise of doing a year in review with kind of a directive to identify the positive things, like the building blocks, the traction, the momentum, any of the positive things, is a really helpful way for me to help feel good about what I did and to help propel me forward.
Jillian Vorce: So I'm really glad that you said that, because I can't be the only one, or maybe, but probably not out there, that has a different kind of wiring or a different approach. So I'm glad we're having this chat.
Veronica Guguian: Definitely not. And we are so different and the same, but you always have to. It's like a coin, right? You have two facades of each story, and each situation, including the year review, including the business. And of course, you'll have good and bad things. But again, you mentioned the KPIs. What do you want to learn? What do you want to measure? What do you want to take forward? And of course you do need to celebrate and that was very hard for me actually to celebrate because. And here I think we are very similar culturally as well. It's a given. You need to succeed and you need to make good things and you take them kind of for granted long term because, yeah, of course they do that.
Veronica Guguian: And I learned to actually stop and say I did that and I should be proud of it. And I need to take a moment to acknowledge it and be grateful for the people who help me and for the knowledge I gained and for what we created together. And then we can actually be a little bit, I'm going to use the word critical, but maybe it's not the best, but just look and see, okay, what wasn't as good or as powerful or as I intended it to be and why that happened. And there'll be many reasons. Maybe our theory or hypothesis wasn't the correct one, or maybe there were external factors that we didn't consider. And let's be honest, we do live in strange times. Look at the wars that are taking place, economic uncertainty, and social changes.
Veronica Guguian: There are so many things that influence our day-to-day life. And this is actually another thing that when you do a year of review, people tend to forget because they are really focusing only on their numbers. But I invite everyone to take into account the bigger picture. Because when you are creating, especially, I'm talking here about marketing strategy and the business strategy in your case and the processes, it's not that you are taking into account only what you want. You are taking into account your audience, what they do, but also the economical and social environment. Right. You can't take that out of the equation. So when you are doing the review, that has to be an important factor in that analysis because you can do the same things, but if the climate is different, you'll have different results.
Jillian Vorce: Yeah. Be received differently. Yeah, exactly. Sure.
Veronica Guguian: So what worked three years ago and it didn't work this year? You need to see why.
Jillian Vorce: I like that you use the word critical, but I also understand it can be a little bit, feel like a strong word. So the other word I think about is being constructive.
Veronica Guguian: Oh, that's a better word.
Jillian Vorce: Yeah, it's like constructive criticism or constructive feedback. So just thinking about looking at our business or what we're doing, critically constructive is another way to think about it.
Veronica Guguian: I like that.
Jillian Vorce: So do you have things, anything that you want to share as you look at your year in review? Are there any highlights or things that you want to share that you accomplished yourself or with your business or your team or anything related?
Veronica Guguian: I think this year I decided to take a step back from the wheel, the hamster wheel, and that was visible. We actually took a break from the awareness in the summer and came back with a slightly new format and we played with it to see how we can make it better. We are in the process of doing that with the business. For me, it was, I think I'm going to use the word reinventing. I feel we are in a transformational period. I think that will be a more correct term. And it's very hard because I launched spin ideas in 2017, in January. So of course you are improving. Each year you are improving, and then you get to that. The processes and I created a methodology and the clients knew me; everything was easy.
Veronica Guguian: And then you are like, no, I think I know we had an episode and I'm looking at you to say the number, because I'm terrible with that falling in and out of business. So definitely there comes a moment when it's not that you don't like your business anymore, but you're not in love with your business as much as you used to be. And I think that happened to me this year. And I know we are discussing, we are kind of in a similar position. And that, of course, is happening because of a lot of factors. Sure. Either you do it for too long and you need something new to challenge you or for different personal reasons. There are so many factors to consider, and that's the moment when you need to step down, basically, and be very critical. What do you want?
Veronica Guguian: And I figured out what I want, more or less. But I'm also realizing for me to be able to do it, I need to slow down. So for me, that's December, actually. So I'm kind of slowing down and looking at what brings me joy when it comes to my work. How much do I want to externalize even more than I do? And that means who else do I want to bring into my team, and what do I want to create next year? So definitely new events and new partnerships are already in place, new businesses I want to work with and new parts of the business that I want to launch. But I think it's an invitation that I want to make.
Veronica Guguian: Everyone is trying at the end of the year to close more business, to do more, to actually, I invite everyone to do the opposite. How about if you stop and you breathe and you look at what happened from the perspective of what we just shared, and then you decide what you want to move forward in your business? And this is basically where I am and what I'm doing, and that's very new for me, I have to say. How about you?
Jillian Vorce: So, Episode 16 is the one about falling in and out of love with our businesses.
Veronica Guguian: Thank you. I know I can count on you on that one.
Jillian Vorce: Yeah. Just double-checked to make sure I was correct. But it is correct. Yeah. So a lot of what you said resonates with me. As you know, I've been in that process as well, kind of reinventing myself or transforming who I am, what I do. And I think a lot of that is because my footing also is quite different. Right. So, of course, I came out of the post COVID world suddenly, but it wasn't very sudden, but I was a new mom, and now I live in a new country and all of these things. I understand that.
Jillian Vorce: And the other part that I have talked about, perhaps here or there, that you're also kind of alluding to just the language I'll use to describe it, is that, for me, parallel to all those significant life changes, my relationship with my business also became out of sync. And it took me a bit of time to realize that's one of the things that was happening, as I felt like my business was becoming out of alignment with my personal values. So I've been on a very deliberate path to strategically dismantle my business and rebuild it in a way that's more proactive and more akin to who I am now and how I want to spend my time and the type of work I want to do and all of that. So a lot of what you said resonates.
Jillian Vorce: That being said, to shift the focus to looking at 2023, the first thing that comes to mind in my year in review is that. That I'm actually completing, wrapping up my first year, like, year in business here in the Netherlands, as far as being out there and building a new network from the ground up and creating opportunities. So I feel good about that. That's not necessarily a quantifiable thing. It's just something that I've done. This is my first year doing that, so I'm happy with that. And also this year, I landed my first Dutch client, which was pretty cool. So that happened in Q One, which was Q One this year. It was quicker than I had thought it would be.
Jillian Vorce: So I was really pleased with that as just having the opportunity to kind of break into a brand new market and culture and language and all of those things. We didn't speak Dutch, but that's okay. But they were kind enough to speak English with me. Another kind of line item, if you will, is that I onboarded two new members to my team who both live in the Netherlands. So that happened this year we have Tiana and Caroline, so I'm very happy for that because that's one of the things I'm also looking to do. So we'll talk about that in a future episode about goals for the new year. Anyway, onboarded a couple of people and then just a couple of data points.
Jillian Vorce: So I had over 125 meetings this year to reconnect or with new relationships, and 30% of them were with reconnecting with folks, many of them. It's been six to eight to ten years even since we've connected. So really kind of reengaging my existing network. So that's part. And then 70% are new relationships. So that was a good amount. Not quite where I need to be, but it was a good amount of meetings. I would say.
Veronica Guguian: I'm impressed. I never count how many meetings I had, but I'm super impressed with the fact that you keep track of that, this next slide.
Jillian Vorce: I do, yeah, it's that, but it's also I pay attention to where the relationships come from. So were they referred to me or not, et cetera? And then what happens and how is it categorized? Is it just for relationship purposes? Are there potential collaborations, et cetera? So I pay attention to those things and look at which relationships are most energizing for me and which ones have the most opportunity for me to contribute to, et cetera. So I pay attention because it's important to be strategic. And I learned this because I built a pretty large network and then realized the way I was going about it was not super sustainable. So then it forced me to become more process-oriented and data-driven around relationships, which I always fought because for me, it's about the raw relationships, it's not about any of those things.
Jillian Vorce: It's like the thing I wanted to protect the most. Therefore I had all individual relationships with everybody, but it's really hard to maintain that in any case. So that's one of the things. And also I like to make sure people don't fall through the cracks, et cetera. And then I also pay attention, too, to the number of introductions that I made. So far, it's about 30 introductions this year. I like to pay attention to those and then also follow up to see what the result has been. Are they still in touch? Are they not? Did they start a company, did they not? Et cetera. So about that, let's see. I also created a beta group of business owners that I know for them too.
Jillian Vorce: They're basically testing some of my new material and content and messaging and whatnot so that I can better align what I think about things and how I see it and how I articulate it with what language resonates with them to make sure there's some alignment there. So I have a beta group helping me to crystallize my messaging and offers. Let's see, another big one for me was I earned my certificate from MIT this year in sustainability for industry. Yeah.
Veronica Guguian: So that was really big.
Jillian Vorce: Was. It was a big one. It was a turning point for me. And it was very humbling to step into an arena that I'm new in. I love to learn, but going about it self-guided is one thing, but being in an environment with other people was pretty humbling. And even, I think trying to learn things as adults, sometimes it can be exciting and it can be humbling. So that's been my experience. But I'm very excited about it and have continued to build on that base of knowledge. So the MIT stick was a good one. And then I feel like one of the best things that happened in 2023 is we launched our podcast.
Veronica Guguian: That's true. And not only that, actually, we are almost 20 episodes in and I think we have over 160 downloads. And it's something we pray for. We were hoping for 100 people to listen. I know we overpass that quite quickly.
Jillian Vorce: Yeah, for sure.
Veronica Guguian: You just inspired me to look, when I was saying that we need to be proud of what we did. I must admit I'm much more clinical because I'm looking at the numbers from a business perspective, the income, clients, and I'm happy to say, like, the clients actually stayed the entire year and things like that, and the revenue, it keeps on consistent and growing and things like that. But you just inspired me to look at my year from a different perspective because I'm always making at least a couple of introductions per week. So I was like 30. Oh, I'm wondering how many I made for that. That makes perfect sense, actually. It's thinking about how we are running our business and how we are building relationships.
Jillian Vorce: I just realized I never. It's like, where and how are we spending our time?
Veronica Guguian: Yes, so true.
Jillian Vorce: It matters.
Veronica Guguian: But for me, it comes so organically that I never stop saying, hey, that's part of my business for me. It's kind of a part of my personality.
Jillian Vorce: Right.
Veronica Guguian: You don't really stay like, wait. It is a part of my personality, however, it is a business performance, let's say, for the lack of a better word. So I do need to quantify it and see what is happening with it, right?
Jillian Vorce: I think so, yeah.
Veronica Guguian: So I'm learning new things. Thank you.
Jillian Vorce: Yeah. Let's see what else. I relaunched my business website, thejilliangroup.com. So there was a lot of work that went into that. So I relaunched that just recently and I launched another site for personal development and professional networking@jillianborse.com. So that also was quite a bit of work. So I've got those two sites up, LinkedIn-wise. So my approach to LinkedIn anyway, it could evolve and I thought I was going to evolve it this year, but I've proven to be a little bit more stubborn around it than I thought I was going to be. So this year I added over 300 new contacts on LinkedIn, but about 85% of them I've either had meetings with or I have meetings scheduled, upcoming meetings after the holidays with.
Jillian Vorce: So I still have kind of stuck to that approach with growing LinkedIn as far as people that I actually know. So perhaps next year I'll loosen it up a little bit and welcome more. But so far it's maintaining that very high percentage of people that are actual connections, relationships. So anyways, we'll see how that goes. And the last couple of bits I can say are also quantifiable things. And to some people, to you it might not be big and to other people it might be like not a big deal, but whatever. For me, it's a big deal that I published more blogs and social media posts this year than I ever have probably combined. So that has been a tough nut to crack for me. So I need to continue to build on that. So I'm happy with that.
Jillian Vorce: I got into a pretty good rhythm with publishing content.
Veronica Guguian: For me, it's important. Actually, that is something I'm quantifying and I'm monitoring. For me, yes. How many articles did I publish on social media posts, what were the results, how did people react, the events I attended, how many meetings I had, like meetings with prospects, proposals and conversion rate? This is something I follow as well because then you know where to improve. But what inspired me is, actually, I never thought about that. We launched Spin Ideas France and I never really mentioned we launched the Spin Ideas Chrome extension that goes with LinkedIn and enables you to make quicker connections and grow your network by introducing things like tapping into your network to introduce you to other people, things that, for me, they are. So I'm not celebrating them.
Veronica Guguian: And I was the one saying, we need to celebrate, but those that I tend to take for granted, and of course we did that. It doesn't make sense for us to mention it, I think.
Jillian Vorce: So. I think it's about celebrating those things and documenting those things. Because all of us, when we're doing the thing, we think it's like we imagine we're never going to forget this, but guess what? We all do. And then it's like, when did that happen? And so it's nice to have these data points. So when a spike happens in your business or all these things or whatever, you can kind of look back and at least to have some inkling of how it happened and not just be a total mystery. Sometimes the universe can just open the fire hose. I mean, that was my experience of business. But it's really helpful to be able to have these kinds of plots on the map. So I think it's helpful. Yeah.
Jillian Vorce: Business is more than just, at least the way I see business now; maybe not for everybody, but for me, business is more than just revenue. It's creating impact and how we spend our time and how we feel and how we make others feel and all these other things, the seeds that we're choosing from.
Veronica Guguian: How do you want to work? And for me, that's always, I'm saying it comes from the values that make me want to work, that gives me energy, that makes me be creative. Otherwise, it will be very depressing.
Jillian Vorce: Yeah, no, for sure. I'll say the last bit, which again, is like, on that line between business and personal? So I love to exploit that boundary because to Me, they're both. Both.
Veronica Guguian: Yeah, I agree. Have your own company.
Jillian Vorce: Yeah. It's a very blurry, swirly boundary there anyhow. So I completed a year as team lead in organization management for the TEDx Amsterdam team. Yeah. So I'm really happy about that, it was actually my first kind of working experience here in the Netherlands. So for anybody, I feel like, yeah, learning. But for people who are trying to step into a new arena, new career, new trajectory, and or have moved to a new city, state or country, volunteering is always an excellent way to go because it's a great way to dip your toes kind of in and be able to contribute and help a community or help an organization and also building new relationships and seeing kind of testing your skill set and how it jives or doesn't et cetera. So that was my experience.
Jillian Vorce: So I'm happy I did that and stuck it out for a year.
Veronica Guguian: Good for you. Congratulations. And I can relate to that. When I moved here, I used to have my own business, and I was like, I'm an entrepreneur. I want to do that again. And I quickly realized I didn't know anything about this culture. Working culture.
Jillian Vorce: Yeah.
Veronica Guguian: So it was like, okay, I need a job. And the moment I decided, okay, enough with this, I need to go back to entrepreneurship, I did something similar. I became part of the Amsterdam American Business Club, the board of that, because that enabled me also to, even if I already was a member, have the connections, but also to work from a different perspective with them to better understand the in and out. And as you said, you have a different relationship and understanding. So definitely, that's very good advice. And not necessarily if you just moved, but maybe if you just want to try something else or just relationships. It's an amazing experience. Definitely.
Jillian Vorce: Yeah. I've heard from a lot of people over the course of this year who have kind of followed some of my posts or just chatted with me or something. But I think there's a groundswell, actually, of people that are looking to shift careers or shift companies or do some sort of. Kind of some of the soul searching and wanting to do things that feel better, more fulfilling, and this kind of bit. So I think there's a lot of people that are in that boat. So this is a great way to go about it, especially for people that are in a career, have a certain level of success, or are accustomed to it, and it feels too high stakes to then just leave it to do something that's unknown.
Jillian Vorce: It's a good way to kind of ease into it is to look for volunteer opportunities to kind of test the waters can be good, too.
Veronica Guguian: Exactly.
Jillian Vorce: Can I ask one question? I'm just curious because I think I know the answer, but maybe I'm wrong. So I want to ask you one last thing. I always also try to pay attention to or ask myself is like, yeah, what did I learn this year? Specifically, what did I learn about myself this year? So I'm curious about you. Is there something that you learned about yourself this year? It may be already what you alluded to about kind of taking time to step back, et cetera. So I don't know if it's that or something else, and I don't mean to put you on the spot, but I guess I just. Is there anything that you kind of learned about yourself this year or what did you learn about yourself this year?
Veronica Guguian: I know what I learned, why I'm hesitating. It's not even hesitating, is it? Maybe it's confirmation or just learning. And I think it's more of a confirmation. It's trusting your guts or instinct, however you want to call it. And this kept on happening over the years and especially having my own business. But the more you do it, the better you get at it. And you just need to be tuned with it, because otherwise you're going to first things and you're getting to that. You just do things automatically. And then I think the rupture or the disconnect, the falling out of love or not syncing with your business or however you want to call it, will happen. But the moment you stop and you actually, okay, what's happening, what does my gut feeling tell me? Then you know what to do.
Veronica Guguian: And everything that happened was instinct. It's not only instinct, because your instinct and gut feeling is based on your experience, your knowledge, the relationship you build, the experiences you had. So I'm not talking about something necessarily spiritual, but everything is based on your experience and what you did. But sometimes we just do things automatically without really checking in with us and seeing what we really want. Where do we stand on this one? We tend to do what the society we kind of expect from us or things like that, but sometimes what we really want to do is slightly different. Like, everybody was expecting the ones to have so many additions, and I said no, and actually was a very good thing at that point because that gave us the space to how can we make it better?
Veronica Guguian: The last event was proof of that, and this is a very small example. The same with the base conference. We stopped a little bit, and we are relaunching it next year. Sometimes you just need to stop because there are too many things, and when there are too many things, you'll not be able to do any of them at the high quality you want.
Jillian Vorce: Yeah, sure. By the way, a really great word: rupture. Like, extra points for using that word.
Veronica Guguian: Thank you.
Jillian Vorce: Yeah, that was a good one. I'm like, ooh, that's a very tactile word. So I just had to underscore that. I would have highlighted it. If I were reading it, I would have highlighted it. Good use of words there. Cool.
Veronica Guguian: How about you?
Jillian Vorce: What did you do? Simple. I learned that building relationships is still my strength. It's still my go-to, the thing that I love most. It still is. So I wasn't sure about coming here, and I feel like a whole new person now. My whole life has changed. But it turns out my core is still the same, and that's still my thing. Even here.
Veronica Guguian: I saw you people are connected at the conference. Yeah. That's part of you. You can't take it out. It's who you are. Definitely.
Jillian Vorce: I really enjoy that.
Veronica Guguian: Yeah.
Jillian Vorce: But anyhow, so thanks for having this chat about our years in review. I do think it's nice to have this conversation with somebody else and then whoever else has the audience listening in. Yeah. But to your point earlier, I hope people also, know there's something that we said that's useful or gives them an idea about something or if nothing else, get started doing it if you don't already, et cetera.
Veronica Guguian: But don't put pressure on yourself. Just start wherever you feel you are and just move from there.
Jillian Vorce: Yeah. So I feel like that's a wrap on 19, so year in review.
Veronica Guguian: Thank you for tuning in and see you on episode 20. I can't believe 20. I love numbers.
Jillian Vorce: I know. And Happy New Year, by the way. And hopefully, it will be a happy New Year.
Veronica Guguian: We'll see.
Jillian Vorce: But stay tuned for that. Cheers.
Veronica Guguian: See you soon.
Jillian Vorce: Bye.