Mid-Year recap & what I have learned along the way

Does anyone else feel like they just blinked and all of a sudden half of the year has already flown by?  Please tell me that I am not alone in this feeling.

So I feel like the first few months of the year were all about behind-the-scenes action which then transitioned to a lot of custom work.

January was all about this website. Getting it up and running, adding products and seeing what worked and what didn't work.

I spent the majority of February designing more hand embroidery patterns and improving on my existing ones. And let's face it, I am still in the trenches of motherhood - so a lot of my time that month was also was spent taking care of my little ones when they were sick.  Stinking germs!

March kicked off the beginning of wedding bouquet season. I also spent a lot of time getting organized with my inventory and brainstorming product offerings for the rest of the year.

April was ALL about the wedding bouquets and I could not have been happier about it.  I was able to stare at the most beautiful bridal bouquets all day, every day.  It was awesome!

Maywas another big month for wedding bouquets.

I knew that June would require a bit of a shift with the business.  Because I have little ones that get out of school for the summer, I knew that I wanted to slow down a bit and enjoy summer time activities with them.  So I limited the number of custom spots that I offered and instead focused more of my efforts on projects that can be done while watching kids run around. (Bridal bouquets take intense focus!)  While I definitely did some custom work, this is the month that I stitched up a lot of the ready to ship embroidery and embroidered necklaces that I plan to sell at holiday markets in the fall, as well as getting organized with all my supplies.

To wrap it up, I think the biggest lesson learned in 2017 is that I can not do it all everyday. And trying to do it all left me feeling frazzled and spread so thin that I didn't feel like I did anything well. So at the beginning of 2018, I knew I wanted to do things a bit differently this year. Really having a focus for each month helped me feel more organized and intentional with my efforts.  And I feel like those efforts truly paid off in tangible results, even during off months like February when initial plans were derailed with life circumstances (sick kiddos).

For the rest of year, I think I am going to follow the same plan in choosing to be intentional with my time each month.  My hope is that it will allow me to feel more organized and relaxed going into the holiday season.

So how do you tackle your business?  Do you have a seasonal ebb and flow that works for you OR do you prefer to just take it as it comes with a more go-with-the-flow approach.