Let’s put this out there first - I’m having a second baby this coming April/May!!!! We are ecstatic, but so, so nervous about how to juggle life with two little people. I am doing my best to prep what I can for the days ahead. But okay, onto the subject matter. I originally wanted to write more about goals, but this became more about my values for Sherry’s Palette instead!
I took a great little workshop just earlier this month with Kirstie from A Jar of Pickles on goal setting. One of the exercises was figuring out what our values are for our small businesses. I enjoyed doing this exercise to keep my focus as I navigate the ins and outs, ups and downs of small business life!
Authenticity - Many, if not all, of my cards come from a personal memory and place in my life. It’s easy to see all the things that other artists put out there and 1) start comparing yourself to them, and 2) feel like you have to make something similar if it’s what “sells.” My goal with Sherry’s Palette is about embracing my love of food from various perspectives and my culture as an Asian American. I hope to stay honest and authentic to that.
Balance - This word makes it on my life motto and annual goal…like every year. But this year, it’s increasingly important to find the balance. As one part grows, be it my business or the growing belly on me right now, I often feel like I start to lose focus on another aspect of my life. It’s important for me to stay present with whatever the task is in front of me and to maintain a good balance.
Creativity - One of the perks of already having a full-time job and doing this hobby-turned-business job is that I feel I have a lot more creative license to create the designs I want versus what I think might sell; I am less worried if I don’t make a sale because I still have income from my day gig. However, as I want this business to grow, I realize that I do have to be wise about my design choices. So, it’s important to stay cohesive and “on-brand” while also pushing the creative envelope in my own way.
Growth - Grow my designs and business (duh). I just finished doing inventory for 2022, and my goodness, do I have quite the number of items I need to sell! My hope is to continue increasing sales, revenues and revenue streams, but also grow personally as a designer and entrepreneur.
Quality - Simply, I want to make quality products (and hopefully sell them at the price they should be at). There are days I think it would be easier if I didn’t print everything myself, but there is something so precious about the tactile feel of a letterpress print that I want to share with the world. I want to continue focusing on improving the quality of this (and make the letterpress world proud!) as well as other non-letterpress printed products.
Lastly, GRACE. Not really part of my values, but really a word for myself this year. Motherhood hit me pretty hard the first several months postpartum with my first son. “Grace” used to be my motto for myself on how to act and present myself (with grace), but motherhood showed me a different meaning. I hope to give myself grace. All of the values I share above come with a TON of work, and often I feel too guilty when I can’t achieve those goals. I am truly fortunate to be where I am right now - to have a job, to have this business, to have my family and to be able to have another baby - I have to remember to give myself grace.
I wrote more than I should on values, so let’s just keep the goals list brief:
- Continue to expand my product line, including more cards in each category (birthday, encouragement, etc.), more pins, prints and totes. While I want to start new categories, I already have 20+ items I want to make this year, so let’s keep things realistic.
- Grow my wholesale accounts. I learned many valuable lessons last year, mostly from an amazing course called Paper Camp, that I want to start implementing this year.
- Drive more traffic to my website → grow my following on instagram as this is the primary avenue of traffic
- Participate in at least 1-2 more in-person events - pending all the mommy duties of this year!
- Generally, finding more comfort with the business side of things.