Yes, it’s that time of year again! Today I’m going to cover a review of 2018 and give you a look at my plans for 2019.
I’ll be honest, I haven’t done my planning in great detail as yet. I’ve taken a good look at 2018, what I’ve achieved (and what I haven’t) and put together my big goals for 2019. In terms of when and how – much of that is yet to be decided!
A review of 2018
So, let’s start with a review of the year.
I feel like I’ve ended the year in a very different place to where I started. Back in May, after lots of requests for help from people looking to start their ecommerce businesses (or just source products, write product listings, etc), I decided to offer my services as a freelance consultant and see how things went.
Around the same time, I decided to make some changes to this blog, which saw it go from a ‘tell-all, share-all’ into something more useful, where I go into real details that you can put to practical use.
This all took off in a way bigger way than I anticipated and led me to officially launch Chipmunk Coach this autumn.
The success of that, and the conversations I’ve had with people about how they want to get started, but have no idea how (or have some idea and are just completely overwhelmed by it all), meant I’ve put a lot of focus into helping as many people as I can – and I definitely want to build on that in 2019.
I’ve actually decided to do less things in 2019, yet hopefully help even more people.
Review of 2018 goals
Here’s how I got on:
- More sales through my own website. My Shopify store has been live just over a year now and sales are definitely growing. Amazon is still by far where I get the biggest percentage of sales and I’m actually ok with that. I spent quite some time this year on improving my SEO and playing around with Google ads. I feel like I’ve got as far as I can on my own, but I’m not ready to invest anymore time and money right now.
- Launch another new product. A big no here I’m afraid. I got very, very far along, but the rapid growth of my consultancy, plus the focus on my course, meant it just wasn’t feasible to do it all. I have 3 products, ready to go, so expect to see these in 2019.
- Products stocked in a retail outlet. I didn’t quite manage this (and not through lack of trying). Early in the year I put a lot of focus on this. However, needs must, focus changes and I decided that getting stocked in other online outlets might make sense for me. You can find out who and where, right here! If you want to do the same, this post is recommended reading.
- Sell in another (Amazon) marketplace. This didn’t happen. Mainly for the reasons I outlined above. It’s still something I may do at a later date, but at the moment I feel there’s enough of a market in Europe, and I have enough new product ideas up my sleeve, that I don’t feel compelled to.
- Get a grip of my Finances. Big tick here, as I (finally) enlisted the help of an account, after I registered my company.
Overall, it may look like I didn’t achieve much, but I’m actually ok with that, as from the mid-year point things took a completely different path to the one I’d anticipated – and it’s one I’m absolutely loving!
The goal of this blog was always to help as many people as I could, but if you’d suggested to me a year ago that I could charge people money for my expertise I would have probably ran away and hid somewhere. Infact, my husband did suggest it, more than once, but I had so much imposter syndrome, I just couldn’t see why anyone would choose to work with me, when there are so many people out there doing the same.
My USP
Obviously, this is ridiculous. There’s plenty of space out there for everyone. Plus, I won’t be right for everyone – and that’s ok. My aim is to be the right fit for the person just starting out – who’s perhaps feeling a little anxious and uncertain. I’m kind, patient, I’ll hold your hand through the process and help as much as I can. I always try to over-deliver and to be genuinely pleasant to work with. If a client feeds back that I’m nice, I always love that!
There are a lot of similar consultants out there, but that’s a little about what I believe makes me, me!
If you’d like a full look at my 2018 list (and 2017 review), you can get that here.
Goals for 2019
In no particular order…
- Launch my course – You may have heard me mention my course before. It’s for people who want to launch a physical product and want some help getting through it. I’ve laid it all out, step-by-step and will be there to support participants throughout the entire process. The beta launch will be in Jan 2019 (and, at the time of writing, there are a few places left) and the actual launch will be later in the Spring. Watch this space. You’ll be hearing much more about this in the coming weeks and months!
- Release new products – As I alluded to earlier, I have a few products just waiting to go. (I just need to place the order.) I’m holding off, as I don’t want to be in a position where I’m trying to launch a product right in the middle of my course launch. Until I’ve sat down with a calendar I’m not committing to dates for this one.
- (Finally) hire a Virtual Assistant – I’ve thought about this one for a while. I’m well aware that I do lots of things that I could outsource – which would free up more time for me to do the things that I’m best at and the things that only I can do. It’s obviously a bit daunting, but 2019 is the year it’s going to happen!
- Grow my audience – by producing more useful content – To achieve a lot of my goals I need to reach more people, so growing my audience is essential. To do that, I plan on producing more (free) content, perhaps running some challenges and doing all I can reasonably can (with the time and energy that I have!) to help more people.
So, there you have it!
I also have some more personal goals around work/life balance and setting boundaries, but I’ll save those to share another day.
I’m really looking forward to getting the planner out and start mapping out 2019 in real detail.
This will (probably) be the last post you see from me this year. I’m taking Christmas (and the start of January) off to refresh, recharge, plan and spend lots and lots of time with my family.
I’m wishing you a lovely festive season and I hope all your dreams for 2019 come true.