Tuesday, January 25, 2011

business goals 2011

artistic inspiration 2011
In December, I started thinking about my goals for Funnelcloud Studio for the coming year.  I thought about setting goals in terms of number of sales/profits, but the truth is, I don't have control over these things. People either buy my stuff or they don't.  I do have control over the steps I take to hopefully make sales and make my business grow. I need to focus focus focus and be productive. After a successful first month in 2011, I'm excited and inspired and riding the momentum of a great start.

In 2011, I hope to treat Funnelcloud Studio as my real job and not just a side biz/hobby. I hope to find a balance between my business and my personal life. And I hope to accomplish the following:

1. Transform the studio into Funnelcloud Studio's Headquarters.
The spare bedroom has been my studio since we moved into the house and it is currently a disaster. I want to make it look less like a craft room/giant f*cking mess and more like a functioning artist's studio. I need shelves, better lighting, bulletin boards, storage for all my shipping and art supplies, and art for the walls.

2. Create 20 new pieces for sale.
An arbitrary number, but something to work towards.

3. Sell art at another art/craft fair.
I sold at my first art market in September. I want to go bigger in 2011!

4. Meet other Etsians/artists/creative people. (and customers!)
I love the online Etsy community, I love reading artist's blogs, and I love when customers and creative people stop by my blog. But they all exist through the internet. I consider other Etsians to be my co-workers, since working from home can be rather lonely and isolating - so I hope to meet some of you in real life in 2011.

5. Find an external source for printing art prints.
Since opening my shop, I've focused on printmaking. But I've been wanting to do illustrations, drawings, and paintings - just haven't figured out how to reproduce them for sale.

6. Organize the business aspect of my shop - set up business accounts, etc.
This just needs to happen. I do my accounting/bookkeeping online through Outright, but I need a bank account dedicated to my business.

7. Buy and learn Adobe Illustrator.
I've been using Photoshop for the past 13 years for graphic design, architectural graphics, and photo editing and never had the need to learn Illustrator. But I've got some freelance projects in the works that would definitely benefit from using Illustrator instead of Photoshop.

artistic inspiration 2011
The photo is all my artsy ideas for the coming year - they're taped to the wall in my studio (in the place where I've been meaning to hang a bulletin board for the last two years - see Goal #1). My favorite category is of course, Shit to Make.

1 comment:

I Am Woody said...

As an accountant, YES!! You most certainly need a separate bank account for FunnelCloud!

Have you heard of Festivalnet.com? It is a website where you can search for craft/art fairs and festivals.