welcome 2007!

i know many people hate resolutions because they say it’s impossible keep them. while i agree to a point, i also think it’s important to have some goals. attainable, realistic goals. none of those: “i’m going to eat only fruit for lunch every single day in 2007,” resolutions.

so here we go:

my goals for 2007 (and a little recap of 2006)

1. continue to grow my business at a comfortable pace. after last years huge sales goals, i realized that i’m quite happy where i ended up for the year. while i narrowly missed my main sales goal, i have also realized that i’m pretty pushed to my limits. i’ve hired help for the things i can, but there is so much in my business that other people just cannot do for me. (ie. design work) i think that while my child is still young, i just need to focus on making enough money to pay myself a decent salary and not try to over do it. i think i’ve hit my limit of how much i can possibly get done in a day without going insane. i just need to stay here for a while and worry about growing my business in little steps as i can handle them.
2. increase sales at the national stationery show by 30%. i know i just said i wanted to stay where i am, but increasing my sales at the nss doesn’t necessarily take a lot of extra work on my part. it’s all about marketing the right way to the right people. (hopefully i can figure out that equation.)
3. last year i had a goal to get a retail site up and running. that goal was easily and quickly achieved with the help of nicole at smart & lovely. this year i need to spend a little more time and money marketing and advertising the site so people actually know it’s there! i also need to work on my keywords for search engines. (something i know little if anything about….and don’t look forward to doing)
4. send out press releases and new samples to media on a more regular basis. (this is the same as last year. i still need to be better about it.)
5. get published in a “real” magazine. (again. same as last year. something i’m working on being better about. (see goal #4))

personal: key goals
1. last year i made a goal to lose 10 pounds. i tried really hard and went to the gym for the first couple months of the year and got nowhere. i mean not a pound. then the nss came and i got busy and put weight loss on the back burner. then somewhere around september, i thought i better give this weight loss thing one more try before the end of the year. i’m happy to say that i’m down between 8 and 9 lbs. in just a few short months the pounds have started falling off. without going to the gym! i’ve made several changes that have helped achieve my loss. first, i have been trying to incorporate more fruits and veggies in my diet. second, smaller portions sizes. third, i go walking at least twice a week. outside in the summer, inside at the local mall in the winter. i was really hoping to make it to 10 before the end of the year, but christmas really did me in. hey, i’m happy with 8 or 9. i’m down a whole pant size and my belt is 2 notches tighter!! yippee! so, this year’s goal is to lose at least another 7 lbs.!
2. last year’s goal of spending more one on one time with the little dude didn’t work so well. i’m constantly guilty that he’s entertaining himself all day while i work. i really want to try to work it out so that at 3:00 every afternoon, i’m done with work and spend 2 ½ hours with him one on one before daddy gets home from work. now that he’s older, he can start “helping” me with dinner and things like that which he enjoys. i’ve also signed us up for “toddler art time” at the john michael kohler arts center (where the hubby and i were married). i’m super excited to start this with him as it will be mommy and little dude time once a week doing art projects. it starts january 16th and goes for 6 weeks. if all goes well, maybe we’ll sign up for another session after that!
3. as you can probably tell by my lack of mentioning it, last years goal of trying to have another baby without infertility assistance (ie. ivf) didn’t go so well. i struggle with whether or not i should talk about our infertility on this blog. this blog was started to talk about being a business owner and mother, i’m not sure if it fits. i know that it’s obviously part of being a mom, but i’m not so sure if everyone wants to hear about it. we’ve tried several things this year to try and help but none of them have worked. we’ve recently started another option which i’m hopeful about. we’ll see. so, if you have an opinion on whether you’d like to hear about it or not, leave me a comment and let me know. otherwise i’ll continue to leave it out.
4. spend less time watching t.v…..again!!

welcome 2007. i have a good feeling about you, i think we’re going to be good friends!