Mixed Bag Mondays - New Attitude

After a hectic holiday season and a few false starts to the New Year, I'm finally ready to get back into the swing of things - with a new attitude. Or maybe it's just more of a self defense plan. If the past few days are any indication of how this year of the dragon is going to go, however, I hope the adage of getting the bad stuff out of the way first so I can enjoy the good stuff is going to be true. If not, I guess I'll have to just put my big girl panties on - and hone my secret ninja skills to boot! Either way, I want this to be a memorable year.


For the first time in many years, I made absolutely no resolutions this New Year. Maybe it's because of it being an election year, and I'm already tired of listening to all the political muddlings. I realized New Year's resolutions are a lot like campaign promises.  They sound wonderful, you almost want to believe they're really going to make a difference, but in the end, you have to be naive to think that they can realistically be put into an action plan that won't get sabotaged by something in the end. When that inevitably happens, everyone else gets all "I told you it wouldn't work" on you, and you wonder where all that wonderful support and promise that you started out with went. Oh wait - you say you expected me to just magically make things happen?  I'm sorry, I seem to have filed that with the address for the tooth fairy and the Easter bunny... you know, in Fantasy Land.

Yes, I've got a new attitude, and I'm looking forward to sharing it with you!

As in past years, I did come up with a theme word for 2012. That theme is "evaluate and actualize". I'll be taking more time to step back, get a perspective on things, ask for opinions and suggestions, decide where I want to head with things - and then pull it all together to MAKE IT HAPPEN!  2011 was a pretty good year business-wise, and I'm looking forward to 2012 being even better. With that in mind, I also came up with a number of goals that I'd like to share with you. I hope you'll take the opportunity to be part of my journey - there will many opportunities for you to share your opinions, give feedback, inspire me, and hopefully learn a little bit about yourself in the process!

Here are just a few of the areas I'll be evaluating and/or new concepts I will be actualizing that you'll see on the outside - but there will be a number of things going on behind the scenes as well. Busy, busy, busy!

January 15th will mark the first edition of my newsletter - Mystic Wynd News, Reviews, & How-to's. This monthly newsletter will contain news about my business, interesting tidbits about the world of handmade and independent crafters, a look at the world of gemstones and the mystery and lore attached to them, introductions to some great shops and the creative energy behind them, tutorials, product reviews, marketing and business tips for the small business craftsperson, a touch of humor, and of course some super special promotions for subscribers! Be sure to sign up so you never miss an issue - you'll find the sign up form in the menu bar by clicking on "Newsletter".

You'll also see me focusing more on the metaphysical properties of stones, and offering more designs that take these properties into consideration. In addition to this, if you've visited my shop on Etsy since the beginning of the year, you'll notice that I've gone back to sectioning my shop by theme - you'll be invited to browse by such themes as fantasy jewelry or tribal jewelry - and of course the traditional goodies will be there too.

I've also made a decision to share some of my other explorations into the world of crafting with the world, but since I'd like to keep it varied and completely spontaneous, I'm planning on opening up a shop towards the beginning of autumn that will showcase what will be a hodgepodge of items from greeting cards to paintings, crocheted goods to kid's clothes, and whatever floats my boat between now and then. Why wait until autumn?  Well, we have a grandbaby on the way (#8, woohoo!), and I want to make sure that I've had my time to ooh and ahh, and goo and coo... and since he or she is due in mid June, early autumn seems like a good time to officially get a start on a new venture... that, plus my numerology guide tells me so, lol.

My last goal is to have more fun and be just a little sillier - to try to relax and not be such a stick in the mud! This may be the hardest of all for me, but I know I have friends who will tell me to chill, others to make me laugh, and others who will bring sunshine into my life when clouds are threatening... so SPEAK up! Don't be shy - leave that to me!

So, there you have my Reader's Digest version of my goals for 2012... at least as far as my business goes. On a personal level, I have the same last goal - and beyond that, I want to turn our two car closet back into a garage. Back up the truck, boys... I'll be waiting!

xo,

PS - Thanks to my teamies on the Blogging Business Artisans Team on Etsy for the inspiration for this post - and for all your support and friendship. What a great bunch of ladies (had to mentally go through the list, but yep, all ladies!) you all are!