Looking Back to Move Forward: Why Reviewing Your Numbers Matters for Creative Teachers

A gentle year-end review guide for creative teachers to understand revenue, expenses, time, and energy before planning next year.

Hello Friends,

Here we are at the end of the year—and it’s been a year, hasn’t it?

If your life has looked anything like mine, it has probably been messy, meaningful, surprising, and full of both joy and frustration. Running the Academy for Virtual Teaching has given me beautiful moments of connection with creative souls all over the world, plenty of experiments (some successful, some not so much), and a whole lot of learning—sometimes more uncomfortable than I expected.

One of my favorite quotes sums it up perfectly:

“There is no growth in the comfort zone, and no comfort in the growth zone.”

Like many of you, I’ve spent years building my creative teaching business. Sometimes I create workshops when inspiration strikes; sometimes ideas simmer for months. I don’t plan to stop following those creative impulses, but I’ve also learned this:

Planning ahead—even imperfectly—is one of the smartest business decisions we can make.
Even if that beautiful plan gets mangled when “life lifes.”

And there’s something else I’ve learned this year…
Something many of us (including me) avoid for as long as possible:

You Have to Know Your Numbers

Not because numbers should run your life.
Not because we need to obsess over spreadsheets.
But because your numbers tell the truth about what’s actually happening in your teaching business—beyond the emotions, the busy-ness, the exhaustion, the excitement, and the stories we tell ourselves.

Even if your business feels “small” or “simple,” you still need to understand your data. Without that clarity, it’s easy to miss opportunities, repeat draining patterns, or assume something is working when it’s actually costing you time, energy, and money.

And let’s be honest: if you’ve been here a while, you know how often I mix up dates and times in my emails. Numbers and I have never gotten along well. The fact that I’m the one urging all of us to do this should tell you how important it is.

Hear me out.

A Simple Year-End Review for Creative Teachers

This year, I spent time getting down to a granular level in my own business. Some of what I discovered made me spiral for a minute—but that’s not what this process is about. We ALL need to understand our numbers without judgment, fear, or shame. Curiosity and honesty help us see the truth with clarity and compassion.

I tracked both money and time, and the story it told me was astonishing.

Here are the four areas I looked at—and the ones I encourage you to explore too:

1. Revenue: What Actually Came In

Break it down by category, not just totals. For example:

Online workshops
Live Zoom bookings
In-person quilt guild or art guild bookings
Pattern sales or publications
Kits, supplies, or physical products

This quickly shows where your income really comes from—and where it doesn’t.

2. Expenses: What You Spent to Keep Teaching

This is where surprises often hide.

Subscriptions and recurring software
Platform fees
Travel (reimbursed or not)
Supplies and materials
Contractors or assistants
Advertising or promotions

Small expenses add up more than we expect. I knew my tech stack was “a lot,” but I genuinely had no idea how much it was costing me—in both money and energy.

3. Time: Where Your Hours Actually Went

This one is easy to overlook, yet it matters just as much as money.

Where are you spending hours that don’t actually matter or don’t generate income?
Where are you investing time that could be hired out so you can focus on the work that brings real value?

Break it down and create as many categories as you need:

Teaching (live or recorded)
Preparing lesson content
Traveling for guilds
Admin tasks (email, contracts, bookkeeping)
Marketing and social media
Making your own work
Technology setup
Community building

Get granular.

And if you have no idea where your time went this year—there is zero judgment.
This is where you start tracking.

4. Energy Return: How Each Task Felt

Sometimes a workshop or product makes good money but drains your soul.
Sometimes a small offering lights you up and refills your creative well.

Knowing the difference matters.

Let’s Do This Together

During this month’s live seminar, I’ll be sharing a behind-the-scenes look at the Academy. I’ll talk about what I tried this year, what worked, what absolutely didn’t, what I’m letting go of, and the big changes coming in 2026—and why.

My goal is to help you see that you can do this too.
You can build a sustainable, aligned creative teaching business—whether you’re teaching online, teaching in person, selling patterns, publishing books, or juggling all of the above.

Use the guide below to gather your own numbers and bring them to the seminar.
We’ll walk through how to interpret them, and how to use this information to plan for next year with clarity and confidence.

Here in the Academy, you never have to do it alone.
I’m right here with you.

With much love and encouragement,
– Lyric Kinard