Mid-Year Reset: A Business Review Guide for Rural Women Entrepreneurs

At the halfway point of the year, I always pause and take stock. It’s not just a good habit—it’s essential to building a business that’s both profitable and sustainable. A mid-year review is your opportunity to course correct before December hits and you realize something’s been off for months.

In this post, I’m taking you behind the scenes of how I reflect, reassess, and refocus my business strategy—and how you can do the same.

Why Mid-Year Reviews Matter (Like, Really Matter)

Let’s be real—business moves fast. One minute you’re launching a new offer, the next you’re buried in client work, tweaking funnels, managing your team, and for me—wrangling life on the farm with school holidays and no water on tap. Amidst all that chaos, it’s easy to keep pushing forward without checking whether the path you're on still makes sense.

But that’s exactly why a mid-year review is one of the most powerful tools in your business toolbox.

Think of it as a strategic pause—an intentional reset that lets you step out of the daily grind and zoom out for perspective.

A mid-year review helps you:

• Evaluate what’s actually working vs. what’s draining your energy. That “itchy brain” feeling? That’s a sign something isn’t aligned—and now is the time to address it.
• Adjust outdated goals that may have made sense in January but no longer reflect your capacity, priorities, or direction.
• Stop running on autopilot. When you’re always in delivery mode, marketing slips, creativity wanes, and the business starts to feel like a treadmill.
• Create space for focused, aligned growth. Whether it’s a new tool, a team update, or introducing automation (hello, GPT!), the right tweaks now can set you up for a smoother, more successful second half of the year.

Here’s the kicker: September is too late. And so is December. By then, the opportunity to shift and recalibrate might already be lost.

The online business landscape is changing rapidly—AI, content saturation, algorithm updates, shifting client expectations—you name it. If you’re not reviewing and responding in real time, you’re likely building momentum in the wrong direction.

Mid-year is your chance to catch those subtle misalignments before they cost you time, money, or energy in Q4.

Discussion Points from My Own Mid-Year Review

When I sat down to do my own check-in, I ran through a few essential areas. Here's how I broke it down:

Post-Launch Reflection

• What actually worked during the launch?
• What strategies felt great (and which ones didn’t)?
• What would I 100% repeat, and what needs to go?

Department Audits

• I did a deep dive into marketing, Instagram performance, systems, and lead tracking.
• I got super granular—what’s delivering results, what’s causing friction, and what shifts are needed?

Goal Alignment

• Are my original goals still relevant?
• Would I choose them again if I were starting from scratch today?
• If my business suddenly doubled, would those goals and systems still hold up?

Business Capacity

• Not my dream capacity, my real capacity.
• What can I actually hold space for in Q3 considering things like school holidays and a long-awaited family trip to New Zealand?

Future-Focused Planning

• What’s on the calendar that I need to build around?
• What offers or programs need reworking?
• What internal systems or team support should I tighten up before things ramp up?

Spoiler alert: This reflection unlocked some game-changing decisions for the second half of the year—like bringing in more automation, deepening our analytics, and preparing for our Power Project Elevate Retreat.

How to Run Your Own Mid-Year Review (Without Overwhelm)

If you’ve never done a mid-year review before—or if your last one was more “mental checklist” than strategic reset—don’t worry. I’ve simplified the process I use so that it’s both powerful and practical. This is exactly how I check in with myself, my business, and my direction every 90 days, with a little extra depth mid-year.

1. Reflect

Start by taking stock of the last six months. Look at your launches, client results, marketing, systems, and overall energy. Ask yourself:

• What worked really well—and felt good doing it?
• What didn’t feel aligned or started to create friction?
• Where am I seeing traction, and where are things falling flat?

This isn’t about shaming what didn’t work—it’s about noticing the patterns. Sometimes what worked “on paper” still felt heavy or draining, and that’s important to acknowledge. I often call it the “itchy brain” feeling—something's not right, and it’s time to pay attention.

2. Reassess

Now that you’ve reflected, zoom out. Are you still working toward the right goals? 

Mid-year is the perfect time to revisit what you committed to back in January and ask:

“Would I choose this again if I were starting today?”

And even more powerfully:

“If my business doubled tomorrow, would this still work?”

Audit your tools, platforms, systems, and even your offers. What have you outgrown? What feels clunky or overly manual? This is where I realized it was time to retire certain tools (Trello, I’m looking at you) and streamline with automation and AI to support where my business is headed—not where it’s been.

3. Refocus

Once you've cleared the clutter and clarified your direction, get intentional.

Pick one to three core areas to double down on over the next 90 days. Think about your capacity—not your dream schedule, but your real-life bandwidth (with school holidays, life admin, and travel in mind). Then ask:

• What support do I need to stay consistent?
• What systems can help this feel lighter, not heavier?
• Where does my schedule need adjusting so that I can hold space for both business and life?

For me, this meant getting even more automated with my lead tracker, leaning into our evergreen funnel, and making sure my team was supported and in sync—because they’re such a huge part of the business now.

A Peek at What’s Ahead

Out of this review came some exciting plans and big shifts for the second half of the year. Here's what's brewing behind the scenes:

• The Power Project Elevate Retreat: Think four days of strategy, content creation, beach walks, massages, and wine tours. It's equal parts business breakthrough and soul reset. We’re capturing Reels, headshots, and b-roll so my mastermind clients walk away with both clarity and content.
• More hands-on workshops inside the Mastermind: We’re making space for collaborative, action-driven learning—like our recent messaging lab, Facebook ads training, and upcoming AI/GPT building sessions.
• Teaching clients to use custom GPTs: We've been using them for over 7 months and the results are game-changing. It’s time to share that knowledge and help my clients streamline and scale with smart automation.
• Doubling down on evergreen funnels and tightening our analytics to make more data-driven decisions as we grow.

Ready to Design the Rest of Your Year?

If you’re feeling inspired to pause, reflect, and reset your business, I’ve made it super easy.

✨ DM me “strapbot” on Instagram @tori.kopke and I’ll send you my Strategic Bot. It’ll walk you through the high-level review process and help you get clear—fast.

And if you’d rather not do it alone? I’d love to walk you through a personal review. Just send me a message and let’s chat about what the next six months could look like—with more clarity, more confidence, and way less chaos.

Here’s to a second half of the year designed with purpose, not pressure.