2012 Goals

2011 was a wonderful year for nan gates designs.

My primary goal for the year was to "figure out Etsy" as I had put it. I'm glad to say that this goal was very much achieved. I have been selling on Etsy since January 2008, initially with not much success. I was one of the many that thought "my products sell well at shows, put them on Etsy and they'll just sell, no problem". Not true. I had no idea about the need for promoting or how to go about it. Others were selling, why couldn't I. So I was determined that this year would be the year that I figured out how to sell things on the site. As luck would have it, in February 2011, I was asked to join in on a BNR that the Promotional Frenzy Team was having. I had no idea what a BNR was but I checked it out and sold many items that first night. Needless to say, I immediately joined the team! It's been a roller coaster ride from there on out.

For 2010 (the entire year!), I had 18 shop hearts, 40 listing hearts, 14 orders. In contrast, for 2011, I had 431 shop hearts, 2585 listing hearts and 236 orders! Shows what a little promoting will do for you! The PFT has shown me social media that I had no idea about (Pinterest, Stumbleupon, Google+) and others that I knew about but really didn't want to take the time to do before (FB, Blogging, Twitter, Flickr). It's been a huge learning experience and year of growth and I have PFT to thank for it.

As a result of this year's promotion, I gained wholesale accounts as well as was noticed by another wonderful group, The Artisan Group, which primarily gifts celebrities at large award events. I am thrilled to say that my business cards will be in 100 gift bags at the Golden Globe gifting event next week and I will be sending 100 coin purses and a tote bag for the Oscars gifting event to be held next month. What a year!

So now to move on to 2012. My business goals for this year are:

1. Maintain 150 items in my Etsy shop.
2. Utilize Facebook better with more consistent posting.
3. Develop a schedule for blog posting.
4. Develop 3-5 new products.
5. Maintain my own website better and begin promoting that more.
6. Develop a brand logo.
7. Utilize Pinterest, Google+ and Flickr more.
8. Open up 2nd Etsy shop (?).
9. Re-organize my studio.
10. Develop a system and schedule for doing all the above!

My horoscope for 2012 said that I would be a work-a-holic this year. The important thing will be to stay focused on these goals while maintaining balance with family, exercise, tennis team and trying to lose the stubborn weight! Those areas all have their own set of goals. It's going to be a busy year, I can tell...