Reflecting on 2025 & My 2026 Word Of The Year
Today marks my 10th year in business. I’m pretty introverted, so I didn’t really plan anything special for it, but I was pleased to wake up and know that it’s been a decade since I got started.
I heard a long time ago that if you can make it 10 years, you’ll be able to keep going for 10 more. And I hope that’s true because I love what I do.
When I sat down to write this reflection, I wasn’t really sure what I would write about. 2025 was a year of keeping my head down and getting work done. But after sitting with it for a bit, there are a few things I’d like to highlight.
Win #1: full capacity for the entire year.
2025 marked a year of having my head down and getting work done. I had a full roster of clients in a number of different industries, making every day a little different. Each industry requires a different combination of skills for its marketing, so every day felt new and interesting.
Real estate agents need a lot of video editing, social media, newsletters and blogs as well as collateral if they’re not using an in-house designer. I loved the fast-paced nature of the Halifax listing market, and the compliance rules are generally pretty stable, even when the algorithm shifts.
Landscaping is still some of my favourite content to write, as a homeowner myself.
My therapy clients have content that feels like a nice, calm place to rest when working on it. I always get a lot out of their content and newsletters.
My coaching clients always keep me feeling motivated while working on their content.
I also spent this year working with two social media consultants, assisting with content and course creation. It felt great to be in my industry doing work for them.
It wasn’t until September that I had a retainer space open up, which I kept open to the end of the year so I could take some extra time off around the holidays for a learning sabbatical.
While it wasn’t a big, loud win, I still think it was nice to reflect on a full and busy year without needing to do much marketing on my own. As an introvert, spending a lot of time at networking events is challenging. I will definitely need to do more of that in 2026, but having a year to focus on work was nice.
Win #2: I Redid My Website and Added to My Portfolio
I was able to take some time off at the end of the year and update my website again. I’ve been straying from using AI for writing for a few months now, and it was time to review all the pages of my site and rewrite things in my own voice.
I added projects to my portfolio as case studies and updated other pages:
This project for Tina Prinsenburg for her website and social media presence.
This project for Denise MacDonald for her Newsletter and social media presence.
I added a monthly retainer page because sometimes there is confusion between content strategy and social media management.
I also switched Content Management to Social Media Management because I noticed I get found more often when someone is looking for a Social Media Manager. The rest of my skills are just additional perks for the people who want social media to be done for them so I made this clear on my site.
Win #3: I Invested in Myself as Hard as I Invest in My Clients
At the end of 2024, I finished an AI Microcredentials certification program. It was a great program, but it also gave me a bit of a pause.
While finishing our projects and presenting our findings to each other, I noticed that many of the solutions ended up having similar styles and cadences. Because we were all marketers trained on the same material, I was a bit concerned about the potential for sameness in the marketing space.
I spent the year investing in my own learning pretty aggressively. Not only AI advancements, but also updating my HubSpot certifications in content marketing, doing Skillshares, and dedicating a considerable amount of time to improving my writing skills.
At the end of 2025, I notified all of my current clients that we will be moving to full human re-writes as a part of the process for their social media. I explained that I think human imperfection will be what users are looking for when they search online. Everyone got on board with the utilization of our time together, and I look forward to spending more time writing in 2026.
Some of my favourite content to work on this past year was reels and short-form content. I added Friday-video days to my schedule for my retainer clients, so you can now find me on the road each Friday to spend time with my clients recording video for me to edit into longer-form content and reels throughout the month.
Video editing and content writing really help set my skillset apart for content managers in Halifax, so I’m excited to spend more time in person with my retainer clients this year.
My 2026 Word Of The Year is Hope
This year my word of the year came to me pretty easily. I have a lot of hope for the world despite what’s happening all around us.
I hope to spend more time working on content that I love.
I hope to keep spending time writing and keeping my critical thinking skills sharp.
I hope to spend more time at networking events this year.
I hope to dedicate some attention to dealing with my introversion while I’m at it. By putting more of myself out there for people to get to know.
I hope that more people use their digital marketing to connect in real and human ways. Because it can make being online a lot more fun when we actually talk to each other.
I think it’s easy to lose hope when things are hard. So it was important to have this as my guiding word so I can keep doing what I love for as long as I can.