This year was a big year for ECL, and for me personally, too. My husband and I purchased our first home (complete with an office for me which has been a total game changer) and traveled, from some family trips to our big vacation to Ireland for the wedding of one of my best friends. Things have been really good, but things have been BUSY, too.

A few photos from our Ireland trip!

My business grew 133% in 2019. My business revenue MORE THAN DOUBLED. What?! I’ve worked so hard this year and it’s really cool to look at the numbers and be able to say, yes, I did that. It’s definitely been trial and error but I learned a lot this year about what works and what doesn’t. These are the biggest things that I learned in 2019:

Try new things. Take risks!

This year I started doing my hand lettered DIY classes at local breweries / distilleries. I am naturally a shy person and was SO nervous to do this, but I really wanted to do a class and I am so glad I did. These classes started as something I was hoping to do once or twice ever to something I get to do regularly on a monthly basis. I love getting to work with other local businesses to host these, and all the people I’ve gotten to meet! I’m excited to continue to do different DIY classes in 2020 and beyond, and would love to do a calligraphy workshop in the future, too. This is not something 2018 me would have ever thought I’d really be doing - I surprised myself for sure. Put yourself out there. Take the risk - it might pay off in ways you didn’t expect!

My very first welcome mats class in May!

Say no

As much as you need to be willing to try new things, you need to be able to say “no” to things that don’t serve you. Not everything is going to be a good fit for you or your business. I always feel bad saying no when someone asks if I can contribute to a styled shoot, but I just don’t have time to do every one that comes up. (Ya girl works full time and runs this biz too!) Sometimes I get requests from potential clients that aren’t realistic for me to do, whether it’s due to timing, or location, or whatever, so I say no and then I refer them to someone else if I can. I say this from experience - when you say “yes” to everything you are setting yourself up to be stressed out! I took on some things this year that I shouldn’t have, because I wanted to make a little more money or felt bad saying no to someone I knew even though I was already super busy...but ultimately it just stressed me out. Say no when you need to, and don’t feel guilty about it.

Invest in yourself

Have you ever heard the saying “you have to spend money to make money”? Well, it’s true. If you’re serious about growing your business, you absolutely should be spending some money on it. Investing in your business (and yourself) is crucial to growth and can open up so many new possibilities!

In 2019 I:

Hired an accountant to do taxes
- I’ve always been a file my own taxes type of person, but if you have a business you should 100% hire a professional - the peace of mind alone is so worth it! If you’re looking for an accountant, I highly recommend Rocco Tundo - he has been a great help with business questions throughout the year, not just at tax time!
Finally got my website up and running
Started using Tailwind to schedule my pins (TOTAL GAME CHANGER)
- Seriously, Tailwind has been awesome for my business. I’m still learning about how to best use Pinterest, but I schedule my pins for weeks (or months!) out with this tool and then it does all the work for me. This year, 23% of my traffic on Etsy came from Pinterest!
Worked with a lawyer for the first time
- I assumed hiring a lawyer would be $$$$$ and confusing but Lauren Agresti made things really easy for a non-legally-trained mind to understand. I highly recommend her services!
Invested in Dubsado to help me manage my clients and projects
- So far I am LOVING this client management tool and I know I’ve only scratched the surface of what this tool can do. I see this being extremely helpful to me as I work with more clients outside of Etsy!
Bought a new laptop, which was sorely needed

All of those things cost money and all of those things were super worth it for helping me get more organized, helping me do things more efficiently and giving me more time to work on my business. At first I felt bad spending money on some of these things, but at the end of the day, I’m not a CPA, I’m not a lawyer, I’m not an expert scheduler and multitasker so why would I expect myself to be able to do all these things alone? Pay a professional! Invest in the tools! You will be so happy you did.

Small business flatlay: pencils, paper clips, agenda

Take care of yourself

This ties in with saying no to things. I often feel like there’s this pressure to do EVERYTHING. Excel in your job, keep your home looking beautiful and pristine, cook healthy meals, exercise, always look put together…it’s just not feasible to do everything all the time. And you need to take time to take care of yourself before you can take care of others, or be in a place where you can be giving your best to your business, your job, your family, etc. For me, that’s definitely health related; it means that I need to prioritize getting more movement in (I always feel amazing after I do any exercise, yet I don’t do it nearly enough), getting less lunches out and instead spending that money on a monthly mani/pedi (or something else that makes me feel pampered!) and just putting everything down and relaxing sometimes. It’s really important to take care of yourself and just take the time to relax, regularly!

Looking back at the year, overall it was really good but chunks of it were so, so stressful. In 2020 I’m focusing on working smarter and taking care of myself, too. I’m excited to keep using the tools and services that I invested in this year to work better in 2020, and I’m going to practice saying “no” to things that I just can’t take on. Cannot wait to see where ECLetters will go next!