Wed, 03 Jan 2024

How can I do better in 2024? For starters, I guess I can set some definite goals. New Year's Resolutions, if you will.

First of all, a hard deadline: if the business isn't making money, or at least on a definite track to make money, by midyear, I'm going to stop pretending it isn't just a hobby. This wouldn't be the end of the blog, of course, and maybe wouldn't really change much? I'd end the Patreon/Ko-Fi tiers but probably still sell a little stuff in the shop, maybe even including designs, but I wouldn't be able to justify spending 40+ hours a week doing it so it'd be much more casual.

Next, to avert that, I absolutely need to get around to sending out a newsletter, and regularly. I've held off because I know I only get one shot at convincing people (most of whom don't remember they even signed up) not to immediately unsubscribe. Which just means no one is getting the newsletter, which is worse than it dropping to just a few.

Next, I have set up a schedule to post actual promo stuff to social media. When I looked into my own motivations, I realized I didn't want to do that on social media because, again, it might drive people off. Gotta remind myself that's what a business account is for.

The paid-advertising market is circling the drain, so I'm not going to resolve to look into that. Instead, I'm going to ask people (you!) to do it for me. If you're making stuff with my designs, post it to your socials and (this is key) link to me in it. Use hashtags, post to groups, whatever the platform you're on does. And not just for me: do this for every small business and creator you know. Everybody's "reach" has been sharply curtailed this year, and I'm not the only one who didn't see a real Christmas surge.

Anyway, don't make it weird, just make an extra effort to work in creators. Here's an example of what I mean:

Me, on Bluesky: "Husband was so enthusiastic over the @brushfeather.bsky.social embroidered hat I got kiddo that I just ordered him one right in the middle of opening Christmas gifts."

And yes, I should have put some hashtags in or something, but I also literally posted that right in the middle of opening gifts so I think I can be excused.