Aspirations

In the small business world, I think it is important to have people/companies in your field that you can look up to and be inspired by. Not to the point of envy or jealousy, but in an effort to visualize where you want your business to go. Things don’t happen in a vacuum, and inspiration can happen anywhere! When I first started Handmade Baby Love, there was another business on Etsy that I aspired to be like – pdxbeanies. She wasn’t making booties, really, but she was, like, the guru of crocheted hats. She had lots of sales, beautiful photographs and was exactly where I wanted to be. Having her shop to “look up to” really helped spur me on, give me attainable goals, and inspired me to no end. Her shop proved to me that it was possible – I could do this for a living.

Just as it is important to grow, and make changes to support that growth, it is also important to find new aspirations to support that growth. One of my new goals is to have a website for my business – and I have just found the most beautiful, inspiring site: Matilda Jane Clothing. Granted, it’s clothing, and not crocheted, but it’s a small business, the brainchild of one young woman, and I love it. Her designs are unique and cute and modern, and the site is so well done (of course, I would expect nothing less from Promise Tangeman, the web designer).

I am expecting big things for myself this year – God is really moving in mighty ways. Get ready for coming changes!

I’m curious, though – what inspires you? If you have people or businesses that keep the creative juices flowing, tell me or link to them in the comments section!

Goals List

Melissa Jill is a creative photographer, self-employed, and I recently read an interview about her at Siren Magazine. She mentioned in the interview a “101 Goals in 1001 Days” list that she created, and my interest was piqued. Check out her blog post (which includes the list) here. Basically, the idea is that writing down your goals – no matter how far-flung they are – makes them more real to you, and actually have a greater probability of coming to fruition than if you simply thought about them in the wistful “what if?” forum of nonexistence. Completely inspired by this, I set out to make my own list – although I’m not really putting a deadline on it like Melissa did. (I have sooo many things going on at the moment, and even creating the list in the first place is a goal accomplished!!)

Haha, I am not anywhere near 101 things, and some of these are, like, life goals, but they are goals nonetheless. These are in no particular order, and some are definitely more practical than others. Also, I will be adding and/or subtracting to my heart’s content whenever the occasion calls for it. I’ll also edit the list to show when I’ve accomplished a goal – for your benefit as well as my own. I am posting these in the hopes of breaking your own mental chains of the “what if’s”, so please feel free to make your own list, and share in the comments section if you like!!

1.       Exercise 3 times a week consistently for 3 months

2.       Make 5 inventory items in one week

3.       Reach the $4000 mark on car loan

4.       Clean out yarn stash

5.       Go through last storage buckets

6.       Revamp kitchen décor

7.       Revamp bathroom décor

8.       Rearrange bedroom furniture

9.       Get health insurance

10.   Get dr’s check up

11.   Make artificial flower arrangement

12.   Finish a knitted sweater for myself

13.   Finish a knitted hat for myself

14.   Visit California

15.   Go to the beach

16.   Visit San Francisco

17.   Visit Seattle

18.   Visit Raleigh, NC

19.   Build up $1000 emergency fund

20.   Increase profit on current production

21.   Clearly visualize where you want your business to go/to be

22.   Cross-stitch something to hang on the wall

23.   Write out my testimony to date

24.   Take a spinning class

25.   Create a design board for the business

26.   Re-brand business

27.   Create website for business

28.   Blog at least once a week for 3 months

29.   Move into larger home

30.   Get a new office chair

31.   Really organize desk area

32.   Drink at least four glasses of water a day

33.   Visit London

34.   Visit Galway, Ireland

35.   Visit New Zealand

36.   Visit Hawaii

37.   Make list of people you’d want to interview for your blog

38.   Coupon codes for repeat customers (put in packages)

39.   Make some flower clip prototypes

40.   Create a real budget and calculate how much you should be saving

41.   Do something to commemorate the 2-year anniversary of HBL

42.   Compile all design notes and scribbles into a scrapbook

43.   Get more involved at church by joining a more personal Bible study

44.   Eat at least one fruit and one vegetable every day for a month

45.   Journal at least once a week

46.   Write a new book

47.   Compile all the notes and finished bits to the Casey Story

48.   Read one fiction book every month

49.   Read more Christian fiction

50.   Connect with Mom once a week

51.   Call Dad and Jean at least once a month

52.   Get Cameron involved in a sport

53.   Switch over to Excel bookkeeping

54.   Read the Bible every day for 30 days

55.   Get a Y membership again

56.   Run a half marathon

57.   Run a full marathon

58.   Do some acting

59.   Create a newsletter for business

60.   Create a family newsletter celebrating positive and encouraging things

Busy

Things have been going well since I organized my life – HA! I have not stuck to the daily schedule, although writing down everything in a visual format has really helped me stay on track. I may not have been doing everything in the order in which I wrote them down, but they do – mostly – get done. I am on top of my homework, current in my order queue, and have been able to exercise consistently. So my stress has dissipated to a more tolerable level, and now that I have all of the necessities under control I can begin to expand my work load and move forward with my goals. Yay!

A side note about business – last year around this time, business was dead. So dead that I almost quit it altogether. I was lucky if I received an order every day – it was more like one every couple of days. This year, business is steady! I feel like its June or July – it is awesome. I was prepared for the slowdown, and had planned exactly what things I wanted to expand on, new ideas I wanted to develop, etc. When it never came it was such a pleasant surprise:-) Praise the Lord! Having too much business and feeling crazy with a full schedule is way better than starving for work. I feel extremely optimistic about 2011, and I know God’s going to do some amazing things this year.

Are there any blessings in your life so far this year? Things can get crazy and depressing if you let them, and I think it’s important to find something positive in your life to help you move forward – even if it is the promise of something good in the future.

I was really inspired by a post another blogger wrote about a crazy dream list of life goals, so stay tuned real soon for more on that!

Interrupted

It’s just like Murphy’s Law that states anything that can go wrong, will go wrong – right when the inspiration and motivation strikes to help me jump three steps ahead, something interrupts and sends me reeling backwards. If you read my last post, you would have seen how on fire I was – so ready to take my business to the next level.

Right after I laid out my plan of action, my mom landed in the hospital with the discovery of a pulmonary embolism (a blood clot in the lung). She was in the hospital for six days, and as she was hopped up on Percocet, I spent most of my time there, not just keeping her company, but also doing the mother hen thing – talking to the doctors, making sure she was comfortable and had everything she needed. It was a stressful week and set me back in my order queue, not to mention all of my plans to organize and revamp went out of my head.

The week after that, the spring semester started, and I’ve been bombarded with a crazy amount of homework since day one. Of course my last semester of college would be grueling and stressful – why not?

Last Friday I finally sat down and analyzed how I was using my time verses what I really needed to get done. I ended up making a complete daily schedule for myself to account for homework, work, exercise, grocery shopping – you name it, it’s on there. Then, I went even a step further and made a color-coded calendar of homework deadlines, so that I wouldn’t forget anything, haha. I have four classes, each in orange, red, green, and blue, and the days between now and the second week of May are almost completely full. Scary. I just have to keep reminding myself that come May 12, I will graduate and have my degree. Whew!

I think it’s important to remember that regardless of what comes at you, you need to focus on your goals, and not give in to excuses. I might be behind on what I want to accomplish, but the goals are still there. Time to move forward!

Question: How do you keep yourself organized? Or do you just like to wing it? Haha, I would love to know if you have any little tricks you use to keep yourself on track!