Five Things That Worked Well and Not-So-Well. A Reflection on 2023
It’s hard to believe that we have merely 4 more days left in 2023. Did I blink too quickly, or does sleep deprivation make time move differently? Either way, here we are. I normally take this time to do some year-end reflections on how my business did, what I learned, and what I want to take with me into the new year. Now that I have this fancy new spot on my website to share these thoughts with you, I figured I would do a brief recap of what worked well and not-so-well for me in 2023.
What Worked Well
I first and foremost want to point out that the biggest achievement I accomplished this year was birthing my beautiful baby girl, Annie. There’s no business success or win that will ever compare to the joy that she has brought to me, and It has been a delight to be her mother. I will say my biggest achievement next to that, is being able to continue to run my business while navigating the newness of Motherhood. My business was very up and down this year, but at the end of it all, we are still kicking and slinging macrame! Here are some things that greatly helped me thrive this year in my business:
I didn’t wait too long to get back into the Creative Space after I had Annie. I just took her with me!
1: Childcare. Pretty obvious one. I am so thankful that my craft allows me to be able to work at home, so even with trusted childcare, I can be close by in case my baby needed anything. However, having intentional child-free time to focus on my work saved my sanity time and time again. I am so grateful for the sitters who have helped me out this year with my daughter for a few hours every week. While the sitter would be watching Annie, I’d pop on my headphones, put on a good audiobook, and hit the cord. These work sessions meant a lot to me, especially when preparing for markets and restock runs. If you are a small business owner with young children, I can’t recommend finding trusted child-care for your kiddos enough! Even if it’s just for a few hours every week, having some intentional time set aside when you have the energy and mental capacity to focus on your work makes such a difference. It also frees you up for the rest of your day to be fully present with your family instead of scrambling every spare moment you have to get work done.
2: A Good Show or Audiobook: A little fact about me, I am pretty ADHD. It can be really hard for me to focus sometimes on one particular task. Something that helped me this year was having something to listen to while working. During my afternoon work sessions while Annie was being cared for by the sitter, I would listen to a good audiobook. This way I could pause it whenever I needed to check on Annie or come to a quick stopping place in my work. In the evenings, after Annie went to bed, I would usually watch a classic movie or a reality TV show. CBS Survivor and Hell’s Kitchen were my favorites this year! When it comes to a movie or a show, I tried to play things that didn’t require me to focus on a specific story or plot line. If it was a movie, I’d watch something I’d seen a million times before. Musicals were my favorite types of movies to play! Reality TV was fun to have playing during evening work sessions because it doesn’t require me to keep track of a plot line. The benefit of having episodes playing during my evening sessions was that it gave me a means to measure how long I would spend working in the Creative Space. After a few episodes, I would call it a day and end my work session with the episode I just completed. This would keep me from working too late and cutting into my precious sleep time.
3: Taking October off. I made the conscious decision to take the month of October off so I could enjoy the beautiful Fall weather with my family, and also get some rest before the craziness of the holiday season snuck up on me. It was nice to know I didn’t have any events (Save for one market in Chattanooga) to prepare for, and I didn’t need to spend the lovely days inside working on inventory. I could take things as they came and enjoy the small, magical moments that October brings. Now, I still got work done in the Creative Space. I just took things much slower and got work done when I could. I slowly built up stock for the holidays and planned which markets I would participate in. Something I have learned about myself as a Creative, I need down time to just be able to do nothing. This allows me to have renewed passion and drive when I get back into the Creative Space. The last thing I want to experience in my craft is burn out. Taking intentional time off helps to avoid that! I write more about this in my last post, Why I Didn’t Do a Fall Collection.
I took Annie to Fender’s Farm for the first time in October! We both had a blast.
4: Doing High-Quality Markets. I didn’t do as many markets this year, for obvious reasons. However, I tried something new this year, and applied for some high-end markets. Interestingly enough, I didn’t get into any of the Spring or Summer high-end markets I applied to, but that ended up working out for the better. Trying to prepare for those kinds of markets and then having to travel to the venues while my child was still entirely dependent on my body for her sustenance would have been a bridge too far for all of us. I did, however, get into the two high-end markets that I applied for in the Holiday season. I had the joy of participating in the Retropolitan Holiday Craft Fair in Knoxville, TN, and the Made Market in Franklin, TN. Both of these markets gave me a first-time experience in a small, indoor set up for high traffic markets. I greatly enjoyed these types of markets for a number of reasons. First off, a smaller booth means shorter set-up and tear-down. Secondly, I made me get creative with how I displayed my products. It can be hard to fit the entire idea of your work in an 8x8 space, so one has to figure out how to make it cohesive and not overwhelming! I got a few new items for my booth display this year which made that easier, such as my folding hanger rack, and a standing towel rack that doubled as a plant hanger display for some of my specialty hangers.
This was my last market of the year, the Made Market in Franklin, TN. I busted out some new disco ball hangers for it!
5: Relaunching my Website and Redesigning my Logo. I realized this year that I hadn’t really done much of an update on my website since its initial launch. I had some products and colors on the website that I had discontinued, and some of the product pictures did not reflect my current level of skill. I decided to make my summer project one of rebranding. I got my dear friend, Grace Friar with Osnap Photography, to come up and do a rebranding photoshoot with me. She did a phenomenal job in giving my business a fresh look! I also took time to photograph my products in better lighting, better setup, and better labeling. I know there will come a day when I will probably need to do this all over again, because I never want to stop improving my work. For now, however, I think the refresh for my website was exactly what it needed. I also took time to redesign my business logo and get new business cards and stickers printed with it. I am very happy with how they all turned out and I’ve been delighted to hand them out at markets and in order packages!
From my Photoshoot with the amazing Osnap Photography!
What Worked Not-So-Well
Now onto the not so glamorous side of things. Like I said earlier, things were very up and down with my business this year. Between having a new baby and living in a struggling economy, I counted on that. I have been doing this small business gig long enough to know that things don’t always go hunky-dory. You’ve got to have some learning experiences along the way to know how to do what you do better. The saying “You’ll never know if you never try” rings true in many ways. So while the following things are things I tried that ended up not working the way I hoped they would, I don’t regret doing them! They added so much to me and my business this year. If I end up trying them again next year, I will know where I want to do things differently. If I decide to not try them again, I can say it’s because I gave it a shot, and it wasn’t for me. I try to have a posture of looking at the less-than spectacular moments as learning experiences, not failures.
1: Trying to Prepare for Markets the Week Before They Happened. Ah, time management, my old enemy! To think I was bad at it even before I had a kid! If there’s one thing that causes me huge stress in my line of work, it’s procrastination. I have often struggled to prepare adequately for my upcoming markets, and this has often led to late nights in the Creative Space and even pulling inventory from shop locations to be able to fully stock my booth. This is something that can easily be avoided, but I am also giving myself a lot of grace, knowing that I was trying to navigate taking care of a baby while still running a business. Both of these are time-consuming activities, so no one is going to get it right the first time. I am hoping next year I can come up with a more sustainable routine which will enable me to be more balanced in both of these areas!
2: Saying Yes to Too Much. There was a time in my business when I went searching for any opportunity and saying yes whenever it came along. Whether it was a shop asking to put my product on their shelves, a market asking me to be a vendor, or a business placing a wholesale order, I said yes to it all. Now, I still do take opportunities like this today, but they require me to have a lot more discretion about it. This year, since I was not participating in as many markets, I thought I needed to pursue different means of getting my product out there at all costs. Sometimes the opportunities that presented themselves where a very quick and easy “Yes”. Other times, they were a hesitation, but ultimately a yes. Looking back, I don’t regret saying yes, but maybe I should have given them more thought before commiting. Each thing I said yes to required something of me, and I didn’t always have the flexibility to meet those needs. Sometimes you can have too much of a good thing! Going forward, I may have to take a good long look at where all my spoons are, and take a few back where they aren’t giving me a good return for the effort I’m putting towards them.
3: Not Being Consistent with Social Media. My social media engagement took a pretty steep dive this year. I’m not surprised, because I didn’t put the effort towards it that it requires. I love managing my social media and coming up with content for it, but along with everything else, it does take time. It’s no surprise that some businesses hire social media managers for their platforms! I am hoping this coming year to have a plan for social media postings to make it more consistent and manageable for me. It can be a tricky balance to find when posting on social media. I don’t want to post too much to where my content just becomes part of the buzzy noise on Instagram, but I also want to post consistently enough to where my content doesn’t fall behind!
4: Not Planning Sales and Collections Well. Something that I didn’t plan for very well was product releases and sale advertising. Each year, I try to be on top of business planning. I even get a very special business planner which helps me lay out my goals and vision for each week and month throughout the whole year. I started out my year quite on top of all of that, but as things progressed, my dedication to the planner slipped more than I would have liked it to have. This resulted in me not giving myself enough time to work on new product releases, collections, or special sales for my customers. Things felt much more “spur of the moment” and thrown together, which lacked momentum. I am hoping that going forward in 2024, I give myself some time each week to dedicate to business planning. This will give me the mental game plan I need to have better product releases and sales, as well as managing my work time throughout the week.
5: Underestimating Myself and Undervaluing My Work. This will be something I will probably struggle with for the rest of my life, honestly. Sometimes the load of being a small business owner can feel so big that I question my ability to do what I do well. It can also be tempting to feel like I am charging too much for my product and it’s an inconvenience to ask people to pay for the work of my hands. A fellow maker and small business owner told me something very helpful this year: “Success is not linear. You won’t get there all at once, but you will get there.” Sometimes when the sales are slow or the creative block hits, I wonder if what I am doing is worth all the effort that I put into it. When I stay in this mindset too long, it truly does affect my creativity and my ability to show up in my business as well as my personal life. I hope that in this coming year, I can have the confidence in myself to take big leaps, make scary decisions, and value myself better. I truly believe that making changes in this direction will have a positive impact on my work.
Going Forward
Now, obviously, there are more things in both of these categories that I could have added, but I believe that these topics do a good job of encompassing my year as a whole. I went through so many changes this year, and I do believe I am an older, wiser, and kinder person because of each of them. Going forward into 2024, I want to take each of these lessons and build on them. I also want to keep my eyes and mind open to whatever new lessons may come my way. I never want to take for granted that I get to do what I love for a living, and I always want to learn ways on how to do that better. And of course, none of these things would be possible without you being here. You have played a crucial role in my small business growth and learning curve by showing up for me and giving your support in all the ways. It is a joy to make art for you, and I want to continue to do so as long as I am able.
I hope 2024 is a kind year for you. I look forward to seeing what kind of lessons and successes it will bring with it! Here’s to looking back and moving forward. As always, thanks for being here.