“Good things happen in their own time.” I echo this sentiment I just read from one of my favorite artists, Lorraine Loots, in her newsletter. I believe this to be true for me.
I looked back at my post back in February and I feel like I’m in the right place. I’ve never felt the burnout moments so badly as I did this year. There are 3482753 things to juggle in my head around caring for my littles, all their school things, to stay focused at my day job as an RD, to making this product, but oh, the kids and/or I am sick again…it is A.LOT. It’s really highlighted for me what is the most important in my life and how I want to approach this whole business thing.
For the sake of a business, I certainly am keeping in mind all the “numbers” in my head and on my little spreadsheets, but for the most part, I find myself diverging from the track of setting certain business-y goals in the numbers sense. For me, there is a huge, huge advantage of having a day job I find equally fulfilling, so I lean into it; I prefer to see all that I do here as a hobby I happen to make some money from. Not having the pressure of having a little business to make ends meet means I have a lot of freedom to go about creating the things I want and choice of projects or events, so I can still spend time with my family and maintain a sane brain.
For 2024, my “goals” were to stay present, be connected with the people around me, including all the makers and new people I continue to meet, and continuing to hone in my style. I feel good that I have “achieved” these goals. They are values I hope to continue carrying onto 2025 and beyond. Here are a couple more highlights:
- I’ll get the numbers part out of the way - my sales have doubled the previous year, so there’s that!
- I printed over 2800 cards (I’m sure many more I forgot to account for), which, through all the times I felt I had to pause because of life, should feel tremendously proud of
- New items include 9 letterpress printed cards, 4 enamel pins, 1 small print, 4 new stickers
- Stephen stepped up to the task when I requested to do a fun montage/sequence of me doing my printing thing on. This is a reely amazing one. :)
- My wholesale/retailer list has grown tremendously - you’ll find my products in some shape or form in over 40 stores and across a good handful of states!
- Meeting the customers that have been following or purchased from my online store in person!
- Continuing to meet other makers, small business owners I admire - these include authors, artists, coffee makers, bakers and so many more! Highlighting two unique stories here –
- I wrote a thank you note to an artist I met - probably 15 years ago. My mom had connected me and her, a daughter of one of their restaurant customers, a graphic designer who letterpress-printed wedding invitations. She was one of the very first people to inspire me to letterpress! I never connected back since…but now my cards found their way into her stationery shop, and I’m kind of over the moon about this.
- I read ONE book! Huge for me. That is…Real Americans by Rachel Khong. When I posted this on IG, she actually responded to let me know she had purchased my card from On Waverly. So serendipitous - the messages in our exchange. I was also way over the moon about this.
Looking ahead
There have been so many back-to-back events over this month between craft events to holiday things, all the birthdays, and now thinking about the new year (including planning for our Japan trip!). I’ll save this for a separate post, but a sneak peek into my brain includes getting into the world of riso printing with hopefully new, larger prints, delving into a new-ish product category, and possible collab work with other wonderful people.
