Plans for the NewYear

As the Christmas rush comes to an end and New Year's Eve rapidly approaches I find myself pondering the coming New Year.  It's time to think about things that worked well this year and things that need improvement.  Two things that immediately pop in my head in the improvement category are TIME MANAGEMENT and ORGANIZATION!  These are both skills (according to my husband) that I dearly need to work on.  Time management is partially a problem because of things like an old computer, that I use to print my labels, moves at the speed of a sickly slug.  I will solve this problem with a new desktop publishing program for my new computer.  Organization is only a problem when I get busy, but as my husband would say you are always busy.  So, I guess this area needs a little work.

Summarizing 2009  I did 25 craft shows, 5 of which I would say were great, 9 of which were good, 6 were OK, and 5 which were terrible.  Through the summer I did 2 to 3 farmer's markets a week depending if I had a show on the weekend.   My best market was in Eagles Mere where I consistently did good week to week.  I sold my work on 4 online venues, Etsy bringing the best results, my own website offered consistent sales, and Artfire and 1000 Markets which both lagged way behind. 

This coming year I plan to do less shows mainly because we will be moving sometime in the summer.  This means a lot of organization and planning because we live in a very old house that has been in our family for over 30 years.  Various family members have lived in and owned the house over this time period and they have all left stuff here, so guess who has a massive sorting job on their hands? 

My number one goal for this year is to increase my online sales.  I am even planning on opening a second Etsy shop with a line of specialty soaps that I am not going to reveal just yet.  My other hope is to spend some time on my photography.  I do miss photographing and being in the darkroom.  Maybe I will have an Etsy shop for my photographs.  So much to plan and think about.  I wish everyone a wonderful New Year and good luck with all of your projects and plans!