My 2 Words of the Year
As an Illustrator, it felt natural to not just choose two words to set my intentions for the year, but also to illustrate them!
Why have 1 word of the year, when you can have 2?!
Creative business planning
I've spent the last eighteen months or so nibbling around the edges of setting up a creative business as part of a mid-life career change. This has mostly meant spending a lot of time teaching myself how to draw and paint, and discovering where my interests lie, alongside watching lots of webinars and attending workshops focused on how to make an income from art. Whilst I've certainly spent some time creating a body of work and thinking about brand and marketing in 2022, I unfortunately didn't manage to make any real income (I don't think $10 from Spoonflower commissions of someone ordering my design on fabric really counts!)
I wanted to start 2023 with a much more focused approach, in order to turn what is currently an expensive hobby into an actual sustainable business that begins to generate income for me. I was lucky enough to stumble across The Design Trust - who provide practical and strategic business knowledge and support to designers, makers and creatives looking to start or grow their businesses. As well as joining their monthly Business Club, I ordered a copy of their 2023 Journal/Planner; it is full of useful tips, inspiration and a framework to help me on the way towards both setting and realising my business goals.
Having a Word (or Words) of the Year
I’ve been working through the sections on goal setting for 2023 as well as more detailed planning to cover the first 3 months of the year and am feeling excited and keen to now get stuck in. Last week, I used the 'My 2 Words for 2023' postcard that came with the planner to decide what I wanted to commit to this year in terms of running my creative business.
In case you aren't familiar with the concept, having a 'Word of the Year' is an alternative to making New Year's resolutions. Where resolutions have been proven to be difficult to stick to, the idea behind a word (or words) of the year is to help you set your intentions and act as a reminder to focus on positive change.
My two words are:
Direction - I want to be a lot more strategic about how I'm spending my time by setting more realistic goals with actions to help me feel a sense of achievement and momentum in properly launching and running my business
Storytelling - everyone loves a good story and I want to make sure that I focus on connecting with people who might become customers or clients, by relating what I do and why and how I do it. Whether that's focusing on what inspires my work, how it is created, or even the strong environmental principles that underpin my choices for products, suppliers and potential clients.
As I'm an illustrator, it felt logical to illustrate my two words to bring them to life a bit more!
What will you be focusing on in 2023?