2014 - My Year of Growth

Last year I didn't set any real goals for my business. I dubbed it The Year of Growth. And my only goal was to continue growing my business and continue doing the things that were already working for me. I outlined three areas where I wanted to focus my growth.

 

The first was to grow my space. And boy was that a big one! I had previously been working out of an 11' x 11' spare bedroom. That is, before I started taking over the whole house! I moved into my studio last June and expanded to 850 square feet dedicated to just my business!

This space has allowed me to grow my business by keeping me organized and more efficient. There is no way I could have gotten as many packages out each day had I been in my old work area. I now have a dedicated shipping station and two entire shelving units full of shipping supplies. Everything is (mostly) organized making shipping packages so much easier.

And I have space to store the rest of my inventory as well. It's more easily accessible and more easily found. No more searching through stacks of boxes hoping to find the right one.

The second area I wanted to grow my business was by hiring an employee during the holiday rush. And let me tell you, it was one of the best things I did. As I mentioned in my "things I learned" post last Wednesday, I just wish I would have had my shipper here more often. She was only able to come twice a week and I will definitely have someone here five days a week this year.

And the last area of growth was in equipment. This is one that I'm really excited about. I wanted to get moved into my new studio and see how things would get arranged and see if I would add a second laser or new equipment to make new/different products. Things are still doing well with the laser engraving and honestly, I don't have time to dedicate to new/different products. If this crazy holiday season taught me anything, it's that I need another laser! Not only could I produce more with a second laser, I would have a backup if something happened. Right now, if my laser goes down...my business is basically down! A very scary thought in mid-December! So I'm working on purchasing a second laser now and hope to have it by mid-March.

So while I didn't set any goals in the traditional sense, I do feel I reached all my hopes and plans for the year. Now it's time to start planning for 2015!

Keeping Those Goals

Every year I set goals for my self and my business. I like to keep regular tabs on my goals and I'm so happy with how this year is starting and where I am with my goals! Today I just wanted to share a few goals I'm especially proud of.

New Card and Invitation Designs

I set the goal to add 5 new Wood Greeting Cards and 5 New Wedding Invitations to my shop in 2013. Already this year I've added two of each style!

Mustache Card

My Mustache Valentine did especially well which makes me SO happy!

Chevron Invitation

I just added a Chevron Invitation as well as an Ampersand Invitation and both have gotten some views and favorites!

List Jewelry Inventory

"Diamond" Earrings

 I've also been slowly adding my jewelry inventory. I still have SO much to add, but finding time to photograph/edit everything and write all the listings is taking longer than I'd hoped. I'm still happy with the progress I've made so far :)

Tax Info Up-to-Date

One of my biggest accomplishments...my cost log is up-to-date! I told myself that this year I want it updated at the end of each month. Last year I let it slide for 6 months and that was not fun! I've also been keeping better track of my mileage log as well. I know we're only a month in, but I'm happy I'm up-to-date so far :)

Okay, now don't ask me how I'm coming along on the cleaning and organizing...lol!

October Goals Review

Welcome to November! Let the holiday madness begin :)

October was another great month at Memories for Life! I love being able to say that. Since quitting my job in June, I've been nothing but thrilled with my decision! I absolutely love working from home and Etsy has really made that possible!

Feather Earrings

Shop Goals:

Last month I raised my sales goal from 2 sales per day to 3 and I'm thrilled to report that I met my goal! With 92 sales, October was an awesome month! Even better, I had 2 really big orders, so my revenue was even better than expected! (And lets face it, that's what really matters!)

I had my two biggest shows in October as well and both ROCKED! I was very happy with my shows last month!

I had set a goal for shop admirers at 1,000 by year end. But one of my friends pointed out that this goal isn't as important as my sales goal, so I'm not too worried if I meet it. I'm currently at 884 and probably won't meet this by year end. But if my sales are rockin', I'm okay with that :)

Doggy Ornament...Coming Soon!

Blog Goals:

Not much to report here. Still blogging about 6 days per week. I thought about cutting back my blogging to 5 days, but haven't figured out what to cut out. Maybe Tuesdays?

I'm happy with my growing number of readers and commentors...I love comments!

Wine Charms...Coming Soon!

Personal Goals:

As I reported last month, my exercise routine has pretty much been sidelined. I just can't get myself back into a routine I enjoy. On the upside, I have been eating a lot better. I started using a program called Body by Vi and am liking it so far. It's a little boring, but easy to stick with. And at lunch I eat either a Lean Cuisine or Weight Watchers frozen meal. I've also started eating spinach wraps as well. I hate all the sodium that's in the frozen meals, so I'm trying to cut back on those as well. I'm down a couple pounds, but nothing major. I'm just happy I'm learning to eat a little healthier and hoping to make lasting changes.

Hair Clips...Coming Soon!

 My creativity is kickin' and I've been making lots of new little things to add to the shop! Now I just need to make time to photograph and list all of them!

How was your October? Are you ready for the holiday madness?

August & September Goals Review

Well, it was half way through September before I realized that I hadn't done an August Review yet! So I decided to wait and group the two months together. Both were great months and I was surprised by some of the data.

Shop Goals:

August was my most successful month in selling on Etsy to date! I had 116 Sales! I still can't believe it myself! And this really seems strange to me as August is typically a lower selling month in terms of historical data. I credit this to my wedding items :)

September wasn't quite as spectacular, but still a great month with 87 sales.

My goal had been 2 sales per day average and with my current trend, I'm going to raise the bar and up my goal to 3 sales per day average. With the holiday season upon us, I don't see any trouble meeting this goal :)

While September Etsy sales might have been down, I did two shows last month, so it was actually nice to have things a little slower...though it sure didn't seem any slower!

I have my two biggest shows of the year in October, so it will be a very busy month at Memories for Life!

Another shop goal I set for myself is to have 1,000 admirers for my shop. Right now I'm at 866, so I have a lot of ground to cover to meet my goal by year end. I'll need about 45 new admirers each month. This is a pretty big stretch since I'm averaging in the low 30s right now.

Blog Goals:

I'm still happy with my posting on the blog. Having a mix of scheduled themes and open days helps keep me on track. I've started reading new blogs and that's helped get me new readers as well. I love finding blogs that are just plain fun to read :)

Personal Goals:

 As per my usual, my exercise routine has taken a back seat to life again...ugh. I just can't find my groove and get into a good routine. I just don't think I've found something I enjoy yet. Now that it's colder in the mornings and not light out until after 7, I'm not motivated to jog outside anymore and the treadmill just doesn't sounds like any fun at all. I need to check our Netflix account and see if there are any good workouts to follow on there. Anyone have recommendations?

I'm really excited about October and the start of the holiday sales season! I wish all my fellow artisans a great selling season :)

July Goals Review

Holy cow...is it really August already!?! I guess it's true what they say about time flying when you're having fun :) I just finished my second month of self-employment and I'm still loving every minute of it! I have to pinch myself some days to make sure I'm really living my dream :)

Shop Goals:

It was another record breaking month for sales in my Etsy shop! Last month I doubled my goal from one sale a day to two...and I'm happy to report that I was well over 3 sales per day for the month of July! 104 sales to be exact! I about fell on the floor when I looked at my stats!

And I did my sales tax for the second quarter and am very happy with the direction my business is going. Getting to compare first quarter sales to second quarter sales really helped me realize that I made the right decision to quit my job when I did!

Blog Goals and Other Business Goals remain about the same. I blog 5-6 days per week and have still been doing great at scheduling ahead. I haven't had a chance to contact the wedding planners or venues that I've had on my list, but I did have a company contact me to run a special on their site. I'll have a review up about this when the sale ends. I'm still up in the air about how I feel about it.

 Personal Goals:

Another area I'm proud of are my personal goals. I've continued with my jogging and walking and even added some pilates. I jog on Mon-Wed-Fri and walk+pilates on Tues-Thurs. I've averaged 3-5 days per week again this month. And I've stepped up my jogging. When I first started I'd only go 1 mile...and now I'm up to 2! Considering I used to jog 3-4 miles per day, I still have a long way to go, but I'm happy to be where I am with my workouts :) Now if I could start to see some results in the ol' waist line, that would be nice!

I hope your July rocked and that your August is off to a great start :)

June Goals Review

Well, it's my first month of full-time self-employment. How are things going? In a word...AMAZING! I couldn't be happier that I quit my job to focus on my business full-time! It really is a dream come true!

Some of the things I like best about self-employment:

*Getting to sleep at night again! I worked the graveyard shift for 10 years getting up at 9:30 at night! I still get up pretty early (about 3 or 4am) but I still get to sleep at night :)
*The flexibility self-employment offers! I work when I want, take break when I want, run errands when I want...I love it!

*Taking on larger orders! There have been a couple orders already that I may have had to turn down had I been working another full-time job still. This is just a sign that I made the right decision :)

Now, onto my goals! Last month I reassessed my current goals and added a few new ones.

Shop Goals:

I doubled my goal from one sale per day to two. As of today (written on 6/28...had to schedule ahead), I have 83 sales!!! Which means I'm way past my goal and almost at the 3 sales per day on average!

I also extended my goal of shop admirers from 750 to 1,000! That means I need about 36 new admirers each month. For June, I gained 29 new admirers...pretty darn close (and still a few days left)!

Blog Goals:

One of my biggest goals for my blog is to schedule blogs ahead of time and work blogging into my new schedule. As you can see, I'm doing rather well at this since this post was written 5 days in advance! I'm out of town for part of this week, so it required me to schedule a little more ahead than usual. But I'm doing great and writing 2-3 posts when I sit down to schedule posts :)

Other Business Goals:

This is one area where I haven't hit my mark yet. I knew these things wouldn't happen over night, so I'm okay that they're not getting done yet. My goals were to contact wedding planners, reception halls and build inventory for a large show this fall. Quite honestly, I've been too darn busy keeping up with orders to think about these things. But I do see them happening in the near future :)

Personal Goals:

I am excited to report that I am back to exercising!!! And it feels great! I missed getting outside and enjoying the sun :) It's about the only time I actually get outside! I've been alternating between walking and jogging and I've started jogging further and further. We have some pretty good hills in our area, so the walking is great for toning! I've averaged 3-5 days each week this month. I'd like to make it a consistent 5 days every week, but for now, I'm just so happy to be back at it :)

How was your June? Any big goals planned for July?

May Goals Review

In case you missed my post from Friday, May proved to be an awesome month! So awesome in fact, that I was able to QUIT MY JOB!!!

That puts me 6 months ahead of my goal of quitting in January...and it feels great!

Since my shop is rockin' I've decided to reevaluate some of my goals.

Shop Goals:

My original goal was to sell (on average) one item per day. In January and February, I was very close to this goal. And in March, April and May...I blew this goal out of the water! I had 82 sales in May! I really hope things keep up at this pace if not even better! For now I'm setting my goal at 2 sales (on average) per day for the month of June. As Fall nears, I may get brave and raise this to 3 per day!!!

And I'm raising the bar on Shop Admirers as well. My original goal was 750 by year-end. As I write this, I am already at 746! So I'm extending my goal to 1,000 admirers!

Large Guest Book/Photo Album

Blog Goals:

I am pretty happy with the goals I have set for my blog and am happy that I have been fulfilling them each month. My biggest goal now is to schedule blogs ahead of time and get used to my new schedule and work blogging into that.

Wooden Wedding Invitations

Other Business Goals:

Now that I am self-employed full-time, it is time to get serious about expanding my business! There is a huge craft show in the fall that I want to participate in. In order to do this, I have to really get productive in building up my inventory!

I also want to contact some wedding planners in the area and see if they are willing to hand out fliers with my wedding information. I already have one contact...now my goal is to get those darn fliers made!

And since wedding items are my top sellers, I also want to contact some reception halls to see if they are interested in buying my items wholesale, or again, handing out fliers to brides and grooms. There is a new facility opening at a vineyard/winery that would be just perfect for so many of my items!

Personal Goals:

Now that I'm not working 2 full-time jobs, jogging/exercise is back on the goal list! It will feel so great to get out and jog again and take Harley for walks!

How was your May? Any exciting news? Time to reevaluate your goals as well?

I'd love to hear about them :)