The 60-Minute Creative CEO Audit: Finish 2025 Focused and Enter Q1 Ready

Step 0: Set your timer and your rules (2 minutes)

Let’s make this simple: set a timer for 60 minutes. Grab notes. No perfection. No rebranding mid-audit. No “I should start a podcast” spirals unless the audit proves you’re ready.

Your goal is one thing: clarity you can act on this week, not a fantasy version of you who has unlimited time and a personal assistant named “Energy.”

Step 1: Audience reality check (15 minutes)

This is where the Creative CEO shows up and stops guessing.

Answer these five questions fast:

1. Who actually engaged this month? (comments, replies, shares, DMs, email responses)
2. What did they ask you for? (topics, services, products, advice)
3. What content pulled people closer? (saved posts, watch time, clicks)
4. What content got applause but no action? (likes that didn’t convert)
5. What problem do you solve in one sentence?
   If you can’t say it clearly, your audience can’t buy it clearly.

Boss Up truth: engagement is data, not validation. If something “felt like it flopped,” but people saved it, that’s a quiet win. If something went “viral” but nobody subscribed, that’s a loud distraction.

Mini-action:

Write one sentence you’ll use everywhere this week:

“I help ________ do ________ so they can ________.”

Step 2: Offers + pricing sanity check (15 minutes)

You don’t need more ideas. You need fewer offers with clearer outcomes.

Make a quick list:

• Your current offers/products (books, magazines, services, events, subscriptions, workshops)
• Your price points
• Your easiest-to-deliver offer
• Your highest-margin offer
• Your most confusing offer

Now run the 3-question test on each offer:

1. Is the outcome obvious? (What does the customer get?)
2. Is the next step easy? (Where do they click? What do they do?)
3. Is it worth the effort to sell? (Does it pay you back in money, growth, or credibility?)

If an offer fails two out of three, it needs a reset:

• Rename it
• Repackage it
• Raise clarity
• Or pause it

Boss Up truth: “I have a lot going on” is not a business model. It’s a symptom.

Mini-action:

Pick one offer for Q1 and write this sentence:

“This is for ________ who want ________ without ________.”

Step 3: Content engine audit (15 minutes)

Your content isn’t the problem. Your system is.

Do this fast scan:

• What did you post consistently?
• What did you avoid?
• What took too long to create?
• What could be templated?

Now decide your Q1 content engine:

Choose 1 primary format (the one you can do on your worst day):

• Reels
• Carousels
• Lives
• Newsletter/Substack
• Blog articles

Choose 2 support formats (to remix from the primary):

• If Lives are primary: clip into Reels + turn talking points into a newsletter
• If Articles are primary: turn headings into carousels + record a short reel hook
• If Reels are primary: turn scripts into a Substack post + post a quote graphic

Boss Up truth: consistency is easier when you repeat the structure, not the idea.

Mini-action:

Write your weekly content formula in one line:

“Every Monday I publish ________. Every Tuesday I remix it into ________. Every Friday I sell ________.”

Step 4: Your one-thing Q1 focus (10 minutes)

You’re not picking what you like most. You’re picking what creates momentum.

Choose one Q1 focus from these:

• Grow email list
• Sell magazines/books
• Book more clients
• Launch a product
• Build a weekly show (Lives/podcast) that feeds everything else

Now define it:

• One metric: “By March 31, I will reach ________.”
• One weekly action: “Every week I will ________.”
• One boundary: “I am not doing ________ until this is stable.”

If you pick more than one “one thing,” congratulations—you just invented chaos with better branding.

Step 5: The 5-minute closeout (the part people skip)

This is how you finish the audit like a CEO.

Write these down:

Stop list (what you’re cutting):

• One activity that eats time but doesn’t move the needle
• One platform behavior that drains you
• One “nice idea” you keep dragging into every month

Start list (what you’re committing to):

• One weekly sales action (yes, sales)
• One weekly audience-building action
• One weekly creative deep-work block

Your next 72 hours (simple plan):

• Day 1: Publish one piece of cornerstone content
• Day 2: Remix it into two posts
• Day 3: Make one offer and invite people to buy/subscribe

Screenshot checklist (save this)

• I can explain what I do in one sentence
• I know what content actually moved people
• I have one primary format for Q1
• I have one offer I’m pushing consistently
• I have one measurable goal for Q1
• I have a stop list so I don’t sabotage myself

Finally, ask yourself: What are you cutting in 2026 so your best work has room to breathe?