Hello, hello! I'm back with some more celebratory blogiversary stuff today. This time, we're talking about goals. I am a very goals oriented person. I need something specific to work towards, otherwise I feel as if I'm just floating around, not getting anything accomplished. I like to have concrete ideas about what I want to accomplish, and how I plan to do that. Blogging is no exception to this. Especially since I one day hope to turn this little slice of the internet into my full time work, I need to have goals to keep me on track and to accomplish small steps towards my ultimate goal.
Since I love you guys so much, I want to share the goals I have for myself for the next year in this blogging journey. I hope that by sharing these goals here, I can keep myself accountable to completing these goals. I also like having a place that I can come back to in a year's time and see how I did on my goals for the previous year. I thought I would start out this post by doing just that. Let's see how I did on last year's goals, shall we?
More Frequent Posting
So last year I was just finishing up college, and thought that would mean I had more time to write posts. Wrong. Finishing college means starting full time work, which means even less time to dedicate to blogging. So while I was hoping to be at 4-5 posts per week by this time, looking back I think that was a little unrealistic of me.
So while I didn't get up quite that many posts, I still managed to publish an average of a little over one post a week throughout the last year. I was actually pleasantly surprised to figure that out, I thought for sure I would have been at less than a post per week on average. Even though it was still significantly lower that my final goal number had been, I still increased my frequency of posts from the first year (about .75 posts a week). So I'm going to give this goal a check mark, with a little asterisk that it still wasn't as many as I thought I'd be able to publish.
So while I didn't get up quite that many posts, I still managed to publish an average of a little over one post a week throughout the last year. I was actually pleasantly surprised to figure that out, I thought for sure I would have been at less than a post per week on average. Even though it was still significantly lower that my final goal number had been, I still increased my frequency of posts from the first year (about .75 posts a week). So I'm going to give this goal a check mark, with a little asterisk that it still wasn't as many as I thought I'd be able to publish.
Include More of the Personal
This goal is one I definitely slacked on. I had challenged myself to include more of my personal life on the blog. I had hoped this would mean more posts shared about day to day life, exciting events such as birthdays and vacations and other such personal touches. While I didn't end up writing any actual posts focused on my personal life, I still found a few ways to add some more of "me" into the blog.
For starters, I did successfully complete the first step I had given myself in last year's goal. I did finally get a profile picture up on the blog shortly after I shared my year two goals (how the heck did it take me that long?). I have also been including tiny peaks into my daily life by sharing my Project Life spreads on the blog. As well as sharing the craftiness of the pages, I like to share some of the stories behind the pictures included in my layouts. So I have found a few small ways of including some more personal into Label Me Organized. I'd say I get a half check mark for this goal.
For starters, I did successfully complete the first step I had given myself in last year's goal. I did finally get a profile picture up on the blog shortly after I shared my year two goals (how the heck did it take me that long?). I have also been including tiny peaks into my daily life by sharing my Project Life spreads on the blog. As well as sharing the craftiness of the pages, I like to share some of the stories behind the pictures included in my layouts. So I have found a few small ways of including some more personal into Label Me Organized. I'd say I get a half check mark for this goal.
Build Relationships
I definitely made a good start on this goal in the last year. While I can never truly 'complete' this goal, as there will always be more awesome people to meet, I mark my success on progress made. I have definite met some wonderful bloggers and readers over the last year. My absolute favorite way of meeting new people has been Instagram. There is just something so fun about connecting with others through comments and likes on pictures from your life. However, I hope to also build up my presence on other social media sites, as they have been a little neglected the past year. This is a goal I definitely look forward to continuing working on.
Less Planning and More Doing
This is the goal I have been working the most consistently on over the last year. As many of you readers know, I am a perfectionist at heart, and this tends to stall any project I'm working on. I want things to be perfect so badly that it can actually hinder me from doing anything at all. Over the last year I have focused on just jumping in and getting things done.
My blog planner has been a huge help with this goal as it relates to the blog. At the beginning of each week, I write out actionable goals for each day. This helps keep me on track and completing tasks, so I am using my time productively. By giving myself small tasks to complete each day, I don't get overwhelmed by a large goal or caught up in planning a large project to the point where I never get anything done. I give myself a check plus for this goal, with the understanding that I need to stay on top of this goal and keep making progress.
My blog planner has been a huge help with this goal as it relates to the blog. At the beginning of each week, I write out actionable goals for each day. This helps keep me on track and completing tasks, so I am using my time productively. By giving myself small tasks to complete each day, I don't get overwhelmed by a large goal or caught up in planning a large project to the point where I never get anything done. I give myself a check plus for this goal, with the understanding that I need to stay on top of this goal and keep making progress.
More Dedicated Blog Time
This is a goal I've only recently made progress on. While working full time, I was never really able to sit down and carve out specific times dedicated to working on the blog. I would kind of just fit it in whenever I could. However, I have been on a working hiatus for a little over a month while I switch careers, and this has allowed for a lot more time to be focused on blogging.
This time off has been such a blessing, and I have been able to get so much work done on the blog. Since I knew I was going to be lucky enough to enjoy some time off, I decided to fully throw myself into blogging as 'my job' for the time being. This means that Monday through Friday, during the day is officially Blogging Time. I work on the blog as if I were working at a normal 9-5, it gets my full attention. I have been loving the freedom to really put all my energy into this dream of mine, without anything pulling my attention or time.
While I don't know what the future brings, I hope I can at least set the groundwork for blog success while I have this time off. I hope to check off a lot of the larger, more time consuming projects on my blog to do list, so if and when I do have to return to a 'normal' job, I can focus on simply creating and writing awesome posts.
This time off has been such a blessing, and I have been able to get so much work done on the blog. Since I knew I was going to be lucky enough to enjoy some time off, I decided to fully throw myself into blogging as 'my job' for the time being. This means that Monday through Friday, during the day is officially Blogging Time. I work on the blog as if I were working at a normal 9-5, it gets my full attention. I have been loving the freedom to really put all my energy into this dream of mine, without anything pulling my attention or time.
While I don't know what the future brings, I hope I can at least set the groundwork for blog success while I have this time off. I hope to check off a lot of the larger, more time consuming projects on my blog to do list, so if and when I do have to return to a 'normal' job, I can focus on simply creating and writing awesome posts.
I believe overall I did ok on the goals I set for myself last year. While most of them I will have to continue working on, I consider it success that I made progress on each individual goal, no matter how small that progress was. Keeping with my goal to let go of perfection, I like to put more emphasis on what I did do to reach a goal, and less on what I wasn't able to accomplish (yet). This keeps up my motivation to continue to work on and improve the many areas of my blog and in my life.
Ok so now that we know how last years goals went, it's time to list out what I'd like to accomplish in Label Me Organized's third year. There are so many things it was hard to narrow it down, but I tried to boil it down to the most significant goals that cover a lot of smaller goals. So here are my goals for the 2014-2015 blog year:
Put Myself Out There More
In reality, I am a pretty shy person. Having this blog to share my projects and journey to home organization has been such an amazing outlet for me. It has forced me to open myself up and challenge myself to try new things and take on new experiences. I hope to continue to challenge myself and step outside my comfort zone so I can grow both as a person and as a small business owner. I'm not exactly sure how I will accomplish this goal, but I'm hoping to take on opportunities with the blog even if they make me nervous. I don't want to avoid an opportunity simply because I'm scared of trying something new, or stretching my abilities. I want to take on new challenges and experiences, so I don't look back and regret paths not taken. I hope this attitude will bring the blog to places I can't even imagine yet.
Continue to Let Go of the Perfect
I talked a little bit above how I am working on ignoring my perfectionist tendencies, and just taking leaps of faith with all things in my life. So far my experiences with this has been nothing but positive, and I haven't once wished I had spent less time doing and more time agonizing over the details planning. I have gotten more accomplished in the last few months than I ever would have if I had still be aiming for perfection. And even though nothing is perfect, I have always been pleased with the outcome of my projects. I hope to continue to down this path of action and imperfection, its a lot more fun than stressing over the perfect!
Grow the Blog as a Business
It has been a dream of mine since I first developed Label Me Organized, that this would someday become my full time career. With all the extra free time I have been lucky enough to enjoy recently, I have been trying to throw myself full steam ahead into the blog. I don't want to just sit back and hope for this blog thing to happen, I want to actively create something I can be passionate about and proud of. A few of the things I'm hoping to bring into the mix in the coming year are the following:
These are just a few of the larger items on my to-do list for this goal, but the list really is endless. That's what I love about blogging, that fact you can grow it in whatever way suits you and your readers. The place where my business ends up might be completely different from anything I can currently imagine, in the best possible way. Only time will tell!
- addition of physical products to the Etsy store
- opening up the blog to sponsorship opportunities
- collaborate with other blog owners on projects
- re-brand and re-design the site
These are just a few of the larger items on my to-do list for this goal, but the list really is endless. That's what I love about blogging, that fact you can grow it in whatever way suits you and your readers. The place where my business ends up might be completely different from anything I can currently imagine, in the best possible way. Only time will tell!
Continue to Build Relationships
As I mentioned, I've had the chance to meet some amazing people in the past two years I have been blogging. This is one of my favorite parts of blogging. I love getting to chat with other women who share some of the same passions as I have. Before blogging, I never imagined there were so many people like me who love planners, organizing and home design like I do. I am so blessed to be a part of this community and I look forward to making more new friends! There are no real steps to take for this goal, beyond continuing to chat and get to know people through the blog and all my social media channels. So if you'd like to get to know me, please shoot me an email or introduce yourself on your favorite social media site, I'd love to meet you!
Develop a Good Variety of Posts
Recently I feel like my posts have become a little repetitive. The last thing I want is for Label Me Organized to become boring and predictable. I want to start spicing things up, and bringing in a larger variety of posts. I also hope to have a nice mix of post content, so there isn't one area of content that is represented too heavily.
I haven't put much thought into exactly how I'll accomplish this, but I have a few beginning thoughts. I want to include one crafty post per week, which will usually be my weekly Project Life spread (if I can get and stay caught up with my weekly layouts). I would also like to have one organization or home related post per week. This can be anything from a room update, to a new organizational system I set up. I would also like to add in some more post series, like the Home Management Binder, and the Apartment Living series I used to do.
So there you have it. A wordy post (longer than I thought it'd be...sorry!) about how far I've come on goals I set myself last year, and goals I'm committing to for the following year. I could not be more excited to begin my third year blogging, and I hope this will be the best one yet!! Thanks for sharing this journey with me, I could not be more thankful for all my amazing readers, you guys rock!
I haven't put much thought into exactly how I'll accomplish this, but I have a few beginning thoughts. I want to include one crafty post per week, which will usually be my weekly Project Life spread (if I can get and stay caught up with my weekly layouts). I would also like to have one organization or home related post per week. This can be anything from a room update, to a new organizational system I set up. I would also like to add in some more post series, like the Home Management Binder, and the Apartment Living series I used to do.
So there you have it. A wordy post (longer than I thought it'd be...sorry!) about how far I've come on goals I set myself last year, and goals I'm committing to for the following year. I could not be more excited to begin my third year blogging, and I hope this will be the best one yet!! Thanks for sharing this journey with me, I could not be more thankful for all my amazing readers, you guys rock!
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