Linking up with Yvonne’s #2024PlanningParty has become a year-end tradition for me, and I always look forward to thinking about what I’d like to accomplish in the coming year. I will continue to set more concrete goals on a quarterly basis, and I’ll be back next week with my January-March list, but thinking more broadly from a year-long perspective is helpful as well.
Here’s a quick review of the broader goals I set for myself in 2023, and how I did:
2023 business goals:
- Continue to expand my pattern offerings. Done! I had hoped to release 4 patterns and ended up releasing 2, Ripple & Rise and Sunsparks. I tend to be a bit aggressive with my pattern-writing goals, so I consider 2 releases a success for the year.
- Continue to grow my email list. Done! I increased my list from roughly 2,500 last year to 3,800 as of this past week. (You can join me here!)
- Continue occasional guild lectures and workshops. Done! I did 9 lectures and 9 workshops and that felt like a good amount.
- Thoughtfully manage my tech editing and ghostwriting workload. Done! The calendar and scheduling systems I set up for myself in spring 2022 continue to serve me well.
2023 personal goals:
- Host the Pantone Quilt Challenge with Elizabeth. Done! And successful enough that we plan to do it again.
- Make my 2022 Quilts Unscripted quilt, and continue with the bee in 2023. Done!
- Join the MQG Board of Advisors. Done! I’m now in the 2nd year of my 3-year term, and participated in the in-person board retreat in October. The reality of this role has been different than what I expected, but not in a bad way, and I enjoy being part of the board.
- Complete a 100 Day Project. Done! I made a stitch book.
- Finish 2-3 UFOs. Not done. I did complete one UFO in late December, but that’s it.
All in all, 2023 was a perfectly fine year. As in 2022, I didn’t complete as many personal projects, but as I mentioned in my “best of 2023” post — I’ve come to realize that the downturn in my output isn’t because I’m somehow “off.” It’s just a reflection of my current life stage. And my small business had a fine year as well, nearly matching what I earned in 2022. (More about that in my 2023 income report.)
Now on to this year!
2024 business goals:
I remain satisfied overall with my small business at the moment, and my goals are very similar to the past few years. I do have one new goal, which is to investigate hiring a quilt sample maker. (See below for additional thoughts on that.)
- Continue to expand my pattern offerings. I have a few in the works:
- A “choose your own adventure” pattern for the letters I created for my recent Alpha quilt
- This precut friendly quilt (working title Diamond Flip)
- This scrap quilt (working title Double Decker Checker)
- This quilt, which I made 5+ years ago. (I’m strongly considering structuring this as a block-of-the-month — something that I have never done but would like to try.)
- Investigate hiring a sample maker. Frankly, I could more easily publish patterns if I didn’t do all the sample sewing myself! I’ve started thinking about finding 1-2 people with solid sewing skills that I could hire to make an occasional sample quilt, likely no more than 2 per year. I’m going to put out a feeler within my guild, but if you think you might be a good candidate for me, contact me and I’d love to chat. I would consider payment and/or trading services like tech editing or longarm quilting.
- Continue to grow my email list. I continue to really enjoy putting together my newsletter each month, and I’ve found a good balance between self-promotion and fun. Though honestly, my newsletter skews more to the “fun” side than most business coaches would probably recommend…but I’m ok with that. (I’d love to have you join me too!)
- Continue occasional guild lectures and workshops. I currently have 5 lectures and 3 workshops scheduled, and hope to pick up a few more as the year goes on.
- Thoughtfully manage my tech editing and ghostwriting workload. I’m fortunate to have a number of great clients, and I provide a high quality service. I’ve noticed a significant uptick in the number of people advertising their tech editing services over the last year, but so far it has not impacted my business. I hope to generally maintain the status quo with tech editing (and a bit of ghostwriting) in 2024.
2024 personal creative goals:
- Host the Pantone Quilt Challenge again with Elizabeth. This year’s color is Peach Fuzz. We’ll have more details on this year’s challenge soon, but you can expect it to start in late February or early March!
- Enter a textile art show. I’ve entered many quilt shows, but would like to explore the larger art world if/when I have a quilt that I think warrants it. I’m inspired by folks like Kelly Spell and Michelle Wilkie, who regularly exhibit their work at textile and fiber-based venues in their local area and beyond.
- Learn IntelliQuilter. I have this system on order for my new longarm, and it’s expected to ship in early March. I have never done any computerized quilting before, so I know there will be a significant learning curve. I have at least half a dozen completed quilt tops that have accumulated over the past several years that will be great practice pieces.
- Give/sell/donate some quilts. As much as I love to quilt, I struggle with knowing how to handle all of the finished items. Having them sit in my house forever seems sad at best, and wasteful at worst. I hope to give some of my finished quilts to family members and friends, and perhaps donate others to local organzations via my guild’s charity effort. I may put a few up for sale as well, at steeply discounted prices. (And hey, if there is a particular quilt of mine you’d be interested in having in your home, let’s chat.)
There are a couple notable things I don’t have on my goal list at the moment. One is the 100 Day Project, which I have done pretty faithfully for many years now and of which I am a huge proponent. But my last two projects were not as successful — i.e. not as motivating — as previous years, and I’ve been pondering whether I need a year off.
Another is my bee, Quilts Unscripted, which I have also greatly enjoyed for the last several years. I love my fellow bee members and love seeing everyone’s creativity, but I cannot deny that I have begun to fall behind and over the last several months, I have regularly been late with sending my blocks. I’ve been wondering whether I need a year off from bee sewing as well…but if I leave, I may never be able to rejoin, so that’s a consideration as well.
Onward into 2024!
Yvonne @Quilting Jetgirl says
I like the balance of business and personal creative goals. I also have been seeing an uptick in the number of other people noting that they are technical editors, and I’m glad to see it! I look forward to you sharing your computerized longarm journey. I hope 2024 is a great year for you.