Monday, January 4, 2016

Happy New Year, and Year End Review

Katie on her favorite pillow, i.e., Mario
Well, that went quickly, didn't it?

Somehow or other, it's already 2016, and like the rest of you, I will continue to write 2015 until sometime around Valentine's Day.

I'm still trying to get my head around the fact that the year's over and I'm starting prep for a whole new season, but my actions are ahead of my brain because I spent a few hours yesterday in the workroom doing just that.

There's a plan for 2016, brought about by some of my shortfalls in 2015.  I started the year with high hopes of being able to do everything, as we do.  Every craft show, every last-minute event, all while having a fully stocked Etsy shop and plenty of time to, you know, have a life.

Right.  And then said life intervened, and I took that long stretch of temp work and didn't do a lot in the evenings, and I had a few other things that threw me off track.

I did do a record number of shows last year, and between in-person custom work and shows, I doubled what I made the year before.  So that's good.  Fuck, that's very good.

On the other hand, I really let the online side of the business slide partway through the year because I didn't have a separate, dedicated inventory of items for the shop.  So every time something sold at a craft show, it got pulled offline.  And when I came home from the show and made more, if I had a show the next weekend, there didn't seem to be any point in photographing and listing it, much less paying the fee, if I was only going to pull it again the following week.  So the numbers dropped there, both physically and financially.

The vintage shop is predictable, though I do have a big backlog of things to photograph and list.

The plan, then, for 2016 is this:  each week, I'm going to make one thing, and one thing only.  I'll start making it Monday and finish making it Friday, and spend the weekend cleaning up and cutting out the next week's thing.  I'll also schedule set times during the week to photograph and list what's been made, and to do the other invisible things that make an online business exist.  (Nobody tells you about those, and they take more time than sewing).

This week, I'm making dresses.  I got ahead of myself last night and made one, but there are three more cut out on the table.  The goal for the week is a total of 8 dresses and 5 new Etsy listings, which can be either vintage or handmade.

With all this making, I'm also going to attempt to do two separate inventories, one for online and one for the beginning of show season.  I have a number goal for each item I make that I would like to reach before the official start of things in April.

We'll see how it goes.  I'll try to keep posting my numbers here to hold myself accountable.

*** On a veterinary note, Annie is feeling like her old self again.  The vet called with her biopsy results and they weren't good, but for the time being, everything is fine.  I'm not going to put her through chemo, so I'll simply keep an eye on her and feel her up more than she's going to like, and we'll play it by ear.  There's no saying that the cancer will recur any time soon.

Lily has finished up the last of Annie's antibiotics and it seems her urinary tract infection has cleared up nicely.  They both thank you for all your good wishes and crossed fingers over the last few weeks, and so do I.


3 comments:

luckylibbet said...

Congratulations on doubling your business! That is fantastic. And your plan for 2016 is solid. - Heather

Carolyn (Diary of a Sewing Fanatic) said...

One congratulations on doing twice the business/profit in 2015! And I'm sure you're going to do great with keeping the online and show supply going...hopefully it will mean that you won't need another temp job this year! I'm not going to say good luck instead I'm going to say you got this! Do your thing!!!

Vicki said...

Sounds like 2016 will be even better than 2015. Some good plans there!