Are you choosing to live a happy, fulfilled life?
That’s right, studies have proven that ninety percent of the factors that make the difference between a happy life and an unhappy life are factors within your control. One life hack proven to help unlock your best life is setting, pursuing, and achieving goals.
Yes, you can choose a happy life, but don’t take my word for it! Here’s an example of how other people – people just like you – are choosing to achieve happiness through their goals.
Amuse-Bouche Before we jump into today's post, I offer you this "dad joke" as a light "amuse-bouche" to entertain your mind before we get serious. Like any other amuse-bouche, you may hate it, but it is worth every penny you paid for it, right? I was showing my friend the model I built of Mt. Everest. To my surprise, he asked if it was to scale. I quickly told him, "No… it's just to look at."
Anna’s Story Of Launching A Side-Hustle To Make Some Dough (Interview)
Welcome to this week’s Interview with a Goal-Crusher. In these interviews, I sit down with someone accomplishing big things by setting and achieving their goals to learn their secrets. Then I share those secrets with you. It’s like free mentoring from someone already on the road to success. Who doesn’t want that?!
Happy New Year, and cheers to a happy, healthy and productive 2024! After a relaxing holiday break, I am ready to get back to publishing Operation Melt blogs. I am particularly excited to share my first Interview with a Goal-Crusher of 2024. However, I acknowledge that a blog featuring photos of delicious baked goods is possibly a little cruel for the first week of your “New Year, New You” resolutions… you’ll be alright.
I am honored to share Anna’s story with you in this month’s interview.
Anna is both a friend and a coaching client with a passion for baking. Over the past several years, Anna has baked me an impressive pumpkin birthday cake, Christmas cookies and more. Plus, it wasn’t just me who benefitted from Anna’s baking; she made custom cakes and other creations for many other people, primarily for fun.
In late 2022, Anna decided to grow her baking hobby into something more. That’s when Anna took the plunge and launched her business, Anna Bakes Things. After an incredible 2023 full of growth and happy customers, Anna is ready to share her story.
Please introduce yourself and tell my readers about you and Anna Bakes Things.
Hey there! I’m Anna, and I run a cottage bakery operating out of Merion Village in Columbus, Ohio.
Anna Bakes Things specializes in fresh bread. You can find me at the German Village Farmers Market from May through November.
What motivated you to grow your baking hobby into a business? What was your vision? Can you share some/all of your story?
It was a very spur-of-the-moment decision.
I was shopping at the farmers market one day, and the mother of one of my vendor friends was looking for a bread vendor. I told her I would bring her a loaf the following week. After she tried it, she told me there was a gap in the market, and I should try filling it.
Baking was something I always enjoyed, and I had thought about branching out. Having support from another vendor really pushed me to have the confidence to try it out.
What was the first step you took to get started building Anna Bakes Things?
My first step was actually setting up my LLC.
This task only took 10-15 minutes, but just getting it accomplished set everything else in motion. It seemed like such a hurdle to jump until I actually took the time to file the paperwork, and then the rest became a lot easier.
Once you start accomplishing things, it is easier to keep crushing goals.
What were your biggest challenges in achieving your goal? How did you overcome them?
The biggest challenges for me have always been in tackling the financial side of the business.
I started out just trying different ways of easily tracking my information. Even if it wasn’t the most efficient way, at least it was getting done. As I’ve gotten more comfortable, I’ve pushed myself to transition into more efficient ways.
Just trying something is better than trying nothing.
What goal success tips and techniques have worked well for you that you would like to share with my readers?
The biggest tip that worked for me was getting my to-do list out of my head.
I put my two-week and long-term goals on paper. I stopped spending the energy running through things in my head a million times. This made it so much easier to put that energy into the actual tasks and goals.
It broke my lists into manageable projects that gave me the satisfaction of being able to mark them completed.
What else would you like my Operation Melt readers to know about you, Anna Bakes Things, or goal success in general?
I can’t encourage people enough to just go for it.
Whatever your goal is, dive in head first. You will learn along the way.
There will never be a point where you feel like, “Now I know everything that I need to know, so I can start.”
How can people learn more about you?
The easiest way is to follow my social media (IG: @annabakesthings614 and FB: Anna Bakes Things)!
Also, come see me at the German village Farmers market starting in May.
Wow! Anna shared so many gems about how she got her side-hustle off the ground. Did you note how much of her story embraced my Project Manage Your Life principles?
Beyond those tips, Anna also used several of my Project Manage Your Life principles to achieve this success:
- Set SMART Goals: Anna set a goal to expand her hobby into a side-hustle and start selling at farmers’ markets.
- Build a plan that works for you: Anna broke her goal into smaller, manageable projects and took one step at a time. Each step she completed built momentum, which made the next step easier.
- Measure progress every day: Anna got her to-do list out of her head and onto paper. This let her focus her energy on completing tasks instead of remembering them. Getting her list onto paper also allowed her to track progress by crossing tasks off her list.
- Expect and plan ahead for problems: Anna knew that financial tracking wouldn’t be easy and that she would have to evolve her process over time. She planned ahead, started small, and prepared to quickly improve it.
- Don’t go it alone: Anna Bakes Things started because a friend mentioned there was an opportunity – never underestimate the power of an advocate. Since then, Anna has leveraged relationships and coaching, in addition to her hard work to build her successful business.
- Enjoy the journey: Anna knew she loved baking and built a business around her hobby. That doesn’t mean that every day is easy, but it does help her enjoy the steps she is taking.
Most importantly, Anna believed in herself and had the courage to try. As Anna explained, if you wait until the time is perfect and you know everything you think you need to know, you’ll never get started. Anna said it best, “Whatever your goal is, dive in head first. You will learn along the way.”
What are you waiting on?
Do you have goals inside you that you don’t know how to bring to life? Let me help. I am a certified Master Life Coach, and I love helping people unlock their goals to build the lives of their dreams. I would be honored to be your “Goals GPS” and give you the turn-by-turn guidance you need.
Please visit the Operation Melt coaching page to learn more and submit an inquiry form… let’s chat.
I believe in you; let me help YOU believe in you!
Meet Coach Tony
My name is Coach Tony, and I am a coach, author and project manager on a mission. I am working to build a world where no goal ever dies of loneliness.
I almost allowed one of my biggest life goals to die without ever being attempted for forty years. My goal almost died, not of failure but of loneliness. But, I took a risk and leveraged a simple, logical process that helped me wildly exceed my goal.
I transformed my life, and you can do the same with the help of Operation Melt.
Operation Melt provides engaging, practical content and hands-on coaching to inspire, motivate and equip project managers and other left-brained high-achievers to pursue and accomplish their biggest goals.
Breathe new life into your goals
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