monthly goal meetup :: june

limited edition 2009 calendar, image via pistachio press

did that say june? really? wow, this spring has just flown by. my little guy only has one week of school left, and then it just me and the kiddies with the whole summer ahead! [and hubby, of course, but just me and the kids all day. you know what i meant] we do have o signed up for a few half-day camps, so i hope to still be able to squeeze in some daytime sewing. otherwise i'll have to ingest a whole lot more caffeine and become a bit of a night owl. anyhow, june means that my shop has now been open over a month! i've had some nice surprises along the way. i'm so pleased that i took this step and decided to follow my heart with this business. now it's time for another month of goals, but first let's see how i fared in may. 

[bear with me, this is a somewhat wordy post, sorry!]

1. work on product packaging for shipping orders. want to end up with a look that represents my shop + branding :: done, but i think this will be something that evolves somewhat over time

2. work on product photography, particularly staging. i want my photos to really show off the product, tell a story, and compel people to look further 

:: this is a big one. i think i've made progress on the 'glory shots'. want to work on staging more

3. go over my product descriptions :: again, will be a work-in-progress. i have refined them, and think they're clear. still a bit wordy

4. continue refining my blog vision, with regards to daily features/subjects. i have started with my tuesday local focus, want to add more focus subjects 

:: done for the time being. i've added etsy imagery on mondays, and am sticking to paper goods on wednesdays. more to come, i hve a few ideas on the go.

5. send shop announcement/emails to 3 blogs. get my name out there! 

:: well there had to be one i didn't touch much. this is it, of course, the most daunting one for me. i have done some research, however, and have pegged some blogs to approach. part way there!

while i didn't really finish all of my goals, it's been a busy and productive month. i have added several new items to my shop, and gotten a couple of lovely custom orders to work on, which has been fun. i've just had my first return customer make a purchase, which is huge for me. i feel that customer satisfaction is number one [obviously!] and it makes me so happy to know that someone was excited enough about their product to come back again for another item. as far as my shop, the biggest thing that has happened is that my 'choose your own' cloth blocks were selected for the etsy baby gift guide. this has been amazing, and has sent loads of traffic my way and gotten my shop a lot of notice. yay! [edit - the listing has since been purchased] i also had my sunshine daisies tote chosen to be part of an etsy poll on the storque. that was pretty cool, too. then last week, i held my first giveaway, which was super fun! i loved reading all the comments, what a trip. i'll definitely be doing that again.

a big part of this community is social networking, and i've made some lovely connections over the past couple months. that is great for me for so many reasons, the best of which i think is finding such amazing inspiration from the people i've met. so many wonderful people making incredible things. 

i love that 'small world' feeling. ok, enough rambling + tooting my own horn, let's get to some june goals. my time will be more restricted this month, so i'm really going to focus my goals here. 

1. get those announcement emails out to three of the blogs i have narrowed down to. get smidgebox designs' name out there!

2. submit applications for an online marketplace, as well as vancouver holiday craft fair, got craft.

3. more work on photography, in particular staging.

4. get organized. my work files are a mess. i just bought a pretty little file for all my receipts and papers, just need to get it under control before it gets out of hand. [this is so unlike me. i love to organize]

5. buy my domain name [i know, should have done ages ago] and get a biz account for post office savings. do you people know how expensive canada post is??? ridiculous. seriously.

so that's it for this month. should be some attainable goals, and i am looking forward to seeing how business plays out for june! i've heard that summer can be a rather slow time, so i'm looking to try and pre-empt that with a little hard work on this end. wish me luck!

i'd also like to give a little shout-out to jena over at modish and modish BIZtips. i've said it before and i'll say it again, thankyou so much for starting the biz blog and these monthly goal meetups. it is inspiring, motivating, and right on the money with the anwers and topics i've been needing. you have helped me along in so many ways, and i've not even met you...such a kind and generous soul, and wise to boot. thank you :)