Every year I write a year-in-review post. 

This year has been pretty challenging on a number of levels but it has also been amazing in many ways.

I can honestly say that I sit here writing this year’s review feeling such a great sense of achievement for what I have accomplished and excited for what my next level of business and personal growth will be in 2023… not to mention a heap more international travel planned for the first time in years!

In 2022, I contracted Covid twice, once around February and then again in November, Covid doesn’t treat me particularly well so I was sick for months the first time and for about 6 weeks the second time around.

I also fractured my ankle in July, had surgery in early September, and was unable to walk unaided until late October. Having to ask my husband to help me shower was pretty humbling. To make things worse a lung clot was discovered a week post-surgery which was pretty scary and also made recovery a lot harder.

But some really great things happened as well, I did my biggest ever Astrology Certification launch, I went on a retreat with a good friend in Lord Howe Island and then Byron Bay with another business bestie, I had two amazing business photoshoots, I launched a new membership site and I met my goal of selling over 100 copies of my Business Astrology Deck. 

2022 was a year where I had to learn to surrender to my body, take advantage of my times of good health, and allow myself to rest when I needed it – which was quite a bit of the year!

The energy of 2022

Numerology

I was in a personal 6-year which can best be described as a time of balance, sustainability, and realignment.

I’ve just recently moved into a personal 7-year which I’ll tell you more about in my 2023 year ahead blog.

If you want to find out what year it is for you and how you can best work with it check out Your Soulful Year.

Astrological Transits

My major astrological transits in 2022 were Pluto sextile Uranus, Neptune square Neptune, Saturn sextile Neptune, and Saturn trine Pluto.

Pluto sextile Uranus

A Creative time of new activities and focus. For me, it was activating my 2nd & 5th houses so a beautiful transit involving my skills and talents, and creativity. Looking back I absolutely think this transit supported the development of the Oracle deck and that in some way the ankle injury (which was when the 2nd hit of the transit was direct) served to allow me to quieten my life and mind enough to get into a creative space.

Neptune square Neptune

Otherwise known as the mid-life crisis transit (or one of them), I am finishing off this transit in 2022 and it had its last direct impact on the 9th of February when I was in Lord Howe Island on retreat – which was amazing – but also brought a lot of stuff to the surface. This transit activated my 3rd house of communications and 7th House of marriage and partnership and whilst in Lord Howe Island I was literally without a phone or internet connection for 99% of the time – we literally could not communicate! 

Saturn Sextile Neptune

This transit is a time when achieving success is likely because you have access to the right mix of discipline and creativity. Again I absolutely think this transit helped me stay persistent and determined with my Oracle deck. It activated my 6th House of Day-to-Day Health and Routine and my 3rd House of Communications and Siblings. The oracle deck ended up serving as a true “astrological coming out” to my four siblings (and in-laws) because it was something they could see, hold, and somewhat understand. One of my brother-in-laws who doesn’t believe in Astrology at all, said at Christmas dinner – “Kathryn I have taken a look and read what you have written about it and every business owner needs this”. I was so shocked and taken aback but equally so thrilled at this feedback.

Saturn trine Pluto

This transit is a time to harness wisdom, feel empowered, and are able to achieve your goals.

Interestingly my last direct hit of this transit occurs on my wedding anniversary whilst we are on our annual holiday.

The transit activated the 6th house of my day-to-day health and routine and my 1st house of body and identity.

I set a goal around the time I injured my ankle that I just wanted to be able to walk around the Theme Parks in the Gold Coast by early January and this transit is reminding me of that positive interplay between my body and my health. I’ve also done a lot of work this year on starting to shift limiting beliefs about my health and body and this feels true to this transit as well.

If you want to understand your major transits then check out my Year Ahead Reading.

My 2022 Theme Word

My main word for the year was Shine.

I had very different intentions for this word than how it turned out.

I felt “shine” described the next stage of my business journey – I had built the foundations, created financial stability and I felt ready to shine my light as brightly as I could.

But in the end, for so much of the year, I felt unable to shine due to ill health and immobility. 

However, when I sat with this I had some key revelations:

Firstly launching and selling over 100 copies of my oracle deck was absolutely a shining moment (and actually got noticed by a massive entrepreneur which could lead to future opportunities). 

Secondly, 2022 was about shining despite the setbacks, and not giving up or giving in.

Thirdly, this year was about being an example to my students, having them see me continue to work towards my goals even when it felt hard. It was about showing up for myself, for them, and for my biz.

But ultimately the key focus of the word shine was getting my Business Astrology Oracle Deck out into the world to position myself as the Business Astrology Expert.

Supporting Themes

My supporting themes for 2022 were:

1. Getting effective support – investing in the right people to support my growth

How I did: In 2022, I brought on a community mentor, accreditation coordinator, and an admin and customer support assistant as well as outsourcing a heap of web design and development.

2. Protect my businesses’ greatest asset (that’s me by the way!) – by designing a schedule that works for me and that is flexible enough to allow for life’s ups and downs

How I did: I honestly didn’t really have a choice with this one, Covid x 2 and an ankle injury forced the issue!!

3. Creative Retreats – that allow me to give intense focus to my creative projects as well as fill up my cup.

How I did: I went to Lord Howe Island on retreat in February 2022 and Byron Bay in July and I would have done a third trip to the Gold Coast in October if I hadn’t had ankle surgery but instead I had a local solo retreat in November.

4. Up-level – make sure that I am using the right systems, surrounding myself with the right people and holding myself and my business to the highest standards.

How I did: I finally gave in and decided to stop trying to make systems like Thinkific or Teachable work for me and instead to custom-design a membership site that works for me. The changeover is still in progress but up-level I totally did!

5. Lead – Enroll a Level 2 Business Astrology Certification to continue to support my Level 1 students, be seen as a leader in my field, and grow my own skills. Ultimately to be known as the best Business Astrology Mentor.

How I did: Leadership has been a big focus for me in 2022 and I absolutely focused on leading just not exactly as I planned. The Level 2 was postponed, in part due to my own health but also based on student feedback on when they would be ready for the next step. I did however launch my Infinite Program which is an astrology business mentoring program.

If you would like help picking your word for the year and establishing your supporting themes then check out my Your Soulful Year program.

My 2022 goal review:

So I am adding these to show you that NO I do not always meet all of my goals. This is because firstly goals, and therefore priorities, shift and evolve, and secondly because my goals are always big goals that aren’t super easy for me to achieve.

I also couldn’t have foreseen needing to have so much time off the business in 2022. 

The goals were:

1. Earn $370k+ through my  business with at least 65% of this coming from the certification (Level 1 & Level 2)

Actual result: I made the decision to put off launching level 2 and so my revenue was not as high as I hoped but it was multiple 6-figures and 11% more than what I made the previous year. 

2. Travel to Europe (covid permitting) and run an Astrology event or retreat

Actual result: This did not happen again due to ill health but also because global travel out of Australia was slow to gain momentum in 2022. 

3. Publish my Astrology Deck

Actual result: I did this and met my goal of selling over 100 decks!

4. Certify as an Astrocartographer

Actual result: I completed one of three courses to certify in Astrocartography, unfortunately, the other two courses have not been offered yet so this goal moves into 2023!

Overview of 2022 Offerings

The Level 1 Business Astrology Certification

In 2022 we enrolled the Level 1 Business Astrology Certification twice and enrolled 26 new students. 

The Level 1 certification accounts for over 50% of our revenue and so it is where the majority of our focus and energy goes through the business.

I also launched an upgrade to the certification (Infinite Astrology Business Mentoring Program) that runs concurrently with the first 4 months of the certification and I’ve taken 13 students through the Infinite Program in 2022. 

Astrology Readings 

Through my kathrynhocking.com website, I offered 4 different types of astrology readings ( I have since pulled back to just 3 types).

I consciously chose to increase my prices in 2022 and to open less time for readings due to my health as well as a need to focus on the astrology deck.

I worked with 28 clients in 2022 (that’s about half the amount of clients I worked with in 2023 but a higher profit margin) which is on average 2 readings per month.

My Year Ahead readings account for 38% of readings, followed by Natal Chart readings (34%), Business Chart Readings (14%), and Launch Readings (14%).

I absolutely love doing astrology readings for clients and helping them to join the dots of their life and to make changes (big or small) to align their life and business to their cosmic signature. I love that I now have return clients for year-ahead readings and clients for who I have done multiple types of readings.

The Astrology readings account for ~10% of my revenue but are the least leveraged offering of all. I don’t expend a lot of time and effort marketing these offerings as the readings sell themselves. However, I need to be strict with myself on how many per week or month I conduct.

Astrology Toolkits

Through my kathrynhocking.com website, I sell a range of Astrology Toolkits (currently Lunar Toolkit, AstroLaunching Toolkit, Fortune + Fate Toolkit, and the Past Life Astrology Toolkit as well as a Toolkit Bundle).

The toolkits account for ~5% of overall revenue but are completely leveraged and as such are a great regular revenue source and introduction to my higher-priced offerings.

I am currently working on a new toolkit – The Business Astrology Toolkit which will launch in 2023.

Pisces Creative Co

I do AstroBranding Readings and AstroLuxe Brand Identity for soulful women in business through my sister biz Pisces Creative Co.

I do very little marketing for this business and most of my clients find me through Google searches. I love that I generally don’t need to convince clients to work with me – they come to me because of how I integrate astrology and branding and so there is no hard selling required – you either want that, or you don’t!

However, I made a conscious decision to limit the number of clients I took on in 2022 due to my health complications and the unknown of covid recovery.

I only worked with three clients in 2022 for Brand Design and Website Services and I did 7 AstroBrand Signature Sessions.

Pisces Creative Co accounts for 13% of overall revenues but it is currently un-leveraged and by that, I mean all services are 1:1 and completely custom. 

I love the creative outlet that this work gives me as well as helping soulful entrepreneurs step up and become more visible by investing in their brands. However, I think the direction this business is going is to focus on providing this as an add-on to Certifications students only because I get to know them so well through the certification process and I can really go deep with their brand process.

I increased the price of my AstroBrand Signature sessions in 2022 and therefore did a lot less of them which suited me. here are a couple of the ones that were created.

I conducted fewer AstroBrand Signature sessions in 2022 in part because I developed the AstroBrand Map Course where people could go through a live 6-week coaching program with me. This course was successful with about 15 students going through the course but again I found that I prefer to teach this process to certification students who also have an in-depth business astrology context and knowledge. So it’s unlikely that I’ll run this for non-students again.

I’m not sure exactly where Pisces Creative Co is heading but my gut feeling is that perhaps it won’t exist in its current form in a year’s time…

Astrology Deck

My big project for 2022 was designing, writing, developing, and launching my Business Astrology Oracle Deck. This included designing 62 cards, writing 62 card interpretations plus creating 6 specialist astrology card readings, and the guidebook introduction. It also meant a lot of work designing the premium packaging that would house the deck.

I worked on this project for the entire year and was thrilled to finally launch it in November and sell over 100 copies. It accounted for 8.5% of business revenue which is pretty good for a first launch.

I’m hoping to find a publisher for the deck in 2023 but I may do another self-published launch before that happens.

Speaking

I didn’t do any speaking gigs in 2022 and I’ve found that live events have not yet really returned in pre-covid numbers but I’m hoping that there are some more opportunities in 2023 in Australia (and perhaps internationally) to do this. If you are reading this and have an event coming up in 2023 and would like me to speak or facilitate an astrology session please get in touch!

Best Moments

My oldest daughter turning into a little lady

2022 was my oldest daughter’s last year of primary school so there were a lot of personally meaningful moments watching her being a sports captain and graduate from primary school.

Holiday to Cairns and Port Douglas

We took a beautiful family holiday to one of our favorite parts of Australia, we went to lots of animal parks, swam in Mossman Gorge, went to the Daintree rainforest, the Cairns aquarium, and lots of other fun activities.

Business Retreat on Lord Howe Island

My friend Tammy Guest invited me to attend her retreat on Lord Howe Island and I couldn’t resist. My parents took a trip here when I was little and I had grown up hearing about it. What I didn’t realist was that I’d meet an amazing Astrologer Kira Sutherland and make a great friend in her and also a supportive mentor.

Launches of the Level 1 Business Astrology Certification

The first launch of the Level 1 Certification was really quite small with just 8 new students but in hindsight it needed to be because soon after I contracted covid and was really sick for the next 3-4 months.

I then did a larger 2nd launch in August of 18 students, which was the highest revenue launch we have done so far for the certification. It wasn’t quite a 6-figure launch but it came close.

Retreat to Byron Bay with Denise Duffield Thomas 

Denise and I booked ourselves on a creative retreat in 2021 but it was canceled multiple times due to covid. It finally took place in July 2022 and we went to this AMAZING retreat space in the Byron Hinterland. It was so special to spend this time with Denise, talk about a project we are planning together and work on our respective projects.

Photoshoot with Eyes of Love

After the Byron Retreat, I went to the Gold Coast and worked with my Favorite photographer Michelle of Eyes of Love Photography.

The intention was to use these photos for the Level 2 launch which didn’t end up happening this year but I’m so glad I did it anyway as she is now on maternity leave.

Getting the demo stock of the Oracle Deck

One of the best moments was getting the demo stock of the oracle deck whilst I was confined to bed recovering from ankle surgery. Holding it in my hands was surreal but also amazing.

Photoshoot with Bohemian Ekko

I did an amazing photoshoot for the Oracle Deck with Grier of Bohemian Ekko and Steph of Infinite Styling. I booked a gorgeous Airbnb to have the shoot in and stayed there for a few nights so that I could really relax during the experience.

Big Lessons

It’s OK to be human 

This was a hard year on the health front and I could have felt like I just had to keep pushing through. But I’ve learned that part of my role as a leader is to show my students that it is OK to be human. That they don’t have to push through illness or injury. We didn’t start businesses to then never get any sick leave.

I had to trust that my students would understand. And they did.

Discernment 

I had big goals for 2022 but in the end, I just couldn’t do it all with the health challenges that were thrown at me. I had to decide – either to launch the oracle deck or the level 2 certification.

In the end, I chose to lower revenue product – which might seem counterintuitive but it is a more strategic product for me in terms of positioning my expertise.

I’m glad I did it but it absolutely impacted my ability to meet the revenue goals I set for myself – so it was a short-term tradeoff. 

I can no longer do it all myself

I have achieved a huge amount in my astrology business doing most things myself but my health challenges in 2022 really highlighted that it was time to build a team around me.

In 2022 I brought on a Community Mentor, a Certification Coordinator (and 2nd Community Mentor), and an Admin and Customer Support Assistant. We have such a beautiful team and I am loving working with these women. We will also all come together in Tulum, Mexico in August 2023.

Busting Through Blocks

I had a few significant blocks to work through in 2022 (don’t we all!).

Owning it

I’m still moving through blocks around owning my work as an astrologer – both in terms of my family who are non-religious and non-spiritual intellectual types (i.e. they don’t believe in astrology) and also in terms of being more visible in my business through products like the Oracle Deck and writing a book.

I made a lot of progress in this area including “coming out” on Linked In as an astrologer – I had been holding onto this platform showing the “professional” me as a backup plan in case the business didn’t work. 

My post on LinkedIn also meant that most of my siblings saw what I had been working on and over Christmas 2022 I actually showed the oracle deck to most of my family.

I’m consciously talking more about my work openly with family and friends rather than hiding it or just saying that I’m a business coach.

It’s a journey but one that I am feeling more and more open about. 

Money Mindset

I had a wobble in April & May after MONTHS of sickness with Covid. I had a really successful year in 2021 and I had all the evidence that the business was going to continue being successful but months of sickness and the depression that comes with that meant that I felt really worried about whether things would come good again. I started to consider other revenue options and worry about financial stability.

However, this only served to highlight that I was absolutely devoted to my work and my business, my drive and motivation returned and I went on to have a really successful second half of the year.

Trying to make something work – that doesn’t work

I’ve had Membership sites for the last few years on platforms like Thinkific. In early 2022 I decided to move the certification over to Teachable which was way more work than I expected but also ended up making me feel like I needed to invest in custom design to make it work for me.

I considered investing in customizing these standard platforms but eventually, I realized (thank god!) that it was time to go back to having a custom-designed membership site that was designed for my business rather than trying to make my work and my business fit someone else’s platform.

It is a work in progress but we now have my free course, toolkits, and a couple of other courses on a beautiful membership site.

I’m so glad I made this investment in making my work look as beautiful on the outside as it is on the inside.

Business Success Secrets in 2022

I like to see every year that I am in business as a success – and you should too! So here are the things that I think had the most impact on my year.

Blogging

Blogging is still an amazing traffic generator for me and my web traffic has quadrupled from 2021 to 2022 (for context it doubled the year before that). My annual website traffic is now close to 1.5 million page views.

My top five blogs (based on traffic) brought over 330k hits in 2022 (that’s over double the year before) and the top 2 brought in 188k hits. 

Social Media

Being active on Pinterest and sharing great content there drove a lot of additional traffic to my offerings – Pinterest is responsible for 67% of my social media traffic. 

I focused back on Facebook in the second half of 2022 and it brought in 29% of social media traffic.

I love Instagram but a hard learning has been that for the effort of scheduling a great feed every week it only brings in 1.98% and it just doesn’t make a lot of sense to spend so much time on it outside of major launches.

Finances

Continuing to Implement the Profit First financial system allowed me to invest in new business projects, build my team, easily pay myself a six-figure salary, set aside adequate tax and superannuation as well as set aside money for a beautiful solo retreat in Bali in March 2023. 

Consistency

Writing blogs, and newsletter content every week has been core to my growth.

Making strategic offers

You can only make money from your business if you have offers for people to take you up on. I have a structured plan for launches and promotions that I plan a year in advance to ensure that the business continues to grow.

Flagship Offer

My year-long business astrology certification brought in over 50% of my revenue and has created a strong financial foundation for my business. My business bestie Denise Duffield Thomas likes to say “all roads lead to Bootcamp (her flagship program)” well in 2022 my mantra was “all roads lead to the certification!” and I’ll be doubling down on that in 2023.

Biggest Challenges

Juggling parenting responsibilities

My husband also works full-time and with two kids in school, this is much harder than running a business!

Managing my health whilst still meeting my commitments to clients

I contracted Covid twice and I also had a major ankle injury with a 6-week recovery time (12 weeks where I was not fully mobile all up).

I ended up with a lung clot on top of recovering from ankle surgery, which was one of the hardest things I’ve been through in a long time.

That being said I delivered on the majority of my commitments to clients with only a couple of live calls needing to be pushed into January. 

Impatience

I’m on the cusp of a major jump in business growth but of course, I want it now dammit!

What I actually did in my business this year!

• Created & Launched my Business Astrology Oracle Deck
• Enrolled my Level 1 Business Astrology Certification twice
• Outlined my Level 2 certification
• Planned a retreat in Tulum in 2023 and launched the sales page to students
• Created two new astrology toolkits
• Worked with 3 clients on premium brand identities
• Created and launched a Brand New AstroBranding course
• Created, Launched, and delivered (twice) Infinite – an Astrology Business Mentoring Program
• Conducted 7 AstroBrand signature sessions
• Conducted 29 astrology readings
• Launched Your Soulful Year 2023 with a new sales page and membership site
• Launched a new Membership Site for my business and transferred across 6 programs
• Wrote weekly blogs & newsletters
• and so much more!

What’s Next?

I just want to say two things if you have made it this far – firstly congratulations it was a long one! 

Secondly, maybe this post comes across as self-indulgent or self-aggrandizing but truly it is one of my fave things to do each year. The reason for this is that even when it can seem like I have not done much or achieved much (a ruler archetype curse) writing this blog helps me to reflect on all the things I have done, the successes I’ve had, and the lessons I’ve learned. I always end up feeling more content, more successful, and immensely grateful and that is a gift. 

So try it out for yourself! 

So that was my 2022! Look out for my next blog that looks forward to 2023 and what you can expect from me.

From my family to yours Happy New Year – May it be all you wish for and more! And so it is.