Today we break down our yearly priorities and focus on Q1.

Pull out the 3 priorities you decided on yesterday.

Now it’s time to break them down into smaller steps. This is the process you’ll follow again and again until you get yourself all the way down to the day level!

Below is an example of 3 priorities, and some of the possible steps you could take to achieve them to inspire you.

The idea is to brainstorm the ‘next level down’ steps. Try to choose things that you could envisioning taking three months to complete.

Then, fill in the top level of your next chart – the Quarterly one – like so…

You can see that each of the 3 priorities will, once you achieve them, move you inexorably towards your year-long priority.

You’ll also see that all three don’t need to be ‘equal’. For example, in this first quarter, your focus will undoubtedly be on the first one – because creating and releasing 20 new products is a BIG job! So, the other two priorities – while still moving you towards your #Top3 for the year, aren’t as time-intensive (though, when you start breaking them down, you’ll see that they will both take quite a bit of research and planning!).

DO keep this in mind when you’re doing your planning.

DON’T schedule all the really time-intensive tasks in the same Quarter of the year!

Try to spread them out so you have the time and energy for all of them.

And remember… Q4 is already going to be busy with holiday sales, so be aware of that when you’re doing your planning!

Action Steps

1. Write down the major steps underneath each of your 3 yearly priorities from yesterday.

2. Pull out ONE of those steps from each priority and make them your 3 priorities for the 1st Quarter of 2024.

3. If you want to go all-out, you can now also decide on your 3 priorities for the next three quarters of 2024. However, this can also be done near the end of March, when you see how far you’ve come in achieving your first set of Quarterly priorities.

You can download and print out the proforma below if you want, or do this in Trello, or just on a piece of paper – whatever works for you!

It’s time to get PLANNING!

You’ve figured out your PURPOSE – now, let’s make it concrete.

This week, I’m going to walk you through the #Top3Priorities planning process I teach in this workshop.

I want to take you through the process – from the year level down to the week – step-by-step so you have no excuse for not getting your planning completed!

If you haven’t watched the workshop yet – go do that now. It will give you an overview of what the process is, and why I teach it (and use it myself).

If you HAVE done the workshop – lets get started!

Today, you’re going to decide on your 3 priorities for 2024.

Just THREE things that are going to be your guideposts for the whole year for your business.

(BTW, if you want to go through this same process for your personal life as well, I highly recommend it!)

Remember – priorities can be goals, but they don’t have to be. 

They can be process-focused.

For example, a priority for you might be ‘Turn over at least $50,000 in my business’.

This is both a priority and a goal, as it has a concrete ‘yes I achieved it’  or ‘no I didn’t result.

But you might choose something that isn’t a goal (that is, it doesn’t have a definitive point at which you’ve achieved it) such as ‘I will look for opportunities to say ‘no’ to other people’s priorities so I can carve out more time to work on my business’.

Or maybe you might choose ‘I will improve my product photography’ as a priority for the year.

There are endless possibilities, so your challenge today is to choose just 3 priorities that are big enough to span a year’s worth of development.

Action Steps

1. Brainstorm all the things you want to achieve in your business this coming year. Look for overarching themes and see how you can coalesce them into three main priorities for 2024.

2. Share your 3 Priorities with us in the FB group!

I’m a big believer in the importance of down time.

I take one whole day off from work every week (actually, I take 2-3 days off, but on Fri and Sat I’m a bit more online).

Usually, it’s a Sunday – and I not only do NO work, I even try to stay offline for the day.

Yep. No email, no social media – just me and the rest of my life.

For me, it’s a vital time to just live in the moment – to spend time with myself; with my family and friends; to get out and explore the world; or stay in and work on projects around home.

Or, to just curl up and read all day before a walk, swim, or a yoga practice.

I love my work, and it doesn’t stress me out (thankfully) but my brain does need a regular break from being in ‘work mode’ constantly.

Yours does, too!

I know you’ve worked hard this week, and you may have even discovered things about yourself and your business that you didn’t know before working through this week of finding your Purpose.

I encourage you to take a break from work today – and spend time on other things that make you happy!

See you tomorrow for week 2 – when we’ll dive into your 2024 Planning.

Action Steps

1. Take the day off to rest and restore.

Today I have a vision exercise for you.

I want you to deliberately envision what your business and life will look like exactly one year from now.

In fact, I want you to imagine that it’s New Years Eve, 2024, and you’re looking back on all you’ve achieved during the year.

What will those things be?

Will you have reached a financial goal?

Will you have saved enough to take your family on a holiday?

Will you have quit your regular job?

Will your number 1 goal be a reality… and how will that make you feel?

What will your biz and life look and feel like?

I encourage you to not only envision this, but actually write it down.

Imagine you’re writing a journal entry about the year just completed, outlining your achievements. Phrase it from the perspective of ‘I have achieved’ and outline why you were successful – what did you focus on, what did you change, what motivated you to make your dreams reality.

Really take the time to evoke the emotion of exaltation at your success.

Our brains are amazing things – we hold the power to change our future based on the thoughts we focus on.

The idea behind this exercise is to consolidate the work you’ve done over the last few days. To really immerse yourself in how it will FEEL to achieve the things you want in your business.

Action Steps

1. Write your New Years Eve ‘Recollection’ of the year gone by. Store it somewhere safe, and put a reminder in your calendar to pull this out on NYE this year and see how close your vision came to the reality!

Where do you want your business to take you this year?

What do you want it to grow into? When you envision yourself ‘making it’ with your biz, what does that mean?

Is it a lifestyle goal, a financial goal, a personal achievement goal… or all of the above?

So many of us start handmade businesses because we have a hobby, and then we think ‘maybe I should sell some of this’… and it snowballs from there.

Have you ever taken the time to sit down and really get clear on what you’re aiming for? 

That’s what you’re doing today. 

Because if you don’t know what you’re aiming for, how will you know when you get there… or which direction you need to travel?

Your work on core values and clarifying your why on day 1 will play a big part in this.

Furthermore – as part of the YYTT course lessons you will (or have already) created an ultimate goal for your business as a whole.

Today, I want you to take this down a notch, and instead, decide on your number 1 goal for just this year – 2024.

Don’t get caught up in the ‘should’s’ that you might have internalised from other people.

This is YOUR business – it’s time to create an ultimate goal that reflects what YOU want.

Is it a numbers goal? (I will make $5,000 in revenue this year).

It it a sales goal? (I will sell 100 items this year.)

Is it a practical goal (I will create my own website this year.)

Is it something else entirely? Only you know what this should be for you. Next week, during our planning lessons, you will break this down and work out the steps you need to take to make it happen – so don’t get too worried about that just now. Just pick one, simple, and measurable goal that you can stick on your wall and use to guide you through the year.

As an example. One year, I decided that my number 1 goal was to average $300 worth of sales every weekday.

At the time, that number seemed almost impossible! I was maybe making $50 a day, if that, at the time.

But you know what? I believed in myself. I believed it was possible – that I was capable of making it happen. And boy, did it light a fire under me!

I wrote that number up, and looked at it every day.

Every day I looked at my sales, and looked at that number, and asked myself ‘what can I do tomorrow to get me closer to that goal’?

Guess what? It happened. And I’ve consistently made more than that for years now.

But if I’d never set that goal? Who knows if I would have worked as hard as I did.

In short – ideally, pick something that seems almost (but not quite) out of reach.

And hey, even if you don’t reach it this year? I bet you’ll be well on your way when December 31st, 2024 rolls around.

Action Steps

1. Clarify your number 1 goal for 2024 down into one sentence, then share it with us in the FB group.

Chances are, you became a crafter because you love making stuff. (I know I did.)

By now, you’ve probably worked out what you like making the most. And if you’re here, reading this, I’m going to assume that you like making that stuff so much that you’re trying to make (at least part of) a living by selling the stuff you like to make.

Let me make it really clear – Making stuff you like is awesome. That’s why we craft: because we have a passion for it.

But here’s the bit you may not like:

Just because you love making it does not mean there are people who want to buy it.

The craft community is a warm and fuzzy place – that is part of what makes it so freaking awesome. We love to support each other, help each other, and share with each other.

We’re not so good at telling people the truth when we think it might hurt their feelings.

I have been in the uncomfortable position of having to tell people that their product might struggle to find a market as it stands.

That they might have to change something about their product, or get rid of some of their product line, OR, tell them that how they are presenting or marketing their product isn’t working, and why.

It’s a place you find yourself in when you do what I do. And man, it SUCKS.

It sucks to tell people this. It’s really, really hard.

It’s also insanely hard for the person hearing it.

I hate doing it. But it’s part of the job I’ve made for myself. (And why is it so hard? Because I know there is a person there, on the other end of the e-mail, who is just like me. Who wants to make their dream happen – and I really, really dig helping people make their dreams happen.)

But back to my point.

When you start making for profit rather than for pleasure, your perspective needs to shift.

You need to stop thinking exclusively about you, and what you enjoy – and you need to start thinking about your customers.

If you’re doing all the right promotional ‘stuff’ but your work is not selling, I want to encourage you to really have a long, hard, cold look at your products from an outsider’s perspective.

I would advise you not to ask the opinions of friends or family, because – let’s be honest – they love you, and they will find it hard to tell you the truth if they think there’s any sort of negative there.

Or, on the other hand, they may not understand what you do at all, nor that there is a possible market out there for your work in this burgeoning handmade movement.

In short, they’re not objective – they have a vested interest in you one way or the other.

This whole crafting-as-a-business caper is hard – and it’s a never-ending process of growth and discovery.

I’d like to encourage you to have a peek at some of the very first things I sold in my Etsy shop.

Yep, pretty ordinary, hey? (And check out the totally heinous flash photos!!! Eww… talk about what NOT to do! Not to mention my two-line description!!!)

I believe my product has come a heck of a long way since then. I’ve worked on my designs, my brand, my focus, my photos, my descriptions, my packaging… and I have no doubt that I will continue to work on all of those things in an effort to become more successful in my business.

Is my work/product perfect? No. Is my business model perfect? Heck no. But I believe I’m going in the right direction.

(And, just so you know, I don’t believe there’s any such thing as ‘perfect’. There’s ‘good enough’ and ‘awesome’ and ‘unique’ and ‘beautiful’ – but no ‘perfect’.)

Is there some aspect of your product that you need to change?

Are you doing/making the same thing as a million other people?

Is there a market you could be tapping into, but aren’t?

Heck – maybe the problem isn’t your product, but your photos of it – when you’re selling online, that’s the magic key to the door.

In short – what’s your sweet spot?

What is that beautiful collision between what you love to make, and what people are clamouring to buy?

Action Steps

1. Try to take an objective look at your products and product line. Do they stand out? Do they have a coherent theme? Are there items that you need to let go of – or more that you need to make to fill a gap in your product line?

2. If you can invest the help of a relatively neutral third party here, go for it! If you’re open to constructive criticism, you can ask us in the Circle to help you, too. Just remember to ask a very specific question, such as ‘do you think this product fits with the rest?’ or ‘I think ____ people will want my product, do you think that’s accurate?’ rather than a blanket ‘help, tell me what I’m doing wrong?!’. 

3. Take off the mantle of ‘crafter’ and try on the mantle of ‘handmade business owner’. Think about how that shifts your relationship to your craft.