Thank You

It has been a year filled with new beginnings as I remade my blog, made lots of jewelry, and shared blog posts to inspire, motivate, and renew, with all of you.

Thank you for following along on my journey and reading and commenting on Everyday Inspired. I am looking forward to a exciting new chapters starting in 2014 and passing along more information you can use for your business and life. Watch for new posts starting the week of January 6th.

I wish you and your family a 

safe and Happy New Year!!

Motivation Monday

A Year In Review

Before we move forward it's always good to look back. This is the perfect time to review your year for the good and the bad.

Why do you want to do that, because knowing these things about your business will guide you to creating and achieving bigger more challenging goals.

Things to consider:

Financial
How much you made
What were your expenses
What materials or equipment you invested in
What investments did not work
How did you track your money - did it work? Is it time for a new system?

Production
Did you meet your inventory goals
Is your work space working the way it's set up now
Were the supplies you had adequate

Marketing
Did you meet your marketing goals
What social media worked and what didn't
Was marketing an effective part of your business

This is your personal journey.  Take your time, and no need to share this info with anyone. Use the information you discover to guide you as you create your 2014 plan to help you grow your business.

When you are ready to start your plan for 2014, use my Master Plan printable to help you create a plan for your business.

Click here to download you copy

Do you review your year before you make plans for the new year?

Have a Wonderful Day

My Wish for You

Indulge

It's the time of year of wonderful music, glittering lights, sweets smells, and a variety of food to enjoy. Take the time to enjoy the season and relax and indulge!

Mocha Almond Fudge
Click here for the recipe

Have a great weekend!

Motivation Monday

Take Your Own Advice

Often it's easier to be wiser for others then for ourselves.

In fact, most of us usually want corroboration 

when we ask advice from others.

Most of the time we know what is right,

or the right path to follow.

When in doubt, think how you would advise others in your position, 

then take your own advice.

Now Is The Time by Patrick Lindasy

Make A Gift - Give A Gift

As artists we often create gifts for family and friends. Today create something for someone you don't know and donate it to a favorite charitable organization.

Making a donation not only feels good, it's also has an impact on your physical and mental health. So give often!

Why not share your creative gifts with someone in need this holiday season.

New Opportunities are Waiting For You - It's Time to Step Out of Your Box

As you are planning your new year goals, make sure you are creating opportunities that are outside your normal comfort zone.

You want to create goals that challenge you and make you feel a little uncomfortable. Taking yourself outside of you box of everyday activities will get you excited about your business for 2014.

When looking for new opportunities for your creative business consider these ideas.

• Cultivate rare and valuable skills that will set you apart from what other people are doing.

• Create a flexible plan. When looking for new opportunities have a plan A, B, and C.

• Always look for new ways to challenge yourself. When things start to get comfortable it's time to shake things up.

• Keep an open mind and be proactive about pursuing new opportunities.

• Review your goals often. Knowing exactly what you want and your strategies to get there are important to keeping you challenged.

• Work with the intention to succeed. The more effort you put into achieving what you want the greater your chance for success.

New opportunities come in many forms, you have to actively be looking for something you really want to grow in your business and creatively.

Don't limit yourself to what you know, step out and try something new. Let 2014 be the year that you succeed beyond your dreams.

Do you have plans to explore new ideas in 2014?

Work Backwards

Last week we talked about creating a Master List (Wish List) to make goal setting faster and easier. Today is a goal planning process that will help you take those plans you created and make them reality.

Making those goals reality starts by working backwards.

• Choose your top goals from the action plan of your master list. 

• Start with one of your big goals and work backwards as if you already achieved your goal.

• List three steps it took you to achieve your goal.

• List the steps as if you had no obstacles or excuses. 

Do these steps for each of the goals you want to achieve in 2014. 

Now you know what it's going to take to make each goal a reality, and where you have to start. Take each of those three steps you created for each goal and break them down into a more detailed plan.

Work out all the steps involved, keep the details simple, and add your steps to you calendar. 

This process makes it easier to see what you need to do to achieve those big goals on your list. As you achieve those goals your wishes from you master plan will start coming true!

Have you thought  of all the steps involved in achieving your goals?

Motivation Monday

Enjoy the Journey

The crucial thing is life is the journey, not the destination.

Focus on the trip, not the map.

Learn from the setbacks and diversions.

Use them to make yourself stronger and wiser.

Live life moment to moment.

Allow yourself to enjoy the experience.

Now is the time  By Patrick Lindsay

Take a Break Today

Find some time to relax today.

Maybe with a fury friend or two.

Have a great Sunday

Good Marketing is Not about Your Business

When you are marketing your business via your shop page, social media, and advertising, is you message about your business or your customer?

Your marketing messages should be all about your customer and what you have to offer her.

Share how your business is valuable, and meaningful to your customers, and why they should do business with you.

Here is a simple way to test your marketing materials, social media post, and messages about your business:

Do the So-What? Test

Look at all your marketing statements, ads, shop, and posts. Does your copy offer value to your customer and answer the question "So What?" 

If not, then it's time to change your marketing strategy to focus more on you customer and less about your business.

Ideas to try:

Give your customer a reason why they need what you make
Make it sound special - use descriptive words
Share the benefits of your product
Solve a problem
Use the word you instead of I
Offer something special

Places you should consider adding value to your copy:

Product descriptions
Social media posts
Announcements
Policy's page
Advertisements 
Website pages
Blogs
Business marketing material
Shows
Offline venues

Remember you customer wants to feel important when they are spending their money.  Make your copy focused on them, and stand out in the busy handcrafted market crowd.

Does your marketing materials pass the "So What?" test?

Share this post with your social network.

A New Idea to Create Your Master Goal List

A master plan is a good place to start your new year goal planning process. 

You need to know what you want, before you can create goals that will help you get what you want.

Starting a master plan not necessarily about your business, but more about what you want in your life for you and your family.

The place to start your plan is to list all the things you want or wish for. When you list what your heart desires, you will be more motivated to create goals that will help you get those things you need and want.

I have created a master plan worksheet to help you get started. click the link below to print out your copy.

Click here to download

You start this whole process by listing of all the things you want or wish for, for you and your family. This list is not about your business, it's about all those inner desires that you dreamed about but have not made a plan to pursue.

Once you have that list, give yourself dates you want to achieve them. Even if those dates are in the next few weeks or years from now.

Now that you know what you want, it's time to create a list of all the ways your business can generate income. List everything, even those things you thought about but put on the back burner. This will be the list you will use to set your goals and action steps for the new year.

When choosing your goals make sure you choose one or two of those ideas that seem really challenging. If you really want to generate income this is the year you want to push yourself, so it's time for some new ideas.

Planning out your goals should be a fun process. Take your time with your brainstorming list, use color to make it interesting, and doodle around the edges to help you generate ideas. You will find that as you go through the process the ideas will start flowing, and you will have a list that inspire you  to try new things.

Hang onto your list. You can use it all year long to generate ideas for expanding your business, as well as crossing things off as you achieve things on your wish list.

Do you have a lot on your wish list?

Share this post with your social network. 

Get Ready, It's That Time of Year Again

Every year as December rolls in planning for the new year is on our mind. We want to have our goals ready so we can start the new year off with a bang.

As we get into our planning phase, we start with lists, state our goals, and create an action plan. This process can get a little mundane over time, and the goals we set seem to be the same from year to year.

This month I am going to share some new ideas for generating goals that will get you excited about trying new things and making more money. 

Watch for new posts each week during the month of December with ideas to create goals and an action plan that will challenge, excite, and make you look forward to 2014.

I will also have a few posts about marketing your business, planning your new ideas, and motivating yourself for the new year.

The first post will be up tomorrow.

Have you started you goal planning for 2014?

Motivation Monday