Happy New Year! Hopefully you had a safe and festive night and are feeling great about starting fresh with the arrival of a new year. I’m curled up with the boys today, enjoying the last of our time off together but that didn’t stop me from popping in to share with you my goals for the year.
I’ve never been one for resolutions but in recent years, I’ve found that setting real goals with a plan for achieving them, keeps me on track throughout most of the year. I tend to primarily focus my goals on work but this year as I sat down to think about the coming year, everything I wanted to achieve centered around this space.
I’ve talked so many times here about my desire to leave my business and focus my energies here but with the need for an income, it’s been hard to put all my time here when work is to be done in the shop. Since going solo, there just isn’t always enough time in the day for everything.
The reality though is that my heart hasn’t been in it and most days I feel like I’m just going through the motions. I still love the act of creating but the day to day of customer service, keeping up with social media, vendors, and all the extras that go with it just aren’t leaving me fulfilled and I’ve struggled to find an assistant that has the skills to just run with the tasks that need done allowing me to focus on what makes me happy.
I knew when I actually started working on my resume after 15 years of running my business, that I am ready to make a major change. Looking through help wanted ads has really left me feeling down on myself.
So with this I have laid out 10 goals for 2019 centered on building the place here that I envisioned when I started this almost two years ago. My theme for this year is all about facing fears and actionably living the life I want to live.
Goal #1 Set Up Shop by April 1st
I have thought long and hard about creating a shop for this space that is different from my wedding and stationery business. My vision here to center more of lifestyle products and less about special events. Things that will help the day-to-day and not just parties. I’m not ready to spill the beans on exactly what this entails but this is my goal.
Over the next few months I’ll be
Goal #2: Sell $5,000 by year End through this shop.
This is quite modest and doesn’t come close to replacing my business income but it’s a start and without knowing how demanding the other areas of my life are going to be this year, I felt this was an attainable goal. We all have to start somewhere and I’m comfortable with starting here.
Goal #3: Grow Email List to 500 by Year End
Building an email list was one of my goals for my business last year so I took classes and read everything I could. I set things up here too but kind of set it and forgot it and didn’t follow through with my promise to send out planners each month.
My goal this year is to talk more about it, share with you what I’m working on for the coming month and throwing in added secret bonuses here and there and build up my email list. It’s you, my community that matters most and the more I can connect with, the better.
Goal #4: Consistency, Consistency, Consistency
My consistency is my lack of consistency and this year I’m going to conquer this issue. I have the entire year mapped out with intention and while there is always room for moving things around, I have a pretty clear map for what needs done and when so I’m feeling really optimistic about finally getting this on track! I want to inspire a beautiful and happy life, home and business so at least for now, you’ll continue to see a mix of topics centered about creating your best life in those areas.
Goal #5: Send out all 12 Monthly Planner Packs
As mentioned already, I did not live up to this promise over the past year and part of that was lack of planning on my part so that I didn’t get busy and forget about it. This year, my planners are planned out and ready to release at the right time and I’ll be sharing how I actually use these same planner pieces in my daily life.
Goal #6: Set Up Paid Subscription for Luxury Paper Pack Product
This is still in the planning phases but my goal here is by mid-year to launch the beta pack to a few lucky email subscribers and then launch the full paid version by Fall. Like the shop specifics above, I don’t want to give away too much right now but this has been something I’ve been dreaming up for almost a year now and I want to bring it to life.
Goal #7: Affiliate Marketing
This is a multi-part goal and not the best in terms of being able to track it but here’s what I want to do. I would love to make $500 from affiliate marketing by year end and expand my affiliates from 1 to at least five.
Goal #8: Complete EBA
I started EBA when I started this blog and still have not finished it. My goal for this year is to start over, make sure I’m still focused where I want to be and then actually finish! I’d love to have this done by June but I’ll be happy to finish by the end of the year.
Goal #9: Social Media
I have done nothing with social media in the past. Sure I’ve shared a few blog posts and thrown up a couple photos but nothing real and this year I’d like to establish a consistent schedule with my primary focus on Instagram.
Goal #10: Improve Photography
My final goal is about photography. My goal here is to improve the photos I put on the blog so your experience is better. I have a decent camera that I don’t use so I want to spend more time with it, relearn and improve my skills so that my photos look better.
Bonus Goal #11: Marketing Collateral
As I was doing a final draft edit before putting this post together, I realized something else that I’ve been wanting to do and haven’t. That is polishing up the logo and website design and getting business cards printed up to start. If I’m treating this like I would my business then it’s time to make it official.
And that’s it. 10 goals, 10 things to conquer this year on the blog. I’m so excited to get this year started! Goals, you are getting crushed!
Have you set goals for your year? What’s your No. 1 goal to conquer in 2019? Leave a comment below to share.
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