The Trena Little Business Eras Tour: The Look What You Made Me Do (Reputation) Era

Dec 9

We all know 2020 was a mess, but I'm not calling this last leg of the Trena Little Business Eras Tour the Reputation: Look What You Made Me Do Era for the obvious reason (there’s no revenge plotting or snake emojis here). 2020 was the year I really stepped into my confidence as a full-on business, which caused me to throw fuel on the fire to make it grow.

This is also the year I cracked MULTIPLE 6 figures, brought on more team members, and made a BIG decision that would change the direction of my business! So even when I felt like the world was crumbling around me, I was bound and determined to keep going. Welcome to my Reputation Era!

January 2020

If you’ve been keeping up with the Eras tour you’ll remember me mentioning 90-day planning. So of course, that’s how January started! I knew it was time to stop winging my launches and thus launching at the worst times of the year — in “no-buy July” (yes…that’s what happens when you don’t have a plan).

So instead of the good ole spray and pray method, I set up legit sales funnels while we were prepping for the launches and bringing in clients…actually, 2020 was the year I gained the most clients! And because of that, I knew I had to simplify things even further if I wanted to scale my business.

February 2020

I ended up canceling YouTube Bootcamp for two reasons. One — I got ripped off. Literally. Someone stole the name and logo and pretty much used the same framework. Two — I wanted to make sure that didn’t happen again so I wanted to start something even better…on a clean slate, something I could keep forever, like a vendetta.

And because you can’t trademark anything with YouTube in it (for obvious reasons), the membership needed a new name — we landed on Video Strategy Academy (and yes, I did get that sucker trademarked!).

I’m also a little embarrassed to admit it but…this was the year I finally legalized my business. I bought contracts, officially registered it as an LLC, trademarked important names…AND hired an accountant to help me with my taxes! The TL team was growing and getting more legit by the moment (just like Taylor’s squad before all the drama that inspired Reputation — except the drama coming was you-know-what-19).

March 2020

I don’t even have to say it because I know that you know what happened in March 2020.

At the start of the month, I went to California for a conference for Social Media Marketing World. It was so much for me, and it got me pumped about business. I also got to stream with the TubeBuddy crowd (as one of the only female creators, I might add. It was awesome!!) and spent time brainstorming with my client and good friend Ashlyn Carter of Ashlyn Writes.

Then it was time to come home…

And when I got there, it pretty much felt like the world had ended. All the progress I had made over the last four years pretty much halted. Nobody physically saw me for a year…okay, that’s not true, but there were two whole months where nothing happened except publishing one YouTube video and my newsletter every single week.

It helped me stay sane and feel like I still had some control over what was happening — and honestly? It felt good to work still. I was extremely grateful to still have a job.

June 2020

Oddly enough, business continued to grow. I kept getting more and more inquiries, and I really think it’s because online businesses started to see a boom. Because we were getting more clients, I started offering YouTube production services, which is when the agency as we know it started to form!

And to my surprise, that first half of the year, I made OVER what I made my entire second year in business. 2017 Trena would be shaking in her boots if she only knew what was ahead!!!

July 2020

Again, my team was growing, and Erica was helping me with the business side of things.

Funny story about Erica, though…

Remember that weird time when we were all trying to figure out what to do with our kids as they attended virtual kindergarten? Yeah, it just wasn’t for me. Trying to find time to work on my business while making my five-year-old sit at the computer was nearly impossible. So I hired Erica to be my daughter’s private kindergarten teacher.

And now Erica is pretty much the CMO for my biz!

August 2020

That summer was the first time we went on vacation for three weeks instead of two. And with my oldest starting kindergarten at the end of the month, a lot was going on once we returned.

Because this busy body is an Enneagram 3, what do we do?? Work. Work. Work.

And with the events that took place in 2020, there was no way I wanted to slow down. And so it goes, I decided to launch another new course (yeah, I know, facepalm all you want. I do not recommend the number of courses I had over this time, FYI.)

I now know that diversifying your revenue ratio with small ticket offers, courses, and memberships (and not just high ticket memberships like mine) works well. Your product suite shouldn’t require you to recreate the wheel every time you add something to it. And that was a lesson I learned well in 2020!!

september 2020

I also launched another course in September. Now, I don’t exactly recommend doing this. It’s more important to be strategic upfront in your product offerings and then go from there, but, ya know, hindsight is 20/20 (no pun intended).

November 2020

With all of this going on (and my kiddos at home), I was pressed for time. So, I was forced to end something that had carried me through for years. It was time to talk about going separate ways with my part-time client.

It’s not that it was a bad gig, it’s just that I was spending a lot of time and creativity working in someone else’s business while trying to build my own. It was a safety net, but it was keeping my business from growing.

And that realization is what made me realize I needed to go all out with my business. It was time for me to do what I could on my own to reach my biggest potential!

Aaaaand that’s a wrap!

2020 is the year that set the stage for the rest of the things that would happen in my business over the next few years up until now.

And in many ways, I still feel like this is the era I'm in. I care less about what other people think about my business, and I’m more comfortable doing what I know is right (because nobody knows your business like you do). And because of that confidence, I feel like it’s helping me continue to grow.

And well, that’s a wrap on the Trena Little Business Eras Tour! I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. If you want to catch the entire tour, head over to my YouTube to catch all five videos. Thanks for coming along — see ya at the next show…I mean, next Tuesday for another regularly scheduled video!