A Year in Review: 2024
As the year comes to a close, it’s the perfect time to pause, reflect, and celebrate the journey of my art business over the past twelve months. This year has been one of growth, challenges, and unforgettable moments that have shaped not only my creative process but also how I want to evolve and build my brand.
Looking back at my business goals I set for myself last year, I planned to_
- Expand my keychain and sticker collection
- More Imperial Pudding series
- Getting a retailer to stock my products
If I looked at it as a whole, I actually hit all my goals this year! But did it all go swimmingly? Of course not hahaha! Let’s take a look at all the hits and misses.
Hits:
1. I expanded the marine creatures series of my sticker and keychain collection. I even had time to work on a few more animals for the farm and wildlife series stickers AND start drawing a brand new fish series (yet to be released).
2. I pushed out two imperial Pudding keychain designs and started work on a massive project in July so there are lots more in this series that’s in the pipeline.
3. The imperial princess keychain garnered lots of love and attention from fellow Chinese culture lovers which was surprising to me. At the same time, it also gave me the push to work on expanding this series with more confidence.
Misses:
1. I couldn't create as much work as I intended because my manufacturer messed up the keychain production and I ended up with a ton of B grade and C grade products. I had to spend way more time than expected doing additional QC. Luckily, they gave me a refund for the defective pieces but I now have to find a new manufacturer which takes time as well and feeds into other delays.
2. There also aren't as many good markets this year that are worth selling at. I didn’t want my funds tied up in more stock when there aren't any quality markets for me to sell at so I paused product manufacturing after the marine series.
3. I signed a 4 month consignment lease to sell my work in a store. I got my products in a store! Did it go the way I imagined it would be? It did not! The consignment programme was supremely underwhelming. So I’m going to take a break from consignment for the time being. The details of this experience will be in a separate blog post because I have A LOT to say about it.
Energy Bank Audit
Auditing my energy bank to see what I spent my time and energy on was a game changer. I did this last year and I realised that I spent way too much time on admin tasks. So I cut back a little this year by reducing the number of blog posts to just one per month, and only sending one monthly email instead of two. The extra admin tasks were stressing me out last year and taking time away from creative pursuits. After doing this for one year, I can safely conclude this is the perfect admin load for me! I had way more time to work on new art and embark on longer more complicated and ambitious projects, however they’re not finished yet so I haven't shared them online.
Conclusion
Lastly, did I honour my inner GPS in building my business in the direction I want to?
I think I did. Despite all the distractions, I think I managed to stay true to who I am and not feel like I have to chase trends. In fact my experiences with markets this year and interactions with my customers has showed me that my brand is who I am, and only by staying true to that will I be able to differentiate myself and stand out in the sea of illustrators.
