This has been, undoubtedly been an incredible year for my business and growth. I shared with you some of the things that I did in order to increase my income by 1000% in the last 6 months. It has had a lot of ups and downs and has brought a lot of fear and joy; which I know is pretty insane, but I feel it’s almost part of being an entrepreneur. I have already decided that next year is going to be the BEST year yet for my business and personal life as well.

How do I know this with absolute certainty? Because I’ve set up with strategies that will get me there. I spent all of this year studying and learning and putting into practice SO many things that have already proven to be effective. The new techniques that I learned, paired with my MBA and more than 10 years of experience in branding are without a shadow of a doubt, going to grow my business in the new year.
The truth is, that even though I’ve been in business for a decade, sometimes I feel I’m just scratching the surface with things that I can do and apply. Anyways, I’m sharing here with you 20 things that I will do in 2017 to grow my business. My advice? You should do these too! You can download this awesome free checklist I created for you to change the game for your business in 2017!

*Some of the links in this article are affiliates. This means that, at no additional cost to you, I earn a commission if you decide to purchase using the links. However, know that everything I recommend I use in my business or my life. I’m sharing them because they are really helpful, not because of the small commissions I could make.

One of the things that has helped me the most this year was discovering the power of my mind. You see, when your mind is in a state of fear, you completely shut down. This means that ideas don’t come to you and you start feeling like everything in your life happens AT you instead of FOR you.

You can download this guide I created to take you from lack to abundance and start putting in action different strategies that will make you a mindset superstar. Keeping your mindset in the right place is essential to growing your business without a doubt.

I don’t know about you, but I’m the kind of person that LOVES a great challenge. I have always been super determined; when I want something, I don’t stop until I get it. So, for the new year, I’m setting goals that really get me going. I’m not going to be playing small here. One of the things that I have learnt in business is that in order to win big, you have to be willing to play big. So that’s exactly what I’m going to be doing. I’m setting goals that are just on the edge of crazy and achievable. If you set goals that are too small, you won’t have to work as hard because you know they’re easy to achieve, right? Shoot for the stars, stretch yourself and go for it. That’s what I’m going to be doing for sure. You can set high goals to grow your business as well!

One thing I know for sure is that I don’t know everything in this life. I love reading and learning and putting all the things I discover into action. In 2016 I read The Universe Has Your Back: Transform Fear to Faith by Gabbrielle Bernstein which gave me INCREDIBLE tools for moving from fear to love (seriously, I can’t emphasize enough how much this book has transformed my life. Please go read it). I just started reading The Success Principles: How to Get from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be by Jack Canfield which is pretty incredible and already is giving me amazing tools for my business.
I have been watching this incredible series on sales strategies by Victor Antonio which is pretty unbelievable. 2017 will be a year for even more knowledge. What I always ask myself is this:

Whenever the answer is YES, I go for it. I study up, take the course, read the book or watch the video. This is a pretty amazing way to grow your business as well!

Any time you can setup systems that will help you waste the least possible time and be more productive, it’s something I know will help grow your business. Why? Because when you’re not spending time doing tedious tasks that take up your time, you can be creating income-boosting ideas. This year I have begun doing a few things that have helped me be more productive. The better I get at streamlining my processes, the more time I have. For example, I use Buffer to program my social media for the whole week. I just signed up to Proposify which is pretty incredible for sending proposals to clients in just one click. I use Asana to organize my processes with clients.
These are things that save me a lot of time and make me more productive. In 2017 I will keep on using these tools and more I find in the way! Anything I can do to give me a) more time to create and b) more time with my family is an great way to grow my business and can help you grow yours too!

One of the biggest realizations that I came to in 2016 is that the more ME that I bring into all that I do, the more people I attract. It’s funny, even though I have an interesting story to tell, I wasn’t really sharing all that much. You see, I grew up living in Brazil, Spain, the US, Venezuela and India. I have been working with all sorts of clients for over 10 years, building brands and successful businesses. I have an MBA, which automatically make me different from most designers out there. I’m married to a famous singer and have been intertwined with the music industry for about 15 years (and know it pretty well inside out). I relaunched my business from “offline” to online this year, having to learn and apply pretty much every marketing tactic possible (okay, maybe that’s an exaggeration), and know personally what it’s like being an entrepreneur. I became a mom to a beautiful baby girl in September 2015 and have been balancing my career and family life all at the same time.
You see? There’s quite a lot to share. So, in 2017 I’ve decided to be more vulnerable, more honest and real about me, my story and my life. This is what makes me unique and what will make your business differentiate from others as well. What about your story is unique?
Remember to download the free checklist with 20 things you can do to grow your business in 2017 here:

Bringing out your personality and being authentic will help grow your business because you will be able to attract even more people to it! You see, people connect with what feels genuine and real. That’s why it’s so important for you to be as honest as you can.

Another great strategy to make your business grow in the new year is making sure that every action you take is aligned with your brand. What does that mean? Well, it means being super clear about your mission and taking the steps to make sure that your decisions are aligned with it.
For example, my mission is to help entrepreneurs create unique brands that attract by showcasing what makes them remarkable and growing their business. This means that all my efforts have to be with being creative and passionate in my processes in order to make really unique and remarkable logos and websites. Not sure if your mission statement is aligned with your vision? You can download this guide I created for you with all you need to brand your business. In there you will be able to write your own mission statement and values to ensure that your actions in 2017 feed your ultimate purpose.

I shared with you all the story of how my income increased by 1000% in just 6 months in 2016. In 2017, I plan on making that same growth. My goal by the end of next year is to grow my income by an additional 500%. This goal is pretty crazy, but I’m confident I will get there. What will I do for that? Well, I’ll continue boosting my brand every single day. You can check out all the strategies I did in 2016 and download a guide with 25 steps I took here. 2017 will be all about perfecting and getting better at applying those same strategies. Bring in on baby!

This is probably THE most important step that I will take in order to grow my business in 2017. You see, the more consistent you are with your brand, the more recognition you achieve. Of course, recognition means building your trust and increasing sales. In terms of branding this means continuing to make my brand look great everywhere and making sure it’s clear that it’s me!
I started 2016 with one particular style and photos for my brand, and by the end of the year I decided to make a change. What I did was, make sure my new branding came across the same way everywhere. For example, check out my profiles for all my social media and how they connect to my webpage, they all have the same photo and description inside.
 This is fundamental to making sure your brand is strong and great at differentiating itself. You can read more about how being consistent with branding will help boost your business here. In 2017, I will continue building on my new brand look and making sure it’s the same everywhere and every time I create something new.

Knowing who your target audience is and creating content specifically for them will grow your business. 2016 has been a great year for understanding my target audience even better. Who’s my audience? Well, I have 2 groups:
1. Small business owners that have been in business for around 5 years or less. They started their business and didn’t go into detail on who they were, who their target audience was, creating a great logo or building a website that converted sales constantly. They are at a place where they need to update how their brand looks in order to grow and expand their business. They want to have an image that looks absolutely amazing and a website that sells while they sleep.
2. Startups + entrepreneurs: these are people that have been studying and getting ready to launch their business. They have been learning all that they can about business and already know how important branding is for them. They’re ready and have an incredible offer to sell. They have gone through business school, or B-school, or coaching programs and have the foundations of their business setup and ready to go.
So, why does knowing who your target audience matter? Well, it will define the content that you share and create. This means writing articles that are more focused and in tune with people that will be willing to hire you. I know for a fact that this will grow my business in 2017. Still not sure about who your audience is? In this free guide you can define them and understand them so that you can focus on creating for them.

Another thing I will be doing in 2017 to help my business grow, is updating my portfolio constantly to show what I do. You see, I’ve been in business for quite a while, and have sooooo many logos, branding and web designs under my sleeve. A big part of putting my work out there, is literally showing it off! Can you do the same? How can you expose what you’re doing in order to attract more clients? Remember that the key to being successful is being able to demonstrate that you can solve the problem that your ideal client has. So, in my case, that means showing that I’m great at designing logos + websites.

You can download these 10 things and 10 more strategies in the free checklist I created for you right here and take on 2017!

Continue Reading part 2 right here and learn 10 more things you can do to grow your business in 2017.