2013 New Years Resolutions Notepad from Quotes & Notes
Hello lovelies! Instead of resolutions, I chose a word of intention for 2013 and it is Health. My plan is to focus on it in all aspects of my life including my work. As the editor here, I will consider the Handmade Success blog to be “healthy” by having regular posts being shared from our amazing contributors, listening to and sharing questions from our readers, continuing to learn how to grow the blog and working openly with Jordan about how she wants Handmade Success to shine. Also, since I just moved to Arizona, I am trying to establish myself as a yoga teacher here and will be focusing on the health of that business too.
Now that I have put that in writing I feel I have unofficially made you my accountability partners! I feel strongly that by sharing your goals you will be more likely to reach them. I plan on updating you with my progress and letting you know if I feel like I need to make any changes to what I originally planned.
So, I am wondering, did you make any resolutions for your business this year? Because I would like to be your accountability partner! Please share your resolutions, goals and/or intentions you made or are making for your business in 2013 in the comments. Then when I update my progress here in a month or two I will ask you to check in too. Feel free to share the links to your shop and blog. If you like, I encourage you to take a moment and check out someone else’s site so you can be their accountability partner too!
Wishing all of us the best of luck!
- Kerry
i would love some encouragement! my goals are to begin selling wholesale, to stay healthy, create new products and blog more.
http://www.lynnminneydesigns.com/blog/
https://www.etsy.com/shop/LynnMinneyDesigns
My intention is to connect my clay work on Etsy and my home studio/shop so that they work together expressively.
http://www.etsy.com/shop/JillMontoniClay?ref=si_shop
My intention is to market more effectively to grow my client base online and locally so I do not have to travel as much, reducing expenses and time investment.
@Lynn – Happy New Year, sweetie! Those are fabulous goals! I know how busy your schedule so getting blog posts up must be difficult. I have always been inspired by the simplicity of Jessica Swift’s posts. Sometimes they are long but often she just has a quick update to keep people updated. http://www.jessicaswift.com/_blog/treasuring
@Jill – I LOVE your shop! It is right up my alley! You should consider showing some of your work to local yoga studios that have little shops inside. Some sell clothing, books and tea. Yogis love to shop local. You might find some of Clare Yuille’s posts here about wholesale helpful. http://handmadesuccess.com/?s=clare
@Maribeth – ooh! I just got my first bike in over 15 years for Christmas and think your shop is fabulous! You definitely have found your niche. I think you would benefit from Clare’s posts also. I could totally picture your items at bike shops, tourists stores and coffee shops.
Good luck ladies and I look forward to checking back in with you!
I have been selling vintage on etsy for 1.5 years in my It’s Still Life shop so I did do some goals for that shop. http://www.etsy.com/shop/itsstilllife. However, my Mom and I opened a handmade shop about 3 months ago so I want to work on that shop and improving the variety of options. http://www.etsy.com/shop/creationskma. Here is my blog post about my goals. http://itsstilllife.com/2013/01/01/happy-new-year-2013/ I have started out slow since we have been pretty sick in my household, oh well, just another reason to start again.
I set some big goals for myself this year. After having a shop for over 2 years I am working at growing my Etsy business to the point of being able to quit my day job by the end of this year. I made the commitment to myself back in October to work on my craft everyday, even if I’m also working on a custom order. So far, I am being able to keep this up. I have also, just purchased The Complete Etsy Kit from Jordan and am finding it extremely useful and helpful. I am getting ready to start a blog and would welcome any advice or insight on getting it going and keeping it fresh.
http://Susiebdesigns@etsy.com
I have several. I am working on marketing and advertising, getting into whole sale and increasing my Etsy sales, especially during the non-holiday season.
@Karen – I just read about your goals and love how specific you are! I have definitely learned that by breaking goals down they are easier to accomplish. Also, both of your shops are great! I just got lost in your wonderful world of vintage and those socks are so darling for little girls! I can relate to having to plan for two businesses that have different target markets and would love to hear how you do this when I check back in
@Susan – Your artwork is stunning! I am pretty sure once more people start seeing it you truly be able to quit your day job. Good luck with the kit and let me know if you have any questions! You would also benefit from checking out Jessica Swift’s blog. I mentioned her above and she does a great job as an artist of keeping it regular without it taking away from her work. You might also like these two posts: http://handmadesuccess.com/2012/06/5-ways-to-bang-out-a-blog-post-in-15-minutes-or-less/ and http://handmadesuccess.com/2012/04/blogging-and-business-closing-the-gap/#more-5040
@Luann – Gah! I love those velvet pumpkins so much! In addition to the links I shared above, you will also want to check out this one from Noisette Marketing, http://handmadesuccess.com/2012/02/how-to-create-a-powerful-marketing-message-that-will-get-you-noticed/.
Let’s get working on making 2013 amazing!!!
I posted a pretty good list of my resolutions on my blog – which you can check out here: http://www.ladymockingbird.com/2013/01/happy-2013.html
But I guess if I were to pick a work of intent for this year it would be “balance”. I feel like I have a hundred things going right now and I’d really like to focus on keeping a healthy balance between them all – including quality time with friends and family.
Hi Kerry,
Some great comments here! I have decided that my New Year is starting on Feb 1st this year, as January is such a busy month for me and I really want the time and space to think about my goals. For a while I felt really under pressure because I hadn’t come up with my words for 2013 yet….then I decided to stop stressing and give myself more time. I’ll definitely come back here next month to share my plans though, when I have properly thought them through x
Hello everyone. Boy this year has gotten off to a speedy start I just hope I can keep up the pace. This year I really want to stay focused. I am currently in the middle of earning my degree in business and running a business. I have so many ideas coming from different directions. I just mainly want to stay focused. I just started a new blog (due to an unfortunate issue with the previous one getting deleted) and starting from scratch has given me a chance at a new beginning. Kinda like saying it is a clean slate.
http://allthangs.blogspot.com it is a rough beginning but I hope to have more posts to share and utilize this to really get my business going. I have done it before I know I can do it again and much better this time. I just cannot lose focus.
Good luck everyone! Thank you for such a wonderful article.
First on my list there’s the “Creativity Box”, I will keep in it written notes about every positive thing that happens this year regarding my business and not only and I’ll read them all at the end of this year.
I’ve started my business a few months ago and you all know how things are at the beginning, you spend all your time following every step by yourself, you invest a lot and expose yourself to risks and at the end of the year all you can think of are the hard times and tend to forget about the good things that happened. With each step you take you discover more about yourself, you create, you use your imagination and push yourself beyond your limits learning things that you never thought you would learn , so looking back from this perspective gives me the strength to continue and nurtures my creativity!
@Amy – I see you do have a lot of things going on! I think it is nice to focus on things you would like to do differently as well as the things you would like to continue doing in the new year. Good luck finding your balance!
@Claire – I LOVE the idea of starting on February 1st! So far this January everyone in our house has been very sick at some point so I feel like it is a bit of a blur and it has been hard to focus on starting the new year. I am right there with you about stressing less too!
@Melissa – You certainly sound busy! Your shop is so cute and hopefully you will be able to apply what you are learning in school to your business to help you stay focused. I also like how you are embracing your new blog and turning a negative into a positive by seeing it as a new beginning!
@Emma – Your “Creativity Box” idea is brilliant! We tend to focus on the negatives and somehow forget the positives in life and in business. This will surely help you throughout the year and help you keep a positive attitude!
I wrote a little ‘ musing’ about my personal technique for working through my TO DO list, dreams, resolutions and such on my blog : http://amj-theadventurecontinues.blogspot.no/2013/01/new-year.html