With the start of a shiny fresh new year everyone’s ambitions are high and ready to take on the world.
We have our goal list and we are ready to conquer….On New Years Eve we put these crazy goals like lose 100 pounds this year, go to the gym every day, make six figures by 2020. Things that are set to high for us to totally crush.
Where do we fall off track? Why do goals get broken? How do we keep a promise we made to our self with the excitement still bubbling of a new beginning?
Today we are covering it all.
It’s so important to set tangible goals that are obtainable.
Ladies that minute you feel accomplished in something you set your mind too it makes you that much more ramped up to take on ten more things! Trust me on this!
When you close your eyes where do you see yourself in six months? One year? Five Years? Are you the CEO of a multi-million-dollar company, a house wife with a home completely swoon worthy, an Etsy Shop owner, or maybe promoted at your current company?
These are important things to get clear on.
This doesn’t mean they can’t change 14 billion times from here to there. Life happens; situations happen that may change your goals and out look. That’s okay. Allow yourself this grace. If you have a path of where you want to go you can always create new forks in the road along the way.
It reminds me of the books that were popular in the early 90’s about making choices. If you turn to page 87 you may find a treasure chest and live happily ever after, if you turned to page 24 you could drown in a horrible storm with that same treasure chest. It was all about the choices you picked with the knowledge of what was in front of you in that novel.
Here we are. In our own, real life “pick your journey book” from the 90’s.
(That’s not a bad thing the 90s were amazing.)
We have goal set, we established where we thrive in a working environment, we have cleared some chaos to better function in our day to day routines. It’s time to get concise in knowing where we want to be. Establishing our future self and getting to know her well.
With the information we have learned so far, what do you see yourself doing with the extra hours of your day? Write it down. Make a promise to yourself to start today. Every action you take right now will benefit your future goals.
Starting my Etsy business in 2014 was terrifying. I was technology challenged, had no idea where to even start with building a shop, and was completely winging my entire set up. I even temporarily took a google image for my logo, while I tried to figure out how to design my own. Selling gift baskets was as rebellious as an Etsy maker could be, I was cutting corners before even getting started. I had to plan b and quick before my little dream of working from home was crushed before it even began. Self-talk can be detrimental and destroy any chance you have of succeeding. It is okay to start from scratch and know nothing. Embrace that and be honest that you are starting from square one. I knew nothing about what I was doing. I had nowhere to go for advice, and I was not buying into those “$1200 courses” on how to have a successful online Etsy Shop that you see all over Facebook.
Now, I am a professional at Plan B.
I knew how to paint glass ware from making homemade gifts for family and friends so that was my go to after the basket excursion. I began making wine glasses and coffee mugs. My creative mind was not on point when I first started out. Partially because of the fear no one would like my ideas, of people judging me, and the fear of failure. I was a straight up scaredy cat. All I can do looking back at my “shop” when it first opened is know the embarrassing mistakes were supposed to lead me right to this moment.
The start to this journey was less than happy dance worthy. I mean really, the experience was more like a bad macarena after one too many margaritas.
Marketing? What’s that.
Branding? Oh, there’s google.
Item Selection? I’ll make it up as I go.
Financials? It’s just craft stuff I do not need quick books or a financial background.
Wrong, Wrong, and Wrong. I was lost, but it was a beautiful journey. I stumbled, fell flat on my face, lost a ton of money, bought the most expensive supplies to sell the cheapest products so that I would be “Competitive.” Thank God I have a patient husband who loves and supports me, because on several occasions my lack of business savviness has almost caused a World War III explosion between us. I thought I had it all figured out.
I sucked at business. Plain and Simple. Thinking you can just make stuff, not have a lick of business sense, and run a business is just silly. I went on like this for my entire first year. Ready for the mouth dropping moment? My first year in business when I filed my taxes, my Etsy shop took a $21,000 tax loss. This loss was not from shipping or sales either – We will come back to this later.
Most people would close it down right then and there and move on with their lives. I’m just not that girl. This sparked me more than ever to prove that I could make money staying home, pursuing my passion, and being a maker. Call me stubborn or determined, it’s all about perspective but I became more driven than I ever imagined possible.
I signed up for every free business course I could, I read every dang Etsy article known to man, I followed through and didn’t sleep for six months because I was determined to make it work. When I decided to write this book, it was to help other Mompreneurs who knew they were meant for more. Knew there was something pulling them to change, but not a clue where to start. I wanted it to be the “jack pot of Makersville” and save you hours upon hours of hitting dead ends on google searches trying to find just the right article to answer your questions.
If no one has told you:
Trust me ladies, if I can do this, you can too. Through this book you will walk through the good, the bad, the ugly, but my promise to you, is you will not repeat my mistakes. You will flourish knowing it’s okay to believe and have faith in your dreams and passion. You’re allowed to wake up smiling and excited for your work. Not just wanting to just hit snooze repeatedly and continue your dream of waking up in a mansion to Brad Pitt mowing your lawn. (Shirtless of course)
Now let’s fast forward four years. I run a successful lifestyle blog, an Etsy Shop that essentially runs itself and I get to host these amazing events for women to get creative when I am feeling like I need a little social time with someone over the age of 8. This is something you can do too. You just need to follow a few simple steps, have perseverance.
The biggest and I mean BIGGEST hurdle: Never give up if it feels right. Push through when it gets hard like your life depends on it. Perseverance is the hard work you do after you get tired of doing the hard work you already did. The push through is waking up every morning with a positive attitude that you can take on whatever the day throws your way. Never forget your strength, you can do hard things.
Vision is so important. It’s something you just can’t conquer your mountain without. Can the vision change, mold, and curate into something completely different from what you once imagined down the road? OF COURSE IT CAN. That’s where finding joy in the journey and being comfortable with change comes into play. My personal way of making dreams into reality is by creating Vision Boards every New Year. It helps me to see where I want to go and what I want to do. – It’s also turned into a fun, bonding tradition my son and I do together.
When I am just sitting or lying down before bed recapping my day I close my eyes and imagine those visions and goals to be already true.
Last year I created a board where I was pregnant. My husband and I had been trying for two years for our last little one with no luck. I decided to put it on my board at the beginning of January, after doing so I would close my eyes and imagine what it felt like to be pregnant, how my kids would react, how I would tell my husband. I imagined being able to throw away my feeling of failure, being able to throw away those stupid ovulation test that my Pomeranian enjoyed pulling out of the garbage and leaving throughout my house to remind me that this month my ovaries hated me and were still broken. I visualized my heart’s desire. Then, when I least expected it, the surprise came.
On my birthday this year (March) I was making my bed and got this overwhelming feeling of nausea, I ran to the bathroom to take a pregnancy test and was so adjusted to them always popping up negative I left it on the counter and went back to my business. About an hour later I remembered I had taken it and ran to see the results. Low and behold. Two pink lines.
WHAT? Is this happening? This can’t be happening, I leave for Mexico with my husband in 2 weeks. It’s my birthday. Can I have a glass of wine and pretend I didn’t see the test? Am I in Denial? Am I pregnant? Ok I better just send the test to a few people, because I may be seeing things.
When I first decided to stop working for other people and branch out on my own, I made a list of what the woman I dreamed of becoming looked like. What she wore, how she behaved, how her character was, what type of parent she was. I acted as though I was already her. It felt uncomfortable and fake at first.
Guess what happened? Over the years, I slowly became her.
Get to envisioning girl! Get a notebook designated just for your visions. Keep it by your bed. Have a thought or dream that wakes you at 2 am? Write it down.
Start narrowing down what your business looks like.
Visualize who you want to be, what you will be creating, what you want to contribute to this world, what your gift is. Write it all down and believe it all to be true.
Wake up every day with no comparisons, just the goal of doing and being better than what you personally did yesterday. This will begin the upward climb of confidence in becoming who you were meant to be. It all starts with one thing. An idea that turns into a vision.
To read more like this check out my book under the shop tab –
