Perfecting My Craft | 2024 Content Goals
As the New Year rapidly approaches, December is always a popular time to start thinking about resolutions to change bad habits and set goals for the upcoming year. Some people jump into a strict fitness regimen while others buckle down from all the holiday spending to achieve some financial milestones. Setting goals for the New Year doesn’t just stop on a personal level. Lots of business owners use this time period to align their visions, thoughts, and ideas to create an action plan for the following year.
Time to Pivot
There will be people out there who absolutely love the planners I create just like there will be people who hate them. The same can be said about my training sessions, postcards, video editing, and any and every other thing I create. Nothing is perfect in this life, so there’s no point in stressing over the things I can’t change or control. The most important thing is to just find your tribe that appreciates the skills, products, and assistance only you can offer.
Cracking the Etsy Code
Recently, I’ve gotten an influx of new orders and sales and it brings me so much joy to fulfill them. It helps reaffirm that I’m on the right path with my designs, products, and offerings. While it definitely takes a while to get noticed, people will eventually find value in what you create. It’s important to keep going even when you don’t necessarily see the fruits of your labor yet.
Breath of Fresh Air
Social media is one of the most consistent forms of entertainment for the vast majority of us. We aimlessly scroll through timelines to keep up with friends, family, and even celebrities. It’s also how a good portion of people stay up to date on world events since headlines on IG posts can provide information quicker than traditional news outlets. Content creators and regular, degular people are going viral each day for funny, informative, or touching content that resonates with the masses.
Fleeting Attention
Most beauty and lifestyle influencers fall into the trap of not treating social media as a business. At the end of the day, if it’s paying your bills and allowing you to live the lifestyle you want, it’s important to do everything you can to stay relevant in the algorithm and with your audience. While it’s tricky figuring out how to do more, be more, and still make time for yourself, setting boundaries such as working hours, outsourcing certain tasks, and always having a list of ideas can help provide more structure.
Consistent Stationary
I am a Jill-of-many-trades, but one of the things that I love most is designing print products and seeing how beautiful the design comes out. I have designed about seven or eight Mary Kay planners, ample postcards, wedding invitations, business cards, and even notebooks for meal planning, business notes, and working out. I must say, now that I understand how to develop print products correctly based on sizing and file type, it’s one of the skills I enjoy improving the most!
Unconventional Nuances
I saw this quote recently that had an impact on me. Someone said “Post your content. It doesn’t matter who is watching or how nervous you feel. It’s valuable.” So often, I get in my head over how other people will view the things I post, including this entire blog. For the longest, I didn’t post anything on my Instagram story because it didn’t seem that anyone cared for the content I created. Truthfully, it still doesn’t seem like many people care, but I’m pushing myself to not let that be a deterrent for me.
Waxes and Wanes
Over the past few months, I’ve really noticed that my creativity, motivation, and drive waxes and wanes similar to the moon. There’s times when I’m bursting at the seams with great ideas just waiting to be put into action. That’s when I crank out a new design or put some time aside to make edits to my website verbiage or even try to update some Etsy listings. And then there’s the other side of the coin when I ~want to be creative, excited, and motivated, but I just can’t get into my groove.
The Fear of What If
Fear definitely has a way of holding you back if you let it. It can make you second guess yourself and what you know is right. It can also paralyze you from making any decisions or following your heart/passions.