Any business should have business goals for themselves to reach, and as a super small, freelance business, it’s not any different. Having goals set at the beginning of the year will make it easier for me to grow my business and to measure my success at the end of the year. This year is the first full year I will be able to put in to my business, so it’s imperative that I have reasonable goals to push myself towards during the year. Although the goals I chose are a little slower to reach, due to the limited time I have to put into this side job (as I work full time as well), I believe the goals I chose are a great starting point for the slow growth of my small biz.

 

GOAL #1

START OFFERING PRODUCTS FOR SALE

 

My first goal for the new year is to develop products, downloadable content, and custom items to be sold on Etsy and/or directly on my website. This is my main goal for the beginning of the year because I would like to bring in a new set of clients and to make a little bit of money on the side. Being able to offer real products for real clients will be a great way for me to keep my creativity flowing without emptying my pockets every time I want to try something new.

 

SMART Goal: List 20-30 new products in my Etsy shop by March, 2018.

 

GOAL #2

DEVELOP A CONSISTENT SCHEDULE FOR BLOG POSTS AND EMAIL NEWSLETTERS (& STICK TO IT!)

 

My biggest regret this past year was not being able to stick to a consistent publishing schedule for my blog posts and the emails to my newsletter subscribers. Although it had a lot to do with being busy and sick for a large part of the year, I still would have liked to put a little more of an effort into it. My specific goal will be to publish blog posts once every other week and to send out newsletters on the same timeline, if not every single week. I think this goal is achievable for me, and I will be working very hard to keep it.

 

SMART Goal: Publish one new blog post and one email newsletter once every two weeks starting in the first week of January.

 

GOAL #3

BRING IN MORE INVITATION CLIENTS THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA AND ADVERTISING

 

My favorite thing to design is invitations, and I’d like to continue to develop that side of my business. I would like to increase the number of clients I get through my social media channels, like Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest, or through basic advertising. Most of my invitation clients I have received so far have been people I have a personal connection with somehow, so it’s important that I’m able to find clients who I don’t know previously. Because MJ Creative Co. is a business I’m working with in addition to my full time job, I don’t have the time to be constantly designing and printing wedding invitations; but I do think that I could handle a few clients a month, so that will be a goal I will work towards.

 

SMART Goal: Bring in 6 custom invitation clients from only social media and advertising throughout the year.

 

GOAL #4

CONTINUE TO DEVELOP MY SIGNATURE CALLIGRAPHY STYLE

 

Although I still feel new to the calligraphy game, I’m starting to get more and more comfortable with all things lettering. But I’m still doing the most basic form of calligraphy, developed from what is easiest. As I continue to get comfortable with my skills, I’d like to work to develop my own calligraphy style that is unique to me and doesn’t look so much like everyone else’s.

 

SMART Goal: Evaluate calligraphy every 3 months to determine how my style is evolving, and continue to do exercises that strengthen how I want my calligraphy to look.

 

GOAL #5

BUILD RELATIONSHIPS WITH STORES, BLOGGERS, AND OTHER BUSINESS PEOPLE

 

Contacts are a huge part of owning and operating a business. Especially as a freelancer, the people you know and work with are essential to you gaining clients. I’ve been slowly gaining contacts the last few months with wedding planners, bloggers, etc. but I think that a good goal to work towards is having a solid group of contacts within my field or the area I live in that I can reach out to to help propel my business (and hopefully help them in return).

 

SMART Goal: Make individual contact with at least 5 new businesses or people a month via email or in person.

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