What happened, what's happening, what happens next

Hello, my precious blueberries.

It’s been awhile, I know. No, I haven’t spent my time wallowing in depression over the election (although, you know, it sucked). Mr. and I left NYC for greener snow-ier pastures, bought a house, then our first car. Then our second car (which matches the first car. Yes, we have matching cars and are adorable). Oh and I got a job. Yes, it’s true.

Wait, don’t go! Yes, I sold out and got off the 400% all day, erry day entrepreneur path. Why? Well, a few reasons: Owning a home is expensive, Mr.’s job opportunities here aren’t as great as NYC, I wanted an opportunity to network, the position I now have was a completely new role to the company I joined which lets me build the position from scratch.

Oh, did I mention the position is Director of Marketing and Social Media? So it’s doing what I’ve already been doing for other clients, now just with bennies. I feel good about it and not sad that I’m not sitting at my home office right now; it’s taken the pressure off of having OMFG MONEY PLS in the background of everything I do and will allow me to dedicate more resources to making sure this blog and it’s offerings are consistent and not relying on me to drink the right amount of coffee that lets me spew out something relatively coherent (as you can see, I’m teetering on that right now).

So Dannica is going to join me this month as a writer for the blog and for The Beige House. She’ll be dishing out the right info to help your business succeed on a much more regular basis than I’ve been able to. I’m still going to write here, but at least you won’t have to visit the blog and wonder if I’m even still alive. The podcast will still be on hiatus while I get better at creating a routine around work, blog, gym, husband, etc. but the archive is always available.

So that’s what’s happening now. Let’s talk about what’s happened.

You might remember that I had a goal of doing 52 things in 2016 that were related to my business and my personal life. I didn’t call them resolutions because, well, you know how we do when it comes to resolutions. But how did I do overall? Let’s go through them:

Fitness/Health

1. Lose 35lb Nope, actually gained weight due to [insert not real reason here], but I’m back on a regular eating and exercising schedule now
2. Wake up each weekday morning at 6am for 1 month straight LOL nope
3. Come home by 7pm each weeknight for 1 month straight
4. Exercise at least 2 hours each week for 1 month straight I hate going through these already.
5. Maintain keto diet for 1 month straight
6. Maintain keto diet for 3 months straight
7. Sleep in bed 3 nights a week for 1 month straight (I fall asleep on my couch listening to podcasts a lot)
8. Sleep in bed 5 nights a week for 1 month straight
9. Sleep in bed 1 month straight
10. Yoga/Meditation at least 1 time a week for 1 month straight
11. Yoga/Meditation at least 1 time a week for 3 months straight OKAY look, I accomplished only one thing here, #3.

Work

1. Create editorial calendar for Handmade Brooklyn blog, podcast I did this, but didn’t stick to it
2. Create new content for blogs + podcast each week for 1 month straight
3. Create new content for blogs + podcast each week for 3 months straight
4. Create new content for blogs + podcast each week for 6 months straight
5. Onboard new social media manager
6. Give social media manager control of 2/5 projects
7. Give social media manager control of 4/5 projects
8. Give social media manager control of all projects These two, like most things, ended up shifting and I took control of the social media again because we weren’t in the right place for it (and a few blogs went away)
9. Onboard podcast editor
10. Transition podcast editor to podcast manager Podcast went on hiatus
11. Obtain 3 sponsors for podcast by 2017. Almost! Got 2 actual sponsors, but rejected both of them because they weren’t good fits.
12. [Secret Goal] in December This was to close MSC (my skincare company) completely, which started closing in May when my studio lease expired.
13. Outsource shipping for MSC completely
14. Publish Periscope e-book. eh, I never finished Scopen as I lost my enthusiasm (as did apparently a lot of people) for Periscope
15. Flesh out outline for upcoming membership site done, though it hasn’t launched and probably won’t until later this year or 2018 (which I originally wrote as 2081. Seems right)
16. Sell old soap molds and cutter
17. Sell off work tables and bun rack (it holds curing soap)
18. Remove things from storage and either sell or throw away
19. Release 3 new tutorials by 2017. Honestly, I have no idea if I accomplished this. I did more than 3 posts about how to start or grow a business, so I guess I did it?
20. 1 periscope video a month for 3 months straight (AKA “Get over looking at my own face”) I got over my face, and got over Periscope, too

Family/Life

1. Buy our house did.
2. Buy our car did.
3. Move upstate
4. Have 1 date night each month with husband for 3 months straight
5. Treat myself to something just for me once a month for 3 months straight
6. Call my Mom twice a month for 3 months straight. I call her usually on the weekends. If we actually end up talking is another thing.
7. Create relationships with 2 new bloggers by 2017
8. Create relationships with 2 new podcasters by 2017. Maybe? No one I would say I’m besties with, but I’ve gotten friendly with a few

Money

1. 0 debt into 2017. eh, not yet
2. Add at least $100 into savings each month for 9 months. Did this, still doing it
3. Go 1 month without buying anything (except groceries) Feb, 2016
4. Do not let bookkeeping fall more than 2 weeks behind. Er, yeah…fail

Misc

1. Find a hobby (seriously, I have none and know I need one for some sanity) The Beige House. Home decor is my JAM, you guys.
2. Get my computer tuned up (RAM, problem with my keys, battery update). Just got a new computer instead. Consumerism!
3. Send presents to 3 friends, just because
4. Sew the pockets in my 3 winter coats that have holes in them (Seriously. Get it together, Megan)
5. Send another bag of clothes to Schoola (3 already sent! Schoola is awesome for a few reasons, but mostly because it’s a great cause…and you can use my affiliate link for a $20 credit. boom!)
6. Don’t check email after 8pm for 1 week straight
7. Don’t check email after 8pm for 1 month straight IDK on either of these. Probably?
8. Throw out my old makeup
9. Read 3 newsletters regularly and unsubscribe from the rest

Total completed: 28
Total missed: 24

UM, more than half were done. Plus I got to do extra things that I’ve always wanted to do but never had the balls to (namely dye my hair fun colors like blue and purple). All in all, 2016 totally feels like a win to me.

For this year, I want to say I’ll make goals, but to be perfectly honest, I don’t know what’d they be. Get rid of the rest of my debt? Sure. Stop feeling uncomfortable in my too-tight clothes? Definitely. Get the fence fixed so we can get a dog? DUH.

But professionally, honestly I can’t say. I want to do my very best and be open to possibilities, both in my entrepreneurial life and my new position so I think that’s my main goal this year. It’s not 52 small goals, and it’s not really easily definable, but I think it’s a good way to think about how to set my intentions for the year.
 
What about you? Are you focusing on specific goals this year or are you doing a big picture kinda thing?