At the end of 2013, I wrote This time next year, Rodney… I’ve just been to review it and I was pleasantly surprised.
The business isn’t quite where I’d hoped it would be, but we’re close to that steady stream I think, and that’s not bad going after a year which saw so many businesses tightening their belts. Does mean that we didn’t get round to the loft conversion, but that’s ok.
So Rodney, where will we be by the end of 2014? 😉
We consolidated our business growth and expanded our client base, particularly pleased with the number of our clients who recommended us to their contacts.
I diversified my own blog offerings, decluttering my own blog and moving some of the more commercial stuff off to a different site. The vision I had for technology solved paid off in raising my profile and by extension our business.
The montessori activities I started with the two younger ones (designing our own materials as well as incorporating traditional ones), and the minecraft and website education the older two were engaged with provided an excellent core of materials for a second more educationally oriented site. Normalising home education remained an important goal for me on a personal level with the general election looming.
For me, I ended the year much more comfortable in my own skin, having spent some time exploring myself and my motivations. Taking up a habit of keeping my gratitude journal as well as focussing on offline creative crafts and spending time on my worrying gave me the core stability to say yes to a couple of projects out of my comfort zone. Challenging myself was occasionally stressful but overall fun.
Getting to grips with myself also meant that I could get to grips with the house. Removing the baby things was a massive wrench and accepting that there would be no more babies was hard (and to be honest not something I truly internalised) but focusing on being present for the growing children I have helped me set aside wishful (and impractical)thoughts. Dealing with physical issues like back pain through regular running, stretching and targeted exercise was also useful for clearing my mind.
It’s hard to see where I fitted in my reading target of 52 books, but fit it in I did. And this year I did keep track in my weekly linky posts, with regular author features and giveaways making it a popular feature on the blog. Taking part in child led chaos 300 picture book challenge was fun too, and encouraged us to make regular library trips for the younger children.
2014 had its ups and downs but starting it with a clear vision of the way forward definitely helped. How was it for you?