Roman Public Health Consulting: 2024 Reflections and 2025 Planning
Last year, my blog readers and LinkedIn connections shared that they really enjoyed my post on reflections and planning for the upcoming year, so I’m happy to make it an annual feature on the blog.
As always, I start with the data:
FINANCES
Annual gross income, expenses, and net income.
I look closely at this data by quarter, to get a sense of business/income flow and the times of year that I have larger expenses. For example, I pay a number of my expenses annually vs. monthly in order to save money on the overall cost. I also look at how much money I’m contributing to retirement and other savings.
I look at how my total income breaks down by service type. This can be really helpful for figuring out if you want to expand or reduce certain types of services. It may inspire you to dig deeper into certain questions, for example- if a service has become less popular- why is that?
Consider: Are there any expenses that I can reduce or eliminate?
BONUS: It’s great to get this all organized by late December/early January so that I have all my numbers ready for my tax accountant.
TIME TRACKING x FINANCES
Even though I primarily price projects by value/deliverable or retainer, I still track my time. This helps me confirm that my project estimates are on target both in terms of price and scope. It also helps me track the number of non-billable tasks that I do in my business. There are a lot: marketing/networking, professional development activities, business development/proposal writing, etc.
I review each project time tracker summary and write myself notes regarding how I did and how I might improve next time in terms of efficiency or pricing. For example, I document delays or if a particular client has a longer contract or start up process that I need to build in more time and budget to accommodate.
Time tracking can also be really helpful when you’re thinking about hiring help, so you can easily identify groups of tasks and how long they take. That makes it much easier to hand them off to someone else.
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
As a master certified health education specialist (MCHES), I have CEUs that I need to complete each recertification cycle. In December/January, I always do a status update on how I’m doing. This helps me develop a professional development budget and plan for the following year.
CLIENTS & COLLABORATORS
I review the number of projects and the diversity of my project portfolio (types of clients, organizations, service types, etc.) I look at how many projects had me as the primary consultant vs. subcontractor.
I review the referral sources for each client project. This helps me direct my marketing efforts for the coming year.
After looking at the hard numbers, I review some reflection questions. For example:
What projects were my favorites? What projects (if any) did I dread or breathe a huge sigh of relief when completed? What did I like about the favorite projects?
Were there any clients that were difficult to work with? Either because of project scope, client personalities, communication, or payment issues? Are any of these issues deal breakers for future projects?
Who were my favorite fellow public health consulting collaborators?
When reviewing my project notes and time tracker: are there any tasks that I can automate or outsource in the upcoming year?
How was my schedule in the past year? Did I have enough work hours for the projects that I took on or was I stressed on deadlines? Did I have enough childcare for the work hours that I needed? (Spoiler alert: I overscheduled myself in the summer of 2024 and was stressed out! I will plan accordingly this year.)
What 2024 accomplishments am I excited to celebrate?
FINDINGS
I made more money in 2024 than 2023, so that’s always exciting! I also had more consistent income from retainers (more about that below) and reached my operational savings goals, so that gave me the financial comfort to hire a part-time project coordinator to work with me (a big “win” for 2024).
Here are a few other things that stood out between my data and reflections:
Hands On Instructional Design (HOID) projects are my most popular service. And launching retainer options in 2024 was a success. I added two retainer projects to my portfolio and was very pleased with the consistent income and workflow. I recently wrote a blog post about when project-based vs. retainer-based projects are the best fit for my clients.
Fellow public health and business consultants continue to be important referral sources. So, the value of viewing fellow consultants as collaborators vs. competitors cannot be overstated! I was very pleased to join fellow consultants and public health practitioners on their podcasts in 2024 to share about my work:
PH Spotlight, Episode #152: Public health consultants & entrepreneurs: Understanding the landscape
Philly Public Health Chats, Episode #2: The role of consultants in public health
The Public Health Epidemiology Conversations (PHEC) Podcast, Episode #356: Designing Effective E-learning Solutions
The Biz of Nonprofit Consultants, Episode #12: The power of specializing: Leah Roman’s public health consulting success
I would definitely like to speak on more podcasts in 2025 and have a related goal of expanding from reaching only public health audiences with these guest spots to broader learning & development and nonprofit audiences as well.
In 2024, I really enjoyed collaborating on projects with other consultants. I had two larger projects where I brought on subcontractors (for virtual facilitation and graphic/report design support, respectively), and the final products were higher quality due to the support and collaboration with my colleagues. The plan is to build on this in 2025. I’ve had lots of networking calls recently with fellow consultants about the types of projects we may want to team up on. I have one collaboration proposal in progress as we speak.
I did a better job of participating in more focused professional development opportunities this year. For example, I really wanted to build my knowledge and skills in e-learning accessibility, so that’s been a narrow focus for 2024/2025. I had a wonderful experience attending Accessibility Summer Camp and am currently enrolled in the online course Making Online Content Accessible for All.
This year I also secured a wonderful opportunity to volunteer my time towards professional service to the field. I was elected to a five-year term on the Division Board for Professional Development for the National Commission for Health Education Credentialing Inc (NCHEC). This position will allow me to build on my leadership skills and expand my understanding of the current challenges, benefits, and trends within public health and health education continuing education programs.
There is so much more to my findings and 2025 plans than I can include in this post. But I wanted to share the highlights! If you also lead this type of annual review and planning for your organization or business, please share below in the comments. I look forward to learning from all of you.
Happy New Year!
I’d love to hear from you!
What questions (and data) do you like to review at the end of the year? Either as a public health individual or business owner?
What achievements are you celebrating? What changes are you making in the upcoming year?
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