It's been over a month since my last post...
December was the best month I've ever had on Etsy, but a lot of the orders were for items that had to be made to order... so I was busy, busy, busy.
These whale ornaments were a best seller in December, and sales continued into January.
Pattern is Whale Ornament by Neogurumi
Postal delays meant I spent a lot of time tracking packages and updating customers. Fortunately, all of my packages eventually got to their destinations, and customers were patient and understanding. Once I got all my orders out, I focused on making a few Christmas presents and working on a quote for a big order.
January started out strong, with the whale ornament orders continuing, but now, with the month 2/3 over, I'm pretty much caught up. I've already worked up my pattern design for the next issue of In The Round Amigurumi magazine, and I'm making good progress on a pattern test for another designer. So, it's time to put a few goals to paper...
I looked back on 2020 goals:
So my focus for 2020 will be four-fold:
- Using up my yarn stash
- Working on publishing my designs in 5-pattern e-books
- Sticking to my best-seller list as I make new items
- Finishing up two afghans that I started years ago (Owl Obsession & Mandala Madness)
How did I do?
Yarn stash... saw a pretty good decrease... about 9% decrease in the number of entries, and about a 6% decrease in total weight of yarn. Heading in the right direction!
Pattern e-books... well, that didn't happen. I went down a slightly different road, submitting patterns to an online pattern magazine. Ten days after publication, I can list them for sale in my Ravelry and Etsy shops.
Sticking to the best-seller list... I think I did pretty well on that one. My inventory was down overall at the end of the year.
Finishing up the two afghans... 😄😅😆 I don't think either of them ever made it out of the closet!
So in 2021, I'll continue to plug away at the same basic goals of 2020...
Work down the yarn stash - no yarn purchases unless specifically needed for an order
Publish at least one pattern per month
Stick to best sellers as filler between orders.
